's Avatar

@pdr314.bsky.social

58 Followers  |  15 Following  |  56 Posts  |  Joined: 15.11.2024  |  1.8367

Latest posts by pdr314.bsky.social on Bluesky

Preview
Trump: Dementia, Felon, or Huckster? Introducing what may soon be the most popular game in America: Trump: Dementia, Felon, or Huckster.  While listening to the latest dispatch from Trumpverse, players pick which part of the President’s ...

Trump: Dementia, Felon, or Huckster?
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

16.11.2025 19:42 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Trump: Dementia, Felon, or Huckster? The Sanity-Saving Game for Dozy Don’s Daily Circus I used to be a news junkie. It was a habit I inherited straight from my parents. My father would practically read the ink off the New York Times every morning—not every article, maybe, but every section. It was how he warmed up for the day and ensured he knew more than most people in the room. He liked that.

Introducing what may soon be the most popular game in America: Trump: Dementia, Felon, or Huckster.
While listening to the latest dispatch from Trumpverse, players pick which part of the President’s psyche seems to be driving the story:

16.11.2025 13:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Untitled

Untitled

09.11.2025 13:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
We Have Forgotten He never wanted another living soul to endure the hell he and his family faced that night. I publish his story each year to honor his memory and his wish that we never forget.But we have failed him — ...

We Have Forgotten
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

09.11.2025 12:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
We Have Forgotten: A Minor Memorandum on the 87th Anniversary of Kristallnacht. For the better part of the last twenty years, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, I have published my father’s “A Minor Memorandum to My Children on the Fiftieth Anniversary of Kristallnacht: November 9 and 10, 1938.” He wrote it for his children so that we would never forget the horror of that night — and the genocide that followed. His hope was simple: we remember what happens when a society loses its humanity.

We are no longer on the road to fascism. Our country is in the hands of fascists. Denying that fact — or sugarcoating it in any way — is worse than forgetting. It is malignant neglect of our duty as human beings who swore we would remember.

09.11.2025 11:12 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Heritage, Fuentes, and the Cost of Looking Away There’s a moment in every democracy when the fringe stops being the fringe. It’s not when an extremist gains followers online, or when their rhetoric briefly trends on social media. It happens when institutions that once stood as gatekeepers begin to open the door. That’s why the growing embrace of Nick Fuentes by groups like the Heritage Foundation isn’t just a warning light—it’s a klaxon.

There’s a moment in every democracy when the fringe stops being the fringe. It’s not when an extremist gains followers online, or when their rhetoric briefly trends on social media. It happens when institutions that once stood as gatekeepers begin to open the door. That’s why the growing embrace of

08.11.2025 14:07 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Walking Rosie I love walking my dog, Rosie. The first walk usually happens around 8:30 in the morning. By then, I’ve already braved the long commute from my bedroom to the kitchen for coffee—my daily fuel—so I can put in a few hours of work before the day’s demands drag me down any number of unexpected rabbit holes. Our morning walks give me a chance to clear my head and prepare for whatever the day has in store.

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made

02.11.2025 12:43 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
My Ted Talk Teddy Roosevelt was everything this guy isn’t. He reportedly read one to three books a day, while the current occupant hasn’t read one since *Dick and Jane.* TR authored 38 books and published over 15...

My Ted Talk
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

25.10.2025 19:26 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Teddy and Me I like walking in Washington, D.C. Not the modern kind of walking, where people are glued to their phones, but the old-fashioned, head-on-a-swivel kind. D.C. is full of history, and if you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss something important — something you’ll probably regret later. I was standing on Pennsylvania Avenue near 16th Street NW, just outside the White House, when I saw a crowd pressed against the iron fence that keeps the uninvited from dropping in on the President.

Teddy Roosevelt was everything this guy isn’t. He reportedly read one to three books a day, while the current occupant hasn’t read one since *Dick and Jane.* TR authored 38 books and published over 150 articles. The current occupant can barely string together a coherent sentence. Roosevelt earned th

25.10.2025 15:06 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
No Kings HR The waiting room outside HR only has two people in it. Sitting opposite each other both are busily avoiding making eye contact with each other by paying far more attention to their cell phones than was required. The one of the Bespeckled with round tortoise shell frames and off the rack suit white shirt and rep tie the one he had the look and the insincere smile of a moderately successful real estate agent who had not sold a house in a while.

As a leader you have an obligation to stamp out hate speech, wherever it comes from, not excuse it. By saying boys will be boys you are giving permission to anyone who wants to engage in antisemitic, racist and sexist language. What makes it worse is that these “young Republicans” are not so young.

19.10.2025 17:14 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Reunionglow Normally when I write this blog, I let emotion drive the words. I write about what I feel—my anger, frustration, or joy—at what’s happening in the world around me. Without getting too bookish or nerdy, it’s my own soliloquy from Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

It’s a cliché to say that high school is a transformative—and often traumatic—time. We’re larvae just trying to survive long enough to build the chrysalis that will protect us while we transform into whatever final form awaits. My high school years were no different.

12.10.2025 14:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
I Was Just Rolling Over in Bed I was just rolling over in bed for the first time when my phone rang. I despise when my phone rings early in the morning. Not only does it rob me of that first cup of coffee and those few peaceful moments when the world still seems at ease with itself, but at that hour it’s almost always bad news. You know that saying, “Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.” Its corollary should be, “There’s no such thing as a positive phone call before 7 a.m.”

“Clearly he’s off his meds,” I said. “He was crazy before, but now he’s got a full-scale diorama on his dining table. Things are about to go from weird to ugly.

04.10.2025 15:29 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Untitled I Have a Very Kind and Loving and Much Younger Sister A couple of days ago, I arrived at my much much younger sister’s home unannounced and uninvited. I do this from time to time—especially if, as in this case, I haven’t seen her in over a month. And, lest you think me rude, I came bearing gifts: a box of Brazilian chocolates with little pieces of banana embedded inside (they keep your mouth happy for hours afterward), and a box of Reese’s-flavored Oreos.

It was horrifying—he couldn’t even pronounce the drug properly. The studies he cited were about correlation, not causation. By that logic, you could say pickles cause autism.

27.09.2025 15:33 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Flight 1801 We had made it!  By “made it,” I mean we were finally sitting in our seats on American Airlines Flight 1801 from Miami to Newark, NJ. Not the easiest task these days. First, we had to endure the eight-hour, fifty-five-minute flight from Rio to Miami in economy, in front of a very talkative Brazilian family who violated the unwritten “whisper only” rule on overnight flights.

Somewhere over Delaware, I realized I was returning to a country I no longer recognized—a place where you can say anything you want as long as it aligns with MAGA principles. A country where you’re welcome only if you’re white and Christian. A place where empathy—dismissed by Kirk as a “made-up New

20.09.2025 14:16 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
Doomscrolling I doomscroll.  There, I admitted it. And honestly, it feels good to get it off my chest. I’m not proud of it—I know it rots my brain faster than RFK Jr.’s brain worm. It keeps me from doing things that are actually productive, like reading a book or even enjoying a quiet moment of reflection. But when my brain is too fried to string two thoughts together, and my energy has dipped to drooling levels, doomscrolling requires the fewest neurons and only exercises one muscle: my index finger. 

And since this is now a confessional, I’ll admit one of my favorite things to doomscroll: MAGA Karens and Kens losing their minds over things most people with a shred of civility would simply let it roll off their backs like morals at a Jeffrey Epstein party. 

13.09.2025 14:17 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Sept. 11 plus 24 That morning, twenty-four years ago, began like so many others for me. I rose early, completed my morning ablutions, walked the dog, and was in a cab heading to my office at The Sporting News before 7 a.m. You could not help but notice it was an extraordinarily beautiful day. The heat and humidity of summer had given way to clear blue skies and crisp, fall-like weather.

If that day taught us anything, it is this: we do not get to choose the moments that define us, but we do get to choose how we show up for each other. Honor the dead by choosing well.

10.09.2025 21:24 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
Uncle Trump Every family has one.

Uncle Trump, by @PiCollective1
substack.com/@paulrothkop...

06.09.2025 15:52 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Uncle Trump Every family has one. That uncle, aunt, cousin, or distant relation who shows up at family gatherings and immediately creates a scene by expressing an opinion that alienates almost everyone else. You know the type. The person who walks into the kitchen and, if they see a male relative cooking, asks to see his estrogen patch. Or who insists the moon landing was faked, the earth is flat, cranberry sauce is a government tracking device, and pumpkin spice lattes are a communist conspiracy designed to decimate American agriculture.

“Don’t you think getting advice from Kennedy is a bad idea? "Wouldn’t it be better to listen to someone who actually went to medical school or is at least a trained scientist?”

06.09.2025 15:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Dear Mom One of the most amazing discoveries while packing up our mother’s home was a stash of letters I had sent her from Camp Skoglund when I was ten. My favorite find was a letter I wrote on the one day I didn’t receive one from her. In it, I accused her of breaking her promise to write me every day. Reading it now laid me out.

Brazilians love the United States. They love us gringos. They want to be friends and they want to be friendly. But if we refuse to treat them with respect, they will be sad—then they’ll move on and find others who will.

30.08.2025 13:12 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
The Starbucks Revolution PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION The Starbucks Revolution: Coffee Cargo Dumped in Santos Harbor in Protest of Global Tariffs and Corporate Overreach SANTOS, BRAZIL – – In a stunt equal parts historic homage and caffeinated mischief, a group of Brazilian citizens staged what they are calling the “Starbucks Revolution” by sneaking onto a cargo vessel docked in Santos harbor late last night.

“This is our Boston moment—only stronger, hotter, and with better crema,” said one masked participant, his face partially obscured by feathers and faded carnival paint. “If the American patriots could stand up to King George over tea, Brazilians can certainly stand up to exploitative coffee tariffs

24.08.2025 13:02 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies: Exciting New Ways to Enjoy Everyone's Favorite Dessert Exciting New Ways to Enjoy Everyone's Favorite Dessert

Exactly one month until my book is published! Although you could be first on your block and preorder The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies today. ❤️🍪❤️ bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

17.08.2025 02:54 — 👍 12    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
There is Something to Be Said for Hanging Out on a Sunny Summer Friday Morning In Montclair with Your Sister There is something to be said for spending a sunny summer Friday morning in Montclair with your sister.

There is Something to Be Said for Hanging Out on a Sunny Summer Friday Morning In Montclair with Your Sister
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

17.08.2025 11:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
There is Something to Be Said for Hanging Out on a Sunny Summer Friday Morning In Montclair with Your Sister There is something to be said for spending a sunny summer Friday morning in Montclair with your sister. First, per a long-standing and ironclad agreement with said sister, I must note that she is much, much younger than me. Exactly ten years, eleven days, and four hours younger, to be precise. Hardly worth mentioning—except she insists I do. And, yes, it means we’re from different planets, otherwise known as generations.

There is Something to Be Said for Hanging Out on a Sunny Summer Friday Morning In Montclair with Your Sister

There is something to be said for spending a sunny summer Friday morning in Montclair with your sister. First, per a long-standing and ironclad agreement with said sister, I must note that…

16.08.2025 14:20 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Civility Is Often Overrated It is 3:14 in the morning. I know this because I just broke one of my cardinal rules for getting a good night’s sleep and looked at my phone. My excuse is that I haven’t been able to fall back asleep for a while, and I needed to know just how long. Which, of course, was probably a mistake in and of itself. 

He laughs. “Civility is often overrated.” 
Seeing I’m unsatisfied, he adds, “The country will either course-correct or not. People will either see why what they’re doing is wrong or they won’t. You can do your best to convince them, but they need to get there on their own.” 

09.08.2025 14:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
Oh, That Don I should’ve known from how my day started that it was going to be one of those “grit your teeth, keep your head down, and hope you survive without going postal” kind of days.

Oh, That Don
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

02.08.2025 20:22 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Oh That Don! Excerpt from the Diary of an NIH Staff MemberSeptember 26, 2025 I should’ve known from how my day started that it was going to be one of those “grit your teeth, keep your head down, and hope you survive without going postal” kind of days. As usual, I began with a stop at Starbucks in our building for a Venti coffee of the day and a large orange juice.

I should’ve known from how my day started that it was going to be one of those “grit your teeth, keep your head down, and hope you survive without going postal” kind of days.

02.08.2025 18:17 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
“There but for the grace of God go I.” Imagine, if you will, that the citizens of the United States suffer a collective psychosis and manage to elect as President a well-known con man and real estate developer from New York City. I know that’s hard to imagine—but work with me. Anyway, one afternoon he’s flying over New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty—because Stephen Miller thought it would make a great photo op—when inspiration strikes.

Trump the Republican Party, and the MAGA base have turned off the lamp by the golden door. They’ve said, in no uncertain terms: “Fuck the poor. To hell with the mentally ill. We celebrate the wealth and their golden jets.”

26.07.2025 15:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Did You Watch The ESPY’s Did you watch the ESPYs the other night? What I love about the ESPYs—and sports in general—is that they allow you to throw your passion behind something that, in the grand scheme of things, matters very little. I mean, it matters to you. Your team is your team. Those fleeting minutes of joy or despair we feel when our team either captures our heart all over again or breaks it in a way that leaves permanent scarring on your psyche (F*** you, Keith Smart).

Your team is your team. Those fleeting minutes of joy or despair we feel when our team either captures our heart all over again or breaks it in a way that leaves permanent scarring on your psyche (F*** you, Keith Smart).

19.07.2025 13:54 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
Fireworks, Flags, and Forgetting the Point "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations... evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government...”

Fireworks, Flags, and Forgetting the Point, by @PiCollective1
substack.com/@paulrothkop...

04.07.2025 10:47 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
The Pizza vs Rio Conundrum The bottom line: I still love my country. I just don’t like what it’s becoming. I’ll keep calling it out when we lose our way, but I have limits. If we can’t find our moral compass again soon, I may c...

The Pizza vs Rio Conundrum
open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

15.06.2025 23:39 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

@pdr314 is following 15 prominent accounts