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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:
- 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
Why You Should Believe Your Eyes, Not Elite Descriptions
Elite institutions routinely advance narratives that clash with what people can see and feel. This happens when official data, approved language, or moral framing require citizens to discount their own sensory experience to remain socially compliant. The result is not … Continue reading
Posted in America, Elites, Epistemics, Journalism
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Populist vs Elitist Moral Signalling
Animals signal. People signal. We all signal. Why? Because signalling is adaptive and virtue signalling is virtuous. ChatGPT says: Elite moral signaling is procedural and sanitizing. It produces roles, committees, standards, funding streams, and a public performance of care. It … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Bondi Beach, Elites, Ethics, Islam, Journalism, Populism
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SMH: I’m Jewish. I live in Bondi. But I take no comfort from Herzog’s visit
David Leser writes for the Sydney Morning Herald: October 7 and its aftermath created an unprecedented catastrophe for the Palestinian nation-in-waiting, but it also created a moral and spiritual catastrophe for the Jewish people in terms of our relationship to … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Jews, Journalism
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Why Does The MSM Render Some Explosive Events As Bland And Boring As Possible?
I notice that when there are dramatic news events that might work against the interests of elites, the MSM work overtime to render the explosive as bland as possible. I’m thinking about the horrors at Waco and Ruby Ridge, and … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Journalism
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Decoding Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegel wrote this long piece for Tabletmag published on Nov. 29, 2016: “The Alt-Right’s Jewish Godfather: How Paul Gottfried—willing or reluctant—became the mentor of Richard Spencer and a philosophical lodestone for white nationalists” Like most Jacob Siegel pieces, it … Continue reading
Posted in Jacob Siegel, Journalism
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Worse Than Watergate
In my post on Watergate, ChatGPT said: Why other scandals don’t become Watergate Many later presidents survived worse conduct. The difference is alliance cohesion. When elites close ranks, scandals are reframed as partisan attacks or procedural disputes. Watergate became “Watergate” … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, America, Journalism
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Why Is The New York Times Profitable And The Washington Post Is Not?
Alliance Theory suggests that the survival of an institution like a newspaper depends on its ability to serve as a coordination tool for a powerful alliance. Media outlets do not simply sell information. They sell the ability for a specific … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
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Decoding American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders & Danny Casolaro
Netflix released a four-part documentary series called American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders in 2024 about Danny Casolaro and the mysterious circumstances of his death while investigating a sprawling conspiracy narrative he called “The Octopus.” The series follows filmmakers and a … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
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Decoding Gary Webb’s 1996 Dark Alliance Series
Gary Webb was an American investigative reporter best known for his 1996 “Dark Alliance” series in the San Jose Mercury News linking a Los Angeles cocaine network to Nicaraguan Contras and suggesting ties to the CIA. His reporting drew fierce … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
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Washington Post Layoffs Represent A Professional Managerial Class (PMC) Losing Power
Carlos Lozada writes in the NYT an elegy for the Washington Post. ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory reads this essay less as a lament about journalism than as a coalition document written at the moment an alliance loses power. What Lozada … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Washington Post
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