The Discourse Report: October 19, 2022

Welcome to DiscRep, Berny Belvedere’s daily guide to the public discourse. As always, here are 10 or so items. To discuss any of them, post a comment below.

Note: Today’s edition is free for all. If you’d like to receive DiscRep in your inbox every day, become a member.

—Recently, former BuzzFeed News EIC and New York Times media columnist Ben Smith launched a new news product called Semafor. It’s a site, first and foremost, but it’s also got a bunch of excellent newsletters in its lineup. I like what I see so far. Check it out here. And here’s a representative entry: David Weigel’s excellent write-up of how the political winds are blowing in Oregon.

—Today, Arc readers received Nicholas Grossman’s latest: “Saudi Arabia Broke the Bargain.” Grossman: “Unless the Saudis reverse course—with whatever face-saving measures make it work—the U.S. should begin removing security assistance.”

—In The Bulwark, Arc contributor Christian Schneider offers a thoughtful meditation on the value—and pull—of Twitter. “Before social media, you had to seek out laughs on your own. You could read a funny book or magazine, or go see a movie. You could call a friend or take them to dinner and guffaw all night. You could try to spend more time with the one person at work who made you chuckle.” But now? Now we have Twitter!

—Over at The Dispatch, Jonah Goldberg blasts Peter Thiel. “There’s just something weird about a billionaire libertarian with multiple passports—and a work-in-progress billet on a floating city—and who made his money in Big Tech, funding ‘nationalist’ candidates who rail against globalist elites.”

Axios @axios

✨ A new photo from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the Pillars of Creation — made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope — in vivid detail like never before. Just compare JWST's photo (left) to Hubble's 2014 version. trib.al/UwUhKIV

IEndorsePopehat @Popehat

Let’s talk for a moment about censorship, partisanship, and good and bad lawyering. This . . . was exceptionally bad lawyering. /1

Matt Pearce 🦅 @mattdpearce

For those who have asked: Early Sunday, @LALabor sent this legal threat trying to stop @latimes journalists from publishing the racist comments made by top L.A. officials inside federation offices. I’ve asked the federation whether it has changed its position on the leak itself. https://t.co/tEt6K5Ma5g

Greg Sargent @ThePlumLineGS

There is a very real anti-MAGA majority in this country. If it shows up, it can achieve big things. It delivered the most diverse House ever, ousted Trump and helped pass a historic climate bill. But the threat remains. We need that majority one more time.

washingtonpost.comOpinion | The mystery of the missing anti-MAGA majorityWhy the plight of Democrats elected in the 2018 anti-Trump wave is so frightening.

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman1

1. A case study in how journalists allow politicians to lie, ensuring that the more cynical a politician is, the greater the rewards for dishonesty will be, courtesy of Kevin McCarthy and @PunchbowlNews . Come with me...

Don Moynihan @donmoyn

TFW the speech is so free you don’t want anyone to hear it

Stephanie M. Lee @stephaniemlee

Stanford is hosting an Academic Freedom Conference next month. My request to attend has been denied: "We are not inviting the media to our conference in order to foment a more open discussion." https://t.co/Dv39lSp4mP https://t.co/IstLSdMKRF

Jesse Singal @jessesingal

If you disagree with my opinion that there is a major problem in liberal spaces when it comes to tolerating disagreement, I will attempt to destroy your career

Alex Muresianu @ahardtospell

Direct democracy, in theory: the voice of the people Direct democracy, in practice: the voice of people who really love meetings

IncognegroNeville 🇯🇲🇺🇸 @FormerlyCBM

CVS texts you more than I imagine a drug dealer would. Also, their receipts are a whole tree long.

Three Key Moments in Xi Jinping’s Monumental Rise to Power in China (The Wall Street Journal)

CCP Congress: What Will Xi Do Next? (The Economist)