Fritz Swanson
@fritzswanson.bsky.social
Co-Founder The Index, and The Printing Stewards. Writer, printer, teacher. Dad. fritzswanson.com
President of printingstewards.org
Publisher and Printer of theindexpress.com
Publisher of themanchestermirror.com @manchestermirror.bsky.social
President of printingstewards.org
Publisher and Printer of theindexpress.com
Publisher of themanchestermirror.com @manchestermirror.bsky.social
Pinned
Fritz Swanson
@fritzswanson.bsky.social
· Mar 16
A student confessed that they produced an essay draft with AI, but that they had intended to revise it later so that it would "sound like" them, and therefore they intended to do right. I feel as though I have failed this person so so utterly. What a work "sounds like" has no bearing on its value.
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
November 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
A sad irony in Washington, D.C., where West Virginia National Guardsmen were shot today. Six days ago, a court ruled their deployment was illegal, but stayed the order pending appeal. My heart goes out to these public servants and their families. oag.dc.gov/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
National Guard members should never have been deployed in Washington, DC.
November 26, 2025 at 10:14 PM
National Guard members should never have been deployed in Washington, DC.
Make Campbell’s for everyone: Tax The Rich.
Campbell’s fires executive who was recorded saying company’s products are for ‘poor people’
Campbell’s fires executive who was recorded saying company’s products are for ‘poor people’
The Campbell’s Co. said Wednesday it has fired an executive who was recorded making racist comments and mocking the company’s products and customers.
trib.al
November 27, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Make Campbell’s for everyone: Tax The Rich.
The premise of centrist rhetoric (IE Carville) is that rhetoric works when it articulates for the audience, but doesn’t seek to persuade (and therefore challenge) the audience. And this is good rhetoric. It’s very effective. Unless you want to change anything fundamental. Like racism or sexism.
November 25, 2025 at 7:34 PM
The premise of centrist rhetoric (IE Carville) is that rhetoric works when it articulates for the audience, but doesn’t seek to persuade (and therefore challenge) the audience. And this is good rhetoric. It’s very effective. Unless you want to change anything fundamental. Like racism or sexism.
Good thread. The through line is the lonely arrogance of a self-taught craftsman.
I'll admit that I occasionally watch Forged in Fire (a reality show where people make edged weapons under time pressure—don't judge 😄). One of the things I find particularly interesting is how the contestants continually make the same mistakes that brought down contestants in previous shows.
1/9
1/9
November 25, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Good thread. The through line is the lonely arrogance of a self-taught craftsman.
What an indictment of Grok all this is.
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 8:37 PM
What an indictment of Grok all this is.
One guy RE-invented Sears because it was the clearest way to monetize a database. One guy accidentally invented a way to take all local news advertising dollars with databases. Two other guys took all the other ad money with databases. They each became rich as God. Everything else is FOMO.
Why is startup culture always “I am inventing a coffeeproof phone you can put in your coffee cup to keep it warm with cell radiation” and never “I’m inventing a new library wholesaler to replace the single company that is shutting down and sending libraries into crisis”
November 23, 2025 at 1:01 AM
One guy RE-invented Sears because it was the clearest way to monetize a database. One guy accidentally invented a way to take all local news advertising dollars with databases. Two other guys took all the other ad money with databases. They each became rich as God. Everything else is FOMO.
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
Social Security is not dying. It is being starved. We need it, the rich do not. The cap that shields the wealthy from paying more is a wall made up of greed. Lift it & the system is reborn. Voters keep choosing those who serve the wealthy, then wonder why the table is empty. #ProtectSocialSecurity
November 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Social Security is not dying. It is being starved. We need it, the rich do not. The cap that shields the wealthy from paying more is a wall made up of greed. Lift it & the system is reborn. Voters keep choosing those who serve the wealthy, then wonder why the table is empty. #ProtectSocialSecurity
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
November 22, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
Crow: "It just tells us everything that we need to know that reminding people to obey the law, reminding people to obey the Constitution, is somehow criminal in Trumpworld and should be responded to with death threats. It's very, very telling."
November 20, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Crow: "It just tells us everything that we need to know that reminding people to obey the law, reminding people to obey the Constitution, is somehow criminal in Trumpworld and should be responded to with death threats. It's very, very telling."
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
Write drunk.
Edit sober.
Edit sober.
Write like no one will read it.
Edit like everyone will quote it.
You'll be unstoppable! 🚀
#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookSky #WriteSky
Edit like everyone will quote it.
You'll be unstoppable! 🚀
#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookSky #WriteSky
November 20, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Write drunk.
Edit sober.
Edit sober.
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Man detained by ICE found dead, hanging with hands and feet tied—attorney
The Chinese national died in Pennsylvania in August, but his family's requests for answers from DHS have gone unmet.
www.newsweek.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say.
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say
According to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, officers started the three-day sting on Nov. 5. They used several methods to find people who were attempting to solicit a 17-year-old girl for sex.
www.cbsnews.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say.
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
If we ever re-establish normalcy, we need to have a national day of remembrance every year where we just tell one of a thousand anecdotes like this. And at the end we will all chant He Was Actually Like This, People Actually Voted For This.
At least people have stopped asking when Trump will pivot, when he is clearly getting worse.
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:42 AM
If we ever re-establish normalcy, we need to have a national day of remembrance every year where we just tell one of a thousand anecdotes like this. And at the end we will all chant He Was Actually Like This, People Actually Voted For This.
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
One significant way to fix the federal deficit? Dramatically raise the minimum wage across our country. It will cause an increase in tax collections, much less people on federal assistance, and health outcomes will improve causing less reliance on federal health programs.
November 17, 2025 at 12:52 PM
One significant way to fix the federal deficit? Dramatically raise the minimum wage across our country. It will cause an increase in tax collections, much less people on federal assistance, and health outcomes will improve causing less reliance on federal health programs.
This is a metaphor for the impossibility of our future.
As an American citizen and part owner of, I want the EAST WING of the White House put back. My next presidential vote goes to the candidate who will put the EAST WING back just the way it was.
November 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
This is a metaphor for the impossibility of our future.
Then, over the last thirty years, we set about automating Editing. Now much of it is done by robots, and our humanity has decayed. And with it, Modernity.
Gutenberg gave us, when he gave us The Press and Typography, The Editor. By creating a necessary pause between writing and distributing the writing, by creating a role for someone to prepare the text for the press, and to decide what goes to the press at all, he created The Modern World.
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Then, over the last thirty years, we set about automating Editing. Now much of it is done by robots, and our humanity has decayed. And with it, Modernity.
Gutenberg gave us, when he gave us The Press and Typography, The Editor. By creating a necessary pause between writing and distributing the writing, by creating a role for someone to prepare the text for the press, and to decide what goes to the press at all, he created The Modern World.
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Gutenberg gave us, when he gave us The Press and Typography, The Editor. By creating a necessary pause between writing and distributing the writing, by creating a role for someone to prepare the text for the press, and to decide what goes to the press at all, he created The Modern World.
The deep flaw in everyone’s view of politics is that no one accounts for the opponent. You are always playing against an opponent, often many, on many fronts. Republicans hacked this by just saying no to everything, which limited the line they needed to defend. But now that they want things…
November 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The deep flaw in everyone’s view of politics is that no one accounts for the opponent. You are always playing against an opponent, often many, on many fronts. Republicans hacked this by just saying no to everything, which limited the line they needed to defend. But now that they want things…
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
It’s time
The best way to identify Epstein's enablers and co-conspirators is to release his bank records
November 17, 2025 at 3:26 AM
It’s time
Sector bargaining. Employee ownership and governance.
Starbucks’ CEO makes 6,666x what the average @sbworkersunited.org barista does. It would take less than one day of sales to finalize a fair contract.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
November 15, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Sector bargaining. Employee ownership and governance.
Reposted by Fritz Swanson
Starbucks’ CEO makes 6,666x what the average @sbworkersunited.org barista does. It would take less than one day of sales to finalize a fair contract.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
November 14, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Starbucks’ CEO makes 6,666x what the average @sbworkersunited.org barista does. It would take less than one day of sales to finalize a fair contract.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
Baristas at Starbucks corporate stores nationwide are on strike to fight this corporate greed and get the fair contract they deserve.
You can jump past the whole “Epstein files” stuff and just make all of the elites way less powerful by passing massive wealth taxes that are internationally enforced. Deflate all their power and spend the money on children.
November 15, 2025 at 1:39 PM
You can jump past the whole “Epstein files” stuff and just make all of the elites way less powerful by passing massive wealth taxes that are internationally enforced. Deflate all their power and spend the money on children.