Whatever you might think of Maduro, the seizure and kidnapping of a head of state takes us to a very dark place. Vast, arbitrary, extra-legal power, which could be exercised almost anywhere, regardless of the character of the target government.

Stef #UnitedCup #Tennis

Maria 2026 🇬🇷 #UnitedCup #Tennis

Naomi 2026 🇯🇵 #UnitedCup #Tennis

Everything Tim says.

Go see the this Sundance winning film this week during Perth Fest at Somerville. It is funny and beautiful and the young kid playing Naim will steal your heart.

1.1.26 😎

BREAKING NEWS: Actual facts appear for the first time on "Truth" Social.

“World Bank and V-Dem Institute have been documenting for more than a decade, a steep decline in popularity of liberal democracies and a return of various forms of autocracies, with less than 30 countries still considered as functioning democracies.” Viktor Shvets 🖊️

If Marjorie Taylor Greene *really* cared about the Epstein victims, she would read the names of the perpetrators on the House floor (where she would have immunity) before she leaves office.

Excellent ABC pod on the life and death of Lisa Lynn, Greg Lynn’s first wife. Equal parts sad, revealing and infuriating. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/u...

Israel’s genocide in Gaza set a global norm that views extermination as a 'natural' part of how nations and paramilitary groups wage war. We are already seeing this in Sudan. mondoweiss.net/2025/12/isra...

Speaking as someone who just wrote a book on the Manhattan Project, I can assure you that refugee immigrants were the *entire* reason the US mastered the atom first. The most chilling part of writing my book was reading about them fleeing fascism … abroad. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...

This is so farked for locals on multiple levels. An influx of defence contractors will make an affordable suburb unaffordable. Residents left in dark as to safety risks and management plans.

The New York Times has published a major exposé purporting to explain how Jeffrey Epstein rose to the top of the financial and political world, but it ignores one key topic: Israel. mondoweiss.net/2025/12/the-...

Tumaini saying all of the things. It’s a crass money grab. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/d...

Trump breaks the law **again** this time he’s instructing the DOJ to only target political opponents and shut down the Epstein investigation afterwards.

It’s 21° and raining. Feels very Melbourne today.

Get your tickets now!

Feliz Navidad 🎄

Bet365 founder Denise Coates was paid roughly £287 million ($388 million) in 2025, retaining her title as one of the world’s best-paid executives even as her gambling empire’s earnings slumped. Read more: bloom.bg/4aZbQFK 📷: Bet365/PA Media

Corporate Australia. A conscience-free and accountability-free zone.

Albo blamefest should now be derailed (probably won't be) - due to revelations Bondi Shooter bought 3 shotguns, from same gun store, but raised no red flag. @michaelpascoe01.bsky.social #auspol michaelwest.com.au/bondi-traged...

“.. Not since the U.S. allied with Joseph Stalin during the Lend Lease Act has a White House official enjoyed such frequent, personal access to a Russian or Soviet leader. “Witkoff has yet to visit Ukraine.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/putin-...

UEFA has fined Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv €20,000 for racist chants by their supporters at a game in Germany. The chants incl. "Let the IDF f*ck the Arabs", a song calling a rival Israeli club "Arab whores" and threatening to rape them. They also gave the Nazi salute. #Israeli #racism

Happy Boozemas from Rokeby Road

Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets on AI … “All of that means waves of structural change. We’re going to get more polarised. We’re going to get angrier. We’re going to get even more distressed. And the more societies are distressed, the less competent policy decisions they make.”

$915k for a 77 square metre 1 bed. 😳

Howard reminded Australians that creating unity is vital during times of national grief, but turning people against each other for political gain is often easier. theshovel.com.au/2025/12/19/h...

A cartoon by Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby. #NewYorkerCartoons See more from this week’s issue: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/THqIs6

History certainly suggests that official sanctioning of private armed militias is always a good idea

Merry Christmas, Freo peeps. Brilliant news.

Bernie Sanders on FB re what anti-semitism is and is not.

“ASIO has grown larger, louder, and more publicly visible under Mike Burgess’s leadership, yet its core function, preventing mass casualty attacks on Australian soil, has not demonstrably improved.” Scathing takedown of ASIO.

Future Broadband is just the best NBN ISP. Easy to contact and outage issue attended to in no time.

Russian-Israeli spies take a stroll through Moscow in latest operation to dismantle Ukraine.

Our timid government has its head under the pillows, desperately hoping it doesn't have to face up to the challenges of a radically changed world. What’s Labor’s main security concern? How it looks in khaki on election day. Mine for MWM. michaelwest.com.au/australias-s...

Didn’t think it was possible to genuinely conjure any more hate for this govt than I already had. Outright ideological frauds. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...

Somerville szn for Perth Fest films. 27 glorious degrees. Beautiful evening.

Unfettered power for Cook. RIP the environment.

As a climate scientist, the most charitable thing I can say is that this guy's a fucking moron.

More Alcoa shitf*ckery. archive.is/Gs5N1

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $7.2 billion this year in her biggest ever giving announcement. The gifts bring her total philanthropy to $26 billion over the past half decade. bloom.bg/3KHQfHc 📷: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Morning

This is Dylan Earl, the ringleader of a Russian-ordered arson attack on an east London warehouse storing aid for Ukraine in March 2024. He was instructed by his handler to learn about spying by watching “The Americans”, a hit TV series about undercover KGB agents.

Russia’s tactics make its campaign challenging to combat. Agents are typically recruited online, have no links to Russia and are run by intermediaries. They are mobile, motivated by money and entirely dispensable. Analysts have dubbed this set-up the “gig economy” of Russian spycraft.

Russian attacks in Europe are, by nature, scattergun and hard to track. But the scale is now such that analysts believe the escalation is strategic rather than opportunistic, designed to trigger public fear and policy paralysis. The attacks are a test of Europe’s mettle – and Russia is taking notes.