Pinned
Josh Friedman
@friejose.bsky.social
· Nov 6
“Words like ‘freedom,’ ‘justice,’ ‘democracy’ are not
common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”
— James Baldwin
common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. People are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above all, individual effort to arrive at the respect for other people that these words imply.”
— James Baldwin
Reposted by Josh Friedman
I want cities to have enough homes for everyone, binoculars buildings, and creepy ballerina clowns
December 6, 2025 at 3:59 AM
I want cities to have enough homes for everyone, binoculars buildings, and creepy ballerina clowns
Reposted by Josh Friedman
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Immigrants kept from Faneuil Hall citizenship ceremony as feds crackdown nationwide
Trump administration is pausing naturalizations for immigrants from 19 countries.
www.wgbh.org
December 5, 2025 at 10:56 PM
“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.”
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social
Reposted by Josh Friedman
Wow, an extraordinary generous offer from a Bolts reader:
Russ is offering to match any contribution you make to Bolts (just let him know)!
And he'll also throw in an additional $$ for each repost of his post, or each new follow @boltsmag.org gets. So at least smash those share or follow buttons!
Russ is offering to match any contribution you make to Bolts (just let him know)!
And he'll also throw in an additional $$ for each repost of his post, or each new follow @boltsmag.org gets. So at least smash those share or follow buttons!
You can help Bolts continue to provide crucial coverage of local elections. Here's how:
- Repost this = I donate $1.
- Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1.
- Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation.
(Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)
- Repost this = I donate $1.
- Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1.
- Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation.
(Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)
Support Bolts
We are a nonprofit publication that covers the nuts and bolts of political change, from the local up, and we need reader support to build our journalism.
boltsmag.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Wow, an extraordinary generous offer from a Bolts reader:
Russ is offering to match any contribution you make to Bolts (just let him know)!
And he'll also throw in an additional $$ for each repost of his post, or each new follow @boltsmag.org gets. So at least smash those share or follow buttons!
Russ is offering to match any contribution you make to Bolts (just let him know)!
And he'll also throw in an additional $$ for each repost of his post, or each new follow @boltsmag.org gets. So at least smash those share or follow buttons!
This makes me so happy. I'm so easy to please.
Gray followed up by saying he went out and got Sox shirts and caps for his family after the trade.
December 2, 2025 at 4:45 PM
This makes me so happy. I'm so easy to please.
Reposted by Josh Friedman
Starbucks employees escalated their strike on Black Friday, expanding to 120 stores and 85 cities.
Their CEO took home $96 million while refusing to negotiate a living wage for workers.
Boycott Starbucks. Stand with the employees.
Support local independent coffee shops:
Their CEO took home $96 million while refusing to negotiate a living wage for workers.
Boycott Starbucks. Stand with the employees.
Support local independent coffee shops:
Starbucks workers' union escalates strike on Black Friday
() -The Starbucks workers' union said on Friday it is escalating an indefinite strike to more than 120 stores and 85 cities, demanding higher pay and staffing levels at the coffee chain. The walkout,...
www.yahoo.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Starbucks employees escalated their strike on Black Friday, expanding to 120 stores and 85 cities.
Their CEO took home $96 million while refusing to negotiate a living wage for workers.
Boycott Starbucks. Stand with the employees.
Support local independent coffee shops:
Their CEO took home $96 million while refusing to negotiate a living wage for workers.
Boycott Starbucks. Stand with the employees.
Support local independent coffee shops:
Yes to all of this.
Maybe I’ll tell y’all about Thanksgiving in Uzbekistan, where I was in the peace corps 2000-2001.
I lived in a town; nearest American lived in a qishloq - a true village. A few of us somehow figured out to meet there. (How? No internet, no phones. No recollection of how we planned anything.) 1/
I lived in a town; nearest American lived in a qishloq - a true village. A few of us somehow figured out to meet there. (How? No internet, no phones. No recollection of how we planned anything.) 1/
November 27, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Yes to all of this.
Done
Usually I'd encourage you to find another place to buy the book, but Amazon is selling the BLOOD IN THE MACHINE ebook for $2.99 at what is certainly a loss, so by all means, get a copy for cheap
www.amazon.com/Blood-Machin...
www.amazon.com/Blood-Machin...
Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech
The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owne...
www.amazon.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Done
Reposted by Josh Friedman
If you're at all interested in how culture & politics intertwine, check out this thread about the connections between South African music & the South African anti-apartheid struggle. Includes a 1970 broadcast from the ANC's Radio Freedom. And some very cool music. 👇🏽
i fact-checked this beautiful piece about South Africa's exiled jazz musicians: www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/lik...
Like Deepening Thunder into Our Hearts — Parapraxis
Sounding South African Exile Francis Gooding
www.parapraxismagazine.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
If you're at all interested in how culture & politics intertwine, check out this thread about the connections between South African music & the South African anti-apartheid struggle. Includes a 1970 broadcast from the ANC's Radio Freedom. And some very cool music. 👇🏽
Reposted by Josh Friedman
Can we now finally stop with “the Danish Model”?
Social Democrats in Denmark suffer sweeping election losses
PM Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left party loses control of Copenhagen for first time in more than 100 years
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Can we now finally stop with “the Danish Model”?
Reposted by Josh Friedman
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
JD Vance: "A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens."
November 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric
Reposted by Josh Friedman
made a similar point on the opinions podcast this week in response to the idea that epstein is a dead end. not only are actual voters interested in this but it divides the gop and puts pressure on the president. it would be political malpractice to treat it as a sideshow
The usual suspects are telling Dems that Epstein won’t win elections, get back to “affordability” and I think my head might explode. www.offmessage.net/p/force-a-re...
Force A Referendum On The Epstein Coverup
It divides Republicans much more than "affordability" or any other economic issue.
www.offmessage.net
November 15, 2025 at 7:17 PM
made a similar point on the opinions podcast this week in response to the idea that epstein is a dead end. not only are actual voters interested in this but it divides the gop and puts pressure on the president. it would be political malpractice to treat it as a sideshow
Yup
I for one am quite glad my family was not told to go back to Bialystok or Kyiv when they were "safe" in 1922.
November 15, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Yup
Reposted by Josh Friedman
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
The Meritocracy! (say it like The Aristocrats): Kai Trump Came in Last Place at Her LPGA Debut
flip.it/e_Ex07
flip.it/e_Ex07
Kai Trump Came in Last Place at Her LPGA Debut
At least she had fun.
flip.it
November 15, 2025 at 9:38 AM
The Meritocracy! (say it like The Aristocrats): Kai Trump Came in Last Place at Her LPGA Debut
flip.it/e_Ex07
flip.it/e_Ex07
Reposted by Josh Friedman
Reposted by Josh Friedman
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
November 15, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I just don’t see how we can pretend even for a moment that anything involving our federal government is remotely normal when the president is covering up his involvement in a child sex trafficking ring. Like, what are we doing here
Eyes open
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
He is a computer safety researcher.
And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.
In under 1600 words.
aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 10, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Eyes open
Reposted by Josh Friedman
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Reposted by Josh Friedman
I've seen this go by a few times on TikTok now and I have to say, I love this idea. We need a way to convince people to keep running even if they don't win, maybe building the loss into it as a troll move is the secret.
November 6, 2025 at 12:49 AM
I've seen this go by a few times on TikTok now and I have to say, I love this idea. We need a way to convince people to keep running even if they don't win, maybe building the loss into it as a troll move is the secret.
Reposted by Josh Friedman
A man was arrested for playing Darth Vader's theme music, "The Imperial March," behind National Guard troops walking through Logan Circle.
Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
October 23, 2025 at 4:38 PM
A man was arrested for playing Darth Vader's theme music, "The Imperial March," behind National Guard troops walking through Logan Circle.
Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Now the ACLU is suing on his behalf. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Josh Friedman
This whole thing is incredible, but look how his hand is shaking when he points at the guys who are being hassled. He's scared, he's angry, he's pounding with adrenaline, but he's maintaining control of himself and not backing down. He's taking a stand, whatever the cost.
"Man goes scorched earth on ICE agents kidnapping people in his hometown."
Source:
old.reddit.com/r/PublicFrea...
Source:
old.reddit.com/r/PublicFrea...
October 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
This whole thing is incredible, but look how his hand is shaking when he points at the guys who are being hassled. He's scared, he's angry, he's pounding with adrenaline, but he's maintaining control of himself and not backing down. He's taking a stand, whatever the cost.
Reposted by Josh Friedman
whelp, I’ll be thinking about the Steven Soderbergh movie about Ben Solo until the day I die, I guess. we could’ve had it all.
apnews.com/article/adam...
apnews.com/article/adam...
October 20, 2025 at 10:12 PM
whelp, I’ll be thinking about the Steven Soderbergh movie about Ben Solo until the day I die, I guess. we could’ve had it all.
apnews.com/article/adam...
apnews.com/article/adam...
Reposted by Josh Friedman
I guess where I’m landing is less “oh no he’s a Nazi” and more “I just went through this shit with Fetterman and Sinema and a six year term is too long for me to take on faith that your Nazi tattoo was the accident but what you’re saying now is the truth.”
October 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I guess where I’m landing is less “oh no he’s a Nazi” and more “I just went through this shit with Fetterman and Sinema and a six year term is too long for me to take on faith that your Nazi tattoo was the accident but what you’re saying now is the truth.”