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CHARLIE SYKES: How Fragile Are Our Constitutional Norms?
SONNY BUNCH: ‘The Iron Claw’ and ‘Ferrari’ Reviewed and ‘May December’ Is Ripped from the Headlines. That’s Fine.
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DALIBOR ROHOAC: Republican Hypocrisy on Ukraine.
A COMMON COMPLAINT addressed to President Joe Biden is that, notwithstanding his open-ended expressions of support for Ukraine, he lacks a clear vision for ending the war, has an undeveloped notion of the conditions of victory, and can’t make a compelling account of what is at stake for the United States. That’s the argument of a document released late last year—a “Proposed Plan for Victory in Ukraine” by Reps. Michael McCaul, Mike Rogers, and Mike Turner, who chair respectively the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Armed Services Committee, and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They write that the president’s “mantra of supporting Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’ is a losing strategy.”
It is a fair criticism, as far as it goes—and to their credit, the three congressmen use it as a starting point for a constructive plan to mobilize further aid to Ukraine.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Charlie Sykes: Tom Nichols: Claudine Gay Had to Go [Ad-Free🔐]
Secret Podcast: Rating the News 🔐
Beg to Differ: “Harvard Shmarvard” [Ad-Free🔐]
Thursday Night Bulwark: 2024 is Here! [Video 🔐]
ATMA 🎧: Michael Mann's 'Ferrari' 🔐
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WILL SELBER: They Are Sending Their Best People
YOUNG OFFICERS OFTEN ASK ME two questions: What’s my most significant career accomplishment? And were the wars worth it?
This afternoon, when I speak at my retirement ceremony, the answer to the first question will be sitting approximately fifteen feet in front of me: scores of Afghans I helped evacuate.
I ferried some of them into the airport. Others I smuggled through porous borders. And some I fought bureaucratic knife fights over. Many of them came to rely on me when they made it to the United States. I often spend my nights providing advice to them on various issues: how to buy a car, how to craft the perfect resume—the good, ordinary questions of building a life in America. My wife tells me that I’m an Afghan guidance counselor.
ADAM FLEMING PETTY: Literature in a Time of Conglomeration.
A COLOPHON IS THE DESIGN OR SYMBOL publishers place on the spines of their books. Glance at your bookshelves, at the bottom edge of each volume, and you might see the Knopf borzoi, the three fish of FSG, the interlocking geometric shapes of Graywolf. They are designed to be clean and distinctive but unobtrusive. The colophon is not what sells the book, after all. The author does. One doesn’t buy A Dance with Dragons because it’s published by Bantam. One buys it because it’s written by George R.R. Martin.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! Am I the only one losing track of the days here? Maybe once we get a normal week under our belts, it’ll feel like 2024, but this week felt like holiday light.
Grading the media… Our friends at Connors Institute have their report card ready: see who did and did not make their grade.
He’s running… I often question why people want to be members of the House, but some people are called, and I think Harry Dunn is one such person. (He really needs to end his adds with a Dunn, Dunn Dunn Dunn! law and order style jingle.)
The CWC watches… That were issued to BBC Correspondents.
Microsoft adds a key to the keyboard… After 30 years.
Did the media fail Ron DeSantis… Or did Ron DeSantis fail himself?
What January 6 Made Clear to Me… Our democratic institutions are only as strong as the courage of those entrusted with their care, writes Nancy Pelosi.
On eve of trial… The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre resigns.
The Scene ain’t going nowhere… The Cleveland alt-weekly joins the Cleveland Magazine family.
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