I genuinely don’t think America can fix itself without an honest reckoning on class and inequity, but I also see no evidence that’s going to happen.

to be clear, the civilization that will die tonight if Trump tries to annihilate Iran will be that of the United States, the one he has always degraded most relentlessly and most successfully

A president threatening mass war crimes and congress is just...still on vacation? Do I have that right?

I think people are allowed to draw conclusions about the American people based on their decision to put this man in office bsky.app/profile/pear...

They were arrested, eventually, but got up to some good hijinks before that happened.

There was a village in rural China back in the mid-2010s where the local government had grown so corrupt that a couple of old ladies started their own competing official government, stamping documents and making decisions, and I think of them often.

Provincial is exactly the word for the overriding mentality of this book. She goes on one tangent about how some dude in WY in a pro-2A hat must be anti-abortion and I am thinking "oh, someone's never heard of Mountain West politics."

It's great, I think you'll love it.

she meets some dogs but not enough dogs! no dog in her van. very problematic.

Thanks, Eileen!

I will never say Mao had good ideas, but there are a good number of American writers who need extended community service time in rural areas before they are allowed to tell us all their opinions about rural Americans.

lollll

Happy Trans Day of Visibility. I know trans people and I know fascists who are making life difficult for trans people. The trans people are pretty cool and I'm glad I know them. The fascists can go fall down a deep dark hole.

Unpopular opinion but perhaps we need to send coastal urban writers and journalists down to the countryside for a certain amount of time before they are allowed to write about it.

Travels with Charley, it is not.

The Westerners A new book reveals a more complex and fascinating story of the American West

I wrote about a great new book by Megan Kate Nelson, out today, that blows apart the myths of the American West by telling the stories of real, interesting lives substack.com/home/post/p-...

The Lindy West book is grating not because of her relationships but because she demands grace and acceptance from everyone, but gives none to any of the people she encounters on a cross-country road trip. It's the opposite of what a road trip memoir should do, especially in our current moment.

I think there are a lot of Americans who don't realize that, in regards to purchasing power and no matter what their age or job, they will never make more money then they made in 2024—unless something radically changes.

The Middle-Class Suburbanites Who Sell Their Blood Plasma to Get By

As our economic divide widens, the plasma economy is reaching its tentacles into the middle class (I'm quoted in this one) www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/b...

My local airport is having a food drive to support TSA employees who aren't getting paid for their work because the government is still shut down, in case anyone needs further evidence that the USA has lost its way entirely.

Times have changed, but the undercurrent of corruption has always been there in these endeavors.

A million years ago, when the private prison industry was just gaining a footing, I wrote some stories about the perception of corruption with one company in Texas (they had a county judge on their board), and just that was enough for the company to lose its contracts. Whew.

Would definitely try it.

I think there's a crossover to when unions started to lose power and everyone running for office had to lean into the notion that all of Montana is populated by rugged cowboys, when the truth is we have far more realtors.

Violence might be politically popular here in the old home state where candidates are compelled to film themselves shooting things the minute they decide to run for office.

Regarding Montana politics and a US Senator unnecessarily involving himself in breaking a retired Marine's arm over a peaceful protest, don't forget, we also have a second-term governor who assaulted a reporter for asking a question.

Thank you!!

I just bought it a couple of days ago. Haven’t started yet but I’ll let you know.

Thank you! Am halfway through Kaplan right now (and really enjoying it). Will add these to my list.

Please recommend to me the best books about the Balkans. Nonfiction or fiction, whatever you like!