meanwhile, Nancy Guthrie is still missing

Coming soon: the Happy Divorcees of AI

As promised, here's the news about Glossip being granted bond this morning @lilianasegura.bsky.social theintercept.com/2026/05/14/r...

my ironclad rule about having little to do with all things Murdaugh still stands

This is the kind of thing I would see on late night as a kid from the LaRouchians and well, I guess we are in fact living in their world

“Where is the pool of men who are self-sufficient and like to read, are willing to go to therapy and are not afraid of a woman who has a passport? That sounds really wild to say out loud, but I don’t feel like I’m missing a ton by choosing to read a book instead of swiping on Hinge.”

Unfortunately, this is the correct decision. The clerk of the court really did engage in "shocking jury interference," openly pressuring jurors to find Murdaugh guilty. That's a massive due process violation. www.sccourts.org/media/opinio...

Seriously one of the best essays I've read all year www.thebeliever.net/my-fathers-s...

My latest newsletter is a conversation with Emma Garman, whom I first met when we were cultural bloggers in our 20s, about her marvelous mid-century-set mystery THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS:

My latest newsletter is a conversation with Emma Garman, whom I first met when we were cultural bloggers in our 20s, about her marvelous mid-century-set mystery THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS:

Logs in, sees more discourse about Bluesky's influence Me: time to post more about classical music

This is the longest story I have ever written. It is also the most meaningful. It will go out in The Small Bow's newsletter tomorrow. You can read it here now: www.thesmallbow.com/p/consider-t...

RIP Rex Reed, who was certainly never dull.

Really glad for Parul Sehgal's incisive essay on the narrative complexity (and discomfort) of Gisele Pelicot's memoir.

Who could have foreseen (Anyone. Everyone. All of us.)

Between this and Tumbler Ridge seems clear this is a morally bankrupt company

Late to the news of the death of Betty Broderick, though finding out on Mother's Day feels appropriate somehow.

Happy Mother's Day from me and my mom (taken last month)

Really loved this (as did Molly's book: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738849...)

Speaking of THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, Leonie Swann just published a third volume, WIDDER SEHEN, in Germany, and it's being translated into English by Amy Bojang with plans to publish next year:

I really appreciate all of the readers who have found me here and bought my books, or bought books I wrote about in my column. Books and recommending books is the best of Bluesky.

The disconnect between offline and online has never seemed more vast

Since this comes up a lot, thought it was worth answering on main: -- psychological standalone thrillers are for Lyall's column -- series detective (police/PI/amateur sleuth) novels and cozy mysteries are for mine I tend to review more translated fiction than Lyall does, but there are exceptions!

personally I think it's a very big deal that the Canada bureau chief for the @nytimes.com — certainly one of the highest-paid journalists in the country — asked an unspecified "AI tool" what Poilievre said & published its AI-hallucinated quotes in her reporting.

Democrats fail to understand there's a war going on at home too

real real good

I had so much fun working on this unexpectedly pivotal slice of legal American history -- a reminder that this is how the First Amendment is supposed to work.

ALSO TODAY: @elongreen.bsky.social on the battle of the squirrels. “I’m still not sure what altered the squirrels’ calculus. The feeder, once an object of idle curiosity, was now a military objective.” flaminghydra.com/one-mans-war/

TODAY: MAD MAGAZINE week continues! @sarahweinman.com on the saga of parody master Frank Jacobs. “This is the story of how one very upset songwriter, a magazine already used to fending off lawsuits, and an infamous appeals court judge collided.” flaminghydra.com/spoken-in-je...

This is legit a fascinating story about song parodies, Irving Berlin, the guy who presided over the Rosenberg trial and more. If you have an interest in 20th century American music history as well as the First Amendment, give a read.

People of Bluesky, it is MAD Magazine Week over at @flaminghydra.com and I am pleased as punch that my contribution, which runs tonight, is on the singular genius that was Frank Jacobs -- and how that genius got him into hot water that changed American legal history: flaminghydra.com/spoken-in-je...

Some time ago (don’t ask when, I can’t remember), I giddily posted about a piece I was working on that I couldn’t wait to share. It finally pubbed today! For my @theatlantic.com debut, I followed opera diva and icon Denyce Graves in her final role before retiring from performance.

anyway, back to listening to Judas Maccabeus

So cooked he has no idea how much

I really wouldn't have predicted that in this life, I would write a #longread about THREE BAGS FULL, the sheep mystery novel that blew up on Bluesky in 2023 and inspired THE SHEEP DETECTIVES, but here we are. @fansplaining.bsky.social made it happen.

Me, this morning: cannot get into work gear at all Me, after firing up Bach's cello suites: wait, I hit my word count

An tale of early Bluesky community-building! 🐑 📖 “People wanted to come together and read this silly, moving little book about sheep. ... There was a sense of community about it—a little fad that swept through a corner of Bluesky, the way it would through a small town.” — @caitesq.bsky.social

oh damn, RIP Ted Turner www.cnn.com/2026/05/06/u...

Buckley v. Valeo really is the Supreme Court ruling gift that keeps on giving.

To be a bit real, there was a period of about, oh, 20 years when I couldn't look at photos of myself between about the ages of 9 and 21. And then when I could, I wondered what the hell my problem was. Social conditioning and self-loathing and patriarchy really does a number on girls and women.

Extremely not excited for this WOLF OF WALL STREET sequel

The lead plaintiff in Callais v. Louisiana said on social media that he was at January 6:

Robert Caro writes many books about a variety of subjects

!!!!!!!!

A close family member (to be identified later) has had persistent clinical depression for his entire life and is basically kept alive by a class of medication that isn't used much anymore because none of the more recent meds work for him So no, not going to be detached and dispassionate about this

Was very glad to talk about WITHOUT CONSENT with the gender, law, and public policy scholar Sally Kenney for her new podcast "Deconstructing Rape": Show link: deconstructingrape.com/podcast/sara... On YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2NP...

E. Howard Hunt

What a thread!

My colleague Aaron Parsley just won a Pulitzer for this story, written days after he survived the July 4 floods that killed his nephew. It's one of the most gutwrenching and memorable things you'll ever read. Please do.