Unhinged but accurate

TDWS: What We're Writing

Call them predators. Don't let them test and apologize.

By Lawrence Winnerman and Dana DuBoisMarch 31, 2026 · 1 min read

Today on The Daily Whatever Show, we went deep on Substack’s slow creep toward walled-garden territory — and why you should download your subscriber list today, not later.

Lawrence Winnerman also had personal news: his second divorce is official. He’s accepting applications for the next future ex-Mr. Winnerman.

From there, we covered a lot of ground: We talked about the No Kings general strike on May 1. We discussed Lawrence’s latest essay Stop Calling Them Billionaires. Start Calling Them Predators (and why language matters). Then the hour closed on Dana’s latest I Write Out Loud essay, Dating the “Test and Apologize” Type — the coffee date, the raunchy song from The Dare, and whether that first red flag predicted everything that followed.

(Lawrence thinks it did.)

Thank you Polly Walker Blakemore, Karen Marie Shelton, Dana DuBois, LeftieProf, Noble Blend, and many others for tuning in.

We love you, mean it!

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Lawrence Winnerman

The science fiction writer

Lawrence Winnerman is a science fiction writer in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After twenty-five years leading technology programs at Amazon and Microsoft, he was chief operating officer of Blue Amp Media. In his Substack publication, The Hinge & The Near Field, he writes about AI and democracy and is serializing his novel Light Shines Through. He co-hosts The Daily Whatever Show. All stories by Lawrence

Dana DuBois

The memoirist

Dana DuBois is a memoirist and Gen X word nerd based in the Pacific Northwest. She founded I Write Out Loud, her Substack publication, where she writes across a range of subjects; parenting, music and pop culture, relationships, and feminism are her favorites. She co-hosts The Daily Whatever Show. Em dashes, Oxford commas, and well-placed semicolons make her heart happy. All stories by Dana