The Return of Earmarks
James Capretta on why they're coming back.
Leading The Bulwark…
The Return of Earmarks
JAMES C. CAPRETTA: Long synonymous with pork-barrel spending, earmarks were eliminated a decade ago. Here’s why they’re coming back.
🎧 On the Pods… 🎧
Peter Wehner on Threats to Democracy
On today’s Bulwark podcast, Peter Wehner joins Charlie Sykes to discuss his most recent item: The GOP Is a Grave Threat to American Democracy.
For Bulwark+ Members… 🔐
MORNING SHOTS: Romney Asks the Right Question 🔓
CHARLIE SYKES on why the GOP isn’t embarrassed to love that former guy.
THE TRIAD: The COVID Culture War Will Never End 🔓
JVL: Pandemics end; culture wars are forever.
WEEKEND SHOTS: Our Weekend Mailbag
From The Bulwark Aggregator…
Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe – Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times
Biden’s tax-and-spend agenda will alienate affluent swing voters – Josh Kraushaar, National Journal
The political right has lost its policy mojo – Andy Smarick, The Dallas Morning News
How the reddening of Missouri has shaped both parties’ 2022 Senate primary – Jeff Smith, The Missouri Independent
Millions Are Saying No to the Vaccines. What Are They Thinking? – Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
Lessons From the Disaster of Zoom Teaching – Mariel Norris, Current Affairs
Black man enslaved by White restaurant manager should be awarded more than $500,000, court says – Lateshia Beachum, The Washington Post
In Today’s Bulwark...
Lin Wood Is Just Asking Questions
TIM MILLER:Inside the most insane Republican state party fight in America.
What Are the Classics For?
ALEXANDRA HUDSON: Some on the left are turning against them. Some on the right are oversimplifying them. How should we think about—and learn from—great classical works of literature and philosophy?
🚨OVERTIME 🚨
World Press Freedom Day. A minor ask of you, dear reader. When people like Austin Tice are missing (since 2012) take a moment to think of the reporters risking their lives to bring you the story. Like Marie Colvin, Jamal Khashoggi, and others. A friend of mine from college is a war photographer, and while I sit in a nice home office and edit podcasts, write and edit newsletters, many in our industry are out there risking their lives to tell you what is going on.
Remember:
Knowing empowers us.
Knowing helps us decide.
Knowing keeps us free.
If you’re in a place to support a journalistic entity that you’ve been on the bubble on, please do it.
Kentucky Colonels. Thanks to the generosity of one of our members, I have now been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel, an honorific from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In an email conversation, Kentucky politics (where I briefly worked) came up and I mentioned I was sad I was never able to become one. Think of Colonel Sanders. And thanks to one of our members, it happened. The certificate has a place of honor in my office and maybe you’ll see it on a TNB call sometime soon.
Europe should be wary of Biden’s cuddly capitalism… Dalibor Rohac, writing in the Spectator:
While Europeans should hope the Biden administration can heal America’s divisions, they should think twice before cheering on his expansive welfare state agenda. In more ways than one, the world benefits from an America that is somewhat rugged and with a relatively austere federal government – as opposed to a scaled-up version of Denmark.
The “Sage of The Simpsons”… The first major interview with John Schwartzwelder.
I guess it runs in the family?
Throwback: Flynn’s sister botches God Bless America.
Life finds a way… In Hawaii, people are renting U-Hauls because rental cars are hard to come by.
Speaking of odd forms of travel… Here’s a great VICE documentary on the “death of the American Hobo.”
When I was in college, I pitched my fraternity brothers on hitching a westward train from downtown St. Louis back to campus. Smartly, nobody thought this was a good idea. (It was pre-Uber and cabs were pricey, and we probably would have lost appendages.)
Listen to the insurrection. Those don’t sound like kisses.
Did Josh Hawley outsource his book? Or did he mess this up?
Down Periscope! Go to 4:10 in this House Appropriations hearing where some poor staffer has (what I guess is YouTube) playing in the background for a few minutes while members speak and apparently NONE OF THEM NOTICE. It’s wonderful.
And, sadly… Speaking of submarines, here is a song from the now-deceased crew of an Indonesian submarine that was just released.
As Dylan Thomas wrote:
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
RIP.
That’s it for me for today. We’ll see you back tomorrow. Drop me a line if you wish! swift@thebulwark.com.
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.