Letter to readers

Letter to readers

Hi friends, lurkers, hate-readers, and the three people who accidentally clicked a link and stayed anyway,

Thanks for spending time with my work this year. Attention is the only currency the internet hasn’t fully debased yet, so if you gave me some, I genuinely appreciate it.

If you read anything I published in 2025, you probably noticed the running theme: the world is loud, powerful institutions are allergic to accountability, and almost every “moral” story has a receipt stapled to it. I write about politics, tech, foreign policy, labor, religion, and pop culture, usually with the same impulse: show the wiring, then point out which parts are sparking.

A few highlights from this year’s lineup:

• “The Christmas Pivot: Minerals, Mythmaking, and the New Sahelian Front”
   A close look at how “humanitarian” narratives get weaponized, how resource competition shapes policy, and how conveniently timed moral outrage can be.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/the-christmas-pivot-84a2a8d78986
• “The Grand Old Putsch”
   A long, sourced walk through the ideological lineage that people keep pretending is brand new. History doesn’t repeat, it just changes fonts.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/the-grand-old-putsch-fc882e0dc7bb
• “The U.S. Keeps Blowing Up Go-Fast Boats in the Caribbean”
   If you like your policy analysis with a side of “this is obviously not solving the stated problem,” this one’s for you.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/the-u-s-keeps-blowing-up-go-fast-boats-in-the-caribbean-165de32831e9
• “Narco Pardons, Peso Lifelines, and Seized Oil”
   A tour of late-2025 foreign policy absurdities, the donor-shaped fingerprints on the glass, and why none of this feels accidental.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/narco-pardons-peso-lifelines-and-seized-oil-the-new-monetized-foreign-policy-043343e5e7db
• “Labor Rights Are Not a Suicide Pact”
   Solidarity is not the same thing as laundering bigotry. This is about how bad arguments become gifts to the people who want labor crushed.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/labor-rights-are-not-a-suicide-pact-51c65369616f
• The holiday double-feature nobody asked for (but you got anyway):
   “The Reindeer Industrial Complex” and “The Misfit Singularity” take Rankin/Bass Rudolph and the Toy Story universe and treat them like what they secretly are: mythology, labor, propaganda, and manufactured souls, wrapped in felt and merch.
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/the-reindeer-industrial-complex-b1e263f8f4a6
   https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/the-misfit-singularity-cb1dd0d4fee9

And yes, I even reposted an old Toy Story 3 essay to prove I’ve been this way for a long time, and that the internet has always been a cursed place.
 https://medium.com/@brian.ragle/5-psychologically-dark-or-horrifying-moments-in-toy-story-3-470209053275

About 2026 (the part where I ask for money, like a classy person)

Starting in 2026, most of my new posts will be behind the Medium paywall. Not because I love paywalls, I don’t. But because independent writing that takes real time, real sourcing, and real spine has to be funded somehow, and “exposure” pays exactly zero bills.

A Medium membership is $5/month, and it gets you access to my future paywalled work plus a whole ecosystem of writers doing serious reporting, analysis, and craft. If you’ve enjoyed anything I’ve written, subscribing is the simplest way to keep it coming. You’ll also be directly supporting independent media, even sarcastic snarkosaurs like me, who insist on bringing receipts to a vibes fight.

Thanks again for reading, sharing, and arguing in good faith (or at least arguing with effort). See you in 2026.

Brian Ragle