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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: Addiction
Stepping Back Into Church
I’m a preacher’s kid. I grew up in Seventh-Day Adventist churches. Then I left all that at age 18 and became an atheist for a few years and then converted to Orthodox Judaism. For the past four years, I’ve been … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Christianity, Personal
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Our Life Scripts
Therapist Rinda Hall says: “We recreate our deepest childhood wounds in our relationships. Our life scripts have set the scene. Unconsciously, we employ other people to recreate the pain we suffered growing up. If you were abandoned, you set the … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction
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The Fear Inventory
Here are my notes and musings from Tuesday night’s Fourth Step workshop with HerbK: Resentment is the biological survival instinct of anger. Fear is the biological survival instinct of survival. Dishonesty is the biological survival instinct of freezing and hiding. … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Narcissism
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A 12-Step Review From An Orthodox Jew
I took a normie to a 12-step workshop last night. He later messaged me: “So here’s my review of the meeting. I likened it to going to shul. We had the silent prayer (Amidah), followed by announcements (too lengthy), about … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction
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The First Step Is The Hardest
The following are the original twelve steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Made a … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction
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You Can Often Sense Somebody’s Recovery Level By Their Body Language
For more than four years, I have been going to 12-step rooms for my various emotional addictions. I’ve noticed that you can usually tell where someone is in his recovery by his body language. Those in the throes of addiction … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Alexander Technique, Personal
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The Set Aside Prayer As A Fast Track To Resetting Yourself
The fastest way I know to reset my physiology is to let go of all of my beliefs for a few seconds. When I do that (often by picturing myself as a cheetah on the savannah looking for prey), I … Continue reading
Posted in Addiction, Alexander Technique
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Reworking The Twelve Steps
My previous efforts. Step One. Admit that I am powerless over my addictions. I am powerless over my desires for attention, nurturing, beauty, and power. I am powerless over my debting and under-earning and under-achieving and under-being. I am powerless … Continue reading
A Jew In Inglewood
Amy Dresner writes: My first night in Inglewood, I hugged a crackhead. Let me explain. I headed to 7-11 for a late-night snack snoop because I have no curfew now and can do whatever the fuck I want whenever I … Continue reading
Men Who Fear Women
Camille Paglia says: We are formed by all kinds of strange or vague memories from childhood. That kind of understanding is needed to see that Cosby was involved in a symbiotic, push-pull thing with his wife, where he went out … Continue reading