Nathan Alderman

@nathanalderman

Word arranger, story mechanic, question asker, door knocker, Oxford comma enthusiast. Senior News Reporter at @cvilleweekly.bsky.social. Freelance manuscript editor for hire. Opinions are my own. Signal: Nathan.778

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Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 3h

In interviews and bodycam footage we reviewed, both GCSO officials and a masked ICE agent repeatedly stated that GCSO was _only_ out there on June 23 doing traffic enforcement. What one deputy said in private, however, suggests otherwise.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 3h

(Behold as I pivot to video. Lighting to the contrary, my hair's only SOMEWHAT gray. Honest.)

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 3h

On June 23, the day of the ICE raids, 16 of the 32 people stopped by GCSO -- 50% -- were Latino. More than 40 percent of all of Greene's traffic stops involving Latino drivers for June took place on that one day. Highest % by far all month. ICE sent 49 people to detention in those sweeps.

Pie chart showing the proportion of June traffic stops in Greene County involving Hispanic drivers. 43.2% of those stops took place on June 23. The whole rest of the month represented the other 56.8%.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 3h

I got statewide traffic stop data from July 2020 through June 2026, and used a tool called Rowboat to analyze that data for percentages and patterns. I found what looks like a trend: The Greene sheriff's office is pulling over bigger percentages of Latino drivers since their May 2025 ICE pact.

Percentage of Hispanic drivers stopped in 2025-2026 by month

Albemarle County and Virginia's lines stay pretty consistently around or below 11-12% Greene County's line starts around 10% and, with some zigzags, keeps rising, with the biggest growth starting after May 2025, when their sheriff's office signed its 287(g) agreement with ICE.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 4d

From Mr. Bouie's comments in that article:

I think what this book suggests is that it might be a totally viable strategy to stitch together a winning coalition with a principle that’s narrow enough to be definable, broad enough to include a lot of people, and that is partisan, right? It isn’t actually trying to be about bringing everyone together. [A coalition] that is about drawing distinctions in the larger electorate. That is about saying, if you are for this, then you are with us, rather than trying to pinpoint something in the center in hopes that you’ll be sort of sufficiently inoffensive to enough people.

I do think that part of what Lincoln stumbles upon or discovers is that you’re going to be offensive to some people, and that’s actually part of how you put together a coalition: by creating a sense or demonstrating that actually there are people opposed to us, and if you are also opposed to them, then you’re with us.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 5d

I AM VENGANCE. I AM THE NIGHT. I. AM. Very tired after this workout. (Appropriately enough, I was watching CAPED CRUSADER on the treadmill.)

A sweat pattern on a workout shirt that resembles the Batman symbol.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 10d

Finally found the proper plural for “Liefeld” “He is as talented as five Rob Liesfeld put together”

Picture of a street sign for Liesfeld Pkwy in the Short Pump area of Richmond, VA.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 16d

Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't nirvana, soundgarden, pearl jam, or alice in chains.

The cover to the Old ‘97s “Too Far to Care” in which two plastic toy cowboys submerged in orange liquid aim rifles at each other behind a scrum of fake plastic cactuses.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 16d

This explains why I heard someone whistling “Farmer in the Dell” in the Costco parking lot. (Attn @audacityofdespair.bsky.social )

A Virginia license plate — a Gadsden plate, no less! — that reads OMR CMN in reference to THE WIRE.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· 20d

My youngest is helping me with some props for an upcoming bit of data visualization for @cvilleweekly.bsky.social.

Toy cars, color-coded, arranged in rows on a living room floor.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jul 4

When you’re definitely very secure and have nothing to compensate for.

A giant gunmetal gray Ford F-250 seen from behind, with extra large tires, a “Make Diesel Cheap Again” bumper sticker — maybe he’s a fan of irony? — and a trailer hitch and especially an exhaust pipe that are just comically enormous.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jul 1

Happy @cvilleweekly.bsky.social day to all who celebrate! Here's a quick look at some highlights from this week's issue, starting with an update to last week's big breaking news... 🧵

The cover of the July 1-July 7 issue of C-VILLE Weekly, featuring an old photograph of Abraham Lincoln, gaunt but beardless.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING
In conversation with C-VILLE, Jamelle Bouie on why a new look at Lincoln feels surprisingly relevant in 2026.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 26

@creighdeeds.bsky.social and Sen. L. Louise Lucas are holding a Data Center Listening Tour in Charlottesville this Sunday from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. You can RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

DATA CENTER LISTENING TOUR graphic featuring Sens. L. Louise Lucas and R. Creigh Deeds -- same info as I've included in the post accompanying this image.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 26

Near as I can tell -- I looked at the text of the law just the other day on the LIS -- it doesn't go into effect until July 1. lis.virginia.gov/bill-details...

Law-enforcement officers; restrictions on wearing of facial coverings; exceptions; penalty. Prohibits any law-enforcement officer, defined in the bill, from wearing a facial covering, defined in the bill, while engaged in the performance of his official duties. The bill sets out several exceptions to such prohibition, including protective facial coverings to protect against disease, infection, and exposure to toxic substances and facial coverings worn by any law-enforcement officer assigned to a special weapons and tactics team while engaged in the performance of his official duties with such team. The bill subjects the law-enforcement officer to disciplinary action, including dismissal, demotion, suspension, transfer, or decertification, and creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any law-enforcement officer who wears a facial covering in violation of the provisions of the bill unless the law-enforcement agency that employs such law-enforcement officer has adopted and established a written policy for and restrictions on the use of facial coverings. The bill also directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop a model policy for and restrictions on the use of facial coverings by law-enforcement officers. This bill is identical to SB 352.

Below the text, there's a record that the governor signed the bill into law on 5/20, but it's not effective until 7/1/2026.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 26

Gob Bluth, holding a sign that reads "We demand to be taken seriously," poses with his fellow members of the Alliance of Magicians in a scene from Arrested Development.
NARRATOR: They were not taken seriously.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 24

pixelframe.design/doctor-who-f...

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 21

Starting to think there may be something to this “everything is gender” business I mean, I was going to buy some other brand of frozen French fries, but they just weren’t manly and tough enough to put in my mouth.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 14

You think you love Chipotle, but you don’t. Not really. THIS person loves Chipotle.

A license plate reading CHPOTL, with a frame reading “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Chipotle,” on a Chipotle-pepper-red car.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 8

Among the many pleasures of this essay by Ian Fleming on how to write a thriller: His recounting of how he tried to gamble some Nazi spies into poverty and immediately biffed that task as hard as anyone has ever failed anything. lithub.com/ian-fleming-...

It was a foolhardy plan which would have needed a golden streak of luck. I had £50 in travel money. The chief German agent had run a bank three times. I bancoed it and lost. I suivied and lost again, and suivied a third time and was cleaned out, a humiliating experience which added to the sinews of war of the German Secret Service and reduced me sharply in my chief’s estimation.

It was this true incident which is the kernel of Bond’s great gamble against Le Chiffre.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Jun 2

From the Annals of Unfortunate Abbreviations...

An abbreviated headline from Variety.com:

FILM
Javier Bardem on Standing Up for Palestine, Taking Down Toxic Masculinity and Loving Penélope Cruz: ‘She's Amazingly F—ing…

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 26

“Here at Bluesky, we’re really excited to share some of the amazing new features we’ve been working on.”

A cardboard box, covered in shrink wrap, that reads “KINK REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY”

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 23

A TNG faux opening screen titled “Aaaaand you’re already running to AO3 to rewrite this one, aren’t you, you horny bastards”

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 23

For someone in my life who shall remain nameless.

A mock title screen for an episode of STAR TREK VOYAGER entitled “The Wedding of Janeway and Chakotay (Rick Berman Can Go Pound Sand”

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 20

I absolutely love the nonplussed look on the would-be sacrificial victim's face at left, all, "this is NOT how I expected my evening would go."

As drawn by Chris Samnee, Batman wrecks shop on some hooded cultists while, at left, a tied-up blonde in a white robe -- their intended sacrifice -- takes in this spectacle, looking hilariously confused and blasé.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 19

Calvin Ellis, President Superman of Earth-23

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 15

Always enjoyed how the poster to THE SOUND OF MUSIC -- a favorite of my spouse's -- makes it look like a movie about a levitating Julie Andrews hunted by a pack of children under the stern command of their sinister father.

The poster to THE SOUND OF MUSIC, with Julie Andrews in a pink dress, carrying a hardback and a guitar case, seeming to levitate above a grassy hill. She's pursued by seven uncomfortably grinning children in bright yellow, while Christopher Plummer looks on in a gold jacket, fists on his hips, with boots and a riding crop.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 13

My brother was friends with Jesse Hamm, and the three of us were briefly part of a webcomics experiment called ModernTales. Nearly 20 yrs ago, for my birthday, my brother commissioned Jesse to draw some original characters of mine. Somehow, based only on a description, he absolutely nailed the look.

Side-by-side sketch and finished art of a tall, bowler-hatted man in a half-English, half-Indian suit, and a grinning punkish woman in an Army jacket, combat boots, and black-rimmed glasses. Art by the late, great Jesse Hamm, 2008.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 5

Me, the parent of elementary-school-aged children, explaining to my coworkers why I wear a mask at the office:

Rorschach, as portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley in WATCHMEN, delivers Alan Moore's indelible line: "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me."

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· May 1

@crenshaw-dev.bsky.social and others wondering about last night's apparent Crozet car chase: Police say they were pursuing this guy, 41-year-old Crozet resident Jonathan A. Iseman, after a traffic stop. Multiple outstanding warrants in surrounding communities. He's now under arrest.

The Albemarle County Police mugshot of Jonathan A. Iseman, 41, of Crozet. He is white, balding with a shaved head, looking somberly at the camera with blue-gray eyes. He has a mustache, bear, and little semi-goatee, not to mention an extensive if hard-to-make-out neck tattoo.

Nathan Alderman@nathanalderman· Apr 27