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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: Los Angeles
Power Players In LA’s Orthodox Judaism
Gemini says: Power players in Los Angeles Orthodox Judaism operate through a complex network of rabbinic authority, educational leadership, and deep-pocketed philanthropy. Influence here often flows through the specific corridors of the Pico-Robertson, Hancock Park, and Valley Village neighborhoods. Rabbinic … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles, R. Avrohom Union
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The Prestige Economy vs The Pragmatic Economy
Gemini says: David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory suggests that systems maintain stability through “focal points” for coordination. The 20th-century focal point was the Credentialed Alliance—a network where status was gated by elite degrees, institutional pedigree, and moral conformity. Today, that system … Continue reading
Posted in California, Economics, Los Angeles
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Decoding Taylor Sheridan
Gemini says: The rise of Taylor Sheridan is a textbook case of an actor-turned-creator using “coordination intelligence” to build a parallel power structure that bypasses the traditional Hollywood gatekeepers. In David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory, status is not just a personal … Continue reading
Posted in California, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Taylor Sheridan, Texas
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LAT: Cedars-Sinai didn’t act on four decades of complaints about gynecologist’s sexual abuse, lawsuits allege
The Los Angeles Times reports: Hundreds of former patients have accused Barry Brock of sexually abusing them while they were in his care. More than a dozen say that Cedars-Sinai personnel ignored their complaints, according to lawsuits. Cedars-Sinai terminated Brock’s … Continue reading
Posted in Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, UCLA, USC
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Decoding USC
Under David Pinsof’s Alliance Theory, USC is best understood as Southern California’s private-sector power broker university. Its role is not to define moral truth, like UCLA often tries to do, but to convert proximity to power into prestige, money, and … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Los Angeles, USC
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Why Do So Many Dissident Right Movements Bloom In Southern California?
Southern California accelerates dissident right formation because it collapses the distance between symbolic power and everyday life. In most regions, elite ideology is abstract. In Los Angeles, it is enforced by HR departments, school boards, streaming platforms, licensing regimes, and … Continue reading
Posted in California, Los Angeles
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California’s Homeless Fraud
The conversation between Adam Carolla and Benny Johnson provides a structural critique of California’s institutional failure. Here are the primary timestamps and thematic breakdowns of their discussion. 01:02 – The Betrayal of the Palisades Johnson describes his visit to the … Continue reading
Posted in Adam Carolla, California, Homeless, Los Angeles
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Destabilizing Truths That Might Rock LA
Gemini says: Los Angeles serves as a primary hub for the ruling triumvirate of the Democratic Party, big tech, and academia. Because the city functions as a global center for cultural and moral production, it maintains a high-status environment where … Continue reading
Posted in Journalism, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times
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The Chris Dorner Manhunt
ProPublica named the two Customs and Border Protection agents who shot Alex Pretti. Here is ProPublica’s justification: “The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, … Continue reading
Posted in Los Angeles
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Hatred Scales Fast
David Pinsof notes: “Hatred is designed to detect negative correlations between our biological fitness and someone else’s.” According to the The Neutralization Theory of Hatred: Hatred is triggered by cues that an individual’s existence causes fitness decrements for the hater. … Continue reading
Posted in America, Anti-Semitism, Blacks, Honor, India, Los Angeles
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