It's so awesome to see the numbers of people like you growing while the MSM bleeds support. Here's to another awesome six months, followed by another awesome six years!
My feature story on the sad and maddening vaccine-caused death of Derek McIntosh brought the most readers to my site - about 73,000 readers over two days.
The story was picked up by Citizen Free Press. The “back story” of the story is also illuminating to me. I wrote this story because Derek’s father, Jeff, sent me an email, suggesting I write such a story.
Mr. McIntosh - like Derek’s son and sister - are determined to do everything they can to publicize the fact their healthy and much-loved family member died from a vaccine injury. Mr. McIntosh told me he often spends hours every day emailing reporters and media figures, trying to reach one person who will do a story. He said he’ll send 100 messages and might get one response.
So I was the 1-in-100 who responded and wrote a simple feature story. And it’s a story that mattered because it got picked up by a well-known site. It also generated donations for Jeff’s teenage son so he could continue to live in his father’s house while he finished high school. The story led to other interviews for the family.
For this story to make an impact, I had to start my Substack. I had to respond to a compelling story suggestion and CFP had to think the story deserved a wider audience. But all those things happened … and because of this one piece of “journalism” made a little difference - which is what journalism is supposed to do.
All this makes me think of the hundreds of thousands (millions) of stories about vaccine victims (fatalities or serious, life-altering injuries) that have NOT been told.
It also tells me I need to do more simple feature stories just like this. All of us in Substack need to do this.
Thank you, Sweetheart. I couldn't do it without your support.
BTW, my wife has a great idea for a Substack site ... about education and what really is going on in schools and the ideas of some of the leaders. I'm pretty sure she'd have to do it anonymously.
There are plenty of us already-retired educators from the public school realm who would be happy to educate others about what really goes on in public schools, and then your wife wouldn't have to risk her career. Even though I received a decent public school education personally, after having worked in the system for two decades, there is NO WAY I would allow anyone I care about to ever attend public school in this era of depravity and wokeness. I admire your wife for hanging in there.
Didn't I see one of your articles re-published by The Brownstone Institute. To me, they are the Vanguard of writers who write about the truth that is suppressed for so many. Congrats! and Thank You!
Yes, I am part of the Brownstone Writers Group. I agree. The Brownstone Institute has become the best source for conservative journalism and commentary. Jeffrey Tucker IS "the adult in the room."
Brownstone, The Daily Sceptic, Zero Hedge and the UK's The Conservative Woman have all published my stories.
Several of my story ideas have come from an email thread that the 190 or so Brownstone writers post on every day.
Yes, I love JT. He is amazing. And kudos to you for being in their writers group. That is quite an achievement....such a high caliber of writers in that group. Good for you!
It might make you feel better Bill to know that in Canada, despite government subsidies to MSM, according to Blacklocks reporter not all subsidies available to MSM were paid out last year as the subsidies are dependant on the number of staff. As staffing fell on average at MSM not all subsidies were paid.
Did you see my story on Gannett Newspapers? They are dying rapidly. The Gannet paper in Lafayette Louisiana has ONE newsroom reporter. Amazing and sad ... but a tremendous opportunity for people who are trying to report news on Substack.
My take on the demise of MSM is that you can choose to get your news in 1 month (magazines),
1 day (newspapers), 6 hrs (TV) or instantaneous (internet). Between the instantaneous news and zero cost, most people opt for the internet. I remember when Conrad Black was buying up Canadian newspapers and after each purchase he would send his henchman in to walk down the newsroom and fire every other reporter. He didn't realize it but the drop in news coverage has helped the demise of the newspaper industry. If I just wanted to read the ads then I would look at the flyers. By the way, I was a newspaper boy in my early teens.
They gave away their "product" for free. It never made any sense. ... I bet "newspaper delivery boy" was the first job of millions of people. When I was publisher of my own weekly newspaper, I wrote most of the stories, sold most of the ads, took most of the pictures, covered most of the events, tried to manage all of the staff and pay all the bills, laid out the pages, drove the pages to the printer 50 miles away, brought back the newspapers and then rolled and delivered 500 to 1,000 of them on my paper route. It would take me three days to recover ... and then I had to do it all over again. It's amazing I'm still alive. I still think I have PTSD.
Mar 24, 2023·edited Mar 24, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
Congrats, Bill. I'll also add that these days, with all the censorship on other social media platforms, Google, etc, the comments sections in these blogs play a far more important role than in the past. I've always avoided comments sections; they mostly (I'll grudge a few exceptions) struck me as peanut gallery stuff and log-rolling, but not anymore, not under covidian censorship. I've been finding that some of the most important information turns up in the comments sections-- especially in el gato, Steve Kirsch, Igor Chudov, Toby Rogers, eugyppius, Dr. Paul Alexander, Dr. McCullough and John Leake, Tessa Lena, and many other Substacks, including yours. Blog on!
I again agree. You have to read the Reader Comments. I worry about the "dumbing down" of society, but if you read the comments at the right sites you see that the world is full of highly intelligent people.
Before Substack, the only place my writing appeared was in the Reader Comments. I think that's another reason my site grew pretty fast. A lot of people knew my name from my prolific reader comments.
I'm starting to get a lot more at my site, which was one of my big goals when I started this site. You get some real "news tips" too. If I ever do break some huge story, it will be because a whistleblower contacts ME ... from this site. Which you can't rule out happening.
Congratulations, but Substack needs a new model for subscribers like me who might pay to access multiple writers' work, but not at $5 per month/per writer.
Mar 24, 2023·edited Mar 24, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
I've STOPPED subscribing because the subscriptions add up so much AND I can't keep up with all the reading anyway.
So here's a thought: Often something is good, I'll read it (but not want to subscribe) but want to pay SOMETHING.
What about making "Buy me a Coffee" a bigger thing?
I'd be happy to start buying coffees; they could (hopefully) add up as a small extra revenue source for the wonderful writers.
Maybe the first two coffees of the month could be $3 each; the third and fourth $4 each and so on. At a certain point one might decide it makes better monetary sense to subscribe.
Another question: What about lower-cost subscriptions? A lot of people will be happy to pay something just not the subscriber price.
I like it. There needs to be a smaller one-time pay option or button people can push. "Micro payments" for journalists could be the next huge thing. Say a writer gets 4 cents a story ... and the story goes viral and reaches 1 million people. You are set for the year with one story. Don't steal my idea! Thanks for the support and the free sub. As you can see, the Reader Comments are growing. My ultimate goal is to have the best "Reader Comments" Section in Substack.
People could buy say, a $50, $75 or whatever token stack from Substack. Readers would then have "tokens" to leave with the writers.
Token size given to writer(s) could be up to the buyer. LOVED YOUR STORY might merit a $10 token while most of the others would be a dollar, two, three or who knows how much.
Leave it to the wallet holder to dispense as he or she pleases.
Just a thought. A spin-off from the micro-payment thought you offered.
I totally agree with this. People have been pressing Substack for this feature but they said they won't do it because it "encourages bad behaviour." Not sure what that means.
I agree! I give so much to ICAN, CHD, and that with the many different authors (to get as many different perspectives as possible), it does add up quickly. Couple that with being married to a strictly “Wall Street Journal “ kinda guy there’s only so much to go around. I just paid $2 for a pepper! One pepper. I don’t know how long this can last for most families. Anyway, I’d love to be able to throw some money on a per article basis. I’d love to be able to reward outstanding journalism on a per article basis. Not sure how that would work. The buy me a coffee or tipping process seems like a great place to start.
I like the "tip" idea. Here's my idea: You put, say, $10 a month on some debit account. The company curates all these great freelance stories at one site with a short summary of the article and a few introductory sentences. If the story interests you, you buy it for, say 5 cents. You now have $9.95 to buy stories for the rest of the month. You can buy 200 stories a month! The company keeps 2 cents and pays the writer 3 cents for every read. Writers have a tremendous incentive to write stories that will get lots of readers. The "gatekeepers of the news" are cut out of the equation. They don't get to decide what stories the masses read. That's why the Powers that Be would try to kill this idea and it's never been done.
If anyone is interested and knows enough to help me raise a couple million to launch this idea, please contact me by email.
This story was also picked up by Citizen Free Press as well as The Brownstone Institute and a cross-post by Dr. Paul Alexander. So that one was a stand-up triple.
Steve Kirsch would be embarrassed by a story that generated only 279 likes, but for someone who went weeks or months averaging 15 to 30 comments per story that’s quite a jump.
Today, I routinely publish stories that generate at least 100 comments. This is important to me as I know people will visit a Substack just to make and read other comments. I know that’s one of the main reasons I visit my favorite sites on a routine basis.
The story also got 167 “likes” which is another metric you can’t help but notice.
“Covid messed up my psyche big time” - where I talk about all the things I don’t like about the last three years - ironically enough was one of my stories that got a much-larger-than-normal number of likes - 184. When people hit the “like” button for that story, I think they were signaling that there’s a lot they don’t like either.
Three stories that I liked a lot (of course) generated the fewest number of “likes.”
From time to time, I think I write just to amuse myself. I often write what I call “save the world” pieces, but I get tired saving the world and so some times I write pieces that are silly and as irreverent as can be. My late mother once told me she actually liked these columns better than my save-the-world pieces. Maybe I should have ignored that compliment from Mom?
Nah. I’m going to keep doing them from time to time. Writing crazy probably keeps me sane.
Maybe these will do better in late-night syndication?
I’m also a big movie buff (note the picture from Urban Cowboy). I thought for sure my piece on “movies for our Covid times” would attract film buffs from all around the world. I thought wrong. That column left theaters in two days.
The above three stories got 15, 16 and 16 “likes” with probably two coming secretly from myself and my wife (a sympathy like). I re-link them today on the off chance I can get one of them up to 20 likes.
Congrats on your milestone, Bill! Really happy to have found you.
As to being surprised that you have a number of blue state subscribers, I’m in New Mexico & can probably vouch for almost any blue state that the rural areas of pretty much all of them are RED
Of course that’s Albuquerque which is part of the problem in NM but there is lots to see & do there & the even worse problem in beautiful Santa Fe. You need to hit the south eastern part where all the farmers, ranchers, cowboys & oilfield workers are. Alien Capital of the world, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns. In our part of the state we kept it real & defied 😊
It's on my list. My brother was a Boy Scout and took a Boy Scout trip to NM when he was about 13. He went to Carlsbad Caverns. If you ever come to Alabama, I'll show you around. I'm 2 1/2 hours north from some of the prettiest beaches in America. My wife and kids are going to Panama City Beach today.
Always fun to read on your progress Bill. Looking forward to your origins story. Yup Ralph and team. Goes way back to the early 2000's. But I won't steel your thunder. Really looking forward to that article.
May I also concur with the comments about enabling a small occasional donation facility?
My main point, though, is that, regarding your mission to track evidence of early Covid transmission, I am sure all the evidence is sitting in the freezers of the blood banks who all keep frozen serum samples from all donations in case a problem ever crops up in a blood product recipient many years hence.
Strangely, no one has bothered to look for evidence of existing antibodies at the time of blood donation.
One of the reasons I donated regularly here in Australia was to contribute to the serological trail which would enable epidemiologists and virologists to track population transmission by proxy. (The other reason I started giving plasma every few weeks was that during lockdown in Sydney, the blood bank was about the only place you could actually SIT DOWN and drink a cup of tea in the CBD.) And we were all so bored sitting at home.
Thank you. Archived blood was everywhere. All of that existing blood could have been tested for antibodies - beginning in February 2020 if not January 2020. They didn't test the archived blood for antibodies ... because they knew what they tests would show. And that would completely blow up their lying narrative.
I'm a numbers guy too. But projecting the future from historical trends only works when the future mirrors the past. Usually it tends to. But the COVID insanity fuels a lot of SubStack interest, and these aren't typical times. It's still powerful, but I feel it easing a bit. As it wanes, I doubt anything can match it for generating outrage, not even global warming or corrupt economic policies.
Good point - one I've thought about myself. The goal would be to get readers who simply like your writing or takes - or the community they have found at the Reader Comments. There's always going to be new outrages and maybe the readers will hang with you. I think we are living through (scary) historical times .... so we need some writers who are NOT going to follow the official narrative. .... As to your point, Mark Oshinksie (one of my favorite "Covid" writers) has made the same point to me several times. He thinks the interest in the topic is going to wane and/or he's going to exhaust Covid topics to write about.
I'll add this: The big stories/truths on Covid haven't been told yet. If they ever were told, Katie bar the door!
It's certainly possible we'll see surges in the COVID coverage fueled by new disclosures. If things pan out as they rightfully should, which is possible but not likely, the saga will accelerate and go on for a long time. I feel very lucky to be in what might be a real "sweet spot" age-wise. I'm old enough to have lived in the good times, but may have enough pretty healthy years ahead to see how this tragic but fascinating story plays out. I have a feeling the resolution will take too long for me to see it though. And that might be best anyway.
Well said. I think the same thing. The real question is this: Have we passed the tipping point? Is it too late to self-correct? I vacillate on this question. I do think since ALL of our "leaders" are either obtuse or evil/nefarious/uncaring about the harm they are causing ... the prospects are more dim than I'd prefer they be ... only because "leadership" does matter.
This said, one big "truth bomb" would be enough to purge a lot of these leaders ... so I'm pulling for that truth bomb to detonate although I think it's probably a long shot it will; WHO would expose these truths? The people who could expose it are all "stakeholders" in the Status Quo.
I know this: I'll never run out of provocative issues to write about.
Mar 25, 2023·edited Mar 25, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
Everything you wrote is exactly right. History indicates we're too far along. The COVID response would have been dramatically different in a healthy society. Our only hope is a benevolent, wise, and charismatic leader. That could get a critical mass of the population onto the right path. Humans are simply not capable of finding their way on their own, most of them. I think a huge problem is all the wealth, and therefore power, is held by people who prefer to harm rather than help. Pharma seems vulnerable to having their wealth confiscated and redistributed, that could help, if done effectively. It's an interesting and distressing phenomenon how all the wealth, institutions, and thus power end up controlled by enemies of decency. I've never been religious but the words biblical and luciferian come to mind all the time these days.
Man, you could write my Substack. I've become more spiritual in recent years ... because I think genuine evil must/probably is at work here. A devout good friend - a family doctor! - keeps arguing that a real solution would only be possible if the faith community joined the fight. But all the religious denominations were/are captured. But the "numbers" we would need are in the church pews.
Thanks, but you do it better! Christianity for all it's flaws filled the bill for a long time better than anything else I know of, to keep society moving in a good direction. Its replacements are universally destructive. A revival with better church leaders, would sure be nice. Church leaders have always been flawed, but today they're so weak and easily corrupted they're mostly captured as you say. I don't know why better leaders would pop up though. Hmm, not really seeing a way out of this. That doesn't mean there isn't one.
Can you provide a good link? You have a definite niche. The key to Substack's success is simple: They DON'T censor. And I think the site was started by some "liberals" from San Francisco. Classic liberals.
It's so awesome to see the numbers of people like you growing while the MSM bleeds support. Here's to another awesome six months, followed by another awesome six years!
You too, friend. You've been one of my greatest supporters and a role model on how to do this.
This is the way!
My feature story on the sad and maddening vaccine-caused death of Derek McIntosh brought the most readers to my site - about 73,000 readers over two days.
The story was picked up by Citizen Free Press. The “back story” of the story is also illuminating to me. I wrote this story because Derek’s father, Jeff, sent me an email, suggesting I write such a story.
Mr. McIntosh - like Derek’s son and sister - are determined to do everything they can to publicize the fact their healthy and much-loved family member died from a vaccine injury. Mr. McIntosh told me he often spends hours every day emailing reporters and media figures, trying to reach one person who will do a story. He said he’ll send 100 messages and might get one response.
So I was the 1-in-100 who responded and wrote a simple feature story. And it’s a story that mattered because it got picked up by a well-known site. It also generated donations for Jeff’s teenage son so he could continue to live in his father’s house while he finished high school. The story led to other interviews for the family.
For this story to make an impact, I had to start my Substack. I had to respond to a compelling story suggestion and CFP had to think the story deserved a wider audience. But all those things happened … and because of this one piece of “journalism” made a little difference - which is what journalism is supposed to do.
All this makes me think of the hundreds of thousands (millions) of stories about vaccine victims (fatalities or serious, life-altering injuries) that have NOT been told.
It also tells me I need to do more simple feature stories just like this. All of us in Substack need to do this.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/this-family-is-fighting-back
Dear Husband Bill,
I am proud of you!
Thank you, Sweetheart. I couldn't do it without your support.
BTW, my wife has a great idea for a Substack site ... about education and what really is going on in schools and the ideas of some of the leaders. I'm pretty sure she'd have to do it anonymously.
There are plenty of us already-retired educators from the public school realm who would be happy to educate others about what really goes on in public schools, and then your wife wouldn't have to risk her career. Even though I received a decent public school education personally, after having worked in the system for two decades, there is NO WAY I would allow anyone I care about to ever attend public school in this era of depravity and wokeness. I admire your wife for hanging in there.
Carrie
Glad to see your support for Bill. It has always been helpful in so many ways when my wife has supported me even when it didn’t go well.
May both of you have continued success in all that you do.
That's very sweet.
Didn't I see one of your articles re-published by The Brownstone Institute. To me, they are the Vanguard of writers who write about the truth that is suppressed for so many. Congrats! and Thank You!
Yes, I am part of the Brownstone Writers Group. I agree. The Brownstone Institute has become the best source for conservative journalism and commentary. Jeffrey Tucker IS "the adult in the room."
Brownstone, The Daily Sceptic, Zero Hedge and the UK's The Conservative Woman have all published my stories.
Several of my story ideas have come from an email thread that the 190 or so Brownstone writers post on every day.
I would like you to write a story about JT.
He is very interesting.
That's a great story idea. I'll see if he'll let me. Thanks for the story suggestion!
Yes, I love JT. He is amazing. And kudos to you for being in their writers group. That is quite an achievement....such a high caliber of writers in that group. Good for you!
It might make you feel better Bill to know that in Canada, despite government subsidies to MSM, according to Blacklocks reporter not all subsidies available to MSM were paid out last year as the subsidies are dependant on the number of staff. As staffing fell on average at MSM not all subsidies were paid.
Did you see my story on Gannett Newspapers? They are dying rapidly. The Gannet paper in Lafayette Louisiana has ONE newsroom reporter. Amazing and sad ... but a tremendous opportunity for people who are trying to report news on Substack.
My take on the demise of MSM is that you can choose to get your news in 1 month (magazines),
1 day (newspapers), 6 hrs (TV) or instantaneous (internet). Between the instantaneous news and zero cost, most people opt for the internet. I remember when Conrad Black was buying up Canadian newspapers and after each purchase he would send his henchman in to walk down the newsroom and fire every other reporter. He didn't realize it but the drop in news coverage has helped the demise of the newspaper industry. If I just wanted to read the ads then I would look at the flyers. By the way, I was a newspaper boy in my early teens.
They gave away their "product" for free. It never made any sense. ... I bet "newspaper delivery boy" was the first job of millions of people. When I was publisher of my own weekly newspaper, I wrote most of the stories, sold most of the ads, took most of the pictures, covered most of the events, tried to manage all of the staff and pay all the bills, laid out the pages, drove the pages to the printer 50 miles away, brought back the newspapers and then rolled and delivered 500 to 1,000 of them on my paper route. It would take me three days to recover ... and then I had to do it all over again. It's amazing I'm still alive. I still think I have PTSD.
Congrats, Bill. I'll also add that these days, with all the censorship on other social media platforms, Google, etc, the comments sections in these blogs play a far more important role than in the past. I've always avoided comments sections; they mostly (I'll grudge a few exceptions) struck me as peanut gallery stuff and log-rolling, but not anymore, not under covidian censorship. I've been finding that some of the most important information turns up in the comments sections-- especially in el gato, Steve Kirsch, Igor Chudov, Toby Rogers, eugyppius, Dr. Paul Alexander, Dr. McCullough and John Leake, Tessa Lena, and many other Substacks, including yours. Blog on!
[edited to fix typos]
I again agree. You have to read the Reader Comments. I worry about the "dumbing down" of society, but if you read the comments at the right sites you see that the world is full of highly intelligent people.
Before Substack, the only place my writing appeared was in the Reader Comments. I think that's another reason my site grew pretty fast. A lot of people knew my name from my prolific reader comments.
I'm starting to get a lot more at my site, which was one of my big goals when I started this site. You get some real "news tips" too. If I ever do break some huge story, it will be because a whistleblower contacts ME ... from this site. Which you can't rule out happening.
I joined your band of merry men/women by subscribing through one of your comments.
We are a band of merry men and women. And you joined us from our secret hatch! Thanks!
Absolutely agree.
I've learned valuable things from the comments and make it a point to read them.
Totally agree Mrs B! I have encouraged people who write brilliant comments to make their own stacks too.
Congratulations, Bill.
Wishing you even more success and, more importantly, enjoyment!
Congratulations, but Substack needs a new model for subscribers like me who might pay to access multiple writers' work, but not at $5 per month/per writer.
Good idea, Laurie. I bet they are thinking about s/t like that.
I've STOPPED subscribing because the subscriptions add up so much AND I can't keep up with all the reading anyway.
So here's a thought: Often something is good, I'll read it (but not want to subscribe) but want to pay SOMETHING.
What about making "Buy me a Coffee" a bigger thing?
I'd be happy to start buying coffees; they could (hopefully) add up as a small extra revenue source for the wonderful writers.
Maybe the first two coffees of the month could be $3 each; the third and fourth $4 each and so on. At a certain point one might decide it makes better monetary sense to subscribe.
Another question: What about lower-cost subscriptions? A lot of people will be happy to pay something just not the subscriber price.
Love your work!
I like it. There needs to be a smaller one-time pay option or button people can push. "Micro payments" for journalists could be the next huge thing. Say a writer gets 4 cents a story ... and the story goes viral and reaches 1 million people. You are set for the year with one story. Don't steal my idea! Thanks for the support and the free sub. As you can see, the Reader Comments are growing. My ultimate goal is to have the best "Reader Comments" Section in Substack.
People could buy say, a $50, $75 or whatever token stack from Substack. Readers would then have "tokens" to leave with the writers.
Token size given to writer(s) could be up to the buyer. LOVED YOUR STORY might merit a $10 token while most of the others would be a dollar, two, three or who knows how much.
Leave it to the wallet holder to dispense as he or she pleases.
Just a thought. A spin-off from the micro-payment thought you offered.
<< My ultimate goal is to have the best "Reader Comments" Section in Substack. >>
And beat Steve Kirsch?!
Talk about setting a lofty goal..... :)
I totally agree with this. People have been pressing Substack for this feature but they said they won't do it because it "encourages bad behaviour." Not sure what that means.
Bad behavior? Huh?
Agree. I have zero idea what that means.
I agree! I give so much to ICAN, CHD, and that with the many different authors (to get as many different perspectives as possible), it does add up quickly. Couple that with being married to a strictly “Wall Street Journal “ kinda guy there’s only so much to go around. I just paid $2 for a pepper! One pepper. I don’t know how long this can last for most families. Anyway, I’d love to be able to throw some money on a per article basis. I’d love to be able to reward outstanding journalism on a per article basis. Not sure how that would work. The buy me a coffee or tipping process seems like a great place to start.
I like the "tip" idea. Here's my idea: You put, say, $10 a month on some debit account. The company curates all these great freelance stories at one site with a short summary of the article and a few introductory sentences. If the story interests you, you buy it for, say 5 cents. You now have $9.95 to buy stories for the rest of the month. You can buy 200 stories a month! The company keeps 2 cents and pays the writer 3 cents for every read. Writers have a tremendous incentive to write stories that will get lots of readers. The "gatekeepers of the news" are cut out of the equation. They don't get to decide what stories the masses read. That's why the Powers that Be would try to kill this idea and it's never been done.
If anyone is interested and knows enough to help me raise a couple million to launch this idea, please contact me by email.
I would definitely do that! Great idea
My story from Feb. 25 trying to recount “How all the madness actually happened” generated the most reader comments I’ve yet to receive - 279.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/how-did-all-the-madness-happen
This story was also picked up by Citizen Free Press as well as The Brownstone Institute and a cross-post by Dr. Paul Alexander. So that one was a stand-up triple.
Steve Kirsch would be embarrassed by a story that generated only 279 likes, but for someone who went weeks or months averaging 15 to 30 comments per story that’s quite a jump.
Today, I routinely publish stories that generate at least 100 comments. This is important to me as I know people will visit a Substack just to make and read other comments. I know that’s one of the main reasons I visit my favorite sites on a routine basis.
The story also got 167 “likes” which is another metric you can’t help but notice.
“Covid messed up my psyche big time” - where I talk about all the things I don’t like about the last three years - ironically enough was one of my stories that got a much-larger-than-normal number of likes - 184. When people hit the “like” button for that story, I think they were signaling that there’s a lot they don’t like either.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/covid-messed-with-my-psyche-big-time
Three stories that I liked a lot (of course) generated the fewest number of “likes.”
From time to time, I think I write just to amuse myself. I often write what I call “save the world” pieces, but I get tired saving the world and so some times I write pieces that are silly and as irreverent as can be. My late mother once told me she actually liked these columns better than my save-the-world pieces. Maybe I should have ignored that compliment from Mom?
Nah. I’m going to keep doing them from time to time. Writing crazy probably keeps me sane.
Maybe these will do better in late-night syndication?
My names for the different flavors of Covid:
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/the-lighter-side-of-covid
My column where one aside led to the Guiness Book of World Records’ record for “asides in one column.”
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/the-lighter-side-of-covid
I’m also a big movie buff (note the picture from Urban Cowboy). I thought for sure my piece on “movies for our Covid times” would attract film buffs from all around the world. I thought wrong. That column left theaters in two days.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/movies-for-our-covid-times
The above three stories got 15, 16 and 16 “likes” with probably two coming secretly from myself and my wife (a sympathy like). I re-link them today on the off chance I can get one of them up to 20 likes.
Congrats on your milestone, Bill! Really happy to have found you.
As to being surprised that you have a number of blue state subscribers, I’m in New Mexico & can probably vouch for almost any blue state that the rural areas of pretty much all of them are RED
I figured that one out a while back. America is really a lot of Blue Big Cities. I'd love to visit New Mexico one day!
Bill, if you do please let me know!!
I've got to go see where Walter White lived!
Of course that’s Albuquerque which is part of the problem in NM but there is lots to see & do there & the even worse problem in beautiful Santa Fe. You need to hit the south eastern part where all the farmers, ranchers, cowboys & oilfield workers are. Alien Capital of the world, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns. In our part of the state we kept it real & defied 😊
It's on my list. My brother was a Boy Scout and took a Boy Scout trip to NM when he was about 13. He went to Carlsbad Caverns. If you ever come to Alabama, I'll show you around. I'm 2 1/2 hours north from some of the prettiest beaches in America. My wife and kids are going to Panama City Beach today.
Do you think this is because in rural areas most of the people actually WORK?
I'm in a BBC (Big Blue City). Oh! The numbers we carry on our backs!
Always fun to read on your progress Bill. Looking forward to your origins story. Yup Ralph and team. Goes way back to the early 2000's. But I won't steel your thunder. Really looking forward to that article.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience. Really useful for the rest of us. Keep up the good work!
I'll take your advice and share my latest story here: https://thorsteinn.substack.com/p/when-will-they-ever-learn
Everyone, visit Thosteinn's site. He's one of the very smart friends I made through the Brownstone Writer's Group. From Iceland (right?)!
Iceland it is. Thanks for your recommendation Bill.
You have had most excellent results, the product of which is more informed people informing more people.
I wish you well.
genearly.substack.com
Congratulations, Bill.
May I also concur with the comments about enabling a small occasional donation facility?
My main point, though, is that, regarding your mission to track evidence of early Covid transmission, I am sure all the evidence is sitting in the freezers of the blood banks who all keep frozen serum samples from all donations in case a problem ever crops up in a blood product recipient many years hence.
Strangely, no one has bothered to look for evidence of existing antibodies at the time of blood donation.
One of the reasons I donated regularly here in Australia was to contribute to the serological trail which would enable epidemiologists and virologists to track population transmission by proxy. (The other reason I started giving plasma every few weeks was that during lockdown in Sydney, the blood bank was about the only place you could actually SIT DOWN and drink a cup of tea in the CBD.) And we were all so bored sitting at home.
Thank you. Archived blood was everywhere. All of that existing blood could have been tested for antibodies - beginning in February 2020 if not January 2020. They didn't test the archived blood for antibodies ... because they knew what they tests would show. And that would completely blow up their lying narrative.
I'm a numbers guy too. But projecting the future from historical trends only works when the future mirrors the past. Usually it tends to. But the COVID insanity fuels a lot of SubStack interest, and these aren't typical times. It's still powerful, but I feel it easing a bit. As it wanes, I doubt anything can match it for generating outrage, not even global warming or corrupt economic policies.
Good point - one I've thought about myself. The goal would be to get readers who simply like your writing or takes - or the community they have found at the Reader Comments. There's always going to be new outrages and maybe the readers will hang with you. I think we are living through (scary) historical times .... so we need some writers who are NOT going to follow the official narrative. .... As to your point, Mark Oshinksie (one of my favorite "Covid" writers) has made the same point to me several times. He thinks the interest in the topic is going to wane and/or he's going to exhaust Covid topics to write about.
I'll add this: The big stories/truths on Covid haven't been told yet. If they ever were told, Katie bar the door!
It's certainly possible we'll see surges in the COVID coverage fueled by new disclosures. If things pan out as they rightfully should, which is possible but not likely, the saga will accelerate and go on for a long time. I feel very lucky to be in what might be a real "sweet spot" age-wise. I'm old enough to have lived in the good times, but may have enough pretty healthy years ahead to see how this tragic but fascinating story plays out. I have a feeling the resolution will take too long for me to see it though. And that might be best anyway.
Well said. I think the same thing. The real question is this: Have we passed the tipping point? Is it too late to self-correct? I vacillate on this question. I do think since ALL of our "leaders" are either obtuse or evil/nefarious/uncaring about the harm they are causing ... the prospects are more dim than I'd prefer they be ... only because "leadership" does matter.
This said, one big "truth bomb" would be enough to purge a lot of these leaders ... so I'm pulling for that truth bomb to detonate although I think it's probably a long shot it will; WHO would expose these truths? The people who could expose it are all "stakeholders" in the Status Quo.
I know this: I'll never run out of provocative issues to write about.
Everything you wrote is exactly right. History indicates we're too far along. The COVID response would have been dramatically different in a healthy society. Our only hope is a benevolent, wise, and charismatic leader. That could get a critical mass of the population onto the right path. Humans are simply not capable of finding their way on their own, most of them. I think a huge problem is all the wealth, and therefore power, is held by people who prefer to harm rather than help. Pharma seems vulnerable to having their wealth confiscated and redistributed, that could help, if done effectively. It's an interesting and distressing phenomenon how all the wealth, institutions, and thus power end up controlled by enemies of decency. I've never been religious but the words biblical and luciferian come to mind all the time these days.
Man, you could write my Substack. I've become more spiritual in recent years ... because I think genuine evil must/probably is at work here. A devout good friend - a family doctor! - keeps arguing that a real solution would only be possible if the faith community joined the fight. But all the religious denominations were/are captured. But the "numbers" we would need are in the church pews.
Thanks, but you do it better! Christianity for all it's flaws filled the bill for a long time better than anything else I know of, to keep society moving in a good direction. Its replacements are universally destructive. A revival with better church leaders, would sure be nice. Church leaders have always been flawed, but today they're so weak and easily corrupted they're mostly captured as you say. I don't know why better leaders would pop up though. Hmm, not really seeing a way out of this. That doesn't mean there isn't one.
Bravo!!
Substack surprised me, too, by finding (paying!) subscribers for my very wonky, technical newsletter about China. And they don't censor me, either.
Can you provide a good link? You have a definite niche. The key to Substack's success is simple: They DON'T censor. And I think the site was started by some "liberals" from San Francisco. Classic liberals.