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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:
- Anthony Lane: A Life
- Author Philip Gourevitch
- Joseph Telushkin: The Accountant’s Son Who Taught America Judaism
- Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph (2012)
- WP: As Christians are attacked in Israel, government shows little concern
- Life as a Haredi Jew
- Moral Philosopher Derek Parfit
- The Life of George Gilder
- Richard Posner’s Legal Pragmatism
- The MLA: A History
- The Great Delusions in History Theory
- Allan Bloom: The Teacher Who Wanted Your Soul
- The Great Delusions in Literary Theory
- William K. Wimsatt Jr.: The Judge of Evidence
- Larissa MacFarquhar: The Woman Who Slows Judgment Down
- Stanley Fish: A Biography
- Hortense Spillers: The Grammar Lesson
- Paul Gilroy: A Biography
- Walter Benn Michaels: A Biography
- Harvey Cox: The Theologian Who Bet on the City
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Author Archives: Luke Ford
Decoding Wells Fargo
Per Alliance Theory: Wells Fargo is an alliance machine that broke its own internal loyalty norms and paid for it publicly. For most of its modern history, Wells Fargo’s advantage was not innovation or glamour. It was trust embedded in … Continue reading
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Decoding PacWest Bancorp
Per Alliance Theory: PacWest Bancorp was an alliance experiment that lost control of its signaling environment. At its peak, PacWest positioned itself as a high-growth, entrepreneur-friendly California bank. That stance is not neutral. In Alliance Theory terms, it aligned PacWest … Continue reading
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Decoding Banc of California
Per Alliance Theory: Banc of California is best understood as an alliance project masquerading as a bank. At the core, it is not optimizing for consumer affection or retail trust. It is optimizing for elite coordination in Southern California. Alliance … Continue reading
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USA Wins Hockey Gold Medal With Epic Win Over Canada
Alliance Theory is not about beliefs or emotions per se. It is about coalition management under uncertainty. Moral language, indignation, praise, and ritualized sentiment are tools for sorting allies from rivals and coordinating action at scale. Sports are unusually clean … Continue reading
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Decoding Jamie Dimon
Per Alliance Theory: Jamie Dimon is not just a CEO of JP Morgan Chase. He is an alliance broker between markets and the state. Start with his core function. Dimon’s primary job is to keep JPMorgan Chase inside the circle … Continue reading
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Decoding JP Morgan Chase
Per Alliance Theory: Start with power and trust. JPMorgan is a keystone institution in the American financial state. It does not merely compete in markets. It stabilizes them. Begin with the core alliance. JPMorgan’s primary alliance is with the U.S. … Continue reading
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Decoding Deloitte
Per Alliance Theory: Institutions survive by managing coalitions. Deloitte is not just an accounting firm. It is a global alliance machine that coordinates partners, regulators, corporate executives, and ambitious graduates into one status ecosystem. Start with the core alliance. Deloitte’s … Continue reading
Posted in Accounting
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How do students in CA’s elite universities view each other?
Per Alliance Theory: Coastal hyper-elite private universities Examples: Stanford University, University of Southern California Self-view Future deciders. Builders, founders, operators. We are adjacent to power and expect to stay there. We treat education as leverage, not contemplation. How they view … Continue reading
Posted in California
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How do members of Manhattan’s elite Orthodox shuls see each other?
Per Alliance Theory: Upper East Side Modern Orthodox elites Examples: Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (KJ) Congregation Ramaz Park East Synagogue Self-view Establishment Orthodoxy. Cultured, educated, donor-class, historically central. Torah with dignity, restraint, and social polish. How they view the downtown/right-leaning MO … Continue reading
How do the members of Young Israel of Century City, Beth Jacob and Bnai David-Judea view each other?
Per Alliance Theory: Young Israel of Century City Self-view Centrist Modern Orthodox. Serious but not extreme. We are normal, professional, American Orthodoxy done right. Law, medicine, business, observance without theatrics. How they view Beth Jacob Impressive, intense, a little intimidating. … Continue reading
Posted in Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea, Pico/Robertson, YICC
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