Not so long ago, Liz Cheney was being presented as “a new thought leader for the GOP” and even the second coming of Margaret Thatcher. As Donald Trump continued to spread wild lies about the 2020 election, political reporters upheld Cheney as a voice of reason and a beacon around which “principled” Republicans could gather.
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In the last several years, the fossil fuel industry has tried to paint itself as being on a smooth path toward a clean energy future. Its members are (allegedly) standing by, ready to join the fight for the planet as invaluable partners in building a better tomorrow. “Our industry is essential to supplying energy that makes life modern, healthier and better,” the American Petroleum Institute wrote recently in its Climate Action Framework, “while doing so in ways that tackle the climate challenge.”... Читать дальше...
No one ever believed that reality television was totally real. Thirty-one days before The Real World premiered on MTV in 1992—a one-off about eight young strangers living together in a New York City apartment that ignited the entire genre—a New York Times critic sneered that “when television programmers talk about reality, prepare for a classic lesson in language debasement.” In 2000, the year Survivor debuted, Time reported that reality shows were “edited” and that “subjects adopt false faces,”... Читать дальше...
When Republicans began reformulating their tax philosophy in the late 1970s, they looked to their party’s policies in the 1920s for inspiration. I remember Jude Wanniski, the late conservative journalist, telling me that he knew nothing about Republican tax cuts in the 1920s until he read about them in Herb Stein’s 1969 book, The Fiscal Revolution in America. Today, Democrats may also find inspiration in economic debates of the 1920s—this one about whether underconsumption has slowed the rate of economic growth. Читать дальше...
In March, federal agents raided the Beverly Hills premises of a company called U.S. Private Vaults. According to a subsequent grand jury indictment, U.S. Private Vaults was a money laundering operation where drug dealers and others could anonymously stash fentanyl, guns, and “huge stacks of $100 bills” in safe deposit boxes. U.S. Private Vaults didn’t really bother to hide its business, boasting in ads, “We don’t even want to know your name.” It also shared its strip mall storefront with Gold Business... Читать дальше...
