Our columnist closes out his one-year run with his favorites of the year.
Movies
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Requiem for a Comedy Dream
Jason Reitman’s new film about the origins of ‘Saturday Night Live’ forces a consideration of how the show turned into comfort food for its scared, self-satisfied liberal audiences.
Posted inPolitics
Our Cults, Ourselves
Is the best way to understand the MAGA movement to binge-watch docuseries about charismatic leaders sending their acolytes to ruin? Tune in and find out.
Posted inThe Good Life
Labor & Culture: Beyond Jimmy Hoffa Movies
Positive depictions of unions are hard to find in the culture. Progressives should focus on elevating them.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Even Scarlett Johansson Needs Protection From OpenAI
The high-profile dispute is another example of risks posed by unregulated AI development, and how little AI companies care.
Posted inAmerica and the World
What Really Happened on October 7?
And why, wonders a new Al Jazeera documentary, did the media go to such lengths to concoct gruesome X-rated versions of an attack that was harrowing enough to begin with?
Posted inEconomic Policy
How the Welfare State Fails the Poor
A bureaucratic paper chase undermines compassion and practical help for the needy, while Wall Street gets whatever it wants. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
A Feel-Good Movie That Almost Makes You Feel Bad
‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ is uplifting and happy-sad. It was a more innocent time.
Posted inPodcasts
The House Republican Pratfall
They tried and failed to impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas on nonsense charges.
Posted inBooks, Arts and Culture
Bayard Rustin—Out of the Shadows
A new movie, a new book, and an old nonviolent warrior now given his rightful recognition