Scott R. Stroud (Texas): “Be a Bully to Beat a Bully”: Twitter Ethics, Online Identity, and the Culture of Quick Revenge. Simon During (Queensland): An Eighteenth-Century Origin of World Literature. The World Social Forum, a.k.a. the “anti-Davos”, just concluded — here’s what happened. How Omran Daqneesh, 5, became a symbol of Aleppo’s suffering. The NSA data leakers might be faking their awful English to deceive us. From Vox, it sure looks like Aetna quit Obamacare because Obama opposed their merger; and Sarah Kliff and Ezra Klein on what comes next for Obamacare. The story of Khalid Jabara’s murder is devastating and infuriating. Andrew Rice on how Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank’s biggest critic, became its president. Margaret Hartmann on how conspiracy theories about Clinton’s health turned into a campaign issue. Why no third party candidate is likely to qualify for the presidential debates (and more).
Steve Bannon, Trump’s new C.E.O., hints at his master plan: Can the man behind Breitbart — a Harvard M.B.A. who worked at Goldman Sachs and made a killing off of Seinfeld — save Trump? Trump’s new campaign chief has a nationalist vision for the whole world. A reckless opportunist with no principles or ethos beyond shit-stirring and attention-seeking: Andrew Breitbart would have loved the Trump campaign.
