The Bellman

we used to be a proper country.

The private equity investors who let Nob Hill Apartments collapse into squalor put up almost none of their own money — 90% of the purchase was a federally-backed loan. When it failed, they had nothing to lose. A tenant lost his life.

EVERY STORY ABOUT BEAVERS FOR THE LAST DECADE READS LIKE: WE RELEASED A DOZEN PADDLE TAILED LITTLE FREAKS AND THEY IMMEDIATELY BEGAN A TERRAFORMING PROJECT THAT REVERSED A CENTURY OF ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IN THREE WEEKS.

Something I didn’t include in the story: Rep. Miller expressed to the judge he was worried about making future court hearings over his CPO because Republicans have a “very small majority.” His lawyer basically told him to shut up.

Why I’m a fan of the Oxford comma.

I’m mad about today. I’m mad that justices can’t do the bare minimum to uphold the Constitution. I’m mad that the law and our history, which I have dedicated so much of my life to, is an inconvenience than an inheritance to many. I’m mad that the academy, which I love, rewards and enables it.

Technically, they’re Remains now.

SPEECHLESS. LFGK

I think about this Tweet a lot.

You know what we don't talk enough about? Queen & Annie Lennox/David Bowie rehearsing 'Under Pressure' in 1992. So much going on! Everyone's clothes, Bowie with a lit cig throughout, where Annie PROPER GOES FOR IT, George Michael singing along in the background. The amazing vocals. Yes, please!

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

quote with a fictional band that is not spinal tap

Supreme Court of Georgia suspends prosecutor’s privilege to practice law before the court for six months after filing a brief with the court that contained non-existent cases and cases that do not stand for the proposition asserted in the brief due to AI usage. www.gasupreme.us/wp-content/u...

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

Frederick Wiseman changed the way we see the world.

From the classrooms of High School to the corridors of Hospital, he turned his camera on the institutions that shape us — inviting us to look closer, sit longer & confront truth with empathy. 

May his memory be a blessing.

"His work would be considered essential even if it did nothing more than capture specific places and people at specific points in history. … Taken as a whole, Frederick Wiseman’s features exemplify nonfiction filmmaking at peak originality and exactness,” writes @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social.

Actual footage of Vince Guaraldi performing "Linus and Lucy". I'm gobsmacked that this exists, but utterly thrilled too. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMf...

we need to talk about that Ring Super Bowl ad

This endorsement means so much to me. Jerry Nadler has set an incredibly high bar for decades for smart, principled, progressive leadership on issue after issue. I’m honored beyond words to have his support. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UH1...

GM: Charisma check. Mamdani: [rolls natural 20] GM: that’s a d6 how did you Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊

NYC has an excellent tool to see how recently any street has been plowed. Check out PlowNYC at: nyc.gov/plownyc Thank you to the 1000s of hard working men and women at @nycsanitation.bsky.social who are out battling this storm.

#LegalEthics Tidbit: Should I use #AI to record my conversations with clients? NYC Bar Ethics Opinion 2025-6 addresses the ethical issues affecting the use of #artificialintelligence to record, transcribe, and summarize conversations with clients. Among ... (cont.) lnkd.in/esXtch22 #lawsky #law

Sculpture by American artist Eva LeWitt, 2010s, who uses commercial and industrial materials like latex, acetate, and foam in work exploring the interplay of material, space, and light.

“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

It's good—very good, and very important—that district courts keep issuing these 100-page rulings upholding the law. It must be incredibly dispiriting to see them overturned in a two-page, lawless, unsigned order, but please, keep them coming. They expose SCOTUS' corruption like nothing else.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people. —Harry Truman, 1952

8675309 is prime, and so is 8675311, so if you ever need a middlin'-large pair of adjacent primes to test your cryptographic suite, all you need is a 1980s earworm and a +2 and you're all set.

VC David gets an entry in the unofficial Delaware Footnote Hall of Fame

@zohrankmamdani is a deeply thoughtful human being and we think he would make the best NYC mayor imaginable. We feel this as New Yorkers, as Jews and as human beings who are desperate for kindness, compassion and empathy to be represented in our politics. GET OUT THE VOTE here bit.ly/4nxYXFp

I understand why they had to stop him but I don’t agree with imprisoning him in the phantom zone

I am TIRED of the racism, the Islamophobia, the transphobia, the antisemitism, all the fucking Nazi shit, all the bigotry in all its forms. All of it is unacceptable. All blessings on Mamdani for shining a light on this. No more, in any corner of our politics.

Learned that an anonymous outside expert on submersibles did an interview with the OceanGate Titan investigation, and they released a transcript, with all the names redacted. The first line of his first answer? "I'm sure you're familiar with my film Titanic."

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion. As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

Hey @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @schumer.senate.gov - this is what a leader sounds like in these perilous times

Shanah Tovah, New York City. Here's to a sweet and hopeful New Year.

If you have an extra $10 a month to spare, here's a list of worker-owned cooperative news sites you might want to support: • 404 Media • Defector • The Flytrap • Flaming Hydra • The Appeal • Aftermath • Racket • Hell Gate • The 51st • The Colorado Sun • Range Media • Discourse Blog • Pop Heist

Re Kimmel, it's important that Disney has left itself an out--it is a "suspension," not a cancellation or firing. What happens in the next two days--reaction within the company but also in the press, in the industry, in Washington, among consumers, and on social media--may affect how this plays out.

this is, hands down, the best video I've seen on men's influencer content and it's not close either

You can write this only if, by virtue of your income, identity, or both, you are utterly removed from the consequences of politics. To pretend that the racist, misogynistic, anti-gay vileness that Kirk spent his life spreading is secondary to the fact that he spread it "the right way" is appalling.

I am once again asking you to stop sending us money. But we do need your time. ⏰ zohranfornyc.com/events