Cynical slop and post-ironic trolling is everywhere—and it’s distorting not just politics and culture, but how we communicate, Charlie Warzel argues.
Author: Jim
****** NYTimes.com: The Infrastructure of Jeffrey Epstein’s Power
The Infrastructure of Jeffrey Epstein’s Power
The journalist Anand Giridharadas examines the power and influence that Jeffrey Epstein brokered and that the latest batch of Epstein files puts on display.
****** Five Basic Truths About America’s Most Polarizing Policy Debate
If lawmakers want to implement immigration policy that’s both popular and in the nation’s best interest, they need to acknowledge these five basic truths, Conor Friedersdorf argues:
******* Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine
Facebook isn’t just having a bad week, or month, or year, or decade. It’s doing exactly what it was built for, @AdrienneLaF writes.
****** People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much
Regulation alone won’t fix the social web, @ibogost writes. But limiting how much people can talk on it could.
****** [The Washington Post] The ‘one-legged stools’ holding up a fragile economy
The U.S. economy is growing, but its reliance on a few industries, including health care and consumer spending, raises concerns about its fragility.
NYTimes: I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants.
I’m the Prime Minister of Spain. This Is Why the West Needs Migrants. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/opinion/spain-migrants-europe.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
NYTimes: Where Is A.I. Taking Us? Eight Leading Thinkers Share Their Visions.
Where Is A.I. Taking Us? Eight Leading Thinkers Share Their Visions. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/02/opinion/ai-future-leading-thinkers-survey.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JFA.oqSP.KJuK2gv10u_S&smid=nytcore-android-share
How Crypto Is Used for Political Corruption
In the new episode of “Autocracy in America,” Molly White talks to Anne Applebaum about how the crypto industry is shaping our politics and facilitating corruption within our government. Listen:
The Levers Trump Isn’t Using
Trump has “worked around the formal powers of the presidency more than through them, and his goal often seems to have been not so much to govern as to show force,” Yuval Levin argues: