| Dear Reader,
The death of Jordan Neely after an incident on a New York City subway car has returned some of the country’s attention to homelessness, and the role that mental illness and addiction play in that condition. In his column this week, assistant editor John Hirschauer—TAC’s resident expert on institutionalization and a Novak Journalism Fellow on the topic—reexamines some of the history and ideas that led to dramatically cutting the sort of New York state services that might have helped Neely stay off the streets. John defends, in the end, the state hospitals as envisaged by Dorothea Dix in the 19th century: rural campuses, with manicured grounds and stately buildings, true asylums.
The Belgian Congo has long been a byword for the supposed evils of European colonialism. That is largely due to the 1998 book King Leopold’s Ghost, by the American journalist Adam Hochschild. But Bruce Gilley, professor of political science at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, has no time for what he refers to as “King Hochschild’s Hoax.” In a blockbuster essay from the latest issue of the magazine, Gilley shows how the journalist has misunderstood and misused the documentary evidence to tell a story that simply isn’t true.
The 2024 race is heating up and has already provided some surprises. One such is RFK, Jr. We have a Kennedy in national politics again, and apparently people love it. Kennedy has broken with the Democratic party on a number of issues, not least of which is deference to public health technocrats. He has also not been afraid to wonder on live national television who knew what about a certain death in the family. In a piece Wednesday, Chad Nagle argues Kennedy’s courageous stand is one even conservatives should cheer.
Best,
Micah Meadowcroft
Web Editor
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