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:
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Hello. Are you listening? Are you sitting comfortably? In his new story, @linardos.bsky.social implores you to kindly “Follow My Instructions, I Promise This Won’t Hurt.”
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
November 19, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Hello. Are you listening? Are you sitting comfortably? In his new story, @linardos.bsky.social implores you to kindly “Follow My Instructions, I Promise This Won’t Hurt.”
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
“I made a lot of mistakes in my mind, in my mind” #nowplaying
Chicago
YouTube video by Sufjan Stevens - Topic
youtu.be
November 19, 2025 at 2:41 PM
“I made a lot of mistakes in my mind, in my mind” #nowplaying
It’s weird how much of modern geopolitics rests on where prehistoric plankton and algae happened to die.
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
It’s weird how much of modern geopolitics rests on where prehistoric plankton and algae happened to die.
And now MBS’ line seems to more or less be, “yeah, we killed Khashoggi, whoopsie. I mean, who among us hasn’t brutally murdered journalists? Pinky swear, we promise we won’t let it happen again.”
I think I would have been less shocked and angry if Trump had just hand-waved away Jamal Khashoggi’s murder or even pretended the Saudis weren’t involved, rather than suggesting that somehow Khashoggi had it coming, and yeah, the Saudis did it, but not this dude, amirite?
November 19, 2025 at 2:10 PM
And now MBS’ line seems to more or less be, “yeah, we killed Khashoggi, whoopsie. I mean, who among us hasn’t brutally murdered journalists? Pinky swear, we promise we won’t let it happen again.”
I think I would have been less shocked and angry if Trump had just hand-waved away Jamal Khashoggi’s murder or even pretended the Saudis weren’t involved, rather than suggesting that somehow Khashoggi had it coming, and yeah, the Saudis did it, but not this dude, amirite?
November 19, 2025 at 3:59 AM
I think I would have been less shocked and angry if Trump had just hand-waved away Jamal Khashoggi’s murder or even pretended the Saudis weren’t involved, rather than suggesting that somehow Khashoggi had it coming, and yeah, the Saudis did it, but not this dude, amirite?
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
If the president can just raise taxes and spend money without Congressional approval, the constitution is null and void.
BREAKING: Deputy White House Chief of Staff James Blair said the administration is eyeing ways to give millions of Americans $2,000 dividend checks from tariff revenue without congressional approval, per Bloomberg.
November 19, 2025 at 3:11 AM
If the president can just raise taxes and spend money without Congressional approval, the constitution is null and void.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
The Fugitive Slave App
NEW: a contractor is paying random people $300 to physically track immigrants for ICE. They're given addresses, vehicles, told to monitor the target. That information then goes back up to ICE. These are not licensed private investigators; members of the public
www.404media.co/contractor-p...
www.404media.co/contractor-p...
Contractor Paying Random People $300 to Physically Track Immigrants for ICE
“The more I listened to it, the more I’m like, something doesn’t sound right,” a person who was briefed on the pilot plans told 404 Media.
www.404media.co
November 19, 2025 at 12:19 AM
The Fugitive Slave App
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Something most reporting on CAIR is going to miss:
This is about getting people accustomed to the idea of the govt labeling domestic opponents as foreign extremists and terrorists.
CAIR makes a good early target bc racism.
It’s straight out of the Putin-Orban playbook for criminalizing dissent.
This is about getting people accustomed to the idea of the govt labeling domestic opponents as foreign extremists and terrorists.
CAIR makes a good early target bc racism.
It’s straight out of the Putin-Orban playbook for criminalizing dissent.
Texas Governor Declares Muslim Civil Rights Group a ‘Terrorist Organization’
By J. David Goodman
Gov. Abbott said the state could take steps to shut down the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group said the declaration had no basis in fact or law.
@jdavidgoodman.bsky.social Gift link!
By J. David Goodman
Gov. Abbott said the state could take steps to shut down the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group said the declaration had no basis in fact or law.
@jdavidgoodman.bsky.social Gift link!
Texas Governor Declares Muslim Civil Rights Group a ‘Terrorist Organization’
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Something most reporting on CAIR is going to miss:
This is about getting people accustomed to the idea of the govt labeling domestic opponents as foreign extremists and terrorists.
CAIR makes a good early target bc racism.
It’s straight out of the Putin-Orban playbook for criminalizing dissent.
This is about getting people accustomed to the idea of the govt labeling domestic opponents as foreign extremists and terrorists.
CAIR makes a good early target bc racism.
It’s straight out of the Putin-Orban playbook for criminalizing dissent.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Your regular reminder that eternal one-party domination by Republicans is not inevitable, Trump is not invincible, and when the far right receives even moderate pushback against their terrible ideas, they usually collapse.
multiple major setbacks for trump's effort to steal the midterm House election. CA passed their gerrymander; VA D win ensures they will pass theirs; IN refused to pass an R map, defying Trump; courts struck down TX map.
right now looks like outcome of all this could be to add *D* seats.
right now looks like outcome of all this could be to add *D* seats.
November 18, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Your regular reminder that eternal one-party domination by Republicans is not inevitable, Trump is not invincible, and when the far right receives even moderate pushback against their terrible ideas, they usually collapse.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Shoot for the moon in @fictionaljosh.bsky.social’s new poem “Lacus Solitudinis.”
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
November 18, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Shoot for the moon in @fictionaljosh.bsky.social’s new poem “Lacus Solitudinis.”
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
kaleidotrope.net/autumn-2025/...
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
I am going to say this only once but fuck these white racists. Fuck them to hell.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that Muslims are a “threat to our freedom” on Tuesday as he targeted the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S. with a foreign terrorist organization label in an escalation of a movement of anti-Muslim hate in the state.
Abbott Says Muslims Are “Threat to Our Freedom” as He Targets Civil Rights Group With Terrorist Designation
Governors do not have the authority to designate groups as a foreign terrorist organization.
truthout.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I am going to say this only once but fuck these white racists. Fuck them to hell.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Well, if *you* don't know, how tf am *I* supposed to know?
FOX: Here's a viral video of landscapers who were being addressed by a CBP agent. What do you say to people who say that falls outside the purview of getting criminals out?
GREG BOVINO: Martha, do we know the criminal records of those so-called landscapers?
GREG BOVINO: Martha, do we know the criminal records of those so-called landscapers?
November 18, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Well, if *you* don't know, how tf am *I* supposed to know?
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Kaleidotrope.net is still up. Just saying.
“Come one now, come all ye, this story breaks free here…” – The New Pornographers, “Go Places”
Kaleidotrope.net
November 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Kaleidotrope.net is still up. Just saying.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
You mfers are gonna make me add “Olivia” to the mute list too, aren’t you.
November 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM
You mfers are gonna make me add “Olivia” to the mute list too, aren’t you.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
“Love doesn't end when it finishes” #nowplaying
We Were We Still Are
YouTube video by Future Utopia - Topic
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
“Love doesn't end when it finishes” #nowplaying
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
A guy makes ONE tiny mistake (has a years-long friendship with the world's worst sex trafficker; brags about sexually harassing colleagues; is racist; says women are stupid) and his whole LIFE is blown up (does slightly fewer speaking engagements; keeps teaching at #1 university)??!?!?!?!?!
So Harvard is keeping this guy, but Claudine Gay had to step down over ginned up plagiarism accusations and bad-faith accusations of anti-Semitism.
Got it.
Got it.
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 10:51 AM
A guy makes ONE tiny mistake (has a years-long friendship with the world's worst sex trafficker; brags about sexually harassing colleagues; is racist; says women are stupid) and his whole LIFE is blown up (does slightly fewer speaking engagements; keeps teaching at #1 university)??!?!?!?!?!
It’s come to this.
November 18, 2025 at 3:17 AM
It’s come to this.
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
Escape room where the thing you are trying to escape is reading about Olivia Nuzzi
November 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Escape room where the thing you are trying to escape is reading about Olivia Nuzzi
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
…and then the rest of the White House press corps pushed back against the president’s gratuitous insult aimed at one of their colleagues?
Oh wait! There’s no sign that anything like that happened!
Because access beats out solidarity, every day of the week.
people.com/donald-trump...
Oh wait! There’s no sign that anything like that happened!
Because access beats out solidarity, every day of the week.
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 1:05 AM
…and then the rest of the White House press corps pushed back against the president’s gratuitous insult aimed at one of their colleagues?
Oh wait! There’s no sign that anything like that happened!
Because access beats out solidarity, every day of the week.
people.com/donald-trump...
Oh wait! There’s no sign that anything like that happened!
Because access beats out solidarity, every day of the week.
people.com/donald-trump...
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
At some point, the media elite decided that Olivia Nuzzi is one of their own now and forever, and to rehabilitate her, they have to recast RFK Jr. as a grand romantic. It's disgusting all the way around, especially the parody of class solidarity that binds the rich and connected.
And while he is upturning the consensus on vaccines and eroding any remaining public trust in science, the NYT, Vanity Fair etc are laundering this man's reputation and impact as some kind of romantic figure, when he is truly dangerous.
He may not lob bombs, but his death toll will be significant.
He may not lob bombs, but his death toll will be significant.
Today RFK Jr. both suggested that aluminum adjuvants in vaccines cause peanut allergies *and* admitted there are no data to support this hypothesis, so he wants to find some.
Like if you took the scientific method, turned it backward and inside out and made it puke, you’d get RFK Jr.’s thoughts.
Like if you took the scientific method, turned it backward and inside out and made it puke, you’d get RFK Jr.’s thoughts.
November 18, 2025 at 1:19 AM
At some point, the media elite decided that Olivia Nuzzi is one of their own now and forever, and to rehabilitate her, they have to recast RFK Jr. as a grand romantic. It's disgusting all the way around, especially the parody of class solidarity that binds the rich and connected.
I feel like the very worst defense of Olivia Nuzzi as a great writer is her writing.
November 18, 2025 at 2:04 AM
I feel like the very worst defense of Olivia Nuzzi as a great writer is her writing.
Now watching Jeremy Brett in “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
November 18, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Now watching Jeremy Brett in “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
Reposted by Fred Coppersmith
You olds don't need to hear this, but to you youngbloods out there, I come to you from the future: when the news begins talking about ways to save money for the holidays, rather than getting you hyped to drown in debt buying shit, that means shit is WAY FUCKING WORSE than they are letting on.
a man in a suit is holding a lemon and says this is bad i mean bad bad
ALT: a man in a suit is holding a lemon and says this is bad i mean bad bad
media.tenor.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:35 AM
You olds don't need to hear this, but to you youngbloods out there, I come to you from the future: when the news begins talking about ways to save money for the holidays, rather than getting you hyped to drown in debt buying shit, that means shit is WAY FUCKING WORSE than they are letting on.