Having a Normal One

Having a Normal One

Sign in Subscribe

An orange and white cat yawning.

Paid-members only

Hey, I have a request for you.

A small flock of wild turkeys in front of Hobby Lobby on the east side of Madison.

Do not lose sight of how stupid and unfair all of this is.

Life and politics are full of nuance, but sometimes it's not that complicated.

Covers of the 16 music albums from which the playlist's 17 tracks are taken.

Turn down the treble. Drop the bass.

Silver Martian Music, available to the public for the first time.

A young white and orange cat lying atop a cat tree next to a window with the shade drawn.

People truly hate Matt Gaetz, but it might not matter.

"There are pools of vomit with more to offer," says one fellow conservative.

Three children standing at the edge of a river near a footbridge, with ducks floating in the water as the sun sets.

The reason this newsletter has been so late, lately

And why Trump doesn't care if his deportation machine is expensive and janky.

A photo of the church parking lot over the fence behind our house, and the houses next to it.

Why are Republicans saying they'll deport 15 million immigrants?

And what would happen if we did?

A brown and black tabby cat stands on a blue kitchen chair, looking down at an orange and white kitten.

Conspiracy theories aren't necessary to explain why Kamala lost

It wouldn't surprise me if we found out that Republicans had stolen the election someday, but they probably didn't.

Post-election, pre-inauguration reading material

A few links about how to prepare for what lies ahead.

A pink Harris-Walz 2024 campaign sign reading "Madam President (and Tim!)"

Mistakes have been made

I don't think we're wrong about the fascism, but it doesn't matter if you're right, if people are tuning you out.

Hey, folks

It's pretty scary right now, if you were hoping for a quick and decisive Harris victory. I was. All the smart people I enjoy reading on the internet said the polls seemed like they might be wrong, and it looks like the polls were actually very accurate. This

Donald Trump wearing far too much spray tan on his face.

If Trump loses as predicted, it's because he did it to himself

You can't get good volunteers if the people coordinating your phone-banking are all alsp scammers using your name to try to make a quick buck.

Two elementary schoolers on a big old tree stump in a small outdoor play area composed of stumps and logs to climb on.

I didn't wait till 11 to send this post about November, but I didn't have to tell you that either

The Spaniard himself did not drink.

There are plans for another January 6, but I wouldn't freak out

There are plans for another January 6, but I wouldn't freak out

The scary thing about the attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago was that nobody was expecting it.

The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court did something really bad, and not for the first time

The complete lack of transparency is the enormous problem with the 6-3 partisan ruling in favor of Virginia Republicans.

A long, smart read—not this newsletter, but the piece it's linking to

You know, when the first newsletter of the week is late, that never bodes well for the newsletters that follow. Very quickly, because I have to take Julia on a date: Tech news website the Verge published a long endorsement of Kamala Harris—or more accurately, a long argument against

A photo of an Original Wisconsin Duck (the amphibious vehicle, not the waterfowl).

Donald Trump has a weird and ominous little secret

And I didn't die on a waterslide (but I still could).

Why are we giving all that aid to Ukraine anyway?

Why are we giving all that aid to Ukraine anyway?

It's not good that Elon Musk has been talking with Vladimir Putin.

It's hard for the polls to tell us much right now

There's just too much to account for.

A different cat, in a different sink.

At some point, we need more parties, because democracy doesn't work with only two

You need a third party, at minimum, that can help figure out what's right and what's wrong when the other two disagree. Otherwise, your politics just turns into a tug-of-war in which neither side stands to benefit from compromise.

An 8-year-old child in a long-sleeved black sweatshirt reading "Fav Child," holding a reusable Starbucks cup.

We're all sick of this bullshit, aren't we?

Are you fending off a low-level but constant sense of anxiety and fear?

An 8-year-old child wearing a scary clown mask with glowing eyes, holding a toy knife.

If men are lonely, I'm pretty sure that's mostly on men

Their loneliness and purposelessness is really a massive personal-growth issue. Which is to say, it's something men have to fix ourselves.

An orange and white young cat staring at the camera, as he lies curled in a laundry basket full of clean clothes.

Election stuff, mostly. (Did you know we're going back to the moon?!?)

I got some bad news yesterday—I'll share more about it next week, but nobody's dead or dying or getting divorced, don't worry—and that, combined with some other things, is why today's newsletter is later than usual. But you know, I&

A busted-up laptop computer.

JD Vance says Trump didn't lose in 2020—and that even if he did, it was all Twitter's fault

Also: Kamala on Fox News, Fox News being shady, Twitter being shady, and four nice Republicans.

Screenshot from a CNN live video broadcast of audio of Charlamagne tha God's interview with Kamala Harris.

It's nice to hear someone in the media tell the truth about Donald Trump

Harris sounds genuinely surprised—relieved, even?—to hear Charlamagne tha God say it: The Republican vision for America is about fascism.

Rioters supporting Donald Trump outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

I just think we should have a president who respects our votes and probably isn't senile

Personally, it bothers me that Donald Trump keeps trying to overthrow the government and is losing it.