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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:
- 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
The Rise Of India
Ross Douthat’s latest episode uses this header: “Why the next 30 years belong to India.” I’m not as bullish on India as many experts because the average IQ in India is only about 82. I don’t know how you overcome … Continue reading
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The Jeffrey Epstein Hysteria Rages On
Written with AI: The arrest of Prince Andrew marks a shift in how the state handles figures once considered untouchable. I wonder if moral hysteria drives these legal actions rather than objective standards? History tells us that public outcry often … Continue reading
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Jonah Goldberg Wants Us To Know Who’s Serious
Jonah Goldberg writes in the LAT: Marco Rubio is the only adult left in the room Finally free from the demands of being Chief Archivist of the United States, Secretary of State, National Security Advisor and unofficial Viceroy of Venezuela, … Continue reading
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Decoding Rabbi Hershel Schachter
Written with AI: Per Alliance Theory: Rabbi Hershel Schachter is the Rav’s authority pipeline turned into a living office. Schachter is the most successful executor of Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s posthumous power. He is not a charismatic innovator. He is a … Continue reading
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Decoding Apocalypse Now (1979)
Alliance Theory reads Apocalypse Now as a story about alliance breakdown, not madness or morality. The U.S. military alliance is bureaucratic, procedural, and reputation managed. It survives by rules, paperwork, and plausible narratives. It kills, but it insists on process … Continue reading
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Decoding Israel’s Chief Rabbinate
Written with AI: The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is a state-backed monopoly alliance enforcer whose power comes from legal compulsion rather than persuasion, trust, or charisma. Its authority is structural and coercive. The Rabbinate controls marriage, divorce, conversion, burial, kashrut, … Continue reading
Decoding Rabbi Chaim Druckman
Written with AI: Rabbi Chaim Druckman was a movement architect whose personal authority faded with his death but whose alliance infrastructure continued to operate. Druckman’s power was never primarily halachic or bureaucratic. It was organizational and formative. He helped build … Continue reading
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Decoding Rabbi Yehuda Deri
Rabbi Yehuda Deri. Shas aligned. Regional authority with national political relevance. Written with AI: Alliance Theory: Rabbi Yehuda Deri was a regional alliance enforcer whose authority scales upward through party integration. His base of power was local and jurisdictional. As … Continue reading
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Decoding Rabbi Shlomo Amar
Rabbi Shlomo Amar. Still influential through networks, courts, and appointments. Operates as a free agent power broker. Israeli Orthodox power is split three ways. The Chief Rabbinate controls legal status. Haredi poskim control compliance inside their communities. Religious Zionist rabbis … Continue reading
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Decoding Rabbi Dov Lior
Rabbi Dov Lior. Symbolic authority on the nationalist right. Influence through moral sanction rather than institutional control. Written with AI: Rabbi Dov Lior is a symbolic sanctioning authority whose power lies in moral permission rather than institutional command. Lior does … Continue reading
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