Is it still the case that Israel has killed more Americans than Iran? Last I heard it was Iran, six US military vs Israel, nine US citizens in the West Bank.

Is the Iran war a case of the Israeli tail wagging the US dog?

Also Cuntlik

The Gramsci attributed “time of monsters” recalls not only Stranger Things’ Demogorgon but also Foundation’s Mule. When it is revealed that the apparent Mule was merely a pawn to the real Mule, Bayta (perhaps), you have to wonder to whom Trump is a pawn. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

The San Francisco Super Bowl logo looks like it is saying LAX..

A typical news org post on @bsky has text teasing the story at top, a graphic with a caption repeating the text and below, the first couple of lines of the body of the report linked to, which repeat the text a third time. Hardly compulsive reading by this stage.

If Trump is a hegemonic predator, he’s a carnivorous dinosaur, Trumpus hegemonsaurus, who hasn’t yet realised his comet (anthropogenic climate change) has struck.

Watched @smerconish.bsky.social on @cnn.com Ever the moderate, he says long time tax paying migrants whose only crime was to enter and stay in US illegally should be allowed to stay, ‘but to never be able to vote’. Meaning taxation without representation, right?

If TACO means Trump Always Chickens Out, REpublicans Always Kow Tow - REAKT - is the default even when he does. See how long the dissent lasts. They condemned him for J6. Now they don’t. They’ll soon be quiet about Greenland as they’re quiet about ICE. He’s testing them to see how far he can go.

(From my 1st BBC Reith Lecture, watch the full lecture here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUJ-...)

Trump said drug prices in US are high becos the world underpays big pharma yet he can get them to reduce by multiples of 100%. Everyone focuses on the bad maths but miss the point that this is socialised medicine. Govts buy wholesale and subsidise pts’ cost. But US supply chain is totally private.

Ok. All those streaming Trump’s Davis speech live can please go back to your studios. He’s done with his scripted speech and weaving now.

Meta’s end to end encryption is not real. How else is targeting of ads so spot on? But AI still sucks. Info above search engines results can give totally BS answers. Worth asking twice with slight differences in wording just to see if the answers are consistent. Ask the antipode of any place, eg.

May 27 Australia’s population is projected to reach 28m, on the anniversary of the 1967 constitutional referendum that finally included indigenous people in the census. Set reminder: 2033 when the (ab)original people will have been Australian longer than they were not. Give or take 60k years.

It’s hard to see Trump’s or his minders’ true reason for invading Venezuela other than unrealistic outcomes. Drugs? Negligible. Oil? Too costly. Regime change? Seems not. Democracy? No(bel) way, Jose. But: ego stroked; Marco’s Cuban boil lanced. MAGA = MAFIA: Making America First In the Americas

If the oaths sworn by US military and new citizens are not enshrined in the constitution (I don’t know either way) I predict Trump will change them to remove the reference to the constitution. He might do it anyway. Might well ditch the bit about disobeying illegal orders while he’s at it.

He’s drinking sour crude though. Iran’s is much sweeter, I hear.

I wonder if Trump’s Venezuela action is of a piece with his yearning for a Nobel, claiming to have stopped seven wars, renaming the Kennedy Centre and plans to build a triumphal arch — to cement his place in history. Other than as the worst president in history, which he’s earnt in spades.

Amazing breakdown by @rvawonk.bsky.social of the disinformation tactics used:

The conceit is interesting. A virus finds a non-biological way to propagate but is still sound evolution. The problem is that it dooms humans to starve and relies on them ‘paying it forward’. The next host may be millions of light years away. Or it may die with humans before they find a new host.

Technically, since leap years are just a quadrennial fix to the calendar, each new year between falls roughly a quarter of a day behind. So we should be ringing in the new year for 2026 at 6am. Just saying. Happy New Year all the same.

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

For decades, Parkinson’s research has focused on genetics, on finding the rogue letters in our genome that cause this incurable disease. But researchers are looking at another unsuspecting cause: environmental factors.

There are no jury trials in Singapore. The death penalty is mandatory if judges find the accused guilty. What the US is doing is akin to Duterte’s dirty ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines. He is now in The Hague facing ICC charges. Hegseth should consider his post-Trump travel plans carefully.

If J “Demogorgon” Vance is Vecna, what does that make Trump? Well, one anagram deserves another and anagrammatically, Muprt brings Miss Piggy to mind. But Trump’s muppet is destined to live in a rent controlled trash can. In the upside down world of MAGA, stranger things may happen.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... No reporters ever: "I'm Miss Piggy." "No, I'm Miss Piggy." "I'm Miss Piggy and so's my wife."

Westminster-style parliamentary democracies have whole shadow administrations. Cabinet Secretaries aka ministers are -er- shadowed. By elected opposition spokespersons. Who have a whole term to prepare to take office, not just the 3 months following a presidential election. So there’s that.

What is the answer to the ultimate question of Epstein, the shut down and everything? 42 (days)

50 years since the Dismissal. My @smh @theage cartoon.

Australian Senator Alex Antic: 2m immigrants is too many for the size of the country. But net migration to Australia over the last 3 years is 470k (1.82m in, 1.35m out). Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics. On a population of 27.8m that is 1.7%. This is a dog whistle. youtu.be/hjICCpzcZBA

Son of Man in Oval

Don’t watch The Matrix, read Brave New World for where this might lead. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Translation: “The piano has been drinking; not me”

A clerihew: Dick Cheney Was so brainy His ties to Halliburton Made the war for Iraqi oil all but certain

“Australia’s history began in 1770 when Captain Cook waded through the surf at Botany Bay in his budgie smugglers and declared it a super spot for the new sport of surfing which he had just invented in Tahiti. He tried talking to the natives but they weren’t very nice so he made them bugger off”

Inspired by Trump’s Asian meandering, perhaps we can apply an Eastern-flavoured riposte to the TACO acronym: TOFU - Trump Only Fucks Us (or Up, or USA, as you prefer; even just U / you works).

His teeth are unnaturally perfect. Like Halloween vampire costume teeth without the fangs.

On the Epstein files, the point ought to be to release them in the context of prosecutions. If criminal investigations were in the works, there’s a case for holding them back. For now. But as things stand, Bondi, Patel, et al are only storing trouble for themselves. 💔😔 substack.com/@therickwils...

"As for us," he said, in addressing the senate, "we are so far from possessing anything of our own that even the house in which we live is yours." — Marcus Aurelius

And clearly, it is news media’s failure as well to acknowledge Trump’s enthusiasm for a genocide. Not to exonerate Biden totally, but it’s not clear that he was played by Netanyahu in the same grifting way as Trump/Kushner. Plus Biden is not looking for a Nobel.

‘The Republican party fails to fully acknowledge the role Trump’s unchecked and unbridled support of what the UN has described as Israel’s “genocidal” war on Gaza plays in alienating voters.’ Oh, sorry, that’s Dems’ & Harris’ failure on Biden’s complicity. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

If you're in Australia, my Boyer lecture will be on ABC in about 20 minutes. I'll wave to you from inside your TV. Should also be on iview if you're not near your telly.

Beginning to understand what is meant by ‘brain rot’ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Putin, Kim Jong Un, Orbán, Vučić, Erdoğan, Bolsonaro, Milei, Maduro… Wait, Trump likes authoritarian leaders, so what sets Maduro apart? USA’s long stand on Venezuela’s lack of democracy is Trump’s least concern. What does set it apart however is oil. rb.gy/pdjx0x Now with added Nobel envy.

Australian court upholds decision to block visa for Candace Owens: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-15/high-court-upholds-ministers-block-visa-candace-owens/105893248

Trump turns up late to his Shame-el-Shakedown victory lap and hits on Meloni. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“Trump may be lying or he may be hallucinating. But he’s clearly calling the shots.” Yes, but focused on revenge, aggrandisement and his legacy (building monuments and seeking accolades like the Nobel). But not all through yes-men; some like Stephen Miller and Vought have their own agendas.

BROKEN:

October 10, BREAKING: The Nobel peace prize committee has awarded the peace prize for 2025 to itself, citing its exhibiting of steadfast resistance to demands they award the prize to Donald Trump, thus saving the annual peace prize itself from total and abject meaninglessness.

I'll tell you once, I won't tell you twice you better wise up Bari Weiss CBS News won't like your views You better wake up Bari Weiss Skydance has the creed but you should be freed You're a liberal so be liberal Free speech is the first thing When you made it did you hear a liberty bell ring? /2