CEO of The Accountability Board. Co-founder @eatjustinc, @goodmeat. Loves politics, and Da Bears.
Joined July 2008
- Tweets2.8K
- Following379
- Followers5.4K
- Likes14K
Few have written as eloquently and profoundly about the mistreatment of animals as @NickKristof. His latest piece is a must-read. nytimes.com/2026/10/17/opini…
Josh Balk retweeted
Voters in Washington, DC, and Denver, Colorado could soon ban one of the world’s most controversial foods: foie gras. vox.com/future-perfect/50597…
Josh Balk retweeted
The horse carriage industry is coming to an end in New York City.
Our administration will make sure workers and owners are protected and the horses are safe.
Josh Balk retweeted
The pork industry rejects the term "factory farm," insisting that family farmers raise pigs just like they always have.
But 50 years ago this month, in September 1976, Hog Farm Management magazine wrote: "Forget the pig is an animal. Treat him just like a machine in a factory."
That was the plan. And they acted on it: they soon moved pregnant sows into gestation crates and grower pigs into giant dark warehouses.
In 1976, most US pigs were on small farms with fewer than 500 pigs. Today most are in factory farms with more than 5,000. The consolidation put roughly 90% of US pig farmers out of business.
The promise was that industrialization would dramatically lower pork prices. But, in real terms, pork costs about the same today as it did in the 1970s.
The farmers got bankrupted and the pigs got crated. Only the factory farming corporations won.
Big news: The Senate Ag Committee just advanced the Farm Bill WITHOUT the Save Our Bacon Act.
Sen. Joni Ernst tried to add it—legislation that could wipe out state protections and allow the pork industry to return to confining mother pigs in gestation crates so tiny they can’t even turn around.
Imagine spending month after month trapped between metal bars, unable to take a few steps or turn your body around.
We stopped it today. But this fight isn’t over.
Josh Balk retweeted
You might've heard about the Save Our Bacon Act. Turns out that the main group lobbying for it--Natl. Pork Producers Council--has taken $66M from a farmer fund intended to promote pork, & which legally cannot be used for lobbying. 40% of the $66M hasn't been previously reported.
Josh Balk retweeted
This is not the exception. Most farmed fish are killed by suffocation while fully conscious.
Depending on the species, it takes between 10 minutes and five hours for the fish to lose consciousness.
Every day we kill over 250 million fish this way — including millions sold in the US and Europe.
The closest human experience is suffocation, which is rated in palliative care literature as one of the most distressing experiences a human can endure.
One day we'll wonder in horror at how we tolerated this for so long.
Just when you think we've run out of ways to be cruel to the animals we eat, someone invents this. 😡
Can you imagine the claustrophobia, confusion, & terror this poor #fish will endure? 😢
Josh Balk retweeted
Why does the pork industry need the Save Our Bacon Act? Because without it, states will force it to make good on its promises to ditch gestation crates.
In 2011, Smithfield — the largest US pork producer — promised to phase out gestation crates within six years. Its CEO said customers didn't like the crates 'and we've heard them loud and clear.'
But 15 years later, most Smithfield contract farms still keep sows crated for their entire lives.
Smithfield's company-owned farms claim to use 'group housing,' but even those sows spend roughly half their lives in crates.
The industry made its promises. It broke them. Now it wants a law to make sure no state can hold it accountable.
Josh Balk retweeted
We lost our beloved dog, Connie, the other day. But she would be honored to know that a pig has been named for her: yesahcansanctuary.org/animal… Thanks to this animal sanctuary for this -- and for rescuing pigs who are as intelligent as dogs but treated with none of the humanity.
BREAKING: The farm bill just died in the Senate Ag Committee and with it the “Save Our Bacon” Act. (Sen Boozman claims he’s going to try again in September.) So, for now, our farm animal protection laws are saved. And mother pigs are NOT going to be forced back into tiny cages. Let’s keep the pressure up. We’re close to defeating this shameful legislation.
Josh Balk retweeted
If you don’t know about the Save Our Bacon Act, you need to know about it.
It is an awful and inhumane piece of legislation that benefits a Chinese owned corporation and we should all urge Congress NOT to pass it.
I'm looking forward to reading this!
Animals Matter - coming in early 2027.
amazon.com/Animals-Matter-Ca…
Josh Balk retweeted
NEW Op-Ed: ‘Save Our Bacon?’ This bill sells it to China (via @dcexaminer)
The most consequential fights in the Farm Bill could devastate American families.
Behind the cutesy name is the industrial pork lobby and the biggest beneficiary is FOREIGN owned. tinyurl.com/24b66jmn
Josh Balk retweeted
In AI 2027, we predicted that AI would take over the world or irreversibly concentrate power.
In AI 2040: Plan A, we've laid out our positive vision for what should happen instead.
The headline of @TheProspect's feature about the "Save Our Bacon" Act says it all...
The Meat Industry’s Tireless Effort to Keep Live Pigs in Coffins: The Save Our Bacon Act, which would override hundreds of state food safety laws, has triggered bipartisan revulsion. But the pork industry wants it so they can keep confining pigs. prospect.org/2026/07/07/meat…
What has brought together @IngrahamAngle, @TomiLahren, @NickKristof, @ezraklein, @Cernovich, @ggreenwald, and countless more conservatives and liberals alike? It's opposing the corrupt "Save Our Bacon" (SOB) Act in the Farm Bill--and the cruel practice of confining a mother pig in a cage so small she's unable to turn around. If SOB passes, millions of pigs are relegated to years of suffering inside these coffin-size cages. More from @KennyTorrella in @voxdotcom.
vox.com/future-perfect/49371…
Thanks for having me on, @IAmPoliticsGirl. And for speaking out against the corrupt Save Our Bacon Act in Congress. No animal, including a mother pig, deserves to be confined in a cage so small she’s unable to turn around her entire life. Reversing laws against such cruelty is shameful and it says a lot how the industrial pork industry feels how animals ought to be treated.
