"Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Greece and Ireland spent €9.9 billion on energy crisis relief, 85% of the total across all EU countries, and most of this on supports that benefitted the fossil fuel industry instead of targeting at-risk people." what a waste of public money

@theguardian.com Have you just stopped using copyeditors and proofreaders?

Elon Musk’s cuts to U.S.A.I.D. led to some 700,000 deaths, Atul Gawande says. www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...

“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wicked of men will do the most wicked of things for the greatest good of everyone." - John Maynard Keynes

I keep seeing "all authors use AI, the real issue is they're being forced to be sneaky about it" headlines. Full stop No. This is a lie peddled for normalization. It's schoolyard-level pressure tactics "C'mon, all the cool kids are already doing it. We won't tell. It's fine. We're on your side."

Wow. 19 hour days here in western Ireland, so far.

Great time to have just arrived in Paris!!!

FYI ! Thanks, Andrea.......

Benefit facts: Most people who receive benefits are in work. Taxpayers support employers who don’t pay decent wages. The welfare system was not set up to benefit employers who don’t pay decent wages.

When considering that the United States is no longer the leader of the free world, it is important to remember that it is not solely because of the Donald Trump administration. The systemic rot in the governing of that country is significant, as is the ignorance of millions of voters.

Hear! Hear!

In fact, we have multiple working hypotheses.

Why does Trump's patient (or resurrectee?) look like Jeffery Epstein?

"In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist in together.” — Astronaut Victor Glover

For some reason, when discussing current affairs, I keep saying ‘Pig Hetseth’ as the Secretary of US Defense. It’s like a speech impediment or something 😳.

And he is not a good man, in any way.

Wow!!!

If anyone is friends with any Georgian air traffic controllers, buy them a nice bottle of wine. As guardians of pretty much the only narrow gap still available between Europe and Asia that avoids both Iran, the Gulf, Ukraine and Russia, they are under some substantial pressure.

Reminder to journalists: American judicial orders stop at the US border.

More than 200,000 Danish citizens have signed a petition to buy California as a response to Trump’s attempt to take Greenland. They say they will provide Californians with “rule of law, universal health care, fact-based politics, and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries.”

Attributable to a CERN glitch in 2008. Or not?

Less than a month before Christmas, some local children sat down and wrote their letters to Robin Hood because they had a feeling Santa Claus wouldn't be visiting their homes this year and this was their only hope... #ygk #TisTheSeason

The irony is that a century ago, the exact same kind of religious bigotry that Cuomo’s embraced down the stretch — we can’t elect someone from that faith or they’ll impose it on all of us! — was aimed squarely at Catholics like Cuomo.

“Hello, operator? Get me 2026…I just want to tell her it’s finally looking better.”

Republicans thought they had a permanent hold over young men. They didn't. Spanberger wins men 18-29 by 14%, Sherrill by 10%, and Mamdani by a stunning 40%.

Worth the time for good perspectives...

Hear! Hear! Laura, I was looking for the link…

1890s fancy French whorehouse

@mozilla.org Is this from you?

Getting difficult to keep up with technological advances, eh?

@aoc.bsky.social No caption needed.

Very engaging: www.youtube.com/watch?v=djKB...

Yup: Good summary.

I struggle to understand why exactly Congress decided to make itself irrelevant

There are a couple of kids in my nephews's class who weren't born in the US, and the class has decided (w/o teacher input) that if ICE shows up in they're all going to pretend not to speak English. 10yos reinventing "I am Spartacus" because they don't want their friends to get disappeared.

Move over Ethan Allen, here comes Lucy Welch billmckibben.substack.com/p/special-ve...

What a time we are living in. This is the golden age of dumbfuckery.

1) Use systematic doubt and question everything 2) Learn the difference between statements of rational proof and those just of persuasion 3) Be precise in your use of words and expect precision from others 4) Watch for mistakes, even in Holy Scripture – Peter Abelard (1079-1142 AD)

The end of a rainbow at Holy Hill, Co. Sligo, Ireland.