It’s been one of those weeks where I have to wonder which news stories are supposed to distract me from which other news stories, and whether I’ve taken the bait. But OK, I largely fell down the Epstein rabbit hole this week, watching the twists and turns that last night finally caused Trump himself to urge House Republicans to vote to release the files.
To balance that, I was also reading a book of long-term significance: Paper Girl by Beth Macy. Macy returned to her small Ohio hometown asking how easy it would be for a present-day Beth Macy to escape small-town poverty and build a professional-class life for herself. Along the way, she uncovered a lot about the roots of MAGA in the White working class and the sources of our present polarization.
The featured post will go into the lessons I learned from Macy’s book. It should be out between 10 and 11 EST.
The weekly summary will go into this week’s Epstein developments, with an eye to whether they show Trump’s bid for autocracy faltering. I’ll also discuss the aftermath of the government shutdown, what’s been going on in Chicago and Charlotte, the week’s legal news, and a few other things. I hope to get that out about noon or slightly after.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
You wrote, “It’s been one of those weeks where I have to wonder which news stories are supposed to distract me from which other news stories, and whether I’ve taken the bait.”
My bet is that the stories you are to be distracted from involve the establishment of an authoritarian, Christofascist empire. You and I have not always agreed on everything, but I remain thinking your Weeklysift is very much worth reading. Thanks.
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