Martyn Wendell Jones
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martynwendell.bsky.social
Martyn Wendell Jones
@martynwendell.bsky.social
6.1K followers 2K following 1.7K posts
Senior associate editor, The Bulwark. American in Canada, writer. Dad newsletter: https://martynwendell.substack.com/
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martynwendell.bsky.social
the vibes are on
A beautiful,princely seeming pug dog snoozes in a dog bed nest to a window. Outside, a snowy landscape
November 9, 2025 at 8:52 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
and just like that—
A snowy common area between townhouses and a large apartment building
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
I must be stopped
Filiold and Filibusted Filibuster? I hardly filiknow her From filibuster to filibusted Does the filibuster still pass the filimuster? Does the filibuster still cut the filimustard?
November 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Joe's newsletter today includes a good argument for continuing to cover the administration's scandals as, well, scandals
The piece isn’t encouraging in an “every cloud has a silver lining” sort of way. It’s encouraging in the way a bracing exhortation is. The key point is that we have to keep talking about Trump’s scandals and corruption because we can’t count on anyone else to do it. We have to keep our moral vocabulary strong and alive and not let the endless flow of malfeasance sap it. We can’t simply trust that someone else is going to tell the story straight after Trump is gone. Our legacy media institutions are responsive to incentives that make normalizing this administration’s actions the likeliest outcome for the first draft of history that the news industry provides. Of course, this all makes genuinely independent media outlets all the more important. Here at The Bulwark, we don’t have the same incentives; we can focus on topics we deem newsworthy and revisit them long after they’ve fallen out of the 72-pt font headlines at newsstands. The administration and its allies’ more alarming activities—like selling access to the government, pardoning friends or corrupt politicians who showered the president with the right amount of praise, replacing career officials with inexperienced loyalists, and on and on—these are worth as much coverage as we can give them, if for no other reason than to help adjust that shitty first draft.
November 4, 2025 at 9:09 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
one of the outlets that was on top of the East Wing demolition story is Town & Country, which I find very endearing; a colleague pointed out that the history and mythology of the East Wing is probably a load-bearing interest for their readership
A Town & Country headline says "White House Demolishes Parts of the East Wing as Construction Begins on Trump's New Ballroom." The dek reads, "Trump previously said his new White House ballroom 'won't interfere with the current building.' Photos from the start of construction indicate otherwise." A Town & Country headline: Trump White House Plans to Demolish the Entire East Wing by This Weekend. The dek says "The cost of Trump's new ballroom rose from an estimated $200 million to $300 million." A Town & Country headline says "Trump Destroys the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden at the White House." The dek reads, "Last week the president razed the East Wing to make way for his new ballroom" A Town & Country headline reads, "Jackie Kennedy's Grandson Speaks Out About Trump's Demolition of the East Wing of the White House." The dek says, "'My grandmother saw America in full color – Trump sees in black and white. Where she planted flowers, he poured concrete,' Jack Schlossberg wrote on Instagram today."
November 4, 2025 at 5:45 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
really is some wild stuff in here archive.gamehistory.org/item/c664b6e...
Jimmy did I tell you they keyed my new beamer again. Sixth time this week… Thinking of hiring a sniper service I saw advertised in Soldier of Fortune. Well I took a piece of my ear off shaving this morning. Boy, I tell you, that thing was really gushing. Enjoying some smoked whale meat up here in the booth today. I don’t really care for it but I can’t stop eating it.
November 3, 2025 at 9:18 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
I have some questions…
An eBay listing for a copy of Disco Elysium formatted as a GameBoy Color cartridge
November 1, 2025 at 8:09 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Spier and Mackay is having a sale on overcoats—some of these look really terrific, in case you're in the market for one: www.spierandmackay.com/collection/p...
A man models a brown herringbone overcoat, mid-thigh length, single-breasted with notched lapels A man models a navy double-breasted greatcoat with brass buttons; it comes down to his knees and has a wide/thick lapel with deep cutaways to allow the collar to be raised against the neck independently of the lapels over the chest. Beefy looking A man models a brown houndstooth polo coat; it's double-breasted with dark brown buttons, patch pockets, and a nice, thick lapel with deep cutaways to allow the collar to be raised against the neck while leaving the lapels over the chest flat. Pattern is pretty large. Would be a bit of a statement coat. A man models a dark brown double-breasted belted overcoat. It comes to just above the knee and has nice thickness and drape.
October 31, 2025 at 1:56 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
I can't stop laughing
As Arlington GOP chair Matthew Hurtt told me, Morell had shown up to the debate watch party precisely to confront Hurtt. Why? Because Hurtt had, among other things, called Morell an “archetypal goober” in an interview with False Flag about the calamitous “First 100 Days” party. “Why don’t you call me a ‘goober’ in person?” Hurtt recalled Morell yelling at him at the bar Thursday.
October 23, 2025 at 5:24 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
hit my head so hard a couple hours ago I think I completed the system of German idealism
A medical staple gun in its sterile packaging next to a stack of gauze pads on a medical bed
October 19, 2025 at 10:31 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Attended a beautiful wedding and saw many dear friends over the weekend in Minneapolis, which was so warm on the day of the ceremony that I ended up going in seersucker
A selfie of a moustachioed man in a brown seersucker suit, cream-coloured shirt, and oxblood tie with a repeating mallard pattern on it. The man is wearing Wayfarer sunglasses, too, and in the background is visible a ski resort called Afton Alps. It’s bright and sunny out, and the grass nearby is patchy and browned over.
October 14, 2025 at 6:20 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Shot, from @adriancarrasquillo.bsky.social's Huddled Masses newsletter today: www.thebulwark.com/p/ice-propag...

Chaser, from a Fox story about an upcoming "antifa roundtable" between Trump and the cabinet and several "independent journalists": www.foxnews.com/politics/beh...
Perhaps the clearest distillation of this strategy came during recent protests outside an ICE facility in Portland. While a tense scene played out on the ground, several incendiary right-wing influencers and media figures—Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt, Honey Badger Mom, and Julio Rosas—were stationed on the building’s rooftops. They were there not just to watch but to record as well—a bird’s-eye view of the scuffles breaking out below. Clad in a black protective vest inscribed with the word PRESS, Rosas was filmed sipping what appeared to be an orange Jarritos while bantering with acquaintances. Hydration choices aside, these commentators had a clear purpose: advancing the story that ICE—and Trump—wants. When Daviscourt went on Fox News sporting a black eye that she said she received from Antifa protesters who hit her with a flagpole, she was doing just this, subtlety be damned. And when the right-wing website she works for tweeted out a slick compilation of Daviscourt’s footage depicting Portland as a war zone in which what Trump calls “paid terrorists” were antagonizing brave law enforcement officers, the tweet noted that the video had been produced and posted by the White House. The fact that they were part of a propaganda operation could not have been stated more explicitly. Independent journalists who are slated to join the discussion, Fox News Digital learned, include Cam Higby, Jonathon Choe, Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, James Klug, Savannah Hernandez, Nick Shirley, Brandi Kruse and Julio Rojas.
October 8, 2025 at 4:55 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
impresario mode: activated
Four people on stage, three in chairs and one standing and gesturing with a sheaf of papers at those in the seats. They are seen from behind. The seated people are Sam Stein, Tim Miller, and Sarah Longwell. The standing person is yours truly, Martyn Wendell Jones. It is a quiz game. You can’t see the audience behind the stage lights but somehow it is nonetheless clear that they are having a great time.
September 27, 2025 at 3:17 AM
martynwendell.bsky.social
realized during kid pickup I had a bit of a Commissioner Gordon thing going on
Outdoor selfie of a mustachioed man in a blue windowpane check button-up shirt and a trench coat carrying an absolutely adorable smiling baby on his arm. Overcast sky and trees and a power line are visible in the background.
September 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
I'm sorry, what now
We parked by an orange roadblock labeled ANGOLA RODEO, the site of the annual exhibition where prisoners participate in a series of events like “Convict Poker” (four inmates play poker seated at a table with a loose bull in the arena, and the last man sitting wins). Looming in front of us: a thicket of barbed wire and two patrol towers guarding a housing unit that was called the Dungeon back when it was used for solitary confinement. End of excerpt; the line explaining "convict poker" is highlighted
September 22, 2025 at 5:50 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Some ICE officials call Sheahan “Fish Cop” behind her back because of her previous stint running the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in Louisiana. Sheahan knows there are people who think that, without any law-enforcement background, she isn’t qualified for a job usually occupied by veteran ICE officials. “I absolutely think I’m qualified for the job,” she told me. “Because at the end of the day, what really makes anybody qualified for any job?”
September 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
good lord
In February 2024, Noem met with Trump to make her case to join the ticket. She was accompanied by Lewandowski, who came prepared with polling data showing how popular she was in midwestern swing states, according to the book Revenge, by the journalist Alex Isenstadt. But there were obstacles to her getting the job — the foremost being Lewandowski himself. People close to Trump worried about their alleged romantic involvement, Isenstadt wrote. Trump’s advisers had witnessed Lewandowski slapping Noem on the butt, and Trump would slyly refer to Noem as Lewandowski’s “girlfriend.” Noem’s chances at securing the No. 2 spot were ultimately buried by the publication of her second memoir, No Going Back, in which she told the unfortunate story of shooting a disobedient puppy named Cricket on the family farm. “That’s not good at all,” Trump told his son Don Jr., according to Revenge. “Even you wouldn’t kill a dog, and you kill everything.” End of excerpt; Trump quotations highlighted
September 22, 2025 at 5:24 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Watching All the President’s Men when my wife pulls out her phone and takes this photo. “The desk resemblance is strong,” she says
A still from All the President’s Men depicting Robert Redford on the phone with piles of books on desks behind him. But wait! That image is on a computer screen, which is on an ottoman with a desk in the background. And on that desk? Piles of books and magazines…
September 21, 2025 at 1:27 AM
martynwendell.bsky.social
to be honest, though, this was the first one that came to mind
Roger, from the original 101 Dalmatians, in rumpled clothes and seated at his messy desk looking as though he's about to fall asleep
September 16, 2025 at 2:30 AM
martynwendell.bsky.social
If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to BlueSky
Martin Blank, a professional hitman experiencing a slowly unfolding moral and spiritual crisis during his last job, reads Discover magazine (on the cover: "Making Sense of Creation") while lying on his hotel bed in a scene from Grosse Pointe Blank (1996)
September 16, 2025 at 2:22 AM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Oceans are now … Detroit …
A laptop screen showing the title “Grosse Pointe Blank”
September 14, 2025 at 2:00 AM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Today’s book mail:
A copy of Darkland: Memoir of a Secret Childhood being held up in front of a computer
September 9, 2025 at 7:45 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
Fortunately, the kids are all right
Two boys seen from behind as they walk across the grass in front of a row of townhouses
September 2, 2025 at 7:28 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
here we goooo
An email that says: Hello, We are delighted to say that you have been placed in the RG on Martin Heidegger's Being and Time meeting on Tuesdays, 8-10 PM ET (09/09-12/09). The estimated workload is 35 pages per week, and your seminar leaders have requested that you acquire the following edition: John MacQuarrie and Edward Robinson https://www.harpercollins.com/products/being-and-time-martin-heidegger?variant=32154071597090
August 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
martynwendell.bsky.social
UPS paid the Canadian government $5.38 to import the copy of Schattenfroh scheduled to arrive today (slipped across the border just before the Canadian retaliatory tariffs were lifted, just my luck), but they appear to be charging me about five times that amount for their trouble. So it goes
A receipt showing UPS customs charges, including $29.95 for “UPS brokerage charges” and a $26.50 “brokerage fee”
August 23, 2025 at 3:33 PM