(Yes it also _did_ try to write that as “a ma can only eat so many French Dips…” 🤦)

Congratulations!

Super cool of my autocorrect to stop adding a final “t” to certain words.

(I’m getting a lot of “tha” and “jus” all of a sudden.)

I don’t think I’ve intentionally typed the former since, like, the heyday of AIM — and a man can only eat so many French Dips no matter how hard he tries.

You’re really saying the best course of action is alienating the people there who agree with much of your ideology — because you want to make a throwaway joke about pig country?

But not writing off entire populations is actually the way to *win* and not just get in jabs online.

Check the current election ratings. Two of the 17 “toss-up” House races are in Iowa. Their gubernatorial race is also said to be on a knife’s edge.

Cynicism is easy. The alternative is harder work. It requires acknowledging nuance, not just playing to reductivism.

I just find it surprising that someone w/ as sophisticated an understanding of economics as you clearly have would choose to be so coarse and absolutist in their political worldview.

People can use anti-de Tocqueville talk of ‘America is doomed, because America is bad’ all day, but do you truly believe the only workable way forward is leaving the country?

Is there seriously nothing redeemable about America writ large?

Or does that absolutism only pertain to “flyover country”?

If it’s tone deaf to say I’m proud of my family, well, guilty as charged.

But I think we both know that’s not what the rhetoric was here.

That post wasn’t talking about outcomes of the current govt — it was saying, ‘This particular place sucks, and no one could find anything redeemable about it.’

At any rate, I strongly urge you to reconsider this kind of rhetoric. In such an us-versus-them political environment, having discourse that lumps a whole state into the “not us” column is mighty counterproductive.

I will likely never call Iowa home myself. This isn’t about a state I feel tied to.

But whether it’s Iowa, or Texas or Florida, or West Virginia, or even Alabama and Mississippi, it's a poor look to sardonically write off an entire state & its people as beyond what earnest work can make better.

And I’m not alone in taking pride in how my grandparents — in a mix of blue-collar and white-collar jobs — worked hard to make their state a better place for all their neighbors.

Some of their contributions earned praise at the highest levels, others moved the ball forward quietly but earnestly.

Half of that group of ten still lives in the state. Some left and came back, some never moved away.

Many members of my Iowa-native family are more well-traveled than I. They're doctors; lawyers; Big Tech engineers; IT professionals for small businesses.

Tom, I have a lot of respect for you and wish we got more chances to talk. But this is a shitty and cheap potshot.

Frankly, it’s beneath you.

(For context: I was the fourth-oldest of ten cousins on my Mom's side — and the first who didn’t opt to attend the University of Iowa.)

Is this a USMC dig?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to continue publishing after sale to nonprofit media group Toledo, Ohio-based Block Communications Inc. is selling the Post-Gazette assets to the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Baltimore Banner.

This has been floated! And now a certain third ballpark (with a pierogi-topped hot dog) may have entered the mix, too…

www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2...

Thanks! One of the proudest (& most bizarre) expense reports I’ve filed:

✅ Wooden ruler (discarded in the park; absorbed too much meat vapor to be safely reused)

✅ Twine (now lives in my office desk?)

✅ 15 hot dogs (across several vendors/receipts)

✅ TUMS bottle (bought in ALX; imported to BAL)

Thank you for this! I’d been curious about the Artemis typeface too, but hadn’t done any research into any part of this.

Curious if you’ve done a fair bit with brand usage guidelines that people just ignore (been there too many times) or if this one gets at a level of specificity more than others.

That location is fine for dine-in. Because it’s attached to the hotel they have to do a lunch menu (and I was always hoping their breakfast would get more interesting than standard waffles and omelets).

But losing an easy, walkable takeout option hit pretty hard.

(Thanks as always for all the budget coverage)

This post made me mourn the loss of a certain neighborhood Indian spot all over again…

Typo in second graf btw — current version reads “Mayor Alyis Gaskin's”

Thanks, but I source all my forest-crowdedness levels directly from @bigfootrotica.bsky.social.

For all I know, *Tuesdays* are the nights of the cryptid mixers and *Wednesdays* are the chill nights.

#SeekThePrimarySources

May her memory be a blessing.

And let us keep valuing and cultivating investigative journalism — thanks to the efforts of people like Diana Fuentes and organizations like @ire.org.

I feel lucky — I got to speak a few words of gratitude to Diana between sessions at the NICAR conference early this month.

It’s probably the most I ever spoke with her. But in retrospect I’m glad I got a chance to add my voice to the chorus of others who know all the good she’s made possible.

IRE mourns the loss of Executive Director Diana R. Fuentes March 20, 2026 – A message from IRE Board President Josh Hinkle: Dear IRE members and the broader journalism community, I’m reaching out on behalf of IRE’s Board and staff with a heavy heart. I’m so s...

This is an immense loss.

I didn't know Diana especially closely, but I saw the fruits of her work through how inspired the IRE staff were.

And by how the conferences and trainings her staff ran brought so many newcomers to our corner of the journalism industry.

www.ire.org/2026/03/21/i...

a wooden floor in a room with a blue door behind it Alt: A duck scampering rapidly (possibly in pursuit of pizza? Who knows.)

Setting a countdown clock so fast...

And now I’m thinking about what pizza configuration could pair best with a Hemingway daiquiri, so that’s how my Friday is going…

I’d prefer to live in a world where we have both — a pizza with some out-there toppings (that include a tropical fruit), but then delivered by someone whose Florida Man-ness ascends to previously unheard of levels.

Surely there must be enough wonder in the universe to make this happen.

oh dear god this checks out

Thank you! I literally didn’t text a neighbor abt something yesterday bc I fell into the trap of “is Alexandria’s police force APD even though its schools are ACPS?”

If we’re going to have our screwy city OR county system, either ‘city’ or ‘county’ needs to change and start with a different letter.