Armas Weekend Reader
This week: lawfare’s threat to democracy, Joe Biden is old, the specter of President Harris, a deep dive on AI, all the Connies, what it’s like to be a child hostage of the PFLP, the left loves NATO, stroll through Seoul’s largest bookstore, the greatest Shakespearean passage ever committed to film, and more. Let’s go —
1) “The greatest threat to democracy today is not populism, as elite liberals claim. Nor is it the old-fashioned dictatorial coup d’etat. The greatest danger that multiparty democracy faces is ‘lawfare’—the weaponization of national judicial systems by political parties to delegitimize, harass, bankrupt, disqualify, and sometimes imprison politicians of other parties.”
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/our-weaponized-legal-system-misfires
2) “New York Mayor Eric Adams, the highest profile Black mayor in the country, has gotten so crossways with the White House that he was dropped from Biden's 2024 campaign advisory board before it was announced last week.”
https://www.axios.com/2023/05/16/biden-eric-adams-new-york
3) “Where are the Daniel Penny hagiographies? Because Penny is indeed a Chad. The last American Chad — at least, in New York City. He’s a decorated Marine who served two tours of duty. He is studying architecture. He’s traveled through South America. He is by all accounts an exemplary citizen and, yes, a hero. That’s why the system must take him down.”
https://thefederalist.com/2023/05/16/daniel-penny-deserves-a-medal-not-jail-time/
4) “It’s the specter of Biden’s age — the actuarial data that looms over his candidacy — that throws the ‘Harris’ question onto center stage. There’s no question the vice president will face serious scrutiny in 2024, and fairly or not, she’s struggled to win over Washington and much of the public. Particularly if the GOP sees Harris as a weaker figure than Biden, the attacks on her as a potential president will only increase.”
5) “A Zogby Analytics poll released last year found that if Mr. Biden were to bow out in 2024, Mrs. Clinton would be a distant third choice for Democratic primary voters, behind Ms. Harris in second place. The favorite is the only Democrat with broad national appeal: Michelle Obama.”
6) “Heather Armstrong was once an online sensation who defined the struggles of motherhood for a generation, and her tragic death calls for a reevaluation of the culture that created her.”
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