Charles Bethea

The I.R.S.’s Money Pit A mysterious hole on the sidewalk outside the agency’s headquarters hasn’t been filled for years. One lawsuit is seeking seven million dollars in damages.

Went to D.C. and stood beside a hole: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Big Breakup The congresswoman split with the President over the Epstein files, then she quit. Where will she go from here?

“I don’t care what occupation you have in life,” Kevin McCarthy tells @charlesbethea.bsky.social. “When people know you by a three-letter acronym, you’ve really built a following.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Big Breakup The congresswoman split with the President over the Epstein files, then she quit. Where will she go from here?

Why did Marjorie Taylor Greene split with Donald Trump? She may have belatedly educated herself, a longtime Georgia G.O.P. operative suggested: “My theory is she’s not actually a dumbass anymore.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Fresh Air for Jan. 6, 2026: Marjorie Taylor Greene's political transformation Hear the Fresh Air program for Jan 06, 2026

Went on "Fresh Air" this week to talk about the MTG era: www.npr.org/programs/fre...

👏 👏

How One J6er Has Been Emboldened by His Pardon Some insurrectionists have re-offended. Others have run for office. Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr., is campaigning to get reparations—from “the deep state” and his parents.

Some January 6th insurrectionists have re-offended. Others have run for office. Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr., is campaigning to get reparations—from “the deep state” and his parents.

What It’s Like to Get Really, Really High Climbers are often chasing a rush. Was I cheating by using some help to get there?

When Charles Bethea climbed the world’s tallest volcano with the help of an altitude-sickness pill, he wondered: Had he denied himself some deeper experience or insight?

Inside the Chaos at the C.D.C. A former senior official and two current employees describe the turmoil at the agency under R.F.K., Jr.,’s stewardship.

A former senior official and two current staff members describe the turmoil at the C.D.C. under R.F.K., Jr.,’s stewardship. “Everyone has a limit,” the employees said, “and there are many of us being pushed to the brink.”

The DOGEfather Part II Joe Gebbia, a RISD grad and an Airbnb billionaire, may soon lead the federal cost-cutting effort known as DOGE. Could there be clues to his methods in his art-school days?

this... absolutely this...
@charlesbethea.bsky.social
#RSDI #Balls #TheBallsInitiative #DogeII
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The saddest shortest short story ever written--

For Sale: Used Tesla, Never Driven

Defending Medicaid Cuts, Ernst Tells Iowans, ‘We All Are Going to Die’

reassuring
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...

Kenny Smith Isn’t Going Fishing Yet The co-host of “Inside the NBA” discusses the show’s move to ESPN, the antics of his co-star Charles Barkley, and their role in popularizing meme culture.

National treasure.

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Kenny Smith Isn’t Going Fishing Yet The co-host of “Inside the NBA” discusses the show’s move to ESPN, the antics of his co-star Charles Barkley, and their role in popularizing meme culture.

I had a long talk recently with Kenny Smith: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Kenny Smith Isn’t Going Fishing Yet The co-host of “Inside the NBA” discusses the show’s move to ESPN, the antics of his co-star Charles Barkley, and their role in popularizing meme culture.

I had a long talk recently with Kenny Smith: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

At @thirdactorg.bsky.social some of us are old enough to remember when Richard Nixon almost lost his job as veep for a $16,000 slush fund and the gift of a cocker spaniel puppy. I guess with inflation we’ve gotten to a $400 million plane…

Brian Steel is expected to cross-examine Casandra Ventura, the main accuser in the Sean Combs sex-trafficking and racketeering case. (Follow @meghanncuniff.bsky.social's excellent coverage of the trial.)

My profile of Steel: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

How an Election Denier Became the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach was a state senator in Georgia who got involved in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. Now his name will be on our money.

Beach told me that his first task, as head of the U.S. Treasury, is to "go to Fort Knox and see if the gold is there" www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

How an Election Denier Became the U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach was a state senator in Georgia who got involved in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. Now his name will be on our money.

Incoming head of the U.S. Treasury doesn't know where January 6 medals went. That and more on Brandon Beach in today's @newyorker.com lede story: www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

This is Young Thug's dog, Schneebly, a french bulldog-poodle mix. I met Schneebly -- a good boy -- in March when I spoke to YT in Miami for my profile of Brian Steel, his lawyer, in this wk's @newyorker.com www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Today’s edition of Why Haven’t You Subscribed to the Print Edition of @theonion.com yet: every single ad in the latest issue is a lil shower of pee on Mr Roll Of Nickels. Two faves:

thanks!

"no thank you, sir, i do not wish to be lit"
~Brian Steel

Chaos Graph - This American Life People immersed in chaos try to solve for what it all adds up to.

This week's This American Life @thisamericanlife.org has 2 segments: the best reporting on Gaza and on deportations that I've yet heard. But listen with care, and maybe not both at once--the cruelty of the powerful is almost unbearable.
But we must hear it

www.thisamericanlife.org/859/chaos-gr...

Barry Blitt’s cover for this week’s issue, “The First Hundred Days.” #NewYorkerCovers nyer.cm/ysrCZ47

A Lawyer Freed Young Thug. Now He’s Defending Diddy Since the Young Thug trial, Brian Steel has modelled for the rapper’s fashion brand and had a Drake song named after him. Sean Combs took note.

I profiled the remarkable Brian Steel for this week's @newyorker.com -- with a cameo by Young Thug, his client, who met with us in a Miami recording studio in early March. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

NEW: Government officials insist that neither DOGE nor Musk have any real decision-making authority—they merely “advise” or “consult.”

But internal DOJ emails provide the most compelling evidence yet that DOGE is not simply advising—it’s calling the shots.

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/on-d...

dry chuckle in the middle of this article about brian steel, the boy scout lawyer from young thug's RICO case www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

A Lawyer Freed Young Thug. Now He’s Defending Diddy Since the Young Thug trial, Brian Steel has modelled for the rapper’s fashion brand and had a Drake song named after him. Sean Combs took note.

I profiled the remarkable Brian Steel for this week's @newyorker.com -- with a cameo by Young Thug, his client, who met with us in a Miami recording studio in early March. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Clayton Dalton asked paramedics in Gaza what was hardest about their work. Responding to an airstrike and discovering that it’s your own family, one said. Recovering the bodies of children, said another. nyer.cm/Iz1ztSY