Four years ago, I was fired from my newspaper job for taking a stand against the publication of an op-ed that argued for police shootings of unarmed Black men. (The official reason for my firing was “insubordination,” so unionize your workplaces!)

I had two choices: Get a new job and move, or stay in Iowa and build something new. I stayed. With your help, in the past four years, we’ve built a newsletter with over 53,000 subscribers, launched a podcast with over 100,000 downloads, I wrote a NYT best-selling book, we’ve laughed at dingii, and raised thousands of dollars for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and Iowa Trans Mutual Aid. This newsletter has been read on the floor of the Iowa legislature, mentioned on NPR, in The New York Times, and so many other outlets.

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And I am not done yet. Thank you so much for subscribing. Thank you so much for sharing this newsletter with your friends, family, enemies, and exes. Thank you for allowing me to stay in Iowa and fight for this place.

I am running an anniversary sale for 30% off an annual subscription. It’s the only sale I will run all year!

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And now, the dingus.

Last month, CNN published a story revealing that the socially conservative lieutenant governor of North Carolina has a history of posting on a porn site where he referred to himself as “Black Hitler,” made pro-slavery comments, and talked about how he liked to watch transgender pornography.

This is a no kink-shaming zone. The problem is not that Robinson was on a porn site or that he likes to watch any kind of porn. The problem is that Robinson has a history of making vitriolic homophobic and misogynistic comments. Specifically, he has a history of targeting Black women with his misogyny and the LGBTQ community with his hate. And he supports policies that would further oppress and target the very people he has fetishized.

Mark Robinson isn’t the only man to try to have it both ways — to eroticize in the sheets the same people he oppresses in the streets. It’s an everyday hypocrisy, the transphobic men who spew hate while filling the DMs of people they say they hate with desperate pleas for sex. 

For the record, Robinson has denied the comments were his. Which is incredible, because he’s said a lot more offensive and hypocritical things on the record. I am not sure it makes it worse that he said those things on a porn site rather than the Republican National Convention.

Robinson is so bigoted he can’t remark on the color of the sky without making it weird.

But it’s not shocking that a person who spouts hate is actually turned on by the thing he hates. I call it the Baptist minister rule — the more loudly the minister preaches against a sin, the more likely he is to be committing that sin.

What does shock me is that porn sites even have comments.

But it’s not enough for Robinson to walk around like a turducken of racism, misogyny, and homophobia. He had to throw in some good old-fashioned incompetence.

This week, WRAL news reported that Robinson was the only state lawmaker who did not vote to approve Gov. Roy Cooper’s request to declare Hurricane Helene an emergency, a request which would mobilize emergency services.

Within an hour of making the request on Sept. 24 — before Helene ravaged the western part of the state — most of the council had responded with supporting votes. But come 9 a.m. the next morning, one member had yet to cast a vote: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor. … Council members had 48 hours to vote via email. Robinson’s vote never came. 

Despite the fact that Robinson couldn’t be bothered to vote to help the people he was elected to represent, he spent the past week blaming the Democratic governor for not doing enough in the wake of the disaster.

More than 200 people are dead from this disaster, and Robinson is out here not doing his job, while taunting the governor for allegedly not doing enough to assist with the recovery efforts.

On Sunday, while playing politics with people’s lives, Robinson posted on Twitter, “The time for politics is over.”

Robinson, who paid for an abortion for his then-girlfriend, now-wife, once said, “Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers ... It is about killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

At this point we should just assume that Robinson is currently doing the thing he is railing against. 

Runner up: JD Vance

Back in July, JD Vance was crowned the Dingus of the Week. But this week, he proved he was not done. During the VP debate, Vance made use of the lack of fact-checking to just let the lies flow freely and smoothly, like he’d taken some sort of verbal Miralax for villains. Like his mouth was the oil-spilling Exxon Valdez. Like a verbal Chernobyl. 

In one such moment, Vance stated, “In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we’ve brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.”

After Walz responded, debate moderator Margaret Brennan offered a fact-check, stating: “And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.”

Vance responded, “Margaret, the rules were that you were not going to fact-check and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.”

Which is incredible. JD Vance is just out here whining because he got caught with his liar pants on fire.

Margaret, the rules specifically stated that I could lie with impunity. Margaret, the rules were very clear that I could do some racisms without anyone saying, “Hey, no racisms.” Margaret, I was told this was the land where the lies flowed like milk and honey. Margaret!

Also, babe wake up, Georgia Rep. Mike Collins yassified JD Vance.

And now for something good

This week, newsletter readers reached out to tell me about the people and organizations doing disaster relief in areas affected by Hurricane Helene. Here is a very small list. If you have a few dollars to spare, please consider donating. 

Golden Harvest Food Bank, which has locations in South Carolina and Georgia.

The One South Carolina Fund.

The Mountain Mule Packer ranch, which is using its mules to bring relief and supplies to areas where the roads are impassable.

The Mennonite Disaster Service

The Appalachian Voices site also has a list of places to donate.

Feeding West Virginia.

In other good things, the HPV vaccine is ending cervical cancer.

This isn’t good news, but it is news. Bear-on-bear violence is delaying Fat Bear Week. THIS IS GOING TO RUIN THE TOUR!

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What I am enjoying

This week, I am in my pre-marathon taper, which means I am not running. Which means my main form of coping with stress has been ripped away from me during a time that has been just really chaotic. My bathroom is being remodeled; my kids all have activities in 27 different places at once. Every day has been like the wolf, goat, cabbage problem, and even with my ex and his wife and me, it seems like there are simply not enough drivers and too many kids. Add in a new wave of tween/teen angst that has entered my home, and the only answer to the riddle has been to lose my patience almost every night before bed. Then, fall asleep feeling like a terrible parent and human being. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Good times. On Wednesday night. I ended the day a little early, had half a weed gummy, and tried to just relax while watching Nobody Wants This, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. Which is how I found myself ugly crying at 8pm while mainlining pumpkin bars because of a rabbi in a rom-com.

So I guess you could say, I enjoyed that stupidly wonderful show. Also, completely rude of Adam Brody to devastate millennials during The OC and come back and do it again.

I am sending a lot of love to my Jewish friends and readers during Rosh Hashanah, all years, but especially this year.