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The Anti-Anti-Violence Manifesto

REVIEW: 'In Defense of Looting' by Vicky Osterweil

"Social peace is just the condition under which patriarchal white supremacist violence is acting most fluidly and most thoroughly and is distributed most invisibly," writes Vicky Osterweil in her provocative tome, In Defense of Looting. "Only when we find such 'peace' intolerable will we be able to envision what real peace might look like, and what it might take to get there."

REVIEW: ‘One Billion Americans’ by Matthew Yglesias


On the eve of World War II, there were roughly 130 million Americans, some 6 percent of the world's population. By comparison, mainland Japan had 72 million, Germany 69 million, and Italy just 43 million. Only the Soviet Union—168 million—could match the United States man-for-man.

REVIEW: ‘She Will Rise’ By Disgraced Former Congresswoman Katie Hill

Sexual pioneer ponders political comeback, but is she "woke" enough?

Former representative Katie Hill (D., Calif.) made history last year when she became the youngest and highest-ranking female politician to resign due to a sex scandal. She also introduced the term “throuple” into the national discourse—something even the Democratic Party’s most prolific (male) sexual deviants, including Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and Anthony Weiner, never managed to accomplish.

REVIEW: ‘The Cult of Smart’


The central claim of The Cult of Smart, the first title from education commentator Fredrik deBoer, is that because some people are smarter than others, America must embrace socialism.

REVIEW: ‘Joey: The Story of Joe Biden’ by Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D.

Aspiring first lady still doesn't know how many grandchildren she has

Her Eminence Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D., probably doesn't have a lot of free time, given her extensive duties as caretaker for her husband Joe, the Democratic nominee for president. That must be why she enlisted a coauthor to carry the load on Joey: The Story of Joe Biden, an illustrated children's book comprising just 27 pages of actual text.

REVIEW: ‘Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk’ by Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke


One of the basic premises of Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk is that our ability to give a damn about moralizing claims is a sort of “scarce resource.” So using moral claims to try to accomplish things has diminishing returns, suggest authors Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke in this timely and sharp new work bridging philosophy with online culture.

REVIEW: ‘Hot Cup of Joe,’ The Sexy Biden Coloring Book


"After years of sharing him with Barack, now you can have handsome and dependable Joe Biden all to yourself." So proclaims the back cover of Hot Cup of Joe: A Piping Hot Coloring Book with America's Sexiest Moderate, Joe Biden, a thirsty ode to the former vice president of the United States and presumptive Democratic nominee for president, health permitting.

REVIEW: ‘No, You Shut Up’ by Symone Sanders

A wildly successful 30-year-old TV pundit and would-be WH press secretary just wants to be heard

If you’re like most level-headed Americans and don’t pay attention to cable news, you might not know that Symone Sanders has been on television. After reading her recently published memoir, you won’t be able to forget it.