Bari’s Picks of the Week: The Cover-Up of the Century

Here’s one thing I’ve noticed: The world is now divided. No, not into red or blue, or smokers versus vapers, or MAHA devotees against Big Mac enthusiasts.

It’s divided into listeners and readers. I know this because I constantly meet people who read The Free Press, but have never listened to an episode of Honestly. Or people who are Honestly devotees who ask me: What’s The Free Press?

Today, an effort to bridge the divide! And to tell all of you who have yet to listen to one of our podcasts: They are where some of our best journalism happens.

We’re going to be doing more of it, too, in the coming months. Starting with the brilliant and singular Coleman Hughes. We’re bringing his already much-loved Conversations with Coleman pod into The Free Press orbit, and we’re relaunching it on June 9. You won’t want to miss it—and you won’t if you subscribe now.

How America Funded Islamism in Pakistan

One of the most frightening flashpoints on Earth flared up again last month when India and Pakistan came to the edge of all-out war following an Islamist attack in Kashmir, the disputed territory between the two countries which, it should be noted, both have nuclear weapons.

India has been dealing with such terrorism for decades.

Why has Pakistan been such a basket case for so long? Well, America has something to do with it, as Eli Lake illuminates in the latest episode of Breaking History.

Desperate for an anti-communist ally in South Asia, Cold-War America empowered a vicious regime in Pakistan—specifically their sinister intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, also known as ISI.

“Over the course of nearly 80 years,” Eli writes, “Pakistan’s deep state has not only hobbled the country’s democratic institutions, it has also created a golem: a network of terror masters animated by a desire to restore a lost Islamic caliphate . . . . And the shame of it all is that this deep state, for decades, was subsidized by the U.S. government.”

Read his whole essay here and listen to the amazing podcast below.

Inside the Cover-Up Behind Biden’s Decline

We had two great episodes of Honestly this week, but I’ll lead with the one that’s been driving a ton of news: Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson sat down with me to discuss their best-selling book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

Tapper, of CNN, and Thompson, of Axios, interviewed some 200 people for this book, which illuminates Biden’s mental deterioration, his enablers, and how the country was effectively run by committee in the midst of his clear cognitive impairment.

For those of us who thought it was bad—and I did—it was actually much worse than anyone could have imagined.

Alex and Jake have chosen to call the effort to hide Biden’s decline a “cover-up.” Those are choice words from two mainstream media insiders. The cover-up they are alleging is that of the Biden family and the close circle of advisers around them, many of whom are still delusional about Biden’s state.

But cover-up might be the word that many Americans would use to describe the press’s coverage of Biden—and explains some of the backlash to the book itself.

How did ordinary citizens see more than people with White House press passes?

Read the edited transcript, and watch the video here or listen below.

Agnes Callard: How to Examine Your Marriage and Your Life

Not many philosophers can call themselves celebrities these days, but the widely read Agnes Callard is a real exception. She’s something of a New Yorker fixture at this point—check out this profile of her from 2023, and her case against travel from the same year is one of those pieces that seems to go viral every few months.

She came by Honestly to discuss her, well, unusual home life.

Agnes currently lives with her husband, her ex-husband, and their combined three children. Also, her current spouse was once her graduate student. Oh, and did I mention that all three of them are philosophers at the University of Chicago?

Agnes also has a new book out, Open Socrates, that has all the best ways to examine and reevaluate your life. And whatever you think of her living situation, there’s no doubt that she’s bracingly honest.

Read the transcript, and watch the video here, or listen to the podcast below. You won’t regret it.

Emily Yoffe: Ambition Will Only Get You So Far

As part of our stellar Ancient Wisdom series, our very own Emily Yoffe—a true legend of journalism—has a piece on losing her mother and the realizations that came with it. One of them, as Emily prepares to turn 70, is that while ambition can be magical, it is a “finite resource.”

Read her truly fantastic piece here.

And watch her entertaining and enlightening interview with The FP’s Suzy Weiss here.

We published so many compelling stories and podcasts this week. Check your email. Check the website. And most importantly, have an amazing weekend.

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