First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/w...

Have always loved @backroadauthor.bsky.social columns. Spot on again here. Worth the read. 👇 #HappyNewYear Something's Off open.substack.com/pub/mikemcca...

A caller to the radio show I'm on every Wednesday afternoon brought up this passage from A Christmas Carol while we talked about my holiday-themed Substack article that dropped Monday. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/just-needs... Love Dickens, love A Christmas Carol, especially love these two pages.

In the spirit of the season, my warmest holiday wishes along with words of great concern about current conditions in the world and high hopes for our shared future. Also an embedded video clip of a 60 Minutes interview that is quite remarkable @ mikemccabe.substack.com/p/just-needs...

The cure for the powerlessness that ails us can be found in our own history, provided we have the wisdom and courage to teach it and the good sense to believe in it. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/curled-up-...

Convince me otherwise. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/looking-th...

Zohran Mamdani and Abe Lincoln have something remarkable in common. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/new-dog-ol...

Seems like everyone's talking about the government shutdown at the moment. Pretty much everything's been said, so what I wrote for my journal over at Ebiyan House doesn't dwell on today's news, it looks to the future of government's purpose. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/man-versus...

Our country's going through a rough patch, no doubt about it. Still, we face nothing that's too big to handle, but we're sure not acting like it. Wrote about this in today's post over at Ebiyan House. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/time-to-gr...

In my youth I said the 4-H pledge more times than I can count, with no idea that the ideals expressed in that vow would one day become scarcities. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/weapons-of...

I’ll grant you that college is not for everyone. But I still find it weird that so many Americans have grown so skeptical and dismissive of higher education. And I find it downright dangerous that America chose to more or less stop teaching civics. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/cooling-on...

Will be discussing my novel Miracles Along County Q and signing copies next Tuesday evening @mbcbrews.bsky.social's Madison taproom. If you're in the area, stop by for a pint or two. If we haven't yet met in person, here's our chance. If we already know each other, would be great seeing you again.

When the Watergate scandal was about to bring Richard Nixon down, he took to the airwaves in hopes of holding on to the nation's highest office. His plea fell on deaf ears. He didn't know then what the office's current occupant knows too well. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/go-ahead-t...

Shots ring out, once, twice, so many times we lose count. They are not stopped. Comedians, now they must be stopped. They can joke no more, their shows canceled. To read the rest of this essay, go to mikemccabe.substack.com/p/in-the-nam...

Excited to bring my tonic for mad times to Stevens Point on Saturday. Full event details can be found at boundtohappenbooks.com/events/35084...

There's a reason it's called doomscrolling and not hopescrolling. There’s no putting the digital genie back in the bottle, but we can exercise free will and wisdom. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/reverse-en... I share some thoughts about Charlie Kirk here, but the article's not about him, it's about us.

Was given this shirt some years ago. As good a time as any to break it out. Enough fear has been mongered in the last few months alone to torment six lifetimes. Cultivating hope in dark times is one of the most impactful actions imaginable. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/fuel-for-t...

Will be selling and signing copies of my novel after the talk. Full details of the event can be found at platomadison.org/event-6298868

Will be in Stevens Point on 9/20. If you're anywhere in the Central Sands region, would love to see you there. boundtohappenbooks.com/events/35084...

Another day in America, another candlelight vigil. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/exactly-wh...

Lutheran Pastor Jonathan Barker took a stand. Cost him a lot to do it. Says as much about our times as it says about him. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/generation...

Hear, hear!

We're being serially lied to. Those doing the lying stand to benefit when we turn on each other, see neighbors as enemies, ferment our fears into hate, find catharsis in cruelty. An answer. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/rising-above

My conversation with @tonypalmeriwi.bsky.social was a delight. Great questions. Hoping my answers were half as good. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvN3...

Was talking on the radio this morning about my latest article relating to that invisible hand... mikemccabe.substack.com/p/visibly-or...

Letting things take their course without interference is the central myth of modern capitalism. In truth, there’s an abundance of interference. Look no further than American agriculture to see how markets are politically manipulated to favor bullies. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/visibly-or...

Honored to make the reading list of a local newspaper editor who's a voracious reader.

Many yearn for the old ways, longing to go back. This is a recipe for national decline. America flourishes when Americans are willing to let go of yesterday and can’t wait for tomorrow to come, anxious to build something brand new. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

These days, seems like more Americans are more afraid of more things than at any time I can recall. Does it help? mikemccabe.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Yesterday's event at the Owen Public Library that was part of the community's Centennial celebration. Tickled that so many high school classmates stopped by.

There are telltale signs all around us. Many take them as indication the end must be near. If history is any kind of guide, they just as easily could signal that a new beginning fast approaches. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/the-beginn...

Honored to talk with Matt Rothschild for his Wisconsin Forward podcast on @civicmedia.us and then listen to Matt's discussion with @billhogseth.bsky.social in the second part of the program. civicmedia.us/shows/wiscon...

Many if not most Americans find haggling over the price of goods or services uncomfortable. Much of the rest of the world is into bargaining. Dickering is a marketplace ritual, the secret sauce of social bonding in civilizations far more advanced than ours. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/haggling-t...

Returning to my old stomping grounds, will be talking about my novel and signing copies at Owen's public library on the 19th as part of the community's Centennial celebration.

Tanzania's most remarkable characteristic is its people. Had the chance to wander the markets, try my hand at wood carving, sample some banana beer. It was only then that the invisible came into plain view. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/haggling-t...

More shots of Tanzania.

Tanzania, in all its glory.

"They know little of America, care not a whit about the things we obsess over. As individualistic as our culture is, theirs is every bit as communal. When they say welcome, they mean it. I’m not sure we can say the same." mikemccabe.substack.com/p/where-ther...

No one can be king if the people don't bow. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/the-whole-...

Stop by Ebiyan House and read on. This one's about working-class roots, old-school parenting, a farmer's work ethic, changing times and how, in spite of my upbringing, I see the need for our society to do some reinvention for the sake of work-life balance. open.substack.com/pub/mikemcca...

What a nice surprise there was waiting for me in the latest issue of UW's quarterly alumni magazine.

My dad was part of the D-Day invasion at Normandy that started on this day 81 years ago. He's on my mind and memories of him will be central to the story I'm telling in my next Substack post this coming Tuesday. Link in profile.

White House national security briefings like Fox News broadcasts in hopes of getting the president's attention because he doesn't read. Speaking of shrinking attention spans, check out my latest (link in comments). www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I'm a regular guest on "John and Gordy in the Morning" on Civic Media's 92.7 WMDX. The show's producer (on the left in the gray t-shirt) grew up in rural Marathon County, near where my novel Miracles Along County Q is set. The road sign is one he "claimed" during some highway construction there.

One bulging, butt-ugly bill.

Buried under what now is a MAGA stronghold is rich history of progressive revolt, 1933's milk strike. Wisconsin's governor branded striking farmers Bolsheviks, called out the National Guard to put down the uprising. Didn't stop them from making lasting change. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/dumped-by-...

Strangers passing in the night.

A stone's throw from where this sign is now planted, a stomach-turning yet eye-opening piece of history unfolded 51 years ago. Forty-one years earlier, down the road just a few miles from this spot, another incident set off a wild chain reaction. mikemccabe.substack.com/p/dumped-by-...