I write essays (https://xitter.cf/t.co/weFQ15HwNf) and a mosaic story (https://xitter.cf/t.co/WMCImKxBS3) & wrote a graphic novel, Happenstance. Follow =/= endorsement
Ithaca, NY
Joined November 2012
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Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
I think "reading a book is performative" is the end point of American anti-intellectualism. The mere act of reading is now suspicious to swaths of slug people.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Still thinking about a call I joined today with Palestinian and Israeli activists about the medical situation in Gaza. In brief: there are thousands of sick people in Gaza in need of urgent treatment. Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are ready and willing to treat them. But the Israeli authorities won’t allow them to cross from Gaza to the West Bank for surgery or chemo or whatever. A two hour ambulance drive so that a child’s life can be saved. Zero security risk. No legitimate excuse. So if you want to help, call your Member of Congress and ask them to demand that Israel open a medical corridor from Gaza to the West Bank immediately. Thank you!
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
It’s Columbus Day. What to make of it, given Indigenous peoples’ wholly merited dislike of it? In general, it's a problem when a national holiday angers millions in that nation--especially when the reason for the anger has nothing to do with the reason for the holiday. 1/n
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Two ant colonies have been fighting a war outside San Diego for decades.
~30M die a year. The front line is miles long.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
A message to all sane Republicans:
He pardoned 1,600 violent criminals.
You said nothing.
He bulldozed the East Wing.
You said nothing.
He interfered with the release of the Epstein files.
You said nothing.
He took over the Kennedy Center and renamed it after himself.
You said nothing.
He accepted a $400 million airplane as a personal gift. You said nothing.
He threatened Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Greenland, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil.
You said nothing.
He tariffed just about everyone but Russia, causing inflation and instability worldwide.
You said nothing.
He attacked a nation during mediated negotiations.
You said nothing.
His ill-conceived war killed 175 children on day one.
You said nothing.
He alienated and insulted our allies.
You said nothing.
His ICE Army terrorized and murdered
U.S. citizens.
You said nothing.
He committed murder on the high seas.
You said nothing.
He co-opted the Justice Department and directed it to prosecute his political enemies.
You said nothing.
It's time to start talking!
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Gotta get the Pope to tweet “thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.”
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
The Procrastinators Club of America protesting against Former President James Madison and the War of 1812. Philadelphia, 9 March 1966.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
On October 7th, Awad Darusha, an Arab/Palestinian citizen of Israel, worked as a paramedic at the Nova Festival. When the killing started, he helped other paramedics escape, but refused to escape himself. He stayed to help the wounded, until he was shot by Hamas. Barring the Arab parties from Israel’s election desecrates his memory, and that of many others.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
I write and teach about the right for a living, and @lionel_trolling's latest piece (on Erick Erickson's cri de cœur about the infiltration of fascists into conservatism) is the best thing I've read on the subject in quite a while. A must-read. See link below.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
My brother is taking part in a social experiment. He has to wear a MAGA hat and see how people react. So far he’s been spit on, punched and had a bottle thrown at him. I’M CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN HE GOES OUTSIDE.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
I’ve been saying this for a decade but everyone has totally forgotten how cultishly obsessed the entire right was with George W Bush before they all pretended he never existed.
Brutal new poll for Republicans from @EchelonInsights:
Only 34% of Rs consider themselves primarily a supporter of Trump, versus 56% who say they're a supporter of the GOP.
That number has completely reversed compared to January 2025 (59% Trump, 36% GOP)
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
if you are trying to convince group X that proposition P is wrong, then essays in which a member of group X says that they no longer believe P are extremely useful. if you socially punish people for writing such essays, you are working at cross purposes to your political goals
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Every child should get to go to a good school.
*Your* child is in a position of extraordinary vulnerability and dependence on *you*, which comes with an obligation to try to do right by them in particular, just like if you are a nurse you have particular obligations to your patients and if you are an employer you have particular obligations to your employees.
That's not an obligation to send them to private school! But it's an obligation to make sure they are safe at school, check regularly what they're learning, make sure they are literate and numerate even if the school fails to make sure of that, and change things if the situation they're in is really bad for them.
We wouldn't think much of a nurse who doesn't give their patient the recommended treatment because 'why are you any more deserving than destitute people who can't get treatment'. The nurse may go join Doctors Without Borders if he wishes; that would be a commendable thing to do. But when people depend on us, and have no resort to anyone else, we must do right by them.
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Very sharp observations by @lionel_trolling
unpopularfront.news/p/better…
Stephen Saperstein Frug (stephenfrug.bsky.social) retweeted
Why should she live in a nicer house than anyone else? Eat healthier food than anyone else? If her child gets cancer, why should she advocate for her child get better healthcare than anyone else? Progressives and liberals rightly push for a society that takes care of everyone’s children. But when you bring a child into the world, you create specific obligations to *that child.* What it means to serve that child well is complex and I think you could make the case that NHJ believed she was doing that. But this idea it is a moral wrong for parents to prioritize their own child is one of those things cults do to break your sanity and basic humanity, and it is not going to get you very far politically. It’s also race-to-the-bottom thinking instead of an effort to bring everyone else up.