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rogergathmann.bsky.social
rogergathmann
@rogergathmann.bsky.social
Always in a sweat. Also, sorry, I never use that chat key. I'm not a good recipient for hot tips, or hotness of any type. Also, should say, if you support the Gaza genocide, don't reply to me. I'll block you. .
All the Chaits and Yglesiases are always going on about "crime" - implying of course imprisoning low income criminals and stuffing police unions with cash. They never go on about the vast and repellent crime wave we have been witnessing for some time
November 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM
In the late 19th century, the nascent science of criminology had settled on two principles. One was that criminals, by definition, were degenerates – people from the margins with inherited vices.
November 28, 2025 at 7:57 AM
That Brian Phillips story wrap about Nuzzle and Rizzle. We laugh, although somehow we, too, the public, feel like RFK jr. is forcing us to "keep an open mouth" to await his "harvest". Oh oh oh. www.theringer.com/2025/11/25/n...
The Olivia Nuzzi and RFK Jr. Affair Is Messier Than We Ever Could Have Imagined
Inside the most important, and also least important, story of our time
www.theringer.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:15 AM
One of the great essays in my life is Guy Davenport’s The Symbol of the Archaic, which appeared in the Georgia Review in 1974. I’m not sure when I read it – perhaps back in my high school days.

Essays are not given enough credit.
November 25, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Finally, somebody is defunding the police! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/u... In May, Mr. Patel told senators that he backed a White House proposal to slash his agency’s budget by about half a billion dollars, an abrupt about-face after requesting additional funding.
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Though the Olivia Nuzzle thing is very infradig - is that the meaning of infradig? I hope so - at least one great suggestion has come out of it! Erika Kirk, eat your heart out.
Vanity Fair should assign her to a Vance profile just to see what happens
November 24, 2025 at 6:53 AM
I find the flood of comments of the "Oswald assassinated Kennedy alone" on bluesky a rather sinister joke. Since that assassination, we have lost faith with the whole notion that you could trust your government to really look into a little matter like the murder of the president.
November 23, 2025 at 3:13 PM
One of my strong beliefs is that there should be a limit on individual wealth. My sense of that limit is that is should be around the 400 million dollar mark. I would like to see a socialist society in the future, but this belief is firmly grounded in capitalist logic.
November 23, 2025 at 9:33 AM
That Marjorie Taylor Greene has more sense of the political shifts in this country than the entire political reporting corps in D.C. is one of the hilarities of this utterly non-hilarious time.
And meanwhile, as Trump succumbs to Mamdani's rizz,
November 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
At times like these - and in fact in all times and places in all possible worlds - I am so glad I don't give a shit about Olivia Nuzzi or Ryan Lizza. On the other hand, I am always grateful to all the props for the comedic musings of Ashley Feinberg.
November 22, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Fred Licht begins his essay on Goya’s Charles IV and his Family with this exemplary paragraph:

“Ever since Theophile Gautier described Goya's Charles IV and His Family (Fig. 1) as "the corner baker and his wife after they won the lottery,"
November 21, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Hugo Hofmannsthal published The Letter (which is almost always translated into English as The Letter from Lord Chandos) in 1903. In turn of the century Vienna, Hofmannsthal, as a young lyric poet, had become the object of a more numerous and public cult than the one surrounding Stefan Georg.
November 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
The conspiracy fan in me is fascinated by the fact that Epstein was apparently into dealing with shady offshore money and was defended by Dershowitz for raping girls - and that Dershowitz was also the lawyer who defended Michele Sindona in the 80s.
November 20, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Grade inflation, man. This, from the Politico article entitled, How could Larry Summers be so stupid", we get this evidence of precociousness: www.politico.com/news/magazin...
How Could Larry Summers Be So Stupid?
The remarkable rise and fall of a domineering public figure appears complete.
www.politico.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:43 AM
I'm glad to see the NYT was the venue through which Larry Summers announced he was "stepping back from public committments", like, well, a prominent surgeon retiring after a distinguished career. And that they saved the "I creep on students" stuff, Summers' special, for the last grafs.
November 18, 2025 at 7:16 AM
One of the awful thing abt/ "centrist" & "moderates" is they only concentrate on the Dem party. This is due to the Dem party having a fatal inclination to listening to the "wonk" voice. But Klein and company, with MTG & Massie, have an opp to whisper to the GOP Moderation! Do this, please.
November 16, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Wouldn't it be nice if MTG comes out against Epstein associates at the same time that Centrist Dem orgs, like Neera Tanden's Center for American Progress, comes out against Epstein associate and distinguished fellow Larry Summers? You know, bipartisanship. But CAP is silent.
November 16, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Well, NYT goes there - with a nostalgic piece about Epstein's New York. Uh, guys, maybe slow down a bit? Decline gracefully. This leaping down the staircase and into the shitheap is bad business. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/s...
Epstein Emails Reveal a Lost New York
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
One of the reasons, I think, that the Epstein affair has sort of haunted the American 21st century is that it is emblematic of the rise of impunity for the rich and the powerful. The rich and the powerful always possess a certain large impunity – this is one of the great incentives to wealth.
November 15, 2025 at 10:33 AM
for unknown reasons, the NYT that headlined their instantly forgettable deep dive into all things Santos while putting the 11 millon protesting trump in No Kings marches on p. a27 is putting a deep dive into Olivia Nuzzi during Epstein week. I've never seen a paper flee from the news like the NYT.
November 14, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Childhood – middle class childhood – is, among other things, an education in secrets. Secret making and breaking. A paper by Yves de la Taille on the development of “the right to a secret” among children cites researchers in the Piagetian school
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM
I am wondering: how is the Larry Summers - Elisa News marriage going? Has she had him pack and leave yet? Although they both were into Jeff E., so who knows.
November 14, 2025 at 7:49 AM
There are two sides to Epstein's operation. One was, obviously, raping and exchanging underage girls. The other, though, was money laundering and the manipulation of offshore accounts. We are all exploring the first vis a vis Trump. But the second is as interesting... vis a vis Trump.
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/b...
The Day Jeffrey Epstein Told Me He Had Dirt on Powerful People (Published 2019)
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Need this energy today, as we observe America's plutocracy in its "one degree away from Epstein" shenanigans.
DO: Run as a progressive with an actionable agenda.

DON’T: Pull a gun on a pregnant woman in a parking lot
Katie Wilson wins Seattle mayoral race, incumbent Bruce Harrell appears to be preparing to concede

The exciting race for Mayor of Seattle can now be called. With almost no ballots left to count, challenger Katie Wilson has an advantage that incumbent Bruce Harrell cannot overcome.
November 13, 2025 at 7:27 AM