Musk says not a single person has died due to him axing USAID. Sadly, part of my job involves tracking aid spending. So here’s a thread with just some of the people who lost their lives because of USAID cuts

Government by the boomer nostalgia Facebook pages, of the the boomer nostalgia Facebook pages, for the the boomer nostalgia Facebook pages

Absolutely superb work by @skyelark.bsky.social: Hanson's massive non-English speaking figure includes 100,000 babies. Yes, really. thepoint.com.au/factchecks/2...

Tobacco use in India has halved this century. At the turn of the millennium, one-in-five adults in India smoked tobacco, and almost half of all adults were using any form of tobacco, including products that are chewed or sniffed. But over the past two decades, rates of both have roughly halved.

I wrote a piece for @news.abc.net.au about the false dichotomy of the multicultural vs monocultural debate & how it misses the deeper concerns that we are an increasingly atomised, disconnected country www.abc.net.au/religion/cur... #auspol

When one correspondent began to apologise for asking her to recall the horrors she had experienced during the Second World War, she replied, “No. This story is one that must be told everywhere.” ~ Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06... #WW11

"The (State Government) did not meet the 2022 deadline for tram stop compliance legislated by the DSAPT. Based on current plans, the department will also miss the 2032 compliance deadline for low-floor trams." - Auditor General www.audit.vic.gov.au/report/acces...

British politics remains undefeated for making senior people stand on stage with a furry and a bloke wearing a bin on his bonce

#ExtinctionCrisis www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06...

Worldwide, people in all age groups are ditching news sites and publishers’ apps in favor of social media and video networks. ...and other findings from @risj_oxford's Digital News Report 2026 www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/news...

Victorian allied health workers to walk off the job as pay negotiations with the government break down

“The fact that this operation runs through billionaires, platforms, and transnational political networks rather than embassies does not make it less foreign, less coordinated, or less corrosive. It just makes it harder to see.” redbridgeintel.substack.com/p/call-it-wh...

Australia is facing a shortage of critical lubricants. How do we stop everything grinding to a halt?

SpaceX IPO confirms my view that US is one big grift. Financial sector (Wall Street, hypersclerlers, crypto, Big 4 accounting, credit ratings), politlical system, military, society fraudulent from top to bottom. Must break one day, but who can say when.

Hundreds of whale fossils, including those from extinct species new to science, range in age from recent to five million years old and are also home to undescribed deep-sea creatures.

Korea reduces the immigration barriers for foreign researcher www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/2... Happy to see this happening.

A new national report prepared for the office of the Australian anti-slavery commissioner finds modern slavery victims are being let down by the justice system.

"Communities who voted for independents in 2022 took an enormous risk & put a huge amount of faith in their candidates to do politics differently. If it all turns out to be about the formation of just another political party, it will be very close to a betrayal." tdunlop.substack.com/p/from-voice...

“You think you are prepared, but nothing prepares you for Gaza.” Renee Van de Weerdt, WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, said that despite a ceasefire in Gaza, “the violence continues.”

Really thrilled for the media that One Nation are doing so well.

It's almost like she's racist

"Jeff Bezos says raising taxes on the wealthy wouldn’t help the average American" Fact check: yes it will. www.nbcnews.com/business/cor...

This is completely incorrect. What? Of course they can hold a censure vote.

Saw this on Fb and laughed. "Evidence that Homer himself approved of diverse casting in The Odyssey"

Pretty amazing really, if unsurprising.

History rhymes: "According to Speer, entrepreneurs were requested to contribute in appreciation for their profits from the economic boom. Bormann then distributed some of the donations to various party leaders on behalf of Hitler." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_H...

Even when you fight back against the lies, that's just evidence of their truth. I mean, ffs

"The politics of grievance is owned & operated by Pauline Hanson. She channels anger into dead-end bigotry & conspiracism & sells it back as the voice of the people. She shouldn’t be allowed to pretend her idea of the country is somehow 'authentic'." thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. I've claimed Council rates & body corporate fees where applicable. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

Vol18: artigo de Kevin Baker sobre o uso da IA no ataque ao Irã; de @timdunlop.bsky.social sobre o manifesto da Palantir; de @seva.bsky.social sobre a produção de artigos com uso de IA; e de Manoella Deorristt sobre cinema e sociedade. Resenha de Eduardo Spieler sobre Yoko Tawada.👇 ufrgs.br/carbono

In related vaporware news: "Approximately 590,000 people put a deposit of $100 down for the smartphone, which would ultimately sell at $499. Despite receiving an advance in the region of $59 million, Trump Mobile has yet to ship a single unit to consumers." appleinsider.com/articles/26/...

With Downer and Abbott vying for the Liberal Party Presidency and Tim Wilson suggesting the Libs could form govt with One Nation... Um, not sure how to finish that sentence Though I did read a story once about mountain climbers roped together and the guy in front falls into a crevasse and, well...

Couldn't agree more.

Maybe also check the results in Indi since, checks note, 2013.

Thank heavens he didn't mention the river or the sea

Gawenda is every blog guy who ever got into an argument in a comments thread and tried to pretend he didn’t say what everyone can see he said. Big 2003 vibes.

The recipe says to keep the water at a low simmer, but the hotplate is on full blast. Perhaps if I vacuum the loungeroom the water temperature will come down. #RBAcookingtips

This is a really good response.

Incentivising the status quo... thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

"I saw Goody Proctor with the devil."

The Parliamentary Library is amongst our most underappreciated democratic institutions and their staff are unsung heroes. Good luck with the new job.

Two studies in metaphorical decapitation. "It wasn’t just Charles. The whole spectacle was a horrible charade of two former cornerstones of what we grandly call Western civilisation publicly displaying their mutual bankruptcy." Shame on us all for indulging him. open.substack.com/pub/tdunlop/...

We are being played for fools, as usual....

Nick's NACC paddywhack

Absolute capture by industry.

"Under the pressure of decades of right‑wing culture wars—which have run parallel to cross‑party support for neoliberalism—the traditional vocabulary of welfare, redistribution, egalitarianism, and class has not just fallen out of fashion; it has been demonised." thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

Selective incrementalism

Good report on an obscene act by absolutely cowed administrators

On Palantir’s manifesto, their AI fantasies, and how Silicon Valley billionaires think they are the new Guardians of the Universe. tdunlop.substack.com/p/the-softwa...

Really, ABC? This clown driving an unnecessary 130km to a charging station he didn't bother downloading the app for first is like a petrol owner vehicle whinging because they didn't learn how to pump petrol or how to open the fuel cap. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...