Q: “So, hundreds of millions of dollars in grants were terminated from the NEH. The deficit didn’t change much. And you were paid $150,000 to do that job of reducing the deficit. Do you feel like the $150,000 paid to you was wasteful spending?”
A: *Laughs, frowns….long pause*
A flight taken by the FT over the estate (owned by Viktor Orban’s father) revealed what the roadside hides: carefully manicured gardens; pools cut into the sprawling grounds; a palm house and a chapel; and a grand main building with gleaming wings
www.ft.com/content/1e44...
How many ways can you say “We used ChatGPT” without actually saying “We used ChatGPT”?
Seen elsewhere.
Just wild the UK is looking at the Trump clusterfuck at home and abroad and is hating it, yet is on course to hand power to his equivalents in three years' time.
The land of the free.
Donald Trump letting you know how the authoritarian capture of the media is going, in case you missed it. Unlike other authoritarians in places like Hungary and Poland he has no worries about advertising his authoritarian take over of the media.
“But, as you see, it's a beautiful day, the Strait of Hormuz is open and people are having a wonderful time.”
“AI is basically sucking up all human knowledge and throwing it back at us - and charging a price.”
Talking Heads founding member David Byrne speaks to
@faisalislam.bsky.social about AI and its impact on creativity.
#Newsnight
kind of crazy that if you have enough money and don't like what you see in the media, you can just buy up every film studio, news station, and social media app and change it
GB News is both broadcasting + clipping "there is a genocide happening in this island" due to immigration and demographic change, by Thomas Corbett-Dillon, a former digital campaign adviser to Johnson's Conservatives.
Russian intelligence is suspected of being behind several "self igniting" air freight fires around Europe, including one in Birmingham
news.sky.com/story/russia...
Like clockwork.
Peter Bazalgette: “Amid whoppers told by #Trump, dark propaganda churned out by #Russian/#North Korean/#Iranian bots and the general corruption of #socialmedia, Britain has a noble antidote. [ #BBCWorldService]” 1/
Performative cruelty from a government that should know better and was voted in to do better
In China, there are 26-storey towers - filled with hundreds of thousands of pigs. Now other countries are adopting the same type of "farming" 🤮 giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
FYI: So-called Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon): ‘In America making alliances & friendships, today I had the privilege of an invite to the State Dept’
This invitation is despite his having criminal convictions for assault, threats, harassment and fraud. This is not normal.
my local park is full of hundreds of snow sculptures and someone has been adding museum labels
This is a serious and worrying failure by media - Reform need to be pressed on the core legal and moral issues at stake here
It is notable that Andrew has been arrested for "misconduct in public office", which is precisely what the US Supreme Court decided no American president can ever be charged with.
At QMUL on Monday, the wonderful Kate Adie was asked what she would like to have been taught in a journalism degree, had such things existed in her day.
She replied instantly: "History".
It was the best antidote to the assumption everything was new, unprecedented & of world-historical importance.
Amazon just saved nearly $8B on its 2025 tax bill — despite profits hitting $90B — thanks to Trump's Big Ugly Bill.
Remember: Amazon spent $75M producing and marketing the Melania movie, while Jeff Bezos gave $1M to Trump's inaugural fund.
Quite a return on investment, huh?
Trump’s regulators have announced they will fight states’ attempts to regulate prediction markets.
It just so happens that Donald Trump, Jr. is involved with both Polymarket & Kalshi, and the Trumps’ social media company is launching its own prediction market.
Always follow the money.
Olympic highlight in this house.
Obviously zero reflection in any of this on how operating the largest empire in human history may have turned us into a multicultural nation. We are here because you were there. #Empireland
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Trump is exploiting America's birthday to reward his donors.
Donors who give $1M+ to a Trump-backed group organizing events for the nation's 250th anniversary will gain special access to, and can seek favors from, Trump himself.
Everything is for sale.
Why is Trump posting racist memes about the Obamas in the late hours of the night?
Because he's racist.
But this is also perhaps a sign that his ongoing mental decline is getting even worse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQHLciC67V8
EXC: US State dept is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities in UK/ Europe to amplify Washington’s policy stances and challenge perceived threats to free speech
W/ @annasophiegross.bsky.social, @oilsheppard.bsky.social & Amy McKinnon
as.ft.com/r/98452b33-5...
1. Interesting to see Reform abandon its flirtation with nativism / birth rate boosterism in favour of the policy of the last Tory government
2. “Starve a kid for a cheaper pint” is quite the policy. Be interested to see how that performed in focus groups (especially all male versus mixed).
