- https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback
"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:
- Jean Raspail: The Consul of Lost Causes
- Michel Houellebecq: A Life
- 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
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 Peter Shamshiri (If Books Could Kill, 5-4 Podcasts)
Peter Shamshiri acts as a high-priest of what Jeffrey Alexander calls a purification ritual. He identifies the sacred values of the legal profession—neutrality, reason, and precedent—and argues that the current conservative majority has profaned them. By casting the Supreme Court … Continue reading
Posted in Podcasts
Comments Off on Decoding Peter Shamshiri (If Books Could Kill, 5-4 Podcasts)
Decoding Michael Hobbes (If Books Could Kill Podcast)
Per Alliance Theory: Michael Hobbes functions as a high-status auditor inside liberal media ecosystems. His core move is not to build a new moral coalition but to discipline existing ones. He polices what counts as legitimate evidence, acceptable moral panic, … Continue reading
Posted in Podcasts
Comments Off on Decoding Michael Hobbes (If Books Could Kill Podcast)
Decoding George Friedman
Written with AI: George Friedman through Alliance Theory looks less like a prophet of history and more like a disciplined alliance manager who sells reassurance to elites. Friedman’s core move is structural pessimism paired with elite optimism. He insists that … Continue reading
Posted in George Friedman
Comments Off on Decoding George Friedman
Decoding Michael Oren
Per Alliance Theory: Michael Oren is best understood as a bridge figure who thrives by translating between rival alliances rather than by dominating any single one. He begins as a credential maximizer. American born, Ivy trained, fluent in elite academic … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, Israel, Michael Oren
Comments Off on Decoding Michael Oren
Decoding The Supreme Court Ruling On Tariffs
Chief Justice John Roberts and five other justices just redefined the domestic alliance between the executive branch and its core supporters. David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory suggests that political beliefs and policies do not arise from abstract principles like free trade … Continue reading
Posted in Tariffs
Comments Off on Decoding The Supreme Court Ruling On Tariffs
Decoding American Values
Alliance Theory, as developed by David Pinsof, treats values as tools for building, policing, and advertising alliances. American values read cleanly through that lens. Freedom is alliance exit power. Americans moralize freedom because it keeps coalitions from hardening into inescapable … Continue reading
Posted in America
Comments Off on Decoding American Values
Decoding Jewish Values
Via David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory, “Jewish values” are not primarily abstract moral truths. They are coordination tools that help Jews signal ally-worthiness, regulate trust, and stabilize long-term coalitions under conditions of vulnerability and minority status. Start with the meta move. … Continue reading
Posted in Jews
Comments Off on Decoding Jewish Values
Decoding The Jeffrey Epstein Story
Alliance Theory treats the Epstein story less as a hunt for truth and more as a live exercise in alliance protection, alliance collapse, and symbolic purification. Start with Jeffrey Epstein himself. He was not powerful because of money alone. He … Continue reading
Posted in Jeffrey Epstein
Comments Off on Decoding The Jeffrey Epstein Story
Decoding The White House
Written with AI: David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory lens: treat the White House less like a “policy machine” and more like an alliance hub where people compete to be the President’s most valuable ally, while avoiding the fate of being tagged … Continue reading
Posted in America
Comments Off on Decoding The White House
Decoding The Wire (HBO)
Alliance Theory says morality is coalition management. People defend norms that protect their group. They punish defectors. They tell moral stories to hold alliances together. The Wire is what happens when every coalition protects itself at the expense of the … Continue reading
Posted in HBO
Comments Off on Decoding The Wire (HBO)