Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and one of them is Lambert’s long-running and invaluable tenure at Naked Capitalism. He is retiring from Naked Capitalism to pursue new literary and artistic endeavors, and has graciously offered us a two-month runway plus some wriggle room if needed as we try to fill his very big yellow waders.1 So this is a long goodbye. I hope you enjoy these remaining days.
Many of you over the years have made clear how much you’ve appreciated Lambert’s wide-ranging, analytically keen pieces, with their mordant wit and acute phase-making. Who can forget:
Everything’s going according to plan!
Authoritarian followership
Because markets. Go die!
Well done, all
It would be irresponsible not to speculate
Overly dynamic situation
Those coinages helped leaven his relentless coverage of Covid and public health malpractice, class warfare in its many forms (such as “code is law,” the original Obamacare site train wreck, and other tech-implemented schemes to erode rights and social safety nets), Obama’s, Trump’s and Biden’s manipulative messaging, Democratic party machinations (including the not-trivial matter of what the party actually amounts to), the TransPacific Partnership, the slow motion Boeing crash, election dynamics, and his many personal interests, both intellectual and practical, such as gardening and permaculture. And let us not forget Lambert’s regular stiletto work in comments!
Some of you had the chance to meet Lambert at meetups he hosted, such as in London, Montreal, Burlington, and New York, and ones we both participated in (New York and Portland). I know Lambert very much enjoyed these sessions and the enthusiastic reader feedback indicates the feeling was mutual.
Neither Lambert nor I can recall exactly how he came to join Naked Capitalism. Lambert likes to call himself an old-school, as in political, blogger; he cut his teeth on the fight to debunk the WMDs in Iraq story. He had his own site, Corrente. Our first mention of it was in a daily Links in 2009:2
Day 3 of the “Why Won’t #Krugman Post On Bill Black?” Lambert. The MSM, and Krugman appears to be falling in line, is treating Black like radioactive waste.
We linked to his site from our then much shorter daily Links feature, and then got permission to cross post some of his pieces. My recollection is he started interacting with readers on the Naked Capitalism comments section. He then started posting at both his Corrente site and Naked Capitalism.
Lambert graciously sent a list of his favorite posts:
2012
2013
Imminent Death of the Blogs Predicted, Except Not
2014
Neo-liberalism Expressed as Simple Rules
2015
Notes for an Elite Playbook: The Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone
2016
The History of ObamaCare, 2013-2016
2017
Political Misfortune: Anatomy of Democratic Party Failure in Clinton’s Campaign 2016, Part I. Part II.
The Peripheral: William Gibson’s Reactionary Fable
2018
2019
Soil Science, Climate Change, and Property
2020
#COVID19: New Practical Results on Airborne Transmission Indoors
2021
The Class Composition of the Capitol Rioters (First Cut)
The Organizational Capacity and Behavioral Characteristics of the Capitol Rioters (First Cut)
2022
How Ashish Jha and Rochelle Walensky of Newton, MA Protect Their Children from Covid (But not Yours)
2023
New, Buzzy Cochrane Study Sets the “Fools Gold” Standard for Anti-Maskers
2024
Biden Slips a Cog: Second Time as Tragedy, Second Time as Farce, or Both?
As Dima of Military Summary Channel is wont to say, “That’s a lot!”
Lambert also played an indispensable administrative role. He’d also been a computer consultant, with his clients including some big names with very big databases. He had set up Corrente in Drupal. The result of that was that during our many years of effort to get a good tech support team, Lambert would sometimes wind up being a backup trouble-shooter, as well as being a key player in vetting new tech support people (both software and site hosting due to the state of WordPress then).
In addition, Lambert has been a key sounding board and sometimes active player in other “business of the business” matters, particularly the increasingly hostile environment for independent sites (coping with Google search downgrades, and censorship attempts, notably PropOrNot and the recent Google AI fiasco).
So this turning of the year is more Janus-like than usual, looking back on Lambert’s many substantial contributions, and looking forward to how we bring on new talent, with an eye of continuing some of Lambert’s established beats and opening fresh ones.
When Dave Dayen and later Jerri-Lynn Scofield departed, it seemed daunting to fill the voids they left. But each time, the site continued punching above its weight and keeping reader informational and intellectual needs well-fed via bringing on new writers. So wish Lambert the best in his upcoming struggle to avoid golf and shuffleboard, and to those of us who carry on, a smooth and successful transition. I know we will all miss him deeply.
_____
1 Our current team can probably fill Lambert’s void in regular posts but with some strain, but more voices and more capacity would be better. Sadly, unless a new contributor is keen to create a Water Cooler analogue, say a “2:00 PM Coffee Break” afternoon news wrap, that slot will probably retire with him.
2 Actually there is an even earlier but indirect earlier link to Corrente, where Krugman in remarking how quickly ideas once seen as crazypants became orthodox, with pretty much no one admitting to the cognitive shift, linked to a glossary on Corrente for a definition of DFH. So in times immemoriam, before the Obama Administration somehow addled Krugman, Lambert and your humble blogger were in good standing with him.
Godspeed, Lambert! You have earned some time to sniff the flowers; may there be many more years until you’re pushing-up daisies!
> may there be many more years until you’re pushing-up daisies!
Or being scattered on the breeze over the ocean, to my mind preferable. Until then, carpe diem!
Whew…I thought this might be an obituary when I first saw the headline. Things cam happen fast.
Best wishes to Lambert. He’ll be missed.
He will be missed and his birdsongs will also be missed.
Thank you, Lambert! I appreciate your humor, critical thinking, and those links to anarchist perspectives. (I remember Jerri-Lynn Scofield’s links to CrimeReads posts and stories on writing.) I wish you luck and much enjoyment with your future endeavors.
Oh, that dry wit will be missed.
“That’s a damn shame….” made me spit coffee more than once.
Godspeed, Good Sir.
> “That’s a damn shame….” made me spit coffee more than once.
[folds hands piously] I apologize for the many keyboards and screens I have ruined.
I will miss Lambert’s posts, especially on Covid. I hope he keeps commenting and guest posting.
It would be cool if there were:
1. A Greatest Hits or This Day in NC slot where you repost an old post, maybe even reactivate comments.
2. Some Alumni Reunion with Lambert, Eaten, Stroller and all the others.
> Some Alumni Reunion with Lambert, Eaten…
I’m not recalling an “Eaten.” Before my time?
Might be an idea for the 20th Anniversary. “Greatest Hit Jobs”…
I don’t know whether to say ERMAHGERD! or just oh.
Finding someone more Lambert than Lambert? Inconceivable!
Will our precious water cooler be replaced with a Keurig? Again, Inconceivable!
You will be missed, our vocabulary will become smaller; but thank you, good luck, thank you, and we await whomever can fill the Arthurian yellow hip waders.
OMG, Lambert, you will be missed. I always look forward to the 2 PM water cooler, which shows up at 11 AM for those of us on the West Coast. Your coverage of Covid has had a major impact on the way I conduct my daily affairs and I am pleased to say neither my wife or I have contracted Covid.
I wish you all the best in your future endeavor, I hope to hear something on it as you progress.
> Your coverage of Covid has had a major impact on the way I conduct my daily affairs and I am pleased to say neither my wife or I have contracted Covid.
Excellent. Thanks so much.
For me, Lambert’s acute insight into our healthcare system is most precious:
‘Medicare requires you to be impossibly prescient about future (medical) events.’
May God bless you always
May your dreams all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay, Forever Young!
(B.Dylan)
> ‘I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying.’ –Woody Allen
Well, since the latter alterntive is not possible:
I love that live version by the Stones, Lambert. Here’s a live Patty La Belle singing Forever Young. Unforgettable!:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=forever+young+Patty+LaBelle&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da7Xdzf2l5jw
Wishing for you the best of life’s gifts, Lambert.
OMIGOD! Lambert!!
I can’t believe you’re leaving. I thought you’d be with us forever.
I so enjoyed your wry sense of humour and writing style.
All the best in your new endeavours. I hope you’ll let us know what you’re up to.
Best wishes, Lambert, I will miss your work here greatly.
Trying to think up a quick parody, but it wouldn’t do you justice. Enjoy life, be well, we are with you in spirit.
Yikes! What force of nature will ever replace the indefatigable Lambert Strether? Fare the well in the New Year and beyond, Lambert!
You’re the best Lambert! I’ve adopted some of your choice phraseology for my own use and I will very much miss your unique voice on these pages. You’re a lifesaver and a real mensch.
Gotta stop now because I’ve got something in my eye and can’t type anymore…
I’m already going through post-partum depression even though we got a 2 month reprieve…
Best of luck in endeavors to come, Lambert
NC without Lambert is like a day without sunshine. Godspeed, good sir.
I’m very sad to see Lambert go. I will so miss his thorough, analytic coverage and his ability to make me smile even when the news is very, very bad. I hope he will share some of his new work with us.
Best wishes, Lambert.
Lambert,
You will long, long continue to be thought about.
Thank you.
Best wishes, Lambert, thanks for all of your work over the years!
good luck on your future endeavors, sir.
I wanted to post something.
Then I read this news.
It is too upsetting.
I must put my post aside.
The best to Lambert.
May he find satisfaction and fulfillment with his endeavours.
Thank you for sharing your expertise and wisdom.
simplicity –
A child describing a chicken:
“The chicken is an animal consisting of an outside and an inside. If you remove the outside you remain with the inside and if you take away the inside you see it’s soul.”
I’m selfishly horrified by this news. Most of all because Lambert has been my #1, indeed nearly my #Only, source of news in protecting myself from Covid.
But the retirement is richly earned. We’ll all just have to carry on greeting the inevitable Next Awful News Story with “‘Tis a mystery!”
Yves, I do hope the future includes some continuation somehow of Lambert’s superb pandemic coverage. It’s irreplaceable.
The covid-stuff has been HUGE– nothing at all like that anywhere on the web!
And then, so much more…
Forget the waders, the next writer’s gonna need a full wet-suit before attempting to fill your shoes.
You will be much missed.
> Forget the waders, the next writer’s gonna need a full wet-suit before attempting to fill your shoes.
Thank you for the kind words, but the next writer will be (and will need to be) themselves. Constantly comparing them to me would be destructive. So please give them space and encouragement to grow into the job.
Big waders to fill, indeed!
Just for old times’ sake, minutes before reading this, I was readying an update on one of his favourite COVID ghouls to post on the next Water Cooler. I would feel horrible if he sensed this oncoming bit of wader-worthy content and that was what drove him over the edge …
Have fun and much satisfaction in whatever you do next!
> one of his favourite COVID ghouls
There are so many!
I join the chorus in wishing Lambert well in his new endeavors. More often than not Lambert has challenged my notion of things in the world making me think in different ways about the issues of the day. I will definitely miss the daily stimulation.
My first contact with Lambert was back in the comment threads of Eschaton where his street cred was born. Speaking of natal matters, we’ll all miss Lambert’s writing, but…
So the best in your new directions and pursuits.
> Lambert was back in the comment threads of Eschaton where his street cred was born
That’s a long time ago. Yes, Atrios was my blogfather, back in the days of the great Philly bloggers, and I will be forever grateful to him. I started out by fixing his typos for him, of which there were many!
Thank you, Lambert, for helping to illuminate the gloom.
Live long and prosper (and, if time permits, I hope you will be able to resume gardening).
Some of us are so old we read Lambert when he worked at the mighty Corrente building. Thanks to Lambert too for staying the course. And future best wishes!!
And sometimes helped feed the hamsters that powered the edifice.
I look forward to reading Lambert’s comments on the new contributor’s posts. Enjoy your new busy time in life!
Cheers
Lambert Strether:
The egotistical reaction: I’m not ready for this news.
The proper reaction: Kudos to you. Much praise. Auguri, and more praise.
You have been like a force of nature during this new baroque era that is intellectual mush, a fog of war, and lying for the sake of lying. You have a great talent for marshaling facts, organizing information, and presenting your argument succinctly and stylishly, against all odds in a time of logorrhea.
All the best to you in your future endeavors. Many thanks for years of wit, wisdom, and timeliness.
> force of nature
This is the second comment to use that phrase. I wouldn’t have considered it, but thank you!
That’s what I unreliably remember of first encountering the child of Henry James and Antonio Gramsci, presumably here rather than at Corrente. Been a while whatever which way. I’ve long enjoyed the aphoristic asides interlineating the daily findings. Sad to see you go, Lambert. Visit often, please.
> presumably here rather than at Corrente.
No, at Eschaton. Extraordinary. Back in the day, the media-critique had force. And then to see poor Colin Powell hold up the pre-debunked vial of white powder. They used him so badly. No wonder Wilkerson is so pissed…
I have been dreading this day for many years, since it seemed obvious that the workload Lambert had taken on was more than anyone could sustain for any length of time, regardless of age. While I am happy he will be taking more ease and having more time to himself, I am (selfishly!) sad that his work will be gone from our lives.
I think his greatest body of work has been his relentless and unbroken coverage of the covid pandemic. Because government agencies ended up pretty much bailing on covid protection, it ended up being up to individuals to save their own health and lives. Lambert’s material was invaluable in this way and I have no doubt he saved dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people from death or long covid. This is something he can take tremendous pride in as he looks back over his long and fruitful career.
Goodbye my friend, we will miss you greatly and wish for the best for you.
> Lambert’s material was invaluable in this way and I have no doubt he saved dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people from death or long covid.
For which I must also thank Yves for creating a platform with the required reach and credibility.
Thus do the shadows lengthen in the Twilight of Empire. All too soon all will be dark.
It is good to see though, that Lambert is moving to the Bolt Hole in Frederickton. Just in time to avoid the needless complications of being sent to the mandatory Re-education Camp Experience at the FEMA Centres.
Something wicked this way comes.
Stay safe.
Rats. Double rats. I can get over my own self interest enough to wish his new endeavors go wonderfully, but I won’t lie; this is a loss.
Good luck, Lambert. I hope your new endeavors will include writing a book. (Not that I would assign homework.)
Thanks, Lambert, and best wishes!
Wishing you all the best. You are one of the blogosphere’s greats (altho your place in the pantheonline will be determined — imo — by how well you train your replacement ; )
Thanks, Lambert!
Those are some might big WADERS to fill. A great body of work to leave behind you, and hopefully many rewarding days ahead.
Best wishes, old friend.
Damn, I selfishly imagined and expected that you would be here forever! The Water Cooler has become my favorite look of the day anywhere…..
I can only thank you for your immense curiosity and capacious intellect–what a gift to all of us! And humor, oh yes, the incredible, wonderful, necessary humor at the root of it all, instead of what could easily just be pure fury…..Thank You!
Let us know of course what your new projects are–if you can! Best wishes for everything you do.
Lambert, your Covid coverage in particular has been indispensable — best wishes for your next chapter …
Lambert leaving? ‘Tis a mystery!
Good luck in your future endeavors Lambert. You always helped us get through the madness.
I found Lambert’s posts very informative, well-reasoned and thought-provoking, a true Internet treasure. Those will certainly be missed, by me among all the others.
Best of luck to you with your new projects!
We’ve been through some things together
With trunks of memories still to come
We found things to do in stormy weather
Long may you run
We’ll miss you, Lambert. Enjoy all your moments.
Oh no. Thank you so much Lambert for all your service these many years. Best of fortune in your new endeavors. Knock’em dead.
Best of luck, Lambert — may your future projects flourish and bring you much joy, and I hope you take enormous satisfaction in the wonderful work you’ve done! Your covid coverage in particular has been superb; I believe it has saved lives.
Keep up the good work, Lambert!
Thanks Lambert for all your good work over the years, I will miss your words, wit, and insights. Best wishes, peace and justice.
For many years you have been steadfast and resolute…every day…a rare thing indeed. Onward my friend!
Happy trails to a fellow Mainer! Water Cooler has been a daily read for well over a decade, well done!
Oh dear. 2024 is relentless. I’ve enjoyed your writing so much. Fare thee well.
Tout de bon pour la suite Lambert
Somehow I foresaw that 2025 would bring sad news. But not this! Lambert will be much deeply missed.
!
Consider yourself to have saved some lives.
All love, brother.
Thanks for all the great insights and commentary, Lambert. I wish you well and will really miss the 2pm Water Cooler and all your posts. Best of luck, friend!
Sad to hear, given Lambert’s almost unique role as someone attuned to public health, but I wish him the best!
Best wishes with your future plans, you’ll be sorely missed.
Lambert – You’ll be missed (to say the least) but remembered!
Very sorry to see you go, all the best.
Oof! what a gut punch!! Lambert it won’t be the same without you here at the Water Cooler helm. But I get it! If it’s time, it’s time! Hope you feel the love and well wishes from all of us who will miss you so very much. Hope you enjoy some unmitigated peace and lots of good health over many years to come. Thanks for your many (often profound) insights and teachings over so many years.
Just when I thought that this miserable effing worst year of my life couldn’t deliver another body blow because it had run out of time, lol……..Link is not family or work friendly, but I find it apt.
https://fb.watch/wPHa77JPwV/
> Link is not family or work friendly
This link is not working for me, perhaps FB hates me?
How quickly we become accustomed to excellence. It’s hard to imagine daily life without Lambert’s contributions here. I cannot help but mention my gratitude for his interest in gardening and the beauty of all growing things, and especially how much I have enjoyed perusing and sometimes contributing to the Water Cooler’s daily plantidote feature (a brilliant moniker if ever there was one). Lambert, be well. You have changed many lives for the better, as I’m sure you will go right on doing.
> How quickly we become accustomed to excellence
What a lovely thing to say! Thank you!
A gut punch and huge loss indeed. Though I understand. I wish you well. You will be missed, sir. You have impacted so many people in a positive way. Happy trails. If you ever pass through Hanover…
I’m sad that you’re leaving, Lambert. Your smart, stubborn covid coverage has certainly helped to save lives and you can be rightfully proud of it….. Oi. It’s going to take me a while to come up with an adequate appreciation, I’ll leave it at that for now.
Overlooking a Milestone BD.
Now this.
Change being the only constant, better to embrace it than fight it—I have recognized and learned.
Only thing I want to say now is Thank You.
Being adjacent or even downstream to your thinking, wit, and expressions has made me a much better human and citizen. It has been my pleasure and benefit without any doubt.
Thank You for keeping me safe through the Covid by keeping me informed. Such a service.
Thank You for illustrating the power and capacity of Renaissance thinking in the 21st century. Inspiring light in a dusky world.
I will take great pleasure seeing how you wrap this gig up, and wishing you great success in whatever you turn your interest and effort to next.
I gotta admit, my first feeling was deep sadness. No more Lambert at NC? I’ve been coming here for I don’t know how many years – 13? 14? – for real news, critical thinking/reporting, but most of all, to retain my sanity. Lambert’s been one of the best, most insightful sources of sanity I’ve ever encountered anywhere. His humor, wisdom and tenacity (are those yellow waders even still remotely yellow after all they’ve been through?) know no bounds.
My second feelings were – and still are – happiness and gratitude. Happiness because leaving is Lambert’s choice – I wish him all the happiness he can handle! I’m still sad that he’s leaving, but compared to how thankful I am for the vast amount of goodness he has given us all over the years, ’tis but a smidgen!
> Lambert’s been one of the best, most insightful sources of sanity I’ve ever encountered anywhere.
“Sometimes I think I’m not in my right mind. Then it passes over, and I’m as lucid as before!” I’d swear this was from Waiting for Godot, but I can’t find it. Readers?
I’ll miss your permaculture tidbits. Not many places (or any at all) on the WWW that you can find discussion of international banking alongside hugelkultur.
Cheers mate.
Thanks for keeping us all safe during this ongoing Pandemic! Godspeed!
I can say I was genuinely sad to hear this news. WC will be sorely missed by me! Thank you so much Lambert. You have made a difference in the world. May all future endeavors have as much success.
Thank you Lambert, you’ve been awesome and enlightening to read.
Would I be the only “novid” in my family, keep some perspective, feel productively angry and informed instead of doomed, be able to connect dots for, and point curious family and friends to Naked Capilalism, or to know how to say, “’tis a mystery”, without having been so ably informed by Lambert Strether? Not a chance!
I hope you continue to accrete more influence!
Lambert has had such a big impact on so many people and I think that through his coverage of the Covid pandemic, especially in Water Cooler, that he has actually saved many many lives. But time waits for no man and I am sure that we will hear still more of Lambert in the years to come as he seeks out new challenges before his run is done. I wish him well in his future endeavors and thank him for all that he has done here. I salute you.
A big loss for the NC community, but all the best regardless.
Fare well Lambert. My two greatest compliments to anyone are that they made me think and they helped me learn. You delivered both in spades multiple times over. With much gratitude, I wish you all the best. Namaste 🙏
> My two greatest compliments to anyone are that they made me think and they helped me learn.
[lambert blushes modestly]
Very kind!
I wish Lambert could have waited a couple of months into 2025 before announcing his retirement. With everything happening in the world as we enter a new year, and so much of it “interesting” at best, I can only handle so much bad news. I am curious what Lambert’s plans are for after he retires. Is he going to write a book perhaps?
Well, along the lines of “putting on one’s glasses to listen to something more intently “, I am wanting to stick fingers in both ears to pretend I can’t hear the words I just read … LOL
Awwww maaaaaaan … but at the same time, #GodSpeedYouMagnificentBastard
I really hope you enjoy what’s next, Lambert! And that you share these literary and artistic exploits with us!
NC and #2PMWC have become a huge part of my life, and I am immensely thankful to Lambert for his contributions across both. Some of my fave Lambert-isms have crept into my own (mostly work) life:
• Need to share a document that’s old, but contains information that still merits attention? From [date] but still germane …
• Observing that several teams are understaffed during a surge going largely unnoticed by the COVID-is-mild masses? Tis a mystery!
I also thoroughly enjoyed when Lambert put on his yellow waders full rhetorical style! Here is a wonderful example: Obama’s Exceptionally Weird Speech on Syria. I didn’t realize at the time, but these were preparing me for work I would later learn and do under Steven Ziliak’s tutelage at RU in Chicago. As I would later summarize in an Economics haibun assignment (yes, thanks to Ziliak, we got to do cool things like that!), rhetoric is important not just for understanding topics and content, but also for successfully presenting one’s opinions. And Lambert’s skill at this makes him an excellent disseminator and creator.
All the very, very best to you good sir! Thanks for everything you have done here! Live long and prosper!
> From [date] but still germane …
That one I believe Yves invented. But I use(d) it a lot more relentlessly!
> I didn’t realize at the time, but these were preparing me for work I would later learn and do under Steven Ziliak’s tutelage at RU in Chicago.
Great!
And Holy Cow, that post on Obama’s Syria speech — though I say it — is really great. In retrospect I should have asked for it to be included, for the color coding.
This post on Julia Gillard might have been included, too. Dang. 2012 is a long time ago!
Thanks for your writing, Lambert, and for introducing me to Yes, Minister.
I discovered NC around the time Lambert started contributing and I was hooked, though I did not.comment for many years. Thank you Lambert for you integrity, and your contributions to this invaluable lifeline. This is SO important for many of us. The best of luck in whatever the future holds.
I can only agree with all the comments and best wishes.
It has been a privilege to partake of your insights.
I look forward to reading whatever you produce in your next endeavor.
Best wishes!
Godspeed, Lambert! I wish you nothing but the best in your new endeavors, but I selfishly confess that the news leaves me more than a little sad.
For years now I have outsourced the unsavory task of keeping up with the news to Lambert’s daily link aggregations, allowing me to skim the headlines to get the gist of what is going on without having to sully my browser history with links to CNN, Fox News, and the like. Lambert’s pithy commentary on the links was invaluable, and frequently I have been introduced to novel and noteworthy writers and websites through his efforts. Important work, and much appreciated!
And beyond that, Lambert deserves special praise for his coverage of the covid pandemic, which aside from some random Twitter accounts that I follow, simply does not exist elsewhere anymore. With the rest of the media landscape having long since abandoned even the barest mention of covid, I am apprehensive about where to turn for continuing covid news going forward. This holiday season has been quiet, covid-wise, but I don’t know that we’re out of the woods yet, and will miss having a reliable outlet for updates. Especially should bird flu emerge as a new danger.
Lambert, you’ll be sorely missed!
Violet Blue does an excellent Covid round-up every Thursday, sadly on Patreon. A log-in is required, but it’s free.
It’s been a real pleasure sir. I hope now you’ll finally have time to read all those damn books ;)
Holy moley! Success in all your future endeavors, Lambert! Yet another reader here who has very highly valued all you‘ve done and who‘ll miss you terribly.
Your daily work will sorely be missed! And not least the plantidotes!
Getting out of the passing lane doesn’t mean you have to slow down. Do what makes you happy. Enjoy!
Shame, I’ll miss you. Hopefully you’ll pop back in now and then.
Thanks Lambert, I ll miss you.
Thank you Lambert for your humor, insights, candor, and all of the time and effort and heart that you have put into your prodigious works here. You will certainly be missed. Best wishes.
Sometimes you can read enough of someone to feel a familiarity, like loved ones finishing each other’s sentences. Many here feel that about LS and will miss it.
Thanks especially for the musical interludes which brought back old favorites and introduced me to some great bands I had otherwise somehow missed.
Lambert: I wish you the best in your new life. Reading this post and the comments of others makes me, at the moment, appreciate your work even more. In spite of what I wrote via email, your work on the pandemic disaster has been even more important to me than your exposure of the evil of the D misleadership cult. I am embarrassed that I overlooked that important work when I first wrote. We are still covid free largely thanks to your work steering us to the right prevention processes.
Again, I understand your priorities, and we all must move on in life. I wish you the best and hope that you find great satisfaction in your future work.
Somehow I knew 2024 wasn’t done being terrible. But this isn’t what I expected.
Good luck in all you do and I hope you stay in touch.
Sad to read this, the site won’t be the same again! The coverage during Covid was by far the best, most lucid, and most detailed of its kind, beyond any other publication/outlet – and as Rev Kev said, certainly helped save lives – and guided my own and families vigilance during the pandemic as well.
A reminder that some day NC itself will likely be retired – which is scary because it really is irreplaceable and is a necessary site, there is no other single resource out there like it of the same insight/quality – and we know this because NC would already have found and told us about it if there were!
Thanks for so many years of contributing to and making the site what it is.
Lambert will be missed. Enjoy your time.
Cheers Lambert, and best of luck with the endeavors.
Best of luck to Lambert in retirement! I do hope that he’ll keep writing for public consumption at least occasionally, though!
> Best of luck to Lambert in retirement!
No shuffleboard for me! Shuffleboard is a death sentence, and I have stuff to do!
Adios, and mucha suerte, Lambert.
I shall miss that daily visit to the Water Cooler. Cheers!
I will miss his wit but it would be selfish to say I am sorry. He has literary ambitions and I hope it will be awesome. Whatever they are I trust we will be informed.
Best of luck in all you do!
To add to my earlier comment, I would like to second everyone who underlined the importance of Lambert’s Covid coverage. It was critical for me and I am sure many, many others.
Lambert, it’s been a pleasure.
Hopefully you’ll chime in on occasion and give a few pointers… and a few smiles.
Meanwhile, a traditional Irish Farewell…
It’s been a hell of a run Lambert, thanks. (Sips whiskey, feels old) It seems like just yesterday we had the “Night of the Long Knives. I really don’t know what to say.
I read you
godspeed
:-)
As I’ve mentioned before, I remember Lambert from the Open Left days, which is how I learned of Corrente, so that would have been circa 2008.
The earliest stand-alone post I can find of his here on NC is this one, “#OWS: Reprieve and aftermath” (“Cross-posted from Corrente”), from 14 October 2011, and then, after that, in November, posts by him really pick up. (Somehow 2011 comports with my memory of when he became “integrated” into this site.)
Best of luck on your “new literary and artistic endeavors,” Lambert, and anything else for that matter!
lord, say it’s not true…your singular voice has been my guide to the zeitgeist for lo these many years. honestly, this is a shock: I never thought to lose you.
a thousand thanks and may the next chapter be all you hope for.
A couple of hours before this news broke, a wandering thought crossed my mind. In relation to the Water Cooler, it asked: How could any human being keep gathering, discriminating, commenting on such an extraordinary volume of information every day?
With thanks for your heroics, Lambert, so gracefully assumed, and many fond memories. May your future life offer all that you deserve.
This was not how I wanted 2025 to start, but at least the news hits before I have had my morning coffee (Central European time) and so my keyboard is safe.
I will really miss your incisive style and wit.
Wishing you all the best.
Oh my good gracious, where to start but I think generally speaking, that all above commentary has covered plenty of ground. Many, many thank you and atta boy, Lambert!! Of course, sending well wishes before you part ways onto the greener paths wherever they may lead you.
Damn, man.
“Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. ”
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses)
you’re gonna be missed.
and if yer ever in the middle of texas….
I can’t quote the lines about the stars in their baths, but Tennyson’s ending is still pretty great:
Reminds of this from Kipling. My father occasionally quoted the first two lines, I imagine because he was a department chair:
I don’t have much sympathy for Kipling’s parade-ground sentimentality, now out of fashion, but what sublime doggerel! The ending strikes to the heart:
the bit i quoted is scrawled in sharpie in th center of the door of the ancient coolerator fridge out at the bar. still works, as of 6 years ago…but cord was in terrible shape, and attempting to replace it, i found numerous other fir hazards underneat…so i cut the cord, and keep the bar dishes and such in there. the little freezer compartment at the top says “freedom seeds”, and contains shotgun shells(for giving gun nut cousin a tickle).
also serves as a faraday cage for fones belonging to those who want to unplug out here.
that bit has become my motivational thing every day….while attempting to finish my great work.
may the road rise up to meet you, dude.
> the bit i quoted is scrawled in sharpie in th center of the door of the ancient coolerator fridge out at the bar.
There should actually be a poem, written in Tennyson’s style, about exactly that. Thematically, it is spot on.
> may the road rise up to meet you, dude.
Thank you. Keep in touch.
Lambert:
I deeply appreciate all the effort you’ve put into putting Covid info into a form where we could see and interpret it. That was a grind that required a tremendous amount of discernment and persistence.
Good luck on your future endeavors!
I recall seeing Lambert at an NC meetup in New York City in the Before Times (summer 2018?). I hope someday we can revive those meetups and pay tribute to Lambert in person for his services.
I will miss WC but I sincerely hope not to miss Lambert. I am hoping that the stiletto will be stuck into comments frequently. All success to Lambert in his literary endeavors! I wonder what they will be. Neo-liberalism Expressed as Simple Rules is a classic that refer to often.
Iirc, Yves doesn’t support the notion but I firmly believe that art is a social activity so I look forward to participating as consumer of, and perhaps commenter on, Lambert’s future artistic output.
A unique viewpoint, a unique voice, a unique talent overall. I will sorely miss you in this space, Lambert. Best wishes going forward.
Odd, that I feel such loss; I hadn’t realized I’d developed such an attachment to you folks (given the nature of the ‘relationship’, lol).
All the best in your endeavors Lambert, and so much respect, your sharp mind will be missed.
Thank you, Lambert, for your well thought out writing and brain storming. Best wishes for 2025 and beyond.
Seconded! best wishes Lambert with much appreciation
No one unpacks it like Lambert. I can’t add to the words on and reactions to this news any more thoughtfully than all of you have already.
Thank you, Lambert.
Hopefully the word “retirement” is “doing a lot of work” there. You’ve singlehandedly expanded not only my vocabulary, but also my critical thinking skills. Truly a renaissance man, Lambert you will be severely missed. Wish you only the best.
“doing a lot of work”
Another phrase! (I couldn’t remember a one because I don’t keep a list; they come to hand, or mind, when needed…).
Lambert, many thanks…and thanks for the memories. Let me suggest you download the Stanford co-Storm AI program that will search the internet for you and write an article based on what it finds in 3 minutes. So the tedious, laborius reading and ratholing articles is over. You can do you, do a rewrite or just use as is. I just did a topic “increasing soil organic matter in dryland wheat ground”
> Let me suggest you download the Stanford co-Storm AI program that will search the internet for you and write an article based on what it finds in 3 minutes.
Please kill me now.
With some you wonder what they’ll even do during retirement, how they’ll fill their days. I don’t think that’ll be a concern with Lambert. Thank you, Lambert, for all you’ve done! I hope you won’t be far, but if you are you’ll be missed!
https://storm.genie.stanford.edu/article/increasing-organic-matter-in-dryland-wheat-ground-449951
link to article
Is the Corrente blog online somewhere besides the Wayback Machine?
No, sadly.
Corrente was done in Drupal and had many, many interactive features (maps, timelines, galleries, etc.), plus a decent search function, so it required a dedicated server, which I was not able to afford at the time (and the idea of fundraising for things like that was new to me). It was quite large, and I didn’t know how to move the whole thing down. It was a stressful time, and my bad, definitely.
Thanks for all you’ve contributed, inspired, explained, and enlightened Lambert. You will be missed.
What a great ride it’s been with you, Lambert, on NC’s website. I’m glad Yves was driving and you were riding shotgun. At times, I was huddled in the backseat, almost afraid to open my eyes and pull down my mask. When I did, I saw that you and Yves had switched seats. So comforting.
Lambert, you’ll be sorely missed! You’ve made the internet worth surfing for years, with all the links, alone!
Thank you for all you do and have done, but most especially for reminding us to live and play in the garden despite the goings on in the world. And that gardens have bird song.
All the best to you in all your endeavors!
Big thanks to Lambert for all your research and writings here.
Lambert provided links to people (Gonzalo Lira is one example) I’d never have stumbled across otherwise. And those links led to others and suddenly you’re in a whole new information environment. I liked listening to his bird songs, too.
> Lambert provided links to people (Gonzalo Lira is one example)
I believe Lira was Yves’s discovery; I’m not really in the YouTube world, even today. I almost certainly linked to him after Yves found him, though.
You did! I missed Yves’ link. My apologies to her.
I am saddened to hear of the leaving of Lambert as well. Being someone who has a hard time saying goodbye, I will just say, Thank you!
My goodness, I’ll miss those waders and the dry humour. I certainly hope it won’t be a complete retirement from the site. But best wishes to Lambert on those future endeavours, I’m sure we’ll all be keeping an eye out for your writing.
Lambert, I have never met you in person, although I’ve sent you love before in its green paper form. How I will miss your pungent and incisive phraseology. To my surprise, no one has mentioned my favorite formulation of yours: “__________ (insert news-speak euphemism here) is doing a lot of work there.” In your honor, I shall re-use this, habitually.
Best of luck to you, always, in your endeavors. How I will miss you here.
You’ll be missed. Best of luck!
I am so sad to hear this, yet truly wish you the best in all you do. Your writings have significantly influenced my world view and been a touchstone in my life. Thank you. And happy new year! May it be the start of a wonderful new adventure for you and yours.
Thank you so much for everything, Lambert. I will miss your wit, arid humor and of course those yellow waders. I wish you the best with your new adventures. This family blog won’t be the same without you.
Seconding Petal’s comment that if you’re ever in Hanover…I’m buying.
As others here have said so well, thank you Lambert for all your work, best wishes going forward, you’ll be missed, and, if you some day show up for a visit here or elsewhere on the tubes, heartily welcomed.
Thank you all (and I’m sorry I didn’t have time to answer every comment. My goodness.
Your goodness, indeed!
We all are impressed, saddened, and hopeful for future sightings of the beloved, Lambert.
Lambert has been like a favorite teacher, a good friend who doesn’t spare well-placed criticism, highly disciplined with a good sense of humor and likely someone who saved me from bad health. Another novid here. Love and much success to you Lambert!
You’ll be greatly missed, Lambert. Don’t be a stranger, and all the best in whatever’s next!
Lambert, thank you for being a Renaissance man with your wide-ranging skills and interests (public health, gardening, politics, and many more) who has kept us all informed, challenged, and entertained. I will miss your deep knowledge dives and boundless curiosity that make Water Cooler and NC a treasure.Wishing you much happiness, creativity, and contentment in your new endeavors.
I wish you all the best, Lambert.
Many thanks for your “Art and Labour” over the years–from your deep dives, to the countless Water Coolers and Links. That was a lot of work, on a daily basis, with few holidays. Again, my thanks.
I am late (as often I am), to wish you well, Lambert. You are an important part of the America I willingly joined back in the day- a free and magical place. As are so many here, I join also in sending good thoughts for your journey forward. Haere Ra, and thank you.
Lambert, don’t go! From your musings on permaculture to your essays on rhetorical devices, to the daily bird song, Water Cooler, and your in-depth coverage of events and, well, stuff …. you are necessary. I know change happens, but I don’t like it. But, go in peace and know that you will be missed.
Your cutting and pithy insights into our neoliberal dystopia, like “tax on time” and “crappification,” have been so brilliant, as has all your work here. Very sad to see you go. Thank you and best wishes for your future endeavors that I hope we’ll get to see.
So much gratitude to Lambert and Naked Capitalism! This site has been my sanity-check anchor since 2008.
Thank you Lambert for everything you have given us, shared with us; for your insightful analyses full of wit and witticisms. And for your work and effort in helping to create and sustain the community that is NC.
Many years ago while stumbling around the nascent blogsphere trying to make sense of an increasingly senseless world, I happened upon “Corrente” probably via Eschaton or perhaps Whiskey Bar. While I know that there are others, Conor, Nick and Jeri-Lynn for example, Yves and Lambert have been for me the 2 pillars that NC rested upon. You will be sorely missed. Godspeed on your new adventures.
Still firmly in the denial phase. Suspect I’ll be there for some days ; )
I thought I could read, but really, you taught me to read. As others have already mentioned, your phrases and devices (‘unpacking’, ‘x is doing a lot of work’) will stay with me and others. They have been highly useful in my job organizing labour strikes. Thank you for giving us these tools, and know that they are used for good.
Most of reporting on Covid was servile and dishonest and most reporters flinched. Your reporting on Covid was independent and brutally honest and unflinching.
Best of luck in all your endeavours Lambert. I will miss you a lot.
Stuff happens, and a new today keeps arriving – we got to live it, and/or live with it, and eventually get out of the way. But we don’t have to like it – but it would be churlish to say so. So long, and thanks for all the words and diagrams. I know not what the future holds of marvel or surprise. May all sentient beings be well, happy, and accurately appraised of the situation, however long it takes.
Here is something Lambert Strether brought here some years ago which I bring back to show it is still remembered. Biblical Philology: An Exhaustive Treatment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x2SvqhfevE
As Yves Smith reminded us more recently than this post, everyone deserves to retire and some people get to.
Any new person or people brought in will have their own interests and styles. The one most important thing I hope that new person/people can be trained in is keeping up the daily granular-detailed covid watch and covid response tracking and advising, and how to apply all those methods to tracking and advising about all the next diseases that are successfully guided and midwived into world pandemic and then world endemic status. And how readers ( and other interested people hopefully) can keep themselves and eachother safe from them in the teeth of a concerted top-down worldwide-leadership effort to get everyone infected with each new disease which is midwived and guided from emergence to pandemic to endemic status.
As to plants, gardens, permaculture, soil and other such things; different people are interested in different things and interest can’t be faked. If new incoming writers are not interested in those things, then those things will not be covered. In which case, I will miss seeing them here.
The first few years of retirement will give you time to see if you want to learn to enjoy the level of physical work necessary to be able to grow enough food of some kinds to make up for the partial crop failures and supply chain breakdowns of the medium future. Obviously, if gardening is a chore and a bore, then don’t do it. One hopes it becomes less of a chore and a bore and more of an actual food-producing interest.
But happy retirement either way.