Stephen Saperstein Frug
@stephenfrug.bsky.social
I am writing essays (http://stephenfrug.substack.com) and a mosaic story (https://tinyurl.com/5n8h9a89) & wrote a graphic novel, Happenstance (https://happenstance.thecomicseries.com/)
Pinned
My latest novella, “Nostalgia”, is out! It's part of my ongoing mosaic story, Retcocn, about a secret time travel program. It's about aging and feeling out of place in the world as it is, and about nostalgia both in the ordinary and in some unusual senses. Learn more: stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mos...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
This thread gave me a boost of hope I really needed this week
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
January 23, 2026 at 12:02 AM
This thread gave me a boost of hope I really needed this week
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
January 22, 2026 at 8:25 PM
National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Even after Trump is gone, the world will remember that he threatened to forcibly seize the territory of a peaceful democratic ally, and our institutions failed to immediately remove him. That makes US dangerously unreliable, not just one senile gangster.
His not being impeached by the end of the business day as a result of this threat is as much a problem as the threat itself. It’s not just Trump that the world has to worry about, it’s a GOP that supports him and Democrats who suck their thumbs and refuse to even discuss pushing to remove him
January 21, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Even after Trump is gone, the world will remember that he threatened to forcibly seize the territory of a peaceful democratic ally, and our institutions failed to immediately remove him. That makes US dangerously unreliable, not just one senile gangster.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
History is making fun of us
January 16, 2026 at 11:36 PM
History is making fun of us
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Four GOP Senators.
At most four Repubs in the House.
Together they could stop nearly all the mad-king's rampages. They would be known to history as Profiles in Courage. They might/would lose the next election. But people have sacrificed a lot more, for a lot less.
At most four Repubs in the House.
Together they could stop nearly all the mad-king's rampages. They would be known to history as Profiles in Courage. They might/would lose the next election. But people have sacrificed a lot more, for a lot less.
I can't repeat this enough.
I've said this before and I'll say it again.
It would only take a tiny handful of Republican Congress members or senators to stop the slide of America toward authoritarian fascism, but nope. They're all in.
It would only take a tiny handful of Republican Congress members or senators to stop the slide of America toward authoritarian fascism, but nope. They're all in.
January 17, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Four GOP Senators.
At most four Repubs in the House.
Together they could stop nearly all the mad-king's rampages. They would be known to history as Profiles in Courage. They might/would lose the next election. But people have sacrificed a lot more, for a lot less.
At most four Repubs in the House.
Together they could stop nearly all the mad-king's rampages. They would be known to history as Profiles in Courage. They might/would lose the next election. But people have sacrificed a lot more, for a lot less.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
When law-and-order types point out that only a small percentage of people killed by police each year were unarmed, keep in mind that Renee Good will be classified as "armed."
January 15, 2026 at 10:01 PM
When law-and-order types point out that only a small percentage of people killed by police each year were unarmed, keep in mind that Renee Good will be classified as "armed."
Since I just put up a short story called "Nostalgia", I thought it an appropriate time to revisit a film I saw half a lifetime ago also called "Nostalgia"— or, more accurately, "(nostalgia)". I wrote up my thoughts on the film here. Give it a read!
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/hollis-fra...
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/hollis-fra...
January 15, 2026 at 10:13 PM
Since I just put up a short story called "Nostalgia", I thought it an appropriate time to revisit a film I saw half a lifetime ago also called "Nostalgia"— or, more accurately, "(nostalgia)". I wrote up my thoughts on the film here. Give it a read!
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/hollis-fra...
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/hollis-fra...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Think you have to retire the phrase “immigration crackdown” when every major violent spectacle — at least those the news is choosing to highlight — involve US citizens screaming “Check my ID!”
As the Trump administration escalates its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, arrests and aggressive tactics by ICE and the Border Patrol, many seen on viral videos, have intensified the frustration and fear among residents, business owners and immigrant workers. trib.al/zVm2mk5
January 13, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Think you have to retire the phrase “immigration crackdown” when every major violent spectacle — at least those the news is choosing to highlight — involve US citizens screaming “Check my ID!”
RIP.
[Claudette Colvin was a precursor to Rosa Parks.]
January 13, 2026 at 10:04 PM
RIP.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
My latest novella, “Nostalgia”, is out! It's part of my ongoing mosaic story, Retcocn, about a secret time travel program. It's about aging and feeling out of place in the world as it is, and about nostalgia both in the ordinary and in some unusual senses. Learn more: stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mos...
January 9, 2026 at 10:23 PM
My latest novella, “Nostalgia”, is out! It's part of my ongoing mosaic story, Retcocn, about a secret time travel program. It's about aging and feeling out of place in the world as it is, and about nostalgia both in the ordinary and in some unusual senses. Learn more: stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mos...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
It’s been made clear to these goons that they can commit cold-blooded murder video, and the administration will shield them by lying and smearing the victim. No surprise they feel completely free to use lesser forms of violence against civilians just for sport.
Note that the fascist is not using the pepper spray for crowd control. He is entering a vehicle unimpeded to depart. He is simply using the pepper spray to physically punish an unarmed citizen he doesn't like.
Big clash this afternoon between DHS agents and protesters in a residential street in Minneapolis, following a DHS agent hitting another vehicle. Tear gas was deployed in people’s yards and agents pepper prayed people.
January 12, 2026 at 10:28 PM
It’s been made clear to these goons that they can commit cold-blooded murder video, and the administration will shield them by lying and smearing the victim. No surprise they feel completely free to use lesser forms of violence against civilians just for sport.
Apparently the great historian Daniel Walker Howe has died. This book has been very important to me (not least in helping me teach the first half of the US history survey).
RIP.
RIP.
January 11, 2026 at 10:18 PM
Apparently the great historian Daniel Walker Howe has died. This book has been very important to me (not least in helping me teach the first half of the US history survey).
RIP.
RIP.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
[A joke. Tit-Bits (31 Dec 1892)]
November 22, 2023 at 12:25 AM
[A joke. Tit-Bits (31 Dec 1892)]
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
This is escalating very, very quickly now. People are fucking furious and ICE is learning rapidly that nobody's scared of pepper spray any more and that's a recipe for some idiot starting a massacre.
January 10, 2026 at 1:37 AM
This is escalating very, very quickly now. People are fucking furious and ICE is learning rapidly that nobody's scared of pepper spray any more and that's a recipe for some idiot starting a massacre.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
🚨 NEW VIDEO 👇🏽This puts an end to all the lies. Horrific.
They were having a calm exchange seconds before he murdered Renee Good, and she was barely moving and clearly avoiding him.
Stop the lies.
They were having a calm exchange seconds before he murdered Renee Good, and she was barely moving and clearly avoiding him.
Stop the lies.
January 9, 2026 at 6:12 PM
🚨 NEW VIDEO 👇🏽This puts an end to all the lies. Horrific.
They were having a calm exchange seconds before he murdered Renee Good, and she was barely moving and clearly avoiding him.
Stop the lies.
They were having a calm exchange seconds before he murdered Renee Good, and she was barely moving and clearly avoiding him.
Stop the lies.
My latest novella, “Nostalgia”, is out! It's part of my ongoing mosaic story, Retcocn, about a secret time travel program. It's about aging and feeling out of place in the world as it is, and about nostalgia both in the ordinary and in some unusual senses. Learn more: stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mos...
January 9, 2026 at 10:23 PM
My latest novella, “Nostalgia”, is out! It's part of my ongoing mosaic story, Retcocn, about a secret time travel program. It's about aging and feeling out of place in the world as it is, and about nostalgia both in the ordinary and in some unusual senses. Learn more: stephenfrug.com/retcon-a-mos...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
we fought, and I'm not kidding you can look it up, a whole revolution to stop shit like this
President Trump declared on Wednesday evening that his power as commander in chief is constrained only by his “own morality,” brushing aside international law and other checks on his ability to use military might to strike, invade or coerce nations around the world.
Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’
www.nytimes.com
January 8, 2026 at 7:57 PM
we fought, and I'm not kidding you can look it up, a whole revolution to stop shit like this
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."
January 8, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Walz: "I couldn't help but think, and it scares me a bit -- 'The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most important directive.' It certainly feels like that in this moment."
I have a new story coming out— that's tomorrow. But TODAY I just posted an excerpt from it that stands on its own, which I am calling "An Elegy for Homo Legens (the Reading Human). I hope you'll give it a read!
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/an-elegy-f...
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/an-elegy-f...
January 8, 2026 at 10:14 PM
I have a new story coming out— that's tomorrow. But TODAY I just posted an excerpt from it that stands on its own, which I am calling "An Elegy for Homo Legens (the Reading Human). I hope you'll give it a read!
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/an-elegy-f...
stephenfrug.substack.com/p/an-elegy-f...
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago
January 4, 2026 at 6:49 PM
Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
Josh Marshall on the mistaken assumption that there is “a” reason why we attacked Venezuela. I have an odd perspective on this, since I spent ages fixating on the analogous question about Iraq.
It started when I noticed that none of the books about how we went to war in Iraq mentioned a DECISION.
It started when I noticed that none of the books about how we went to war in Iraq mentioned a DECISION.
Brief Point
Let me reiterate a general point I’ve made in other posts. I...
talkingpointsmemo.com
January 4, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Josh Marshall on the mistaken assumption that there is “a” reason why we attacked Venezuela. I have an odd perspective on this, since I spent ages fixating on the analogous question about Iraq.
It started when I noticed that none of the books about how we went to war in Iraq mentioned a DECISION.
It started when I noticed that none of the books about how we went to war in Iraq mentioned a DECISION.
Reposted by Stephen Saperstein Frug
all this is both foolish and unnecessary
January 4, 2026 at 9:47 PM
all this is both foolish and unnecessary