There was a country entertainer named Little Jimmy Dickens, all 4'11" of him. He was really the first country star to wear those rhinestone suits. He did a lot of novelty songs like "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." Great entertainer, by my standards as an Opry fan.
OK. Dickens would tell jokes. And in his later years--he was on there until he was 94--he did a lot of age jokes. One was, "A woman complimented me on my alligator boots, and when I looked down, I was barefoot."
HE regularly told the joke about going upstairs to make love. But he always set it up: I'm so old that ....
A person with a sense of humor knows how to do that. Even Nixon had a sense of humor. Even Dubya had a sense of humor. And when someone doesn't have a sense of humor, especially about themselves, it tells you everything you need to know.
I'm skeptical about Joe Manchin because he's always had presidential ambitions. I think he's just trying to carve out the "reasonable man" lane in politics in preparation for a run against JD in the GOP primary in 2028.
There is nothing funny about Trump or any of his goons. Any comedy about them is always dark as the fith ring of Hell. All this administration has taught us is that "white trash" comes at many income levels, as in the Epstein Classless.
Finally, the good news is that the A-10 Warthog has been saved agin until 2033, including ongoing maintenance and training. John McCain saved them from the graveyard in Arizona a couple of times; this time they saved themselves with their superior utility.
Glad you have yet another book in you, Tom. Historians will continue to turn to them after we've all departed the scene.
The A-10 has been hated by the Chair Farce since it first began design studies. They have tried to kill it 10x by my count. Congress should have transferred them to the Marines. The airplane violates the first law of the Chair Farce: never do anything good for the Army.
The Marines and Army would love them. My twin brothers were USAF, and they wanted pretty planes that looked like De La Hoya, but they got Sonny Liston instead.
I wrote this over at Lucian Truscott's blog, about the White House Correspondence's Dinner Friday night (yes, they finally had it).
If it wasn't for that stupid dinner 15 years ago, we would be here in the shit we're in. I'm sure, no certain, that the DC and political press could set up a website (seems like everyone and their mother has one these days) or a Buy Me A (Drink) Coffee or a Go F Me account to accomplish the same thing, which is giving some snot-nosed high school senior a Scholarship to attend Northwestern or Central Michigan (Fire up Chips!!!) to eventually work at a USA Today owned 'paper.'
102 days until the midterms, and I’m still waiting for you to write about how we’re going to stop Trump from stealing the midterms as he stole the 2024 and 2016 presidential elections and THIS YEAR’S Republican primary in Kentucky, in which someone no one has ever heard of was able to take down a well respected sitting Representative, who stood up to Trump (Thomas Massie). Not to mention his near theft by hacking of the 2020 presidential election, an effort thwarted only by the surge in Vote By Mail brought on by COVID.
Did I miss something?
Soon I will be making decisions about which Substacks to renew, and which ones to let go of.
Whether a given writer digs in and covers the thefts of the 2016 and 2024 presidential election elections, or at least covers how we are going to protect ourselves from the scheduling of massive MAGA victories all over the country in the 2026 midterms, will be a factor in my decision.
Maybe you could do a series on how each of the 50 states has beefed up its cyber security in order to prevent the scheduling and pre-programming by bad actors of victories by candidates who can’t win honestly. I fear you will find that none of them has done anything to beef up cybersecurity, but that too needs to be exposed if we are to have any hope of preventing MAGA mega majorities in both houses of Congress next year.
If you find such a Substack, please let us know. I haven't seen any of those, but perhaps in those like Red, Wine & BLue? Or Marc Elias? I can only manage looking at the about dozen that I subscribe to, and kudos to you for the 70+ you do. (I am assuming not all post daily).
As for Tom, I read him to get the news, not for organizational material.
I have many tagged on my inbox - and have gotten behind! Between the computer, the TV (utube, mainly) and reading actual books (fiction), my eyes get tired.
New substacks keep popping up - Bill McKibbon, More than Just Parks, etc!
Love The Daily Show, but other than Jon Stewart, can only take so much coverage of the WH felon. Cant stand to look at or hear him.
I agree. I do check out "Belle of the Ranch" on YouTube. She posts 3x daily clips of about 4 minutes or so. We listen to them at lunch or in the car on our errands. I am so (bad words! bad words!) of Trump et al.
My husband is tired of me ranting "WHAT IF BIDEN HAD fill in the blank of whatever Trump has done)". The removal of the most recent 4 killed utterly disgusts me.
I used to watch Beau (her husband) before he handed over the show to her. She's good - the information is obviously researched. I do watch now & then.
Yeah, the what if Biden rant is familiar to me!!!
Sending these kids (and they are kids) to a country without proper defense systems in place? Where the hell is Congress/Senate - sitting back and watching this!
I have a feeling you & I might just egg each other on, right?
Two Substacks that do discuss the thefts of the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections are “This Will Hold” and “WriteFight”.
Election truth alliance also has been digging in to the data and finding funny business. They are non-partisan so I don’t think they will come out and say that the elections were stolen, but they have found loads of evidence of after-the-vote tampering with and manipulating the numbers.
I hope That’s Another Fine Mess will look at these resources and get involved in stopping the theft of the 2026 midterms as well as in busting the scumbags who have stolen at least two past presidential elections and one primary, just this year.
I keep hearing that Mark Elias is the SOB who talked Kamala out of requesting recounts. Also, he supposedly talked John Kerry out of requesting recounts when his election was probably stolen. I don’t know why he would do that, but if he did, he won’t be helpful to us here.
I don’t know about Red, Wine and Blue. I will check them out.
Dr. Mary L. Trump once used a phrase like “assuming his election was legitimate“ or words to that effect, and I got my hopes up, but she continues to refer to her uncle’s “election” and “reelection” when she should know better.
Steve Schmidt of the Warning is also on my potential chopping block. I have written him many times to ask him to cover the thefts of the elections. He too continues to refer to trump’s “election” and “re-election”. If he wakes up, he will be a good strong voice and a force for finally getting the criminals prosecuted.
I do have a ridiculous number of Substack subscriptions, and I sure don’t get to read all of them every day. Before I actually cancel anybody, I’ll have to more carefully read their stuff to see if maybe they have addressed this most important of all possible issues. Hoping to find that I’ve missed something.
I have not heard that about Marc Elias. He's constantly fighting in court for democracy, and winning, too.
I can understand you passion, and am grateful you have it. I am running on empty these days and trying to hold it together till the fall when I will start writing letters and postcards in earnest. I recently bought roughly 150 stamps in preparation. I feel so drained! I am trying to recoup and am grateful what another person called the staggered breathing.
Again, I read Tom for the reporting, not for his political actions. I find news here that I don't see reported on elsewhere, and isn't that fighting as well? I think that each of us--the staggered breathing--take our part in the orchestra.
As they say, you put the oxygen mask on yourself first, and in a way, financially supporting yourself has to come first. You don't have a bio on your name, Tracey, so apologies if I am telling you something you already know--but the great majority of authors don't make enough money by selling books alone. They need to write Substacks, or teach, or run seminars and workshops, or they are waiting tables and working at Walmart. Since I'm trying to get published myself, this was quite a surprise to me as I've learned about the publishing world, and kind people (like Tom, who linked me up with his agent) have made me aware of how much they have to hustle. There are the Stephen Kings, and the J.K.Rowlings, but most of them live a very modest life.
I have another Substack I subscribe to, and just yesterday, the author of that said he's very likely to hang it up soon. He can't survive on the number of subscriptions he has, as so he launched a "buy me a coffee" on his site. I'm betting you've seen this on other Substacks you read, where you can send a small amount of money to the author. Even with this, and with his subscription price higher than Tom's, he may cancel his. I've wished Tom would do the "coffee" thing, but he has not.
Heather Cox Richardson, in her podcast about six months ago, actually told people to NOT PAY for hers, and instead to "use your money to support the small journalists". Between her books, speaking engagements, large following, and perhaps teaching although I think she might be on sabbatical, she can afford a staff to do a lot of research, although I am SURE she does much herself. She's also married, and lives in a small town in Maine, while Tom is a widower and lives in California. Near LA, methinks.
I say all this because perhaps you aren't aware of the struggles to survive as an author. I like to say that ignorance of a subject and stupidity aren't the same thing: ignorance is corrected by information and experience; stupidity can be impossible to erase. Maybe you know all about authors, I didn't. I honestly thought that if there is a book out in the world you can buy, the author was pulling in at least 6 figures a year.
I haven't seen you comment on Tom's substack before, and I hope you won't pull the plug because what I have come to enjoy about these forums is meeting the people on here and HCR's. (Over there, I have anointed myself the "Walmart greeter of the forum" and when I'm in better mental shape, I read and reply to a lot of the comments.) I'm so grateful for each subscriber there, as it makes me feel less alone in these crazy times! I live in a blue area, but there are a lot of MAGA neighbors. Thank God they don't put out the signs.
With all you are reading already, thanks for taking the time to read my long reply here. You have to follow your heart as you should, but personally, I hope you'll keep subscribing to Tom. (And yeah, this election is really pressing issue, and I'm very nervous as well. )
The Brennan Center discusses election cyber security. I for one do not expect TC to do a deep dive into past elections, or research and report on what EACH of 50 States are/have done to ensure election integrity. What has your State done?
There was a country entertainer named Little Jimmy Dickens, all 4'11" of him. He was really the first country star to wear those rhinestone suits. He did a lot of novelty songs like "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." Great entertainer, by my standards as an Opry fan.
OK. Dickens would tell jokes. And in his later years--he was on there until he was 94--he did a lot of age jokes. One was, "A woman complimented me on my alligator boots, and when I looked down, I was barefoot."
HE regularly told the joke about going upstairs to make love. But he always set it up: I'm so old that ....
A person with a sense of humor knows how to do that. Even Nixon had a sense of humor. Even Dubya had a sense of humor. And when someone doesn't have a sense of humor, especially about themselves, it tells you everything you need to know.
⬆️🎯👏🏼
Bastet is a beauty!
She was indeed (1998-2014).
I'm skeptical about Joe Manchin because he's always had presidential ambitions. I think he's just trying to carve out the "reasonable man" lane in politics in preparation for a run against JD in the GOP primary in 2028.
There is nothing funny about Trump or any of his goons. Any comedy about them is always dark as the fith ring of Hell. All this administration has taught us is that "white trash" comes at many income levels, as in the Epstein Classless.
Finally, the good news is that the A-10 Warthog has been saved agin until 2033, including ongoing maintenance and training. John McCain saved them from the graveyard in Arizona a couple of times; this time they saved themselves with their superior utility.
Glad you have yet another book in you, Tom. Historians will continue to turn to them after we've all departed the scene.
The A-10 has been hated by the Chair Farce since it first began design studies. They have tried to kill it 10x by my count. Congress should have transferred them to the Marines. The airplane violates the first law of the Chair Farce: never do anything good for the Army.
The Marines and Army would love them. My twin brothers were USAF, and they wanted pretty planes that looked like De La Hoya, but they got Sonny Liston instead.
I wrote this over at Lucian Truscott's blog, about the White House Correspondence's Dinner Friday night (yes, they finally had it).
If it wasn't for that stupid dinner 15 years ago, we would be here in the shit we're in. I'm sure, no certain, that the DC and political press could set up a website (seems like everyone and their mother has one these days) or a Buy Me A (Drink) Coffee or a Go F Me account to accomplish the same thing, which is giving some snot-nosed high school senior a Scholarship to attend Northwestern or Central Michigan (Fire up Chips!!!) to eventually work at a USA Today owned 'paper.'
Thank You.
102 days until the midterms, and I’m still waiting for you to write about how we’re going to stop Trump from stealing the midterms as he stole the 2024 and 2016 presidential elections and THIS YEAR’S Republican primary in Kentucky, in which someone no one has ever heard of was able to take down a well respected sitting Representative, who stood up to Trump (Thomas Massie). Not to mention his near theft by hacking of the 2020 presidential election, an effort thwarted only by the surge in Vote By Mail brought on by COVID.
Did I miss something?
Soon I will be making decisions about which Substacks to renew, and which ones to let go of.
Whether a given writer digs in and covers the thefts of the 2016 and 2024 presidential election elections, or at least covers how we are going to protect ourselves from the scheduling of massive MAGA victories all over the country in the 2026 midterms, will be a factor in my decision.
Maybe you could do a series on how each of the 50 states has beefed up its cyber security in order to prevent the scheduling and pre-programming by bad actors of victories by candidates who can’t win honestly. I fear you will find that none of them has done anything to beef up cybersecurity, but that too needs to be exposed if we are to have any hope of preventing MAGA mega majorities in both houses of Congress next year.
If you find such a Substack, please let us know. I haven't seen any of those, but perhaps in those like Red, Wine & BLue? Or Marc Elias? I can only manage looking at the about dozen that I subscribe to, and kudos to you for the 70+ you do. (I am assuming not all post daily).
As for Tom, I read him to get the news, not for organizational material.
I have many tagged on my inbox - and have gotten behind! Between the computer, the TV (utube, mainly) and reading actual books (fiction), my eyes get tired.
New substacks keep popping up - Bill McKibbon, More than Just Parks, etc!
Love The Daily Show, but other than Jon Stewart, can only take so much coverage of the WH felon. Cant stand to look at or hear him.
I agree. I do check out "Belle of the Ranch" on YouTube. She posts 3x daily clips of about 4 minutes or so. We listen to them at lunch or in the car on our errands. I am so (bad words! bad words!) of Trump et al.
My husband is tired of me ranting "WHAT IF BIDEN HAD fill in the blank of whatever Trump has done)". The removal of the most recent 4 killed utterly disgusts me.
I used to watch Beau (her husband) before he handed over the show to her. She's good - the information is obviously researched. I do watch now & then.
Yeah, the what if Biden rant is familiar to me!!!
Sending these kids (and they are kids) to a country without proper defense systems in place? Where the hell is Congress/Senate - sitting back and watching this!
I have a feeling you & I might just egg each other on, right?
So proud of our Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin with her military expertise, courage and our mitten state "tell it like it is" spirit. Follow her at:
Elissa Slotkin https://share.google/Pz7tQtTRWZcNEiqRh
Along with our most likely to win U.S. President in 2028, Pete Buttigieg!!
Two Substacks that do discuss the thefts of the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections are “This Will Hold” and “WriteFight”.
Election truth alliance also has been digging in to the data and finding funny business. They are non-partisan so I don’t think they will come out and say that the elections were stolen, but they have found loads of evidence of after-the-vote tampering with and manipulating the numbers.
I hope That’s Another Fine Mess will look at these resources and get involved in stopping the theft of the 2026 midterms as well as in busting the scumbags who have stolen at least two past presidential elections and one primary, just this year.
I keep hearing that Mark Elias is the SOB who talked Kamala out of requesting recounts. Also, he supposedly talked John Kerry out of requesting recounts when his election was probably stolen. I don’t know why he would do that, but if he did, he won’t be helpful to us here.
I don’t know about Red, Wine and Blue. I will check them out.
Dr. Mary L. Trump once used a phrase like “assuming his election was legitimate“ or words to that effect, and I got my hopes up, but she continues to refer to her uncle’s “election” and “reelection” when she should know better.
Steve Schmidt of the Warning is also on my potential chopping block. I have written him many times to ask him to cover the thefts of the elections. He too continues to refer to trump’s “election” and “re-election”. If he wakes up, he will be a good strong voice and a force for finally getting the criminals prosecuted.
I do have a ridiculous number of Substack subscriptions, and I sure don’t get to read all of them every day. Before I actually cancel anybody, I’ll have to more carefully read their stuff to see if maybe they have addressed this most important of all possible issues. Hoping to find that I’ve missed something.
I have not heard that about Marc Elias. He's constantly fighting in court for democracy, and winning, too.
I can understand you passion, and am grateful you have it. I am running on empty these days and trying to hold it together till the fall when I will start writing letters and postcards in earnest. I recently bought roughly 150 stamps in preparation. I feel so drained! I am trying to recoup and am grateful what another person called the staggered breathing.
Again, I read Tom for the reporting, not for his political actions. I find news here that I don't see reported on elsewhere, and isn't that fighting as well? I think that each of us--the staggered breathing--take our part in the orchestra.
As they say, you put the oxygen mask on yourself first, and in a way, financially supporting yourself has to come first. You don't have a bio on your name, Tracey, so apologies if I am telling you something you already know--but the great majority of authors don't make enough money by selling books alone. They need to write Substacks, or teach, or run seminars and workshops, or they are waiting tables and working at Walmart. Since I'm trying to get published myself, this was quite a surprise to me as I've learned about the publishing world, and kind people (like Tom, who linked me up with his agent) have made me aware of how much they have to hustle. There are the Stephen Kings, and the J.K.Rowlings, but most of them live a very modest life.
I have another Substack I subscribe to, and just yesterday, the author of that said he's very likely to hang it up soon. He can't survive on the number of subscriptions he has, as so he launched a "buy me a coffee" on his site. I'm betting you've seen this on other Substacks you read, where you can send a small amount of money to the author. Even with this, and with his subscription price higher than Tom's, he may cancel his. I've wished Tom would do the "coffee" thing, but he has not.
Heather Cox Richardson, in her podcast about six months ago, actually told people to NOT PAY for hers, and instead to "use your money to support the small journalists". Between her books, speaking engagements, large following, and perhaps teaching although I think she might be on sabbatical, she can afford a staff to do a lot of research, although I am SURE she does much herself. She's also married, and lives in a small town in Maine, while Tom is a widower and lives in California. Near LA, methinks.
I say all this because perhaps you aren't aware of the struggles to survive as an author. I like to say that ignorance of a subject and stupidity aren't the same thing: ignorance is corrected by information and experience; stupidity can be impossible to erase. Maybe you know all about authors, I didn't. I honestly thought that if there is a book out in the world you can buy, the author was pulling in at least 6 figures a year.
I haven't seen you comment on Tom's substack before, and I hope you won't pull the plug because what I have come to enjoy about these forums is meeting the people on here and HCR's. (Over there, I have anointed myself the "Walmart greeter of the forum" and when I'm in better mental shape, I read and reply to a lot of the comments.) I'm so grateful for each subscriber there, as it makes me feel less alone in these crazy times! I live in a blue area, but there are a lot of MAGA neighbors. Thank God they don't put out the signs.
With all you are reading already, thanks for taking the time to read my long reply here. You have to follow your heart as you should, but personally, I hope you'll keep subscribing to Tom. (And yeah, this election is really pressing issue, and I'm very nervous as well. )
The Brennan Center discusses election cyber security. I for one do not expect TC to do a deep dive into past elections, or research and report on what EACH of 50 States are/have done to ensure election integrity. What has your State done?
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/election-officials-have-been-preparing-ai-cyberattacks