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"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:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
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- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
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- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
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- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
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- * 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)
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* 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)
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Category Archives: Buddhism
Decoding The West’s Infatuation With Buddhism
ChatGPT says: The West’s infatuation with Buddhism is not a conversion pattern. It is a low-cost status and identity accessory. Western societies already have dense institutions, legal systems, and moral languages. They do not need Buddhism to coordinate behavior or … Continue reading
‘The Limits Of Eastern Wisdom’
Will Storr writes: “Buddhism is a status game. The better the monks play at the game of Buddhism, the higher they climb, the greater their rewards. The reason we don’t think of it as a status game is because of … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism
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LAT Reporter Named ‘Bengali’ Critical Of Buddhist Monk Critical Of Bengalis
Shashank Bengali writes for the Los Angeles Times: He’s been described as the “Buddhist Bin Laden,” but Ashin Wirathu thinks he has more in common with the world’s most famous fictional spy. “James Bond is a nationalist,” the cherub-faced monk … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: Leonard Cohen Should Have Been In Shul For Rosh Hashanah
The next time you want to persuade your friends or your kids to go to shul on Rosh Hashanah, you can tell them what happened to singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen on Friday. According to a Reuters report in The New York … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged concert, Leonard Cohen, rosh hashanah, Spain
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Searching For The Big O
This sounds a lot like morning services at my yoga center: At 7 a.m. each day, as the rest of America is eating Cheerios or trying to face gridlock without hyperventilating, about a dozen women, naked from the waist down, … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Orthodoxy, Rabbis, San Francisco, Sex
Tagged dozen women, hyperventilating, jewish couples, orthodox jew, orthodox judaism, sexual adventure, venerable history, waist down, yoga center, zen community
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