The Democrats Are Falling Into a Trap on Immigration Again by Pedro Gerson

Another election year, another cycle of Democrats cravenly acquiescing to the fear-mongering of the right. Same as it ever was. Of course, the media is culpable, too. Even the most responsible journalists default to the Republicans’ preferred terminology and refer to the current situation with immigration as a crisis, despite the fact that, as Pedro Gerson persuasively demonstrates in this piece, it is demonstrably, measurably not. What problems do exist around the influx of people are attributable to a general erosion of social services as municipalities funnel money away from schools, libraries, and support agencies to buy lethal toys and stock the overtime funds for law enforcement. This article is published by Slate.

Hiding And Seeking With The New York Times by David Roth

Writing for Defector, David Roth astutely, correctly chastises The New York Times for their aggressive coverage of the manufactured scandals targeting Claudine Gay, the distinguished academic who was forced out of the top post at Harvard by a concerted smear campaign. As Roth details, the most esteemed newspaper in the nation was fed a stream of salacious garbage by right-wing provocateurs, reported it all as if it had been offered in good faith, and then marveled at the momentum of the story as if they weren’t the primary reason, as they eventually put it, “newspaper articles about Dr. Gay and the board kept coming.” Our household subscribes to the Times, and I value so much of what they do. Their stunning mishandling of this situation, however, has been absolutely infuriating.

The Fraud That Made President Trump by Andrew Rice

At this stage in one amoral grifter’s prolonged assault on the republic, this is the only sort of article that should be written about him. No more write-ups that pretend anything he says about issues of the day are reflective of policy choices, no more quotes from blindly allegiant voters, no more opinion polls, and no more parroting of his cheap, bigoted, Nazi-quoting provocations. It’s already been proven in court that his company defrauded banks and tax collectors; the ongoing trial is simply to settle how much money will be paid in restitution and whether the organization will be forcibly prevented from conducting more of its sure-to-be-illegal business. Andrew Rice does it right in this article, treating a proven criminal like a criminal. This piece is published by Intelligencer, which is part of New York magazine’s online presence.