James M. Fraleigh

Old enough to remember how legacy press mythologized the “grass-roots” Tea Partiers, and also remembering the Tea Party movement was funded by the Koch brothers

I went to the Boston No Kings rally because it's where I live. I had the incredible luck to be there when the one big trans story of No Kings unfolded.

Ed Markey's support of trans rights, which is not new, contrasts with challenger Seth Moulton's weaselly attempts to scapegoat trans kids.

"Thanks for sharting that document with me" might be one of my more unfortunate typos of 2025

My older kid is doing a term abroad and living near Royal Albert Hall, and said they saw sumos in their local.

By the time I got to the J-school that Kendra graduated from, NYT had gained such a reputation that I was warned by faculty "everyone who was white had the best time of their lives working there while those who weren't were miserable."

It was advice that probably saved me from ruining my career.

At last, tech you can enshittify yourself!

The networks took the much smaller Tea Party movement so seriously they broadcast a Tea Party rebuttal to Obama’s 2011 SOTU on top of the normal GOP one.

it is never okay to take out your frustration on service people and people who do have low moral character

❤️ By all-time mensch Jules Dassin, who started out in NYC Yiddish Theater, made multiple absolute classics of film noir, moved to Europe after getting blacklisted by pigs ❤️

Yesterday’s food drive raised 800 lbs of food for our local food bank!!

Civil servants are still serving, even when we’re fired and furloughed.

One of my least rational beliefs is that if you pull off a heist without hurting anyone or getting caught within a day, that's your stuff fair and square.

A screenshot of a post from Andrew Cuomo’s verified X (Twitter) account. The tweet reads: “Today we launched Southeast Asians for Cuomo — a powerful & diverse multi-denominational grassroots coalition of Hindus, Muslims & Sikhs — uniting Southeast Asian New Yorkers behind our vision for a safer, fairer, more affordable city. NYC’s greatest strength is its diversity — and together we’ll make sure its best days are still ahead. #SouthAsiansForCuomo #Queens #NYC #FightAndDeliver” Below the text are four photos arranged in a collage: 1. Top left: Andrew Cuomo speaking at a podium with a blue and orange sign that reads “South Asians for CUOMO.” Several men are seated behind him, one wearing a traditional South Asian kurta. 2. Top right: A group of people holding blue signs that say “Hindus for CUOMO” and “South Asians for CUOMO,” some of which include Hindi text. The attendees are smiling and raising their hands. 3. Bottom left: An audience of mostly older South Asian men seated, clapping and holding signs; the background is decorated with orange and yellow fabric. 4. Bottom right: A woman in an orange outfit smiling and clapping among a diverse group of South Asian attendees.

Holy cow who is running Andrew Cuomo’s campaign and how do they not understand the difference between South Asians and Southeast Asians.

Adds new meaning to "streaming video."

the Muppets have been real quiet since the Louvre heist

Yesterday's No Kings protests were apparently the largest since the first Earth Day in 1970

The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside

Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23

They constantly let America down

a cartoon pink panther is riding a motorcycle down a road Alt: A cartoon Pink Panther is riding a comically teeny motorcycle down a road. He turns, waggles his eyebrows twice, then looks back at the road.

The thief making a getaway:

April 15, 2009 is said to have been the day that had the largest number of tea party demonstrations reportedly in more than 750 cities.[73] Estimates of protesters and locations varied. The Christian Science Monitor reported on the difficulties of calculating a cumulative turnout and said some estimates state that over half a million Americans participated in the protests, noting, "experts say the counting itself often becomes politicized as authorities, organizers, and attendees often come up with dramatically different counts."[74][75] Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, estimated that at least 268,000 attended in over 200 cities.[76] Statistician Nate Silver, manager of FiveThirtyEight.com, has said that a cumulative crowd size estimate from credible sources was of 311,460 attendees in 346 cities, which accounted for all capitols and major cities little noticeable or no reliable media coverage in other protests could have contributed to a lower number of attendees and locations.[77] The largest event, in Atlanta, drew between an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 protesters.[77][78][79] Some of the gatherings drew only dozens.[74]

Compare yesterday's millions to this and how we couldn't escape breathless coverage of the Tea Partiers at their peak.

i love when people from other countries are like “does the US know how bad things are???” and it’s like YEA WE’RE AWARE

So many things have
torn us apart for so long, but when the Portland #NoKings march goes under the Hawthorne Bridge and everyone shouts as loud as they can and everyone is getting high on the collective roar we make you realize this thing is bringing us together and get shivers in your frog suit

Here are some things you can do with all this awesome post-protest energy (add your own in the comments, too):

Sleep is a biological necessity, and sleep deprivation has real physical, psychological, and social consequences that need to be taken seriously. The way our society treats it as slothful to sleep according to natural rhythms (including midday naps and variant chronotypes like night owls) is evil.

Hope folks feel less alone today, that people join with others to take further and deeper actions, and that everyone fights like hell to protect those most vulnerable to this regime.

so sick of hearing every other week about some ‘rising star’ in right-wing politics and then they open the cage and some humanoid vulture comes screeching out

If you were at the No Kings events, please wear a mask for the next few days.

Covid is not over.

You can infect others before you feel symptomatic.

People are losing their healthcare. They’re losing their food assistance. They’re losing housing.

We need to protect each other.

“The Purdue student newspaper owns its own presses” is the sound of engines revving

Fun and play are often a part of social movements as the people trust the larger group to hold their values as the conflict with the state expands. The anti-WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 were full of folks dressed like loggerhead turtles and dolphins and stuff dancing to RATM. Very fun + serious.

TECH EXEC IN 2005: We believe the world is a better place when people are able to communicate online
THAT SAME TECH EXEC IN 2025: The greatest existential threat to humanity is the ability for women to talk back to me

Hand drawn sign reads ACTION ABSORBS ANXIETY

One of the most TRUE signs I have ever seen at a march. Write this down and act upon it, friends.

#NoKings #Manhattan

Feels like a real 30 rock bit

While I obviously find the large urban protests impressive, it's the smaller ones in towns with small populations that make me tear up. That takes a lot of courage and it's a good reminder that people object to this everywhere & geography doesn't define someone's humanity.