Charles T. Downey
@ionarts.bsky.social
Associate Editor and Lead Critic, Washington Classical Review; Founder of Ionarts; Ph.D. in Historical Musicology; Classical Music Fiend; Opera Addict; Baroqueux agréable and Public Musicologist (all views expressed are my own, not those of my employers)
Pinned
As a follow-up to the latest bad news, a reminder from Oreo to nap for 16 hours of every day
I don't speak Spanish, but there's an orchestra so I like it?
February 9, 2026 at 1:26 AM
I don't speak Spanish, but there's an orchestra so I like it?
I was there last night but saw nothing
Meanwhile Projected onto the Kennedy Center Last Night – “Property of the American People” and more - See the others: www.popville.com/2026/02/mean...
Meanwhile Projected onto the Kennedy Center Last Night – “Property of the American People” and more - PoPville
Thanks to V. for sending: "Some people last night (2/7) were braving the cold to add some decorations to the Kennedy Center." More projections:
www.popville.com
February 8, 2026 at 10:09 PM
I was there last night but saw nothing
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Really important piece in today's @nytimes.com about possible, disastrous next target of MAGA wrecking ball:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...
H/t to my friend @timothynoah.bsky.social for pioneering on this story: newrepublic.com/article/2010...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...
H/t to my friend @timothynoah.bsky.social for pioneering on this story: newrepublic.com/article/2010...
It’s Been Called the ‘Sistine Chapel of the New Deal.’ Don’t Destroy It.
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Really important piece in today's @nytimes.com about possible, disastrous next target of MAGA wrecking ball:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...
H/t to my friend @timothynoah.bsky.social for pioneering on this story: newrepublic.com/article/2010...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/a...
H/t to my friend @timothynoah.bsky.social for pioneering on this story: newrepublic.com/article/2010...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
ICE Agent Scores Easy Win By Deporting Own Family
ICE Agent Scores Easy Win By Deporting Own Family
CHICAGO—Saying he couldn’t remember the last time an immigration raid had been so convenient, fast, or fun, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Mark Hammond reportedly scored an easy win Monday ...
theonion.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:00 PM
ICE Agent Scores Easy Win By Deporting Own Family
Time for Kara Swisher and this group of investors to restart the Washington Star as a non-profit newspaper?
Before The Washington Post layoffs came down, a group of wealthy D.C. locals approached CEO Will Lewis with a proposal.
@passantino.bsky.social has the details in his Saturday @status.news column: www.status.news/p/washington...
@passantino.bsky.social has the details in his Saturday @status.news column: www.status.news/p/washington...
February 7, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Time for Kara Swisher and this group of investors to restart the Washington Star as a non-profit newspaper?
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Former WashPost reporter @ashleyrparker.bsky.social wrote a piece this week for The Atlantic headlined, "The Murder of the Washington Post."
Turns out, that was no exaggeration.
Here you have a group of people offering to save the victim that Bezos was threatening.
And he's killing it off anyway.
Turns out, that was no exaggeration.
Here you have a group of people offering to save the victim that Bezos was threatening.
And he's killing it off anyway.
Before The Washington Post layoffs came down, a group of wealthy D.C. locals approached CEO Will Lewis with a proposal.
@passantino.bsky.social has the details in his Saturday @status.news column: www.status.news/p/washington...
@passantino.bsky.social has the details in his Saturday @status.news column: www.status.news/p/washington...
February 7, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Former WashPost reporter @ashleyrparker.bsky.social wrote a piece this week for The Atlantic headlined, "The Murder of the Washington Post."
Turns out, that was no exaggeration.
Here you have a group of people offering to save the victim that Bezos was threatening.
And he's killing it off anyway.
Turns out, that was no exaggeration.
Here you have a group of people offering to save the victim that Bezos was threatening.
And he's killing it off anyway.
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
One piece of good news in this week of exceptionally bad news: Philip Kennicott is still writing for the Washington Post
The National Symphony Orchestra performed for the first time since Trump announced he's closing the Kennedy Center for two years. It was a blistering aural indictment of chaos and unnecessary man-made misery. And a moment of hope... www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Column | At a broken Kennedy Center, the National Symphony begins a new journey
The NSO is losing its home — after becoming a world-class orchestra
www.washingtonpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:57 PM
One piece of good news in this week of exceptionally bad news: Philip Kennicott is still writing for the Washington Post
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
The winner of the National Portrait Gallery's triennial portrait contest paints a picture of New York in the 1960s and 70s that feels terribly similar to Minneapolis in the 2020s. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Column | An award-winning portrait asks Americans, ‘Who is human?’
The winner of the National Portrait Gallery’s prestigious portraiture competition paints a disturbing picture of America.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM
The winner of the National Portrait Gallery's triennial portrait contest paints a picture of New York in the 1960s and 70s that feels terribly similar to Minneapolis in the 2020s. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
"Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show" www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-...
Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show
Though the commerce secretary has called his interactions with Epstein as "limited," the two were in business together four years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea.
www.cbsnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 12:36 PM
"Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show" www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-...
To discuss with my Art History and Humanities students
Ai Weiwei on China, the West and shrinking space for dissent reut.rs/4akdC2e
Ai Weiwei on China, the West and shrinking space for dissent
The dissident artist discusses his new book “On Censorship,” the impact of AI on freedom of expression and the growing global pressures on freedom of speech.
reut.rs
February 7, 2026 at 1:13 PM
To discuss with my Art History and Humanities students
TFW you find yourself agreeing with.... [checks notes] Maureen Dowd: "Every Friday, when I’m planning my column, I find fresh evidence that the president is unfit for his office." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...
Opinion | Trump’s Obama Derangement Syndrome
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:11 PM
TFW you find yourself agreeing with.... [checks notes] Maureen Dowd: "Every Friday, when I’m planning my column, I find fresh evidence that the president is unfit for his office." www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/o...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
The arts have been wiped off the Post's dropdown "Style" menu. 💔
February 6, 2026 at 10:46 PM
The arts have been wiped off the Post's dropdown "Style" menu. 💔
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
it was just a standard fundraising relationship watch (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
A $50,000 Watch and Friendly Notes: One College Leader’s Ties to Epstein
www.nytimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:26 PM
it was just a standard fundraising relationship watch (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/u...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
I grew up with the Washington Post, wrote editorials for the Washington Post and published a column there for more than 15 years. To watch its owners destroy it, seemingly deliberately, in just a year and a half is devastating.
February 5, 2026 at 2:38 PM
I grew up with the Washington Post, wrote editorials for the Washington Post and published a column there for more than 15 years. To watch its owners destroy it, seemingly deliberately, in just a year and a half is devastating.
NSO Overnight: NSO delivers searing Shostakovich and virtuosic Tchaikovsky with Abduraimov - you won't want to miss this one, Washington washingtonclassicalreview.com/2026/02/06/n...
February 6, 2026 at 5:24 AM
NSO Overnight: NSO delivers searing Shostakovich and virtuosic Tchaikovsky with Abduraimov - you won't want to miss this one, Washington washingtonclassicalreview.com/2026/02/06/n...
I thought of this today, looking at the print edition of the Post
Journalists at Washington, D.C.’s leading publication were not allowed to report on decisions by that publication’s leaders to lay off roughly 1/3 of the newsroom and shutter entire sections of the paper—decisions that will dramatically change news coverage in and of the nation’s capital and beyond.
February 6, 2026 at 5:15 AM
I thought of this today, looking at the print edition of the Post
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
Kid Rock lyrics about underage girls draw questions ahead of 'faith and family'-based TPUSA show
Kid Rock lyrics about underage girls draw questions ahead of ‘faith and family’-based TPUSA show
“I like ’em underage, see some say that’s statutory (but I say that’s mandatory),” Kid Rock sings on the 2001 song, which was also for a children’s movie.
www.dcnewsnow.com
February 6, 2026 at 5:02 AM
Kid Rock lyrics about underage girls draw questions ahead of 'faith and family'-based TPUSA show
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
2/2 Saint Cecilia is joined by the full angelic band in this concert painted by Cornelis de Bailleur.
February 5, 2026 at 5:42 PM
2/2 Saint Cecilia is joined by the full angelic band in this concert painted by Cornelis de Bailleur.
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
*BREAKING: Rubio is out as acting Archivist, and has illegally named an ineligble political appointee to "to serve and perform the functions of archivist"—which he did not have the authority to do.
My reporting expands on @federalnewsnetwork.com's scoop:
🧵
lastcampaign.substack.com/p/rubio-out-...
My reporting expands on @federalnewsnetwork.com's scoop:
🧵
lastcampaign.substack.com/p/rubio-out-...
Rubio out at NARA; illegally names ineligble political appointee to serve as Archivist
Rubio has no authority to name anyone to serve as Archivist or perform those functions
lastcampaign.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 11:43 PM
*BREAKING: Rubio is out as acting Archivist, and has illegally named an ineligble political appointee to "to serve and perform the functions of archivist"—which he did not have the authority to do.
My reporting expands on @federalnewsnetwork.com's scoop:
🧵
lastcampaign.substack.com/p/rubio-out-...
My reporting expands on @federalnewsnetwork.com's scoop:
🧵
lastcampaign.substack.com/p/rubio-out-...
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
Epstein had many known connections to Silicon Valley CEOs, but less known was how he made money from those relationships.
We did a deep dive into how he got dealflow in Silicon Valley, giving him shots to invest in Coinbase, Palantir, SpaceX and other companies.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
We did a deep dive into how he got dealflow in Silicon Valley, giving him shots to invest in Coinbase, Palantir, SpaceX and other companies.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
Jeffrey Epstein’s Money Mingled With Silicon Valley Start-Ups
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:38 PM
While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
Reposted by Charles T. Downey
It is worth noting the Post slashed the bulk of its arts coverage, including most of the critics, ending a great tradition in journalism.
February 4, 2026 at 5:03 PM
It is worth noting the Post slashed the bulk of its arts coverage, including most of the critics, ending a great tradition in journalism.