Jacob Weisberg's Blog, page 2326

5 Dead, Several Wounded in Warehouse Shooting in Aurora, Illinois

The shooter reportedly died after exchanging fire with police.

I’m a New Yorker, and I’m Really Upset About Losing Amazon’s HQ2

People thought they’d actually give money to Amazon. Both politicians and the press failed to give them the facts.

Sex Scenes Didn’t Kill Meg Ryan’s Career. Being a Woman in Hollywood Did.

Her wholesome appeal was a fickle cultural currency. Sex appeal is, too.

The Angle: It’s Up to the Courts to Stop Trump’s Border Wall. That’s Not Good.

Trump has full confidence in the conservative judiciary.

How the Conservative Media Reacted to Trump’s National Emergency Declaration

Many pundits preferred to focus on a more pressing topic: AOC's boyfriend.

Why We’re Slow to Believe Accusations Against Women Like Jill Abramson and Amy Klobuchar

The pernicious temptation to wave away inexcusable behavior from powerful women.

Don’t Let Trump’s Abortion Rhetoric Numb You to Kavanaugh’s Distortions

Neither is in it to actually help women.

Alita: Battle Angel May Actually Get You Excited for the Avatar Sequels

The new manga adaptation fuses Robert Rodriguez’s po-mo cool with James Cameron’s naïve thrills.

The Wire on Fire

Slate is celebrating HBO’s marathon broadcast of the remastered The Wire by republishing some of our best coverage of the show. This article, originally published in 2006, is reprinted below.

The Wire, which has just begun its fourth season on HBO, is surely the best TV show ever broadcast in America. This claim isn't based on my having seen all the possible rivals for the title, but on the premise that no other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to...

Stop Publishing the Sony Hacks

On Christmas Day, Sony Pictures will release The Interview, a Seth Rogen–James Franco comedy about two bumbling journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Based on the trailer, it looks goofy, tasteless, and pretty hilarious.  

When word of the movie first came out, the North Korean regime, whose attributes do not include a sense of humor, threatened retaliation. Now some entity, likely backed by the North Korea government, has carried out that thr...