To decipher current Left-Right battles, only reading the broad strokes obscures the details that matter.
As liberal as we are, we do like reading things that don't necessarily carry water for the White House, but shade in some blank spots.
1. "How disorderly is Sweden really?", Marginal Revolution
It remains correct that an American city such as Orlando typically will have more murders than all of Sweden in a year. But it is also important to process the distinction between objective and subjective metrics of disorder. A jaywalker in Germany disrupts public order and flouts norms more than is the case for a single jaywalker in New Jersey, for instance. Sweden is relatively orderly, in part, because the public and psychological reactions to acts of disorder are relatively severe and traumatic, even if those same acts might be perceived as less significant in other contexts. It is quite possible that Swedish norms are being threatened by the level of disorder currently in the country, even if to a Nigerian it all might seem absurdly neat and tidy.
2. Bill Maher takes credit (not convincingly) for Milo Yiannopoulos's downfall, New York Times
When I say, “That’s not unreasonable” [to not want to share a bathroom with a transgender person] it’s because women have said that to me: “I want to know,” or “I’m not comfortable with someone in the bathroom, even if they, in their minds, have decided they are a woman.” Doesn’t that opinion count at all?
3. "Reality Begins to Set in on Obamacare—For Both Sides," Mother Jones
Reality has set in for everyone. The Republican rank-and-file has finally figured out they never really cared all that much about taxing the rich an extra three points to provide health care for everyone. The Democratic rank-and-file has finally figured out that Obamacare is a pretty good program and it's worth fighting for... Did we really have to elect Donald Trump to figure this out?
4. "When the Enemy of Your Enemy Is... Your Enemy," National Review
The Left’s identity politics is focused on racial, ethnic, and sexual identity—aspects of identity that place you somewhere in the hierarchy of intersectionality. The Right’s identity politics comes with a label: enemy of the Left. So long as you’re wearing that button, you’re presumptively on our side and you’re nearly bulletproof. Until it turns out that you’re not. Until we jump the wrong way because we substituted political laziness for a philosophy. Until we embrace somebody nasty because the other side hated him or her and stop caring about truth so long as the other side is triggered. Then we become the bad guys. And that’s a problem.