Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Victor Davis Hanson: Russianism
“Russianism is a psychological malady in which furor at Donald Trump’s election victory and presidency — and the ensuing depression resulting from the inability to abort it — finds release through fixation on Russia. The recent orthodox progressive and Democratic view of Russia — until the appearance of Donald Trump — was largely what it had been throughout the Cold War: one of empathy for Russia and understanding of its dilemmas, and shame over supposed right-wing American paranoia over a bogus “Russian bear.” Obama’s 2009 reset was birthed as a correction to George W. Bush’s modest sanctions against the Putin government for going into Ossetia. What then followed during the Obama administration was the embarrassing red reset-button rhetoric that was usually couched in anti-Bush-administration snark. Or, as Hillary Clinton put it: . . .”
Stanage: The Memo: Dems grapple with Trump’s resilience
“President Trump’s approval rating is largely unchanged in the first polls to emerge after his widely criticized performance at last week’s joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and Democrats are scratching their heads. […] Democratic explanations for Trump’s resiliency encompass several factors: . . .”
‘Lesbian feminist’ transitions to male—then gets accused of ‘mansplaining,’ ‘heterosexual privilege’
“‘When I speak up now, I am often given the direct or indirect message that I am ‘mansplaining,’ ‘taking up too much space’ or ‘asserting my white male heterosexual privilege,” Keig, 52, told the paper. ‘Never mind that I am a first-generation Mexican American, a transsexual man, and married to the same woman I was with prior to my transition.’ […] . . . as a transgender male, Keig noted to the paper that the ‘assertion that I am now unable to speak out on issues I find important’ is ‘offensive and I refuse to allow anyone to silence me.'”
Science Daily: New research could banish guilty feeling for consuming whole dairy products
“Enjoying full-fat milk, yogurt, cheese and butter is unlikely to send people to an early grave, according to new research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). The study, published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found no significant link between dairy fats and cause of death or, more specifically, heart disease and stroke — two of the country’s biggest killers often associated with a diet high in saturated fat. In fact, certain types of dairy fat may help guard against having a severe stroke, the researchers reported.”