NYT: The death toll for the US attack on Venezuela has risen to 80, including civilians and members of security forces, and could rise further.

NYT gonna NYT: "Both Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Maduro identify as socialists, though they have no relationship.” — would be funny if they did this every time you write about two capitalists. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/w...

Meanwhile: "Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime. But neither will it recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region toward a horizon of uncertainty and belligerence", Sanchez wrote on X bsky.app/profile/reut...

Absolutely shameful.

Trans people exist. In every culture and every society on the planet, and have done throughout recorded history. They are a natural part of the human condition and always will be because (spoiler alert!) they are born every day. They aren't an ideology, they are people. Hate is an ideology though!

A moneylender (Scrooge). 👀

Much like the Public Services Card, my biggest concern is that there's only a handful of journalists who actually understand data protection and can argue against this. I don't want to be hearing from opinion columinists who argued the PSC was kinda like a gym card (this happened)

Officials feared Irish women travelling for abortion could be prosecuted on return

With my tinfoil hat on, I detect an effort to normalise talk on immigration that would have been considered extreme a few years ago. No mention of any achievements or the like, just wishy washy statements like "he hasn’t shied away from the thorny issue of immigration"

I've been off social media a lot, for me, this afternoon, but catching up and what the actual fuck is wrong with some people. You can absolutely condemn the Israeli government for its genocide in Gaza. If you use that in any way shape or form to minimise the attack in Sydney you need serious help.

“Reform is tearing us apart”, says the man trying desperately to out-Reform them 🤡

Being with her was intimate and helpful, like a cure you didn't notice happening. ❤️

The mandatory waiting period should never have been put in place after Repeal and it is high time for its removal.

2/2 visually represent and raise awareness of geographical differences in women's candidacy and representation across space and time.. To read article, please see - www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @politicalgeography.bsky.social

1/2 Check out 'the case for feminist electoral geography' in @politicalgeography.bsky.social. Based on our experience of the @womenforelection.bsky.social Data Hub, @clairemcging.bsky.social, Lisa Keenan (@tcdpoliticalsci.bsky.social) & I argue that digital data and web-based mapping platforms can

1. A landmark study was just published in The Journal of Pediatrics. It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT. It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse. Transgender care saves lives.

I continue to be surprised at how under the radar this is going, considering that it’s more consequential than a lot of the things that #spéirghorm gets worked up about. There’ll be major handwringing on here if we get a “majority of parents support Church patronage of primary schools” result.

Delighted to have two new publications on gender & electoral geography. ✍️ 1. A guest editorial in Political Geography, co-written w/ Lisa Keenan & @fionamaybuckley.bsky.social, exploring how digital data & mapping software can highlight women’s underrepresentation & be a tool for feminist praxis.

“Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Seeing this headline right after seeing a headline saying 2025 is going to be one of the hottest years in recorded human history is going to turn me into Poison Ivy (the environmentalist equivalent of the Joker) www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Yes and yet several European countries are embracing a far-right worldview that would burn these policies to the ground, so let’s be not be smug or complacent here - particularly as Mamdani‘s pro-immigration stance is radical by European standards.

April: If we don’t get Housing right in seven months, we’re screwed. November: Housing crisis here until 2040.

This man’s social media platform… which he uses to pump this garbage into our society… continues to be used by the Irish Government, its agencies, media organisations and journalists, universities, politicians and business/union leaders. Leave X now.

All very well. But the gardai need to reflect on their own failed approach to policing anti-immigration events too.

The incredible May McGee died this week. A feminist icon whose name goes down in history alongside one of the most important Supreme Court judgements in the history of the state. Pre-deceased by her devoted husband Shay, who took on the state alongside his wife www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

As I've poimted out numerous times recently, the Irish political establishment has no idea how to deal with the nascent threat of the far right, instinctively taking the wrong option every single time. Connelly was an independent who did the work, got on the ballot, and won. The far right did not.

This spoiled vote thing is a Big Flashing Danger sign in the week of racist riots in Ireland - we're stumbling towards a crisis with no leadership or will to tackle misinformation, criminality, intimidation. And we've seen it coming since the Anti-Vaxx loons started screaming in chemists.

Gov TDs on the radio spouting 'the ppl have spoken' platitudes also scary - they really don't get it. Next election in Ireland will be a total sh*show. Some areas will be no-go for canvassers and ppl will get hurt. Where's the push back against the Facebook-isation of our democracy?

Historic low turnout in presidential election likely with many polling stations below 40%

Seeing the photos of spoilt ballots people are posting and it's interesting how many of them seem to carry racist or explicitly nazi messaging. Probably just a coincidence, nothing to worry about!

For anyone who missed the news: there is no exit poll being released tonight. You’ll have to wait for the boxes to be opened tomorrow morning to start getting a feel for the outcome

#aras2025 #meatheast

Very good response from Eimer to absolute nonsense being spouted by the Matt Carty. It's been normalised to bits by now, but it's worth stepping back and considering how much of a stretch it is to go from "vulnerable child in Tusla care sexually assaulted" to "we need to rethink our borders"

Trying something open.substack.com/pub/kevcunni...

Just got a short Ireland Thinks poll to complete about the Presidential Election. So, presumably, there is still a poll to come.

Exactly, can't think of many Irish people thrilled at the EU's lack of action and promotion of Israel.

Maria Steen WAS facilitated to run - she just didn't bother doing the work, and any journalist or commentator framing it otherwise is yanking your chain for clicks.

I was talking about turnout at the 2024 general election at #PSAI25 this morn. Downward trend is clear; on average presidential election turnout is 14 points lower than general elections. If the trend holds, turnout on 24 October should be in low 40s.

Yes. We know. That's the point of what's happened over the last decade and you helped us get here.

Seeing Ms. Rachel say exactly what needs to be said to Obama is so damn refreshing

#Aras25 poll: Business Post/Red C (October 1-7, MoE 3%) ℹ️ Sampling began before Gavin’s withdrawal Connolly 36 Humphreys 25 Gavin 12 undecided 27 After Gavin eliminated: Connolly 39 Humphreys 31 W/o undecideds: Connolly 56 Humphreys 44 www.businesspost.ie/article/red-...

It was stupid when they said this about Jim O'Callaghan and it's stupid when they are saying it about Catherine Connolly. The cab rank rule among barristers means you have to take whatever the case is + the journalists acknowledge this but completely bury the lede www.independent.ie/irish-news/p...

Indeed

And to think this presidential election was dull only 30 minutes ago. 👀

I believe Maria Steen and probably Gareth Sheridan would have gotten on the ballot had they started doing the work required in good time. I also feel they'd have polled relatively strongly. But they just felt entitled to the nomination. This is not a failure of democracy. It's a consequence of ego.

Precisely the case in the US. Young men with economic anxiety on net actually voted Dem in 2024. Young men with bad views about women, feminism, and trans people voted for the right. www.ymrp.org/polling

New publication ✍️ Great to write this chapter with Prof @louisecrowley.bsky.social (UCC) & David Quin (IADT) about our respective projects to tackle sexual violence & harassment in Irish HEIs. Available open access. link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Heartbreaking. Anas Al-Sharif posted this 1 hour before being assasinated tonight. “If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased. Please share this message & tag everyone who…has the power to end this massacre. Silence is complicity.”