The Florida governor is concocting a successful political recipe that can take him and the GOP’s hateful vision back to the White House — If you want a sneak preview of how the GOP will use the culture wars to establish minority rule for their radicalized and weaponized base then you need to pay attention to Florida under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Ivy-league educated elitist governor of the sunshine state has…

No, and Jonathan Haidt’s big new Atlantic essay about social media’s damaging effects couldn’t be more wrong about what ails us — Jonathan Haidt, the New York University social psychologist and author of the bestselling book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, has been on a tear for a while about the negative effects of online social media. Three years ago in The Atlantic, he and…

A night with a bunch o’ comedy bros, talking about Louis C.K. — Editor’s note: This story contains a description of physical and sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers. Being a comedian is fun. You get to laugh. You get to spend time making jokes. You get to meet funny women and men who aren’t afraid to say what they…

Propublica continues to mine the IRS Files. — Last June, Propublica announced that it was in possession of leaked IRS files detailing the tax affairs of America’s richest people, and that the IRS Files showed that taxes are — as Leona Helmsley famously quipped — for the little people: https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/15/guillotines-and-taxes/#carried-interest The initial reporting described how, for example, private…

The road to public safety is paved with good intentions — On Tuesday, April 12th, a man wearing a gas mask “set off smoke grenades in a crowded subway” Brooklyn, New York. Then, he opened fire, injuring at least 23 people during their morning commute. According to officers, the gunmen left some things behind, a “Glock 9-millimeter handgun, three ammunition magazines…

Looks like John Oliver is trending across the internet today because he is holding hostage the personal data of some click-happy members of Congress. Twitter has lit up in praise of the stunt. Well done, good sir. Hollywood and Washington, DC, have always been strange bed fellows. In the popular…

The GOP is labeling every queer or trans person a ‘groomer’ — and childhood sexual abuse survivors will pay the price — For the past week, I’ve been watching as the entire GOP strategy for the midterms slowly consolidates around the claim that existing as a trans or queer person makes one a danger to children; a sexual threat; a pedophile; a “groomer.” The first hints of this strategy began with Florida’s…