The enormously talented Joan Westenberg launched her “self funded and independent” publication The Index earlier this year. From her launch announcement:

Today, I’m launching The Index - a new publication focused on thoughtful, independent journalism and editorial opinion that matters. It’s always free to read, and never ad-supported.

From day one, we’re taking a stance that’s both principled and practical.

We’ll be funded solely by donations and by our readers through pledges and donations, not venture capital or billionaire ownership.

I learned about The Index because these fantastically written blog posts, all with evocative titles, kept popping up on my social media and RSS feeds. For example:

• “Flags at Full Staff, Discourse at Half-Mast: How Trump’s Inauguration Turned Protocol into Protest”:

But why? Why are we talking about flagpoles? When did the vertical position of a piece of cloth become a measure of patriotic devotion?

Like much of what happens in Trumpworld, it’s a game of performative signaling. Abbott’s order demonstrates loyalty to Trump, broadcasts defiance of federal (and therefore, Democrat) authority, and frames respect for Carter as subordinate to celebrating Trump’s return to power. The technical violation of flag protocol is a feature rather than a bug; and it allows Abbott to position himself as a bold defender of Trump against an *entirely imagined *conspiracy of Democratic flag-lowerers.

• “What Does “Masculine Energy” Even Mean, Mark?”:

He means being an asshole. Full stop.

He means the Trump approach to leadership: belittling opponents, dismissing criticism as weakness, and treating basic human dignity as optional. He means the Andrew Tate brand of masculinity: performing dominance while calling it strength. He means the Elon Musk school of management: firing people via tweet and calling it efficiency.

• “This Man is a Nazi.”

If it walks like a Nazi and talks like a Nazi, there is a good chance it’s Elon Musk.

• “This Man is a Coward.”

Power corrupts, but cowardice corrupts more completely. It corrupts not through excess but through absence - the absence of backbone, principle, and basic human courage. Zuckerberg had every resource needed to stand up to Trump’s assault on American institutions. He chose weak-willed submission in its place.

• “Nobody Wants a Nazi Electric Car”:

Remember 2015? A Tesla parked in your driveway announced something specific: innovation, environmental consciousness, and a stake in the future. The cars weren’t perfect, but they meant something. They represented hope - for clean energy, American manufacturing, and a world beyond fossil fuels. That Tesla is dead. Elon Musk killed it. He took it out back and strangled it with his sweaty, bare hands.

There are more, and that’s my point: They’re all really good. Sharp, pithy, often brutal, remarkably forthright. As I read them I find myself ruefully muttering “Damn, wish I’d written that.”

If you want more from her (and you will!), she also writes at the self-titled westenberg.