{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Micro.blog - Brad East","home_page_url":"https://micro.blog","feed_url":"https://micro.blog/posts/eastbrad","_microblog":{"about":"https://micro.blog/about/api","id":"1616697","username":"eastbrad","bio":"","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":1,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2024/19/1616697.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"93611945","content_html":"

The tenth Osten Ard book is due this October from Tad Williams.

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As is his wont, he’s already working on a sequel.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/07/the-tenth-osten-ard-book.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T22:01:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 22:01","date_timestamp":1783461712,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93608024","content_html":"

Netflix, drugs, and delivery services have turned the twenty-first-century home into a self-enclosed repository of creature comforts.

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—Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics (2026), pp. 28-29

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/07/netflix-drugs-and-delivery-services.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T20:41:05+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 20:41","date_timestamp":1783456865,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93604365","content_html":"

The latest issue of The New Atlantis has an excellent review of Jacob Siegel’s The Information State by Nicholas Carr. Regarding the failure of the “whiz kids” in Vietnam, Carr writes:

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\n

rather than triggering an honest assessment of the flaws of large-scale data mining, the fiasco had the opposite effect. The problem wasn’t that computer-based decisionmaking had limits, the technocrats concluded. The problem was that the computers weren’t supplied with enough data.

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\n
\n

This conclusion would, as Siegel shows with example after example, turn into a perverse tenet of the information age: Every failure of...

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micro.bradeast.org","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/07/the-latest-issue-of-the.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T19:46:10+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 19:46","date_timestamp":1783453570,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93604257","content_html":"

This summary and analysis of Byung-Chul Han’s intellectual development, philosophical vision, and mature project by Matt Elmore is outstanding.

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The only question is left for me is where Han stands in relation to Christian faith. It became popular, after Covid and this short 2021 piece by Han about attending...

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Read: Fred Sanders on Ursinus on the Bible on Christology.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/07/read-fred-sanders-on-ursinus.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T19:18:18+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 19:18","date_timestamp":1783451898,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93602987","content_html":"

From Richard Beck: “Disenchantment Death Spiral” and “Immanence Feedback Loop” are very helpful terms of art.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/07/from-richard-beck-disenchantment-death.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T19:17:30+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 19:17","date_timestamp":1783451850,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93343739","content_html":"

Every third link this month has gone to Alan’s blog … but so be it. Here’s his pledge not to go to Substack, prefaced by his rationale.

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It would be silly of me to make the same pledge, but I feel the exact same way. I’m so glad I didn’t get sucked in early. Life outside the Substack-verse—just like life...

micro.bradeast.org","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/02/every-third-link-this-month.html","date_published":"2026-07-03T01:55:36+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-03 01:55","date_timestamp":1783043736,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93258076","content_html":"

Alan posts these little gems on cinema like an afterthought, but I continue to harbor the hope that in retirement he’ll finally give us the full book on film that has so long been brewing in his mind, journals, and blogs.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/07/01/alan-posts-these-little-gems.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T16:26:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 16:26","date_timestamp":1782923216,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93219145","content_html":"

“The will of God” is one of the ruffles political leaders baste onto their rhetorical garments whenever it can be made seemly to do so.

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—Elizabeth Hardwick, “Piety and Politics” (1976)

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/the-will-of-god-is.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:46:48+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:46","date_timestamp":1782870408,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93218930","content_html":"

Read Alan on the repaganization of fantasy, then read my essay from 2024 on a similar theme: namely, why pagan fantasy is possible, but not post-Christian fantasy—i.e. fantasy that sets out to be anti-Christian, anti-theist, or anti-theodicy.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/read-alan-on-the-repaganization.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:40:32+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:40","date_timestamp":1782870032,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93218732","content_html":"

“5 Reasons Why Supergirl Flopped At The Box Office.\" Sometimes it’s not complicated. No one liked it, and the trailers couldn’t hide how bad it was. No mysteries here.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/reasons-why-supergirl-flopped-at.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:35:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:35","date_timestamp":1782869754,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93218691","content_html":"

The latest issue of The Lamp is excellent, as always, but I especially enjoyed reading Caldwell on Tennyson (wait for the kicker), Green on Bloom, Hitchens on Weimar, and Dan Moore on Arthur Pendennis (aka Thackeray).

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/the-latest-issue-of-the.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:34:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:34","date_timestamp":1782869640,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93218560","content_html":"

Always be reading Sam Kriss on AI writing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/always-be-reading-sam-kriss.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:30:19+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:30","date_timestamp":1782869419,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93218552","content_html":"

I thought Ann Manov’s essay “Republican Machines” (great title, given the source and subject) for Harper’s was a fair and thoughtful treatment of the rise of civic centers on university campuses around the country.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/i-thought-ann-manovs-essay.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:29:55+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:29","date_timestamp":1782869395,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93217828","content_html":"

I’ve got not one but two new pieces in Christianity Today: a review of Luke Burgis’s new book and a review of Walter Brueggemann’s final book.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/30/ive-got-not-one-but.html","date_published":"2026-07-01T01:13:21+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-01 01:13","date_timestamp":1782868401,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92973802","content_html":"

I was reminded this week that I not only have a Goodreads profile but that, between ten and fifteen years ago, I wrote a number of reviews for books I was reading at the time. It turns out I’m officially old enough to have forgotten things I’ve published on the internet that continue to be read and taken...

micro.bradeast.org","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/26/i-was-reminded-this-week.html","date_published":"2026-06-26T18:48:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-26 18:48","date_timestamp":1782499734,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92970778","content_html":"

I loved this update from Alan on Cosmos Malick. I just love what he’s doing there. And I hope-hope-hope he turns it into a book, even though he thinks that’s impossible (at present).

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/26/i-loved-this-update-from.html","date_published":"2026-06-26T17:33:41+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-26 17:33","date_timestamp":1782495221,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92970455","content_html":"

I only just learned about the Critical Star Trek Studies Substack, and I loved these two pieces by Adam Roberts and Adam Kotsko.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/26/i-only-just-learned-about.html","date_published":"2026-06-26T17:26:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-26 17:26","date_timestamp":1782494764,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92968978","content_html":"

Jon Fosse:

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\n

The Old Testament talks about this vengeful God. The New Testament talks about the love of God. The only thing said about God in the New Testament is that God is love, nothing else.

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\n

This is in a public conversation with Marilynne Robinson. I wish I could hear the audio. I simply do not know what Fosse could mean by this, but perhaps it was meant to be ironic, and the tone would show that.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/26/jon-fosse-the-old-testament.html","date_published":"2026-06-26T16:59:13+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-26 16:59","date_timestamp":1782493153,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92849406","content_html":"

I have a running friendly argument with a buddy about why (a) I don’t watch YouTube videos/influencers of any kind and (b) why I am not and never will be, or try to be, a YouTuber-influencer.

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Happily, Alan Jacobs has succinctly stated my case for me. QED.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/i-have-a-running-friendly.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T01:30:44+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 01:30","date_timestamp":1782351044,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92848896","content_html":"

I liked Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun a bit more than Adam Roberts did, but his criticisms are basically all on point.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/i-liked-ishiguros-klara-and.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T01:17:09+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 01:17","date_timestamp":1782350229,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92833091","content_html":"

I like this kind of harmonizing fun. I think the case is even more compelling if (a) the beloved disciple is not the son of Zebedee but a Jerusalem-based elite also named John and (b) James and his siblings are children of Joseph’s prior marriage before Mary. They are therefore Joseph’s biological children...

micro.bradeast.org","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/i-like-this-kind-of.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T20:30:13+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 20:30","date_timestamp":1782333013,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92832736","content_html":"

This is one of the best things Matt Anderson has ever written: on tattoos, facelifts, and getting beyond “sinfulness” in Christian (lay and pastoral) moral deliberation.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/this-is-one-of-the.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T20:21:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 20:21","date_timestamp":1782332476,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92828577","content_html":"

…our low regard for nostalgia often seems not to rest on some substantive standard of excellence, in light of which a preference for the past is seen as missing the mark, but rather expresses idolatry of the present. This kind of “forward-thinking” is at bottom an apologetic species of conservatism, as it...

micro.bradeast.org","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/our-low-regard-for-nostalgia.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T19:08:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 19:08","date_timestamp":1782328123,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92824033","content_html":"

Variety:

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\n

As he explained in previous announcements, “Ray Gunn” has been percolating in the director’s mind for more than 30 years. Sitting in a Hollywood vault for several decades, Bird finally got hold of the project again a few years back.

\n
\n

That sure is a long time for Brad Bird to be sitting alone in a Hollywood vault.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://micro.bradeast.org/2026/06/24/variety-as-he-explained-in.html","date_published":"2026-06-24T17:56:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Brad East","url":"https://eastbrad.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2024%2F19%2F1616697.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"eastbrad"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-24 17:56","date_timestamp":1782323816,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}