A Message from the Don

Hello. Welcome to the Weekend Gene Pool, an unruly place where unruly things often happen. Alert: At the end, I am going to be asking you about whether you have ever been blackmailed, or been offered a bribe, or might be susceptible to either. It’s related to the creepy story that starts now:

You probably haven’t read the most interesting magazine piece of the week. It was published in Mother Jones, a niche domain mostly frequented by unreconstructed lefties like me, and journalists, like me, and socially active, semi-embittered malcontents and misanthropes, like me. Mother Jones does excellent, opinionated, courageous work.

This last week it carried a story by Dan Friedman, one of its senior writers, about a blackmail threat he got —a transparent effort to intimidate him into spiking a story he was working on about a key aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The threat came indirectly, implicitly, in textbook Sicilian mafia fashion, from the Trump regime through…. another journalist.

I use the j-term only officially here. Jack Posobiec is a journalist only in the sense that Mussolini was a railroad conductor. The noted TV provocateur, an alt-right White nationalist, antisemitic, misogynistic conspiracy merchant, was the primary word arsonist behind the asinine “Pizzagate” fiasco. Alas, Posobiec was one of many reactionary incompetent zealots who were given Defense Department newsroom accreditation after the entire contingent of reputable actual journalists walked out rather than submit in writing to rules that would have made them fawning lapdogs to the department they were covering. The new stooges signed the pledge, of course.

Here is the Friedman story, in full, but I will summarize it for you:

Friedman was working on a story for Mother Jones about a man named Eric Geressy, a friend and political mentor to Hegseth who now holds a key executive job in Hegseth’s defense department. Friedman had learned that Geressy’s email address was linked to a public Goodreads page with a “currently reading” list including pornographic books featuring stories about “Asian wife sharing.” They contained detailed descriptions of cuckolding, group sex, and scenes involving “ladyboys”—a term used to refer to Thai transgender women.

As soon as Friedman began asking questions about this — to Geressy and Pentagon spokespeople — the page was taken down. As Friedman reports:

“I also asked about a 1997 domestic violence allegation against Geressy, about his dating habits, and past relationships with foreign women. I inquired if the Pentagon had assessed those relationships as part of Geressy’s security clearance process, and, more broadly, if his personal life might create concerns about his susceptibility to foreign influence operations.”

Shortly aferwards, Friedman got a phone call from Posobiec, allegedly in his capacity as a “journalist.” Posobiec asked Friedman to comment on whether he — Friedman — has “a creepy fetish for Asian women.” He said it was for “a story that I am writing about you.” Then he mentioned several other personal allegations he said would be in the story. Friedman did not reveal exactly what they were, but he said all of them — including the “creepy fetish,” were ludicrously false.

Friedman understood exactly what this was about. Posobiec had evidently been tasked by Hegseth, and probably Trump, to strong-arm Friedman to abandon this story. This became super-apparent later, when Friedman wrote to Geressy, asking a few more questions and noting that he was “finalizing this story.” About two hours later, Posobiec wrote to him to say he was “finalizing my story.” He wondered if Friedman’s wife “or in-laws” might want to comment.

Friedman then did something that must have been very difficult. He included in his story this:

“[One of Posobiec’s emails] claimed I have “a history of objectifying women,” and that I had engaged in some kind of misconduct. The email also included questions about my marriage.

“Posobiec’s questions suggested one of his sources may have been a real woman with whom I did have a brief relationship nearly a decade ago. Contrary to the email’s depiction, that relationship was perfectly amicable at the time. But it was part of some personal messiness, especially around the end of my first marriage, that is embarrassing.”

In other words, Friedman was — at least in some ways — susceptible to blackmail. Posobiec, or his masters in the Defense Department, had done oppo research and were prepared to use it. But Friedman, and Mother Jones, weren’t about to succumb to that. They couldn’t. Now they had to write the story, and make it transparent.

Here’s my observation: I do not know for sure whether Friedman intends to write more about this, or about Geressy. I do know Friedman has acquitted himself well, ethically. And I do know Hegseth and Posobiec have, once again, exposed themselves for what they are, and what they and their boss in the White House will condone.

And I also know this: Friedman’s original story, the one he was going to write only about Geressy, sounds kinda thin to me. Surely a story, but not, to me, a big one. The regime’s strong-arm, Mafia-style extortive response made it a very big story, indeed.

And so far, no story has appeared by Posobiec, about Friedman. I doubt there ever was one.

—

Gene Pool Gene Polls:

For what it is worth, I answered “Yes” to both questions.

—

And today’s WEEKEND GENE POOL CHALLENGE:

Please elaborate on your answers above, with details, especially if your elaboration is enlightening or funny. Reminder: This is entirely anonymous. I will not publish names even if you give them to me. (I will not even see your email addresses.) Send those elaborations here:

Elaborations

Also, please consider becoming a paying subscriber. We are all in this together.

Subscribe now

AND ON THAT IMPORTANT SUBJECT: I am extending by one week the deadline to apply for a free year’s full subscription to The Gene Pool — for yourself or another person — and broadening the accepted topic. In addition to writing about what is WRONG with the Gene Pool, you may also write waaaay over-the-top overheatedly and fawningly about what is RIGHT with The Gene Pool. Send them to this button, and begin with the word OVERHEATED. Make sure you include your name and email address in the entry, though I will not publish them without your permission. Send them here:

OVERHEATED