One like = one book recommendation (will likely be nonfiction, often niche)

This is an obsession of mine - a huge pathology of the press is coverage suggesting that politicians who are less skilled performers are somehow less "authentic"

Me on Romney coverage in CJR: www.cjr.org/united_state...

Me on Hillary Clinton coverage in The Upshot:
www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/u...

Netanyahu and this government are doing permanent damage to Israel’s international standing. open.substack.com/pub/jstreetd...

I always forget to post Gift Links! Thanks, Hussain.

Here it is: the 10 best TV shows I watched this year.

I know everyone thinks we should teach more STEM but maybe we should teach basic economics

It’s pretty clear that we’re past the tipping point. Network effects are powerful.

Threads misread the market. People didn’t want Insta w/ Words. They wanted a Twitter replacement.

Harris did events w Cheney in MI, WI, PA; anyone claiming that Cheney hurt her has to explain why those states swung ~3 points LESS to the right than the country as a whole. I have serious critiques of Cheney’s work on the J6 committee but the argument that she dragged down Dems just doesn’t hold up

Swing voters/independents on average are LESS informed and follow things less closely. Many don't even know who Liz Cheney is. The idea that it mattered one way or the other to them -as opposed to a small number of agitated extremely online types - is implausible.

Starter packs are genius, but I was surprised there wasn't a list of them for people to find.

So I built it:
blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...

The website monitors the packs being shared and adds the ones it finds to the database.

Missed your stater pack? Message me and I'll get it added.

The best(s) of the year!

www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/m...

A Murdered Israeli Filmmaker’s Prophetic Warning, in “The Boy” www.newyorker.com/culture/scre...

Chandler Bing was my favorite. Matthew Perry was a genius at knowing exactly how to deliver a line to generate the most possible laughs. I hate that he's gone, and tried to capture what made him great:

This week is like Christmas for great Taylor writing

Reminder that if you see disturbing or traumatic images, playing Tetris as soon as possible afterwards can help the brain cleanse itself, and lessen the impacts of it longer term.

No, I'm not kidding. And no one knows how or why it works. But it DOES work, and I encourage you to remember it.

I wrote about Taylor Swift, Stop Making Sense, and the future of movies.

Swung into the podcast studio today to guest-host an episode of Vox’s The Gray Area, starring the brilliant Walt Hickey, about his next book and everything we get wrong about Hollywood and why humans are amazing. I love this book. Pod coming soon.

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/walte...

It was a real thrill to talk to Michael Phillips about Opposable Thumbs in the Chicago Tribune. I gotta get a print copy.

This is not exactly that, since I think it's only for the last 24 hours, but the "Best of Follows" feed will give you the most liked/reposted recent content from the people you follow, which is great if you're not always on here to see it all.