When he’s right, he’s right

by liberal japonicus I have to admit this was my first thought after seeing the opening of this Guardian piece “What the fuck are you doing?” the US president shouted at the Israeli prime minister during the phone call on Monday, according to Axios, a US website that has frequently published reports on high-level conversations … Read more

Adam Tooze and the Polycrisis

by liberal japonicus I’ve mentioned before that I’m taken with Adam Tooze, and I want to share this speech he made at Simon Fraser University about a month ago. It takes place at a particular moment in time, he mentions that he was flying into Vancouver as Trump was declaring that “A whole civilization will … Read more

The quiet grief of adult friendship

Something totally non-political (I think, though I’m sure someone will prove me wrong), but I thought this piece, an essay from someone I’ve never read, was insightful. Here is the final graf. Despite impossible schedules and emotional fatigue, some friends continue returning. They send memes during meetings. They remember your important dates. They call you … Read more

What’s wrong with liberalism?

by liberal japonicus I’d start off by noting that depending on the way you read the title, you can fit any perspective. The jumping off point for this is Ezra Klein’s podcast with Helena Rosenblatt, the author of The Lost History of Liberalism. (transcript here)The book is quite interesting and is a general audience book … Read more

Rue Britannia!

by liberal japonicus If you are singing along at home, it should be ‘Britannia rues the knaves!’ Suggestions for the second line gratefully accepted. Anyway, a post to discuss the shitshow in the UK. I’m taking the liberty of lifting up some comments because I can’t bear to write something that would require me to … Read more

Sauve qui peut!

by liberal japonicus A phrase prompted by Adam Tooze’s discussion of Incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Woo, boy, we are screwed is my primary takeaway. A couple of points. Warsh is rich. Scrooge McDuck rich. He’s going to be the richest Fed chair and as this Forbes article points out, he’s married to a billionaire … Read more

It’s a beautiful day to save lives

by liberal japonicus I’m subjecting y’all to a McDreamy quote, rather than point you to the latest David Brooks outrage (tentatively titled It’s funny what gets left out), or the Adam Tooze discussion of Fed Chair replacement candidate (tentative title Sauve qui peut!), here’s something a little less dire: This Hard Fork interview about AI … Read more

Just call me Laocoön

by liberal japonicus 9-11 happened for us in Japan in the evening and I remember thinking that we depended on things being relatively frictionless: travelling to other countries, trade, almost everything that was not solely local required things to smoothly roll along and because of that, we were screwed because a handful of people could … Read more