Would You Like to Own an Original Signed Edition of the Forthcoming Book "Erik Prince’s Unauthorized Phone Directory and List of Close Associates"?

Read on no matter how you answered that question because it's merely one of the incredible perks that will soon be available exclusively to Washington Babylon subscribers.

Blackwater founder, MAGA icon, and right-wing megadonor Erik Prince. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Greetings to Washington Babylon subscribers & all fellow travelers in the Substack ecosphere,

I’ll be providing additional information about all the following matters in a short follow-up post next week, but I’ll begin hereby saying I’m very happy to report things are off to a good start at Washington Babylon. Since I posted my first story 3 1/2 months ago, almost 1,200 subscribers have signed up along with about 2,000 followers.

I’m sincerely grateful to all of you who’ve subscribed, whether at a paid or unpaid rate. That leads to the only problem, which is not a big one at the moment, but I want to make sure it doesn’t become one: I want to keep most of Washington Babylon’s content free and focus my time and energy here, but I need to bring in raise more money in order to make the math work without taking more freelance assignments.

So, I’m asking readers of Washington Babylon whose financial situation allows them to please consider becoming a paid subscriber if you’re not already, and if you are to subscribe at a higher rate than you’re currently signed up for or to become a founding member. I’m aware most of us aren’t in such a cozy financial position – myself included, which is why I only subscribe to a tiny number of the publications I’d like to – and I don’t want to lose a single one of you, so if you’re in that boat with me, carry on as before. 

Meanwhile, I’m finally drawing up a list of perks I hope will bring  in some additional paid subscribers, and make it easier for readers to effectively make a one-time contribution that would be a win-win for all parties. I’ll provide more details in the aforementioned post that will be running next week, and I’d love to get feedback now or then, but a few options I’m considering are: 

• A monthly podcast beginning in that will primarily focus on the 2024 presidential election between September, when I’ll host the first one, through November, when there will be a post-mortem. 

• A quarterly social gathering at a suitably cheap but agreeable local bar, such as Looking Glass Lounge on Georgia Avenue, which is where I generally go to have a drink or two. 

• Less conventional perks, including one I have in mind that’s a short publication I’ve tentatively titled Erik Prince’s Unauthorized Phone Directory and List of Close Associates. It would include the names and mini-profiles of the most interesting 200 or so individuals I discovered when reporting on Prince’s up-until-then secret WhatsApp. I’ve written a number of stories about Prince — including one on August 16 that revealed he’s currently being investigated by the FBI over his potential involvement in activities that include illegal arms sales, money laundering, and contacts with foreign military and intelligence agencies — and will be writing more about him for the foreseeable future as I collected a ton of good material I haven’t been able to use thus far. 

For legal reasons, I won’t be able to include the phone numbers of those identified in the unauthorized Erik Prince directory, but it will nevertheless be a beautifully packaged little publication anyone would be proud to have on their coffee table or bookshelf at home. Furthermore, it’s only one of the amazing perks that will soon be available exclusively to subscribers of Washington Babylon, including one I’m particularly excited about, however the need for discretion allows me to say nothing more at the moment other than that if all goes well, it will be hideously embarrassing to Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz. 

That’s it for now, but make sure to keep your eyes peeled for next week’s follow-up story, where I’ll come clean about the nature of the Gaetz-related perk, or at least reveal every last detail my lawyers have authorized me to.

Thanks and best to all of you,

Ken