'Trump’s Iran-contra'

Hi 👋 

Another Monday, another Lazy Reader longform list ✨

Trying something different this week. There’s a somewhat of a theme happening here, at least with half of the list. Just a loose thread tying a few stories together—I spell that out in the blurbs anyway, so you’re bound to catch on.

I don’t know if this is something I’ll stick with moving forward, but it’s likely to happen again. I get into moods when reading longform articles, and this type of theme-ing will ease some of the pressure to read different things for the sake of this newsletter.

Anyhoo. Some standout stories from last week’s newsletter:

• Victory Journal The Legend of Panther Girl

• GQ The Secrets of the World's Greatest Jailbreak Artist

• The Guardian Who was Gareth Williams?

As always, please let me know what you think of the list this week by voting in the poll below.

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

I usually avoid sharing newly published stories here, especially if they went massively viral. I know you guys are more than capable of finding those types of articles on your own.

But I think I have to make an exception for this one. More and more, Epstein is growing to be an existential problem for the US, one that extends far beyond Trump and his circle, touching nearly all industries and sectors, and even roping in some of the most famous figures of our time. This investigation by the NYT digs into how the most powerful man in the US (and arguably on the planet) is doing everything in his power to brush the scandal—and its dozens of victims—under the rug and away from the spotlight.

I’ll be honest: I think unless there is a massive and definitive rebuke of everyone on the Epstein list, there’s no way the US is coming back from this.

There may be some whiplash here: After reading about how much resources the government pours into helping a pedophile keep his public image clean, it might be a bit jarring to see how little regard was given to this boy who was mercilessly shot up by police for playing with a toy gun.

I am aware that so much has already been said about the Tamir Rice incident, and I have no intention of dredging any of that back up, or of adding some more noise to the cyberspace. But re-reading about it with years’ worth of remove—and through the clear-eyed prose and sharp reportage of Sean Flynn—makes it really obvious how egregiously everything was handled at the time.

Another story that, if you read in the context of the other articles on this list, bares how disposable the US government thinks human life is, especially when contrasted against something super duper mega important—like the reputation of the president or the careers of these military men.

This story zooms in on a handful of strikes carried out by the Trump administration against ships that, allegedly, were trafficking drugs. It turns out that a couple of them were likely not drug ships, but instead were carrying victims of human trafficking. No matter. Bodies look the same when they’re blown up and floating as corpses on the open sea.

Very unbecoming of a country that is supposedly built on ideals like human rights and democracy and justice and equality and fairness and whatever else.

Further driving home the point that the US government sees us all as lower life forms, this WIRED story looks at the fallout of the recent ICE raids in Chicago, where undocumented families are deprived of their liberties and dignities—not to mention their livelihoods—for fear of being deported. Or worse. Isn’t it crazy how this just sort of disappeared into the background after a while?

I find it difficult to talk about the immigration issue in the US, mainly because I’m not from there, and so I don’t really have an intimate understanding of how the situation is. And unlike the US’s warmongering worldwide—or its corruption to keep prices up—immigration doesn’t directly affect me. But to me, one thing is clear: Borders and policies are arbitrary; people’s lives aren’t.

Something to cleanse the palate: This essay is an exploration of recent trends in online language. As the title indicates, it really digs deep into the concepts of vibe, mood, and energy—and it does so to a surgical level of thoroughness. So much so that at some points it feels a tad exhausting.

I don’t claim to be an expert here, nor am I the type to make these broad pronouncements about society and humanity based on linguistic patterns. So the author completely took me for a ride here—I fully ate up what Mitch Therieau was serving up, and I just am not equipped to critically engage with this writing. That said, I thought it was impressive how the writer drew from history, touching on stuff like the hippie movement and the psychedelic boom, and then connecting those threads to our current socioeconomic situation.

It’s also impressive how Mitch was able to put to page, in concrete language, what these decidedly un-concrete concepts are.

Saw this story on Reddit and thought it was interesting enough to put here. Plus, I suspect that more than a few of you will, like me, have played or dabbled in Magic: The Gathering at least once in your lives.

That said, I’m not sure I share Erik Hane’s opinions here. Certainly, I agree that corporate has no business dictating what creative should do, especially for things like MTG, which has built up over the years a fiercely loyal and enthusiastic (not to mention fiscally capable) support base. But also, much of Erik’s arguments here sounded a lot like boomer whining about times changing and being left behind, stuck in their old backwards ways. Some of it also felt a bit elitist and exclusionary, not wanting to make the game more accessible and interesting to a broader, more casual audience.

There has to be a healthy middle-ground here, no?

In the grand scheme of all the other stories on this week’s newsletter, this one obviously pales in comparison. If you can believe it: This piece tries to make the fictional real by figuring out which mythical creature and other “fantastic beasts”—think vampires and angels and pixies and the Loch Ness monster—are most likely to actually exist in the wild.

There is a lot of conceit behind the story’s conceit. By understanding why we think some of these “beasts” are more likely to be real than others, writer Kathyrn Schulz makes an admirable attempt to hit at some human truth, or at least expand our understanding of how we as a society regard the truth. I say attempt here because I’m not sure she gets there?

The premise, to begin with, is already shaky, not least because there is massive cultural variance in menageries of mythological creatures, not to mention that there is also no readily available definition of what constitutes a “fantastic beast.” Same for reality and truth. I don’t know. I was underwhelmed.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. Alternatively, you can fill out this super quick survey form. I promise it won’t even take five minutes of your time, and it’ll be a HUGE help!

ALSO: I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those. Send me a message and let’s see what we can do 😊

Until next Monday! 👋