Please Charles Less Hard

The lawyer who used Peter Thiel’s money to murder Gawker has some thoughts on the excesses of “cancel culture.” No one in history has ever Charlesed Harder than this. Speaking of Peter Thiel, tech’s dumbest evil vampire just declared Bitcoin “a Chinese financial weapon,” writes Max Chafkin. “Peter Thiel is “pro-crypto” and “pro-Bitcoin maximalist,” but he also thinks the cryptocurrency may be undermining America,” which makes Thiel wrong about Bitcoin in two opposite ways. You see when it comes to the blockchain, it’s important to reme—

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: No Monkeys Found in Cincinnati

Today in Hostile Workplaces: Tatiana Siegel collected tales of abuse from former assistants of legendary producer and nightmare jerk Scott Rudin for The Hollywood Reporter. They’re framed as “bullying” but several are straight-up assault. Also in THR, Kim Masters has a long feature on “Cyborg” actor Ray Fisher’s miserable experience working for legendary director and nightmare jerk Joss Whedon on Justice League, including a 360 degree examination of The Booyah Controversy. Unmentioned but hovering over all of this is the fact that Cyborg’s segment of Zach Snyder’s Justice League is the only good part of either version of the film.

Emi Nietfeld loved her work at Google until she was sexually harassed by her tech lead and then forced out for trying to get the company to do something about it. Her description of Google is more cult than workplace. “I Work in a Bookstore. Why Am I Still Shelving ‘Mein Kampf’?” asks Alexa Abdalla in Electric Literature. You can be a hostile workplace all alone if you can’t stop building your personal brand, writes Ed Zitron. And what do you do when the workplace abuser you helped the FBI investigate is pardoned by a corrupt monster of a US President? Deborah Copaken considers the pros and cons of witness protection now that Kushner family friend, stalker, and crooked ex-newspaper editor Ken Kurson is free:

Previously: Liz Spiers on Kurson and his pardon, in The Daily Beast.

You know who doesn’t have a nightmare jerk boss or a hostile workplace? Me neither, so here’s Intern Pernell with some important music / twerking news.

Taylor Swift exercised some anti-work radicalism yesterday by surprise-dropping the new track “Mr. Perfectly Fine” in the middle of the work week. Fans were either sobbing, twerking, or both. The banger is most definitely about Joe Jonas, but that didn’t stop Joe’s wife and Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner from saying it’s “not NOT a bop”. The thought of Sophie Turner blasting “Mr. Perfectly Fine” in the same house with Joe Jonas and their child is iconic. 

The whole situation is uncharacteristically drama-free. Swift, Jonas, and the Queen of The North continue to be friends. The vindictive bop is one of many songs to emerge from the vault as Taylor continues to re-record and self-release all her old music, including her 2008 sophomore album Fearless, which will be re-released tomorrow. As I brace myself for the cultural reset of a now-legendary pop star revisiting an album that she recorded as a teenager (and a country artist!), I can’t help but look back at my own aimless life and reflect that there can be such beauty in honoring our past selves. Or… not. 

What wife wouldn’t enjoy having one of the world’s most popular and beloved musicians release a track absolutely roasting her husband to cinders though?

Leaving Substack: Nathan Tankus. Not leaving Substack: Isaac Saul. Wondering why Substack actually costs 20%: Jemima Kelly in Financial Times.

The New York Times really went for it with this story on a particle physics experiment that may or may not cast doubt on a model that we have long known doesn’t fully describe reality. Renowned physicist Marianne Williamson knew it all along. A treasure hunt in Maine? What could go wrong. The Atlantic was hacked, which means that 2 months from now The New Yorker will be hacked more elegantly and get a lot more praise for it. Laura Bassett’s “Interview With the Man Who Keeps Uploading My Feet to WikiFeet” is a journalistic masterpiece. Finally, Intel invented @dril’s Racism Dial:

Intern Pernell, let’s Yahoo!

Today’s Song: Green Day, “Jesus of Suburbia” (yeah you thought it was gonna be Taylor but I went the other way.)

~ the living room or my private womb, while the Moms and tabs are away ~

Welcome to Thursday, the end of the civilized work week. If you must work tomorrow, at least subscribe and come chat with me about this interview I did with Garbage Day. When we get the vax let’s all go hang out in the Postlight office and eat candy with Paul.