Could a robot reporter have investigated D.C. sleaze better than I did in the 1970s?
Charles Smith , Future scandals , GSA , Media , Politicians , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals

Could a robot reporter have investigated D.C. sleaze better than I did in the 1970s?

David Rothman 0 comment

Could a reporter bot have been me in real life in the 1970s—or Jonathan Stone, the far more dashing investigative journalist in my novel The Solomon Scandals? And who would have made a better sleuth, humans or AI? With the above in mind, let me share a cautionary story about a CIA-occupied building and an […]

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GSA , Politicians , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals , Washington area life

JFK’s murdered mistress: Insider’s book alleges CIA role

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On CIA matters, The Solomon Scandals is fiction—not about what happened, but what could have happened. To this day we still don’t know the full story of why a U.S. senator held a secret stake in a CIA-occupied building in Arlington, VA, that the agency leased by way of the scandal-ridden General Services Administration. What has been established over the years is […]

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Charles Smith , Media , Politicians , Sen. Ribicoff , Washington area life

Odd omission: Charles E. Smith family missing from Washingtonian list of movers and shakers

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The Charles E. Smith family built the giant Crystal City complex near Ronald Reagan National Airport and donated hundreds of millions to good causes, most of them probably in and near Washington. Names from the family went on the Charles E. Smith Athletic Center at George Washington University, the Robert H. Smith School of Business […]

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Building collapses , GSA , Sen. Ribicoff , Skyline Plaza , The Solomon Scandals , Washington area life

The Solomon Scandals novel vs. online gossip about Skyline Towers and the intel community

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The Solomon Scandals is a novel, but two actual events helped inspire it and are the topics of online gossip today—several decades later: —The deadly Skyline Towers building collapse in Northern Virginia, where 14 workers died and dozens were injured. —The late Sen. Abraham Ribicoff’s secret and illegal investment in a CIA-occuped building in Arlington. […]

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Media , Sen. Ribicoff

The decline—and future promise—of investigative journalism

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The Solomon Scandals, my D.C. newspaper novel, is solidly rooted in Washington and suburbs. But could future Jonathan Stones break explosive Washington stories without even leaving hometowns in the hinterlands? That’s one of the intriguing concepts in a video accompanying Investigative Shortfall—Mary Walton’s generally downbeat article in the American Journalism Review’s September issue. The video […]

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GSA , Sen. Ribicoff , Skyline Plaza , The Solomon Scandals , Washington area life

A tale of two obituaries—plus wisdom from J.Y. Smith, first official editor of the W. Post obit desk

David Rothman 0 comment

You regulars already know my complaint. For whatever the reason, Washington philanthropist Robert H. Smith enjoyed a free ride from the Post’s usually stellar obituary desk as well as from the editorial page. His family’s paid obit at Legacy.com was rather redundant. Ahead I’ll compare the Smith encomia with a more balanced write-up of Indianapolis […]

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Building collapses , Charles Smith , Politicians , Sen. Ribicoff , Skyline Plaza , The Solomon Scandals , Washington area life

Robert H. Smith death editorial—and the need for the Washington Post to tell the whole story

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Robert H. Smith, philanthropist and Crystal City developer, gets another paean today from the Washington Post—this time an editorial, which follows an obituary of more than 1,100 words. The Post appropriately notes Smith’s donations of “hundreds of millions of dollars to universities, the arts, historic sites and civic activities.” Given his significance, then, perhaps the […]

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Charles Smith , Sen. Ribicoff , Skyline Plaza , The Solomon Scandals , Washington area life

Robert H. Smith dead: Son of the builder who helped inspire the Solomon character

David Rothman 0 comment

Update, 2:05 p.m., Dec. 31, 2009: Just-posted commentary on the Washington Post’s less-than-complete obit of Robert Smith. – D.R. Robert H. Smith, a Washington philanthropist and developer, died yesterday, and the Washington Business Journal already has run his obituary, with another coming shortly from the Washington Post. He will be most remembered for the Crystal […]

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Building collapses , Media , Politicians , Publicity , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals

From Bob Dylan to D.C.’s white-collar crooks: U.K. music site’s 3,000-word Q&A with David Rothman

Solomon Scandals Info 0 comment

Pennyblackmusic, a U.K. music site, has just posted a 3,000-word Q&A with David Rothman. Here’s the start. Can Bob Dylan fit into a Washington novel? Actually yes, if you go by ‘The Solomon Scandals’ (Twilight Times Books). Investigative reporter Jon Stone loves to swap ‘Dylan albums and pulpy old spy novels’ with a friend. Stone’s […]

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Media , Politicians , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals

The Jonathan Stone-David Rothman Q. & A.

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Jonathan Stone, the reporter in The Solomon Scandals, grilled me for this Q. & A.—uncut. Last updated April 10, 2024. STONE: Why’s Scandals copyrighted in your name? It’s my newspaper memoir. ROTHMAN: Er, faux memoir. Without me, you wouldn’t even have been born…or have worked for the Washington Telegram…or have struggled to avert an IRS-CIA […]

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Building collapses , Buying info , Jewish topics , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals

Budd Schulberg, ‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ and ‘The Solomon Scandals’

David Rothman 0 comment

Originally posted on Aug. 6, 2009. Moved back to play up basics of The Solomon Scandals. – D.R. RIP, Budd Schulberg. I hated to see the Washington Post obit blog remind us you’d outlived your fame. Of course, I was glad you reached 95, but I wish the media and the public hadn’t been so […]

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Building collapses , GSA , Sen. Ribicoff , The Solomon Scandals

The IRS as fodder for David Foster Wallace and me

David Rothman 0 comment

In my little overview of D.C. fiction, I quoted Jeffrey Charis-Carlson, a specialist in this area: "It takes a great novel to make bureaucracy interesting." But how about writing about individual bureaucrats? That’s what I did with the love interest of Jonathan Stone, my reporter protagonist in The Solomon Scandals. Margo Danielson is a young […]

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