The Last Time There Was a Craze About UFOs and Aliens
Daniel Gullotta on aliens as a cultural phenomenon.
Leading The Bulwark…
The Last Time There Was a Craze About UFOs and Aliens
DANIEL N. GULLOTTA: The academics and other figures who helped make alien abductions a major cultural phenomenon in the 1990s.
🎧 On the Pods… 🎧
Geoffrey Skelley: Who Wants Bipartisanship?
On today's Bulwark Podcast, Geoffrey Skelley joins Charlie Sykes to dissect the Virginia and New Jersey primaries, President Biden's approval rating, ranked choice voting, and whether or not voters truly care about bipartisan outcomes.
For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
MORNING SHOTS: The Senate Whiffs on January 6 🔐
CHARLIE SYKES: A test on norms and the "rule of law."
THE TRIAD: Inflation, Capitalism, and Lies 🔐
JVL: Just another day in an America in decline.
TNL Live! 🔐
Live from The Bulwark office, a very special episode! (And yes, that picture is blurry on purpose. You have to join B+ to see it and listen in!)
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
Trump is sabotaging the GOP’s Senate prospects – Josh Kraushaar, National Journal
Sidney Powell, Who Denied That Her Wacky Election Conspiracy Claims Were Statements of Fact, Now Says She Will Prove They Were True – Jacob Sullum, Reason Magazine
Whitehouse and Kennedy request Supreme Court travel records – Todd Ruger, Roll Call
Florida Rep. Val Demings officially enters Senate race against Rubio – Max Greenwood, The Hill
Biden disliked Putin before it was cool – Nahal Toosi, Politico
Brooks’s claim that counting the votes of ‘eligible American citizens’ would have reelected Trump – Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post
Ciattarelli Defeats Trump Loyalists in G.O.P. Primary to Take on Murphy – Tracey Tully, The New York Times
In Today’s Bulwark...
Five Surprising Things Biden Should Discuss During His European Trip
SHAY KHATIRI: Europe is stuck in the post-Cold War era, but Russia has moved on. The president should set the stage for the new age.
Why Do American ‘Postliberals’ Swoon Over Viktor Orbán?
DALIBOR ROHAC: Rod Dreher, the American orbánistas, and the art of cherry-picking.
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
Hope you enjoy the special TNL Live! Podcast… It was fun to catch up with everyone in the office yesterday. It was good to catch up with old friends and meet some people who, due to the pandemic, we never got to meet. Right after I sent yesterday’s Overtime, a longtime reader and B+ member sent me a note because she was so happy to hear we were getting together.
I hadn’t sat at my assigned spot since Feburary, 2020, and one of the things on my desk was a nice handwritten card from this reader, who had kindly sent us a Starbucks gift card for the office.
It got me thinking: This was long before we even launched Bulwark+, which debuted in September of last year. We’re only here because of your generous support, either financially or morally, even if we don’t always disagree. So, thank you.
I’m heating up some of my West Side Market pizza bagels for the kids for dinner, and I’m excited to taste a bit of my youth (albeit expensive!) For those who were drawn to support The Pizza Bagel Lady and buy some, I hope you enjoy them soon. Let me know what you think!
While we’re talking about food… Remember when Red M&M’s disappeared and the sorts of urban legends that came as a result of it? Read this at Mental Floss.
Reviewing The Swedish Chef’s new restaurant… In The New Yorker:
I was so distracted by my attempts to decipher the menu that I failed to notice that our chef was clutching an antique hunting rifle, chasing a chicken around the dining room, feathers flying. Before he knew it, the chicken had taken control of the firearm, and our chef sought shelter inside the barrel of what I had presumed to be a purely decorative, eighteenth-century naval cannon. The chicken lit the fuse and our chef exploded onto the hostess stand.
To say that the chicken was delivered to us undercooked would be an understatement. It was alive. In fact, it was pumping its feathered fist in celebration.
Movies I’m keeping my eye on… Invasion with Sam Neill, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. I’m not a discerning critic like our colleague Sonny Bunch. In fact, some may say I have bad taste in movies. Many people are saying that. But, I’ve never gotten to go to Alamo Cinema and Draft House, and I am glad they weren’t killed off in the pandemic, and there’s one just down the block. These are two flicks I think I’d want to go see!
The Keystone XL Pipeline is dead. As is the infrastructure bill, the John Lewis voting rights legislation, among others. Buckle up. Not much legislating is going to be done between now and November, 2022.
The curious rise of Yashar Ali… A worthwhile read at LA Magazine.
Milo found Jesus, the Catholic Church, and… The Turner Diaries?
All he needs to do now is write a knock off version under his own name, and maybe he’ll be given the ability to guest host shows on the Salem Radio Network?
Ohio is not sending their best… This woman should be stopped from working in the medical field.
And from yesterday:
A challenge for my old friend Josh:
She’s absolutely nuts. But if Josh takes her COVID advice seriously, he should be willing to trust her with his primary medical care, right?
The final stages of the con… Writing in The Ordinary Times, Michael Siegel argues:
Everything was simple under Trump, as it is with any con man or any religious cult, for that matter. He cut through the chaotic noise of modern life with simple bromides. Worried about illegal immigrants? Build a wall. Worried about crime? Unleash the police. Worried too many people are in jail? Reform criminal justice and never mind that this is incompatible with your “tough on crime” rhetoric. Economy not so good? Cut taxes and raise tariffs. Worried that other countries might surpass us? Make good deals. Iran sucks? Cancel the nuclear deal. In short, do the opposite of whatever Democrats have done. It was, after all, Democrats that ruined the country3. So, the opposite of their evil must be good.
Read the whole thing.
More from McGahn is coming…
That’s it for me for today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow. Tech support questions? Email support@substack.com. Questions for me? Drop me a line: swift@thebulwark.com
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.