READ THIS If You're Using the Special Upgrade to Paid

Explanations of some Substack nonsense that will save headaches

Jul 07, 2025

Please forgive a second newsletter today. If you’re already a paid subscriber, or if you have no interest in upgrading to paid, this newsletter isn’t for you.

red and white sale LED sign — Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Earlier today, I announced a 20% Off FOREVER Annual Subscriptions sale. A number of you have already taken advantage of this offer. (THANK YOU.)

Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t make these discounts easy to use. If you’re considering an upgrade, please remember the following:

If you’re already a monthly subscriber, Substack won’t allow you to upgrade to paid using this discount. To take advantage of the discount (which makes your year half-price forever), you must FIRST unsubscribe from the $8 per month plan. Then, USE THE BUTTON IN THIS NEWSLETTER to upgrade to annual to get the discount.
YOU MUST USE THE BUTTON IN THE NEWSLETTER TO GET THE DISCOUNT. If you go to your subscription page or use any other button to upgrade, Substack will charge you the full annual price of $60. I don’t know why they do this, and it drives me insane.
If you have problems, please reach out to me. Substack support is abysmal. They set all the rules about what creators can and cannot charge and how we must be paid, but then leave us to manage everything else. So again, contact me with problems. Between us, we can get any issues resolved.

Part of creating the country we want means defining and investing in our values. Please support this work and help me continue to bring you and yours good information in these dark times.

20% Off Annual Subs FOREVER

Through 14 July, I’m running a 20% off special for annual subscriptions FOREVER. $48 per year (regularly $60) gets you the following extras:

2 downloadable, word-searchable printable books: How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life and Resistance Isn’t Futile: How to Prepare to Live in Project 2025’s Christo-fascist Dictatorship
Access to our monthly Democracy Reading Group with acclaimed authors like Anne Applebaum, Marcel Dirsus, and Amanda Tyler. UPCOMING: former Customs and Border Patrol agent JENN BUDD on where we’re headed with militarized police forces and what we can do about them.
Access to special Substack LIVE events with esteemed experts in democracy, history, communications, emigration, digital privacy, politics, and more.
Paid Subscribers can comment on every newsletter. Lots of Substackers with orange checkmarks don’t respond to comments. I DO. I also accept and respond to private messages from Paid Subscribers.
Full access to archives. Free subscribers only have access to the most recent two weeks of archives. Paid subscribers can read everything from the beginning.
And several more exclusive extras I’m rolling out in the coming months. Including secure community comms support and an offshore information space that is 100% beyond the reach of a predatory government. I’ve been talking about it for a while. After numerous stops and starts, it’s almost live!