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Clay Risen

@risenc.bsky.social

Reporter, The New York Times; author of “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America”

2,184 Followers  |  408 Following  |  463 Posts  |  Joined: 21.11.2024  |  2.2399

Latest posts by risenc.bsky.social on Bluesky

A line from Kant that’s been ricocheting around my head a lot for the past year: “Whoever wills the end wills also the necessary means.” We’re going to get a lot of doe-eyed protestations from folks who “just wanted immigration laws enforced” & couldn’t be bothered to contempate what that entailed.

10.02.2026 19:52 — 👍 103    🔁 26    💬 4    📌 2

a presença de intelectuais (inclusive de esquerda) e gestores de universidades nos arquivos simplesmente não me surpreende

10.02.2026 19:36 — 👍 14    🔁 3    💬 3    📌 0

This is the first time someone I genuinely admire and have a lot of respect for has been revealed to have associated with Epstein. I have to say: it doesn’t feel great!

10.02.2026 16:55 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0
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Everybody knows that Pupper just won Downhill Gold

10.02.2026 13:27 — 👍 3456    🔁 1046    💬 75    📌 260
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a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a group of flags ALT: a man in a suit and tie is dancing in front of a group of flags

A lot of people made fun of Bush dancing with the West African Dance Company—and sure, it's funny—but this was good.

Middle aged white guy unfamiliar with something culturally nonwhite recognizes it's a happy, fun celebration, and welcomes it, participating though awkward.

That was much better.

10.02.2026 16:18 — 👍 2353    🔁 208    💬 72    📌 29
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Review: Alexandra Lange on Danish Modern "Danish Modern" first drew attention in 1949 with a pair of chairs, but by the time American manufacturers got done with it, you could buy a recliner, a stereo, a television, in a style that had with ...

And some more here! books.substack.com/p/review-ale...

10.02.2026 16:23 — 👍 1    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

I saw. Though it raises additional questions. Does Bard not vet its donors, even a little? It’s not like Epstein’s conviction was a secret.

10.02.2026 15:14 — 👍 5    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Please keep me posted

10.02.2026 05:07 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

The same way they all do. Easily and without consequences

10.02.2026 03:57 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

“In several emails to Mr. Epstein, Dr. Botstein mentioned or quoted Vladimir Nabokov, the novelist….Mr. Nabokov wrote “Lolita,” a 1955 novel about an intellectual who becomes sexually obsessed with a 12-year-old. Mr. Epstein kept a first edition of the novel in his Manhattan townhouse.”

10.02.2026 03:48 — 👍 102    🔁 37    💬 4    📌 1

In the interest of full disclosure my daughter goes to a Bard HS and I am so fucking pissed off right now.

10.02.2026 03:50 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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New Email Shows Bard’s President Thanked Epstein for Caribbean Trip

Botstein invited a known pedophile to a high school he oversaw. How can he possibly survive this?

10.02.2026 03:45 — 👍 143    🔁 37    💬 13    📌 15
Lincoln's Eulogy on Henry Clay

“Mr. Clay…loved his country partly because it was his own, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with zeal for its advancement, prosperity and glory, because he saw in such the advancement…of human liberty, human right and human nature.”
www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/spee...

10.02.2026 00:17 — 👍 150    🔁 29    💬 3    📌 2

Jack Daniel’s is owned by Brown-Forman but it’s the Johnnie Walker of the US whiskey market. George Dickel in turn is owned by Diageo (owner of JW), but it’s unquestionably the Old Forester of US whiskeys. That I should shut up now should be plainly obvious to all

10.02.2026 00:42 — 👍 27    🔁 2    💬 2    📌 0

Did you know that the legendary historian Samuel Eliot Morrison received a commission from FDR to join the WWII Navy & write its history from the inside, & that he narrowly escaped a kamikaze pilot among other episodes? That & more in today’s Valentine’s blog post! @hcrichardson.bsky.social 🗃️

09.02.2026 23:22 — 👍 121    🔁 32    💬 6    📌 0

today's incredible piece of lore is that apparently Jon Hamm is a Bad Bunny superfan and has acquired the nickname Juan Jamón

09.02.2026 16:47 — 👍 989    🔁 114    💬 7    📌 8

If they can do this to find a dog, they can do this to find anyone. That’s terrifying.

09.02.2026 15:47 — 👍 1930    🔁 460    💬 72    📌 23
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"Fear and Fury" author Heather Ann Thompson on how the demonization of four young Black men who were shot by NYC "subway vigilante" Bernie Goetz in 1984 marked a national rebirth of white rage that continues today

09.02.2026 16:00 — 👍 642    🔁 103    💬 13    📌 2

So uh Ring just up and said they've got a huge centralized private surveillance network they can leverage all at once huh

09.02.2026 02:09 — 👍 7141    🔁 1635    💬 189    📌 235

Red China? Johnnie Ray?

08.02.2026 22:36 — 👍 8    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Whew, this new ending to the updated story

08.02.2026 02:51 — 👍 1227    🔁 235    💬 12    📌 13

Nothing was more Washington Post than Marty Weil starting his night shift by walking around the newsroom saying hello to every single person at their desks

05.02.2026 18:42 — 👍 34    🔁 8    💬 3    📌 1
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After non-endorsement, 250,000 subscribers cancel The Washington Post Post staffers press for answers on loss of readers and trust after owner Jeff Bezos explained why the paper would no longer endorse presidential candidates.

It just guts me that the Washington Post lost a *quarter of a million* subscribers because of Bezos's sucking up to Trump, and his reaction is, "Obviously the Post should stop covering books and international affairs."
www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/...

08.02.2026 00:34 — 👍 91    🔁 22    💬 1    📌 1
Warren Zevon “Join Me in L.A.” Live at the Capitol Theatre on 10/1/1982
YouTube video by WarrenZevonArchive Warren Zevon “Join Me in L.A.” Live at the Capitol Theatre on 10/1/1982

answering the call www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqco...

07.02.2026 18:40 — 👍 18    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots

Federal vaccine advisers are setting their sights on the next targets: the mRNA Covid shots, and vaccines offered to pregnant women. One panelist, Robert Malone, says he is “trying to force FDA to come clean” on data showing harms of COVID shots
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/h...

06.02.2026 15:14 — 👍 137    🔁 60    💬 16    📌 22
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'Immutable' follows a group of young student debaters The documentary 'Immutable' follows a group of students from the Washington Urban Debate League. Norm Ornstein, founder of the Matthew Harris Ornstein Summer Debate Institute, joins Morning Joe to dis...

A wonderful segment. The Matthew Harris Ornstein Summer Debate Institute and the documentary 'Immutable' are such beautiful and inspirational tributes to your son. May his memory be an eternal blessing.❤️‍🩹🙏🕊
www.ms.now/morning-joe/...

07.02.2026 03:29 — 👍 14    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 1
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Historian here President Abraham Lincoln opposed the Mexican War as a land grab for slavery when he was a first term Congressman from Illinois.

05.02.2026 15:59 — 👍 1697    🔁 357    💬 30    📌 27

While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.

I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.

05.02.2026 17:38 — 👍 9571    🔁 3245    💬 203    📌 229

attn gender studies grad students

05.02.2026 16:48 — 👍 166    🔁 35    💬 2    📌 0

"In his final drive for power Hitler had considerable financial backing from a fairly large chunk of the German business world...What good [that] eventually did these politically childish men of the business world will be seen later in this narrative."

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 242

05.02.2026 03:34 — 👍 164    🔁 64    💬 5    📌 2

@risenc is following 20 prominent accounts