randy r. potts
@thephatic.bsky.social
journo + editor; Hromadske, TVPWorld, New Yorker, AJE, VQR, et al 🏳️🌈
Tulsa / Baltimore / Warszawa
Signal: thephatic.39
Tulsa / Baltimore / Warszawa
Signal: thephatic.39
Reposted by randy r. potts
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
December 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
Reposted by randy r. potts
Lavoro e sessualità. . . [gli industriali americani e le relazioni sessuali dei loro dipendenti]: non può esserci lavoro inbis tenso produttivo senza una regolamentazione dell’istinto sessuale.
— #AntonioGramsci, 1929 Qdc 22
*img 1938 #CândidoPortinari Ferro
#lesfolliesdeshommes
— #AntonioGramsci, 1929 Qdc 22
*img 1938 #CândidoPortinari Ferro
#lesfolliesdeshommes
October 27, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Lavoro e sessualità. . . [gli industriali americani e le relazioni sessuali dei loro dipendenti]: non può esserci lavoro inbis tenso produttivo senza una regolamentazione dell’istinto sessuale.
— #AntonioGramsci, 1929 Qdc 22
*img 1938 #CândidoPortinari Ferro
#lesfolliesdeshommes
— #AntonioGramsci, 1929 Qdc 22
*img 1938 #CândidoPortinari Ferro
#lesfolliesdeshommes
for those like me obsessed with Pasolini, a nice piece on how and why his 1950s Roman novel Una vita violenta using a Roman dialect spoken by street toughs was translated using a Brooklyn dialect with echoes of both Dreiser and the Beats:
‘The Pasolini Translation Problem’: From Una vita violenta to A Violent Life
This article provides a microhistorical analysis of the English translation of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Una vita violenta, penned by William Weaver and published by British publisher Jonathan Cape in ...
www.tandfonline.com
December 28, 2025 at 11:46 AM
for those like me obsessed with Pasolini, a nice piece on how and why his 1950s Roman novel Una vita violenta using a Roman dialect spoken by street toughs was translated using a Brooklyn dialect with echoes of both Dreiser and the Beats:
I entreat people to pick up Zubok's Collapse which showcases one of history's strangest Satanic heroes, aka Boris Yeltsin, who unlike his USSR contemporaries saw a vision of carving out the RFSR and thereby putting Gorbachev, his only real rival, out of a job; a masterful, devilish, personal strike.
The ussr collapsing the way it did is the fault of decades of mismanagement and corruption but also like if one singular republic that is the most responsible for the union’s death it’s the Russian SFSR and the post collapse Russian state/polis has continued to make it everyone’s else’s issue
December 28, 2025 at 11:42 AM
I entreat people to pick up Zubok's Collapse which showcases one of history's strangest Satanic heroes, aka Boris Yeltsin, who unlike his USSR contemporaries saw a vision of carving out the RFSR and thereby putting Gorbachev, his only real rival, out of a job; a masterful, devilish, personal strike.
every NYT foray into every western Pennsylvania diner
Mandatory quote in coverage of far right towns: “I am normal, my neighbours vote for Nazis but I am not someone who would be friends with Nazis so my neighbours are not Nazis. The foreigners are not like me and so I am indifferent to their fate compared to the hurt feelings of my neighbours.“
December 28, 2025 at 11:38 AM
every NYT foray into every western Pennsylvania diner
Reposted by randy r. potts
Mandatory quote in coverage of far right towns: “I am normal, my neighbours vote for Nazis but I am not someone who would be friends with Nazis so my neighbours are not Nazis. The foreigners are not like me and so I am indifferent to their fate compared to the hurt feelings of my neighbours.“
December 28, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Mandatory quote in coverage of far right towns: “I am normal, my neighbours vote for Nazis but I am not someone who would be friends with Nazis so my neighbours are not Nazis. The foreigners are not like me and so I am indifferent to their fate compared to the hurt feelings of my neighbours.“
this is only difficult to comprehend if you center the vast universe around decisions made in Washington, D.C.
this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade
December 28, 2025 at 11:35 AM
this is only difficult to comprehend if you center the vast universe around decisions made in Washington, D.C.
Reposted by randy r. potts
this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade
December 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade
Reposted by randy r. potts
Reposted by randy r. potts
The fall of Lebanon’s TV drug baron ft.trib.al/OR7NBgM
The fall of Lebanon’s TV drug baron
Beirut is cracking down on traffickers who enjoyed impunity for decades. But the roots of their illicit empires run deep
ft.trib.al
December 28, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The fall of Lebanon’s TV drug baron ft.trib.al/OR7NBgM
Reposted by randy r. potts
The Greenland precedent would then be used by a US government pursuing hemispheric imperialism to press claims against Canada, Mexico and Caricom states
December 28, 2025 at 9:39 AM
The Greenland precedent would then be used by a US government pursuing hemispheric imperialism to press claims against Canada, Mexico and Caricom states
Reposted by randy r. potts
Britain: oh crap are we really going to have to do a nuclear war plan against the Americans
France: oh yay we get to dust off our nuclear war plans against the Americans
France: oh yay we get to dust off our nuclear war plans against the Americans
JD VANCE THINKS BRITAIN & FRANCE ARE AMERICAS LIKELY ENEMIES.
The world is getting bizarrely screwed with this kind of bull being spewed out.
The world is getting bizarrely screwed with this kind of bull being spewed out.
December 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Britain: oh crap are we really going to have to do a nuclear war plan against the Americans
France: oh yay we get to dust off our nuclear war plans against the Americans
France: oh yay we get to dust off our nuclear war plans against the Americans
not even Chomsky believed NATO would one day invade Russia; it's all a Great Powers game to this brand of western leftist and they imagine themselves moving the pieces
No one has ever been able to adequately explain what Putin is meant to have thought NATO expansion would threaten him with, apart from limiting his expansionist ambitions.
"He was worried they'd invade Russia."
No he wasn't.
He just wasn't.
That's not a thing anyone thought might happen.
"He was worried they'd invade Russia."
No he wasn't.
He just wasn't.
That's not a thing anyone thought might happen.
this is the simple answer to people who keep saying NATO expansion matters. Sure, it matters because it presented an obstacle to Russian imperial ambitions. Putin didn't invade because he hated NATO expansion, he hated NATO expansion because he wanted to invade
December 28, 2025 at 10:41 AM
not even Chomsky believed NATO would one day invade Russia; it's all a Great Powers game to this brand of western leftist and they imagine themselves moving the pieces
Reposted by randy r. potts
A reasonable interpretation of the Trump-Vance play is they are telling Europe that in unless it gifts Greenland to the US we will abandon Europe to Russia.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
This dramatically enhanced pressure on Europe/Denmark and the new outrageous sanctions on info researchers coming at a time when Putin is escalating his physical attacks on Ukraine suggests that the US is now *coordinating* with Russia to weaken Europe and Ukraine.
bsky.app/profile/donm...
bsky.app/profile/donm...
Denmark lost more troops per capita in the post 9/11 war on Afghanistan. Saying they “are not a good ally” because they won’t surrender their territories to the US is lunacy. We are betraying our allies to satisfy the whims of a would-be Emperor for whom the US is not enough.
December 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM
A reasonable interpretation of the Trump-Vance play is they are telling Europe that in unless it gifts Greenland to the US we will abandon Europe to Russia.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
So our madman leader is now simultaneously attempting to take all of Venezuela's oil and a big chunk of mineral-rich European territory.
Reposted by randy r. potts
People not in the US routinely downplay the degree to which law enforcement in this country is willing to kill us.
In grad school I referenced this analysis that found that cops in the US kill more people than "criminals" do in other countries. And that's routine.
In grad school I referenced this analysis that found that cops in the US kill more people than "criminals" do in other countries. And that's routine.
December 28, 2025 at 4:28 AM
People not in the US routinely downplay the degree to which law enforcement in this country is willing to kill us.
In grad school I referenced this analysis that found that cops in the US kill more people than "criminals" do in other countries. And that's routine.
In grad school I referenced this analysis that found that cops in the US kill more people than "criminals" do in other countries. And that's routine.
Reposted by randy r. potts
the “should campaigns do mutual aid” conversation seems very much like pancakes/waffles discourse but i’ll just say that beto o’rourkes senate campaign dipped into that (certainly around hurricane harvey) and that was the most successful campaign a democrat ran in texas in decades
December 27, 2025 at 5:59 PM
the “should campaigns do mutual aid” conversation seems very much like pancakes/waffles discourse but i’ll just say that beto o’rourkes senate campaign dipped into that (certainly around hurricane harvey) and that was the most successful campaign a democrat ran in texas in decades
Reposted by randy r. potts
“this order is perhaps the clearest signal yet of how the US government and Silicon Valley are one and the same and European liberal democracies are now the enemy”
NEW: last night, the US govt launched an assault on the ‘global censorship industrial complex’, aka European tech researchers/campaigners.
It’s a deeply chilling move & speaks as to why we need international solidarity more than ever.
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
It’s a deeply chilling move & speaks as to why we need international solidarity more than ever.
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...
A message to America: we are not your enemy
Last night, the US launched an all-out assault on the "global censorship industrial complex", I respond with some deep breaths, solidarity and a vibey video (it's all I have)
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
“this order is perhaps the clearest signal yet of how the US government and Silicon Valley are one and the same and European liberal democracies are now the enemy”
Reposted by randy r. potts
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, Nigeria is generally Africa’s largest oil producer, and Greenland is cited as having one of the largest undeveloped rare earth deposits outside China. Trump has threatened or used military force in connection with all three.
December 27, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, Nigeria is generally Africa’s largest oil producer, and Greenland is cited as having one of the largest undeveloped rare earth deposits outside China. Trump has threatened or used military force in connection with all three.
good morning from a family cabin in the High Tatras
December 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
good morning from a family cabin in the High Tatras
Reposted by randy r. potts
The only thing ChatGPT ever does.
August 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
The only thing ChatGPT ever does.
when I was with the Daily Beast there was often this feeling that our reporting was mostly "silly" compared to, say, NYT, WashPo, et al but I dunno, those papers aren't writing about this and the Daily Beast is -
President Donald Trump gifted the world with nearly 200 Truth Social posts (and counting) on Christmas Day, where he amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
Trump Posts Nearly 200 Times in Unhinged Christmas Day Spree
The president amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
trib.al
December 26, 2025 at 9:45 AM
when I was with the Daily Beast there was often this feeling that our reporting was mostly "silly" compared to, say, NYT, WashPo, et al but I dunno, those papers aren't writing about this and the Daily Beast is -
Reposted by randy r. potts
Insanity. The Trump Admin says it’s “combatting antisemitism” - but here again, that’s a lie - since they’re trying to ban an Afghan researcher who literally *studies online antisemitism.*
I did not understand this: one of the five Europeans the US has barred from traveling to the United States...is a permanent resident who lives with his family in the US.
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Now he is worried about being arrested and deported for the crime of monitoring online hate.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Judge Blocks Detention of British Researcher Who Scrutinizes Online Hate
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Insanity. The Trump Admin says it’s “combatting antisemitism” - but here again, that’s a lie - since they’re trying to ban an Afghan researcher who literally *studies online antisemitism.*
have long thought of Gandalf as a journalist bc he expends so much effort talking to both the hoi polloi and kings
December 26, 2025 at 9:10 AM
have long thought of Gandalf as a journalist bc he expends so much effort talking to both the hoi polloi and kings
Reposted by randy r. potts
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
December 25, 2025 at 7:03 PM
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington
Then 3 agents divvy up his paid for food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get the wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.
Yakima, Washington