86 words / 1:58:11
David Zsutty joined Greg Johnson for an Ask Me Anything session. It is now available to download or listen to online.
Topics include:
1:25 – Israel vs Iran.
13:45- Boomers.
24:14 – A Muslim mayor of New York?
32:26 – What is the fate of New York City?
49:48 – Thoughts on the passing of Z Man.
1:22:11 – Favorite books and movies this year.
1:37:00 – Getting along with people in the movement.
1:44:58 – What would you tell your 18 year-old self?
To listen in a player, click here or below. To download, right-click the link and click “save as.”
52 comments
Very philosophical discussion here. The world needs more Greg Johnson. I enjoyed the life perspective words you made here Greg. Very commendable. Ordered more of your books through Powell’s Books recently. Keep up the great work!
Zman was a very big voice on the DR, I would argue the biggest in terms of shaping the views of folks in a position to effect change. He was palatable to the “normies”, up there with Sam Francis or Joe Sobran, It’s a huge loss for the movement.
I understand and sympathize with your sadness over his premature death. But no, as a writer and thinker he was nowhere in the league of Francis or Sobran. As for ability to affect policymakers, frankly this seems doubtful to me. But I am certainly in no position to verify it or falsify it. He did have a fervent set of fans, however, of which you are proof. But he also had a lot of detractors and enemies, most of whom prefer not to speak ill of the dead publicly. The exception is David Cole, his former Takimag colleague, who accused him of being a serial plagiarist. I would like to see that claim verified or put to rest.
Boy, Cole really let him have it didn’t he? If he is correct it looks like the Z man gave the cut-up method a bad name, you have to at least occasionally intersperse your own words with those from whom you are borrowing.
Vox Day has alleged Zman a plagiarist from 2017. https://voxday.net/2017/11/11/plagiarism-is-plagiarism/ and here https://voxday.net/2017/11/10/mailvox-posturing-and-plagiarism/ He cites a Tublecane guy, not sure who that is. I’m guessing some streamer/commenter back in the day. A lot of links Vox has are no longer active. That being said, Cole has firsthand knowledge in the matter so I see no reason to doubt these claims. The fact that Goad’s writings are still up at Takimag despite leaving there but Zman’s aren’t is extremely suspicious. Word is that Cole is going to be airing out some of the dirty laundry from Takimag on his substack. Takimag was my go to place back when Goad and Cole were on board so I’m relishing in the drama.
I never read too much Zman. I think amren would post some his blogs occasionally. His amren conference talk had a slow and stale start but I think it made some good points despite lacking the rhetorical grace of Anthony Cumia.
This is interesting. This predates the charges that led to Zman’s departure from Takimag (according to Cole) by about 5 years.
The Vox Day stuff does not look good for sure, but what Cole is claiming goes beyond a few sentences. He claims that one entire column was nicked, and he at least implies that “many” columns were. Here’s the relevant section:
“A Taki reader in Houston heard Derb’s podcast and was like, wait, that Z Man’ column Derb’s raving about sounds like one I read years ago somewhere else.
So Houston Reader did some digging, and he found that Z Man had plagiarized that entire column. Yes, the column Derb brought attention to was 100% stolen from a better author.
Then Houston Reader did MORE digging, and discovered that many Z Man columns were pilfered.
“Z Man was a serial plagiarist. And to professional writers, that’s child molester-level evil. It’s the worst thing you can do.”
If even one column were totally swiped it would seem to be easy for Cole to produce the smoking gun. The proof is in the pudding after all.
One thing I learned while looking this stuff up is that Cole and Goad are personal friends; their writing style even has an official sounding name: “transgressive writing.”
Who knew?
CFOmally: July 5, 2025 Zman was a very big voice on the DR, I would argue the biggest in terms of shaping the views of folks in a position to effect change. He was palatable to the “normies”, up there with Sam Francis or Joe Sobran, It’s a huge loss for the movement.
—-
I met both Francis snd Sobran. Good men, dearly missed — never heard of Zman or DR, for that matter. I’m aware that David Cole is a Yid, no matter if he has questioned his Tribe’s Holocaust story, so don’t care what he has to say about anybody or anything.
Iran is winning against Israel. Even though Netanyahoo is backslapping with Trump today for the third time since January — with his hand out for ever more US taxpayer money and military support for the “shitty little nation.” Iran has survived and has been kicking Jew butts.
See the map here from 26 June: Israel Suffered Extensive Damage – by Larry C Johnson
Despite the arduous efforts of Israeli censors to hide the devastation Iran inflicted on Israel with its barrage of ballistic missiles during the 12-Day War, information is emerging that destroys the myth that Israel had an impregnable air defense. The map at the head of this article reveals the sites targeted by Iran. Based on the videos of strikes in Haifa and Tel Aviv, I think this map accurately portrays the massive scale of the Iranian attack. For the first time in its history, Israel took a major beating.
According to various Israeli media reports, damage spanned residential buildings, scientific infrastructure (e.g., labs at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot), the Israeli Defense Ministry complex, and commercial hubs like the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Iran also struck a military target near the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva…
I just searched the book referenced by Greg: Quinn Slobodian, _Hayek’s Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right_ (Princeton U. Press). The author is professor at Boston University. Check out this blurb from a review at the NYT:
‘Hayek’s Bastards demonstrates how a history of ideas can be riveting. Slobodian grounds intellectual abstractions in the lives of the people who espoused them… His book offers an illuminating history to our current bewildering moment, as right-wing populists join forces with billionaire oligarchs to take a chain saw to the foundations of public life, until there’s nothing left to stand on’ – Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times
What would I tell my 18 year old self? Buy Microsoft stock! Load up on Bitcoin!
could this be true about Z? Can anyone verify this? It’s interesting that Cole doesn’t link to the articles and show us the proof. I would really require that. Didn’t Z also write some articles for counter currents? Why did that stop? There seems to be the species of person who doesn’t make the transition from being an interesting blogger or Commenter, to writing longer imperishable pieces like you guys do, and I suppose that may have been Z. Another example would be priss factor at Unz Review, who is much more interesting in his comments than his long form articles. I suppose I would fall into that category too, although at least I realize it.
I think the main key to Z’s popularity or it’s main source was that he appealed to upper middle class conservatives by avoiding the JQ in any major way and calling out the “antisemites.”Contrary to what Cole seems to think, his popularity was that Z did not appeal to the wignats.
Sadly, David no longer seems the man he once was. I would have to wonder if there might be a reason he doesn’t link to the articles.
Beau: Agreed, whatever the truth of the matter regarding the plagiarism this essay of Cole’s is unhinged and lunatic–way beyond the pale Not only does he violate de mortuis nil nisi bonum but ad hominem as well. If he has truth on his side he could have presented his facts in a more responsible way.
I’ve never understood that rule of chivalry; I’d rather not speak ill of someone when they are still alive—you can’t really be hurt by it when you are dead! That’s the time for an assessment.
I used to listen to Z heavily back when his blog started, but I had stopped regularly reading him in the last few years. The reason was that his earlier stuff seemed better researched and structured, while his later work got rushed and incoherent sometimes. His quantity was the same over the years(prodigious) but the quality went down. That’s my assessment of him.
The Never Speak Ill Of The Dead rule is the same as the “decent interval” rule, you can speak ill of the dead you just have to wait a certain period. As for the charges of plagiarism: I read through the comments section to Cole’s accusatory article and the best he has done so far as I can see is say that one allegedly plagiarized article is from the National Review and one from the Times Of India. No specifics or article dates or titles though. It looks like Greg has gone to the horse’s mouth for the links in question so we can wait and see.
It’s all so sad, so very sad.
Beau:
Cole’s Substack for today (July 7 2025) is interesting. In his previous one he said flat out that Z Man was a serial plagiarist, no hedging. In the current article he says the so-called Z Tards are asking for proof. And then he backs off his flat assertion of plagiarism. Now he says:
“In 2022 a reader sent Mandolyna an email claiming that Z Man had been plagiarizing columns. She asked Z about the charge, and he quit in a huff. My only role was that Mandolyna asked me to review the reader’s email, and I said that it merited further investigation.”
And:
“You may wonder why these intrepid sleuths are asking me the proof question when I was but a bystander in the events. A reader alerted Mandolyna to the plagiarism, she’s the one who grilled Z Man, and she’s the one to whom he threw a fit and quit.”
So he goes from being the one stating plagiarism as a fact to a “bystander.” Ask the editor he says, he doesn’t know.
That is, he has no proof. That of course does not mean the Z Man is not a plagiarist; but it does mean Cole, in addition to being the most obnoxious bastard on the planet, is squarely dishonest.
BTW: near the end of the July 7 2025 essay Cole does adduce proof of plagiarism: the Vox Day Stuff! But what Vox Day has proves that Z man was a minor plagiarist not a serial plagiarist. So unless someone can magically dredge up the Houston Reader the only shot is the Taki Editor. But apparently she’s a flake and anyway why would it be in her interest to trumpet someone she hired as a plagiarist? Much better to let sleeping dogs lie.
The stuff I’ve seen him accused of plagiarizing so far with cursory searchs has been rather weak, like just a few lines here and there.
The Zman articles accused of plagiarism are no longer on Taki. But they might be on the WayBack Machine. I wrote to Cole asking him for links. Will let you know.
Doubt Cole has receipt
“Doubt Cole has receipt”
He had better have it or he’ll have egg on his face. He said in the context of writing plagiarism is child molesting level evil. And he says the links exist, he has seen the links, and the links show obvious plagiarism. Those are bold claims and he has given himself no wiggle room. To wit:
“So Houston Reader sent Mandolyna his concerns, with links to prove his suspicions.
And she forwarded the email to me, asking me to look into it.
That’s what’s so tragic about how things ended with Takimag. Mandolyna always trusted me. I was compliant and loyal. Why she began sullying our ten-year working relationship this year, I don’t know. But in 2022, I was the one she put in charge of investigating Houston Reader’s claims.
Initially, I told her that Houston Reader’s links did indeed point to obvious acts of plagiarism; Taki was paying Z Man but Z Man wasn’t doing the work. He was just copying older pieces that in theory were so long-forgotten they could be swiped without people remembering, or he was plagiarizing pieces from English-language foreign sites like Times of India and Indian Express.
But what he wasn’t doing was earning his paycheck.”
If this is accurate all he has to do is show the links and it’s game over.
David “Cole” Stein?? Really? The shape shifter guy who flip-flopped on his takedown of the Holohoax? More Jewish doxxing, albeit post-mortem. Disgusting.
And if it turns out to be not so accurate, the second item in Hammurabi’s Law Code comes to mind. Specifically, a false accuser should face the same penalty as would be incurred by the falsely alleged crime.
“The Zman articles accused of plagiarism are no longer on Taki. But they might be on the WayBack Machine. I wrote to Cole asking him for links. Will let you know.”
Greg: did David Cole ever respond to your inquiry about the Z Man possibly being a plagiarist?
No
I was never a Z Man fan but to the extent that a man’s posthumous reputation is on the line it appears that David Cole is being glib or dishonest, take your pick. My money is on the latter.
I didn’t read his blog with any regularity at all, but I could glean Z-Man was indeed very good at connecting to a more normie crowd. If that’s been one goal of our cause in recent times, he succeeded. And he was prolific, to the point, it seemed to me, to have been a pressure on him to churn the content out in this way. Doing that for years, you’re going to get exhausted. And apparently he was holding down a regular job too. I couldn’t do it. It’s too much.
While he was an excellent connector to the normier side of this, he was rather intolerant of the other end. His finger was always hovering over the mute/block button. I also thought he had a bit of a heavy touch on sales. His unease to any psyche that wasn’t within his tolerable parameters, the readiness to block, the prolific regularity of material and his rather superficial level of engagement did reinforce him as a sales guy to me. It seemed this was stuff was a product to be sold and its worth measured in financial return.
We didn’t get on on social media over this, but I also gave him his dues and respect for the work he was doing. I don’t think I disagreed with anything much he wrote. He was a competent polemicist, great flow with his writing, very prolific and was very popular.
While we have our own internal disputes, we should never loose track of what our enemies think. One thing I didn’t know until he passed, was that he had been doxxed years back by one of these Jewish organizations. They had been aggressively trawling through information, including data breaches and what they described as ‘data brokers’ to get his identity, and frankly stalking him into his personal life. That earns him a posthumous medal or award in my view. It seemed possible at times this was an enemy he had hoped to not get entangled with, but our enemies pick us.
I haven’t read it, but I wonder if Cole’s stuff is more bitching and screeching than substance. Also wonder if the sheer volume of stuff Z-Man turned out could be a factor in this claim.
This is well said RE his salesman mannerisms and his quickness to block people.
Mostly bitching and screeching. Waiting for Cole’s receipts, but I doubt he has anything. He seems like a very vindictive guy.
Meantime, RIP Zman. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing every day the last 5 years or so. He will be missed.
btw:
Henry Ford is way more approachable for the JQ than Hitler
I wonder if there would have been another Haavara Agreement if the Leninist Bolsheviks hadn’t sabotaged everything with their Holocaust narrative.
Bolshies bitter about being wartime targets I guess. Maybe at this point we should be hoping for regime change in Israel.
Kosher bat soup’s on the menu, boys!
To bolster Greg and David’s orientalmudic prediction, here’s more about the Israeli parasite seeking a new host, direct from the horse’s mouth:
As the West dies, Israel’s future lies with rising Asia
Israel shares increasingly fewer values with the leftist West, which in its bid to destroy itself has abandoned its history, culture, uniqueness and belief in itself.
I’ve thought so myself, for a good while. I’ve even said something to that effect briefly, in an upcoming item still in the slush pile at the moment.
The great historical irony of course is that the group most responsible for the American non traditional, pro-immigrant, anti-White leftist world view is the Jews themselves. It’s a classic example of what Shakespeare called being hoist on one’s own petard. Hell’s Bells, the Jews may even lose Jew York City for crying out loud. Were it not so deadly serious it would actually be rather funny.
Man. That article is rich. TLDR; that sucker is going down, so we need to find a new host. The thing is, could SE Asian countries shower free fighter jets and anti-missile systems on them as the GAE did? And moreover, if they could, would they? I mean, it seems like every country’s intelligence assessment is probably shocking in its clear understanding of who, how and why the GAE is doing an epic face plant.
“Also, history has shown us that anything can happen in American politics. For instance, come 2028 a downturn in the US economy could sink the Republicans, with the critical help of the Democratic news organizations, Democratic television networks, Democratic Holywood, the Democratic universities, and the Democratic business community, as they again come together to defeat a Republican presidential candidate.”
Hmmm…. Democratic controlled Media, Hollywood, Business … … Nice one. Nice one.
“Israel’s future lies with rising Asia”
Haha. Zionists are so stupid.
If they mean to start functioning as a normal country on the southwest tip of Asia, then I’d be down for that.
If instead they think they can pull the same script in Asia as they did in the Western world, they’ve got another thing coming. They won’t be able to blend into Asian populations yet remain cohesive “insider outsiders”. Since that won’t work, they won’t be able to infiltrate the ruling class without standing out. As for ethnic networking, the Chinese are already light years ahead of them in the region. Also, among Orientals, there aren’t masses of fundamentalists who believe their “chosen people” guff. Their victim card doesn’t work in Asia. Therefore, if the Israelis suck the West dry and then think they can keep up the same bad behavior in the Far East, the best possible result for Israel is that they’ll be left to the tender mercies of the Arabs.
Iran won. Here’s my reason and why it applies to us.
If a predator attacks you with a knife and you walk away healthy and largely intact you have won. You survived; this is what matters. Whether the attacker wants to claim that he was the winner in some sense is irrelevant.
Iran won. Syria lost. The Houthis won. Hezbollah was seriously wounded but it’s still there so it won. The Palestinians are clearly wronged and they deserve credit for fighting for their existence but that doesn’t matter; what matters is that they are not surviving so they are losing.
In the presence of an aggressive, genocidal monster, there is one test that matters, one criterion for victory or defeat, and that is survival.
The same aggressive ethnic monster is genociding us Whites, not by direct military aggression but by antiwhite policies, and the strategies of White genocide. Again, our only reasonable goal and the test of victory or defeat is group survival. Not restitution, not retribution, and not whether the blending out of our race takes place legally. Our goal must be actual and ongoing group survival.
Well said.
I would say rather if people are helping them. We, the US and Europe, are doing their dirty work for them. We are transferring the moral responsibility onto ourselves. So I would say Israel has won both moral and military victories.
I wonder, if David Z reads these comments at all, if he didn’t like wheel of time, which books or series has he liked? I’ve been thinking of reading wheel of time myself. It seemed a little too juvenile for myself, actually. Nor did I like the show for wheel of time, although that may have something to do with it having been wokeified beyond endurance. I liked the show for Legend of the Seeker(very cheesy but fun) and to a lesser extent Shanara Chronicles.
I recommend Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever series. There is a total of ten books, and one novella. 🙃
I don’t like that. that’s morbid. I like the Worm Ouroboros by er Eddison.
That was a good book, it was reviewed on this site. The problem with The Worm Ouroboros is that it was one small book, not enough character development. 🙃
Let’s not get into The Worm Ouroboros here, because it is a glorious and hilarious masterpiece of the right that deserves its own Counter-Currents article and extended dedicated discussion.
I just finished The New Prometheans by John Bruce Leonard and he has a whole chapter dedicated to The Worm Ouroboros and highly praises it. I didn’t realize it was only two hundred something pages, though. I should check it out.
you read it!? That’s awesome. I’ve never known another person who read it. You just went right up in my estimation. Hey, did you get that the dwarf ambassador and Lord Gro symbolize to the Jews?
It has been a few years, but I do remember this, a sorcerer king, and a savant helper cast a spell on the rival king of the demon tribe (they are not really demons, the author was just being clever). Anyways the demon king’s brother Goldy was banished to the tallest mountain in their world. The demon king, and his remaining brothers embark on a series of adventures (which involve acquiring a mythical flying creature, the first attempt fails) to rescue Goldy. Goldy was eventually rescued, the demon king makes war on the sorcerer king, the sorcerer king destroys himself, and his kingdom trying to repeat the spell. The gods take pity on the demon king, and restore their greatest enemy (the sorcerer king) at the end. 🙃
I used to luv The Wheel of Time as a kid then I saw the casting of the tv series and it was as ghastly as expected. Lan looks asian-adjacent and Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, Padan Fain, and Siuan are all quadrooned mulattos and other variations of color that Robert Jordan most certainly did not envision. Loial reminded me more of the cyclops in Krull and not some tyrese gibson lookalike that disgraced the character in the name of diversity. At least they casted Elayne and Moiraine properly. Tar is supposed to be Valon, not half the cast. Way to ruin my childhood as they most certainly will with the Goonies remake but they haven’t touched Breakfast Club. Yet.
I know–barf!
Let’s face it, in the second tier, non-literary fantasy, there’s a psycho sexual element. (there is to higher level fantasy as well, but it’s usually disguised and layered under symbolism). Usually, the main characters will consist of a lead male, a female love interest, and then a third wheel who is either male or female. In Shanara Chronicles, it’s a male two females, and wheel of time a male and a female and a male. And legend of the seeker it’s a male and two females. Other series are kind of similar, but I’m not as familiar. Now chances are, depending on your psychological make up, some one of those three people will be attractive to you. But make two of them black or mulatto, and the chances of that are just a whole lot lower.
Maybe in microscopic print or something. No that’s wrong. It’s over 400 pages. It was the longest fantasy epic before Tolkien. It’s a very big influence upon him. if you read it you’ll notice it. There’s a lot of intertextuality, so even if you don’t enjoy the somewhat peculiar style of worm Ouroboros, you’ll like it for its influence upon Tolkien.
Indeed, that which is crucial from the Iranian point of view is resistance. The victim not merely survived and walked away, but managed to give some good beating to the attacker too, to use your analogy. Hence Iran won as it retaliated and refused to give in to either parties.
Lol Zsutty is sooo wrong about BAP
https://www.bronzeagepervert.yoga/p/two-senile-retards-fighting
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