Mathieu O'Neil

This is really good.

Every Australian should know about the influences underpinning our politics - which goes a long way to explain the mess we’re in #auspol

MAGA Is Discovering the Downsides of X And it’s not just Elon.

X vs X
www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Not sure about Pritzker's policies in general but in this particular case he makes a lot of sense...
PS. Dear Americans, making nasty comments about your President's looks or morals is useless IMHO. If you are angry don't vent, organise!

Worth checking out if only to marvel at the full clown make-ups they superimposed on those fine X folk

fuck outta here

NYT/Guardian commentators lamenting the end of 'rules-based order' and the return of 1900s 'gunboat diplomacy' seem to have never heard of Mossadegh, Arbenz, Allende, etc: all democratically elected, toppled with US support and replaced by dictators. Or maybe its the non-secrecy that bothers them?

"Right" does not matter under gangster capitalism

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.

Mamdani Teaches Us How to Speak the Language of Illegitimacy How should the next Democratic government act on the belief that Trump's second term was lawless and illegitimate?

"It is not enough just to say that Trump is illegitimate. We need to be thinking about the implications. We need to be thinking about how Democrats can use their powers, now and in the future, to deny that Trump has a legitimate right to rule." www.liberalcurrents.com/mamdani-teac...

When people argue that renewable energy sources are too expensive, remember that we don’t invade countries to seize wind farms and there are no solar cartels. Fossil fuels have enormous geopolitical, public health, and climate externalities.

The Maduro cycle: Maduro is in Venezuela. --> The U.S. military kidnaps Maduro. --> Maduro is in the U.S. illegally --> ICE kidnaps Maduro and deports him to Venezuela -->

(h/t zachariah.dracoulis/IG)

A job for NATO Supreme Command surely

‘Their first instinct was to loot’: how Trump’s acolytes are plundering the Kennedy Center Sheldon Whitehouse, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center board, remains undeterred and determined to press on with his investigation

#lootocracy "it ought to be pretty plain to people that when a new administration comes to Washington, it is not the ordinary and appropriate thing to start filling your own pockets, your friends’ pockets, your political allies’ pockets with public goods."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

2026 is go! for @xiaolan-cai.bsky.social S.Zacchiroli & my work on unrecognised #opensource #digitalcommons #FOSS use by industry with the JQD:DM's publication of our analysis of researcher contributions to commits and issues in 8,924 #R package repositories on #GitHub!
journalqd.org/article/view...

Comedy Writer Bought ‘Trump Kennedy Center’ Domain Names, Anticipating President Would Rename Institution After Himself: ‘Satire Became Unavoidable’ In August, former 'South Park' writer Toby Morton registered 'TrumpKennedyCenter' domain names, anticipating that Trump would add his name to the D.C. landmark.

Amazing: “But the Kennedy Center is not the current owner of trumpkennedycenter.org or trumpkennedycenter.com — because back in August, comedy writer Toby Morton registered those two domain names, expecting Trump and his allies to add Trump’s name to the D.C. landmark.”

Historically crisis events offered opportunities for unscrupulous influencers to opportunistically spread bullshit; these very bullshit-spreading abilities earned them top spots in the current US administration. #floodthezone #auspol

Good Morning 💙☕️
Merry Christmas Eve

60 Minutes Samizdat

@mollyjongfast.bsky.social
@asharangappa.bsky.social

youtu.be/7RhNXzG-OD0?...

A Google Maps interface screenshot showing a dark-themed map view of the Lokhandwala area in Mumbai, India. The map shows the street "P Tandon Marg" and location pins including the "I Love Lokhandwala" sign and a building named "Runwal Elegante". A sewage canal (the Mogara Nallah) runs behind the sign and building.

The state of India's urban infrastructure.

There is a huge, open sewage canal right behind this touristy 'I love Lokhandwala' sign in Mumbai. Even if it's an open gutter, you're supposed to love it instead of questioning it and everything that caused it.

We need to start publicly naming and shaming the academics that do this and the journals that allow them through. I don't see any other way around this existential problem.

Create fake videos and write grand student reports OR preserve the planet? Seems the [UK, but applies to Oz most probably] government chooses plan B. #auspol

‘Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over the Pursuit of Women

"Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other’s closest friend, The Times found." Free article #epstein
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/u...

I must have a very bad memory b/c I cannot for the life me remember any of these self-serving playactors calling for Scott Morrison's resignation after an Australian man groomed by years of blatant Islamophobia from political and media arenas flew to NZ to murder 51 Muslims. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #auspol #BondiBeach

Bigliest boom

A bunch of published studies that use surveys and offer incentives probably (knowingly or not) have datasets tainted by bots or fake participants. But this is a whole new level. How are we meant to trust the data is even real and not some robot's predictions about how a human might respond?

Very good news, and a signal to many UK universities that it is crucial to rebuild closer relationships with European partners.

Um ihn mache ich mir keine Sorgen, um seine Wähler schon.

The slop! The slop! Exterminate the [brute] data

I picked up a copy of Rimbaud's letters from Aden and got interested in his life. WP told me at 22 (so after he abandoned literature) he enlisted in the Dutch colonial army and sailed to Java where he deserted, hid in the jungle and eventually came home. RIMBAUD went to INDONESIA! How crazy is that.