Jeet Heer
@jeetheer.bsky.social
Columnist, The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/authors/jeet-heer/ Podcast: The Time of Monsters: https://www.thenation.com/content/time-of-monsters/
This isn't a closing election argument, it's Vidkun Quisling explaining why surrender is better than resistance.
November 4, 2025 at 3:00 AM
This isn't a closing election argument, it's Vidkun Quisling explaining why surrender is better than resistance.
Thomas Pynchon's first novel V. (1963) features an AI named SHROUD who immediately starts talking about death and suicide. Gotta say Pynchon called that one!
October 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Thomas Pynchon's first novel V. (1963) features an AI named SHROUD who immediately starts talking about death and suicide. Gotta say Pynchon called that one!
This is probably the best time to be in organized crime since before the repeal of prohibition in 1933. I mean if you wanted to commit high level non-immigrant related crime, now is the time to go hog wild.
October 9, 2025 at 1:50 AM
This is probably the best time to be in organized crime since before the repeal of prohibition in 1933. I mean if you wanted to commit high level non-immigrant related crime, now is the time to go hog wild.
1. Someday there will be a proper essay on the "Two Tom Problem" -- Thomas Pynchon's influence Paul Thomas Anderson. Here are a few notes that might spark thought. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is the third time PTA has done a Pynchonesque movie & there might be more on the way. TP + A(ction) = PTA
September 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
1. Someday there will be a proper essay on the "Two Tom Problem" -- Thomas Pynchon's influence Paul Thomas Anderson. Here are a few notes that might spark thought. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is the third time PTA has done a Pynchonesque movie & there might be more on the way. TP + A(ction) = PTA
I'd highly recommend seeing ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER just on it's merit, it's a terrific roller coaster ride of a movie with a car chase that already feels like an all time classic. But it is also the most perfectly timed movie I've ever seen, feeling like it's ripped straight from the headlines.
September 27, 2025 at 10:42 PM
I'd highly recommend seeing ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER just on it's merit, it's a terrific roller coaster ride of a movie with a car chase that already feels like an all time classic. But it is also the most perfectly timed movie I've ever seen, feeling like it's ripped straight from the headlines.
4. Who would Buckley not want to marry one of his sisters? Well, Jews of course. They could date a Buckley, but, as he told his biographer, "to marry a Jew was dumb." As for Blacks, they can't even be allowed to dance with a Buckley gal.
September 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM
4. Who would Buckley not want to marry one of his sisters? Well, Jews of course. They could date a Buckley, but, as he told his biographer, "to marry a Jew was dumb." As for Blacks, they can't even be allowed to dance with a Buckley gal.
2. 2. Buckley had 6 sisters and, starting at Yale, many friends. From the start he specialized in the special elite politics of clubbiness fostered in the Ivy Leagues (joining Skull & Bones, the CIA). Naturally he kept trying to hook up his buddies with his sisters.
September 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM
2. 2. Buckley had 6 sisters and, starting at Yale, many friends. From the start he specialized in the special elite politics of clubbiness fostered in the Ivy Leagues (joining Skull & Bones, the CIA). Naturally he kept trying to hook up his buddies with his sisters.
1. We all know William F. Buckley -- the pundit, the Firing Line host, the spy novelist, the founder of National Review, the guy who threatened on national TV to punch Gore Vidal in the goddamn face. But did you also know that in spare time Buckley was a matchmaker?
September 8, 2025 at 3:18 PM
1. We all know William F. Buckley -- the pundit, the Firing Line host, the spy novelist, the founder of National Review, the guy who threatened on national TV to punch Gore Vidal in the goddamn face. But did you also know that in spare time Buckley was a matchmaker?
Jack Kirby, born 108 years ago. A photo of him on furlough during WWII, with his wife Rosalind Goldstein.
August 28, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Jack Kirby, born 108 years ago. A photo of him on furlough during WWII, with his wife Rosalind Goldstein.
Another AI warning in a Kirby comic: "Elektro" Tales of Suspense, #13 (1960). Was this lesson actually learned?
August 26, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Another AI warning in a Kirby comic: "Elektro" Tales of Suspense, #13 (1960). Was this lesson actually learned?
Jack Kirby story from 1959 ("I Fought the Colossus," Strange Tales # 72) predicts AI would be developed by 2020 and that one major fear would be that it would start giving the wrong answers to questions and "wreck civilization." Gotta love the 1950s giant mainframes.
August 18, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Jack Kirby story from 1959 ("I Fought the Colossus," Strange Tales # 72) predicts AI would be developed by 2020 and that one major fear would be that it would start giving the wrong answers to questions and "wreck civilization." Gotta love the 1950s giant mainframes.
It was too long to quote but the full paragraph is really great and very suggestive of the folly of the Bay of Pigs, Chalabi, etc.
August 8, 2025 at 10:06 PM
It was too long to quote but the full paragraph is really great and very suggestive of the folly of the Bay of Pigs, Chalabi, etc.
Very strange letter to send to a monstrous sex criminal.
July 17, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Very strange letter to send to a monstrous sex criminal.
1950s poly discourse. Jack Kirby, "Beautiful Friendship," Young Romance (Dec. 1953).
July 9, 2025 at 12:34 AM
1950s poly discourse. Jack Kirby, "Beautiful Friendship," Young Romance (Dec. 1953).
Some things never change.
July 7, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Some things never change.
In 1974, Jack Kirby Kirby did a story where the super-rich are so powerful they are able to rent entire cities and turn them into their playground & push aside all lawful authority. ("In the Era of the Super-Rich," OMAC #4, 1974).
June 29, 2025 at 2:50 PM
In 1974, Jack Kirby Kirby did a story where the super-rich are so powerful they are able to rent entire cities and turn them into their playground & push aside all lawful authority. ("In the Era of the Super-Rich," OMAC #4, 1974).
A Father's Day bounty
June 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM
A Father's Day bounty
3. Most of those who wanted to welcome back Musk as a prodigal son were centrists, with one big exception, progressive congressman Ro Khanna (who represents Silicon Valley)
June 11, 2025 at 8:20 PM
3. Most of those who wanted to welcome back Musk as a prodigal son were centrists, with one big exception, progressive congressman Ro Khanna (who represents Silicon Valley)
2. Bill Maher also thought Musk was a "gettable" voter for Democrats.
June 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
2. Bill Maher also thought Musk was a "gettable" voter for Democrats.
1. Now that Elon Musk has abjectly apologized to Trump, it's worth revisiting the advice of the liberals & centrists who dreamed of bringing Musk back into the Democratic coalition. What does this say about their political judgement?
June 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM
1. Now that Elon Musk has abjectly apologized to Trump, it's worth revisiting the advice of the liberals & centrists who dreamed of bringing Musk back into the Democratic coalition. What does this say about their political judgement?
9. To see how pervasive this was, consider that in late 1960s William F. Buckley and fellow National Review editor James Burnham (both ex-CIA, perhaps not coincidentally) dropped acid, but in the most half-assed possible way. (From Tanenhaus' Buckley biography)
June 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
9. To see how pervasive this was, consider that in late 1960s William F. Buckley and fellow National Review editor James Burnham (both ex-CIA, perhaps not coincidentally) dropped acid, but in the most half-assed possible way. (From Tanenhaus' Buckley biography)
1. Michael Ledeen, who died on May 17 at age 83, was a relatively obscure figure on the right, certainly not f Rush Limbaugh or a Tucker Carlson. Yet from 1970s to now, he was always on the scene undermining democracy: spreading disinformation about Jimmy Carter, Iran/Contra, Iraq war lies. more.
June 1, 2025 at 7:03 PM
1. Michael Ledeen, who died on May 17 at age 83, was a relatively obscure figure on the right, certainly not f Rush Limbaugh or a Tucker Carlson. Yet from 1970s to now, he was always on the scene undermining democracy: spreading disinformation about Jimmy Carter, Iran/Contra, Iraq war lies. more.
Very interesting thoughts by Chinese international relations scholar Di Dongsheng on AI, Trump and extremist right-wing accelerationism
May 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Very interesting thoughts by Chinese international relations scholar Di Dongsheng on AI, Trump and extremist right-wing accelerationism
Two critics of Bruce Springsteen, D. Trump and R. Crumb.
May 16, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Two critics of Bruce Springsteen, D. Trump and R. Crumb.
Robert Crumb's spectacularly dysfunctional family life was highlighted in Terry Zwigoff's documentary. The full story is even stranger than the movie shows. From my review of Dan Nadel's new Crumb biography. southwestreview.com/volume-110-n...
April 30, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Robert Crumb's spectacularly dysfunctional family life was highlighted in Terry Zwigoff's documentary. The full story is even stranger than the movie shows. From my review of Dan Nadel's new Crumb biography. southwestreview.com/volume-110-n...