Charles Mathewes
LightNews LightNews
banner
ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes
@ctmathewes.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts

I teach religion & ethics @ UVa
I'm mostly here to find books & articles I don't yet know about
Sometimes also interested in opinions, but not as often as many of you seem to believe

Videos
Philosophy 35%
Political science 31%
Posts Replies Media Videos

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 22h
Pretty acute review. I'll check out the book but I gotta admit this confirms some of my priors going into it
newyorker.com The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23h
“Capitalism: A Global History,” by Sven Beckert, invites readers to study capitalism without moral judgment—a pitch that “starts to seem a little disingenuous” as the book develops, Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/0-DRXW
What Does “Capitalism” Really Mean, Anyway?
In a new global history, capitalism is an inescapable vibe—responsible for everything, everywhere, all at once.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

newyorker.com
The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23h
“Capitalism: A Global History,” by Sven Beckert, invites readers to study capitalism without moral judgment—a pitch that “starts to seem a little disingenuous” as the book develops, Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/0-DRXW
What Does “Capitalism” Really Mean, Anyway?
In a new global history, capitalism is an inescapable vibe—responsible for everything, everywhere, all at once.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 1d
Feels like just another Gordon Sondland, an example of a certain kind of creature the American business world excels in creating--got lucky, worked hard, & thought it was all transferrable skills.

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
Oh no

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
Rats leaving a sinking ship

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Charles T. Mathewes

npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 2d
JUST IN: Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88
Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard dies at 88
The Czech-born British playwright is known for Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Coast of Utopia. Stoppard also wrote screenplays for Brazil and Shakespeare in Love.
n.pr

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d
Breaking News: Tom Stoppard, the playwright known for a witty, cerebral style who drew comparisons to Shakespeare and Shaw, has died at 88.
Tom Stoppard, Award-Winning Playwright of Witty Drama, Dies at 88
Drawing comparisons to the greatest of dramatists, he entwined erudition with imagination in stage works that won accolades on both sides of the Atlantic.
nyti.ms

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

monicapotts.bsky.social
Monica Potts @monicapotts.bsky.social · 2d
I again suggest that the world shut down between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. You cover many holidays that way and we all get a rest. Essential workers make double pay and we have lots of feasts. Neighborhoods celebrate together and we bring back wassailing and 12 days of Xmas. Elect me president.

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
Just keep the plane stocked with bubblegum and everything's gonna be ok

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Richard E. Lenski, Brendan Nyhan , and 8 more

carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d
Indiana Senate Republican Greg Walker “said he would have reported the alleged violation to federal authorities “if I thought that there was anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation ..”

@adamwren.bsky.social #redistrict
dailyjournal.net/2025/11/26/s...

Reposted by Elizabeth Saunders, Nandita Sharma, Jonathan A. Eisen , and 14 more

annabower.bsky.social
Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 2d
Harvard Law School’s Jack Goldsmith:

“In short, if the Post’s facts are correct, it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the ‘two men were blown apart in the water, as the Post put it.’”

open.substack.com/pub/executiv...
11:19 14 in shot, i the Post's facts are correct it appears that Special Operations Forces committed murder when the "two men were blown apart in the water," as the Post put it. It is unclear from the Post's Seporting precisely what role Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
Betty Ford for Phones
washingtonpost.com The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 2d
Are your kids glued to their screens? For just under $8,000, your teenager can live in a college dorm for four weeks with no tech access.

The first week is rough, but eventually the kids relearn how to spend time offline, said the camp’s executive director.
Frazzled parents turn to screen-time coaches, $8,000 detox camps to rein in kids’ tech
Parents trying to raise their kids in a tech-saturated world are getting overwhelmed with the amount of work and fighting it takes to protect kids, which can be a full-time job.
www.washingtonpost.com

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
Clickbait.

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

washingtonpost.com
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 2d
Are your kids glued to their screens? For just under $8,000, your teenager can live in a college dorm for four weeks with no tech access.

The first week is rough, but eventually the kids relearn how to spend time offline, said the camp’s executive director.
Frazzled parents turn to screen-time coaches, $8,000 detox camps to rein in kids’ tech
Parents trying to raise their kids in a tech-saturated world are getting overwhelmed with the amount of work and fighting it takes to protect kids, which can be a full-time job.
www.washingtonpost.com

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 2d
I’ll take any ally, however, partial. And he’s right, Trump’s behavior is precisely what we try to stop 13-year-old from enacting. Good for you, Senator.
ericmgarcia.bsky.social Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 3d
h/t @adamwren.bsky.social

Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Will Jennings, Alan Richardson , and 3 more

ericmgarcia.bsky.social
Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 3d
h/t @adamwren.bsky.social

Michael Bohacek, a Republican state senator from Indiana who has a daughter with down syndrome, says he will vote against redistricting in Indiana after Trump used the word "retarded."

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 3d
These kids need to read Wittgenstein on rule-following: adding more explicit rules doesn't help if you don't know how (or care) to follow the first one. The problem is not procedures, it's the President.

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 3d
The difficulty of this idea is that, when a President is lawless (as this one manifestly is), he will continue to be lawless when you attempt to put new procedures in place to check his lawlessness. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Lawfare is a downward spiral. Here’s an escape hatch.
Put concerns about political prosecutions before a bipartisan jury of former U.S. attorneys.
www.washingtonpost.com

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 4d
Could this be our Sputnik Moment for a Marshall Plan for Manhattan Projects? Or is it more of a 9/11? Or the Hundred Days?

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

dandrezner.bsky.social
Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 4d
My only quibble with this Paul Musgrave post is that he omitted the “War on X” option. open.substack.com/pub/musgrave...
We Need a Marshall Plan for Manhattan Projects
The AP-ification of metaphors is dumbing us down
open.substack.com

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
REM, Radio Free Europe
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On
Amy Winehouse, Rehab
The Clash, London Calling
Bob Dylan, Tangled Up in Blue

(Xtra cred: Dire Straits, Down to the Waterline)
patrickbromley.bsky.social Patrick Bromley @patrickbromley.bsky.social · 5d
Top 5 Side 1, Track 1s

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
this is made worse & more powerful b/c they don't see it, b/c they think their phones are not institutions, but their phones ARE institutions, among the most powerful ever invented by humanity, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
(b) they get most of their info from social media which come to them via their phones, therefore (c) young people today are the most "institutionalized" generation ever, because they are unprecedentedly influenced, even sometimes determined, by their phones, &

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
Ppl esp young ppl today claim to mistrust institutions but (a) their mistrust of institutions is enormously amplified by the cynical nihilism with which news @ institutions is mediated to them thru social media, www.washingtonpost.com/.../2025/pho...?
www.washingtonpost.com

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
Have we reached Peak Foucault?

ctmathewes.bsky.social
Charles Mathewes @ctmathewes.bsky.social · 5d
I know Rob Iliffe a little bit--a generous and serious scholar. Thanks for his lecture!

Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Colin F. Camerer, Steve Peers , and 31 more

miamidsa.org
Miami DSA @miamidsa.org · 5d
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

kpw1453.bsky.social
Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 5d
The ‘Great Ludovisi Sarcophagus’ depicting battle scenes between Romans and Barbarians. The sarcophagus dates to the 3rd century AD, and is part of the collections at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday #Rome

Reposted by James Goodwin, Brian Weatherson, Sam Kamin , and 1 more

patrickbromley.bsky.social
Patrick Bromley @patrickbromley.bsky.social · 5d
Top 5 Side 1, Track 1s

Reposted by Charles T. Mathewes

mikesacks.bsky.social
Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 6d
District court judges are engaged in a bipartisan project of [forgive me] actually calling balls and strikes. Republican circuit judges are largely going full-tilt partisan.

Stats as of last month:
courtaccountability.substack.com/p/where-law-...