Welcome to Lowercase Weekend Reads. Grab a warm drink or a scotch, a comfortable seat and get ready for our weekend reads highlighting the most important articles of the week.

America's real law-and-order problem is racism

It's sobering to see an elected official think and talk this way. I hope it turns into action. 

The Powerful Decide

Never occurred to me to think about design in this way. Great article. Surprisingly it can perpetuate racism. 

Crows possess higher intelligence long thought primarily human

Crows are fucking smart (ed note: Marcelo is obsessed with crows). They have the ability to think in ways that are only associated with higher degrees of intelligence. Lately there is a boom in animal brain research. I wonder if this will change the way we relate to a lot of species. 

The Defenestration of Bari Weiss

A few months ago we talked about Bari Weiss’ resignation letter from the New York Times. Mainstream media is going through a lot of pain lately and this is scary. ”The principle of free speech is not quite at issue here. Rather, it is the dignity and necessity of intellectual engagement. That’s the tradition Weiss’s colleagues at the Times have failed to uphold.”

US democracy is broken: How to fix voting rights, elections, the Senate, and the Electoral College

This was a fun read. 11 things that need to change. Some I did not even know were an issue. 

This week’s debate was grotesque. The moderator was tormented and could not control either candidate. I believe this is a reflection of the social fabric in the U.S. It also sheds light on how ridiculous it is to expect a candidate to articulate crucial issues in two minutes. There must be a better way but the debate as we know it must end. 

What we are reading: 

Capital in the 21st Century by Thomas Piketty 

Next in line:

The Return of History: Conflict, Migration, and Geopolitics in the Twenty-First Century by Jennifer Welsh