Fred Coppersmith
@unrealfred.bsky.social
Writer, editor, just this guy. Occasional stories: https://www.unreality.net/writings. I also publish the quarterly zine Kaleidotrope. (He/him.) 😷
Pinned
Fred Coppersmith
@unrealfred.bsky.social
· Nov 15
Fred Coppersmith > Where the Prayers Run Like Weeds Along the Road > Bourbon Penn
You find the dead man waiting for you right where you left him, leaning against the old wooden fence at the side of the road. He looks like he’s smiling, a lopsided grin of too many teeth, but you’re ...
www.bourbonpenn.com
Hello, new followers! Presumably you know this, or else why would you be following me, but I'm Fred. I natter on about this and that. I work in academic publishing, have edited and published @kaleidotrope.bsky.social for almost 20 years, and very occasionally write short fiction, most recently this:
Convincing you to read my short story with the first sentence. Share yours if you want.
"You find the dead man waiting for you right where you left him, leaning against the old wooden fence at the side of the road."
“Where the Prayers Run Like Weeds Along the Road” in @bourbonpenn.bsky.social
"You find the dead man waiting for you right where you left him, leaning against the old wooden fence at the side of the road."
“Where the Prayers Run Like Weeds Along the Road” in @bourbonpenn.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Convincing you to read my short story with the first sentence. Share yours if you want.
"You find the dead man waiting for you right where you left him, leaning against the old wooden fence at the side of the road."
“Where the Prayers Run Like Weeds Along the Road” in @bourbonpenn.bsky.social
"You find the dead man waiting for you right where you left him, leaning against the old wooden fence at the side of the road."
“Where the Prayers Run Like Weeds Along the Road” in @bourbonpenn.bsky.social
I’ll admit, I’ve fallen out of reading Sarah Kendzior’s work—because we don’t read Substack links in this house—but unexplained and arbitrary suspensions and permabans of popular progressive accounts doesn’t seem like particularly good or effective Bluesky moderation.
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
I’ll admit, I’ve fallen out of reading Sarah Kendzior’s work—because we don’t read Substack links in this house—but unexplained and arbitrary suspensions and permabans of popular progressive accounts doesn’t seem like particularly good or effective Bluesky moderation.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
The thing about Mamdani is that he’s a talented politician but not otherworldly or one in a billion, he’s just a competent guy with popular ideas who ran against an entitled piece of shit and to me it’s a lot more optimistic to imagine 1000 campaigns like his than to view him as a unique phenomenon
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
one of the funniest parts about Joyce Carol Oates going viral for nuking Elon Musk is that he absolutely needed someone tell him who Joyce Carol Oates is
November 10, 2025 at 8:29 PM
one of the funniest parts about Joyce Carol Oates going viral for nuking Elon Musk is that he absolutely needed someone tell him who Joyce Carol Oates is
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
There is power in a union. There is strength in what might otherwise fall in between. Stand up and be counted in @mimulus.bsky.social's new poem "Shapeshifters’ Local."
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
November 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
There is power in a union. There is strength in what might otherwise fall in between. Stand up and be counted in @mimulus.bsky.social's new poem "Shapeshifters’ Local."
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Hey everyone,
I see a LOT of people so furious at Dems they're registering as Independents.
I get it. I really do.
Just be aware that most states have closed primaries so you won't be able to vote in those. And as you smart folks know, primaries are critical to weed out wackos and bad bills.
I see a LOT of people so furious at Dems they're registering as Independents.
I get it. I really do.
Just be aware that most states have closed primaries so you won't be able to vote in those. And as you smart folks know, primaries are critical to weed out wackos and bad bills.
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Hey everyone,
I see a LOT of people so furious at Dems they're registering as Independents.
I get it. I really do.
Just be aware that most states have closed primaries so you won't be able to vote in those. And as you smart folks know, primaries are critical to weed out wackos and bad bills.
I see a LOT of people so furious at Dems they're registering as Independents.
I get it. I really do.
Just be aware that most states have closed primaries so you won't be able to vote in those. And as you smart folks know, primaries are critical to weed out wackos and bad bills.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
“I’m so relieved that the only problem I cared about - me experiencing mild social discomfort - is now over”
my brother in Christ, do you want to bet
my brother in Christ, do you want to bet
Tim Kaine on backlash he's getting: "I got the first good night's sleep last night that I've gotten since Oct 1, b/c I wasn't worried about being able to look Capitol Police in the eye when I walked in, or what a furloughed fed worker would say to me at church, or what somebody would say about SNAP"
November 10, 2025 at 9:48 PM
“I’m so relieved that the only problem I cared about - me experiencing mild social discomfort - is now over”
my brother in Christ, do you want to bet
my brother in Christ, do you want to bet
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
This isn't "internal recriminations." It's voters expressing overwhelming opposition to what the people they elected to represent them are doing, and anyone--either in journalism or politics--who characterizes it as infighting is either not seeing and hearing what's right in front of them or lying.
The sooner we get past internal recriminations and back to fighting united, the better off we all are — the likelier our victory next November.
November 10, 2025 at 11:14 PM
This isn't "internal recriminations." It's voters expressing overwhelming opposition to what the people they elected to represent them are doing, and anyone--either in journalism or politics--who characterizes it as infighting is either not seeing and hearing what's right in front of them or lying.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
This is another wealth transfer, because the DOJ won't defend these suits, they'll settle. This is a $500k payout to the Jan 6ers in Congress.
Look at this new outrage. To open govt, we're retroactively letting 8 Senators sue for $500K each over having had their J6 phone toll records looked at. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Spending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:54 AM
This is another wealth transfer, because the DOJ won't defend these suits, they'll settle. This is a $500k payout to the Jan 6ers in Congress.
This is sort of the terrible idea they’re making him a trillionaire in exchange for?
Tesla's latest gambit: become a rental car company. As cars pile up in showrooms and storage lots, Elon is trying to rent his way out of a crisis. Good luck, bud. #teslatakedown #MuskMustFall electrek.co/2025/11/10/t...
Tesla can’t sell its cars anymore so it is renting them now
Tesla is launching a new car rental program out of its stores in the US, as sales are crashing due...
electrek.co
November 11, 2025 at 12:48 AM
This is sort of the terrible idea they’re making him a trillionaire in exchange for?
Joyce Carol Oates should say Musk is bad at video games.
November 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Joyce Carol Oates should say Musk is bad at video games.
Inexplicably now watching
November 11, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Inexplicably now watching
I’ll probably have more thoughts about Pluribus after I’ve seen more than two episodes, but my non-spoilery thoughts thus far:
- Rhea Seehorn remains awesome.
- They really wanted to stick around Albuquerque, didn’t they?
- I wasn’t expecting the show to *scare* me, but that first ep did a little.
- Rhea Seehorn remains awesome.
- They really wanted to stick around Albuquerque, didn’t they?
- I wasn’t expecting the show to *scare* me, but that first ep did a little.
November 11, 2025 at 12:05 AM
I’ll probably have more thoughts about Pluribus after I’ve seen more than two episodes, but my non-spoilery thoughts thus far:
- Rhea Seehorn remains awesome.
- They really wanted to stick around Albuquerque, didn’t they?
- I wasn’t expecting the show to *scare* me, but that first ep did a little.
- Rhea Seehorn remains awesome.
- They really wanted to stick around Albuquerque, didn’t they?
- I wasn’t expecting the show to *scare* me, but that first ep did a little.
“Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around” #nowplaying
James Taylor - Fire and Rain (Official Audio)
YouTube video by RHINO
youtu.be
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
“Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around” #nowplaying
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
The Heritage Foundation is a fascist antiblack organization.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 10, 2025 at 4:47 PM
The Heritage Foundation is a fascist antiblack organization.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Nope. Stop. Nope. Get Out.
A pitch-black cave in the Balkans is home to what appears to be the world’s largest spider web, which researchers say is a singular work of cooperation by two usually-hostile species of spider. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/s...
November 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Nope. Stop. Nope. Get Out.
This isn't equally Schumer's fault—he at least had the good sense not to vote to end the shutdown himself for a change—but it does underline the complete ineffectiveness of his Senate leadership.
November 10, 2025 at 4:40 PM
This isn't equally Schumer's fault—he at least had the good sense not to vote to end the shutdown himself for a change—but it does underline the complete ineffectiveness of his Senate leadership.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Do you know how hard it is to politically radicalize someone who joined a website to reply with the cry laughing emoji to the Trix cereal rabbit?
People are mad at Democrats over on Threads. Do you understand? THREADS.
November 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Do you know how hard it is to politically radicalize someone who joined a website to reply with the cry laughing emoji to the Trix cereal rabbit?
FFS, to vote to end the shutdown without any guarantees is bad enough, unforgivable even, but to frame it like you were defeated and outplayed by some kind of master strategist in Donald Trump is just the most idiotically self-destructive behavior ever.
November 10, 2025 at 3:50 PM
FFS, to vote to end the shutdown without any guarantees is bad enough, unforgivable even, but to frame it like you were defeated and outplayed by some kind of master strategist in Donald Trump is just the most idiotically self-destructive behavior ever.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Maybe Angus King wasn’t paying close enough attention:
- public blamed the GOP for shutdown
- Dems won big in elections last week
- Trump’s approval rating sinking
- Republicans increasingly divided against one another
Standing up to Trump *did* work. tinyurl.com/3aduac4w
- public blamed the GOP for shutdown
- Dems won big in elections last week
- Trump’s approval rating sinking
- Republicans increasingly divided against one another
Standing up to Trump *did* work. tinyurl.com/3aduac4w
November 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Maybe Angus King wasn’t paying close enough attention:
- public blamed the GOP for shutdown
- Dems won big in elections last week
- Trump’s approval rating sinking
- Republicans increasingly divided against one another
Standing up to Trump *did* work. tinyurl.com/3aduac4w
- public blamed the GOP for shutdown
- Dems won big in elections last week
- Trump’s approval rating sinking
- Republicans increasingly divided against one another
Standing up to Trump *did* work. tinyurl.com/3aduac4w
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
If the Dems blink after all of this, for a deal that all but ensures no ACA subsidies in 2026 anyway, then what was the purpose of letting the shutdown go for 40 days in the first place?
November 10, 2025 at 12:56 AM
i think this is key. taking the deal would amount to taking the blame. it would turn a clear political victory into an unambiguous defeat.
Now rewatching
a young boy is standing in front of a pile of coins and says goonies never say die .
Alt: a young boy is standing in front of a pile of coins and says goonies never say die .
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Now rewatching
Even the Baileys are disappointed in you, Chuck.
November 10, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Even the Baileys are disappointed in you, Chuck.
November 10, 2025 at 1:55 AM