Robert Rubsam
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Robert Rubsam
@robrubsam.bsky.social
1.4K followers 300 following 890 posts
Writing on books, movies, the arts: NYT Magazine, Baffler, Washington Post, Atlantic, Liberties, Commonweal, Mubi, Paris Review, Nation, etc. robjrub@gmail.com
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robrubsam.bsky.social
Robert Rubsam @robrubsam.bsky.social · Oct 8
Here, have 6000 words on Yasunari Kawabata: libertiesjournal.com/articles/the...
The High Art of Distance - Liberties
“Art, of course, lives in history,” said Elizabeth Hardwick. By which she meant that a novel emerges in its own time, and changes in its passage to our own. This — the likeness which is also an unlike...
libertiesjournal.com
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
diplomatofnight.com
Noah Smith is doing Judeo-Bolshevism but about Muslims and Arabs
am not happy about the growth of Islamoleftism in America. We're following the UK down this path and it's not good. Drew Pavlou • @DrewPavlou • 9h BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani just endorsed a candidate for New York State Assembly who described a convicted Al Qaeda financier as an "imprisoned hero" and an Algerian man convicted of plotting to bomb New York City synago... Show more
November 19, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
mikesacks.bsky.social
This whole piece is all the actual horribles on parade, and this one is just infuriating
April 7 Brian McEntire, Civil Rights Division: My goal was always to become an attorney in the Civil Rights Division. That was my dream. I ended up working a lot on fire department cases. In Cobb County, Ga., we got information that even though African Americans and whites were applying for positions at about an equal rate over the previous decade, 90 percent of the hires had been white and 10 percent had been African American. And we didn't quite understand why that was. So we did an investigation and found out that there was a credit check that was disproportionately knocking out African Americans, particularly for student loan debt. And when we asked them why they were doing that, their response was essentially, Well, if a firefighter is deeply in debt and he's fighting a fire, he might steal grandma's pearls. So we brought suit. In February, we got a note saying that the attorney general wanted us to withdraw the case. The next day, division leadership insisted that we put additional language in the notice of dismissal that implied it was all about reverse discrimination. I didn't know, quite frankly, if I could sign it. If I have to say what I argued before was illegal, then I could have been accused of misleading the court, which could have ended up with me being disciplined, sanctioned and my bar license revoked. So I did not sign it. My colleagues didn't sign it. They pulled us all into a room, and we were all prepared to get fired because none of us were going to sign. My boss signed a modified version of the notice of withdrawal on our behalf. We also had a racial-discrimination case involving the sole African American attorney working for the Mississippi State Senate, who, during the years she worked there, was paid less than half of what her similarly situated white colleagues were making. It was as clear-cut a case of disparate racial treatment you could find. The Senate stalled the case until Trump's appointees could come in and order our section to drop it. When you talk about the rule of law and treating people fairly and equally, that's obviously a slap in the face.
November 17, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
grnpointer.bsky.social
This is what guys like Yglesias, and everybody else making hay about Kamala supporting transition care in prisons, want to happen everywhere.
assignedmedia.org Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 19h
EXCLUSIVE: A forced detransition policy had disastrous effects in one Georgia prison, according to the manager of the medical unit there.

The policy is on hold due to a court order requiring prisons to re-start hormone treatments for incarcerated people in GA.

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
EXCLUSIVE: Forced Detransitions ‘Nearly Toppled’ Medical Unit in Georgia Prison During Care Ban — Assigned
In the midst of a lawsuit, a Georgia prison resumes gender affirming care for trans inmates.
www.assignedmedia.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
jeisinger.bsky.social
NEW: The White House intervened in a DHS investigation.

The target? Sex offender Andrew Tate.

The WH person? Paul “Nazi Streak” Ingrassia.

Who was previously also Tate’s lawyer.

A banger from @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Shapiro

www.propublica.org/article/andr...
November 18, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
scribnerumcp.bsky.social
1/ “The power of ruins in the nineteenth century...was to depict the violence of historical movement without imputing necessity to its direction. They challenged the absoluteness of the present with the counterfactuals of the past.”
#History
#Education
thebaffler.com/latest/idle-...
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
apnews.com
What is thought to be the world’s largest-known spider’s web, housing tens of thousands of arachnids, has been discovered in a cave on the Albanian-Greek border.
Arachnid super-web reveals the surprising 'constant party' life of cohabiting spiders
What is thought to be the world’s largest-known spider's web, housing tens of thousands of arachnids, has been discovered in a cave on the Albanian-Greek border.
bit.ly
November 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
mhkeller.bsky.social
The cost of Trump's immigration surge: Stalled investigations into child sexual abuse, Iranian oil smuggling and human trafficking, among others. My latest piece is a big team effort on how DHS has been transformed into the Department of Deportation.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/u...
Homeland Security Missions Falter Amid Focus on Deportations
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
jessehawken.bsky.social
For your listening pleasure on this weekend’s @junkfilterpod.bsky.social: I’m joined by @robrubsam.bsky.social and @coreyatad.com to compare Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear doomsday thriller A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE to Sidney Lumet’s FAIL-SAFE.
Listen to this podcast!

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/j...
President Idris Elba saying “I listened to this podcast” in A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE
November 16, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
thebaffler.com
Jenny Erpenbeck knows well what it is like to come of age in the wreckage of an empire. In “Things That Disappear,” she writes on ruins—and the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
jessehawken.bsky.social
On the new @junkfilterpod.bsky.social I'm joined by the fine film writers @robrubsam.bsky.social and @coreyatad.com to compare Sidney Lumet's nuclear apocalypse thriller FAIL-SAFE with its brand-new modern analogue, Kathryn Bigelow's A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE.
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/j...
Henry Fonda as the unnamed American President on the phone in FAIL-SAFE (Sidney Lumet, 1964) Idris Elba as the unnamed American President saying "I listened to this podcast," in A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (Kathryn Bigelow, 2025)
November 14, 2025 at 1:41 AM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Apologies in advance to the people of Chicago
jessehawken.bsky.social Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 5d
New @junkfilterpod.bsky.social: a comparison between two nuclear war thrillers - Sidney Lumet’s FAIL-SAFE and Kathryn Bigelow’s A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, a real “Hydrogen Bomb vs Coughing Baby” scenario.

My guests are @robrubsam.bsky.social and @coreyatad.com

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/j...
a detail from the trailer for Sidney Lumet’s FAIL-SAFE (1964)
November 14, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
longreads.com
"The ruins lingered, and in lingering, they taught her the virtue of unproductive places and idle things, of empty spaces, left open for her to wander them and to ask: How did I get here, and how did all of this?" — @robrubsam.bsky.social for @thebaffler.com
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
The imperial presidency: invading other countries, turning off the government

The imperial vice presidency: sitting weird in a chair, talking about pain pills
heartlandsignal.bsky.social Heartland Signal @heartlandsignal.bsky.social · 6d
JD Vance calls ibuprofen "useless medication" and implies it's not "necessary, safe and effective."
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
peligrietzer.bsky.social
I love dark academia (turning the light off in the seminar room)
November 13, 2025 at 5:12 AM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Another update on the blog: open.substack.com/pub/robertru...
Checking In Vol. 7
Links, songs, and various recommendations.
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Kathryn Bigelow furiously emailing Noah Oppenheim
freddydeknatel.bsky.social Frederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 6d
It would be scandalous enough for any other president to use the Situation Room like this.

Billed as the most secure facility on earth, where presidents could manage national security crises, the Situation Room is now where the AG and FBI Director scheme with Trump about the Epstein files.
Top officials met in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday with Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is backing an effort to force a House vote on whether to demand the release of the files. She was summoned to sit down with top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the session included Attorney General Pam Bondi and F.B.I. Director Kash Patel. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the private discussions.
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
sharonk.bsky.social
hey, i've seen this one
November 12, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
thebaffler.com
Some 80 percent of Berlin was destroyed during WWII. Those ruins were an everyday part of Jenny Erpenbeck’s childhood, which she explores in her new essay collection, “Things That Disappear.”
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Happy birthday Neil www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGUq...
Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer (Live) (Official Audio)
YouTube video by neilyoungchannel
www.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:39 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Damn, the new Bill Callahan rules billcallahan.bandcamp.com/album/my-day...
My Days of 58, by Bill Callahan
12 track album
billcallahan.bandcamp.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
thebaffler.com
“When a world dies, much dies alongside it. Ways of thinking, ways of building, ways of living so mundane no one noticed their presence or their passing.”
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
russ41.bsky.social
I still have not processed what I just read.
The snipers were perhaps the most feared element of life under siege in Sarajevo because they would pick off people on the streets, including children, at random, as if it was a video game or a safari. Groups of Italians and other nationalities, so-called “sniper tourists”, are alleged to have participated in the massacre after paying large sums of money to soldiers belonging to the army of Radovan Karadžić, the former Bosnian Serb leader who in 2016 was found guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity, to be transported to the hills surrounding Sarajevo so that they could shoot at the population for pleasure.
November 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM
robrubsam.bsky.social
Worth noting that the Free Press is not and never was a journalist organization. They do commentary with some light reportage which is theoretically fine but there has basically never been any overlap between the work they and CBS do.
justinbaragona.bsky.social Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 7d
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Robert Rubsam
adamserwer.bsky.social
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM