swimbird #FBPE

This Reuters headline. Oof.

Fascism isn't 'coming.' It's HERE.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Anniversary couple are latest victims of British Airways Brexit passport mix-up Exclusive: The airline doubled down and blamed passengers for its mistake

www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...

History is totally repeating its self. After 80 years, we have learned from history, what we have not learned from history.

Miles was chief of staff at DHS in Trump’s first term 👇🏽

These two things are of a piece, even if the motivations and details differ.

Trump’s justification for his authoritarian crackdown is an America that doesn’t exist.

@lizzieohreally.bsky.social

Thanks, New Yorker

Trump isn’t running the country, it’s Stephen Miller…… I think the country’s starting to realize that now. You have an old dotard suffering from psychosis being controlled by the puppet master who is a psychopath…..

Somebody actually sat down and wrote these two sentences, one after another. www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...

Laughed till I cried when shopping for socks on the Boots app just now.

Seriously?
🤣🤣🤣

Pecksniff: At last! ‘Rejoin the EU,’ says Burnham In which Mr Pecksniff lays before his readers for their approval certain observations and speculations reflecting on the political life

* Andy Burnham breaks the silence on rejoining the EU
* How McSweeney’s Labour Together reshaped the party into a Brexit outfit.
* Reform’s narrative collapses as huge poll shows voters reject their fear-mongering

All in this week's @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social

@eastangliabylines.co.uk

France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines Breaking news and world news from France 24 on Business, Sports, Culture. Video news. News from the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, Middle East, America

French government has collapsed again: www.france24.com/en/france/20...

Reform likely to raise Kent council tax after cost-cutting drive falters Nigel Farage’s party promised to revive local authority finances by slashing wasteful spending

Reality bites ReFuk in Kent that claimed to slash public spending in DOGE-like cuts during elections.

They can’t. They are “already down to the bare bones” and admits they will have to increase council tax

Words come easy when trying to win votes but governing is hard.

www.ft.com/content/277c...

The tache on the one in front looks just like Oswald Mosley's.

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish? Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar.

Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is insane. Masked men in full military tactical gear w assault rifles. For what?

Remember how the militias and the US 'libertarian' far-right spent years bleating on about 'govt overreach' 'Black helicopters' etc as the reason they kept so many AKs & AR-15s?

Smell that whiff of hypocrisy...

This is an old formula used by authoritarian regimes. Stoke chaos and blame scapegoats to justify the use of force.

Amazing photoshop skills.

emoov.co.uk/property/376...

From my prison cell in Georgia, I implore Europe not to abandon us to Russia | Mzia Amaglobeli My fellow journalists are putting their lives in danger every day, but we refuse to surrender to a regime that threatens Europe’s own security, says imprisoned Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli

If you read only one thing today, read this letter written from prison, where she has been languishing for several months, by the awesome Georgian journalist Mzia Amaghobeli.
She dared to speak the truth to the Moscow's puppets.
EU leaders don't have her courage.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

In her lunch with the FT the OnlyFans CEO says her company pays more tax than the entire British fishing industry. Quite a stat.

This is great. Cory D nails the business model in all its dismal detail. He had consistently been excellent doing a job, that let's be honest, professors in business schools should have done.

Conservative Party pledges £1.6bn ICE-style 'removals force' to detain and deport illegal migrants The pledge is part of the Conservative Party's broad new plans to stop illegal migration to the UK, set to be unveiled by Kemi Badenoch on the first day of their annual conference on Sunday.

news.sky.com/story/conser...

US Department of War reduces cybersecurity training, tells soldiers to focus on their mission Cybersecurity training is apparently no longer a priority for the US armed forces

▶️ Department of Defense memo outlines a reduction on cybersecurity training frequency
▶️ This is despite cyberattacks increasingly hitting military and infrastructure targets
▶️ May signal increase in AI or automated system usage in the future

Macron remarks are notable- some quotes: "We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies."

ACCURATE AF.

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

Tory plot to replace Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick as soon as next month Up to a dozen supporters of the shadow justice secretary are said to have penned letters to use against Kemi Badenoch when the time is right

inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Keeping Up Appearances actor Patricia Routledge dies aged 96 The actor was best known for her role as the pretentious housewife Hyacinth Bucket, and for the series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates Patricia Routledge, the stage and screen actor best known for starring as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances and Henrietta “Hetty” Wainthropp in the television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, has died at the age of 96. Routledge was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1929 and attended the University of Liverpool and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She began her career in theatre and musical theatre in 1952, later making her Broadway debut in 1966 in How’s the World Treating You. Routledge would go on to win a Tony award and an Olivier for her stage work, and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for several years, appearing in productions including Richard III, alongside Antony Sher. Continue reading...

Keeping Up Appearances actor Patricia Routledge dies aged 96

This guy gets it

Seven years ago today, the Saudi Crown Prince directed the murder of VA resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

As we honor Jamal's memory, we are reminded that we must protect reporters around the world as they uncover the truth, inform the public, and promote accountability.