What to Book: “Fascist politics transforms the news from a conduit of information and reasoned debate into a spectacle with the strongman as its star.” Does that sound familiar? So will everything else in Jason Stanley’s excellent new book, How Fascism Works. I spend a few hours a day trying to figure out what the hell is happening at the intersection of politics and news. This book explains it as well as anything I’ve read.

+ What to Read: I took what I learned from Jason Stanley’s book and applied it to a single day of news. Do we live in a fascist state? Far from it. But we are normalizing behaviors that are drawn from the fascist playbook, and we’re witnessing a the re-emergence of fascism in many countries. There’s a value to being aware of these behaviors and having the guts to call them what they are. So take a look at: Today in Fascism.

+ What to Doc: Dirty Money on Netflix. “From crippling payday loans to cars that cheat emissions tests, this investigative series exposes brazen acts of corporate greed and corruption.” The first episode covers the VW emissions scandal. I thought I understood that story. I had no idea.

+ What to Binge Read: Want to catch up on some good articles. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf has put together his annual list of Slightly More Than 100 Fantastic Articles.