New: 150 unionized ProPublica workers are on strike TODAY over AI, layoff protections, wages, and more.
They're asking readers to not visit ProPublica or engage with content on other platforms. It's the first work stoppage of its kind at the newsroom.
www.theverge.com/news/908401/...
This is perhaps not the ideal time to announce I am the Bob Woodward of the Beckham wedding drama but here we are:
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
What’s undeniable is that in the battle of oligarchy versus fame, Brooklyn is betting on oligarchy. Hustling for likes and sponsorships isn’t what it used to be. His own parents know very well that maintaining celebrity today is an exhausting, ceaseless game, even at the top. Why else would people as beloved and famous as they are still have to film Uber Eats ads referring to their glory days? Shill fruit snacks in Target? What a relief it must be for Brooklyn to land somewhere none of it really matters. The Peltzes are so rich that they can just pay for it all — reviews, financial success, or public adoration doesn’t make or break what Nelson’s heirs decide to do with their lives. Nicola has two more movies financed by her own company, Bunny Films, in the pipeline, in which she plays a ballerina and a beauty influencer. Brooklyn has registered a restaurant, Beck’s Buns, which, according to the trademark application, could also offer merch, online entertainment, and NFTs.
a lot going on, but this right here is the real battle for the soul of America: hideous, grasping influencer grifters who at least do something approximating "work" vs pure, unadulterated nepobaby oligarchy
naturally, the latter seems to be winning
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
This is perhaps not the ideal time to announce I am the Bob Woodward of the Beckham wedding drama but here we are:
www.thecut.com/article/broo...
This book (Little Bosses Everywhere) about MLMs is fantastic and really does explain some of the MAGA phenomena.
As this book details, the internal culture of MLMs function much like cults, cutting off alternative information that might come from outside and encouraging those inside the group to completely buy in and blame themselves or evil others if anything is going wrong for them. bsky.app/profile/rick...
It's notable that, as @bridgetgillard.bsky.social shows, the MLM industry got started (a century ago!) with unregulated supplements (aka vitamins). Strains of magical thinking, entrepreneurship, and conservativism are longstanding
I am getting closer to convincing myself to write that review
luke, do it!!
www.thecut.com/article/morm...
We talk about this phenomena an ungodly amount in all of my professional settings.
never thought of it this way but damn, Mormon culture is basically engineered for social media
ah tysm!!
My first cover story at @nymag.com! I went to Utah to figure out how everything got so Mormon: www.thecut.com/article/morm...
America is in the middle of a second Mormon Moment. For our Cover Story, Bridget Read reports on how the women of Utah blogged and posted their way into our hearts and wallets. tinyurl.com/484awp7j
omg
To understand the modern American economy you have to understand one of its most important innovations: multi-level marketing. Little Bosses Everywhere by @bridgetgillard.bsky.social is the most comprehensive history yet of the scam consuming us all. inequality.org/article/scam...
Aaron @kleinman.bsky.social thinks he's better than me because he "reads books" and "knows how to read." He wrote about the 20 best he read this year (new and old) including @calfraser.bsky.social @chrislhayes.bsky.social + @bridgetgillard.bsky.social.
www.welcometohellworld.com/20-books-you...
the highest honor!!
Every year, Businessweek asks us to pick our favorite stories from other publications for our Jealousy List, which is full of some of the best writing you’ll find on all kinds of topics. I chose @bridgetgillard.bsky.social’s face lift story for NY Mag! 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
ah thank you sarah!!
photo of hardcover book: little bosses everywhere by bridget read
Horror Nonfiction
Grateful for this thoughtful, lucid piece on my book and what a century of predatory worker/consumer policy has wrought on America from Zephyr Teachout in the New York Review of Books:
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
My latest: How Multilevel Marketing Explains Trump's Corruption. A Q&A with @bridgetgillard.bsky.social abt her book Little Bosses Everywhere. We talk abt how MLMs take advantage of U.S. tropes abt success & failure & their ties to right-wing politics.
economicpopulist.substack.com/p/how-multil...
Our union has zero tolerance for bully bosses who harass, target and disrespect our members. Read our joint statement with @condeunion.bsky.social .... nyguild.org/post/stateme...
thank you so much!!
thank you curtis!! and also sorry
