Opinions is now on sale and would make a wonderful holiday gift.
Our December book club selection is Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter. We will be in conversation with Lindsay on December 20th, and registration is open.
Israel “mistakenly” killed three Israeli hostages because they misidentified them. The hostages had a white flag, the universal symbol for peaceful surrender. With each passing day, the tragedy compounds.
CNN entered Gaza for the first time without an Israeli military escort. The reporting is, as you might expect, grim.
Masha Gessen was set to win a Hannah Arendt prize in Germany but they canceled the event because of Gessen’s essay about Gaza. The absurdity of GERMANY of all places, rescinding an award from a Jewish person that is named for a Jewish woman who coined the phrase “the banality of evil,” when talking about the Holocaust.
RIP Andre Braugher, who was such a singular talent as an actor.
An interesting review of Zadie Smith’s new novel The Fraud. I’m currently reading it and as always, with Smith, I admire the ambition. She is always trying such interesting things on the page. But I don’t love the book. I’m not sure I even like it.
A Modern Love essay about being disinherited.
The Texas woman who was prevented from getting an abortion had to leave the state to get adequate healthcare. And now we know about her private life when it is no one’s business. This was always where the anti-abortion movement was going and now we are here and we see, incontrovertibly, that the pro-life movement doesn’t give a damn about life.
That writer, Cait Corrain, who wrote negative reviews of the books of her peers on Goodreads, has lost her agent and book deal. SMH. It’s amazing how people will sabotage themselves. And so stupidly. What was she thinking? How did she think this would help her in any way?
An inside look at luxury wedding planning. Quite a fun piece.
Netflix will be sharing viewership data twice a year. The first report is out.
Harvard is standing behind its president, as they well should. Yes, I am biased but I am also right. The road ahead will be difficult, but I am confident that President Gay will lead the university forward and work to make sure ALL students feel safe and welcome at Harvard.
Important question: Do elephants have souls?
An overly long look at the New York Times from a disgruntled former employee.
Bryan Johnson, the billionaire who is making himself look pallid and older but claims he is making himself look and be younger by spending $2 million a year on snake oil and also electrocuting his penis three times a week, is also an asshole in relationships. Shocking.
A jury of his peers found Jonathan Majors guilty on multiple counts and Marvel promptly dropped him as Kang the Conqueror. The trial really showed us a lot about who Majors is. I hope there is a way for him to rehabilitate and repair the harm he has caused.
Melvin Haynes in Minneapolis has been exonerated after a wrongful conviction for a 2005 murder.
This story of three people who murdered a young mother after torturing her for months is just… it is tragic. It is beyond tragic.
We know politicians lie but I must say I am surprised by what a complete asshole liar John Fetterman has turned out to be. The way he campaigned as a progressive and is now saying he is not a progressive despite AMPLE evidence of him saying the contrary is quite something. And then the media valorizes this nonsense by calling him a maverick. He is not a maverick. He is a charlatan and a liar who has let down his constituents. Professional Democrats really… are truly fucked for 2024, for multiple reasons, and they don’t even realize it yet.
Homelessness is at an all time high. In the wealthiest country in the world.
An Ohio woman had a miscarriage and was arrested for abuse of a corpse which is to say that elections do matter even if we only have to choose between lousy and abysmal.
The mother of the six-year-old who shot his teacher has been sentenced to two years in prison.
A conversation with Erika Alexander. A profile of Tananarive Due.
The L.A. coroner says Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine.
In better news, Rudy Giuliani will have to pay $148 million for all his bullshit.
The most anticipated books of 2024.
Prince Harry won another court case against the British tabloids.
I enjoyed this interpretation of the Nutcracker Suite. Whimsical and unique.
Gina Prince-Bythewood is going to direct the film adaptation of the book Children of Blood and Bone. I absolutely loved that novel so I am excited to see how she interprets the novel into film.
Writer Lauren Groff is opening a bookstore in Gainesville, FL.
What happens to the internet purchases we return?
The 2023 Blacklist has been released. And not really related, but the 2023 Golden Globe nominations are out.
RM and V from BTS will be starting their two years of military service.
RE the Harvard issue....the issue is that Harvard explicitly DIDN'T provide a "safe space" for Jewish students, and the president of the school clearly waffled on saying if actual real death threats were bad, in an age where a perceived "microaggression" can get you fired. It's yet another case of "not for you if you're a Jew." The absolutely stunning silence of "progressive" women's groups (including the UN -- another anti-Israel criticism machine and little more at this point) when faced with reels of evidence of sexual violence against Jewish women by Hamas terrorists is also telling. The Jewish population of America has always been there for just about every major Civil Rights movement in the country. Now that we need some support, crickets, absolute crickets. And, there is absolutely no reason why Jewish donors shouldn't pull their donations if they want to. Remember, that even though we are a tiny portion of the population, being Jewish was never seen as qualifying as a "minority" for financial aid, diversity purposes, etc. I found that out when I was applying for colleges back in the day, even though we were broke due to my parents' divorce. I was finally able to give to Cornell, my alma mater, last year. Then I got to see a professor tell a mob chanting "from the river to the sea" (you DO know what that means, yes?) how he found the mass murder, rape, and kidnapping of Jewish kids at a rave was "exhilarating." Then of course said professor walked it back and claimed that he *checks notes* identified with Jewish people because oppression something something and we should all just forget what he said and took a "voluntary" leave of absence when he realized that his cushy job was in danger. So, this year, I wrote to the alum office instead and let them know that even though my donation would have been a small one -- I'm not rolling in it -- I didn't want one cent of any money that I earned going to his salary. Jews have never had a good time on Ivy campuses -- when I went there, there were no kosher dining options, no regular worship space for the High Holidays (we got some space in one of the academic halls instead every year), and groups like Cornell Campus Crusade for Christ (ugh) were allowed to hand out New Testaments to people going to Kol Nidre and otherwise harass us. I'd thought we'd made progress but apparently not. The whole thing has really made me question what "allyship" and "intersectionality" really looks like.
That Gaza video made me cry and I DO NOT CRY! I did not cry when I got diagnosed with breast cancer (I'm good now). I've tweeted to the edge of what I think I can get away with as a Black woman academic. I wish there was more I could do!