Your Mid-Week Experiment
Y’all, I am still down for the count because of the dang shingles vaccine, but the good news for you is that I’ve been reading so many articles and watching so much TV that your mid-weeker is overstuffed with entertainment recommendations. And thanks to everyone who commented on and offline in response to last weekend’s essay on the outlet mall massacre in the Dallas area. It felt good to connect with you on something that obviously hit a lot of us hard.
Let’s get to it:
A fun one—> Which fictional woman do you think should run for office? (She Should Run)
Not a fun one —> “The Texas legislature explores new frontiers of Christian nationalism” (Paul Waldman)
An encouraging one? —>“A police chief got rid of a neo-Nazi. Then came the hard part.” (Hannah Allam)
A discouraging one. —> “After the Texas mall massacre, I witnessed a different sort of death” (Karen Attiah)
Forget the Alamo is still a thing. (Mexico News Daily)
Body neutrality is a thing, and an interesting one at that. (Angela Haupt)
Slavery is still a thing in that how prevalent it was in a county predicts the frequency of firearms and thus gun violence today (PNAS Nexus)
Apparently toxic ambiguity is also a thing. (h/t YKW) (Axios)
This essay reinforces my belief that Timothy McVeigh could get elected to Congress these days (Michelle Goldberg)
So damn smart—> “How Private Equity Drains the Life from Film, Art, and Everything” (Frank Spring)
And we’ll close with my summary of Scott Galloway’s latest —> To succeed in an AI world, be more human h/t EJ (Prof G)
Maybe it’s the bad reaction to the shingles vaccine talking, but Mrs. Davis makes a technodystopia hilarious.
HBO’s White House Plumbers hits a very Jason Stanford-shaped spot.
Blown away by Passing.
If network workplace dramas were smarter and if prestige TV hired sitcom writers, you’d get The Diplomat on Netflix. We’re digging it.
We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment.
We’ve also got a tip jar, and I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is how I have fun.
Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House. The New York Times bestseller is 44% off and the same price as a paperback now!