For the better part of the past two centuries, the world of physical culture — perhaps more commonly referred to, in shorthand, as the world of “fitness” — has served as a battleground for vicious, seemingly all-or-nothing debates about the appropriate path to health. Doctors and nutritionists have debated all-vegetable diets, all-grain diets, all-meat diets, and any number of other dietary regimens; trainers have gone to the barricades to argue the merits of strength training, jogging, swimming, yoga, and assorted combinations thereof. One thing is always the same: each guru has their advocates, and these advocates are pushed to follow the one true path to good health. ...  Continue reading

In a life marked by both diplomatic coups and contentious policies, Henry Kissinger remained both active and inscrutable right up to the end. His story is not just one of political finesse but also of actions and decisions that sparked intense debate and criticism. But oddly enough his affection for football — which began in pre-war Germany, where he was an avid fan of SpVgg Fürth — offers a partial lens through which to examine the complexities and contradictions of his character and career.

Kissinger’s passion for football, a game he often described as “complexity masquerading as simplicity”, is an apt metaphor for his approach to foreign policy. It was partially through football, after all, that he came to realise that different cultures and ethnic groups performed differently on the pitch, and had to be managed differently: “Nobody would mistake a Brazilian team for a German team. The French teams are always the most elegant team in Europe,” he told Reuters in 2019. ...  Continue reading

As the race for the White House next year intensifies, Donald Trump appears to be further redefining his political strategy by decreasing his reliance on the Christian Right. Once a base that seemed indispensable to electoral success for Republicans, evangelicals have always been on the outside looking in when it came to Trump. Nevertheless, it was the former president who oversaw the confirmation of the three Supreme Court nominees needed to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling, long the single most important issue for this bloc of voters. 

This ongoing tension, highlighted in a new book by Tim Alberta — The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism — reveals a pugnacious Trump who disparaged evangelical supporters of his 2016 primary rival Ted Cruz as “so-called Christians” and “real pieces of shit”. This revelation coincides with Trump’s renewed focus on battleground states in the Rust Belt, South, and West, which are essential to securing his reelection bid and where some polls show he is currently outperforming Joe Biden. ...  Continue reading

Recent developments in America’s conservative media landscape have illuminated deepening fissures over Israel, with implications that could ripple through the broader Republican Party. Boiling-over tensions between commentators Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro over their differing views on Israel’s actions in the conflict with Hamas exemplify this divide.

Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire and an ardent supporter of Israel, publicly criticised Owens, a Right-wing activist and contributor to his company, for her stance on the conflict. Owens, taking what some may consider an isolationist or “America First” position, has condemned what she saw as “genocide” by Israel in Gaza. Shapiro argued that such comments were “disgraceful” and “disreputable”, highlighting her comparison of Israel to the pre-segregation South (interestingly, Owens, who is black, is much closer in alignment with the views of African Americans than Republicans on this issue)​​​​. ...  Continue reading

Earlier this week in Panama, a retired American lawyer named Kenneth Darlington was involved in a deadly confrontation with environmental protesters, leaving two dead and raising profound questions about vigilante justice. Darlington, 77, was arrested and charged following the incident, which occurred amid a roadblock on the Pan-American Highway in the Chame district.  

Darlington, who has a previous conviction for illegal possession of a firearm, reportedly got into an argument with a group of individuals that included the eventual victims. According to witnesses and media present, he declared, “this ends here” before discharging his weapon. The grizzled assailant, due to his age, may avoid incarceration. ...  Continue reading

Once a Left-wing firebrand, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been pushed back towards the centre of his party by forces largely out of his control — the toll of two failed primary campaigns, the institutional conservatism of the Senate, and the mainstream Democratic Party’s almost unwavering support for Israel. This shift was exemplified when nearly 300 alumni of Sanders’s presidential campaigns urged him to join calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, a demand that parallels a resolution in the House led by progressive members such as Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.

The staffers sent Sanders a letter that read, in part: ...  Continue reading

In the tempestuous landscape of American political journalism, few organisations stirred up as much controversy as Project Veritas. Founded in 2010 by James O’Keefe, the group rose to prominence for its undercover investigations, notably the 2009 video recordings involving ACORN workers which were edited to imply they were giving advice on how to engage in criminal activities.

Yet the once-thriving media enterprise is now in a state of freefall, suspending all operations this week after another round of layoffs. Contained within this news is a cautionary tale on the pitfalls of organisations too closely tied to a singular, polarising founder. ...  Continue reading

In a literary transformation as idiosyncratic as it is unexpected, Costin Alamariu, better known to the extremely online world as Bronze Age Pervert, has defied the conventional career path of a public intellectual. Initially emerging from a prestigious philosophy programme at Yale University with middling academic prospects, Alamariu ventured into the realm of anonymous online shitposting before ultimately becoming the author of what at the weekend ranked as the #33 best-selling book on Amazon, Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy. 

The work, which was adapted from his dissertation, explores the relationship between philosophy, nature, and biological reality, challenging the mainstream and accepted norms. This is not a book you’d expect to grace Amazon’s bestseller list. ...  Continue reading