Various outlets are reporting that ace political reporter Ryan Lizza has lost his New Yorker job over allegations of sexual misconduct. A New Yorker statement says management recently learned that Lizza “engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct…we have reviewed the matter and, as a result, have severed ties…due to a request for privacy, we are not commenting further.”

Lizza has disputed the magazine’s description of his firing: “I am dismayed that The New Yorker has decided to characterize a respectful relationship with a woman I dated as somehow inappropriate. The New Yorker was unable to cite a company policy that was violated.

“I am sorry to my friends, workplace colleagues and loved ones for any embarrassment this episode may have caused. I love The New Yorker, my home for the last decade, and I have the highest regard for the people who work there. But this decision, which was made hastily and without a full investigation of the relevant facts, was a terrible mistake.”

I probably shouldn’t post this, but it’s been ricocheting around for the last three or four days so I’m just just, you know, passing it along. Please don’t cut my head off with a carving knife! I’m just a lowly, married, hard-working columnist trying to get along. The 12.6 piece, written by Claire Berlinski and titled “The Warlock Hunt” and posted on the American Interest. Subhead: “The #MeToo moment has now morphed into a moral panic that poses as much danger to women as it does to men.”

Here’s the abridged USA Today version, posted on 12.7.17. Here’s Berlinski’s opening sentence: “It says something, doesn’t it, that I’ve been more hesitant to speak about this than I’ve been of getting on the wrong side of the mafia or al-Qaeda?”