And so the horror laugh track of 2025 is drawing to a close, climaxing with the Brown University shooting, the Bondi Beach massacre of 15 Jews, and the grotesque slaughter of beloved Hollywood icon Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, apparently by their own disturbed son.
Tina, Tina, Tina... I pay for your substack so's I can feast my eyes on lines such as this one: "Now Trump’s war on DEI has given permission for the rise of ball-scratching knuckle-trailers in the corridors of power, cheering on the deportation excesses of a new ICE age." I spent a professional life in media so I know when to envy a fellow scribe. How, pray tell, do you come up with this stuff? No matter. I love it. Keep it up.
It has indeed been a decade or more of Fresh Hell. Tina your summation as always is both laugh out loud funny but also supremely depressing. I’ve come to believe at my dowager age that art and literature and great writing like yours will be the only things that sustain us. Thanks you for your contribution. Always great to read your posts.
And to further add to your list is Trump’s comment about the Reiner murder. Only a very sick person with such serious anger and revenge issues would say that. Susie Wiles Trump where are you?
And Kash “jump to the wrong conclusion again”Patel has such issues of low self esteem that he desperately longs for stardom and praise and messed up big time with Brown. Really? Go away please.
I am not sure we can survive another 3 years. Can we?
I was brought to my knees by the trifecta of historical erasure revealed just 2 days ago demonstrating again how much this fascist regime understands narrative
1 The Department of the Army looking for dead soldiers who share the last names of toppled Confederate war generals so they can return base names to Lee and his compatriots
2 the issuance of 250th anniversary coins that literally replace every depiction of a historical milestone embracing rights for all with another dead white man as if we are in the 1950s
3 the Evil One putting his face on National Park Service pass together with a dead white president despite his evisceration of NPS
But then as we are reeling in shock at three simultaneous extreme episodes of violence the Evil One ( I will not say his name) attacks a man murdered by his own son with horrific debasing slander.
I literally not rhetorically vomited
Tina thank you for what you write and lest I remind all of us we have not yet completed the 11th month of our country as a fascist state Tina we will need you to keep us going as the Horror Shiow continues
"....a one man basket of deplorables" made me laugh out loud, and every time I think of it again. Perfect, Tina!!
Which is good, as the litany of 2025 is anything but laughable. My god, will we ever stop having to wade through the "moral slum" (thank you, G. Will) of this administration???
"Just tell me who killed him." is correct. Freely committed suicide not possible for a criminal sensualist with a fortune of $600+Million. Like persons always think there's a way out. He was threatened with torture leading to death if he didn't do the job himself. It's the only thing that makes sense. And so, who got to whomever to deliver that message? I.e. who killed him?
I might add another item to Tina's invoice of ignominy: the three-day June wedding in Venice of Jeff "Pillsbury Doughboy" Bezos and Lauren "Knockers Galore" Sanchez, the bill for which came to something in the vicinity of $55 million.
The best line of the year was your delightful description of Reinaldo Herrera as like a “Golden Retriever in a dinner jacket.” He came alive for me when I read that. I still laugh just thinking of it. Thank you for your acerbic wit and brilliant essays on today’s very strange and disturbing world. Somehow, you give me hope that we just may make it.
Don't forget that Epstein's victims refer to all the photos in the police photo lineup testing whether the girls/woman were consistent in the identification of their purchasers. Those are the big ones. The rest of this is Chinese water torture.
Tina, Tina, Tina... I pay for your substack so's I can feast my eyes on lines such as this one: "Now Trump’s war on DEI has given permission for the rise of ball-scratching knuckle-trailers in the corridors of power, cheering on the deportation excesses of a new ICE age." I spent a professional life in media so I know when to envy a fellow scribe. How, pray tell, do you come up with this stuff? No matter. I love it. Keep it up.
By the way, I nominated the line to Frank Bruni's "For the Love of Sentences."
It has indeed been a decade or more of Fresh Hell. Tina your summation as always is both laugh out loud funny but also supremely depressing. I’ve come to believe at my dowager age that art and literature and great writing like yours will be the only things that sustain us. Thanks you for your contribution. Always great to read your posts.
And to further add to your list is Trump’s comment about the Reiner murder. Only a very sick person with such serious anger and revenge issues would say that. Susie Wiles Trump where are you?
And Kash “jump to the wrong conclusion again”Patel has such issues of low self esteem that he desperately longs for stardom and praise and messed up big time with Brown. Really? Go away please.
I am not sure we can survive another 3 years. Can we?
I was brought to my knees by the trifecta of historical erasure revealed just 2 days ago demonstrating again how much this fascist regime understands narrative
1 The Department of the Army looking for dead soldiers who share the last names of toppled Confederate war generals so they can return base names to Lee and his compatriots
2 the issuance of 250th anniversary coins that literally replace every depiction of a historical milestone embracing rights for all with another dead white man as if we are in the 1950s
3 the Evil One putting his face on National Park Service pass together with a dead white president despite his evisceration of NPS
But then as we are reeling in shock at three simultaneous extreme episodes of violence the Evil One ( I will not say his name) attacks a man murdered by his own son with horrific debasing slander.
I literally not rhetorically vomited
Tina thank you for what you write and lest I remind all of us we have not yet completed the 11th month of our country as a fascist state Tina we will need you to keep us going as the Horror Shiow continues
Its
He IS evil.
The Devil Incarnate.
That stunt renaming those bases back to their Confederate general names was quite something. I’d forgotten about that.
You said it all, Tina! I'm with you.......Merry Christmas!
Bravo Tina, I've been enjoying every episode of Fresh Hell. A bright spot in a hellish year.
"....a one man basket of deplorables" made me laugh out loud, and every time I think of it again. Perfect, Tina!!
Which is good, as the litany of 2025 is anything but laughable. My god, will we ever stop having to wade through the "moral slum" (thank you, G. Will) of this administration???
As usual Tina, you are exactly on point. In fact too kind. You keep us alive with the oxygen of truth.
"Just tell me who killed him." is correct. Freely committed suicide not possible for a criminal sensualist with a fortune of $600+Million. Like persons always think there's a way out. He was threatened with torture leading to death if he didn't do the job himself. It's the only thing that makes sense. And so, who got to whomever to deliver that message? I.e. who killed him?
I might add another item to Tina's invoice of ignominy: the three-day June wedding in Venice of Jeff "Pillsbury Doughboy" Bezos and Lauren "Knockers Galore" Sanchez, the bill for which came to something in the vicinity of $55 million.
The best line of the year was your delightful description of Reinaldo Herrera as like a “Golden Retriever in a dinner jacket.” He came alive for me when I read that. I still laugh just thinking of it. Thank you for your acerbic wit and brilliant essays on today’s very strange and disturbing world. Somehow, you give me hope that we just may make it.
Love your writing Tina. All you write resonates beautifully. You are such a bright light for us all.
Great work Tina - succinct and hugely pertinent 😍
Don't forget that Epstein's victims refer to all the photos in the police photo lineup testing whether the girls/woman were consistent in the identification of their purchasers. Those are the big ones. The rest of this is Chinese water torture.
Bingo! You said it all.
A mirthful salve to counter the effects on my soul of the last three days. Much appreciated!