Republican caucus wants gay conversion therapy books to be more widely available
In the past we have written about how breathtakingly homophobic the concept of gay conversion therapy is, and how it is bad science that must be stamped out wherever it seems… Read more »
More and more, money talks
There’s a lot you could say about yesterday’s giant New York Times exposé on Louis C.K. For instance, that it is a bummer very mondo indeed to see another proclaimedly woke man turn out, in fact, to… Read more »
Make no mistake: Free speech is under heavy attack
Yesterday, former Breitbart news editor Ben Shapiro showed up to speak at the University of California, Berkeley. It was many things: a pointless provocation, a field day for newsroom thesauruses, and the inaugural installment… Read more »
In an age where political correctness is seen as a vice, we can now trademark ethnic and racial slurs
Every year, about 250,000 new trademark applications are filed in the United States. The companies, entrepreneurs, and occasional cranks that seek registration tell a story beyond just a celebrity name (Liv’s Lips®?) or sexy… Read more »
Ecuadoran government fines journalists for what they didn’t say
While governments around the world have been known to crack down on journalists for covering stories that, in one way or another, threaten their authority, it’s rarer to hear about… Read more »
Ukrainian writer detained in Belarus
Last week, the prominent Ukrainian poet, novelist, and dissident Serhiy Zhadan was seized by government security forces in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, held overnight, and ordered to leave the country. As… Read more »
Without warning, Egyptian officials shutter Cairo center for torture victims
After a year of harassment by the Egyptian government, Cairo’s Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence was shut down by authorities yesterday. The closure—executed by fifteen plainclothes… Read more »
Writers to #resist at AWP
If Peter Clark’s report on Winter Institute was any indication, the bookselling community is hardly feeling complacent in the face of the drastically shifting American political landscape. The same thing can… Read more »
Despite uncertainty, supporters rejoice at Ahmed Naji’s temporary release from prison
The fate of Ahmed Naji, the Egyptian writer jailed since last February for sexually explicit material in his novel, has taken a surprising and tentatively positive turn. As we last… Read more »
PEN America declaims new professor “watchlist”
PEN America moved quickly to declaim a new website listing college professors across the country who purportedly “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” Launched on November 21 by… Read more »