We never get tired of saying “the Tom Dwyer Newsletter is unlike any other newsletter you’ve ever read”, but what do we mean? There’s no better way to show you than to look back at the stories we covered in 2020. We didn’t cover EVERYTHING (not even the real news organizations could!) but we hit a lot, and all from our unique viewpoint. We know you want 2021 to start ASAP, but please join us for one last horrific look at the dumpster fire that was 2020…
Tom’s Tidbits
Many of our clients first heard about us through Tom’s radio ads on the late, lamented KPOJ. Surprisingly, these were almost never about cars. It was always just Tom, no music, talking about the issues of the day. What made them interesting was that he rarely if ever settled for an over-simplified news-porn opinion; he always preferred digging for deeper insights. Though 620AM is now a FOX Sports outlet and the torch of KPOJ is now being carried by XRAY.FM, we’ve still tried to carry Tom’s political thoughts in Tom’s Tidbits. We know this is a surprise to precisely no one, but 2020 was a surreal year for anyone trying to make sense of the political scene. Every month brought the same “well, THIS is the most twisted thing that will ever happen in the US” feeling, only to be surpassed 30 days later. From January’s Impeachment to July’s Federal Occupation of Portland, to December, when martial law and election “do-overs” are being floated as possibilities, it’s been a long, painful slog. Here’s what Tom had to say about it…
January- Trump’s fate is the least of what’s at stake
January (extra, letter to Senate)- To a very few Senate Republicans…
February- Trump will kill us now. CorpraDems will kill us later
March- We are OPEN during this crisis.
April- THIS… this is what government is SUPPOSED to do!
May- The ultimate warfighting machine
June- The fall of our political parties is not a spectator sport.
July- The Fed’s Occupation hits close to home. Too close.
August- Welcome Republicans!
September- We can even learn from THAT debate!
October- Who are domestic enemies? The ones that want to steal your vote
November- Death by Denial
Our Feature articles
Just about every company has a newsletter these days, but they can get pretty stale. As Tom says, “do you really want to read about bugs from your exterminator every month?” We know that if we want you to read our newsletter, we have to make it worth your while. We hope one of the ways we do that is our Feature articles, where we try to cover automotive, political, community, environmental, and other news. These are (almost always) original articles written by us, but beyond that you’ll never know what to expect (other than that the articles are, hopefully, interesting and/or useful).
Our Monthly Columns
Our clients are multi-dimensional people so we try to serve all those dimensions with our Monthly Columns. Whether it’s good food, important books, health tips, science exploration, humor, or (god forbid), even stuff about our shop, you’ll find it all in our monthly columns. This year we have some big changes to share with you!
The Final Fury
“News To Make You Furious”, which infuriated its first reader in 2009, riled it’s last reader in 2020. In it, we covered many of the most jaw-dropping abuses in the world whether environmental, political, legal, medical, or things that just wouldn’t fit in a box. We archived all the angst in our own Vault of Venom, so if the rage and desperation of 2020 ever fade for you, you’ll know where to come to get re-amped. But why did we drop Furious? To make room for TWO new columns…
The Department of Reality Studies
Basic science, even basic consensual reality, seems under attack these days. Science and education are increasingly something for the ‘elite’; something to be distrusted by honest folk. We think this is a dangerous trend that needs to be stopped… yesterday. In the “Department of Reality Studies” we’ll bring you stories from the outer rim of the scientific frontier to show you (or at least the science-deniers out there) just how exciting the real world can be… for all of us.
The Funny Page
We had a wonderful “Humorousness” column with one problem… no one ever read it. We decided to expand Humorousness from one-funny-a-month to a bigger conglomeration of all sorts of funny things from jokes to memes to stories and more. But even better, we brought the brilliant pen of Keith Tucker’s “What NOW?!! Toons” onto the funny page, and we also added a monthly art puzzle from local artist Jen Rombach. Now all your laughs and relaxation are under one roof… make it your monthly stop for a smile!
The Ladle is Passed
In 2020 we said goodbye to Drew Pearson, the original chef for Drew’s Kitchen. You can read about his departure here, find the full more-than-a-decade Drew’s Kitchen menu here, or ask for your FREE copy of the Drew’s Kitchen Cookbook next time you’re at the shop. But we couldn’t leave the Kitchen empty, so our Service Advisor Kyle Speers stepped in to take over. There’s another chef stirring the pot now, and we hope you’ll check in to see exactly how his menu will develop.
So that’s the news ABOUT our columns… click below to see the news FROM any column you choose!
Our Popcorn Shorts
In our voyages through the InterTubes we run across some amazing things to share with you, but we don’t have much to add to most of them… they’re just interesting on their own. Most (but not necessarily all) of these are stories from our Facebook Page, so if you haven’t ‘liked’ us yet please do… that way, you won’t have to wait the full month!
