SD enterprise: August 2020

Monday, August 31, 2020

This Trump-Russia Story Isn’t Going Away

Rod Rosenstein Didn't 'Land the Plane.' He Made Sure It Never Left the Ground.

Sooner or later, even though the investigation into the president's involvement with the Russian ratfcking in the 2016 election had been swept out of the news cycle by all manner of fresh hell, when last we left the saga, there was an unmistakable feeling that there had been a careeRosensteinist in the woodpile. On Sunday, The New York Times handed us a big old clue. Of all of the participants in this ongoing drama, Rosenstein has had the distinction of being one of the slipperiest. He kept zipping in and out of every crack and crevice in the testimony of various witnesses and was rather a Zelig-like character in most of the major set-pieces. Charles P. Pierce reflects on the latest. Read More

This Hot New Conservative Talking Point on COVID-19 Is Extremely Wrong

The weekend's big talking point for people more concerned with propping up the president's campaign than grappling with reality was that a new CDC report found 94 percent of people who have been recorded as dying from COVID-19 have also had other causes of death listed. The thinking from some exceptionally large brains in the conservative media was that this meant only six percent of the recorded COVID deaths are actually deaths due to COVID, so that a big chunk of the 183,000 recorded deaths in the U.S. somehow shouldn't count. If you're interested in reality, this 94 percent statistic is not that much of a surprise. It does not mean, as some news reports had it, that all 94 percent had underlying conditions—chronic diseases like diabetes. Here's Jack Holmes with the facts. Read More

Ready for Boot Season? Thursday Boots Has You Covered.

In Partnership with Thursday Boots

Built for guys who understand quality and don't want to pay a high retail mark-up for great looking boots. Read More

The Best Face Masks to Buy Right Now

As the spread of COVID-19 continues at pandemic-level proportions, key players in the fashion industry are getting involved to do their part, from funding efforts to fight the virus to converting manufacturing facilities to better suit the needs of hospitals and healthcare workers around the world. And now, some brands are going a step further by starting to make non-surgical masks in line with the CDC's recent recommendation. Manufacturing surgical masks according to the CDC's guidelines represents a particular type of problem for brands that lack access to the technical materials necessary or don't have the production know-how to make medical-grade PPE. But non-surgical masks (part of what the CDC would categorize as "cloth face coverings" per its memo) are a far more approachable task to tackle, especially if the only fabric a brand has easy access to is cotton or a similarly common material. Read More

The 18 Best T-Shirt Brands Every Guy Should Know

We're living through historic times for the humble T-shirt. The basic tee, once imbued so indelibly with ties to the counter-culture courtesy of associations with on-screen badasses like Brando and Dean, has now become so innocuous it's downright mainstream. The T-shirt has become the de facto building block of the everyday outfit, long since replacing stuffier counterparts like the collared shirt, let alone (*checks notes*) the suit. There have never been more options, and while we're ever-thankful for the variety, it can all be a bit overwhelming. Luckily for you, we sifted through the nearly endless versions available online to track down our favorites, with the recommendation that if you happen to find a style you like, you stock up on it—and fast. Read More

Mark Vicente and Bonnie Piesse Were Members of NXIVM. Now They're Helping Expose It.

South African filmmaker Mark Vicente joined NXIVM in 2005, and spent over a decade enmeshed in the organization recording everything that went on. He was doing so for a future documentary on how NXIVM founder and so-called revolutionary genius Keith Raniere changed the world. Little did Vicente know his hours of footage would instead end up in an HBO docuseries that reveals the inner workings of NXIVM as an abusive "sex cult." Episode Two of HBO's The Vow dives into the couple's art, marriage, and experience documenting the destructive organization. Here's where they are now. Read More