I'll keep on if you do too
I guess I shouldn't have said anything nice about the Pope the other day because right after that and right after he met with JD Vance he died straightaway. It feels like the time I briefly joked around with a cop inside of my polling place back in November and we all know how that turned out.
In all seriousness though you couldn't really expect a much more progressive Pope all things considered and here's hoping that whoever takes his place gives a shit about the poor and the displaced – and Palestine specifically – as much as he did.
I enjoyed reading this piece in Literary Hub about his love of teaching and literature and his connection to Borges with whom he shared some of his students' work.
Francis sent two of their short stories to a fellow Argentine—Jorge Luis Borges. The young teacher had a connection; Borges’s secretary had been Francis’s piano teacher. Borges admired the work of the young writers so much that he facilitated the publication of stories from the class in a book, Cuentos Originales, for which he wrote the prologue: “This prologue is not just for this book, but also for each one of the as yet undetermined series of possible works that the young people collected here may, in the future, write.”
...
After he wrote the generous prologue for the book by Francis’s students, Borges, then 66 and blind, made the eight hour trek from Buenos Aires to Santa Fé. The writer told Francis that he still said the Lord’s Prayer every night, despite his unbelief, “because he had promised his mother he’d do so.”
One visit, Francis went to the hotel to bring Borges to campus, but the writer asked for help first. Borges asked the young Jesuit to shave him. Francis did, with gentleness and humility that would remain with him until his final day.
"...for each one of the as yet undetermined series of possible works that the young people collected here may, in the future, write.”
I love that so much. Even in his prologues Borges is imagining a series of forking paths.
As always your support of our work here is appreciated if you can swing it.
On the matter of giving a shit about Gaza but in the polar opposite direction you may remember I wrote about a person named Deborah Lipstadt last week in this one.
It was "one of the good ones" I am reliably told.
Luke O’Neil
A renowned holocaust scholar and Joe Biden’s Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Lipstadt gave an interview last week in which she praised Marco Rubio and said that anti Israeli genocide protestors being black-bagged and renditioned to parts unknown had it coming more or less.
“To depict some of these people as martyrs and heroes is ludicrous,” she said of students like Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil who have been kidnapped by the government for the crime of opposing Israel’s genocide.
She just wished the proper channels for punishing thought crimes was being respected she said.
Well good news for us and bad news for her she sat for an interview with Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker. The one good major media guy. You can probably imagine how it went. (Not great!)
You are a smart person. Do you seriously believe that the Trump Administration cares about antisemitism? I’m a little confused here.
Yeah, I don’t . . . I don’t know. They haven’t spoken to me, they haven’t consulted with me. So all I can judge is by—
But Deborah, your entire career has been judging people for antisemitism, in some cases very effectively. The President hosted white supremacists for dinner. Elon Musk made what appeared to be a Nazi salute. Surely you can look into their souls here.
I have called that out.
O.K., but more broadly can you make some sort of judgment?
Yes, no, there’s been . . . there certainly has been a disturbing tendency, whether it’s whatever Elon Musk was doing with his arm, or when he appeared on video at a campaign event for the far right in Germany. There are a lot of examples. They’re disturbing and they’re bothersome.
...
I want to go back to your comment about these students being picked up not being “heroes and martyrs.” You gave no specifics there, but it seems like maybe you are more willing to criticize them than the Trump Administration.
No, no. I’m an equal-opportunity critic.
I did think about your praise of Rubio. And I saw you praise Mike Pompeo, too.
On this issue. I’m not praising them on everything, you know.
If people are close to antisemites, or part of a party that’s awash in antisemitism, or working for a man who dines with white supremacists and says really gross things about Jews, it makes me think that if they’re pro-Israel you give them slack that you wouldn’t if people were doing the same thing but were not pro-Israel.
No, no, no, no, no, no. ...
Whatever Elon was doing with this arm.
That last question from Chotiner there is 100% what she does throughout the entire interview. The Palestinian exception remains undefeated for cowards and bigots and warmongers around the world Jewish and Christian and liberal and conservative alike. It should disgust you like it disgusts me.
Here's another recent high profile piece that has pissed me off. You probably saw this story by Larry David in the New York Times in which he recounts a fictional dinner between himself and Hitler (dragging Bill Maher's ass in the process.) It's pretty good. The wretched Bill Maher recently had a meeting with Trump and praised him afterwards (the context for which you can read summarized here if you missed it.)
Larry's piece ends like so:
Two hours later, the dinner was over, and the Führer escorted me to the door. “I am so glad to have met you. I hope I’m no longer the monster you thought I was.” “I must say, mein Führer, I’m so thankful I came. Although we disagree on many issues, it doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other.” And with that, I gave him a Nazi salute and walked out into the night.
Not exactly subtle shit here.
Apparently the funking skunk Times Deputy Opinion Editor Patrick Healy was worried that people needed a helping hand understanding it – or misunderstanding it rather – so he sent out a joke explainer the very same day that completely mischaracterized the entire bit. Imagine thinking you needed to pop in and clarify a Larry David joke? There's nothing a comedy writer loves more than their editor telling the audience why something is funny (and not offensive by the way.)
Healy wrote [bracketed commentary mine]:
I also understood Larry’s intent in writing this piece. [Did you?] We had spoken about American politics and how some on the left and in the center think it’s important to talk and engage with President Trump. Like many people, Larry listened to Bill Maher talk about his recent dinner with Trump; Bill, a comedian Larry respects, [Does he?] said in a monologue on his Max show that he found the president to be “gracious and measured” compared with the man who attacks him on Truth Social. Larry’s piece is not equating Trump with Hitler. [Isn't it?] It is about seeing people for who they really are and not losing sight of that. [No it isn't.]
That link to why Larry respects Maher is from a 2018 Yahoo! article concerning a soundbite he gave for an HBO Maher anniversary special. I know Healy is a big boy journalist so I assume he fact-checked this assertion was still accurate but that was seven years ago buddy. Are you sure that's the best evidence that a guy who just ripped another guy's balls off still respects him?
Healy goes on:
Sometimes the best way to make an opinion argument isn’t in a traditional essay. Americans are inundated with news; it can sometimes take a satirical provocation to break through, even at the risk of causing offense. [To whom?]
Larry David, in a provocation of his own, is arguing that during a single dinner or a private meeting, anyone can be human, and it means nothing in the end about what that person is capable of.
That is not what it was about at all! My god these dumb motherfuckers running our media.
One more piece to hate read.
Alright here's a piece from Patrick Kuklinski about how it feels being trans in America right now.
He most recently wrote for Hell World on the latest assaults on the rights and dignity of trans people in Florida.
Stick around for some reader letters after that.
Luke O’Neil
We cannot all be eradicated
by Patrick Kuklinski.
The last few months have delivered a sort of grim vindication about what many of us have said has been coming for years. The Trump administration has acted to brutally undercut every minority group in the country as quickly as possible. Most notably of late with the inhumane, and illegal for what that’s still worth, treatment of immigrants or anyone who even appears like a “foreigner.” Far too many still see these abuses as justifiable, or even desirable, because they don’t consider the administration’s targets as American enough, or American at all. They aren’t one of “us.”
I’d say it won’t be long before citizens too are being treated this way, but in fact it’s already started. Particularly for minority groups who were born and raised as Americans and yet are still being treated like presumed criminals.
There’s no reason that someone cannot be transgender and American at once. Transgender Americans pay taxes, go to work, have kids, and live our lives. Thousands of us were enlisted in the U.S. military prior to the resurgence of Trump’s military ban. The perception that trans people spend all day simply Being Transgender – engaging in activities like converting young people into the nefarious Transgender Cult and creeping in women’s bathrooms – is blatantly false.
Despite rationally knowing that, like everyone else, we’re just fucking people, the right is still willing to turn on us simply because we’ve done something they don’t understand or agree with. Far-right talking heads know we pose no threat to other Americans, but given that many transgender folks believe in wild fantasies like free healthcare, living wages, and a shot at a decent life for everyone, it makes sense to kick us while we’re down, before we can grow to have a voice.
Democrats who claim to have championed our rights have done exactly the same thing, only less directly. Gavin Newsom turned heads when he called transgender athletes participating in womens’ sports “deeply unfair.” It’s a shame, but we knew it’s what a lot of Democrats were thinking anyway. No amount of pronouns in your work email signature, posts on Trans Day of Visibility, or other virtue signaling “activism” has changed the reality that you do not want to see us or what we’re going through unless it happens to be convenient for you.
The warfare against innocent people who have done nothing but go about their lives is absolutely insane. Earlier this year, I made the mistake of moving to Upstate New York in an attempt to free myself from the high rent and unaffordable cost of living in New Hampshire. I found myself equally as broke there, only now my neighbors were running a hate campaign against me. People I had never met were accusing me of being a pedophile and abusing animals. I took the hint and packed up and left, even though I knew I’d be running back to the same financial hardships from before.
When I came back to New Hampshire half a year after I’d left, it felt like I’d missed some kind of drastic shift in the atmosphere. The queer cafe I used to work at was looking for new ownership after consistent protests from Proud Boys dressed in full Nazi garb. My trans friends who had thought about building lives here were now worried about their safety. Kelly Ayotte was elected in a state with a rampant opioid problem, homeless people sleeping on the steps of the State House, and a severe housing crisis, and thought that the best course of action was to first dismantle the rights of a minority group. Ironically, most trans New Hampshire residents I know weren’t born here, but moved here for what they thought was safety, much like myself (a North Carolina native). Trans people were just removed from discrimination protection here – not that it matters much when essentially that’s already happened nationwide. And, for whatever reason, the state has decided to wage war on a kid who just wants to play sports with her friends. A federal judge ruled that two parents “protecting children” by wearing pink bands labeled “XX” to high school girls’ soccer games with a transgender player could not continue harassing the trans player, who’s still a minor. Pam Bondi plans to change that and make picking on a literal child OK. The irony of Melania Trump’s failed “Be Best” anti-bullying campaign attempting to make a weak resurgence while her husband advocates for the destruction of anyone he disagrees with doesn’t bring me much joy; it’s more like a slap in the face after you’ve just gotten to your feet after losing a fight.
Trans people have been here, and will continue being here, even if the U.S. government plasters the “LGB” acronym on official websites, removes mentions of Marsha P. Johnson from Stonewall’s webpage, and fights tooth and nail to make our lives hell. So too will trans people in the U.K. who are undergoing their own onslaught right now from politicians of all kinds. Removing our right to go to the bathroom, making our prescriptions almost impossible to afford, and denying us housing and job opportunities will not kill us all off. Sure, a lot of us will suffer, and we will certainly continue losing trans individuals both to suicide and to hate crimes that rarely stay in the news for longer than a few days. But we cannot all be eradicated, and when the regime the U.S. is under eventually falls, we’ll still be standing.
Patrick Kuklinski is a longtime writer and transgender man living in New Hampshire with his found family and many pets. You can find him at @todaysbird on Tumblr.
We get letters. Here are some selected comments and emails mostly regarding this recent Hell World. The first one is a fucking doozy man.
My large employer encourages us to volunteer to help with lots of local causes. I don't care for my employer but I do commend their efforts on that front. Last week, employees were invited to take part in this event where we'd gather in a break room and write notes of encouragement and support to new mothers in drug recovery who – via a local organization – get to visit with their newborn children they've otherwise been separated from. I signed up immediately.
While I was trying my best to make each of the ten or so notes I wrote unique and heartfelt, I overheard one of my coworkers laugh and say to someone near her, "What do you even say in these notes? I'm terrible at this!" Another coworker told her "I'm just using ChatGPT, haha!" They both got a good laugh out of that and then let AI be their guide on how to convey empathy and support for women going through unimaginable obstacles.
They had an opportunity to show kindness and support to another human being who could certainly use it, couldn't figure out how to do it, looked it up, and giggled as they missed the entire point of the fucking activity. They still got credit for one hour of volunteer time and had their picture taken, so I guess they got what they came for, ultimately. What a fucking bummer.
I feel like this week (Jesus, it's not even Tuesday evening?) we've hit the, not a, but THE tipping point.
I don't see any way of stopping this train we're on. The options are 1) depending on geriatric politicians that have no desire to upset the gravy train or 2) the other one.
As for Option 1? LOL. The GOP loves the direction we're on and even if Trump doesn't wake up one morning, they are full steam ahead. As for the Dems? I'll defer to that evil fucking ghoul Deborah Lipstadt who unknowingly perfectly distilled far too many Dems "I don’t oppose many of the things that are being done. I just wish they would be done more deftly.”
And Option 2? Well it's not 1840 anymore, I don't think "the other one" is truly an option.
I hate it here.
Yeah the AI in schools thing... So at my current place I've really noticed a lot more students using AI for papers. I usually give them a few reminders along the lines of "you know you're going to leave here and at some point a boss will ask you to perform a task and you won't know how to because every opportunity you had you just did a quick AI version and your boss will eventually realize" but I don't love turning education into such a transactional relationship. I mean I don't blame the students for seeing it in transactional terms, and the "student as customer" model has been an issue in the UK since they introduced tuition fees back in the late 90s.
We get a lot of overseas students as well (who have been the target of visa legislation in recent years that bans them from bringing their families with them when they come to study because who needs a support network) and often these kids are holding down a couple of part time jobs, or even a full time job and a part time job, on top of their studies. I know it's quite some distance from ICE busting into my class to deport a kid, but we are "required" to report any overseas student who isn't attending to the Home Office.
I also caught the LibGen thing in the Atlantic the other day and sure enough it had stolen everything I ever published to train MetaAI. I think my commission on my three books is about 2%, and I earn nothing from any of the articles I wrote (though if you wanted to track them down and didn't have institutional access you'd probably have to pay a surprisingly large amount of money. Academic publishing is amazing, truly).
Anyway, I guess I needed to write to say this one resonated with me. I saw Ante Inferno last night, so if you need some black metal for your day, check them out - here's their bandcamp page.
It's been so long since I've read Revelations that I can't remember if anyone was begging for the end to happen before it did.
Even if the good loses, it's still good. Even if nobody remembers and it's all bad afterwards. Maybe it's better, because you were not giving in even when it would have saved yourself. That's what I'm telling myself these days. But maybe I just hate the idea of being saved because I'm not an evangelical.
These newsletters don't feel obsolete to me. At least I feel like I'm not alone in feeling horrified and sad and still not over the fact that people with the power to stop this just kept making it easy for it to happen.
I don’t consider myself a creative person. Which is kind of dumb, because I play drums and I love to dance. But I’m not A Creative like so many people I follow on Bluesky.
These days, though, I find myself compelled to respond to other people. Of course, I’m trying to avoid being a Reply Guy, but I also want to thank the people who write, who create. I see you and I see your work, and it brings me joy and humanity. Because even though your warnings about fascism were ignored, we’re still here. And I know you know this, but the fascists hate people who create.
So I take some baby steps back into writing, something I haven’t really done in years. Even if all I’m saying is thank you, thank you for writing. For fighting against AI and fascism and soullessness.
Love your stuff even though a part of me is sad that someone has to write it but I'm glad you do anyways. It sometimes feels like you're putting into words thoughts I can't quite come up with myself, so thanks for that. But also, this latest issue felt extra relatable because I recently fractured my elbow (while ice skating in my 40s, bad move) and I can't lift either. Lifting doesn't fix everything but man do I miss the exercise as a brief getaway from the chaos around us and also as one thing I feel like I have control over. Now my lifting routine and my country feel more out of my control than ever before.
I have felt so fucking LOST in all of this that no one else seems to be an angry animal ready to howl, spit, and scream at anyone who will listen. My state government is putting people in front of firing squads but somehow that is more humane than the alternative - or, even a fresher hell, innocents getting disappeared to an El Salvador torture chamber. Bread and circuses have become bills and streaming sites.
I am heartened by your words, as fuckin' always. I'll keep keeping on ONLY if you, and the readers and commenters, do too.
Ughhh fine. I will keep on. For now.
An update from Siri Dahl who we heard from in the last edition of Hell World:
How timely that this article I’m in was published right before my Instagram account was deleted for the 8th time for no reason!! PLEASE READ 👇🏼
— Siri Dahl ✨ (@siridahl.com) 2025-04-22T18:40:20.326Z
I saw this post from sixteen years ago on my Facebook and I do not miss that shit at all. Imagine having to ask some other asshole permission to write for them?
Thankfully not doing that ever again
— Luke O'Neil (@lukeoneil47.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T12:10:59.071Z
Here are some nice bagels I had the other day. Please enjoy looking at them.
Choose your fighter.
After I got these I went to the packy for smokes and a contractor with emergent cirrhosis was trying to fight the old guy on crutches behind the counter. They both kept yelling that the other one had anger management issues. And it was a gorgeous Marathon Monday in Massachusetts. Couldn't have been a more perfect day.