Tessera

Caleb Crain@calebcrain.bsky.social · last wk.

100 percent agree. I also think that what a lot of people appreciated about her honest opinion was that in a criticism-starved culture, someone in her position will too often hold her tongue. There‘s something thrilling about seeing someone exercise such critical freedom.

I’ve been waiting for the print edition to read The Review (I am an old), but my principle here is that if a reviewer isn’t free to give her honest opinion of a work of art, what freedom worth having still exists in the world? Gratitude and ingratitude are just terms for social control here.

Hamed Aleaziz@haleaziz.bsky.social · last wk.

“Interviews with more than a dozen immigration attorneys, advocacy organizations and an airline employee reveal a broad cross-section of targets: an engineer awaiting a work-visa extension, several newlyweds married to U.S. citizens, and a former au pair.”

NEW: The Trump administration has begun arresting foreign citizens with expired visas as they travel through airports, according to documents obtained by The Times and interviews with lawyers — a tactic that opens up a vast new pool of people for deportation. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/u...

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · last wk.

Yes. I've seen complaints that Wilson is too mean, given that Nolan plugged her translation and clearly cares about the arts. But there's lots to be said for her critical ruthlessness. Let people enjoy things. Also let people critique things. There's room for both.

I enjoyed the movie, because its good middlebrow entertainment and I am basically a middlebrow person. But I also massively enjoy the absolute indifference Wilson brings to being nice to Nolan's work, even after he plugged her translation.

EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · last wk.

"I was humbled to learn that Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of The Odyssey into iambic pentameter.... But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script."

I wrote about the Nolan Odyssey for the LRB. I'll summarize some of my main points below, in case you don't feel like reading all that. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 2w ago

On the "shadow tradition" of anti-egalitarian thought in American history - gift link to @jenszalai.bsky.social review of Kim Phillips-Fein's new book. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/b...

The Men Who Believed Some Men Are More Equal Than Others

nytimes.com

Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · 4w ago

Reading about Platner and the connection between (perceived) "masculinity" and (perceived) "authenticity," and realizing that exactly 10 years ago today I published an essay on why the obsession with choosing the "authentic" politician often leads us astray.

What Makes a Politician ‘Authentic’? (Published 2016)

nytimes.com

Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · 4w ago

Dreher manifesting the Upton Sinclair quote about how difficult it is to get someone to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

Jan-Werner Mueller@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 4w ago

Orban made a good investment: Still cleverly working in all the talking points: everyone in Central Europe is corrupt, so nothing special about Orban; Soros wanted to hijack the government, so understandable that a university had to be expelled from the country; no more free speech in Europe etc.

Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · last mo.

I'm really glad you brought this up, because the fact that Americans pay into Social Security is part of
what makes it an "entitlement.
What's striking is how the word "entitlement" — which is defined as the legal right to a particular claim or benefit — has taken on a pejorative connotation. Now we often emphasize that someone "feels" entitled to something, or "acts" entitled, instead of stating plainly that
the person "is," by law, entitled to it. (Why this has happened could the
subject for an entire essay!)

@maddogcurler.bsky.social · last mo.

Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements! We paid for them!

Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · last mo.

If the comments are any indication, the campaign to turn the word “entitlement” — a factual assertion of a legal claim — into a pejorative has been remarkably successful. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/b...

Are Old People Ruining American Democracy?

nytimes.com

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · last mo.

I really believe James Talarico and some other Dems, like Jon Ossoff, are developing a new kind of moral language and politics for the era of Late Stage Trumpism. Case made below. (discussing work by @jenszalai.bsky.social) newrepublic.com/article/2125...

Jennifer Szalai @jenszalai.bsky.social · last mo.

On the long history of liberal debates over virtue and morality, and how mainstream liberals are reclaiming the language of values in the Trump era: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/b...

Liberals Are Preaching Moral Values. What Took Them So Long?

nytimes.com

Sarah Jones@sarahjones.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Smart and scathing review of a book that’s supposed to be about the author’s humble faith journey but is inadvertently revealing of his worldly ambition and self-regard.

Happy Sunday. I took JD Vance to church. nymag.com/intelligence...

SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️@skwinnicki.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Remembering the Liz Truss Lettuce — the Brits are v good at this

Both totally unnecessary and extremely funny that the Guardian has an interactive graphic for you to change the color of the US flag's blue to the color of the Reflecting Pool from 8 to 19 June and counting

Screenshot of the article's graphic, showing color swatches derived from the Earthcam archive, illustration the color of the reflecting pool calibrated against satellite imagery, from 8 June to 19 June 2026. I chose yesterday, 19 June, so it rendered the US American flag with a green hue instead of blue.

Hipster Sasquatch, trapped on the planet of the nepo babies@hipstersasquatch.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New folktale for our time: “The President’s New Pool”

All personal connections aside, I think the single biggest reason I am currently so obsessed with the Reflecting Pool debacle is that it's such a simple failure, with a straightforward cause, and Trump can't argue his way out of something so blatant to the eyes of anyone who looks at it.

Immigrant who criticized a Trump-endorsed presidential candidate in his home country of Colombia was detained after returning to his home in the U.S.: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/u...

Memo by Rubio Approved Detention of Immigrant Who Criticized Trump Ally

nytimes.com

Observer beaten by ICE, shackled to a hospital bed for days, said he wanted to call his lawyer and his wife, was refused, so he used his foot to knock the landline handset out of the cradle:

Dictatorships don't need to be staffed by ideological zealots; they just need to incentivize "frustrated and mediocre" opportunists who will follow orders to get ahead. New piece by Amanda Taub on important research by Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/w...

Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.

nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/b...

David Ryan Miller@davidryanmiller.com · 3mo ago

Personal pet take: The best monocausal explanation of how we got from 1/6 to now is that Mitch McConnell didn't have the courage to put party before country just once and banish Donald Trump from elected office forever. bsky.app/profile/davi...

Congrats to Brian Goldstone, who won the Pulitzer in Nonfiction for his profoundly moving and important book, "There Is No Place for Us."

Working While Homeless: In America, It’s All Too Common (Published 2025)

nytimes.com