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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- After the Kings: Ben Fordham and the Remaking of 2GB Breakfast
- The Entertainer’s Exemption: John Laws and the Price of Trust
- What the Record Shows: David Marr and the Uses of Evidence
- Peopling the Emptiness: The Life of Patrick White
- Crossing Lines: Nick McKenzie and the Limits of Method
- Australian Investigative Journalist Chris Masters: The Man Who Saw In
- The Unwinder: George Packer and the Study of American Decline
- Thomas Edsall: The Reporter Who Treated Politics as a System
- Ross Douthat and the Persistence of Belief
- Joseph Kahn and the Stewardship of The New York Times
- The Institutionalist: Dean Baquet and the Remaking of American Journalism
- The Publisher Always Wins – A Jill Abramson Biography
- Howard Zinn – The Historian Who Took Sides
- Linton Besser: A Reporter and the Paper Trail
- Gerald Stone and the Making of Australian Current Affairs
- Paul Barry: A Chronicler of Australian Power
- The Dean of Revolutionary Scholarship: Gordon S. Wood, 1933-2026
- The Last Generalist: Bob Ellis and Australian Public Life
- WEHT to Investigative Journalism?
- The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers
BEST POSTS:
* American Epistemics (1-19-26)
* The Most Socially Toxic Inconvenient Truths (1-18-26)
* The Luke Ford Genre (1-18-26)
* The Filkins Pivot: Legacy Prestige and the Fracturing of the Chattering Class (1-16-26)
* Decoding The Trump Doctrine (1-4-26)
* If Tatiana Schlossberg were “Tatiana Smith” (12-30-25)
* ‘I’m So Trained’: How The Credential Society Burned Down the Palisades (12-28-25)
* Status Closure and The Lost Generation (12-25-25)
* The Bondi Massacre (12-15-25)
* Sydney Jews Learn That Their Aussie Social Contract Has Become A Suicide Pact (12-15-25)
* Terror in Sydney: Analyzing the “Chanukah by the Sea” Massacre (12-14-25)
* Decoding Nick Fuentes (11-2-25)
* The Landscape of Emotional Sobriety (10-29-30)
* The Rise & Fall Of Air Supply (10-19-25)
* No Kings, No Results: How Elite Pride Replaced Real Progress (10-19-25)
* You Are An Important Soldier In A Great War (9-7-25)
* The Revolt Of The Masses (8-31-25)
* The Covenant of Ashwood (8-24-25)
* If you can’t trust central bankers, then who can you trust? (8-23-25)
* Why Is The Elite Media Singing From The Same Hymnal About The Trump-Putin Summit? (8-17-25)
* Why Do Smart News Operations Sound So Uniformly Dumb So Often? (8-16-25)
* Nobody Is Coming (8-10-25)
* When Elites Restrict Our Speech, It’s Because They Love Truth, Freedom & Democracy (8-3-25)
Category Archives: Orthodoxy
Decoding Bais Yaakov of Los Angeles
Per Alliance Theory: Bais Yaakov of Los Angeles is a high-boundary retention institution whose purpose is to lock in Orthodox female identity by making defection socially, morally, and aspirationally unnecessary. Its core function is not academics in the conventional sense. … Continue reading
Why Do Elites Keep Predicting The Death Of Fundamentalism?
Everybody has a hero system, and just because you think this other hero system is outdated does not mean it will fade away any time soon. As the decades go by, the masses keep clinging to their guns and to … Continue reading
Saul Lieberman and the Orthodox by Marc B. Shapiro (2006)
In Marc B. Shapiro’s study of Saul Lieberman, the central conflict illustrates the “coordination failure” that occurs when a high-status individual holds dual citizenship in rival coalitions. David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory suggests that social groups maintain their borders by demanding … Continue reading
Why Most Orthodox Jews Don’t Engage
Matthew Feinberg writes on X: I’m beginning to understand something I resisted for a long time. Why most Orthodox and frum Jews do not engage with less religious or secular Jews on major cultural and political issues. They do not … Continue reading
Decoding The Shiduch Crisis
Gemini says: An eighth debate involves the “Shidduch Crisis,” a perceived imbalance in the dating world that makes it difficult for young women to find husbands. While many see this as a demographic and social problem requiring technical fixes like … Continue reading
Decoding The Kosher Phone Debate
Gemini says: The sixth debate concerns the use of technology, specifically the “kosher phone.” Leaders in the ultra-Orthodox world have waged a constant campaign against smartphones and social media, viewing them as gateways to secular values and forbidden content. While … Continue reading
Decoding Abuse Claims In Orthodox Judaism
Gemini says: The fifth controversy involves the handling of sexual abuse within religious institutions. High-profile scandals involving respected figures have forced a reckoning with the traditional preference for internal “mediation.” Activists have pushed for greater transparency and cooperation with secular … Continue reading
Decoding The Status Of Gays In Orthodox Judaism
Gemini says: A second critical issue involves the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals within Orthodox spaces. Historically, the community relied on a policy of silence or exclusion. In the last ten years, a younger generation has pushed for a more empathetic … Continue reading
The Fight Over Female Ordination In Orthodox Judaism
Gemini says: While institutions like Yeshivat Maharat have credentialed dozens of women, the broader Modern Orthodox establishment remains divided. Opponents argue that formal titles and public leadership roles for women violate traditional communal norms. Supporters suggest that the rising educational … Continue reading
The Ten Most Intense Debates Within Orthodox Judaism Over The Past Decade
Gemini says: Orthodox Judaism has navigated a decade of intense internal friction as ancient legal frameworks meet modern social and political shifts. These debates reflect a core tension between preserving the integrity of a tradition and adapting to a world … Continue reading