April 2026

Why Sam Altman reminds me of Anton Chigurh
To understand what the people building AI are really saying, it helps to spend some time with a man who kills people with a cattle gun.
 • Elias Isquith
Ross Douthat's complicit mind
President Trump attacked the Pope. The NYT's in-house Catholic intellectual says that, actually, this is all very complicated.
 • Elias Isquith
Will we fail the test?
The uncomfortable and enduring question that “V for Vendetta” asks about freedom
 • Elias Isquith
Two quotes from the brink of hell
As I write this message, multiple outlets are reporting that US forces have already begun bombing Iran’s Kharg Island.
 • Elias Isquith
This is what losing sounds like
Why Trump's Iran speech reminded me of Alexander Garland's “Civil War”
 • Elias Isquith

March 2026

Apocalypse again
Colonel Kilgore loved the smell of napalm. Secretary Hegseth loves killing. There's a difference.
 • Elias Isquith
The president is bored
Trump wants to "move on" from his war of choice. Tony Soprano would sympathize.
 • Elias Isquith
“Margin Call” in the age of “Epic Fury”
What separates the bankers of 2008 from the people running the Iran War? The difference between cynicism and cruelty.
 • Elias Isquith
“Unforgiven” is about an incompetent
“Worse than a crime — a mistake.”
 • Elias Isquith
“Network” is a prayer, not a prophecy
Inside one of cinema’s bleakest masterpieces, there is something hidden that feels like hope.
 • Elias Isquith
"There is so much work to be done on your heart"
Cameron Winter's "Warning" is an angry, devastating, God-haunted threat.
 • Elias Isquith
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