The Nightstand (Nov 18th)

Starting this week, I am going to start putting something, anything other than politics at the top of The Nightstand.  The election's over and any more navel-gazing on this particular front is just unseemly at least for the next little while.

General

How to Live Without Irony (Christy Wampole, NYT)


Dying for a Pro-Life Cause (E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)-- More strongly worded in places than I would personally care for, but it bears saying nonetheless.

What Do Animals Want? (Marian Stamp Dawkins, Edge)

Petraeus scandal is reported with compelled veneration for all things military (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)

Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)

No More Magical Thinking (David Remnick, The New Yorker)

One secret reason Petraeus had to resign (Marc Ambinder, The Week)-- See also With Petraeus, echoes of that other warrior David (Daniel Burke, Religion News Service).  Valuable context is provided by both articles.

Mormonism

The Best of the 'Mormon Moment' (Ben Park, Juvenile Instructor)-- I am proud to note that I posted most of these at the time of their original publication.  It's been a good couple of months, and this is the part that I hope will continue for many years.

A Mormon Reporter on the Romney Bus (McKay Coppins, Buzzfeed)

Politics

Stuff White People Like (Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic)-- See also Land of the 'Free Stuff,' Home of the Brave (Paul Waldman, The American Prospect)

Romney and the 0 Percent (Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect)

Want Less Inequality? Tax It.  (Liam Malloy, John Case, The American Prospect)

The Party Next Time (Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker)

Finding compromise between the GOP and evangelicals (Robert Jeffress, WaPo)-- Yes, please.  Try this.  Just do it.

Putting Faith in the Conservative Creed (Amanda Marcotte, The American Prospect)

Is the Voting Rights Act doomed? (Nathaniel Persily, NYT)

Changing Times (Linda Greenhouse, NYT)

How to cut the charitable deduction without hurting charities (Dylan Mathews, WaPo)