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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:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
- California Historian Kevin Starr
- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
- Rod Dreher: A Life in Exile
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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)
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* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
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* 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)
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* 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: Saudis
Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
In 1984, a sixteen-year-old boy walked into a firefight in Tripoli, Lebanon. Bernard Haykel (b. 1968) survived by luck. His parents, a French-Lebanese surgeon raised in Guadeloupe and an American mother of Polish descent, had come to Lebanon on their … Continue reading
Ten Convenient Beliefs For Leaders Of Saudi Arabia Now
Stephen Turner’s convenient beliefs are working overtime in the royal palaces, the National Security Council chambers, and the Aramco strategy rooms right now. With the U.S.-Israeli campaign in its second month, Khamenei martyred, Iranian nuclear sites cratered, the IRGC reeling, … Continue reading
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The Jurisdictional Wars: Alliance Theory and the Battle for Saudi Arabia’s Master Institutions
Saudi Arabia does not present itself as a system of competing factions. It presents itself as a unified monarchy pursuing stability, religious legitimacy, and national transformation. But inside that unity is structured competition over authority, resources, and direction. High-status actors … Continue reading
Posted in Saudis
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The Dissident (2020)
I watched this silly 2020 documentary: “When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose … Continue reading
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Free Lunch At The Saudi Embassy
I hear the Saudi embassy on Sawtelle Blvd is offering a free catered kosher lunch today to rehabilitate their image. I admit I’m tempted. Still, not sure it is wise even though I left journalism a long time ago. From … Continue reading
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Seymour Hersh: Saudis Paid Pakistan to Hold bin Laden To Prevent U.S. Interrogation
Tyler Durden writes: In the aftermath of the most signifiant geopolitical event of my lifetime, the attacks of September 11,2001, the U.S. government proceeded to concoct a fairytale for public consumption in order to advance imperial ambitions overseas and a implement a … Continue reading
How US covered up Saudi role in 9/11
Paul Sperry writes: Case agents I’ve interviewed at the Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Washington and San Diego, the forward operating base for some of the Saudi hijackers, as well as detectives at the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department who … Continue reading
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Culver City King Fahad Mosque Played A Key Role In 9/11
I admire America’s tolerance of a fifth column in its midst. How come this mosque wasn’t knocked down and its leaders deported in the aftermath of 9/11? Because of the Constitution. Three cheers for tolerance! In a normal country, these … Continue reading
Posted in Islam, Los Angeles, Saudis, Terror
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How About Diversity For Saudi Arabia?
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If Jews Can’t Travel To Many Muslim Countries, Why Should Western Countries Allow In Muslims?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. It does not terribly bother me that Jews aren’t welcome in Saudi Arabia and about 15 other Muslim countries. We Jews should return the favor to Muslims and advocate restrictions … Continue reading