- 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:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
- Julius Krein
- Ryan Burge: The Numbers Man in the Empty Church
- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
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)
Category Archives: Australia
The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australian History
Historian Geoffrey Blainey writes in the 2001 edition: * The wide ocean parting Australia and Europe impeded the export of Australian commodities. The same wide ocean was also a barrier to the migration of people from Europe. Whereas one powerful … Continue reading
Posted in Australia
Comments Off on The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australian History
Compulsive Viewing: The Inside Story Of Packer’s Nine Network
Here are some highlights from this 2000 book by Gerald Stone about Australia’s leading TV network of the time: * What does it take to become a television star? Performers may look like they are speaking directly to you — … Continue reading
Before I Forget By Geoffrey Blainey
Here are some highlights from this 2019 memoir by the great Australian historian: * When I was old enough to read the handwritten labels on the jam, I realised, to my amazement, the existence of adults who could not spell. … Continue reading
Posted in Australia
Comments Off on Before I Forget By Geoffrey Blainey
Who Killed Channel 9?: The Death of Kerry Packer’s Mighty TV Dream Machine
Here are some highlights from this 2008 book by Gerald Stone about Australia’s formerly dominant TV network: * The Golden Age of Australian television. You could say it began the first moment viewers spotted the rich yellow hue glinting in … Continue reading
Posted in Australia
Comments Off on Who Killed Channel 9?: The Death of Kerry Packer’s Mighty TV Dream Machine
Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
From The Guardian May 13, 2020: Alan Jones: end for the shock-jock whose views on women, race and climate pandered to his tiny audience Fifteen years ago, when broadcaster Alan Jones was at the height of his career, media academic … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Homosexuality
Comments Off on Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones
LAT: White supremacism in Australia, long a virulent strain, is amplified by the Internet
Robyn Dixon writes: Australian far-right extremists often call themselves NEET — not in employment, education or training — and condemn “ruthless elites” and intellectuals. Many of them blame Jews for non-white immigration. One Melbourne-based group known as the Dingoes runs … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Nationalism
Comments Off on LAT: White supremacism in Australia, long a virulent strain, is amplified by the Internet
Theater Thursday: The Death Of Stalin (2017)
MP3: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593/theater-thursday-the-death-of-stalin * Steve Sailer on The Death of Stalin. More. * Millennial Couple Bikes Near ISIS Territory to Prove ‘Humans Are Kind’ and Gets Killed * Full text: Senator Fraser Anning’s maiden speech * How Trump Radicalized ICE * … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Hollywood, Immigration
Comments Off on Theater Thursday: The Death Of Stalin (2017)
NYT: Is Australia’s Media Too Prudish for a Sex Scandal?
Amelia Lester writes in the New York Times: Barnaby Joyce was probably the last politician average Australians would expect to be embroiled in a sex scandal. A comparison to Mike Pence isn’t so far-fetched: They’re both second in charge of … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Journalism
Comments Off on NYT: Is Australia’s Media Too Prudish for a Sex Scandal?
The Hottest Bird On The Planet
At the end of the Austalian ABC miniseries on the Easybeats, the manager says: “Our little Jehovah’s Witness [Dick Diamonde] just bagged the hottest bird on the planet.” According to Wikipedia: “By October 1969 the Easybeats had disbanded and according … Continue reading
Posted in Australia
Comments Off on The Hottest Bird On The Planet
The Guardian: ‘The rise of antisemitism in Australia has a distinctly American tone’
The Guardian: A few years ago, I sat in the office of a rabbi in Perth discussing the state of the local Jewish community. The rabbi spoke with effusive pride at the academic success of the city’s Jewish high school, … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-Semitism, Australia
Comments Off on The Guardian: ‘The rise of antisemitism in Australia has a distinctly American tone’