I can’t stop listening to this upper-class twit say “Straits of Vermouth.”

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Praxis, praxis, praxis!

Today, in the main reading room of the New York Public Library, an unexpected thing happened

How to say you’ve never been to New York City without… etc.

US Olympic Curling Team member speaks out against ICE: "I'm proud to represent Team USA. But we'd be remiss if we didn't mention what's going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it's been. What's happening is wrong. There's no shades of gray."

Apparently America no longer produces anything other than AI and snack food.

"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"

A retired Minneapolis couple who had guns pointed at them by ICE in a church parking lot. "They were obviously not trained at all. I've known many police officers in my life. These people were right off the streets." "They had the professional demeanor of criminals." ht: @paulgraham.bsky.social

To paraphrase the great Nina Simone: Minnesota Goddam

France is our first and oldest ally. The fact that they are sending troops to fight against us should actually fill every American with horror and shame.

As a consequence of some of them having committed fraud, I call for the arrest and deportation of all insurance executives

Trump was asked by reporters on Sunday whether he had discussed with the Venezuelan government the release of political prisoners or the return of opposition politicians to Venezuela. “We haven’t gotten to that yet,” he responded. “What we want to do now is fix up the oil.”

Now *there’s* a sentence! “He screwed onto the side of the desk a pencil sharpener — that highly satisfying implement that goes ticonderoga-ticonderoga, feeding on the yellow finish and sweet wood, and ends up in a kind of soundlessly spinning ethereal void as we all must.” — Nabokov #skybooks

If you would like to learn more about lunar bat people fornicating and the man that had the entire world talking about it, check out "The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth Century New York" by Matthew Goodman. /🧵

Welcoming in the traditional Christmas feast!

Perfectly willing to see this happen to the Kennedy Center — as long as Trump’s name is likewise being added in memoriam

I saw this scene ONCE when I was a kid and still think about it when I’m putting on my socks in the morning. There’s genuine comic brilliance here from both men. Mr. Reiner, your memory is a blessing.

One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential

It’s going to be fascinating to watch GOP response to Trump’s rapid decline — mental, physical, and political. Will they eventually abandon the sinking ship, or stay with it to the bitter end?

No more Halloween sightings of Steve Buscemi dressed up as Daniel Day-Lewis!

Today was the day Zohran Mamdani finally became president

Pausing the doomscrolling momentarily to say that I’m thrilled that the WaPo has just named my book PARIS UNDERCOVER as one of the top 50 nonfiction books of the year! (Happy too to be on the list alongside my pal @gilbertking.bsky.social.) www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/1...

The President of the United States just called for Democratic members of Congress to be executed. "HANG THEM", he posted. If you're a person of influence in this country and you haven't picked a side, maybe now would be the time to pick a fucking side.

“An author’s fondest dream is to turn the reader into a spectator.” — Vladimir Nabokov #writing #blueskywriters

Print dictionaries: the original large language models 11/18/25

On November 13, we are told, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence; that request came from his wife.

I think a lot about the story Carl Reiner told: he’d have been a sewing machine repairman if not for a free WPA drama class. That led to other theater work, to Sid Caesar, to Mel Brooks, and all the rest. All because of one free class paid for by a government that felt the arts were worth teaching.

To those threatening to leave NYC in the wake of Zohran’s victory, I say the same thing I said to those who fled the city after 9/11:

A terrific essay by @michaelweinreb.com on the 1950 basketball bookmaking scandal — more relevant than ever after last week’s arrests. “The culture of betting is now so omnipresent in sports,” Weinreb writes, “that it sometimes feels like the central reason why sports exist.” Worth a read!

For all the Lebowski heads out there, like me:

Tribute to Toni Cade Bambara, Trastevere, Rome

It’s a mystery why we still ask whether we’re alone in the universe, isn’t it, when you consider that this question was definitively answered by the New York Sun exactly 190 years ago? For this was the day we learned there were man-bats and bipedal beavers living on the moon

Love the subtle “Big Lebowski” reference by @kenjennings.bsky.social on Jeopardy tonight! Not into the whole brevity thing, indeed.

Assault with a deli weapon.

Brattleboro, Vermont

“Nobody’s seen anything like it — even though they’ve done it twice before”

A “Palestine exception” to free speech means that there is no free speech

I’m thrilled to announce that my book PARIS UNDERCOVER has been selected for the long list for the 2025 American Library in Paris Book Award. It’s an honor to be included in this wonderful lineup of books and authors!

RIP Dave (“The Cobra”) Parker, right fielder non pareil and the baddest mf ever to play the game

I get how New Yorkers talking about the city all the time is annoying, but I gotta say that non-New Yorkers talking about the city is way more annoying

Cuomo and his supporters ran one of the most genuinely racist anti-Muslim campaigns I’ve ever seen, and no one in the Democratic establishment says a word. From now on I think all politicians need to “prove” that they aren’t anti-Muslim. How come we never get that litmus test?

i think cuomo did well considering he couldn’t campaign while the sun was up

Founded in 1938, CYCO is a legendary institution in the Yiddish world, an invaluable storehouse of Yiddish culture and history. This is Zohran Mamdani’s 2022 tweet asking folks to help support it. But sure, he’s an “anti-Semite”

The National Archives research facility in College Park, MD, is a national treasure, offering interested members of the general public an unparalleled direct look at the workings of the federal government. This decision is deeply anti-democratic and anti-intellectual — in a word, fascistic.

Welcome to America circa 2025: two members of the US House of Representatives being denied their constitutional rights by a smirking guy in a Froot Loops shirt

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders? Nonfiction authors, not their publishers, have to pay for the rights to the photographs and other graphics contained in their books, as well as for the indexing.

“We’re going to need a bigger The Hague”

Pride Night at Citi Field! #LGM