Fine, but I would like an update on what's happening at Racket News. No written content since April 2, no Swap Log, no Emily Kopp, and no idea why. Your subscribers deserve some news about it.
Matt I’m a great fan of yours and was of Walter as well. It’s been disappointing to watch your livestream with Michael Tracy. He doesn’t have anything to contribute that’s isn’t already being expressed more eloquently by other journalists. He’s abrasive, interrupts you and the flow to a jarring degree, is patronizing and immature. Brings down the quality of the show all the way and has become hard to watch it as a result
It was Easter weekend; maybe the staff was spending time with family.
I wonder if Matt can't talk about what happened with Kopp for legal reasons (is one of them suing the other??). But I am curious to know who will be EIC moving forward.
Is there actual evidence of this from her or Racket? I know she removed some stuff from her bio but she’s still listed as a member on the “about” page of Racket.
That was the final straw for me. I canceled my subscription renewal after reading all of those unprofessional comments on respectful observations by subscribers.
I’ve been a paid subscriber for years, and want to continue to support Matt, but the thought of some of my money winding up in Tracey’s pocket is disturbing. Matt can do a lot better without this guy.
Me too. Since the May before the Twitter files were released. I’ve been a fan of Matt for many years, first reading his work in Rolling Stone, God knows how long ago. I still am a fan but I won’t tolerate this.
Tracey's comments on that April 3 thread are so over the top juvenile I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe somebody hacked his profile, right? right?
You’ll find them under the main post for that stream here on Substack, where you can watch the ‘cast. The comments under that are the ones referenced here.
I'm enjoying the new show, though I think it will take time to find its footing. I like Tracey. He can be a bit abrasive, and I have my disagreements with him, but he seems to come to his opinions and ideas naturally, and he isn't driven by partisan goals. I listened to Substack talk he did with Batya Ungar-Sargon, and it was great: those two don't agree on much, but they keep their disagreements in the realms of ideas, and didn't resort to personal attacks in the place of rational argument.
I too miss Walter's presence, and I never missed America This Week, but I dig the new show. I hope Matt and Walter's friendship remains, and they find a way to give irregular missives to ATW fans at some point down the line. Nothing lasts forever.
At what point will you change the name of "Today's News" to "Today's N--" in recognition of Tracey's relentless habit of interrupting? I ask merely for information.
Watching with the sound off but I see pig man going on and on and on and Matt not getting a word in. Checks out. I'll re-sub if you ever get a new cohost Matt.
Are you two f*ing insane? Should we have Matt Taibbi and Michael Tracey diagnosed for early onset dementia? If the best you can do when analyzing Trump’s mental acuity is a clip where he mixes up a preposition you haven’t been paying attention. Mind you I can list a dozen examples where if a loved one said some of the things Trump said you’d start looking for nursing homes. And I’m not even talking about the plethora of outrageous statements which reveal towering stupidity and ignorance (his musing about injecting bleach injection comes to mind). How about confusing Nikki Hailey with Nancy Pelosi, not simply mistaking their names, but their entire biographies, and going on and on? He recently did the same thing again with Karoline Leavitt and Kellyann Conway. Not to mention interchanging Greenland and Iceland over and over again in the same rambling sentence. And of course, that same week he tells reporters his dad was from the UK (it was his mom). And then there are the numerous examples of his slurring words, going wildly off topic and nodding off dating back to his first administration. This feels more like a way for Matt to begin to get off the runaway Trump train after making excuses for him and even wildly cheerleading his most radical agenda for the better part of the last two years.
As far as conspiracy theories go, some are better in form than others, and I will be using this opportunity to shamelessly plug my own work (link at bottom of my comment) on a "conspiracy theory" to demonstrate this.
A conspiracy theory can either be qualified in scope and conclusion or a grand, sweeping explanation for everything. They can be falsifiable or based on untestable evidence. They can rely on public primary documents from the government or they can rely on rumor and gossip.
All that is to say, there are some conspiracy theories which are worth examining and others that are useful to various actors for shitting up the media ecosystem. One case of a falsifiable, scoped and qualified, primary-document (FBI report released via FOIA) analysis based "conspiracy theory" is the case of the "Dancing Israelis."
Oh, I know even just saying the words "Dancing Israelis" induced an eye roll so reflexively violent it threatened to rip your ocular nerve out. That's the point of labeling such a serious case with such a stupid pop-conspiracy name. But if you read my article on the topic, I promise you will come away both learning a lot about the actual case and concluding that the FBI investigation was, bare minimum, a complete failure and almost certainly an intentional coverup. Further, you will likely come away with the belief that the so-called "Dancing Israelis" had specific foreknowledge of 9/11.
I make a detailed, document-based case about specific individuals rather than some vague "they", and I’m explicit about where the evidence is strong and where it remains inferential.
Grounded, specific, scoped claims. Not "Israel did 9/11." Not testimony from some cracked-out "scientist" about thermite. FBI documents, forensic timestamps using radio stations, and very well documented travel times. All of it linked, sourced, and most of it available right at the end in an appendix I took the time to make including screen shots of the specific documents. As a final note, the ONLY reason I am self-promoting on this thread is because the topic is fitting and I am providing a counter-example.
I finally found some (sort of) common ground with Tracey! He noted the road-blocks against Trump the first term, even mentioning the CIA operative Eric Ciaramella, the "whistleblower" who was working for Ukraine and who helped get Trump impeached for "soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election" for his phone call with Zelensky about Biden corruption (somehow the Ukrainian (fake) Black Ledger which removed Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, also "foreign interference in a presidential election" is never mentioned). My bigger concerns were Vindman's comment that the President was interfering with "consensus policy" in Ukraine and that a CIA official (Ciaramella) was interfering with domestic politics. The Vindmans lost their jobs for "whistleblowing"; under Obama whistleblowers went to jail (and Manning was tortured; Assange slipped away to asylum/ prison becoming an Ecuadorian citizen in their Embassy). But Tracey only noted that Ciaramella had interfered with Trump. No context.
While parsing the "faux pas" and "gaffes" of Biden and the imbecilic nonsense of Trump seems fun and games for podcasters and pundits, and now Taibbi and Tracey, Biden started a proxy war with Russia, replaced Assad with an ISIS headchopper, and funded 15 months of Palestinian genocide. Trump broke all his America First campaign promises (maybe keeping different ones to Israel?), continued Biden's policies ("Like love, wars are easy to start, hard to stop") and has the US/Israel on the brink of Nuclear War. Rather than dissecting minutia of idiot Trump's rants and ramblings, I expect more investigative reporting at least from Taibbi, like thegrayzone.com and other journalism sites. Or maybe all the Iran stuff, like Epstein's sex trafficking, is not really happening? Just hysteria from the uninformed masses.
Not enjoying the pairing with Michael Tracy at all. He has nothing like the insight or curmudgeonly wit of Walter Kirn and I’m going to have to rethink my subscription.
Fine, but I would like an update on what's happening at Racket News. No written content since April 2, no Swap Log, no Emily Kopp, and no idea why. Your subscribers deserve some news about it.
Matt I’m a great fan of yours and was of Walter as well. It’s been disappointing to watch your livestream with Michael Tracy. He doesn’t have anything to contribute that’s isn’t already being expressed more eloquently by other journalists. He’s abrasive, interrupts you and the flow to a jarring degree, is patronizing and immature. Brings down the quality of the show all the way and has become hard to watch it as a result
I'm subscribed through September ☹️
It was Easter weekend; maybe the staff was spending time with family.
I wonder if Matt can't talk about what happened with Kopp for legal reasons (is one of them suing the other??). But I am curious to know who will be EIC moving forward.
Did something happen?
Nobody knows. She appears to be gone, but nothing has been announced.
Kopp was let go.
Is there actual evidence of this from her or Racket? I know she removed some stuff from her bio but she’s still listed as a member on the “about” page of Racket.
Good question. I read it in some of last week's threads from the readers so I assumed it was true. If I run across anything I'll let you know.
April 3.
I found audio, but no written content since the 2nd.
Are you getting rid of Tracey? . . He’s ruining your brand.
Did you see all the stupid responses he made in the comments section last Friday?
Tracey really is the turd in the punchbowl, Matt
the boomrs are the turd in the punchbowl
Turds… plural
That was the final straw for me. I canceled my subscription renewal after reading all of those unprofessional comments on respectful observations by subscribers.
I’ve been a paid subscriber for years, and want to continue to support Matt, but the thought of some of my money winding up in Tracey’s pocket is disturbing. Matt can do a lot better without this guy.
Me too. Since the May before the Twitter files were released. I’ve been a fan of Matt for many years, first reading his work in Rolling Stone, God knows how long ago. I still am a fan but I won’t tolerate this.
I was on the fence, but my subscription renewed yesterday, unfortunately. I keep hoping that something good will happen here.
It might be wise to open the podcast with an apology from Tracey for those bizarre comments.
Tracey's comments on that April 3 thread are so over the top juvenile I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe somebody hacked his profile, right? right?
Where are those for me to read?
Just watched tonight. Ick.
You’ll find them under the main post for that stream here on Substack, where you can watch the ‘cast. The comments under that are the ones referenced here.
I miss Walter. Tracey should go; he is indeed cramping your style
I find it super hard to listen to Tracy. I just want to puke.🤮
I'm enjoying the new show, though I think it will take time to find its footing. I like Tracey. He can be a bit abrasive, and I have my disagreements with him, but he seems to come to his opinions and ideas naturally, and he isn't driven by partisan goals. I listened to Substack talk he did with Batya Ungar-Sargon, and it was great: those two don't agree on much, but they keep their disagreements in the realms of ideas, and didn't resort to personal attacks in the place of rational argument.
I too miss Walter's presence, and I never missed America This Week, but I dig the new show. I hope Matt and Walter's friendship remains, and they find a way to give irregular missives to ATW fans at some point down the line. Nothing lasts forever.
Why do so many hate change? Life is change, sometimes under diress, sometimes voluntary.
Give the man/team some room. Yeesh.
Why do people hate when things get worse? Is that your question
Worse is subjective.
And people are sharing their subjective opinion that this is worse
Find me the best recipe for raspberry scones?
I just let my subscription renew yesterday, so I'm going to give Matt a full year to see if it's worth it.
Why not? Is how I think. My God he's out there doing things I would never do. He's in the category for me with emergency services and mortician.
I respect Matt as an excellent journalist, so I'm just going to be a little patient.
I wouldn't want to sit and listen to a mortician prattling about himself and interrupting a journalist for 2 hours either
Change leads to either improvement or degradation.
A strangely large number of people, in America of all places, would rather risk zero chance of improvement for the illusion of zero degradation.
Not a sign of a deeply self confident group, unfortunately.
Nail. Head. Contact.
Precisely.
So now we analyze the audience…….
Please get back Walter Kirn
At what point will you change the name of "Today's News" to "Today's N--" in recognition of Tracey's relentless habit of interrupting? I ask merely for information.
Watching with the sound off but I see pig man going on and on and on and Matt not getting a word in. Checks out. I'll re-sub if you ever get a new cohost Matt.
Are you two f*ing insane? Should we have Matt Taibbi and Michael Tracey diagnosed for early onset dementia? If the best you can do when analyzing Trump’s mental acuity is a clip where he mixes up a preposition you haven’t been paying attention. Mind you I can list a dozen examples where if a loved one said some of the things Trump said you’d start looking for nursing homes. And I’m not even talking about the plethora of outrageous statements which reveal towering stupidity and ignorance (his musing about injecting bleach injection comes to mind). How about confusing Nikki Hailey with Nancy Pelosi, not simply mistaking their names, but their entire biographies, and going on and on? He recently did the same thing again with Karoline Leavitt and Kellyann Conway. Not to mention interchanging Greenland and Iceland over and over again in the same rambling sentence. And of course, that same week he tells reporters his dad was from the UK (it was his mom). And then there are the numerous examples of his slurring words, going wildly off topic and nodding off dating back to his first administration. This feels more like a way for Matt to begin to get off the runaway Trump train after making excuses for him and even wildly cheerleading his most radical agenda for the better part of the last two years.
This again?
And we've got Michael Tracy. Really traded down. So 😔
As far as conspiracy theories go, some are better in form than others, and I will be using this opportunity to shamelessly plug my own work (link at bottom of my comment) on a "conspiracy theory" to demonstrate this.
A conspiracy theory can either be qualified in scope and conclusion or a grand, sweeping explanation for everything. They can be falsifiable or based on untestable evidence. They can rely on public primary documents from the government or they can rely on rumor and gossip.
All that is to say, there are some conspiracy theories which are worth examining and others that are useful to various actors for shitting up the media ecosystem. One case of a falsifiable, scoped and qualified, primary-document (FBI report released via FOIA) analysis based "conspiracy theory" is the case of the "Dancing Israelis."
Oh, I know even just saying the words "Dancing Israelis" induced an eye roll so reflexively violent it threatened to rip your ocular nerve out. That's the point of labeling such a serious case with such a stupid pop-conspiracy name. But if you read my article on the topic, I promise you will come away both learning a lot about the actual case and concluding that the FBI investigation was, bare minimum, a complete failure and almost certainly an intentional coverup. Further, you will likely come away with the belief that the so-called "Dancing Israelis" had specific foreknowledge of 9/11.
I make a detailed, document-based case about specific individuals rather than some vague "they", and I’m explicit about where the evidence is strong and where it remains inferential.
Grounded, specific, scoped claims. Not "Israel did 9/11." Not testimony from some cracked-out "scientist" about thermite. FBI documents, forensic timestamps using radio stations, and very well documented travel times. All of it linked, sourced, and most of it available right at the end in an appendix I took the time to make including screen shots of the specific documents. As a final note, the ONLY reason I am self-promoting on this thread is because the topic is fitting and I am providing a counter-example.
Read it if you want to judge for yourself - https://andrewdolgin.substack.com/p/911-and-the-dancing-israelis-refuting
I love shameless plugs. You gotta think you’re good if you want us to think your good
I finally found some (sort of) common ground with Tracey! He noted the road-blocks against Trump the first term, even mentioning the CIA operative Eric Ciaramella, the "whistleblower" who was working for Ukraine and who helped get Trump impeached for "soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election" for his phone call with Zelensky about Biden corruption (somehow the Ukrainian (fake) Black Ledger which removed Manafort, Trump's campaign manager, also "foreign interference in a presidential election" is never mentioned). My bigger concerns were Vindman's comment that the President was interfering with "consensus policy" in Ukraine and that a CIA official (Ciaramella) was interfering with domestic politics. The Vindmans lost their jobs for "whistleblowing"; under Obama whistleblowers went to jail (and Manning was tortured; Assange slipped away to asylum/ prison becoming an Ecuadorian citizen in their Embassy). But Tracey only noted that Ciaramella had interfered with Trump. No context.
While parsing the "faux pas" and "gaffes" of Biden and the imbecilic nonsense of Trump seems fun and games for podcasters and pundits, and now Taibbi and Tracey, Biden started a proxy war with Russia, replaced Assad with an ISIS headchopper, and funded 15 months of Palestinian genocide. Trump broke all his America First campaign promises (maybe keeping different ones to Israel?), continued Biden's policies ("Like love, wars are easy to start, hard to stop") and has the US/Israel on the brink of Nuclear War. Rather than dissecting minutia of idiot Trump's rants and ramblings, I expect more investigative reporting at least from Taibbi, like thegrayzone.com and other journalism sites. Or maybe all the Iran stuff, like Epstein's sex trafficking, is not really happening? Just hysteria from the uninformed masses.
Not enjoying the pairing with Michael Tracy at all. He has nothing like the insight or curmudgeonly wit of Walter Kirn and I’m going to have to rethink my subscription.
https://x.com/i/status/2041666735691174269
https://x.com/i/status/2041665143776670105