Welcome to the weekly recap. In this post, I’ll be linking to my work from the week, sharing some stories from others I thought were interesting, and providing a few casual thoughts on [gestures at everything]. If you’d like to receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “TPA Weekly Recap.” If you don’t want to receive the weekly recap, leave all boxes except “TPA Weekly Recap” checked.
From me this week: Stefanik, change, foolishness, and nuts
On Saturday, I wrote about audio I obtained featuring one of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)’s staffers trying to explain a tweet of hers that referenced “pedo grifters.” The staffer repeatedly insisted that Stefanik did not mean “pedophiles,” but then later admitted that yes, that’s what she meant.
On Monday, I wrote about the frustration of watching while nothing changes after a mass shooting or terrorist attack. At this point, it feels like we’ve collectively given up on trying to stop these horrors from happening.
And then on Tuesday, I wrote about people who get duped by fake screenshots only to later argue that “Sure, it’s not true, but doesn’t it say something about society that I might think it was true??” (No.)
And on Wednesday, I wrote about the so-called “Intellectual Dark Web,” nut allergies, and victimhood.
Stories from others I’d like to highlight
Adi Cohen and Benjamin T. Decker have a piece over at Tech Policy Press that I find extremely fascinating (and pretty worrying). I debated making a whole post about this, but it’s really better if you read the whole thing yourself. In it, Cohen and Decker detail how the Buffalo shooter made “the ephermal eternal” by streaming his attack on Twitch, which got archived and distributed quickly to other platforms. Really, truly, sit down and read this one.
Ryan Broderick has another great edition of Garbage Day out in which he digs through Facebook’s quarterly Widely Viewed Content Report. I don’t use Facebook much these days, but oof, it seems grim over there.
Don Moynihan has an entry over at Can We Still Govern? about connections between the Buffalo shooter’s manifesto and mainstream Republican politics. It, like Facebook, is pretty grim, to use that word once again.
And Talia Lavin is really in her element in the May 17 edition of The Sword and the Sandwich. Just read it.
Today’s Tunes:
“Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol (Live on Saturday Night Live)” by Post Malone ft. Fleet Foxes