The Friday Link-O-Rama and Subscription News

You can now pay me for this. Don't all laugh at once.

As mentioned in far too many of these newsletters, I'm a Terrible Businessman. Fortunately, Mandy is frighteningly competent, and helped me set up the subscription tiers. They are:

*$5/month for all content.

*$6/month for all content plus commenting privileges. I'm pleasantly surprised by how vibrant the comments section is, and hope that continues. This also allows you to yell at me for saying unfair things about your county of birth or residence.

*$10/month for content, comments, and a sexy, flattering Midwest Excellence t-shirt.

*$20/month for content, comments, and a Midwest Excellence hoodie that you can wear with shorts on the first nice day of spring/last nice day of fall.

For those at the $10/$20 tier, once I have a general idea of how many I need to order, I will place it with the printer and get that process rolling.

(If the $5/6 folks want a shirt, I'll set up a webstore later on. Baby steps.)

Content itself will be thrice weekly guaranteed. Usually four days. Occasionally five. Depends on how much other freelance work comes in, if I need to get a Real Adult Job again, and how many paying customers walk in the Midwest Excellence door. Yes, I'm doing a capitalism to you until my lib buddies get Woke 2.0 off the ground and President Mamdani pays me to do it.

I'll make one day per week free to read regardless so non-subscribers can get a taste. Do I still have to figure out how to do that? You bet I do.

I'll institute the paywall later today. So, for those who've seen enough, I hope you enjoyed at least some of the jokes about outstate statuary. On with the show.

Link-O-Rama 2.0

Dr. Liz Fiedler Mergen, or "Liz" as Mandy and I call her, wrote a book. It's about the death of her husband/our friend Josh Fiedler, and how she rebuilt her life and family. The book is called Flowers Bloom Anyway and it's out now. She spoke with area shock jock Jason DeRusha about it if you'd like to learn more.

One of these days, I'm going to do an oral history of Josh's Tecmo Bowl tournament, which is exactly what it sounds like.

Finally, an Atlanta Rhythm Section Revival

If you have a Dad (gender neutral) in your life, they are positively giddy about the new Sturgill Simpson record. If you ever wanted Waylon Jennings to make a funk album, and you absolutely did, here you go:

Area Dog Killer Loses Job

Not the first time that headline has been used about a South Dakotan, but this is probably the most high-profile instance. Unless you know something about Tom Brokaw that I don't.

I have no illusions that Kristi Noem will face justice for the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, but it's important to celebrate her humiliation (she got fired mid-speech, laugh out loud laugh out loud, get wrecked you fucking lunatic), even if it's only temporary and her replacement is another absolute shit.

‘markwayne.’ that is some trashy shit right there. i shouldn’t have to know about a guy named markwayne until the day im finally ready to hire a monster truck chauffeur

— rax ‘levon honkers’ king (@raxkingisdead.bsky.social) March 5, 2026 at 4:33 PM

One does wonder if she'll take this extra time and spend it with her husband or her boyfriend.

In the meantime, until she's on the Masked Singer in 2031, please enjoy this perfect Onion joke:

I've Got a Bad Feeling About This

My piece for Twins Daily eschews satire to express my genuine concern that this year is gonna flat out suck rocks. Of course, they just boatraced the Yankees yesterday, so if this piece acts as a reverse jinx, I accept that result.

West 7th is the Best 7th

Mancini's Char House on West 7th is a St. Paul institution. It's also an unlikely hub for ICE resistance. Michaelangelo Matos wrote about it for Racket and it is terrific.

It also allows me the chance to share the below photo of my brother Tim with a heaping bowl of pickled herring, a fine Midwestern delicacy, at said institution. (I'd go with the grilled garlic bread myself.)

Brief Airplane Movie Reviews

*Bugonia. I saw the twist coming. But otherwise, great stuff from Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, and Aidan Delbis. 3 1/2 dystopias out of a possible 5.

*Deliver Me From Nowhere. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story ruined music biopics for me. I cannot watch a single one of them without thinking about Tim Meadows saying, "You're gonna have to give him a moment, son. Dewey Cox has to think about his entire life before he plays."

Still, it was a 3-hour flight, this movie is about my favorite Springsteen record, and multiple friends of the newsletter had strong opinions about it (Pip and Dana loved it, Cooper hated it), so I gave it a shot.

It was...fine. 3 chicken mans out of a possible 5.

The Closer

Stephen Root not breaking during this scene is a miracle.

I hope to see some of you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend!