In Defense of Rats

"How did hundreds of women find themselves on operating tables in surgery centers and strip malls several states away from where they live? A forty-million-dollar scam that hinged on product-liability lawsuits. Casey Cep reports ""

"I just came from the Stonewall site, a few blocks from where I live. A large American flag now flies wanly in Christopher Park, where the rainbow one flew last week. If you want to see rainbows, however, there's no shortage of them: a row of small Pride flags is affixed to the park gate, and the Stonewall Inn, which is a privately owned bar, has them hanging in spades from the windows, along with blue-and-pink transgender flags. I saw a hand-drawn sign taped to the park gate that reads 'PRIDE FLAG GOES HERE,' next to a little box with pins that say 'Faggots against MAGA ts.' So, safe to say that this community will outlast this Administration by a mile. "This is obviously an outrage-an absurd one, a symbolic one, but a deliberate one. Local officials have vowed to raise a new rainbow flag in opposition to the Department of the Interior's directive. Good. Stonewall is Stonewall because of a riot-more than anything, it's a monument to defiance.""

"Charli XCX's "The Moment" is a tongue-in-cheek satire about the pressures stars face to milk career highs like "brat summer" for all they're worth. On the Critics at Large podcast, our hosts consider the film alongside both the sanitized documentaries it mocks and other artists' attempts to subvert the form. Listen and follow ""

A forty-million-dollar scam used product-liability lawsuits to funnel hundreds of women into surgical procedures at distant surgery centers and strip-mall clinics. The scheme resulted in widespread medical interventions removed from patients' communities. In New York City, a large Pride flag was ordered removed from Stonewall National Monument, replaced by a faded American flag while smaller Pride and transgender flags remain on private properties. Local officials pledged to raise a new rainbow flag in defiance, framing Stonewall as a monument to riot-born resistance. Charli XCX's "The Moment" satirizes celebrity pressures, and a podcast examines the film and related documentary practices.

Read at The New Yorker