Wait, so Mandolyna fired Goad in order to shortly thereafter replace him with...a retarded, untalented Goad? Someone with all the racism, and none of the writing chops or brains?
I’m not sure if you ever read Wodehouse, but in the Jeeves and Wooster books one of Bertie’s aunts has a magazine that would fail except her husband keeps cutting her checks to fund it.
I wonder if Taki makes a profit or if the magazine is a nice loss to offset his tax liabilities.
Bertie contributed at least one article about what the well-dressed man is wearing to his aunt’s magazine.
You are correct. Takimag rarely "fires." Rather, they hound their best writers into leaving...again (as I've previously mentioned) because of Mandolyna's unique personality "quirks." Even "Z Man" they didn't fire. Mandolyna asked him about the plagiarism claims, and he quit. In THAT case, he was not hounded. He was treated respectfully. And he blew the chance to plead his case.
Dave, reading your stuff is like watching the scene in "My Cousin Vinny" when Billy Gambini is explaining to his buddy Stan what a sharp nose Vinny has for bullshit. In yet another metaphor, your stuff moves seemingly impressive and clean rocks aside to expose that underneath there's just a pile of little bugs engaging one another in a Darwinian contest for attention. One of the most insidious traps built into the "ideosphere" (I just made that up, bitches) is that positive emotional attributes get attached to bylines because the words scratch our itches. We have NO idea who most of these people are, or what they're really like, yet we're ready to let them pork our sister sight unseen. It must be a human tendency to assign personalities to disembodied words/reputations. My advice, if anyone cares, is to absorb the ideas but leave the "love" to the authors' mothers, assuming they came from one. Keep 'em rolling!
Wow. I always knew Z Man was a pompous hack, but I never really followed his career. You're not supposed to say bad things about the recently deceased, so this reporting was really courageous on your part. Thanks.
Chris had a hell of a mean steak and I first started listening to him with him making fun of lesbians and libertarians. He was quick to call people gay and seemed to disdain women which is a red flag. I will say he had an absolute inspired podcast where he ripped into that phylactery guy. One of his best. Chris also had a habit of just making stuff up. “I heard someone in the coffee shop” “ I did lot of work on logistics” etc. we know Dave did not make up Ratibor.
He had some kind of falling out with Fuentes. He went from saying very nice things, went to a Fuentes thing, then he was calling him gay after that.
Dude also hated younger people but I guess that changed.
Anyway, heat stroke is what got him. Terrible way to go. I live in banjo land and have similar outdoor chores to what he had. Dude was mowing a field with a push mower. I kept on telling him to get a tractor but zero response. The kind of weather we had last week, you’re looking at the first signs of heat stroke in 15 minutes for a city boy like him.
Finally I’m a little ashamed to admit that my first thought upon seeing his death that we will finally get to hear the beef story from Dave.
Manospheric woman-hatred is a huge red flag, but an even bigger one is that he ever associated with that subhuman hobgoblin Fuentes. Anyone who ever liked that monster has got something seriously wrong with them.
I can’t imagine getting mad about lesbians. They’re usually so sensible and efficient. Most lesbians I’ve met just seem so stable. Like how can you even be mad? Yeah they’re different but if they keep their grass cut and are good neighbors why waste energy on caring about what they do?
This was a shyamalan level twist, damm, I liked his articles on taki mag but thats really all I knew of the guy. In hindsight I liked someone else's work, pretty crazy.
I really wish you had made this public far sooner, the guy was the Alex Hailey of the alt right and I feel dirty for ever having read or listened to anything he "wrote".
It was a tough call, Mike. But what it came down to was that I didn't want to upset my relationship with Taki and Mandolyna. They never wanted "dirty laundry" aired, and I respected that. But once they sullied that relationship, I felt free to tell this story.
This whole thing reminds me that while the guy is a certified looney toon Joe Rogan performed a great public service by singlehandedly destroying Carlos Mencia's career over stealing jokes (of course ironically Rogan himself would later be credibly accused of doing just that. Of course the stealing jokes wasn't the bad part, it was the hypocrisy).
American Renaissance just did a fawning podcast/tribute the the eternally Z'(ing)Man making him sound like a cross between Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Voltaire - only smarter, a better written, and with more varied interests.
These guys are 1000 times worse than the anti-abortion single issue voters in their myopia. As long as you are racist, and more importantly, hate Jews enough there is no sin that can't be forgiven or overlooked. Crazed Communist but hates Jews? Sure why not? Conquering jihadist anti-Western Islamist but rabid antisemite? My natural ally! Molester of children and trafficker in flesh but knows the truth about the “JQ”? My brother from another mother! Embezzler? Plagiarizer? Hates Jews? Brilliant polymath and historian extraordinaire!
There is this idiot who called himself “Sneako” who is big on the moron woke right who is endorsing Mamdani for NY mayor for the sole reason that he’s “anti-zionist” even though he disagrees with him on everything else.
They are so dumb that they are willing to actually commit civilizational suicide by making coming cause with actual enemies who want them and their way of life eradicated and who are actually doing everything they accuse the Jews of doing to fight an imaginary enemy. Its truly mind boggling how pathologically stupid and all encompassing their hatred really is.
My comment on the amren podcast about Zman that linked to this latest substack by Mr. Cole got deleted. I'm wondering if I can just mention the substack without the link and have it posted.
I did my best to play Devil's advocate in the above comment and got a pretty good dressing down by Cole. I think that was mostly on my part glossing over a part in the article that made it abundantly clear that Zman the Takimag troll and Zman the blogger were in fact the same person. So, I have no reason not to believe Mr. Cole. He's a primary source for God's sake and a pretty big insider in this sphere. On that note, if Zman left an egg at an amren conference it begs the question why these platitudes. As much as I'm also an Amren fan I think the amren folks need to really consider who they are willing to pay tribute to given the fact they once courted Richard "lil' dicky" Spencer and Nick "I like cat bois" Fuentes. Both are more or less blackballed from the so called "movement." I'm wondering if this podcast is sort of paying the pied piper so to speak. I'm guessing there are a lot of Zman fans on Amren.
If I came across as too harsh in my reply, and perhaps I did, I apologize. But I've of late had a beef with my readers that they come at me with questions they could easily find the answers to themselves. A search of the name "Mandolyna" on Z Man's site would've returned results that prove, in his own words, that he was the troll who got banned. If I was short with you, it wasn't your fault, but just my collective exasperation that nobody does their own research anymore. That's an unacknowledged hazard of being in close proximity to readers, and being responsive to their messages/comments, as I try to be. You occasionally become frustrated with thoughts of "look it up yourself!"
But no offense was intended, and the overall fault was mine.
I was a habitual lurker on Zman's blog and am also Jewish. The blog's obsession with the 'JQ' got worse over time, and it really accelerated after October 7th. At first, it was just a few commenters with frequent references to 'tiny hats' and 'every single time.' By the last year or so, even blog posts on seemingly completely irrelevant topics attracted a slew of comments blaming the Jooz. Maybe Zman started running out of ideas, or he felt pressure to compete with Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson. I confess to developing a morbid fascination with the comments, but I ultimately concluded that you have to be a complete loser to blame all your problems on 2% of the population. Thanks for providing a great coda to this story. And by the way, your one liner about Soros and the Holocaust is the best thing ever written about that asshole.
"JQ" obsession is what in Europe call "mental browness". Is it a case all anti-semites from both sides eventually finish to carry water to non whites with their ears?
Oh Dave! I’m in awe of you sometimes. Okay, a lot of times! You’re so fucking smart so much of this shit goes right over my head. But I will ALWAYS support a friend! Even if I have no clue what’s going on! This one made me laugh though, even though I don’t understand the half of it, I understand trolls and I understand plagiarism. That’s just plain sad. Pathetic! No thoughts of your own?! Sad! But I am glad, that you’re glad, he’s dead! What bothers me most really is the fact people gotta get all homicidal simply because someone thinks differently than you! What the hell is that about?!! Ugh! I’ll never understand people man! NEVER! I can think of plenty of people who deserve death, but you are certainly not one of them! What have you ever done that was a capital offence?!!! Sweet fuck all! Those people need to do us all a fuckin favour and if you’re gonna be filled with murderous rage?! Easy, start with YOUR OWN DAMN SELF FIRST!
I have no opinion of Z Man or you two's travails, but I support not letting someone's passing imbue the deceased's life with some redeeming trait that would not have been granted to him during his life.
A while ago, an old colleague took his life. Everyone else who worked with him said the typical "Gone too soon," "What a waste," "His light shined too brightly," etc.
The guy was a rotten asshole to everybody who ever encountered him. He was giant and confrontational, so rarely did anybody call him on it, but most people forced to be near him held a seething resentment. A real pompous ass who AFAIK only diminished his environs.
His death did not somehow redeem his life. In fact, it guaranteed that he would never be redeemed.
Wow, that was one hell of a story. It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly unaware I am. It probably helps that I don't listen to podcasts or visit alt or far right websites. I don't think I'm missing out by not. So I didn't know about any of this. Taki's was an accidental stumble sometime in late 2018. So there was Goad and there was you and it was all good. Then Goad was gone but we still had you so I hung in there. (I personally find Taki himself boring af.) I don't remember when I first noticed the Z Man but I know I read at least a few of his columns. I can't remember if I liked them or not. I didn't really care when he disappeared. I am generally in that school of thought about not speaking ill of the dead but I think one gets a pass when said dead person has publicly called for your hanging. Plus it does seem that he was a giant douchebag. Ha! And there's another one of my character flaws. Great story, worthy of a couple of beers. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting story. Even though it turns out most of his stuff was plagiarized, I remember coming to the conclusion that that this guy was a meathead/blowhard - the writing equivalent of all hat no cattle. His resemblance to Rasputin is not surprising. The disturbing thing, however, was that Derb seemed to respect the guy, making many positive comments about him.
I think the Derb thing was in part because "Z Man" calculatedly worked that angle, assisting an elderly man with technological matters, and getting into his good graces.
Wait, so Mandolyna fired Goad in order to shortly thereafter replace him with...a retarded, untalented Goad? Someone with all the racism, and none of the writing chops or brains?
Sometimes, I'm amazed Taki Mag is still going!
I hate to admit it, but...me too.
I’m not sure if you ever read Wodehouse, but in the Jeeves and Wooster books one of Bertie’s aunts has a magazine that would fail except her husband keeps cutting her checks to fund it.
I wonder if Taki makes a profit or if the magazine is a nice loss to offset his tax liabilities.
Bertie contributed at least one article about what the well-dressed man is wearing to his aunt’s magazine.
Every girl's crazy 'bout a Wodehouse man!
The well dressed man wore spats, I’m guessing
Is that the case that Goad was actually fired? I was under the impression it was a sort of a parting of ways, like a resignation.
You are correct. Takimag rarely "fires." Rather, they hound their best writers into leaving...again (as I've previously mentioned) because of Mandolyna's unique personality "quirks." Even "Z Man" they didn't fire. Mandolyna asked him about the plagiarism claims, and he quit. In THAT case, he was not hounded. He was treated respectfully. And he blew the chance to plead his case.
Looks like the plagiarist is catching some eternal Zzzzzzzz’s
Yep, he’s taken his last snort of the old NyQuil. The bastard is running strong with me today, I fear.
LOL!!!!!!!!
Moral of the story? Never piss off a Jew. He will never forget......for thousands of years. Nyuk nyuk nyuck.
Dave, reading your stuff is like watching the scene in "My Cousin Vinny" when Billy Gambini is explaining to his buddy Stan what a sharp nose Vinny has for bullshit. In yet another metaphor, your stuff moves seemingly impressive and clean rocks aside to expose that underneath there's just a pile of little bugs engaging one another in a Darwinian contest for attention. One of the most insidious traps built into the "ideosphere" (I just made that up, bitches) is that positive emotional attributes get attached to bylines because the words scratch our itches. We have NO idea who most of these people are, or what they're really like, yet we're ready to let them pork our sister sight unseen. It must be a human tendency to assign personalities to disembodied words/reputations. My advice, if anyone cares, is to absorb the ideas but leave the "love" to the authors' mothers, assuming they came from one. Keep 'em rolling!
Love the comment, Patrick! Thank you.
This comment is worthy of Dave's substack!
I find myself occasionally assigning personalities to writers as well, and perhaps I'm not always right. Thanks for getting me to think.
Damn! Patrick said it, dropped the mic, and didn’t let the door hit him in the ass on the way out. Great comment.
Wow. I always knew Z Man was a pompous hack, but I never really followed his career. You're not supposed to say bad things about the recently deceased, so this reporting was really courageous on your part. Thanks.
Interesting story, brilliant writing
That's very kind of you, William. Thank you!
Kind and true, young man.
Chris had a hell of a mean steak and I first started listening to him with him making fun of lesbians and libertarians. He was quick to call people gay and seemed to disdain women which is a red flag. I will say he had an absolute inspired podcast where he ripped into that phylactery guy. One of his best. Chris also had a habit of just making stuff up. “I heard someone in the coffee shop” “ I did lot of work on logistics” etc. we know Dave did not make up Ratibor.
He had some kind of falling out with Fuentes. He went from saying very nice things, went to a Fuentes thing, then he was calling him gay after that.
Dude also hated younger people but I guess that changed.
Anyway, heat stroke is what got him. Terrible way to go. I live in banjo land and have similar outdoor chores to what he had. Dude was mowing a field with a push mower. I kept on telling him to get a tractor but zero response. The kind of weather we had last week, you’re looking at the first signs of heat stroke in 15 minutes for a city boy like him.
Finally I’m a little ashamed to admit that my first thought upon seeing his death that we will finally get to hear the beef story from Dave.
Manospheric woman-hatred is a huge red flag, but an even bigger one is that he ever associated with that subhuman hobgoblin Fuentes. Anyone who ever liked that monster has got something seriously wrong with them.
There’s manospheric woman hating and there’s also closeted “has no use for women” as well. Not a speculating on either but both are a thing.
I bet Nick’s catboyfriend wouldn’t dare call him gay
I can’t imagine getting mad about lesbians. They’re usually so sensible and efficient. Most lesbians I’ve met just seem so stable. Like how can you even be mad? Yeah they’re different but if they keep their grass cut and are good neighbors why waste energy on caring about what they do?
I was referring to Xirl science, kind of an inside Z joke
This was a shyamalan level twist, damm, I liked his articles on taki mag but thats really all I knew of the guy. In hindsight I liked someone else's work, pretty crazy.
I really wish you had made this public far sooner, the guy was the Alex Hailey of the alt right and I feel dirty for ever having read or listened to anything he "wrote".
It was a tough call, Mike. But what it came down to was that I didn't want to upset my relationship with Taki and Mandolyna. They never wanted "dirty laundry" aired, and I respected that. But once they sullied that relationship, I felt free to tell this story.
This whole thing reminds me that while the guy is a certified looney toon Joe Rogan performed a great public service by singlehandedly destroying Carlos Mencia's career over stealing jokes (of course ironically Rogan himself would later be credibly accused of doing just that. Of course the stealing jokes wasn't the bad part, it was the hypocrisy).
LOL!!!!
American Renaissance just did a fawning podcast/tribute the the eternally Z'(ing)Man making him sound like a cross between Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Voltaire - only smarter, a better written, and with more varied interests.
These guys are 1000 times worse than the anti-abortion single issue voters in their myopia. As long as you are racist, and more importantly, hate Jews enough there is no sin that can't be forgiven or overlooked. Crazed Communist but hates Jews? Sure why not? Conquering jihadist anti-Western Islamist but rabid antisemite? My natural ally! Molester of children and trafficker in flesh but knows the truth about the “JQ”? My brother from another mother! Embezzler? Plagiarizer? Hates Jews? Brilliant polymath and historian extraordinaire!
There is this idiot who called himself “Sneako” who is big on the moron woke right who is endorsing Mamdani for NY mayor for the sole reason that he’s “anti-zionist” even though he disagrees with him on everything else.
They are so dumb that they are willing to actually commit civilizational suicide by making coming cause with actual enemies who want them and their way of life eradicated and who are actually doing everything they accuse the Jews of doing to fight an imaginary enemy. Its truly mind boggling how pathologically stupid and all encompassing their hatred really is.
Very well-said, Dave!
My comment on the amren podcast about Zman that linked to this latest substack by Mr. Cole got deleted. I'm wondering if I can just mention the substack without the link and have it posted.
I did my best to play Devil's advocate in the above comment and got a pretty good dressing down by Cole. I think that was mostly on my part glossing over a part in the article that made it abundantly clear that Zman the Takimag troll and Zman the blogger were in fact the same person. So, I have no reason not to believe Mr. Cole. He's a primary source for God's sake and a pretty big insider in this sphere. On that note, if Zman left an egg at an amren conference it begs the question why these platitudes. As much as I'm also an Amren fan I think the amren folks need to really consider who they are willing to pay tribute to given the fact they once courted Richard "lil' dicky" Spencer and Nick "I like cat bois" Fuentes. Both are more or less blackballed from the so called "movement." I'm wondering if this podcast is sort of paying the pied piper so to speak. I'm guessing there are a lot of Zman fans on Amren.
If I came across as too harsh in my reply, and perhaps I did, I apologize. But I've of late had a beef with my readers that they come at me with questions they could easily find the answers to themselves. A search of the name "Mandolyna" on Z Man's site would've returned results that prove, in his own words, that he was the troll who got banned. If I was short with you, it wasn't your fault, but just my collective exasperation that nobody does their own research anymore. That's an unacknowledged hazard of being in close proximity to readers, and being responsive to their messages/comments, as I try to be. You occasionally become frustrated with thoughts of "look it up yourself!"
But no offense was intended, and the overall fault was mine.
I was a habitual lurker on Zman's blog and am also Jewish. The blog's obsession with the 'JQ' got worse over time, and it really accelerated after October 7th. At first, it was just a few commenters with frequent references to 'tiny hats' and 'every single time.' By the last year or so, even blog posts on seemingly completely irrelevant topics attracted a slew of comments blaming the Jooz. Maybe Zman started running out of ideas, or he felt pressure to compete with Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson. I confess to developing a morbid fascination with the comments, but I ultimately concluded that you have to be a complete loser to blame all your problems on 2% of the population. Thanks for providing a great coda to this story. And by the way, your one liner about Soros and the Holocaust is the best thing ever written about that asshole.
Thank you! I'm very proud of that line.
"JQ" obsession is what in Europe call "mental browness". Is it a case all anti-semites from both sides eventually finish to carry water to non whites with their ears?
Everything Z knew about copying he stole from other, more talented plagiarists
LOL!!!!
He copied from the A-Man to the Y-Man.
Oh Dave! I’m in awe of you sometimes. Okay, a lot of times! You’re so fucking smart so much of this shit goes right over my head. But I will ALWAYS support a friend! Even if I have no clue what’s going on! This one made me laugh though, even though I don’t understand the half of it, I understand trolls and I understand plagiarism. That’s just plain sad. Pathetic! No thoughts of your own?! Sad! But I am glad, that you’re glad, he’s dead! What bothers me most really is the fact people gotta get all homicidal simply because someone thinks differently than you! What the hell is that about?!! Ugh! I’ll never understand people man! NEVER! I can think of plenty of people who deserve death, but you are certainly not one of them! What have you ever done that was a capital offence?!!! Sweet fuck all! Those people need to do us all a fuckin favour and if you’re gonna be filled with murderous rage?! Easy, start with YOUR OWN DAMN SELF FIRST!
Love ya, Ash! Always. And I LOVE the new video you sent! Put I'll PM you about that.
Ah, most excellent! As long as it made you smile, laugh, or just brightened your day, that makes me happy. Love you right back!!
I have no opinion of Z Man or you two's travails, but I support not letting someone's passing imbue the deceased's life with some redeeming trait that would not have been granted to him during his life.
A while ago, an old colleague took his life. Everyone else who worked with him said the typical "Gone too soon," "What a waste," "His light shined too brightly," etc.
The guy was a rotten asshole to everybody who ever encountered him. He was giant and confrontational, so rarely did anybody call him on it, but most people forced to be near him held a seething resentment. A real pompous ass who AFAIK only diminished his environs.
His death did not somehow redeem his life. In fact, it guaranteed that he would never be redeemed.
Wow, that was one hell of a story. It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly unaware I am. It probably helps that I don't listen to podcasts or visit alt or far right websites. I don't think I'm missing out by not. So I didn't know about any of this. Taki's was an accidental stumble sometime in late 2018. So there was Goad and there was you and it was all good. Then Goad was gone but we still had you so I hung in there. (I personally find Taki himself boring af.) I don't remember when I first noticed the Z Man but I know I read at least a few of his columns. I can't remember if I liked them or not. I didn't really care when he disappeared. I am generally in that school of thought about not speaking ill of the dead but I think one gets a pass when said dead person has publicly called for your hanging. Plus it does seem that he was a giant douchebag. Ha! And there's another one of my character flaws. Great story, worthy of a couple of beers. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Sandy! I agree, in general, about not speaking ill of the dead. But I have a weakness for telling good (true) tales to my readers!
Interesting story. Even though it turns out most of his stuff was plagiarized, I remember coming to the conclusion that that this guy was a meathead/blowhard - the writing equivalent of all hat no cattle. His resemblance to Rasputin is not surprising. The disturbing thing, however, was that Derb seemed to respect the guy, making many positive comments about him.
I think the Derb thing was in part because "Z Man" calculatedly worked that angle, assisting an elderly man with technological matters, and getting into his good graces.