© John Ccameron/Unsplash

Author's note: The essay below was accepted on September 11 for publication by the opinion editor of Newsweek, and after some changes by the editors not reproduced here, was published on the morning of September 14, by 7:00 a.m. or a little after. Two hours later it was taken down by the editor-in-chief, Nancy Cooper, with no explanation on the publication's website.

I was told that Newsweek would like to publish it again — for keeps this time! — a week later, but only when a piece commissioned from the opposing viewpoint could appear alongside it, in a feature called "The Debate." Would the author of that piece be able to have a look at mine? There was no reason to think not, since my essay was saved on the "Wayback Machine." But would I see the counterpoint essay before publication and be able to respond with slight revisions of my own? I was given no assurance of that.

Meanwhile a lively two-hour conversation on Twitter about my essay, with readers both pro and con, had turned into a conversation about where the article had gone. Critics, some of whom now couldn't read it, assumed that the essay was bad or intolerable in some way. If I agreed to Newsweek's terms for its reappearance, this impression would be reinforced. As many conservatives know, their views must always be "balanced" and "contextualized" in conjunction with liberal views in the mainstream media — but liberals' opinions are never treated that way.

© Monterey County Sheriff's Office

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Friday afternoon that on Tuesday evening, a resident of Phoenix saw a person, later identified as Bakkela, lighting a fire behind their house on Quail Lane. Because there was an impending blaze, the residents who saw him set the fire had to flee their home.

(...)

Bakkela was arrested and initially lodged in the Jackson County Jail on Tuesday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine. He remains in jail on the arson and criminal mischief charges.