Laurie Hertzel
@lhertzel.bsky.social
Book reader, book critic, author "News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist." Next memoir, "Ghosts of Fourth Street," pubs in 2026. I review for StarTribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, LATimes and elsewhere. Teach in MFA program at UGA-Athens.
Yep. You can’t tell me that a billionaire businessman is so inept at running a newspaper that it just gradually falls apart. This was deliberate.
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and publisher Will Lewis “are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special,” Ashley Parker writes. theatln.tc/UIN69Qt0
February 4, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Yep. You can’t tell me that a billionaire businessman is so inept at running a newspaper that it just gradually falls apart. This was deliberate.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.
February 4, 2026 at 4:29 PM
I expected the cuts would be bad but I'm honestly stunned and sickened seeing how many great journalists the Washington Post just lost. People who nailed huge investigations, documented war zones, exposed horrific crimes, dropped all at once for failures they did not cause.
the thing is, the world of books is interconnected. book reviews drive sales, which helps bookstores and authors and publishing houses. reviews are NOT written to boost sales--but that is one of the byproducts of thoughtful and intelligent examination of books. what the WaPo is doing is a crime.
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody
February 4, 2026 at 7:44 PM
the thing is, the world of books is interconnected. book reviews drive sales, which helps bookstores and authors and publishing houses. reviews are NOT written to boost sales--but that is one of the byproducts of thoughtful and intelligent examination of books. what the WaPo is doing is a crime.
Yes.
Everything about the Washington Post news is depressing, but to lose what was once one of the best book sections in the English-language world is a gut punch.
February 4, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Yes.
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
The guy who owns Amazon shutting down the books section of the Washington Post is beyond parody
WaPo also closing Books section and downsizing International and Metro sections
February 4, 2026 at 2:27 PM
Goddamnit the world needs books and it needs book reviews and it needs intelligent critics and this is just a crime
Feels quite deliberate to me. Like somebody is following orders.
1. Build huge subscriber base by telling them their $ supports democracy.
2. Don’t establish other revenue sources.
3. Rug-pull subscribers by pushing opinion side to the right.
4. Subscribers leave, revenue falls.
5. Enact crippling newsroom cuts.
2. Don’t establish other revenue sources.
3. Rug-pull subscribers by pushing opinion side to the right.
4. Subscribers leave, revenue falls.
5. Enact crippling newsroom cuts.
February 4, 2026 at 2:26 PM
Feels quite deliberate to me. Like somebody is following orders.
This is what I’m hearing. It breaks my heart.
No more Washington Post book section?
February 4, 2026 at 2:26 PM
This is what I’m hearing. It breaks my heart.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Side note:
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
I just got off the phone with Elizabeth's dad...she and her mom were freed tonight! Updated story: sahanjournal.com/education/co...
February 4, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Side note:
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
bsky.app/profile/bzos...
Observers arrested at gunpoint in Minneapolis.
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
February 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Observers arrested at gunpoint in Minneapolis.
Curious what it's like here in Minnesota for those of us who are not in the epicenter? It's still very hard and very sad, but community helps. The N.C. Writers Network asked me to write about it. My essay is here: www.ncwriters.org/news/blog/a-...
A Friend of the Network Writes from Minnesota | North Carolina Writers' Network
Read the latest in the online journal of the North Carolina Writers' Network.
www.ncwriters.org
February 3, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Curious what it's like here in Minnesota for those of us who are not in the epicenter? It's still very hard and very sad, but community helps. The N.C. Writers Network asked me to write about it. My essay is here: www.ncwriters.org/news/blog/a-...
I see that Michelle Obama's documentary is soaring on Netflix even as the other first lady's is tanking. Someone on Instagram wrote, "When Melania goes low, Michelle goes high," and i thought that was pretty funny.
February 3, 2026 at 3:56 PM
I see that Michelle Obama's documentary is soaring on Netflix even as the other first lady's is tanking. Someone on Instagram wrote, "When Melania goes low, Michelle goes high," and i thought that was pretty funny.
Oh, Minneapolis! If you win I know 100 percent you will not give the award away. We here across the river in St. Paul salute you and follow in your peaceful footsteps. @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/acti...
“The Nation” Nominates Minneapolis for the Nobel Peace Prize
With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”
www.thenation.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Oh, Minneapolis! If you win I know 100 percent you will not give the award away. We here across the river in St. Paul salute you and follow in your peaceful footsteps. @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/acti...
Yes!!
WERE NOT PROTESTORS WE JUST LIVE HERE AND DRINK COFFEE
January 28, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Yes!!
The journal @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running Letters from Minnesotans this week, essays by some of our most respected writers. Today's from Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong woman and a brilliant and honored writer, might break you. But all of them are powerful. lithub.com/letter-from-...
Letter From Minnesota: “If They Take Me and Leave the Children…”
Today is Tuesday, January 27th, 2026. I got gas for the first time this year by myself. The gas station was mostly empty. I drove into the station, heart thudding in my chest. I did everything as f…
lithub.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:23 PM
The journal @lithub.com.web.brid.gy has been running Letters from Minnesotans this week, essays by some of our most respected writers. Today's from Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong woman and a brilliant and honored writer, might break you. But all of them are powerful. lithub.com/letter-from-...
She has a fundraiser to help her pay for security. The government does not protect her and she must hire her own guards. And the president continues to attack her verbally, including yesterday right before this attack.
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Here’s the face of the man who attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar with a spray. Pure rage.
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 1:50 PM
She has a fundraiser to help her pay for security. The government does not protect her and she must hire her own guards. And the president continues to attack her verbally, including yesterday right before this attack.
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Here’s the face of the man who attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar with a spray. Pure rage.
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
Source: www.bbc.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 1:43 PM
The courage of Ilhan Omar to hold a public town meeting. I don't think Republican representatives do that anymore. And her courage to continue, after this man attacked her!
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Warning: video is hard to watch
Warning: video is hard to watch
January 27, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Warning: video is hard to watch
Warning: video is hard to watch
Hearing folks are bummed they missed the Eyes on ICE training - but good news, it's all recorded and public! We'll be holding more live trainings soon, but if you aren't one of 200,000 who already watched it, find it here: www.youtube.com/live/zqka9fU...
Eyes on ICE: Document and Record
YouTube video by No Kings
www.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Five-year-old deported to Honduras despite being US citizen is latest child victim of Trump crackdown
Mother whose visa application was pending says she will send girl back to US soon accompanied by another relative
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:42 AM
ICE deported a 5-year-old US citizen to Honduras, where she had never been, after holding her & her mother in a hotel room 80 miles from home for several days and not allowing them access to a lawyer www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Dear Every Single News Outlet: OBSERVING IS NOT THE SAME AS PROTESTING. Please get it right. Words matter!
January 27, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Dear Every Single News Outlet: OBSERVING IS NOT THE SAME AS PROTESTING. Please get it right. Words matter!
He thought he was going to die that day.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...
Alex Pretti was in earlier confrontation with federal agents who tackled him, broke his rib, sources say | CNN
Federal immigration officials have been collecting information on protesters and agitators, sources told CNN.
www.cnn.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:47 PM
He thought he was going to die that day.
www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...
www.cnn.com/2026/01/27/u...
he "got into an altercation" with federal officers. geeeeeeez the truth means nothing to them.
FOX NEWS: Are you standing by calling Pretti a domestic terrorist?
McLAUGHLIN: Well, we'll let this investigation ...
FOX NEWS: Ok. So I guess it stands.
McLAUGHLIN: Well, we'll let this investigation ...
FOX NEWS: Ok. So I guess it stands.
January 27, 2026 at 2:45 PM
he "got into an altercation" with federal officers. geeeeeeez the truth means nothing to them.
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
🚨"What the f*ck is wrong with you!" -our @tinadesireeberg.com after she was attacked & gassed by Border Patrol agents while covering a protest at ICE hotel in Minneapolis. Immigration agents also fired rubber bullets at protesters from point blank range. It looks like a WAR ZONE ⬇️
January 27, 2026 at 12:52 AM
🚨"What the f*ck is wrong with you!" -our @tinadesireeberg.com after she was attacked & gassed by Border Patrol agents while covering a protest at ICE hotel in Minneapolis. Immigration agents also fired rubber bullets at protesters from point blank range. It looks like a WAR ZONE ⬇️
Reposted by Laurie Hertzel
Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days.
His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
January 27, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days.
His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.
this is an old post, 10 days old, a lifetime ago, and i am just here to say this is no longer the story that makes me the saddest.
One of the stories that makes me the saddest out of this ICE invasion is one out of the Minnesota Star Tribune today about ICE agents eating at a little Mexican restaurant in the small town of Willmar, Minn, —and then, when they were done, arresting some of the workers.
January 26, 2026 at 6:52 PM
this is an old post, 10 days old, a lifetime ago, and i am just here to say this is no longer the story that makes me the saddest.