Discontents

Discontents Newsletter
Essays and journalism about where we're at and where we're going, from some of your favorite writers and podcasters on the left.
Created 22 Jun 2020
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  • Let's Go Manchin
    20 Dec 2021 • 11 min read • 8 0
    West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s declaration Sunday that he is a “no” on President Joe Biden’s signature social spending Build Back Better bill has infuriated progressives and liberals alike. Manchin’...
  • The Global Policeman Turns Off His Body Camera
    13 Dec 2021 • 9 min read • 8 0
    NYPD Sergeant Joseph Freer demonstrates how to use and operate a body camera on Dec. 3, 2014 in New York City. Andrew Burton, via Getty Images. When a U.S. special operations targeting unit known as T...
  • Bordered up
    06 Dec 2021 • 11 min read • 8 0
    Border Patrol drone in the San Diego sector (Jonathan Cutrer/Flickr) As of this morning, the Biden administration has quietly restarted the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as Remain in Mexico...
  • Who Must Be A Terrorist, And Who Can Never Be
    29 Nov 2021 • 5 min read • 8 0
    Lauren Boebert wears a 'Make America Great Again' hat as she leaves the U.S. Capitol on September 29, 2021 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer, via Getty Sorry to any of you Muslims who got offended just ...
  • This doesn’t have to be every writer for themselves
    22 Nov 2021 • 14 min read • 6 0
    As many have pointed out, newslettering can be a solitary business that, sure, provides a lot of freedoms unavailable to journalists working at traditional publications, but also deprives many of us o...
  • Justice Is for The Bad Guys
    15 Nov 2021 • 15 min read • 9 0
    Back in June, during a session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressperson Ilhan Omar (D-MN) asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken a pointed question about international justice. Given th...
  • The whitest climate conference ever
    08 Nov 2021 • 12 min read • 7 0
    Hello there, Discontents. It’s a particularly important time for the climate right now as international climate talks continue in Glasgow, Scotland. But don’t worry: your designated Climate Person is ...
  • Dune and the end of empire
    01 Nov 2021 • 10 min read • 11 0
    You can feel the Forever War all over Dennis Villeneuve's adaptation of Dune (2021). The film's pandemic-delayed release has it arriving as a formal cultural footnote to the longest overseas war waged...
  • What if we made the internet a pyramid scheme?
    25 Oct 2021 • 10 min read • 9 0
    Hi. I’m Max Read, and last week I started a newsletter called Read Max, which clever readers will note is a pun based on my last name. The newsletter is about the future, more or less, in all senses o...
  • If he had been the leader the media portrayed him as
    18 Oct 2021 • 11 min read • 7 1
    'Childhood of Christ', c1620, Gerrit van Honthorst I typically try not to let the culture war sniping of the week serve as my assignment editor, but the utterly dumb fuck “debate” about paternity leav...
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