Happy Easter, chag Pesach sameach, etc. How nice to celebrate the advent of spring (or the resurrection of Christ, or the liberation from Egypt, or the birth of Ali, depending on your religious tradition) under the renewed shadow of possible nuclear holocaust! Let’s take the opportunity to remember the week in 1983 when a NATO war game almost started World War III.
From Slate
- Defenses of Jared and Ivanka comprise “the most morally and ethically shallow claptrap offered up to public discourse since Trump took office,” writes Dahlia Lithwick.
- The guy who made the Wall Street bull statue is mad about Fearless Girl—and he’s right.
- How have Bashar al-Assad and Kim Jong-un managed to stay in power so long—and to command so much of the world’s attention?
- Michelle Goldberg’s review of New Yorker writer Ariel Levy’s The Rules Do Not Apply: A Memoir, is a sharp essay about bad luck and feminism and grief.
- What do most U.S. mass shooters, including the perpetrator of the elementary school killings in San Bernardino this week, have in common? A history of domestic abuse.
- Why do so many of us watch Sean Spicer’s daily briefing? What are we hoping to see?
Not from Slate
- Why are doctors prescribing anti-psychotic drugs to toddlers?
- Trying to identify a coherent ideology behind Donald Trump’s impulsive swoops and lunges is a fool’s errand.
- If you live in a minority neighborhood, you’re paying too much for car insurance.
- Here’s why airlines can abuse their passengers and get away with it.
From the archive
As we ponder the long twilight of Bill O’Reilly’s unpleasant career, Dwight Garner reminds us of Slate founder Michael Kinsley’s classic 2001 O’Reilly assessment:
Why fake a humble background? Partly for business reasons: Joe Sixpack versus the elitists is a good posture for any talk show host, especially one on Fox. Partly out of vanity: It makes the climb to your current perch more impressive. Partly for political reasons: Under our system, even conservatives need some plausible theory to qualify for victim status, from which all blessings flow. But mainly out of sheer snobbery.
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Gabriel Roth
Editorial director, Slate Plus
