Kindness Nice Times!
The Kindness Mob was started in 2023 by Tyler Brickley after he was saddened seeing the piling on of cruel comments that happen in certain sections of the internet. He had an idea, what if the piling on was hopeful and kind instead of angry and hateful?
The website explains what they do in this way:
Every day, we select one nominated creator and anonymously flood their comment section with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of genuine, encouraging messages.
The Kindness Mob has over 600,000 “mobsters” sharing hope, respect, and inspiration. The trolls, the cruel, and the hateful were overwhelmed and swallowed up by this wave of positivity. It is also a thing that can build on itself, offering a new way of approaching how online communities can be a force for good.
Here on Wonkette I think we understand this and practice it ourselves. The community supports and uplifts each other, it is the heart of this crazy and fantastic group of non-commenters that we call Wonkers.
Thanks to Biff52 Lost Canadian for this story.
Nice Times Interview!
Thumbelina Regina (T) is a Wonkette lurker and a badass woman. Of course I am not talking about the Fairy Tale character, but of my friend, an Army sergeant trained as a Russian interrogator during the early ‘80s. She told me many great stories during our two-and-a-half hour interview; adopting a Boris/Natasha accent during interrogations that made them fear her because they thought she was KGB is one. But I am going to focus on a different story. It was during the 1990s and the military was downsizing so T took a volunteer package and became part of the “ready reserve.”
In 2001 she was a single mom and needed a second job; a new Civil Affairs Special Operations unit was opening nearby requiring one weekend a month, two months out of the year. They needed a senior linguist and she was the only one who applied.
Her first drills were on September 8-9, 2001.
She was the only woman and she was surrounded by “masculine, toxic bullshit” and the battalion was being deployed to Afghanistan. She volunteered to go as the men around her thought it would be super funny to bring her along, but she was serious. Her dickhead commander said no way was he taking a woman — even though T worked in Civil Affairs, which is the group that goes in and builds a connection with the community. She was needed as the villages in Afghanistan were mostly women, but it didn’t matter. Eventually T ended up working in an office full of male officers.
“Who thought they were the shit.”
T explained the environment she found herself in, in this way:
Everything they read and processed at that time, it was not exactly right-wing but it was conservative. The Bush stuff, the rah-rah this is what we are trying to do while completely not factoring in, not consuming anything of that other undercurrent.
Because, again we’re Central Command, we’re at the top here, with General Abizaid.
You need to be aware of the overall picture of what you’re working with. How can you develop these plans without factoring in the women of these villages and their children?
That was the environment; the internet was fairly new, there was Gawker and that transitioned me into the Wonkette bit.
I was consuming that radical left liberal anti-establishment stuff, to counteract the nagging questions I had; well what about this?
(ziggy stops the interview to confirm the voice recorder is working, yay, it was.)
They were going out of their way to ostracize me, they didn’t know what to do with me. They told me to write a White Paper. Basically, go do something. So I wrote a paper, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” about women in Iraq. Why don’t we work with the women, get them on our side, they’re the ones raising the children.
ziggy: What did they say about it?
They promptly filed it away and it never saw the light of day.
Okay so this is how it’s going to be?
I will make my money and annoy the fuck out of them. [With the white papers -zw] That’s where Wonkette came in.
ziggy: Oh fuck yeah.
A lot of what was helpful to me was the complete sass and wit and they were educational. Because when you’re in the military there’s a way to phrase things and there’s a way not to. What the writing in Wonkette did, it was this sarcastic, biting zingers, a sharp way of addressing serious subjects.
ziggy: Snark.
Snark, yes, that’s the word. And I could mold it just right, so they knew I was giving them the big FUCK YOU but it was very well stated. And there was nothing in it they could pick apart.
So I am forever grateful to Wonkette because it shaped the way I communicated in that environment without becoming completely blacklisted.
Because you can come off as liberal, blue-haired, but they will find a way to put you out. There was a line you had to toe but I stomped that line continuously and there wasn’t a thing they could do.
ziggy: You’re a fucking badass.
Little side story about Donald Rumsfeld and his “snowflakes.”
With the level that we were at Rumsfeld would require snowflakes. If he got a thing in his mind he would send a snowflake. You’d walk in and there’d be a note on your desk literally from Rumsfeld.
ziggy: It’s not like he had more important things to do.
Yeah, right. He had a little pad and he would write it out and then it would be faxed to the recipient and you had two hours to respond.
I got one snowflake the whole time and I don’t even remember the question, it was so fucking stupid.
Animation Nice Times!
A great YouTube follow is NFB (The National Film Board of Canada) and they produce some amazing films. Within their collection are 12 Academy Award winners; I use it as a great resource for the animated shorts I share in the Movie Night posts. The Girl Who Cried Pearls won the 2026 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.
In an update to the “OutHorse Your Email” advertising campaign from Inspired by Iceland to promote Icelandic tourism, it’s knitting!
Wonkers’ Nice Times!
From Thalia Is Not Amused: “I haven't been able to write much lately, but I have so much swirling around my head! It'll get out eventually. Caring for my bedbound husband has been incredibly hard, but I have wonderfully supportive bosses. They asked me what I needed for help, so I asked for a small raise. I'm going down from 24 hours a week to 20, so I was just hoping for $1 or $2 more an hour to help offset the costs. They gave me $5 more an hour, wow!!! I was completely blown away. Now I'll be making the same amount as before! Such a relief. (Please click through to Thalia’s Substack for more details.)
I also have my favorite picture of Farrah (aka Feralhousecat Bader Brown 😄)”
From ElderlyLoudCatWomyn it’s Frosty! (BTW Frosty has seen some shit.)
Random Recommends!
In honor of last week’s historic midterms, I’m recommending one of my favorite superhero movies, one of the best entries in its franchise, and the best entry in its trilogy. I’m speaking of 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Inspired by the 2005-2006 story arc of the same name written by Ed Brubaker and the conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s, this pits Cap and his allies (Black Widow and The Falcon) against a sinister conspiracy within the ranks of super spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. — including the titular Winter Soldier. In this time of superhero media oversaturation, The Winter Soldier stands out both for how tactile it looks and feels and for how timely and relevant it remains over a decade later. Available with subscription on Disney+ and $3.99 in the other places.
The song referenced in the title is Must Be Nice by Lyfe Jennings.
We finish with two versions of When I Get Low, I Get High, the first performed by The Speakeasy Three ft. The Swing Ninjas, and the second performed by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb & His Orchestra.
Please send Nice Times suggestions, personal nice times, pet pics (with names!), and original art to ziggywiggynicetimes@gmail.com. It can be all levels of Nice Times! As you can see Nice Times is a community project, keep sending your suggestions. Be sure to include your screen name so I can give you credit! Thank you.
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Nice times at my house.
We had company over for dinner last night, and it was lovely. The couple is recently married, and I have never seen my long-time friend so centered and comfortable. His husband is a wonderful and warm person.
Great friends, good food, fun conversation.
Life does not get better than this.
If we were all dogs, we could have the time to paws . . .