James Polchin
@jamespolchin.bsky.social
Edgar Award nominated writer / INDECENT ADVANCES (2019) / SHADOW MEN (2024) both with Counterpoint Press / NYU Professor / Footman to a Labrador
I'm launching Vice and Visibility on Substack today. Subscribe and join me there for a monthly newsleeter about queer crime, historical research, and literary nonfiction. #trucrime #queerhistory #LGBTQ #history #crimestories #creativenonfiction open.substack.com/pub/viceandv...
The Curious Case of Queer Murder
How do you find a queer murder in history?
open.substack.com
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
BREAKING: The Indiana Senate just REJECTED the gerrymandered congressional map that Trump and his allies pressured Republicans to support. The GOP-controlled chamber voted down the map, 31-19.
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
propublica.org
In 2028 I will vote for whoever will send Stephen Miller to The Hague.
Olivia Messer@oliviamesser.bsky.social · 9mo ago79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5. He’s been taken by ICE in Florida. www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
‘Young audiences are less scared of it’: why London jazz clubs are expanding and thriving against the odds
‘Young audiences are less scared of it’: why London jazz clubs are expanding and thriving against the odds
As the Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott’s expand, and Blue Note eyes its arrival, proprietors say there’s an energy in the scene – but financial pressures remain
theguardian.com
Applications are now open for the 2026 DREAMing Out Loud program! This creative writing initiative supports emerging migrant writers in New York City. The program runs from February to April 2026. Apply today at: pen.org/fellowships/...
DREAMing Out Loud
DREAMing Out Loud is a PEN America’s tuition-free creative writing workshop series for young immigrant writers.
pen.org
Chinese battery company abandons plan to build Michigan plant, state says reut.rs/47uzu9Y
Chinese battery company abandons plan to build Michigan plant, state says
Chinese battery company Gotion has abandoned a plan to build a $2.4 billion plant in Michigan to produce material for electric vehicles, the state said Thursday.
reut.rs
Trump is threatening to withhold back pay for federal workers furloughed during the shutdown — which goes against a law he signed in 2019, by the way. This should come as no surprise: Trump and his businesses have been accused of stiffing hundreds of their own workers out of pay over the years.
If you love the song “Me and Bobby McGee” you absolutely must read @elongreen.bsky.social on the life of the woman who inspired the song.
The Unlikely Story of the Secretary Who Inspired One of Music’s Greatest Songs
“Me and Bobby McGee” was originally about a woman—Barbara “Bobbie” McKee. I talked to her.
slate.com
mike lee allegedly went to law school and passed the bar. aside from stephen king's claim being true, a dead person's estate can't sue for defamation, on account of the fact that a dead person can't suffer an injury to their reputation, because they are dead.
Frey: And don't just say, this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.
Without federal funding, public media — and the truth-telling, community-connecting role it plays — is at risk. Local stations may vanish. Millions could lose trusted news and vital information. If you are ready to join the fight for journalism, donate now: n.pr/458sOhq
The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God. Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well. forward.com/opinion/7575...
Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders?
A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.
forward.com
BREAKING: Trump's FCC approves Paramount-Skydance merger after blocking it Just DAYS after CBS (part of Paramount) fired Trump critic Stephen Colbert Just WEEKS after CBS paid $36 million to Trump to settle his bullshit lawsuit vs 60 Minutes TOTAL AND COMPLETE CORRUPTION
ATTN: If you’re one of the 1,000 FBI agents who reviewed the Epstein files, feel free to reach out to me via signal (in my bio). I’ll keep you anonymous- as I have the thousands of current and former federal workers who have sent me tips. Please share this widely. 🙏🏻
Rosie is all a distraction by Trump from the Epstein files. Lots of Trump world is crashing down this weekend.
“What does it mean when you don’t even know your own country.” Thanks to CrimeReads for publishing my converstion with Robert Fieseler about his new book AMERICAN SCARE. #florida #AmericanHistory #RedScare #Crime #injustice #ColdWar #queerhistory #civilrights crimereads.com/robert-fiese...
Robert Fieseler On Florida’s Hidden Cold War Against Black and Queer People
Historian and journalist Robert Fieseler’s first book “Tinder Box: The Untold Story of the Upstairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation” won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. His newest b…
crimereads.com
EXCLUSIVE | Ted Cruz was vacationing in Athens as floods ripped through Central Texas.
Ted Cruz Was Vacationing in Europe as Emergency Crews Desperately Searched for Texas Flood Survivors
The Texas senator was visiting the Parthenon in Athens while a massive rescue mission was under way to find flood victims, our must-read newsletter, The Swamp, reveals.
trib.al
Trump got the Social Security administration to lie for him. www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
Social Security Administration sends misleading email lauding Trump's new tax cuts law
The emails say nearly 9 in 10 Social Security beneficiaries won't pay income taxes on their benefits in the future. But the Trump tax law did not directly address Social Security.
nbcnews.com
7:18 in the ayem here on the West Coast and I can find no indication (perhaps you can? happy to be corrected) that The New York Times has so much as mentioned this
Benjamin Dreyer@bcdreyer.social · last yr."some people" oh, okay
US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza.
US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.
bit.ly
Holy Crap. Just straight up looting at this point. Or like was already looting. But just bringing in a semi to haul out the loot faster.
The free market used to be touted as the cure for all our problems; now it’s taken to be the cause of them.
The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism
The free market used to be touted as the cure for all our problems; now it’s taken to be the cause of them.
nyer.cm
NEWS: Stephen Miller invests in and stands to financially gain from the immigration crackdown that he's spearheading, according to new financial disclosure documents. www.levernews.com/dividends-fo...
Dividends For Stephen Miller, Deportations For Everyone Else
The man behind the Trump administration’s migrant crackdown holds stock in an ICE surveillance contractor.
levernews.com
