Gary Indiana
Reptile Commanders from Planet Debby
For anyone cognizant of Vladimir Putin’s backstory, his intrusion on the Syria matter has been one of those paradoxical demonstrations that “a stopped clock is right twice a day,” or the arguably more salient truism that “50 percent of what any...
New York to Bloomberg: Drop Dead
At the time of writing, Bill de Blasio has gleaned 40.2 percent of the vote in the New York Democratic mayoral primary. The other candidates fizzled out big time, owing, in the cases of Weiner and Quinn, to a widespread, accurate perception of their...
September Bloodbath
The truly incredible $53 billion intelligence budget (that we know of), added to the cost (that we know of) of another “controlled intervention,” added to the costs (that we know of) of the ongoing US military actions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq...
Romanian Notes
In Bucharest, the psychological damage inflicted on a society subjected to surveillance terror is apparent everywhere when you scratch the surface, even 24 years after the fall of Ceauşescu. There, no problem is too small to be insoluble, no conflict...
Weiner’s Dong, and Other Products of the Perfected Civilization
I am wholly in favor of anyone wishing to promote his or her genitals on Facebook or Instagram being able to do so. But given Weiner's stated career ambitions, putting his cock online after getting caught doing it once already indicates not only...
A Few Days in Bulgaria
I dream I’ve been placed in an impossible situation in which suicide is the only appealing option. Not because of imminent physical destruction or incurable medical problems, but because the prospect of extreme, permanent immiseration appears in the...
Dreams Involving Water
There has been no butter for two weeks. A taxi driver thought there might be butter in the supermarket in Miramar. I think so, too: I once saw a man in that market buy 20 cases of Coca-Cola in loose 12-ounce bottles. Otherwise there is no butter to be...
Snopes, Redux
In the spirit of full frontal disclosure, as I like to call it, the following is something I’ve published before, in a pamphlet written for the New Press in 2004 called Schwarzenegger Syndrome: Politics and Celebrity in the Age of Contempt. I am...
Fleapit: the Movie
It’s true that someone at dinner last night lives in the Chelsea Hotel, and for years, as it happens, I regularly visited a friend there who has an enviably spacious apartment on one of the upper floors. But I have no nostalgia for the Chelsea Hotel. I...
Cries and Whispers in Obamastan
In Cuba male prostitutes, 'pingueros,' have mixed in with gay people in Havana in growing numbers, numbers that correlate closely with the spread of private enterprise, income inequality, and foreign-made consumer goods.
Late Drone Age Civilization: The Fossil Record
Today the celebrated writer speaking at the 92 Street Y shakes his wiser head, recalling his youthful naiveté. The truth is, he didn’t realize then how brilliant he already was, and these airborne notions, political pieties, flights of surreal nihilism...
A Stone for Michael Stewart
Last week you threw away a Crock-Pot your mom gave you for Christmas 20 years ago. What if some terrorist, or some lunatic mistaken for a terrorist, or a terrorist who is a lunatic, as so many are, fished that Crock-Pot out of the garbage and made a...