Tom Howard
@dcprose.bsky.social
Writer, future ghost, leftist. Finding the sweet spot between dark and goofy. | Books: Invisibilia, Fierce Pretty Things
I just can’t get over the weird thank you for your attention to this matter thing. It’s deranged.
Trump: “Dear Prime Minister Carney:
Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
January 24, 2026 at 12:34 AM
I just can’t get over the weird thank you for your attention to this matter thing. It’s deranged.
So a quarter of Republicans are concerned there hasn't been *quite* enough murder and kidnapping. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/u...
Voters Are Split on Deportations but Disapprove of ICE, Poll Finds
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:10 PM
So a quarter of Republicans are concerned there hasn't been *quite* enough murder and kidnapping. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/u...
Are we supposed to like Noah Wylie’s character on The Pitt? Or is he like Walt on Breaking Bad and it turns out all along he was the villain?
January 22, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Are we supposed to like Noah Wylie’s character on The Pitt? Or is he like Walt on Breaking Bad and it turns out all along he was the villain?
This is the kind of dorky government-can-work vibe that I can get behind
January 19, 2026 at 12:00 AM
This is the kind of dorky government-can-work vibe that I can get behind
Weird because it’s ALL optics, the whole operation. He just wants to pick and choose the eyeballs that see it.
Trump is privately worried about the "optics" of ICE raids and his advisers are looking for ways to soften them, Axios reports. I'm calling bullshit: The terror and violence cannot be hived off from the broader policy agenda. They are 100% intrinsic to it.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2053...
Trump’s Own Advisers Suddenly Unnerved as ICE Raids Take Horrific Turn
So the president doesn’t like the “optics” of what ICE is doing. But there’s no such thing as sanitized, popular mass deportations—and this is by design.
newrepublic.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Weird because it’s ALL optics, the whole operation. He just wants to pick and choose the eyeballs that see it.
ARC and cover drop. Invisibilia, coming from Slant Books in April. Coffee is extra.
#booksky
#writingcommunity #coverdrop
#shortstories
#booksky
#writingcommunity #coverdrop
#shortstories
January 16, 2026 at 3:31 PM
ARC and cover drop. Invisibilia, coming from Slant Books in April. Coffee is extra.
#booksky
#writingcommunity #coverdrop
#shortstories
#booksky
#writingcommunity #coverdrop
#shortstories
Reposted by Tom Howard
Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.
January 9, 2026 at 1:50 AM
Best TikTok thing going is the two dudes trying food from every country without leaving NYC. If you haven’t seen them yet, it’s incredible. My favorite so far is last week’s. Legit got me emotional.
Reposted by Tom Howard
On only hours notice, hundreds of New Yorkers are gathering in Foley Square to protest the murder of Renee Nicole Good
January 7, 2026 at 11:06 PM
On only hours notice, hundreds of New Yorkers are gathering in Foley Square to protest the murder of Renee Nicole Good
Agree, it doesn’t matter at all if she was a citizen. It’s bad framing.
I'm sorry, but I just think it's very telling when we differentiate between ICE's killing of American citizens versus undocumented immigrants. And I'm seeing that a lot right now.
January 7, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Agree, it doesn’t matter at all if she was a citizen. It’s bad framing.
Jesus christ yes.
January 7, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Jesus christ yes.
This is important - it can't just be about abolishing ICE, there has to be the guarantee of prosecutions, even if that happens down the road. Everyone signing up for ICE now has to know what's waiting for them. It's not a real job and there is no immunity.
Abolish and prosecute ICE. They did a murder in broad daylight today. Imagine what they're doing in the closed facilities we're somehow not even allowed to see.
January 7, 2026 at 6:32 PM
This is important - it can't just be about abolishing ICE, there has to be the guarantee of prosecutions, even if that happens down the road. Everyone signing up for ICE now has to know what's waiting for them. It's not a real job and there is no immunity.
Reposted by Tom Howard
Abolish and prosecute ICE. They did a murder in broad daylight today. Imagine what they're doing in the closed facilities we're somehow not even allowed to see.
January 7, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Abolish and prosecute ICE. They did a murder in broad daylight today. Imagine what they're doing in the closed facilities we're somehow not even allowed to see.
Reposted by Tom Howard
We don't have to live like this.
January 7, 2026 at 5:59 PM
We don't have to live like this.
Ah so it’s just about priorities
The White House is laser focused on threatening a military takeover of Greenland.
Where’s the same focus on lowering costs?
Where’s the same focus on lowering costs?
January 7, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Ah so it’s just about priorities
Just a shoutout to the graphic designer who did the Gary Busey icon here.
theonion.com/why-are-we-d...
theonion.com/why-are-we-d...
January 6, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Just a shoutout to the graphic designer who did the Gary Busey icon here.
theonion.com/why-are-we-d...
theonion.com/why-are-we-d...
A screaming park where all anyone does is scream into the void alongside others is an idea from a chilling dystopian hellscape but still amazing. I’d do it.
my hot take is that I don't think it's this website specifically that's toxic. the Circumstances are toxic and nobody really knows what to do about it so they come online and scream. and if I may offer an alternative: actually going outside and screaming feels better.
January 6, 2026 at 11:09 PM
A screaming park where all anyone does is scream into the void alongside others is an idea from a chilling dystopian hellscape but still amazing. I’d do it.
The first thing that made me laugh out loud in four days
January 6, 2026 at 10:51 PM
The first thing that made me laugh out loud in four days
I, not a poet, just wrote about Mary Oliver and enjambments on Substack, a site I know nothing about.
open.substack.com/pub/dcprose/...
open.substack.com/pub/dcprose/...
On poetry cliffhangers
Not long ago I picked up a copy of Mary Oliver’s Why I Wake Early (from The Strand on the Upper West Side, in the spot where the old Shakespeare & Co.
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 10:16 PM
I, not a poet, just wrote about Mary Oliver and enjambments on Substack, a site I know nothing about.
open.substack.com/pub/dcprose/...
open.substack.com/pub/dcprose/...
my people
I’m at Times Square, where an emergency “No War On Venezuela” protest just took to the street. Easily a thousand people here in real-feel 20°F weather.
“No more coups, no more wars, Venezuela’s not yours!”
“No boots on the ground no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!”
“No more coups, no more wars, Venezuela’s not yours!”
“No boots on the ground no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!”
January 3, 2026 at 10:19 PM
my people
man I hope this isn't the high point of 2026 in retrospect
January 3, 2026 at 9:52 PM
man I hope this isn't the high point of 2026 in retrospect
"What stayed with me wasn’t just pride, though there was plenty of that. It was relief. Relief that, for once, a side selling hope instead of fear had won."
On an otherwise ugly day, newswise, this is pretty awesome from Aymann Ismail at @slate.com
slate.com/news-and-pol...
On an otherwise ugly day, newswise, this is pretty awesome from Aymann Ismail at @slate.com
slate.com/news-and-pol...
I Came to See Mamdani’s First Big Speech as Mayor. I Found Something Else Entirely.
New York City is working through its feelings in real time.
slate.com
January 3, 2026 at 7:35 PM
"What stayed with me wasn’t just pride, though there was plenty of that. It was relief. Relief that, for once, a side selling hope instead of fear had won."
On an otherwise ugly day, newswise, this is pretty awesome from Aymann Ismail at @slate.com
slate.com/news-and-pol...
On an otherwise ugly day, newswise, this is pretty awesome from Aymann Ismail at @slate.com
slate.com/news-and-pol...
Reposted by Tom Howard
This is not hard. Artists are not responsible for ensuring the Kennedy Center remains relevant and successful. The center’s board is responsible for that, in a fiduciary way. All of this energy being directed at artists should be re-directed at the board.
December 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
This is not hard. Artists are not responsible for ensuring the Kennedy Center remains relevant and successful. The center’s board is responsible for that, in a fiduciary way. All of this energy being directed at artists should be re-directed at the board.
Really is the best city
Freaking love this city and all the people in it so much….a bunch of people went and turned the 4 train into the Polar Express giving out toys to kids along the way from the Bronx to Brooklyn….shoutout to the @newyorkers.live account on IG for doing this 🙏 www.instagram.com/reel/DSnsvWS...
December 26, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Really is the best city
It’s hard to feel sinister in pajamas. If more people wore pajamas all day there would be less evil in the world. Or at least the evil would be more embarrassing.
December 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
It’s hard to feel sinister in pajamas. If more people wore pajamas all day there would be less evil in the world. Or at least the evil would be more embarrassing.
This is pretty brilliant and I’d love to see it
I wonder what would happen if bbc news paid for 30 second unskippable news broadcasts as YouTube adverts. Kind of like pathe news at cinemas.
December 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM
This is pretty brilliant and I’d love to see it