"A Great Artist"
My Final Newsletter of 2025..
WASHINGTON — The phone rang Wednesday while I was sitting in the House press gallery. My buddy Cristobal Alex’s name on the screen.
“Hey, this is Joe Biden. You’re a great artist, man.”
“Bullshit, what do you need?”
“No, seriously, hey Jill, put on the FaceTime.”
Next thing I know, Dr. Jill Biden’s face is on my phone, then the ex-president’s, and I’m apologizing for cursing and showing him around the Frederick Douglass Press Gallery while my colleagues try to file their stories. I showed him my portrait of Douglass hanging above the AP booth. He liked it. Invited me to his office in the new year.
Which is nice. But here’s what I need to tell you.
I haven’t painted much this year. I’ve been too busy cleaning my studio to cope with the stress of watching this administration tear families apart. Too busy writing. Too busy breaking news that the big outlets won’t touch.
Six hundred and twenty-one posts this year. You read that right. 621. More news on the immigration beat than any outlet in America. Not bad for a working-class newsletter launched 14 months ago out of my apartment.
We broke the stories about secret police grabbing people off streets. About abandoned cars and empty food carts. About kids stuck at elementary schools with no parents coming to get them because ICE took their mother at 6 a.m.
The big outlets now cite us. They rely on us. We built that with 13,000 readers and 700 who pay.
Seven hundred people keeping the lights on.
That’s it.
No hedge fund owner. No billionaire sugar daddy. No corporate board. Just 700 people who believe somebody should cover this beat without kissing up to government press flacks.
So I’m taking two weeks off. Going to paint. Going to clear my head. Coming back January 5 with big news I can’t tell you about yet. But here’s what I can tell you:
This works because you make it work.
If you’re reading this free, subscribe. Twelve bucks a month. Less than a bodega sandwich in D.C. If you’re already paying, throw in a few extra bucks this holiday season. We’re going into 2026 with more fire than we had in 2025, and that year nearly killed me.
They’re not slowing down. So neither are we.
But I can’t do 621 more posts on fumes and fury alone.
Happy holidays. See you in the new year.
Now subscribe.
621 stories about the fuckeries of ICE & CBP!!! Thank you Pablo for doing what corporate media won’t. I imagine writing these stories takes a huge toll on the soul. I’m glad you’re taking time off to rest and recover. Happy Holidays! See you in January!