- 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:
- 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
- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
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: Ethics
Young Secular Americans Struggle To Think Morally
Dennis Prager writes: Last week, David Brooks of The New York Times wrote a column on an academic study concerning the nearly complete lack of a moral vocabulary among most American young people. Below are some excerpts from Brooks’ summary … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Ethics
Tagged cheating in school, david brooks, Dennis Prager, moral choices, moral dilemma, moral lives
Comments Off on Young Secular Americans Struggle To Think Morally
Self-Control in an Age of Excess By Daniel Akst
This book sounds like a great idea that is shoddily executed. The New York Times says: Mr. Akst’s attempt to touch on the whole web of influences on human behavior, however, leads him frequently to veer off the central subject … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged informal tone, laundry basket, name dropper, old farts, seat belt sign, shameless name
Comments Off on Self-Control in an Age of Excess By Daniel Akst
Yisroel Pensack: Some Thoughts on the Sentencing Hearing of Sholom Rubashkin
A sentencing hearing in the financial fraud case of former Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse manager and Lubavitcher chassid Sholom Rubashkin is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Wednesday) in federal court in Iowa. There is a concept in Judaism that each Shabbat “blesses,” … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Chabad, Ethics, Fraud, Judaism, Kashrut, Torah, Truth, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged animal slaughter, chillul Hashem, conduit for blessing, confession, egypt, federal court, Iowa, lubavitcher, lubavitcher rebbe, Pesach sheni, Rashi, sacrificing animals, second Passover, sentencing hearing, shabbat, Sholom Rubashkin, wages, weights and measures, yom kippur
Comments Off on Yisroel Pensack: Some Thoughts on the Sentencing Hearing of Sholom Rubashkin
The Mean Streets
I’ve walked down some mean streets in my life and met a lot of bad guys who frequently have keener insights into life than the good guys. People become good by having consideration for others. Take David Suissa for example. … Continue reading
Posted in David Suissa, Ethics, Personal
Tagged 24 jack bauer, heroin addiction, Jewish Journal, ramon salazar, sociology women, tv show 24
Comments Off on The Mean Streets
I Can’t Morally Justify Much Of What I Do
Much of what I do is based upon my feelings rather than upon God’s immutable moral law. I fear that I am letting down my commitments to Judaism and ethical monotheism. Much of my blogging is done by instinct. I … Continue reading
Posted in Dennis Prager, Ethics, Personal
Tagged 20th century artists, countless artists, Dennis Prager, ethical monotheism, fascism and nazism, sanitation worker
Comments Off on I Can’t Morally Justify Much Of What I Do
Orthodox Bludgers
Elliot Resnick writes an important Op/Ed in this week’s Jewish Press: Acquaintances of mine have told me point-blank – without a trace of embarrassment in their voices – that they live in Section 8 housing and buy groceries with food … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Ethics, Orthodoxy
Tagged anonymous donors, charity recipients, orthodox jews, section 8 housing, talmudic sages, welfare fraud
Comments Off on Orthodox Bludgers
The Predator
As I walked the mean streets of Pico-Robertson today, I felt weak, tired and vulnerable. I was exhausted. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to run my errands, to pick up my groceries, and to retreat … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, George Gilder, Personal
Tagged game theory, George Gilder, holy days, orthodox judaism, rational policy
Comments Off on The Predator
Environmentally Sensitive Less Likely To Be Ethically Sensitive
From The Guardian: When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home at the same time as lecturing on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to “green” type. According to … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Dennis Prager, Ethics, Green, R. Yosef Kanefsky
Tagged canadian psychologists, Dennis Prager, green consumers, honour system, organic baby food, virtuous acts
Comments Off on Environmentally Sensitive Less Likely To Be Ethically Sensitive
What’s The Moral Upshot Of Orthodox Judaism?
I’ve been asking Orthodox rabbis if simply knowing that someone was Orthodox told you anything about their ethics. The rabbis say no. What if you knew the person davened three times a day? Does that say anything about their ethics? … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics, Orthodoxy
Tagged business ethics, orthodox jewish life, orthodox jews, orthodox judaism, orthodox rabbis, orthodox shuls, religion and business
Comments Off on What’s The Moral Upshot Of Orthodox Judaism?
Aussie Blokes
I don’t know much. I never graduated from college or nothing. But I know about Aussie blokes. There’s this one Aussie bloke I know right well. He was raised a Sevie. You Yanks would call that a Seventh-Day Adventist. By … Continue reading
Posted in Australia, Dennis Prager, Ethics, Orthodoxy, Personal
Tagged aussie bloke, aussie blokes, Dennis Prager, frederick matthias alexander, orthodox judaism, seventh day adventist, sevie, voice amp
Comments Off on Aussie Blokes