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@pdr314.bsky.social

59 Followers  |  16 Following  |  77 Posts  |  Joined: 15.11.2024  |  1.6982

Latest posts by pdr314.bsky.social on Bluesky


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How Many Donald Trumps Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb? Fear demands attention. It always has. Some express it in tears, some in anger, some in power. But laughter is the one response fear cannot survive, because it refuses to grant fear authority over the moment

How Many Donald Trumps Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

Fear demands attention. It always has. Some express it in tears, some in anger, some in power. But laughter is the one response fear cannot survive, because it refuses to grant fear authority over the moment

22.02.2026 13:36 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
How Many Donald Trump’s Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb? A routine medical visit becomes a reflection on public life: fear, noise, and why humor may be the only response that refuses to play the same game as power.

How Many Donald Trump’s Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

A routine medical visit becomes a reflection on public life: fear, noise, and why humor may be the only response that refuses to play the same game as power.

21.02.2026 23:35 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
The Pomeranian Presidency. Just before falling asleep on Tuesday night, my phone — resting peacefully on my night table — chirped. Then chirped again. Then again. I have a rule about checking my phone before bed. The phone at that hour is a portal to doom-scrolling and existential questions like: Who in God’s name can still support Donald Trump and call himself a patriot?

A satirical essay comparing modern American politics to a barking Pomeranian — noise, panic, and power in an age of permanent outrage.

15.02.2026 14:02 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Not A Mistake: Donald Trump and the Politics of “Not a Mistake” It is not a mistake… When federal prosecutors in Minneapolis sought a warrant to collect evidence from Renee Goods’ vehicle after the shooting, they were told to stand down. They were told by senior officials in the White House, including Kash Patel, that they were concerned the evidence uncovered would completely contradict Agent Orange’s claim that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the CE officer.”

Not A Mistake: Donald Trump and the Politics of “Not a Mistake”

It is not a mistake… When federal prosecutors in Minneapolis sought a warrant to collect evidence from Renee Goods’ vehicle after the shooting, they were told to stand down. They were told by senior officials in the White House,…

08.02.2026 15:12 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The Discombobulator in Chief The man currently residing in the White House announced this week that the U.S.

open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

02.02.2026 21:35 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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The Discombobulator in Chief The man currently residing in the White House announced this week that the U.S.

open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

01.02.2026 13:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
The Discombobulator in Chief The man currently residing in the White House announced this week that the U.S. used a secret weapon when we attacked Venezuela. He called it the “discombulator.” He said he wasn’t allowed to talk about it — which meant, of course, that he immediately kept talking about it. (Remember, this is a guy who liked storing top-secret documents in public restrooms.)

Donald Trump isn’t discombobulated.
He’s the discombobulator.

01.02.2026 10:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
No, ICE Please. A Proposal for Beverage-Based Resistance “No ICE please!” There’s a moment that happens dozens of times a day across America.A barista asks, “Would you like that iced?”A server says, “Ice with your water?” It’s such an ordinary exchange that it barely registers. Pure autopilot. But what if this tiny interaction could double as political expression? What if the simple act of ordering a drink could quietly signal resistance to Trump’s version of law enforcement cosplay?

Resistance doesn’t always look like marches and megaphones. Sometimes it looks like a dad joke with a political edge. Sometimes it’s just refusing to let the most important issues of our time disappear into the background noise of everyday life.

29.01.2026 16:10 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Minnesota Nice Paul, it’s called “Minnesota Nice.” A long time ago — when Donald Trump was still on his first wife and had only three bankruptcies under his belt — my best friend moved to Wayzata, Minnesota. At the time, he was on the fast track at one of the largest insurance brokers in the world, and with my New Yorker’s view of life, I couldn’t fathom why they’d send him somewhere that regularly posted the coldest temperatures in the nation.

The next few years, let alone the next couple of months, are going to be tough. We need to stand tall and be Minnesota nice.

28.01.2026 16:51 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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WAFFLES! WAFFLES!

open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

24.01.2026 23:28 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
WAFFLES! WAFFLES! That’s the proclamation I make to my wife, sister, and friends when the fluffy white stuff is falling from the sky. This isn’t due to a brain injury or a neurodiverse condition. I know it’s snowing. I could easily say “snow.” But I don’t, because those who know me understand that long ago, in some breakfast corner of my deep, dark past, I decided I like waffles far too much.

The unspoken truth about eating waffles on snowy days is that they give me joy on a day when it would be easy to surrender to confinement, cold feet, and fogged glasses. And as delicious as my waffles were on Monday—and will be tomorrow—Mark Carney’s speech at Davos was an emotional waffle I needed

24.01.2026 15:56 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
“That’s Fine, Dude. I’m Not Mad at You.” How this government responded to kindness with bullets — and what that says about us “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Those were the last words Renee Nicole Good ever spoke. They were not uttered in anger. They were not provocative. They were said with warmth, understanding, and a smile — a tacit acknowledgment that the ICE officer in front of her was doing what his superiors had asked of him.

Like it or not, this is our government doing this. We are responsible for the actions of Trump, Vance, and Noem. We must call out their lies, their misdirection, and their hypocrisies — and we must hold them accountable.

10.01.2026 15:01 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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28.12.2025 01:10 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Among The Euroweenies (Revisited) Long ago, in a galaxy remarkably similar to the one we live in now, I read an article in Rolling Stone magazine titled “Among the Euroweenies” by P.J. O’Rourke. It was a hilarious takedown of everything in Europe that Americans find just a little strange. The gem I remember most from that story was his observation that European phones (we had landlines then, even though we didn’t call them that—we just called them phones) sounded like dogs farting.

In other words, we are so in love with our own shit that we can’t accept the fact that someone else might have put more brain sweat into something than we did.

27.12.2025 09:21 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
The Season of Memories: A Century of Remembrance Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope your holiday has been filled with the joy of the season. As a Jewish family, we always celebrated Christmas. According to family lore, this tradition began with my mother’s parents. Her father was a physician, and somewhere along the way they decided to host a Christmas party for his patients and their friends. The idea, I’m told, was to lift the burden of hosting from their Christian friends and to create a place for anyone who might feel alone at that time of year.

If Christmas is about anything, it’s this: remembering where we come from, honoring who shaped us, and finding moments—however fleeting—when the past and present sit together in peace.

25.12.2025 14:27 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
This Has Been A Tough Week This has been a tough week. I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve lived through most of it too. But let’s recap, just to be sure we’re all singing from the same Union Prayer Book. It began with the shootings at Brown University. Two students were killed and nine injured—on the thirteenth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. Whether that timing was coincidence or intent, we will never know.

Rob Reiner helped shape our zeitgeist. Stand by Me captured the magic of summer and the bonds of childhood friendship. The Princess Bride was about the fairy tales our parents and grandparents told us so we could fall asleep feeling safe. When Harry Met Sally made us believe in the power of love.

20.12.2025 06:01 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
A Tale of Two Nephews A Tale of Two Nephews I have two nephews. They are much alike. Both stand over six feet tall—handsome by any measure—with light complexions, rosy cheeks, dimples as deep as divots, and unruly mops of blond hair. They are athletic: one a former rower and lifelong gym rat, the other a onetime baseball player and current Peloton warrior. Both are intelligent, blessed with prodigious memories, and keenly aware that being smart is not an end in itself.

I have two nephews.
They are much alike. Both stand over six feet tall—handsome by any measure—with light complexions, rosy cheeks, dimples as deep as divots, and unruly mops of blond hair. They are athletic: one a former rower and lifelong gym rat, the other a onetime baseball player and current Pe

14.12.2025 13:28 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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A Tale of Two Nephews Both of my nephews have wonderful intentions. Both want a better world than the one they inherited. They’re just approaching it from wildly different starting points. That may be the hallmark of our t...

open.substack.com/pub/pdrothko...

13.12.2025 20:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Eighty-Six Years Ago, My Father Found Home Today marks the eighty-sixth anniversary of my father’s arrival in the United States. In our family we treated the date like a small holiday. Maybe it didn’t have the sparkle of Hanukkah, Christmas, or the cluster of December birthdays in our house, but it carried its own quiet reverence. It was a day to pause, acknowledge what this country gave to my father, and—importantly for a family with a serious sweet tooth—to eat cake.

The country that welcomed my father no longer exists in the same form. The freedoms he defended in World War II are strained by a government increasingly flirtatious with authoritarianism, Christian Nationalism, and policies that entrench privilege rather than expand opportunity.

07.12.2025 12:53 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Thanksgiving Is the American Holiday—Because It Celebrates Immigrants My father’s favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. When I was a kid, I assumed this was because the food was excellent and my father enjoyed eating more than anyone I knew. He truly savored savoring. But that wasn’t why he held such a deep affection for the holiday. He believed Thanksgiving was the ultimate American holiday. While celebrations of gratitude exist in almost every culture, our Thanksgiving—with its customs and traditions—was uniquely American.

Thanksgiving—at least its origin story—is a story of immigrants giving thanks for the generosity of their new country. It is also a story honoring the grace of the native people who helped them succeed.

27.11.2025 01:31 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
The Old Grey Lady I went looking for the Old Grey Lady the other day. For as long as I can remember, she has been a part of my life—educating and informing me in a way few others ever did. She was known for being responsible about what she said and how she said it. Her mission was simple: “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” You could rely on her for in-depth reporting about the world around you.

If your opening argument in a conversation about feminism is a blatantly sexist premise then maybe you have started your journey on the wrong path. (Sort of like the people who want to visit Australia but end up in Austria. There is literally a desk for them at Vienna’s airport.)

23.11.2025 13:46 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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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
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09.11.2025 13:08 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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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
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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

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