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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
Publishing In Conservative vs Liberal Media
Sam Kahn writes: To break into conservative media, in my experience, you basically just need to pitch. (I think one of the magazines reached out to me on Substack.) The editing experience has been pleasant and the ethos is to … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism
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The Tendencies Of The Elite MSM
ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory starts from a blunt premise. Humans are coalition builders first and truth seekers second. Status, access, and survival inside groups drive behavior. Apply that to elite mainstream media and a lot snaps into focus. Elite MSM … Continue reading
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The Mark Halperin Trajectory
ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory would read Mark Halperin’s career as a clean case of elite alliance rupture followed by partial reintegration as a utility actor. Not a morality story. A coalition story. Halperin’s rise came from perfect elite fit Halperin … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Mark Halperin
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Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind
ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory would say the title is doing coalition work more than descriptive work. “Hated by All the Right People” is a status signal. It tells the reader which alliance the author belongs to and which alliance he … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Tucker Carlson
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The New York Times Sells Elite Alliance Coordination
ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory says the New York Times is not mainly selling information. It is selling elite alliance coordination. Its real product is not news. Its product is: Legitimacy Moral framing Status signaling Rival mapping Boundary enforcement Who the … Continue reading
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National Review Struggles To Stay Relevant In The Age Of Trump
Alliance Theory would see National Review as the elite-coordination organ of an old conservative super-alliance that lost its mass base and then struggled to remain relevant once the coalition it helped build realigned around populism. Its original role. NR was … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, National Review
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The Fox News Trajectory
Alliance Theory would see Fox News not as a media company that “shifted right,” but as an alliance organ that evolved as the Republican coalition itself was reconfigured, and that now survives by continually renegotiating its position inside a volatile … Continue reading
Posted in Fox, Journalism
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Why Do Intellectuals Confuse Stated Motives With Real Motives?
David Pinsof wrote Dec. 15, 2025: A lot of intellectuals confuse our stated motives with our actual motives. They confuse our words with our deeds. It’s like mistaking Starbucks’ mission statement—“inspiring and nurturing the human spirit, one person, one cup, … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Status
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American Epistemics
Written with help from Gemini: The concept of “no-fly zones” in social discourse refers to the informal but powerful taboos that prevent open critique of specific groups. This creates tension between the protection of minority communities and the epistemic health … Continue reading
Posted in America, Crime, Epistemics, Health, Journalism
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The Filkins Pivot: Legacy Prestige and the Fracturing of the Chattering Class (1-16-26)
01:00 The Chattering Class Is Losing Their War On Reality, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=16629006:00 A New Iranian Revolution? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm6Ohi5fwM416:00 Why So Many Unattractive Women Are Posting Their Sad and Bizarre Anti-ICE Videos, with Adam Carolla, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyu0pARK–M40:00 A Strongly Identifying In-Group Requires An Enemy, … Continue reading
Posted in America, Journalism
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