"In view of many extremely online, spiritually unwell conservatives, [Ryan] Carson’s brutal death was a form of karmic justice."

"You see, the young man had advocated for safe injection sites after losing friends to opioid overdoses. And he dedicated his adult life to working on various left-wing causes, above all the promotion of recycling and environmentally friendly approaches to dealing with solid waste. And his girlfriend had advocated for police abolition. Therefore, Carson had reaped what he’d sowed. The far-right provocateur Mike Cernovich disseminated a surveillance video of Carson’s death, beneath the caption, 'Hey bro just like chill out bro I’m on your side bro go attack the magats bro bro bro noooooo.' Other conservatives turned photos of Carson’s dead body into memes about the perils of wokeness.... [S]adistically mocking a victim of violent crime whose politics they did not like... is... morally grotesque.... Gloating over the violent deaths of people you disagree with is... vile and ineffective.... You will not persuade anyone...."

 
Writes Eric Levitz, in "Don’t Celebrate When People You Disagree With Get Murdered" (New York Magazine).

"[W]ere Biden to step down, Harris would become the Democratic front-runner.... Yet her conspicuous weaknesses would ensure a contested primary."

"Therefore, the end result of Biden stepping down would be a long, divisive intraparty contest that would quite likely yield a nominee even more unpopular than Biden. Given this outlook, the Democrats are well advised to stick with the incumbent president who’s already proven capable of defeating Trump, his advanced age notwithstanding.... Letting Biden run again to avoid nominating Harris does not solve the problem posed by her unpopularity, but merely postpones it [to 2028].... Further, even with Biden running, Harris’s lack of political support remains a challenge for the Democratic ticket in 2024.... Taking the unusual step of dropping [the first person of Black or South Asian descent] from the ticket could plausibly offend and demotivate those who saw her election as a historic triumph.... If Harris were to become an administration critic or fan the flames of backlash (even covertly), then replacing her would obviously be more damaging than retaining her on the ticket. The party would therefore need to secure her buy-in, perhaps through the promise of a Supreme Court nomination or some other coveted post...."

Writes Eric Levitz, in "The Case for Biden to Drop Kamala Harris" (NY Magazine).

If this is to be done, it would require Kamala Harris to withdraw and to assert that it was her decision. But I think even if they could convince her to put on this show, she wouldn't be able to make the assertion credibly. She's a terrible speaker. She'd look elbowed out. It would be awful.

"New Study Reveals That the Washington Post Is Eager to Dismiss Economic Explanations for Trump’s Rise."

Headline for a New York Magazine piece by Eric Levitz, who begins:

Donald Trump’s supporters tend to live in economically depressed areas where white residents experience exceptionally high rates of mortality — and exceptionally low rates of social mobility — according to a new study from Gallup.

Some might view these findings as evidence that “economic anxiety” among the white working-class has contributed to Donald Trump’s rise. The Washington Post, however, sees them as evidence of the opposite. Or, more precisely, one of their headline writers does.

The paper titled its write-up of Gallup’s analysis thusly: A massive new study debunks a widespread theory for Donald Trump’s success. The article defines that theory as the idea that “economic distress and anxiety across working-class white America” is a valid explanation for Trump’s political appeal. But, as the actual copy of the piece makes clear, Gallup’s analysis does not “debunk” that idea; the study merely complicates it...