Ray Simon
@raymondpsimon.bsky.social
Bore. Curmudgeon. Dyspeptic editor. Free jazz fan. Hack writer. Late adopter. Refugee from that odious social media “platform.” Slow reader; slower learner.
“It’s easy for the insecure to turn to Orthodox churches that for reasons of history are themselves new to encounters with sexual modernity, and seem to provide refuge in overconfident assertions of their tradition.” — Diarmaid MacCulloch
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
A Christmas Story | Diarmaid MacCulloch, Chandler Fritz
The Bible is unquestionably the most scrutinized “book” in history. Yet certain obvious facts about it nonetheless escape notice. For example, as Diarmaid
www.nybooks.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:26 PM
“It’s easy for the insecure to turn to Orthodox churches that for reasons of history are themselves new to encounters with sexual modernity, and seem to provide refuge in overconfident assertions of their tradition.” — Diarmaid MacCulloch
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
“The killings of Good and Pretti make it clearer than ever that we need a new rulebook. Our country desperately needs elites to stand up and take a risk – and to harness the power of solidarity.” — Daniel Altschuler of the Freedom Together Foundation
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Why haven’t American elites stood up for Minnesota? | Daniel Altschuler
If US elites can find the courage to speak up, we can still prevent our country from descending into full-blown autocracy
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:30 PM
“The killings of Good and Pretti make it clearer than ever that we need a new rulebook. Our country desperately needs elites to stand up and take a risk – and to harness the power of solidarity.” — Daniel Altschuler of the Freedom Together Foundation
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
“The question remains: can you recover from – or even avenge – an unhappy childhood by dismantling and remaking it differently in adulthood?” — Alex Clark
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
Leaving Home by Mark Haddon review – blistering memoir of a loveless childhood
The Curious Incident author describes the upbringing that shaped him – and for which he can’t help feeling nostalgia
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:06 PM
“The question remains: can you recover from – or even avenge – an unhappy childhood by dismantling and remaking it differently in adulthood?” — Alex Clark
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...
Reposted by Ray Simon
I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.
February 4, 2026 at 7:41 PM
I think it's best for everyone to understand that the unified class project of billionaires right now is to do to white collar workers what globalization and neoliberalism did to blue collar workers.
“This is what victory in a culture war looks like: Democrats accept the cultural framings enforced by the other side, even though polls would suggest that the liberals’ positions are often more popular…” — Jan-Werner Müller
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Beware of ‘anti-woke’ liberals: they attacked the left and helped Trump win | Jan-Werner Müller
So-called ‘reactionary centrist’ pundits proclaimed that there was a global ‘vibe shift’ in favor of the right. They were wrong
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:14 PM
“This is what victory in a culture war looks like: Democrats accept the cultural framings enforced by the other side, even though polls would suggest that the liberals’ positions are often more popular…” — Jan-Werner Müller
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
“What Kertész wanted to draw he was never quite able to put into words. He struggled with French and, later, English. He even had trouble expressing himself in Hungarian. But his pictures were like poems, radiating a quiet intensity.” — Jennifer Szalai
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
A Loving Biography of the Photographer Who Made Poetry With His Pictures
www.nytimes.com
February 4, 2026 at 7:36 PM
“What Kertész wanted to draw he was never quite able to put into words. He struggled with French and, later, English. He even had trouble expressing himself in Hungarian. But his pictures were like poems, radiating a quiet intensity.” — Jennifer Szalai
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/b...
“I was like: wait, there’s a fanbase for 80s gay porn music?” — Michael Ely
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
‘One moment it was a little blip. The next, our friends are dying’: the gay porn soundtrack composers lost to the Aids crisis
Gay porn in the 80s was home to beautifully moody synth music that is only now getting rediscovered – tragically too late for many of its creators
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:57 PM
“I was like: wait, there’s a fanbase for 80s gay porn music?” — Michael Ely
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
Reposted by Ray Simon
funny how the man who cost the Washington Post hundreds of thousands in subscriptions by canceling the paper's presidential endorsement—almost certainly the most destructive decision in the history of the paper, if not journalism itself—still has his job
February 4, 2026 at 4:47 PM
funny how the man who cost the Washington Post hundreds of thousands in subscriptions by canceling the paper's presidential endorsement—almost certainly the most destructive decision in the history of the paper, if not journalism itself—still has his job
Reposted by Ray Simon
How to Attend a Public Meeting
Highlighting the speaker who stood in front of the Surprise mayor and told him to consider what the Mayor of Ohrdruf must’ve thought before he died by suicide: “He might have thought ‘how is this my fault I had no jurisdiction over this’ maybe he said ‘this site was not subject to local zoning.’”
February 4, 2026 at 1:31 PM
How to Attend a Public Meeting
Reposted by Ray Simon
The Washington Post became famous for exposing corruption—and is now being destroyed by it.
February 4, 2026 at 3:36 PM
The Washington Post became famous for exposing corruption—and is now being destroyed by it.
Reposted by Ray Simon
Notable that they eviscerated the Books section: These people don't read and they don't want us to read, because books and the ideas they contain are dangerous.
February 4, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Notable that they eviscerated the Books section: These people don't read and they don't want us to read, because books and the ideas they contain are dangerous.
Reposted by Ray Simon
thinking once again about how many Washington Post jobs the $75 million Bezos spent on Melania could have saved
Headlines Are Calling the Melania Movie a Surprise Box-Office “Success.” Don’t Believe Them.
The first lady has entered her flop era.
slate.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:55 PM
thinking once again about how many Washington Post jobs the $75 million Bezos spent on Melania could have saved
Reposted by Ray Simon
Like any bully, Trump is fundamentally a coward.
When he feels humiliated, he lashes out.
Every authoritarian action he is taking must be understood against the backdrop of his declining popularity.
He feigns strength, but he's operating from a place of weakness.
When he feels humiliated, he lashes out.
Every authoritarian action he is taking must be understood against the backdrop of his declining popularity.
He feigns strength, but he's operating from a place of weakness.
February 4, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Like any bully, Trump is fundamentally a coward.
When he feels humiliated, he lashes out.
Every authoritarian action he is taking must be understood against the backdrop of his declining popularity.
He feigns strength, but he's operating from a place of weakness.
When he feels humiliated, he lashes out.
Every authoritarian action he is taking must be understood against the backdrop of his declining popularity.
He feigns strength, but he's operating from a place of weakness.
“That’s the great thing about Delco. It doesn’t have famous tourist sites like Longwood Gardens or King of Prussia Mall, but what it has it owns to the bone, including its lone strip club.” — Stephanie Farr
www.inquirer.com/columnists/l...
www.inquirer.com/columnists/l...
Delco’s iconic strip club is rebranding but keeping its Mother’s Day flower sale
Lou Turk's, a Delco staple for more than 50 years, announced it's changing its name to The Carousel Delco, which comes with ups and downs.
www.inquirer.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:03 PM
“That’s the great thing about Delco. It doesn’t have famous tourist sites like Longwood Gardens or King of Prussia Mall, but what it has it owns to the bone, including its lone strip club.” — Stephanie Farr
www.inquirer.com/columnists/l...
www.inquirer.com/columnists/l...
Reposted by Ray Simon
The 5 D’s of fighting ice
February 3, 2026 at 11:43 PM
The 5 D’s of fighting ice
“Trumpenproletariat” is great! I think even Marx would get a chuckle out of that.
"you begin to get a picture of the Trump coalition’s material basis."
February 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM
“Trumpenproletariat” is great! I think even Marx would get a chuckle out of that.
“I like reading Klosterman. He’s a dorm-room philosopher and, on pop topics, the overthinker’s overthinker.” — Dwight Garner
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/b...
Is Football Doomed? Chuck Klosterman Thinks So.
www.nytimes.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:48 PM
“I like reading Klosterman. He’s a dorm-room philosopher and, on pop topics, the overthinker’s overthinker.” — Dwight Garner
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/b...
“When Bezos bought the Post in 2013, he got a bargain – he paid a mere $250m – and suddenly, the Amazon co-founder had the chance to be something much greater than a billionaire.” — Margaret Sullivan
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Is Jeff Bezos going to destroy the Washington Post? It sure looks like it | Margaret Sullivan
He has the chance to be the steward of a national treasure, but he’s blowing it
www.theguardian.com
February 2, 2026 at 6:16 PM
“When Bezos bought the Post in 2013, he got a bargain – he paid a mere $250m – and suddenly, the Amazon co-founder had the chance to be something much greater than a billionaire.” — Margaret Sullivan
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Ray Simon
He’s doing this to avoid the humiliation of everyone refusing to perform there.
It’s about him.
It’s about him.
Trump: "I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything."
February 2, 2026 at 1:33 AM
He’s doing this to avoid the humiliation of everyone refusing to perform there.
It’s about him.
It’s about him.
“Unlike those pretenders who play in dark alleys and think they’re tough, James Sallis writes from an authentic noir sensibility, a state of mind that hovers between amoral indifference and profound existential despair.” — Marilyn Stasio
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
James Sallis, 81, Dies; Novelist Whose ‘Drive’ Became a Hit Movie
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 1:53 AM
“Unlike those pretenders who play in dark alleys and think they’re tough, James Sallis writes from an authentic noir sensibility, a state of mind that hovers between amoral indifference and profound existential despair.” — Marilyn Stasio
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/o...
“I’m a word-by-word person. Things take me a lot of time, I’m very slow. So sometimes things evolve through many, many revisions.” — Canadian poet Karen Solie
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
‘There is a sense of things careening towards a head’: TS Eliot prize winner Karen Solie
The Canadian poet, whose winning collection explores environmental and personal loss, discusses making art in existential times
www.theguardian.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:52 PM
“I’m a word-by-word person. Things take me a lot of time, I’m very slow. So sometimes things evolve through many, many revisions.” — Canadian poet Karen Solie
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
“I’m so excited to hear there’s still more that we haven’t seen. I hope that this will mean that people who don’t already really know who he is familiarize themselves and enjoy the work he created over decades and decades and, by the way, decades.” — Maggie Thompson
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/b...
Graphic Novels Wouldn’t Be the Same Without Him. Who Will Keep His Work Alive?
www.nytimes.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:05 PM
“I’m so excited to hear there’s still more that we haven’t seen. I hope that this will mean that people who don’t already really know who he is familiarize themselves and enjoy the work he created over decades and decades and, by the way, decades.” — Maggie Thompson
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/b...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/b...
“Of course Rempis and company are not actually making any of these emotions; they are producing only sound. But how wonderful it is to live in a universe where vibrations on the air produce and mimic what is central to feeling alive.” — Brian Earley
www.freejazzblog.org/2026/01/remp...
www.freejazzblog.org/2026/01/remp...
Rempis/Adasiewicz/Corsano - Dial Up (Aerophonic, 2025)
Free Jazz Collective, reviews of avant garde and free jazz music and media
www.freejazzblog.org
February 1, 2026 at 2:27 AM
“Of course Rempis and company are not actually making any of these emotions; they are producing only sound. But how wonderful it is to live in a universe where vibrations on the air produce and mimic what is central to feeling alive.” — Brian Earley
www.freejazzblog.org/2026/01/remp...
www.freejazzblog.org/2026/01/remp...
“I don’t play no rock ’n’ roll stuff, but my records made it on the rock stations because the background just had some kind of a beat to it that just got everybody to moving.” — Jimmy Reed
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/o...
Overlooked No More: Jimmy Reed, the Bluesman Everyone Covered, Then Forgot
www.nytimes.com
January 31, 2026 at 7:00 PM
“I don’t play no rock ’n’ roll stuff, but my records made it on the rock stations because the background just had some kind of a beat to it that just got everybody to moving.” — Jimmy Reed
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/o...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/o...
Reposted by Ray Simon
As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”
![That which is for me through the medium of money - that for which I can pay (i.e., which money can buy) - that am I myself, the possessor of the money. The extent of the power of money is the extent of my power. Money's properties are my - the possessor's - properties and essential powers. Thus, what I am and am capable of is by no means determined by my individuality. I am ugly, but I can buy for myself the most beautiful of women.
Therefore I am not ugly, for the effect of ugliness - its deterrent power - is nullified by money. I, according to my individual characteristics, am lame, but money furnishes me with twenty-four feet.
Therefore I am not lame. I am bad, dishonest, unscrupulous, stupid; but money is honoured, and hence its possessor. Money is the supreme good, therefore its possessor is good. Money, besides, saves me the trouble of being dishonest: I am therefore presumed honest. I am brainless, but money is the real brain of all things and how then should its possessor be brainless? Besides, he can buy clever people for himself, and is he who has [In the manuscript: is. - Ed.] power over the clever not more clever than the clever? Do not I, who thanks to money am capable of all that the human heart longs for, possess all human capacities? Does not my money, therefore, transform all my incapacities into their contrary?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:myqic77tkmdhmaufgkvj43hr/bafkreidpuxbx764xh7vobavcnvs3v2lo5fnfi6dukfrmk3ygxmseznkyxi@jpeg)
January 31, 2026 at 4:05 PM
As a side note, it’s funny to see so many of these emails with thirsty academics repeatedly enact Marx’s bit in the 1844 Manuscripts about the power of money. “Oh Mr Epstein, your house in New York is enormous and, unrelatedly, your questions at dinner were so intelligent, so insightful, so deep.”