October 9, 2025

Christine Fernando & Sudhin Thanawala of the AP: “A judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area for two weeks, finding no substantial evidence that a 'danger of rebellion' is brewing in Illinois. It’s a victory for Democratic officials who lead the state and city and have traded insults with ... Donald Trump about his drive to put troops on the ground in major urban areas. U.S. District Judge April Perry didn’t lay out details of any order or say what part of the request she was granting as she spoke from the bench in her crowded courtroom.The lawsuit was filed Monday by Chicago and Illinois to stop the deployments of Illinois and Texas Guard members. Some troops were already at an immigration building in the Chicago suburb of Broadview when Perry heard arguments on Thursday. The building has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and agents. Perry said the actions of the Department of Homeland Security are largely rooted in ... Donald Trump’s 'animus toward Illinois elected officials.'”

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department obtained an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday, accusing her of committing mortgage fraud when she purchased a property in Virginia. The indictment on one count of bank fraud and one of making a false statement makes James the second of ... Donald Trump’s political foes to be charged in the Eastern District of Virginia since Trump pushed out the top prosecutor there and appointed a close ally, Lindsey Halligan, to replace him. Halligan, who had no previous experience as a prosecutor, obtained an indictment two weeks ago against former FBI director James B. Comey on charges of making a false statement to Congress. He has pleaded not guilty. Halligan presented the case against James to a grand jury in Alexandria. It is unusual for a politically appointed top U.S. attorney to present a case herself, suggesting that the office struggled to find a career attorney willing to take on the assignment. A senior career attorney in the office indicated to her staff in recent days that she believed the case was weak and did not want to present it to a grand jury, according to two people....” ~~~

~~~ Carol Leonnig of MSNBC is reporting on-air that Trump's Eastern District of Virginia pet prosecutor Lindsey Halligan has presented evidence to a grand jury that New York Attorney General Letitia James had committed some crimes. Halligan reportedly presented the case herself. At 4:00 pm ET, the grand jury is still deliberating. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: AG James has been indicted, MSNBC is reporting on-air. No detail @ 4:32 pm ET. She was indicted on at least one count. 

Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “... late Tuesday, [former Rep. Katie] Porter [(D-Calif.), who is running for California governor,] went viral for the wrong reasons after a video of her exchange with a local television journalist became a must-see clip for the political set. In the three-minute video, she dismissively rejected a question that suggested she needed to reach out to Republicans and threatened to abandon the interview after she was frustrated with several follow-ups. Rivals from both parties seized on the interview to mix it up in what’s been, until now, a very sleepy race. Fellow Democratic candidates said Ms. Porter 'thinks she’s already won,' 'can’t answer basic questions' and that the governor’s race is 'no place for temper tantrums.' One opponent called on her to drop out of the race.” The video is on X here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is not the first time Porter (of whom I've been a fan) blew up on-camera. ~~~ 

     ~~~ Melanie Mason & Blake Jones of Politico: “A newly surfaced video shows Katie Porter — the front-runner in next year’s race for California governor — blasting a staffer who interrupted a meeting the former House member was taping for the Biden administration. 'Get out of my fucking shot!' Porter said after the employee came into view. Video of the exchange ... shows an online conversation between Porter and then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in July 2021. Several minutes in, Porter’s staffer interjected to correct something the Democratic representative had said about electric vehicles. Porter then reprimanded her employee, who had also previously appeared periodically in the background during the recording.... A final, edited version of the webinar that was published by the Department of Energy did not include the exchange.”

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Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the jailing of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, accusing them of “failing to protect” Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who have been sent to the city. His comments mark another escalation — at least in rhetoric — against Democratic leaders in Illinois who have been pushing back against his immigration crackdown there. There is no evidence that either Johnson or Pritzker has done anything to warrant jail time.... 'Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. Trump has often called for the jailing of his political adversaries in social media posts. But in recent months, he has repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions in several cases.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill:  “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) suggested that ... [Donald] Trump is deploying federal troops in Chicago because he is 'suffering dementia.' In an interview Tuesday with The Chicago Tribune, the outspoken Trump critic ... [said], 'This is a man who’s suffering dementia.... This is a man who has something stuck in his head.... He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date.... It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.... And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing.'” (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: “Texas National Guard troops began operations in the greater Chicago area on Wednesday evening, after ... Donald Trump spent a good part of the day seeking to build his case for deployments to cities including Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Around 200 Texas National Guard soldiers and 300 soldiers from the Illinois National Guard have been mobilized for an initial period of 60 days, according to the military unit in command of the troops.... Trump said earlier Wednesday he would pursue designating antifa — a political protest movement composed of unaffiliated groups — a 'foreign terrorist organization' as his administration seeks to crack down on what it views as a surge of far-left activists operating in Democratic-run cities.”

Black People Saw This Coming. Alain Stephens of the Intercept: "For some, the Trump administration’s Chicago assault was a shock. But for Black Americans, none of it felt extraordinary. It felt remembered. Generational experience has taught us what happens when the state builds a weapon for someone else: Sooner or later, it finds a way back to us.... For more than a century, Black Americans have watched the United States build extraordinary enforcement tools for a supposedly narrow enemy — and then turn them inward. The Palmer Raids of the 1920s were justified as a way to root out communists but swept up Black labor leaders. COINTELPRO was sold as means to counter 'subversives' but was used to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. and raid Black Panther homes. After 9/11, the war on terror built fusion centers, joint task forces, and counter-extremism programs that soon labeled Black activists as 'Black Identity Extremists.' The Department of Homeland Security grants and surplus weapons meant to stop terrorism rolled into Ferguson and Baltimore in armored vehicles. Now the same pattern is playing out with immigration enforcement. ”

Chicago Grand Jury Says No. Kate Riga & Emine Yücel of TPM: “A grand jury Tuesday night declined to indict two protesters in the Chicago area accused of assaulting law enforcement, the latest in a shocking string of failures by the Trump Department of Justice.... But the Trump administration, in its eagerness to crack down on protesters resistant to its brutality, has now been rebuffed by grand juries in Illinois, Washington D.C. and California. The official ICE account had crowed about the Chicago-area protesters’ arrests online, promising that they’d be 'held accountable' and that 'we will not be deterred.'” 

Holly Baxter of the Independent: “Today’s instal[l]ment of America’s ongoing descent into farce brings us a White House press release about 'Antifa terror' and a presidential roundtable devoted entirely to the group that famously isn’t a real entity.... Held at the table of 'independent journalists' (far-right activists) and moderated by Donald Trump, it opened with a statement by the president that 'paid anarchists' want to 'destroy our country,' followed by bizarre, conspiracy-laden claims that anti-Trump protesters have signs made of expensive paper 'with beautiful wooden handles' that therefore must have been printed in the basements of secretive organizations, and that 'we have a lot of records already, a lot of surprises, a lot of bad surprises' in store for the people who align themselves with anti-fascism. And by the way, he noted, 'we got rid of free speech' because flag-burning is bad.” Read on, because Baxter adds some more threatening commentary by Pam Blondie, Kristi Gnome & the Pizzagate Guy. Also, for additional farcical news from the same meeting, see Marco Rubio's cameo, linked under Israel/Palestine below. 

Dementia Don to Get Another Annual Medical Checkup Six Months After His Last Annual Checkup. Zoe Richards & Sarah Dean of NBC News: “... Donald Trump will sit for a 'routine yearly check up' at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday, the White House announced on Wednesday, ahead of a possible trip to the Middle East. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday that Trump would be at Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting with service members.... Trump underwent an annual physical examination at Walter Reed in April that included diagnostic and laboratory testing....” MB: There is nothing wrong with an elderly president* -- who obviously suffers from many ailments -- getting regular check-ups more often than once a year; just don't call them “yearly check ups” when they are not.

Jimmy Kimmel's "research team" did quite good forensic analysis in which the researchers figured out just who might have written that 50th birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein that Donald Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal for publishing. The clip is from Tuesday night's monologue: ~~~

A Technical Glitch or a Major Tell? Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “Stephen Miller..., [Donald] Trump’s deputy chief of staff, was answering a CNN anchor’s question from the White House lawn on Monday when he stopped midsentence, falling silent and blinking at the camera.” After cutting to a commercial break, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez said a technical problem had caused the strange moment. But on the internet, conspiracy theorists figured Miller had caught himself saying something he was not supposed to say: that “the president has plenary authority” to deploy National Guard troops into states. “Plenary authority is a legal term that effectively means limitless power.... Mr. Miller did not use the term again once the CNN interview resumed.

Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “Nearly a quarter of FBI agents across the country are currently assigned to immigration enforcement, with the number climbing to upward of 40 percent in the nation’s largest field offices, according to data from the FBI obtained by Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia) and shared with The Washington Post. The large number of reassignments reflect a vast reshaping of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, which has focused on national security threats since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.... Agents have been pulled from duties related to cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, counterintelligence and more, the statistics show The intense focus on immigration has raised alarm among current and former FBI agents who say morale is low across the bureau as agents have less time to dedicate to the often complex cases they were hired to work on.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gee, you mean it's demoralizing to have to dedicate your career to chasing down gardeners & roofers and home healthcare workers? 

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: “The FBI took personnel action against three special agents who worked in connection with former special counsel Jack Smith's probe of Donald Trump, firing at least two, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News. All three agents were previously named in documents released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about 'Arctic Frost,' an FBI probe that was the precursor to the Smith investigation, which resulted in two federal criminal cases against Trump.... One of the fired FBI employees, a combat veteran who was months away from becoming eligible for retirement, was called back to the office after having left for the day and informed of the dismissal.... The other dismissed agent was also called back to the office after having left for the day, the person said. [Director Kash] Patel said Tuesday night on Fox News that some agents involved in subpoenaing the phone toll records of members of Congress had been fired, though he did not say how many. 'You’re darn right I fired those agents; you’re darn right I blew up CR-15, the public corruption squad, that led the weaponization at the Washington Field Office,' Patel said. Contacted by NBC News Wednesday, the FBI said it 'cannot comment on personnel matters.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Patel can run off at the mouth about firing agents on-air on Fox "News," but he can't even allude to the firings with real news reporters. 

First, Fire All the Black People. Elisabeth Bumiller & Erica Green of the New York Times: “... [there has been] a series of firings of Black officials from high-profile positions in an overwhelmingly white administration that has banished all diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. And while there are no statistics on firings by race, an examination of the people Mr. Trump is appointing to fill those and other jobs shows a stark trend. Of the president’s 98 Senate-confirmed appointees to the administration’s most senior leadership roles in its first 200 days, ending on Aug. 7, only two, or 2 percent — Scott Turner, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Earl G. Matthews, the Defense Department’s general counsel — are Black.”

Corrupt Official to Get Away with Your Money Because All Trump Lackeys Are Corrupt. Zach Montague of the New York Times: “On Tuesday, when asked directly by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, about [border czar Tom] Homan during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Pam Bondi evaded questions. Ms. Bondi declined to say whether Mr. Homan ever received the funds [from a sting operation in which he was the target], whether he declared them as taxable income or where the money might be today.... Mr. Homan too has ducked questions about whether he accepted the money, which was in a Cava takeout bag, during a recorded exchange last year.... By law, such money is considered government property, and department rules demand clear accounting of how much of it was withdrawn from, and returned to, government accounts after an investigation runs its course.... [But]  the prospect of [retrieving the money] wanes when cash is not recovered immediately.... [And] the fact that Mr. Homan is now also a senior official in the administration complicates the calculus considerably.” Montague cites several avenues the government could take to recover the $50K but probably will not because administration officials and Congress is unlikely to “[act] independently of Mr. Trump.”

Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: "Trump and his valet at the Defense Department, Secretary of Physical Training Pete Hegseth, are now making a dedicated run at turning the men and women of the armed forces into Trump’s personal and partisan army.... Trump clearly wants to use military power to exert more control over the American people, and soon, top U.S.-military commanders may have to decide whether they will refuse such orders from the commander in chief. The greatest crisis of American civil-military relations in modern history is now under way.... This new and dangerous moment has arrived for many reasons, including Trump’s antics in front of young soldiers and sailors, through which he has succeeded in pulling many of them into displays of partisan behavior that are both an insult to American civil-military traditions and a violation of military regulations. Senior military leaders should have stepped in to prevent Trump from turning addresses at Fort Bragg and Naval Station Norfolk into political rallies; the silence of the Army and Navy secretaries, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and some top generals and admirals is appalling." Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “James Comey, the former F.B.I. director targeted by ... [Donald] Trump, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges he lied to Congress. His lawyer said he would move to quickly dismiss the case, calling it a 'vindictive' and 'selective' prosecution. Mr. Comey ... offer[ed] his plea, and a 'thank you very much,' to District Judge Michael Nachmanoff during a brisk court appearance that began five minutes early and lasted less than half an hour.... The hearing ... revealed little new about a case deemed so weak by career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia that they refused to have anything to do with it. That reluctance forced the White House to quickly insert a stand-in U.S. attorney [-- Lindsey Halligan --] to file the indictment....  A junior federal prosecutor brought in from North Carolina spoke for the Justice Department.... Mr. Comey’s lead lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, vented his exasperation in the hearing, saying that his 'first substantive contact' with prosecutors came Tuesday night. He said he still had not received specific details of the charges, including the identities of witnesses, beyond the two-page indictment approved by a split grand jury on Sept. 25.” 

     ~~~ The Washington Post report, also linked yesterday, is here. Politico's story, also linked yesterday, is here. ~~~

~~~ Oops! Ron Dicker of the Huffington Post: “... Donald Trump’s scolding command on Truth Social for Pam Bondi to prosecute James Comey and other political targets was supposed to be a DM [i.e., a direct (private) message to Bondi], U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Trump, who has been accused of having dementia by a few prominent Democrats recently, thought he had sent Bondi the message privately last month and expressed surprise that it was public, according to the unnamed officials. A distressed Bondi called White House aides and Trump, prompting the president to follow up with an entry of glowing praise about Bondi.... Comey ... was indicted days later.” ~~~

~~~ Joyce Vance adds some color & detail to the straight reporting on the Comey case that gives a good picutre of what is really going on here. Recommended reading.

Paul Krugman: "The Trump administration really hates giving foreign aid that serves any kind of humanitarian purpose. They are clearly unmoved by the fact that that they may be responsible for the preventable deaths of millions of children in impoverished countries. The Trump administration really hates giving foreign aid that serves any kind of humanitarian purpose. They are clearly unmoved by the fact that that they may be responsible for the preventable deaths of millions of children in impoverished countries.... But a $20 billion lifeline to the right-wing government of Argentina, which has no strategic value to the US and has a decades-long history of corruption, unstable politics, fiscal mismanagement and financial crises? A country that has defaulted nine times on its sovereign debt, three times since 2001? No problem!... What I failed to point out in my previous post [about the bailout] was that the [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent’s money-drop was not only an attempt to bail out Argentina’s version of Elon Musk, it also bailed out his hedge fund buddies. (I must try to be more cynical….)" 

Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration has yet to provide underlying evidence to lawmakers proving that alleged drug-smuggling boats targeted by the U.S. military in a series of fatal strikes were in fact carrying narcotics, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.... The officials ... said the administration has only pointed to unclassified video clips of the strikes posted on social media by ... Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and has yet to produce 'hard evidence' that the vessels were carrying drugs.” MB: Yeah but. Trump & Drunk Pete don't have to lift a finger because ~~~

~~~ Senate Lackeys Block Implementation of Law. Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “Republicans in the Senate blocked a measure on Wednesday that would bar ... [Donald] Trump from using military force against boats in the Caribbean Sea, turning back an effort to check his power to wage war without authorization from Congress. The vote against bringing up the Democratic resolution was 51 to 48, mostly along party lines. It came less than a week after the U.S. military carried out the fourth strike in the Trump administration’s legally disputed campaign targeting alleged drug runners in the Caribbean. Senators Adam Schiff of California and Tim Kaine of Virginia, both Democrats, tried to force action on the measure, invoking a provision of the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires that resolutions to terminate hostilities be considered under expedited procedures. They said they were doing so in response to the series of strikes Mr. Trump has carried out since Sept. 2, which the administration says have killed 21 people. The White House has described the strikes as part of a campaign against Venezuelan drug cartels that it accuses of smuggling fentanyl into the United States.” The Hill's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So now GOP senators have joined a conspiracy to murder, to violate U.S. law, to violate international law & to deny due process to people who might have been out fishing for mahi-mahi.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, the two Democrats from Arizona, strode across the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon and parked themselves in front of the Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. They were there to hold a news conference publicly criticizing Mr. Johnson for keeping the House out of session during the government shutdown and refusing to seat Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, the Democrat who won a special election last month in their state. What they got instead was a heated confrontation with Mr. Johnson himself.... The speaker professed to be 'happy she got elected. But he claimed that because of the shutdown, his hands were tied and he could not seat her.... There is no such rule for swearing in a duly elected member of Congress.” Video of the exchange is included with the story. MB: Johnson is getting quite good at this phony “aw shucks” stuff.

~~~ Another person who jumped into the fray: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY). Oh, here's Mike again. Rome the same hall, the same day. ~~~

Michael Gold of the New York Times: “With a crowd of journalists watching — and their phone cameras recording — Mr. Lawler and [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries engaged in a heated back-and-forth that lasted more than five minutes. They pointed fingers, raised voices and argued over who was doing more disservice to the American people. Each accused the other of theatrics. Both were correct.” Here's video of the exchange, via the Hill. ~~~

Kate Santaliz & Andrew Solender of Axios: Speaker Mike "Johnson's decision to keep his chamber on an indefinite break in the middle of a government shutdown isn't sitting well with some in his conference — and that could put pressure on the speaker to change course."

Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with whether to allow an Illinois congressman and others to go forward with a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy of counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. The case has potential implications for similar legal efforts by allies of ... Donald Trump to stop the practice in a handful of states led by Democrats. Most justices appeared skeptical during arguments about Republican Mike Bost’s contention that he had standing to sue, or had suffered sufficient harm necessary to bring legal action, simply because he was a candidate on the Illinois ballot. They seemed less unified over how much and what type of harm he or another candidate would need to show to go forward with a case.”

Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: “Joan Kennedy, who married into one of America’s foremost political dynasties and spent much of her life wrestling with alcoholism while caught up in the tragedies and tempests that plagued the Kennedy family, died on Wednesday at her home in Boston. She was 89.... The former wife of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, known as Ted, Ms. Kennedy was shy and reserved compared with her competitive, athletic and often boisterous in-laws.”

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California. Jonathan Edwards, et al., of the Washington Post: “A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly starting the Palisades Fire, a blaze that raged for weeks, killing 12 people and destroying a huge swath of homes and buildings in a wealthy coastal neighborhood of Los Angeles. Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, of Melbourne, Florida, was charged with destruction of property by means of fire, a felony that carries a five- to 20-year prison sentence, said Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.” The story details an affidavit by an ATF agency that suggests Rinderknecht “intentionally caus[ed] a fire on New Year’s Day — the eight- to 10-acre Lachman Fire [in the Pacific Palisades]....”

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Israel/Palestine, et al. From the pinned item (at 6:00 am ET) of a New York Times liveblog: “Israel and Hamas on Thursday edged closer to ending their devastating two-year war, agreeing on the initial terms of a deal that could pave the way to a cease-fire, and bringing relief to the families of Israeli hostages and to two million Palestinians in Gaza. The two sides were preparing for an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners this weekend after an agreement overnight, the culmination of sustained pressure from ... [Donald] Trump and Arab mediators. Mr. Trump suggested that he would travel over the weekend to the region. Though details were scarce, the agreement promised at least a cease-fire if not a permanent end to a conflict that has been catastrophic for Gazans, left Hamas battered militarily, and exhausted Israelis, isolated their country internationally and fueled an alarming rise in antisemitic violence across the globe. Mr. Trump, who pushed to broker the deal, said on social media Wednesday that both sides had agreed to the first phase of his peace plan, which requires Israel to pull back its troops to an agreed-upon line in Gaza.” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Samy Magdy, et al., of the AP: “Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, accepting elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration that would represent the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war.... Uncertainty remains about some of the thornier aspects of Trump’s proposal — such as whether and how Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza — but the sides appear closer than they have been in several months to ending a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and triggered other armed conflicts across the Middle East.” ~~~

~~~ If a coherent social media post appears during regular business hours on Donald Trump's account, there's a good chance Trump didn't write it: ~~~ 

~~~ Will Weissert & Evan Vucci of the AP: “... Donald Trump was holding a roundtable event with conservative influencers about antifa Wednesday when Secretary of State Marco Rubio, standing in the back corner of the White House’s Blue Room, caught his eye..... Then Rubio passed the president a note. An AP photographer covering the event zoomed in on the handwriting on White House stationery that read, 'You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.'... At 6:51 p.m. — just about two hours after Rubio initially passed Trump the note — the president triumphantly took to his social media platform for the announcement. 'I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying that means all hostages will be released 'very soon' while Israel will withdraw their troops 'to an agreed upon line.'”

Sweden. Alex Marshall of the New York Times: “Laszlo Krasznahorkai was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday 'for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art,' according to the Swedish Academy, which organizes the prize....Krasznahorkai (pronounced CRAS-now-hoar-kay), 71, is known for novels featuring lengthy sentences and dark subjects. Susan Sontag once called him a 'master of the apocalypse,' and the Hungarian movie director Bela Tarr has adapted several of his novels for the screen.” MB: His stuff sounds absolutely dreadful.