- 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: Journalism
Calm Comes From Insulation, Not Wisdom
Tiers are situational. A corporate executive may react as high tier on foreign policy but low tier on cultural change if their social world feels exposed. A tenured professor may be high tier on climate but mid tier on AI … Continue reading
Posted in Elites, Iran, Journalism
Comments Off on Calm Comes From Insulation, Not Wisdom
Why Is The MSM So Infatuated With James Talarico?
Per Alliance Theory: The mainstream media’s fascination with James Talarico follows a predictable pattern of Status Signaling. Talarico is the ultimate “Sweetie” character for a liberal establishment that is currently locked in a “Meany” struggle over the role of religion … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, Journalism, Texas
Comments Off on Why Is The MSM So Infatuated With James Talarico?
Who Can Narrate?
David Pinsof, along with David O. Sears and Martie G. Haselton, introduced the Alliance Theory of Political Belief Systems in their 2023 paper “Strange Bedfellows” (Psychological Inquiry). The core argument is that political belief systems are not primarily coherent philosophies … Continue reading
Posted in Elites, Expertise, Journalism, Narrative
Comments Off on Who Can Narrate?
The High Status See Hypocrisy As An Acceptable Tradeoff
Those with mid status see strain as confusion. Those low in status see contradiction as injustice. High status actors think in precedent and reputation. Their clock runs long. Mid status actors think in compliance and consequence. Their clock runs medium. … Continue reading
Posted in Elites, Journalism, Status
Comments Off on The High Status See Hypocrisy As An Acceptable Tradeoff
NYT: Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn’t See Coming Was Trump.
Peter Baker writes: “A new set of oral history interviews documents how Barack Obama and his advisers missed the shifting mood of the country that would ultimately replace him with a successor they considered a “con man,” “clown” and “laughingstock.”” … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, America, Journalism
Comments Off on NYT: Obama Took On Recession, Health Care and Iraq. What He Didn’t See Coming Was Trump.
Decoding Paul Sperry
ChatGPT says: Through Alliance Theory, Paul Sperry is best understood as a counter-elite exposure specialist whose primary function is to raise the reputational cost of belonging to progressive institutional coalitions. Sperry’s work is not persuasion in the classical sense. It … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
Comments Off on Decoding Paul Sperry
Decoding Ronen Bergman
ChatGPT says: Ronen Bergman is best decoded, through Alliance Theory, as a sanctioned exposer whose job is to discipline a security coalition without delegitimizing it. Start with Pinsof’s premise. Moral narratives regulate alliances by deciding when rule breaking is tolerable … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Journalism
Comments Off on Decoding Ronen Bergman
Decoding Haaretz
ChatGPT says: Haaretz is best decoded, through Alliance Theory, as an elite moral coordination hub whose primary function is to anchor Israel’s liberal intelligentsia inside Western transnational alliances even when domestic politics move against them. Start with Pinsof’s premise. Moral … Continue reading
Posted in Israel, Journalism
Comments Off on Decoding Haaretz
Decoding Amit Sigal
ChatGPT says: Amit Segal is best decoded, through Alliance Theory, as a narrative power broker whose primary function is to make right wing coalition dominance feel normal, procedural, and democratically legitimate. Start with Pinsof’s premise. Political narratives coordinate alliances by … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
Comments Off on Decoding Amit Sigal
Decoding Nadav Eyal
Written with AI: Journalist Nadav Eyal, the foreign news editor for Israel’s Channel 13, is best decoded, through Alliance Theory, as an internal alarmist whose role is to warn a governing coalition that its alliance structure is eroding before collapse … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
Comments Off on Decoding Nadav Eyal