LEVICK | June 22nd, 2020

Into the Breach

We have a lot of articles and podcasts this week, so we thought we would keep our note fairly short. Take a listen to a special edition of In House Warrior, the daily podcast of the Corporate Counsel Business Journal, as John Mullen, of the law firm Mullen Coughlin, which handles approximately 2,500 cyber incidents a year, provides insight into best cyber practices. It’s 25 minutes well-spent.

Please also take a look at NewsWhip/Axios’ analysis of social media conversations since the murder of George Floyd. Online engagement is greater than the five other leading social conversations in the Trump era, combined, and 15 to 120 times greater than each of them at their respective apex. This includes discussion of gun control after Parkland, backlash to the president’s policies on immigration, abortion, global warming and #MeToo. Anyone who thinks this isn’t a seminal moment is missing the signposts of history.

In a somewhat related story, American Heritage magazine, a journal about history and therefore seldom if ever one to make news with an exclusive, does just that with a story of how many Confederate likenesses are actually in the U.S. Capitol, nearly twice as many as widely reported.

Kudos to our friend Ed Grosvenor, the publisher and editor of AH, for his methodical review of congressional art and architecture databases. Is it any wonder that this country has systemic racial issues when fully 16 percent of the men honored in Congress’ Statuary Hall championed white supremacy and led an armed insurrection against the Republic?

In case you missed it, Ross Douthat, columnist for the New York Times, makes a remarkable point about the judicial arc, arguing we are now a juristocracy.

It was quite a week. Don’t expect it to slow down.

Enjoy the listen.

Richard Levick