First, welcome to 2026! Things are not going well, as usual. You can catch me at Public Notice today with a piece about how the right-wing dehumanization machine is speeding up. Our fellow Americans of the fascist bent are skipping right past thoughts and prayers and going directly to praising the unnecessary and tragic killing of Renee Good by ICE. Naturally, they’re being led by the president.
You can watch my breakdown above about how Good was perceived as such a non-threat that she waived through ICE agents who drove past without incident just before she was killed. None of this adds up and it’s all very bad.
Speaking of bad things that have been happening for some time, I’ve written a book that details the last decade of chaos and carnage, as well as the early years of my career and my battle with — and recovery from — alcoholism. It’s called If I am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened - The Life and Times of a Domestic War Correspondent. I’m told the book even contains a bit of a love story.
So what, you say — you already knew about this stupid book? Well, now you can pre-order the book on Amazon before it’s published by the University of Georgia Press in June. I sure would appreciate that. It’s nice to be reminded every once in a while that there are folks who are actually on the other side of these words and that I’m not just pumping out sentences into the ether.
If you want a taste of what’s inside Something Terrible, you can read an excerpt I published here at Doom in September. You should read that, pre-order my book, and share it far and wide. That way I can continue doing what I love — as dark as this job often is.
Speaking of that, I also need you to pay for the journalism I produce here. Less than 300 of Doom’s 13,000 subscribers are paid supporters of my work. That doesn’t seem like a great ratio! I get it. I don’t want to pay for subscriptions either. And I damn sure don’t want to be reminded or guilted into paying for things like subscriptions to things I use. But I think my journalism is worth it — especially considering my exclusive reporting on threats to democracy as we head into the most important election of our lifetimes (for real this time, and again). Remember this from last year, which all the other reporters and publications in the country didn’t find, but I did all on my own?
Nearly 300 election deniers at work in local election offices
It’s fitting that I’ve reached what I believe to be the final count of local election denial officials on election eve. This number — nearly 300 officials — has taken me years to arrive at. In that time, this newsletter has gone from a pet project to having thousands of subscribers. Many of you have chosen to sign up for a paid subscription, and I’m grateful for that. But many more of you remain free subscribers, and while I’m grateful you’re here as well, I’d like to encourage you to support my work by choosing a paid subscription for as
Yeah, that’s pretty good stuff. And there’s more of it coming. So, if you aren’t already, please consider throwing a few dollars my way with a paid subscription to Doom. For the next few days, you can get a discount of 20 percent off those subscriptions.
OK, enough of the money-grubbing. Watch the clip above and check out the Public Notice piece, plus that excerpt. That should keep you pretty busy for a while. And remember, they can’t break all of us at once.
-jg
