Bug-eyed and Shameless

Bug-eyed and Shameless

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Bug-eyed and Shameless
Bug-eyed and Shameless
Remedial Reading #3
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Remedial Reading #3

Great reads from elsewhere in the Substack universe. Plus: A brief revisiting of the lab leak theory.

Justin Ling's avatar
Justin Ling
Jun 30, 2023
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Bug-eyed and Shameless
Bug-eyed and Shameless
Remedial Reading #3
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It feels like there’s been a whole attempted Russian coup since the last time I wrote a newsletter.

And, indeed, this newsletter was supposed to be about that almost-putsch. But after falling deep into a rabbit hole about the history of Soviet cinema (naturally) that newsletter will have to wait until early next week.

In its stead, I thought I’d send out a brief digest of great writing from elsewhere in the Substack universe.

And then, later, for paying subscribers: Proponents of the COVID-19 lab leak theory went from bullish to sheepish last week. Let’s take a minute to count their Ls.


The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak
Amid missile strikes, being queer in Ukraine is defiance against Putin
As missiles rained down on Kramatorsk last night, killing nine people, including three children, and wounding at least 56 more (see more below), Kyiv did one of the things that Russian President Vladimir Putin hates the most: it celebrated the diversity of its LGBTQ+ community with the…
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2 years ago · 139 likes · 19 comments · Christopher Allbritton, William Glover Weiss, and Ross Pelekh

If you’ve followed the war in Ukraine at all, chances are you came across

Tim Mak
’s stellar reporting at some point.

In Ukraine, by way of Vancouver and D.C, Mak’s to-the-minute reporting from straight across the country married breaking coverage with wildly engaging and funny slice-of-life portraits from a country under siege.

Since he left NPR, Mak has been delivering his dispatches via The Counteroffensive. I can’t say enough good about Mak’s project — it’s proof positive that Substack can be a useful outlet for quality reporting.

The war has changed Ukraine and Ukrainians, sometimes for the better. For her, the war led her to discover who she truly is.

“For 22 years, I did drag,” she said. “I reached great heights through drag. I am the best in this country. … But when the war started, I realized this was the way to find myself, that I am transgender.”

“I’m just fucking amazing,” she says. “What can I say?”


Garbage Day
Painfully twee 2010s millennial cringe
Welcome to Garbage Weekend. It’s the internet garbage you know and love, but in a format that’s easier to read while you learn the ukulele chords to the Miranda Sings grooming allegations song. (I believe it’s G, G7, C, E.) PLATFORMS The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel…
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2 years ago · 9 likes · 5 comments · Ryan Broderick

I cannot get over the video of a millennial content creator addressing grooming allegations through twee song. It is, as

Ryan Broderick
writes, like staring directly at the sun.

I’m sure we can address online cancel culture in a thoughtful and constructive way that both attempts to verify the legitimacy and seriousness of the allegations while also giving people, particularly those enjoying a modicum of digital fame but not the kind of stature or power we traditionally associate with success in entertainment, a chance for atonement and improvement.

But, please, god, let it not involve ukuleles.


Read Max
Who is the new Drip King? A conversation with Henry De Tolla, a.k.a. H00pify
Over the last few days a series of deeply unsettling TikToks have crossed my various feeds and group chats. Perhaps you have already seen these dispatches; if you haven’t, I suggest you make sure you’re seated and have a loved one nearby before you press play on the following video…
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2 years ago · 74 likes · 27 comments · Max Read

If not for

Max Read
, I wouldn’t even begin to understand the Baby Gronk phenomenon.

Do I want to understand the Baby Gronk phenomenon? No.

But Read manages to get in touch with the unblinking Tiktok creator who delivers unnerving broadcasts about such terminally online happenings that can only be described as an Uber-online Walter Cronkite meets Mr. Beast, situated firmly in the uncanny valley.

I need to ask a final question of you. This is the question my readers are going to be most interested in knowing the answer to. In your opinion, is Baby Gronk the new Drip King?

I mean, I think you have to you have to go with “yes,” because Baby Gronk met Livvy in person and the Drip King hasn't met Livvy in person. So I think until the old Drip King meets Livvy in person, Baby Gronk is the new Drip King.

I need a nap.


Tell your friends the drip king sent you.

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Platformer
Meta plans a news blackout in Canada
Today let’s talk about Meta’s move to block news links on Facebook and Instagram and Canada, and how a shakedown that started in Australia is now threatening to fracture the internet more broadly. The Canada story is a totally expected but still unfortunate sequel to the Australia story…
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2 years ago · 29 likes · 2 comments · Casey Newton

I am incredibly skeptical about the Trudeau government’s link tax scheme to fund journalism in this country. As a Canada-based journalist who receives zero benefit from any of Ottawa’s journalism-financing plans (but who writes for some outlets that do) this looks to me like piecemeal reparations that will fundamentally hurt the distribution of good journalism at a time when we sorely need it.

If you’re curious to hear me rant about this, I went on the Rob Breakenridge show in Alberta to vomit out some thoughts. Listen to it here.

Casey Newton
, the best technology reporter in the business right now, sums up my feelings pretty well.

I have suggested before some of the alternate ways in which lawmakers could choose to address declining revenue for news publishers: tax the platforms’ ad revenue; fund public media; or offer tax incentives to small and medium-sized publishers, who have been hit hardest by the transition to digital media.

Unfortunately, those proposals lack the emotional satisfaction that comes with kicking an unloved tech giant in the teeth. And so instead we have this: a tax on displaying links, the kind of thing that if extended to the rest of the web could effectively break the internet.


Radical Reports
Tracking the Far Right Groups Targeting LGBTIQ Events During Pride
Far right anti-LGBTIQ groups, radical fundamentalist Christian Nationalists, and White Supremacist violent extremist groups have targeted various LGBTIQ events during Pride Month. Members of Patriot Front, the White Nationalist neo-fascist group, reportedly staged a protest in Prattville, Alabama to …
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2 years ago · 15 likes · 2 comments · Teddy Wilson

I’m always recommending

Teddy Wilson
‘s Radical Reports because it provides the kind of unflinching monitoring of the far-right on the march. We are nearly out of Pride season without any major successful attack on an LGBTQ event, thankfully, but the low-level harassment and intimidation can’t go overlooked. Especially with so many fascist, neo-Nazi, and KKK members involved.


The Racket
Who cares where COVID came from?
Before we dive in, a reminder that my book Gangsters of Capitalism is a finalist for a 2023 People’s Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. Voting is open to everyone, regardless of where you live, and your vote matters! Not only will you be elevating the memory of our favorite forgotten anti-imperialist Quaker Marine, but you’ll be standing up for …
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2 years ago · 29 likes · 10 comments · Jonathan M. Katz

My last bit of remedial reading involves the ever-persistent idea that COVID-19, at a minimum, escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan and, at most, was the byproduct of dangerous experimentation and maybe even a biological weapons program. (And it’s for subscribers only!)

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