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The Roundup Top Ten for December 2, 2022

Reactionary Media are Fueling Anti-LGBTQ Violence

by Ben Miller

When the media give a platform to the idea that trans people living in public inherently encourages sexual abuse, violence aimed at removing them from the public will follow. The media need to take responsibility for Colorado Springs and call out icitement to violence. 

Grad Workers: Choose Solidarity with New Haven

by Adom Getachew and Sarah Haley

Two former Yale PhD students argue that the university's graduate student union offers not just benefits and protection to graduate student workers, but the chance for them to work in solidarity with other university and New Haven workers across the vast racial and socioeconomic divides separating city and campus. 

For Chinese Protesters, Blank Pages are the Punch Line. What's the Joke?

by Christopher Rea and Jeffrey Wasserstrom

To understand the current Chinese protests, consider the nation's traditions of creative, surreptitious, and subversive political humor. 

Taking Longer View, the Crime Spike Isn't a Mystery, but Solutions aren't Easy Politics

by Patrick Sharkey

Crime is a whole-society problem that is experienced locally; solutions require deep reforms and can't be subjected to the shifting attention of politicians in an election year. 

Despite Defeat, Iran's Footballers Won

by Golnar Nikpour

Iranian players' show of solidarity with protesters facing government repression has been more important than the results on the pitch. 

What the AHA President Got Wrong—and Right

by Jonathan Wilson

"History is political because human experience is political. Historians have power, or at least we want them to. We require that secondary-school and university students study history because we hope it will shape their behavior as citizens."

Forget Apology, the Right is Doubling Down on Inciting Violence Against LGBTQ Americans

by Thomas Lecaque

The campaign of encouraging stochastic terror against LGBTQ communities won't be deterred by a tragedy like the Colorado Springs killings. 

What Will Russia Look Like Without Putin?

by Joy Neumayer

A transformation of Russia after the end of Putin's leadership will require unwinding the countless institutions that have been molded and warped around his power for decades, so that another authoritarian can't step right in to use them. 

Are Elite Conservatives Getting Too Weird to Win?

by Graham Gallagher

The right's move toward European nationalism, conservative Catholicism, and other departures from domestic conservative tradition are troubling to scholars of reactionary politics. But they might just seem weird to voters. 

Republicans Can Thank Suburban New Yorkers for House Majority

by Stacie Taranto

The volatile politics of New York's downstate suburbs trace back to the settlement of massive suburban tracts outside the city after World War II, which created a large constituency of homeowners concerned with "law and order."