Discourse Magazine is publishing its final pieces this week. In his farewell, Editor-in-Chief David Masci looks back on nearly five years of thoughtful writing, debate, and community. https://t.co/qr6b6ikwPp

Discourse may be wrapping up, but the writing continues. Editor-in-Chief David Masci and Executive Editor Jen Tiedemann are starting their own Substack. Follow their work here:

Executive Editor Jen Tiedemann reflects on the people, ideas, and community that made Discourse matter most to her. https://t.co/FZ72wO7m2X

Managing Editor Christina Behe reflects on what Discourse meant to her, from learning and growth to gratitude for colleagues, writers, and readers. https://t.co/p1TqSRna7s

My homage to the late great Discourse, best publication I have written for, and to its chief editor, David Masci... https://t.co/9DPeHs79FK

"[M]eme coins are a way to directly transfer money from a wealthy favor-seeker to the president, out in the open and apparently legally, since it is nominally an 'investment' in one of Trump’s ventures. But it is obviously just a bribe."

"Trump’s return to the White House should be seen not as a rejection of liberal democracy, but as a concern about some specific economic conditions and social issues." @joero3 on Americans' commitment to liberalism:

"Just as Trump uses his pardon power and prosecutorial discretion to make threats and dole out favors, so he also asserts direct political power over previously independent regulatory agencies. Then he uses this power to shake down media companies."

Today on Discourse, Robert Tracinski discusses corruption in the @realDonaldTrump administration:

"Liberalism historically was born in much more trying circumstances than we currently face. Today, we need to look back to see what is essential to our liberal traditions and then use those resources to contradict ... antiliberal forces." @joero3

"[T]he movement to preserve fine art may also have begun the process of separating art from lived human experience, hastening the new AI-induced death of art and human artists." @theory_gang

"There are indeed reasons for hope; while our liberal democracy is under assault, it has not been defeated. However, this also isn’t a time for rose-colored glasses. Instead, liberals should forge ahead with a healthy dose of cautious optimism." @joero3

Is America's liberal democracy crumbling? @joero3 acknowledges reasons for concern but also shares 3 1/2 reasons for hope:

"If we erase the artist and the observer as divine co-creators in exchange for fully autonomous IP, we can maximize profits—and the last human artists can retire on a diet of slop." @theory_gang

"Short videos switch the detached and rational perception typical of literacy to the impulsive immersion typical of orality." @Andrey4Mir on how short videos are a form of digital folklore in a postliterate society:

"We can lay out all the component parts of Frankensteinian monsters like art and consciousness, and combine them endlessly via AI, but the bolt of lightning that makes them live is our human relation to the world around us." @theory_gang

With the advent of AI artists, what becomes of human creativity? Natasha Mott @theory_gang questions whether we're witnessing the death of the artist:

"Short videos ... immerse both their creators and viewers in randomly cut snippets of someone’s flow of reality. ... It’s just the same everyday flow of living that oralist tribal individuals would have—but cut and delivered by digital means." @Andrey4Mir

"Croatia, a popular but still basically second-tier European destination, felt clean, tidy, welcoming, well managed. Sicily felt faded, dirty, ramshackle." @ad_mastro on the joys of visiting second-tier places:

"Due to the addictive ease of posting, viewing and sharing, short videos have become a new global form of media engagement, finishing off the remnants of culture shaped by literacy, print and broadcasting media." @Andrey4Mir