D. A. Denison

We are pleased to announce that management of @thebaffler.com voluntarily recognized our union on the very same day that we filed our petition! We look forward to working together on our first contract.

White Text on a red background reads: "Since its founding in 1988, The Baffler has articulated an unapologetically pro-worker and pro-union politics in the reportage and criticism it has published. In seeking to reflect those values throughout the organization, we are proud to announce that we have formed a union as part of the Workers United New York New Jersey Regional Joint Board."

We, the staff of @thebaffler.com, are proud to announce that we have formed a union with @workersunitednynj.bsky.social. Read more about why we have formed a union here:

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Unsolicited Advice for Surviving a Journalism Industry In Terminal Decline Past results are not a guarantee of future returns.

I highly recommend this good advice about The Writing Life from the estimable @jacobsilverman.com.
open.substack.com/pub/jacobsil...

A charming, if rather sad, story in @thebaffler.com by Dave Denison about the decline of bowling in America. The tale is familiar to those of us subjected to Robert Putnam, but here it's actually about bowling and the writing is filled with life.

thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...

You read it here first! (I think.)

"Who Lost Texas," The Baffler No. 75.
thebaffler.com/salvos/who-l...

Substack Did Not See That Coming Let’s set Substack’s “Nazi problem” aside for a moment. What if the bigger issue is being stranded on a collapsing platform... with a bunch of Nazis?...

AMC on how Substack is moving "closer and closer to the chaos chum bucket that newsletters were supposed to stand out from."
newsletter.anamariecox.com/archive/subs...

Changing Lanes | Dave Denison How long can bowling endure the vulture capitalists buying up alleys around the country?

“Do proprietors want to run a center for serious bowlers? Or do they want a recreation center with rock-climbing walls and minigolf, blacklight bowling, and ‘family fun’?” @daveadenison.bsky.social on the state of bowling for @thebaffler.com: thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...

Amazing read as usual, Commissioner, with shoutouts to the late venerable L&G, and our very own A.A.B.L.!

An inside report on "the most popular declining sport in America." @longreads.com #longreads
‪https://thebaffler.com/salvos/changing-lanes-denison

Emily Bice captures a lot about bowling's past—and present—in this excellent story from Defector.

I was very surprised to read in the Sunday NYT that Trump's White House flack now acknowledges that America is experiencing climate change.

no. 79—Player Haters “America first does not mean America alone,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on April 23, seeking to reassure the market three weeks after the president declared Liberation Day and tariffed the…

New Baffler mag is all about #sports and competition.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-79

Changing Lanes | Dave Denison How long can bowling endure the vulture capitalists buying up alleys around the country?

How bout a little #sports chat on here? Where are the BlueSky bowlers? #bowling #tenpins
thebaffler.com/salvos/chang...

Ronnie Dugger, 1930-2025 The Observer's crusading founding editor—a profilific author and agitator who helped animate the spirit of a true Texas liberalism—has died at 95.

Ronnie Dugger, founding editor and longtime publisher of the Texas Observer and for many years the crusading conscience of the progressive movement in Texas and beyond, died of complications of dementia at a hospice center in Austin on May 27. He was 95.

We have thousands of pastors, rabbis, priests, and psychotherapists in this country and not a single one can have a conversation with Stephen Miller to ask him to reflect about the enjoyment he gets from the sadistic treatment of other human beings?

What if you eat too many Big Macs?

Dow Jones index falls to 37,666. Wall Street's opposition to Trump tariffs reveal the mark of the beast.

Boston Globe reports on persistent internet research that unearths a famous ad from the 1990s.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/03/b...

In Praise of Vermont Blessed are the cheesemakers

On bowling alone, dining alone, and "social capital" in a place like Vermont. open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...

This polling average has been more friendly to Trump than 538 was, but still: the lines have crossed.

10 years ago today I went out for a night of League Bowling and everything fell into place. Flukes happen!

“He is a remorselessly political creature, devoid of principle, who, more than any figure in modern political history has damaged the fabric of American democracy,” Cohen wrote. “That will be his epitaph.”

These two lines are going to intersect soon, probably in March. (From 538 polling average.)

The Money Printers | Dave Denison Ordinary Americans live in a world of limits. They assume the government will eventually have to balance its budget just like they do.

I somehow missed this incredible piece by @daveadenison.bsky.social when it came out in 2020. thebaffler.com/salvos/the-m...

Could never have made sense of this stuff without the excellent book 'The Deficit Myth' by @stephaniekelton.bsky.social

Where I'm Calling From A place of bafflement, anger, hope

"I don’t know about you, but I burn with a white-hot fury when I see the insolent pasty face of Elon M**k in the newspaper."
open.substack.com/pub/davedeni...

I didn't darken halls of academia after getting undergrad degree in US history and lit (w truly eminent mentors, from Bailyn to Kevin Starr to the very young Doris Kearns), and then grad degree in econ. But even I could tell that C Yarvin is 100% making it up. Apparently tech bros did not. (Or NYT?)

Former VP Mike Pence attended the inauguration but didn't merit mention in the opening of T.'s address. Seems like a snub.

decent chance that the only living presidents four years from now will be Obama and Vance

The failure of McConnell and 42 other Senators to vote for impeachment allowed Trump to run again—and to "flip the script" so that Jan. 6 became a proud moment for MAGA world.