Matthew Friedman
@friedman.bsky.social
📤 687
📥 462
📝 571
Historian, journalist, Jew, Canadian expat in MAGAmerica.
Teaching a class on the Abolitionist movement just before Pesach is one of the great joys of my job.
9 months ago
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I do find it amazing that many of the same people who unquestioningly and unequivocally support the State of Israel are eager to destroy Canada.
9 months ago
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That feeling when the department coffee machine is kaputt.
9 months ago
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There was a time when I would have been disappointed that Ovechkin beat the Great One's record. But now, I am just glad he pushed that disloyal, MAGA-loving casino shill down a rung. May Gretzky forever be an asterisk.
#ovechkin
#gretzky
#hockey
#elbowsup
9 months ago
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I remember when the mass protests of 2017 - the Women's March, the March for Science, the demonstrations at immigration detention facilities, etc. - restrained the first Trump administration and saved America!
#jaded
9 months ago
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It is worth remembering that almost anything "made in the USA" is inferior to virtually any imported product. Thus, paying the tariff hit might actually be worth it in the end.
#tradewar
#buyforeign
#tariffs
9 months ago
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I was a strong NDP supporter when it was a social democratic party. When it took a right turn into dishwater third-wayism under Tom Mulcair, the party ceased to have any real value to me. Given the choice between voting for the Liberals or the ineffective wannabe Liberals, I choose the former.
9 months ago
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I have been an NDP voter for most of my life and, before moving to the US for grad school, a long time member. But I have never seen such a pointless, weak-tea party like the one led by Jagmeet Singh, not even Audrey McLaughlin's 1993 team. I'll be voting Liberal.
#canada
#politics
#ndp
.
9 months ago
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One of the places where I am going to feel the tariffs hit is when I buy groceries today. I was going to buy some Canadian or Welsh cheddar. But now I might have to settle for American cheddar. And American cheddar is utter crap.
#tariffs
#cheese
9 months ago
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... In other news, I had a real Mr. Dixon moment as I walked across campus to get lunch. So many students greeting me brightly. Kinda makes up for a lot.
#teaching
#room222
9 months ago
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A student complained that I showed "disgraceful disrespect" to Andrew Jackson because I accused him of genocide.
#teaching
#education
#ushistory
9 months ago
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'Our lives have been overwhelmed with these “what ifs,” and I find myself recalling the generation of German Jewish and left-wing writers and intellectuals who tried to read the tea leaves of 1933-1939 in order to know when it would be the “right time” to flee.'
#expats
#canada
#MAGA
#expatlife
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Booking It - The Friedman Dossier
"Getting the Hell out of here" is on my mind these days. I live in a deep-blue part of New Jersey, no more than a couple of miles from one of those liberal universities that give Redhats hives. But if...
https://friedmandossier.com/commentary/booking-it/
9 months ago
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Paving stones. Plainsboro, NJ. Fujifilm Instax Wide.
#analogphotography
#instantphotography
#instaxwide
#fujiinstax
#fujifilm
@fujifilm_instax_northamerica
9 months ago
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A student complained that I am "bringing politics into the classroom." This is in a course on US History since 1945, so it's hard not to. Is this my first taste of what teaching under the MAGA regime will be? How long will I have a job?
#education
#teaching
#MAGA
9 months ago
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"Life 'behind the lines' in America is not as dire as attempting to cross German trenches into No Man’s Land and then, one hopes, to safety. But there is a persistent reminder that I am an alien, and the threat that the regime can destroy my life, should it choose, hangs over me."
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Behind the Lines - The Friedman Dossier
I could never have imagined that I would find myself "behind the lines." The phrase was always a feature of the kind of military adventures that I consumed as a boy; the First World War ace forced dow...
https://friedmandossier.com/commentary/behind-the-lines/
9 months ago
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Cone, Plainsboro, NJ.
#fujifilm
#instax
#fujiinstax
#instantphotography
#filmphotography
#analog
9 months ago
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My office clock has stopped. Is this an omen? Clearly the Atomic Scientists are to blame.
9 months ago
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I just double checked to make sure Elections Canada has my details. If you are a Canadian expat, this is where you can register to vote from abroad. The coming election might be one of the most important in recent memory.
#canada
#expat
#canadians
#election
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Registration and Voting Processes for Canadians Who Live Abroad
Registration and Voting Processes for Canadians Who Live Abroad
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/etr&document=index&lang=e
9 months ago
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I wrote this five years ago, at the start of the COVID pandemic. Yet, so much of it rings true in our current end times. For some reason, so many people believe that the Apocalypse is, or will be, fun.
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Ecstasies of the Viral Apocalypse - The Friedman Dossier
“Just purchased 4 rolls of toilet paper, kinda feel like Indiana Jones.” My friend had just returned from shopping the bare shelves of a suburban Chicago supermarket like an action hero for the essent...
https://friedmandossier.com/commentary/ecstasies-of-the-viral-apocalypse/
9 months ago
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Garden implement, Plainsboro, NJ.
#fujiinstax
#fujifilm
#instax
#instaxwide
#instantphotography
#filmphotography
9 months ago
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Power, Plainsboro, NJ. Polaroid.
#polaroid
#blackandwhite
#monochrome
#filmphotography
#instantphotography
9 months ago
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Backboard. Instax.
#instax
#fujifilm
#instantphotography
#tennis
9 months ago
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Tennis. Polaroid.
#polaroid
#instantphotography
#light
#shadows
#tennis
9 months ago
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It is significant, I think, that CBC News has referred to the United States as Canada's "former ally" at least three times.
9 months ago
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It is only possible to say that the US is a great country if you have never been anywhere else. And given that less than half of Americans have passports suggests that most Americans have never been out of the country. So American greatness is little other than the greatness of ignorance.
9 months ago
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Watching television, the ads in the break were, in order, online gambling, trucks, junk food, and a TV series glorifying the CIA. That, in a nutshell, is America.
9 months ago
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There are practical reasons why I don't just pack up and head back to Canada. But I don't have any meaningful attachments to the US. It really is a pretty awful place. There are good people here, but the median American is a thuggish, vulgar, barbarian.
9 months ago
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Gnarly tree.
#polaroid
9 months ago
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Typewriter commentary.
#typewriter
#commentary
#uspolitics
#politics
#totalitarianism
#MAGA
#hashtagpolitics
9 months ago
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One of the things that I did not expect to see from "the left" was an enthusiasm for murderous violence.
9 months ago
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I mean... Do you really think President Trump even cares that you think he's a fascist?
9 months ago
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I'm working my way through Star Trek: Enterprise, and it is pretty good - much better than I remember. I think my negative opinion was probably shaped by that godawful theme song. One of the great things about streaming is that I can skip that.
9 months ago
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One of the things that I find the most annoying about the Bluesky echo chamber is how eager many users are to block you over disagreements. It's like they just don't want you to harsh their buzz. I hate Facebook with passion, but it was never like this.
9 months ago
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It is, I am told, "elitism" to believe that greater knowledge and education confer greater authority in those areas of greater knowledge and education. I am, therefore, an elitist. I own it.
9 months ago
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A sobering reminder that the left's "grassroots activism" and
#hashtagpolitics
did nothing to prevent the
#MAGA
revolution - with almost 50 percent of the vote. It beggars the imagination that it will turn MAGA back now that they won.
9 months ago
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I know that I am a curmudgeon and a contrarian, but I come by these characteristics honestly. But I do find all of the
#hashtagpolitics
and performative
#resistance
activism pretty silly. Forgive me if I find the Star Wars
#theresistance
cosplay less than useless. It really isn't personal.
9 months ago
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Typewriter commentary.
#typewriter
#uspolitics
#politics
#commentary
9 months ago
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Contrary to what some people have reported in Bluesky, Canada has not cut its order of F-35 fighters. However, Ottawa is certainly thinking about it, and that is a good thing. Acquiring the Saab Gripens would liberate our military from the US and bring us closer to Europe and a post-US NATO.
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Canada reconsidering F-35 purchase amid tensions with Washington, says minister | CBC News
Canada is looking at cancelling a major portion of its purchase of U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighters and plans on opening talks with rival aircraft makers, Defence Minister Bill Blair said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/f35-blair-trump-1.7484477
9 months ago
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Re. Those 200% tariffs on European wine. We all know that American wine is mostly vile plonk, right? That's why Americans buy European wines in the first place.
9 months ago
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Typewriter commentary.
#typewriter
#commentary
#uspolitics
#politics
#highereducation
9 months ago
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Cat in a box. Polaroid.
#cat
#catsofbluesky
#pokaroid
10 months ago
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Now we know what a government of rapists looks like: "Don't resist. If you resist I'll just make it worse." This is YOUR government, America.
10 months ago
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I would like little more than to see the United States go down in flames. And, as the dumpster fire that it is, that does seem to be happening. But please direct me to an enemy of the United States to whom I can offer aid and comfort.
10 months ago
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Our Theodora died tonight in my arms. She was 17-3/4 years old, and I loved her more than there are words. She was regal and dignified, but also the sweetest, gentlest cat I have ever known. There is a vast, cat-shaper hole in my life.
11 months ago
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Snoop is dead to me. Drop him like he's hot.
11 months ago
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My thinking about Zuckerberg's appearance is not that he appears effeminate, but that he appears childlike. This seems to be the point of so much of the "new masculinity," that it is the "masculinity" of spoiled, prepubescent boys who throw tantrums when they are told to pick up their toys.
11 months ago
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Looking at Mark Zuckerberg, I see a pampered boy with childlike curls in a bespoke, flowing mumu and jewelry more concerned with comfort and luxury than "masculine energy." What am I missing here?
11 months ago
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Anyone who has ever served on a hiring committee knows how complex hiring is. Black-and-white qualifications are always part of the calculus, but that is only the beginning. There are all kinds of intangibles and vagaries, like "attitude," "friendliness," even tone of voice & presentation. 1/more
11 months ago
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One of the reasons why sports heroes like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr have such appalling political ideas is that they are deeply ignorant and uneducated. Neither graduated from high school. They have the knowledge and education of middle schoolers - just the type of people to whom MAGA appeals.
11 months ago
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Follow this guy. Endre is one of the greatest living Canadian poets. Also a man of conviction and commitment.
add a skeleton here at some point
11 months ago
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