Reading List: There Must Be A Medical Term For Having Tik Tok Audio Trends Stuck In Your Head For Days On End, Right?
So this was going to be a regular Reading List but then I got going on the below and suddenly realized I’m running late and need to take the dog out. So, umm, enjoy random local political thoughts formed at 5:30 a.m. on a first cup of coffee?
LONGREADS, AHOY!
Annie Lowrey, The People vs. Chesa Boudin (The Atlantic) - I love my stupidly ridiculous adopted home state of California so much, despite the direct democracy efforts that can make being a voting resident so confusing. But there’s a big choice to be made in the upcoming election.
So this piece by Annie Lowrey does a very good job of describing why San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is at risk of being recalled from the position he was sworn into in 2020. So here’s my take: I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 13 years, 10 of which have been in SF. And in my view, Boudin seems ill-equipped (or, frankly, inclined) to serve as a prosecuting law enforcement leader for a city undergoing difficult and dramatic changes.
I’m not even going to discuss the politics of his policies here, because I do believe that many of them are founded in good faith and should be tested and enacted if effective. What I am most disquieted by is his apparent managerial (and, strangely, political) challenges. The mass exodus of SF DAs from an already-liberal and progressive office is startling (described well by former homicide prosecutor Brooke Jenkins in this video). Boudin engages in very public spats with other elected officials, turning to think pieces and long-form coverage in non-SF publications to paint himself as the only one standing up to conservative interests - which is, as FOX news yells at us every single day, patently untrue in this uber-liberal 7x7 area. And when criticisms of his leadership are raised, the only response Boudin has to them, and other very real concerns for San Franciscans like myself, is to claim we are being duped by a GOP-funded campaign, with no attention paid to the very real conflicts of interest created by donations to the campaign to keep him in office.
And look: I’ve been reticent to more openly discuss my thoughts on the SF DA recall campaign for a variety of reasons, from my numerous local personal connections to the office itself, to my also-personal connections to East Coast college friends who wholeheartedly and vociferously supported (and fundraised for) the current DA in his election. And I also acknowledge there are real issues with law enforcement in San Francisco that need to be addressed, and that I don’t like the amount of money and time proposition-based recalls cost Californians as a whole. But Boudin seems ill-equipped to build the pragmatic coalitions needed to address the very real concerns many of us have about the current state of the city - which is why I voted for him to be recalled when I mailed in my ballot this week.
Umm, so, OK, because I ranted above, I don’t have time to provide context on the below - but let it be known, there is a heckuva lot of good longform content out there this week and I think you should read it.
Tim Alberta, How Politics Poisoned The Evangelical Church (The Atlantic)
Tiffany Hsu, All Those Celebrities Pushing Crypto Are Not So Vocal Now (The New York Times)
Sean Illing, This filmmaker spent months interviewing neo-Nazis and jihadists. Here’s what she learned. (Vox)
Marianna Sotomayor and Cory Vaillancourt, Voters reject Cawthorn in primary: ‘Too immature and uncultured’ (The Washington Post)
HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND! Drink some water, get outside, be kind to yourself. YOU’VE GOT THIS.
xoxo Amy