"It's Horror All the Way Down"

"As for Miller's vision, it's horror all the way down. He's not looking to solve for this state of nature. He simply calls it 'the real world,' one whose anarchic rules America just needs to accept and use to its benefit. If Miller has read Hobbes, he's drawing the wrong lesson. Even if he might like the idea of Trump as the Leviathanlike authoritarian come to bring order to the chaos (and Miller's recent, and disputed, invocation of a president’s absolute 'plenary authority' would suggest that that’s the case), this is not how Trump understands his role; otherwise, he would be bolstering international institutions and multilateral relationships rather than trashing whatever and whoever does not serve his glory."

Gal Beckerman at The Atlantic writes about "the dog-eat-dog worldview of this administration."

And Rex Huppke at USA Today asks, "We're really doing another year of this?"

The Left Wing of the Possible?

"In recent polls, about 40 percent of Americans say they have a 'positive image' of socialism. A clear majority of people under 30 feel that way. But for most of them the term evokes what Mamdani and other social democrats who have actually managed to win elections try to achieve: a more secure life in a society that narrows class differences without preventing some individuals from becoming rich as long as they create products or services that ordinary people value. Four decades ago, the great social-democratic author Irving Howe described those 'socialists' who managed to gain influence in capitalist countries: 'They engage themselves with the needs of the moment, struggling for betterment in matters large and small, reforms major and modest: They do not sit and wait for the millennium.'"

At The New Republic, Michael Kazin says that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is "not a democratic socialist but a social democrat."

But Ruy Teixeira at The Liberal Patriot offers caution about "The Future of the Left in the 21st Century."

"Work Won't Love You Back"

"The wide appeal of entrepreneurialism also demonstrates its malleability. The former New Leftists who embraced entrepreneurship in founding organic grocery stores or alternative bookstores could feel secure that their businesses 'were simply "faithful and uncluttered expressions of yourself,"' Baker writes, even as they, too, became bosses demanding more and more of their workers. On the other end of the political spectrum, the Amway founders Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel preached a New Right language of 'family values' by promising that their direct-sales model would bring families closer together, as in the idealized mom-and-pop shops of yore. Deindustrialization and high levels of unemployment did much to undermine what was left of industriousness as a work ethic in the 1970s and ’80s, but the appeal of entrepreneurialism to both the New Right and the New Left positioned it not just as the heir apparent but as a new logic for organizing society overall.

Nick Juravich at The Nation reviews Erik Baker's Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America.

"Fascism Is the Banal Dream of Tiny Men and Deserves Its Place in the Sewage of History"

"Self-described socialists have made many mistakes. Some of these have been brutally tragic and ruthlessly genocidal. Authoritarian socialists like Stalin committed mass atrocities that serve as a chilling reminder of the horrors that can be inflicted by those mouthing well meaning platitudes.. But the ethical core of socialism remains inspiring because, in sharp contrast to fascism, it makes far greater demands of us. Socialists want a world where, even if everyone won't be happy, ordinary human misery will replace unnecessary suffering. This is a goal that is so ethically demanding we've yet to fully build a society that realizes it. Despite all the bombast about heroism and power, in the end fascism resonates because it appeals to our lowest instincts. It is so tempting to imagine one's self a dispossessed racial aristocrat, in part because that makes it so much easier to push aside all ethical demands that get in the way of our greed and lust for power. Fascists strive impotently for a bigness the shrunken aspirations of their soul can never reach."

Matt McManus at Current Affairs explains "Why Fascists Always Come for the Socialists First."

"Also Serves as a Reminder of the Need for a Wider Lens When Thinking About Enslavement and Freedom Throughout the Americas Today"

"Slavery shaped the Americas for four centuries, blighting the entire hemisphere. The long struggle to dismantle it did not happen only in the U.S. or only in the South; in fact, in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Brazil it continued for decades after the U.S. Civil War. Simple narratives such as 'California banned slavery at its founding' and 'slavery ended in 1865' obscure much of its connection to this larger story. What happened to California illuminates the unevenness of abolition and the many false promises of freedom. It also serves as a reminder of the need for a wider lens when thinking about enslavement and freedom throughout the Americas today."

Carrie Gibson at the Los Angeles Times discusses slavery in California.

"The 'Putinization of US Foreign Policy'"

"Trump's fear of foreign wars seems to be waning. He was clearly thrilled by the drama of the Maduro operation, and the efficiency of the American soldiers who carried it out. For an ageing president, growing more petulant, irascible and incoherent with every day in office–facing diminishing popularity and desperate to distract attention from the Epstein child-trafficking scandal–a tightening embrace of military power is an ominous development."

Julian Borger at The Guardian reacts to Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela.

As does Jan-Werner Müller.

As does Mona Charen at The Bulwark.

2025 Favorites

The Late Adopter selects...

Albums:

Mavis Staples--Sad and Beautiful World (Anti-) 

Tom Meighan--Roadrunner (Townsend) 

Curtis Harding--Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt (Anti-)

Royel Otis--Hickey (Capitol)  

Wet Leg--Moisturizer (Domino) 

Kendrick Lamar--GNX (Interscope)

Dropkick Murphys--For the People (Dummy Luck) 

Franz Ferdinand--The Human Fear (Domino)  

Stereolab--Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic)

Paul Weller--Find El Dorado (Parlophone)

Songs:

Mavis Staples--'Sad and Beautiful World'

Tom Meighan--'Silver Linings'

Curtis Harding--'There She Goes'

Royel Otis--'Car'

Kendrick Lamar--'Squabble Up'   

Wet Leg--'Liquidize'

Tame Impala--'My Old Ways'

Chills--'Dolphins'

Hives--'The Hives Forever, Forever the Hives'

Paul Weller--'White Line Fever'

December 2025 Acquisitions

Books:
Charles Ardai et al, Heat Seeker: Combustion Vol. 2, 2025.
Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, 1847, 1996.
David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, 2021.

EC Epitaphs from the Abyss Vol. 1, 2025.

What's the Story: The Little Guide to Oasis, 2025.

Movies:
To Be or Not to Be, 1942.

Music:
Bangs & Talbot, Back to Business, 2022.
Buckingham Nicks, Buckingham Nicks, 1973, 2025.
Mavericks, 20th Century Masters--The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Mavericks, 2001.
Various, Praise Be! Boarding The Gospel Train, In Thrall of The Lord Lux and Ivy Dig the God-Fearing Nation, 2025.

"Revolutions Are Overrated"

"At an unsettling moment in world affairs when the tectonic plates are shifting (to recycle another melodramatic cliche), it's important to stay grounded, to maintain perspective. As 2026 trepidatiously creeps through the door, nursing hangovers from the tumultuous year just ending, try counting the continuities and bridges rather than dwelling on earthquakes and chasms."

Simon Tisdall at The Guardian argues that "[i]n history's bigger picture, Trump is a blotch, an unsightly smear on the canvas."

And Mona Charen at The Bulwark writes that "Somebody Needs to Tell Trump Everybody Is Laughing at Him."

"The Public Wants to See Something Bold"

"It's an argument that began in the progressive wing but is increasingly finding purchase across the party: Be proudly, loudly, without reservations, anti-AI. It's not enough, these pollsters, consultants and elected officials say, to caution, minimally regulate and signal a friendly stance toward tech companies building AI. There is a massive, growing opportunity for Democrats to tap into rising anxiety, fear and anger about the havoc AI could wreak in people's lives, they say, on issues from energy affordability to large-scale job losses, and channel it toward a populist movement—and not doing it, or not doing it strongly enough, will hurt the party."

Calder McHugh at Politico discusses options for Democrats regarding the politics of technology.

And God Created Bardot

The Guardian reports the death of Brigitte Bardot.

"The Goddess of Go-Go"

"Now she lives alone in 'a wonderful house in Los Angeles' with her five cats and her dance studio next door. She still teaches students, judges street dance competitions globally and is regarded as a legend in the field. And she still hears Mickey echoing through the culture: in movies (most recently Die My Love), and in songs by the likes of Run DMC (It's Tricky), Gwen Stefani (Hollaback Girl), Taylor Swift (Shake It Off), Charli xcx (Speed Drive) and, most recently, Blackpink singer Ros'’s hit single with Bruno Mars, Apt. 'It's kind of an anthem now. Here in America, if you're a little cheerleader, you're dancing to it.'"

Steve Rose at The Guardian talks with Toni Basil.

"Welcome to the Death of Higher Education"

"The real tragedy isn't that students use ChatGPT to do their course work. It's that universities are teaching everyone—students, faculty, administrators—to stop thinking. We're outsourcing discernment. Students graduate fluent in prompting, but illiterate in judgment; faculty teach but aren't allowed the freedom to educate; and universities, eager to appear innovative, dismantle the very practices that made them worthy of the name. We are approaching educational bankruptcy: degrees without learning, teaching without understanding, institutions without purpose."

Ronald Purser at Current Affairs says that "AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself."

Sweet Neo Cons

"Today, roughly 70 percent of Americans say they don't believe in the American dream. That loss of faith is like a giant bomb detonated in the middle of our society, robbing us of our central, unifying vision. Absent that shared vision of possibility, people revert to a tribal, us-versus-them morality. If the ghosts of the original neocons have anything to tell us about specific policy choices, it's that we need to do what we can to expand social mobility and restore faith in the American dream."

David Brooks at The Atlantic argues that "[t]he neocons were right."

While Chris Ryan at Tangentially Speaking asks, "Just How Cynical is David Brooks?"

November 2025 Acquisitions

Books:
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, The Knives, 2025.
R.K. Gordon, Beowulf, 1992.
Robert Inchausti (Ed.), The Pocket Thomas Merton, 2017.
Nicole Johnson, Pirates of the Caribbean, 2023.
Ziauddin Sardar and Borin Van Loon, Introducing Cultural Studies: A Graphic Guide, 2010.

Movies:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977.
Clueless, 1995.
Ferris Bueler's Day Off, 1986.
Hairspray/Pecker, 2001.
The Harder They Come, 1972.

Music:
Ivy, Traces of You, 2025.
Spinal Tap, The End Continues, 2025.
Mavis Staples, Sad and Beautiful World, 2025
Tame Impala, Deadbeat, 2025.

"All Id and No Superego"

"Sociologists and political scientists have long been aware of the effects of ressentiment on entire nations, not least because it is often a red flag: a marker of a society ripe for decay into authoritarianism. And that is where the danger lies in the juvenility and coarseness among both the Trump elite and its most loyal supporters, some of whom treat grave issues of national and even global importance as little more than raw material for mean-spirited jokes and obscene memes. This shallow behavior leads to a deadening of the moral and civic spirit that undergirds democracy." 

Tom Nichols at The Atlantic calls the Trump administration "A Confederacy of Toddlers."

And Ed Kilgore at New York writes about "5 excuses MAGA makes for its toddler president."