vol. 1 issue 35

Greetings,

I am writing amidst the vibe of the new normal: the 7th military helicopter of the day (that I am aware of) has just buzzed by. It’s still early enough that I am sure to see at least another three before I break for lunch, and more after that.

But that’s not why I am writing you. Here are two quick reads for you to enjoy during your own lunch, which hopefully will not feature helicopters. Unless you’re a pilot, which I know is true for at least two of my subscribers.

The first is a piece in the Los Angeles Times about the Brentwood fires. It’s a snapshot of workers, all Latinos, who were not aware that their employers had been evacuated. Here’s my own observation after reading the piece: if you’re poor, the fear of not having enough money outweighs the fear of danger or even death.

Feel free to share with me what you conclude after reading it.

The second piece is from syndicated conservative columnist Michael Gerson. If you don’t habitually read him, I urge you to add him to your newsfeed. He appears in the Washington Post twice a week, which is where I find him.

Whoah! There goes number 8!

As I was saying, Gerson is the kind of guy I would pick in that game where people ask you, Which person, living or dead, would you like to have at your dinner table? He is a clear thinker, tolerant, observant, and a compelling writer. He is good at finding ironies, so my guess is that he probably has a good sense of humor, too.

What I have been observing

9th!

is that increasingly, the hypocrisy of the Right, and in particular, the Evangelical Right has slid far beyond “do as I say, not as I do” and straight into lunacy. Gerson, himself a Christian, uses the data from the just released American Values Survey 2019 to
prove this point and add some spot on insights as well. If you have a moment to check out the survey itself, it’s worth a look. It’s published by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Spoiler alert: Gerson sees Millennials as a godsend.

Happy munching. More tomorrow if you’re a regular subscriber, and other benefits to come for premium subscribers like outtakes from interviews with Socialist economist and The New Statesman commentator Grace Blakeley and others, and even a whole podcast exclusive on Millennials and their views on religion.

Whitney

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