In great company with cult-run Epoch Times there too

Anti-racist rallies all over on October 19, in response to the next round of these 'Marches for Australia'. Get to your one. It's your opportunity not only to stand up, but to start meeting and making plans with other anti-racists. Your presence matters. Share it around.

NSW premier Chris Minns had Australia believe antisemitic hate was running rampant. Police data has shown that claim to be grossly exaggerated. www.deepcutnews.com/p/chris-minn...

So glad to see the future of relationships is wanking alone to prompts from a chatbot that will raise your electricity and water prices send all your private responses to Sam Altman for unsafekeeping

Amazing how each of the major parties does a complete about-face on FOI when they enter and exit power

“We will know they [network of operatives working to engineer a Trump-like takeover of Australian politics] are getting somewhere when One Nation and the Coalition merge.” tdunlop.substack.com/p/i-suppose-...

Imagine kicking the former national rugby captain out of your sports club instead of the gambling lobby. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, who'd want to belong to a club that would accept Responsible Wagering Australia as one of its sponsors?

@albomp.bsky.social says #FOI costs the Govt too much. When I FOI’ed Treasury in 2023 for briefs it had provided Jim Chalmers on stage 3 tax cuts, the Govt spent $53K resisting public disclosure. They lost! The taxpayers lost! FOI is not costing too much - Govt secrecy is. #auspol

Just a reminder with the Exclusive Brethren (now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church) in the news again in Australia (inviting Murdoch journos to services that I doubt resemble their usual ones much), if anyone wants some background I did a deep dive ep back in 2021 www.ltaspod.com/29

Some very interesting updates from @estherrockett.bsky.social on Serge Benhayon (now going by Serge Isaac!) and Universal Medicine (including a couple of Gold Coast eateries now worth avoiding) factsaboutuniversalmedicine.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/l...

“When you take a closer look, a cult leader often exhibits a classic set of traits and behaviors. Although there is variety in how these traits present, certain themes tend to ring true.” – Ashlen Hilliard, founder of People Leave Cults www.huffpost.com/entry/the-9-...

chasing "balance" in news can sound like it's noble but it's not. treating all possible sources as comparably expert, rational, experienced, insightful, relevant, disadvantaged or empowered does not result in objective, accurate reporting. it results in false equivalency.

“… it no longer makes sense to think of the Liberal Party—or even the Coalition—as a standalone entity. They have become part of broader network of operatives that are working to engineer a Trump-like takeover of Australian politics.” tdunlop.substack.com/p/i-suppose-...

bring on the wider turn against US tech and social media

Brilliant piece by @birmo.bsky.social on corporations not paying tax and how the people in charge want you to blame baristas, foreigners and single mums for the fact your hospitals are busted. He's talking about Australia, but it's true for everyone, everywhere. open.substack.com/pub/aliensid...

“Christian Identity” is a very specific phrase that does not refer to one identifying as a Christian. If you have never heard about it, it’s time to learn. I spend one class in my theology course teaching students about it.

“Andrew Hastie appears to be trying to take the leadership of the Liberal party (and thus Australia’s rightwing government option) for the Christian Nationalist and ethnostate faction.”

YES! THIS on GenAI! Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins: "An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Safe?? A 'deal' hatched by Scott Morrison to wedge Labor stupidly adopted by Labor in 24 hours that hands over billions to the US for subs we may never get and forces dependency on an unstable far right regime whose 'Secretary of War' is a Christo-Fascist drunk is not going to make us SAFE. #AUKUS

If you haven’t reduced your meat consumption for the climate that’s certainly something an individual can have some control over

#Auspol Find out about the creepy Alliance for Responsible Citizenship where Andrew Hastie sits on the Board with John Howard & Tony Abbott. International gang including MAGA congresspeople. Christian Nationalist. Pro fossil fuel. Not sure if AH went in Feb but… open.substack.com/pub/lucyham2...

#FOI requests granted in full have plummeted under @albomp.bsky.social. His response? Introduce a Bill into Parliament that substantially expands the information officials can withhold from you. How’s that for transparency? #auspol

Just walked past a “shopping assistant” at duty free in Istanbul airport that was a woman’s head on a screen with wheels (it specifically had to say it wasn’t AI below the screen, I assume because people were abusing her)

This trip I have ascertained that to get the equivalent of my Sydney flat white, in London I must order a latte and in Spain I must order a cappuccino.

jesus christ. transport regulators need to get their acts together.

Have been taking a little break. It’s been very good for my brain, I think. Here’s me in the Valbonë Valley of northern Albania.

"Today I’m here for one purpose. And that is to expose the cover-up." Some days, I meet a source whose courage absolutely knocks my socks off. Today, Mick Dover is risking one million dollars to tell his story to 4 Corners. Watch ABC TV 8.30pm & YouTube. #PBCC #auspol www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

(Co-)won an award, stoked! This generous recognition from a survivor-led organisation means a lot. It’s no easy thing to talk about these kinds of experiences, and victim-survivors of cults feeling respected through this work matters a great deal to me. thefreedomtrainproject.org/meet-the-202...

Oh, I see the NYT has a feature on Nick Fuentes today? A few years ago, Fuentes was basically irrelevant outside of a very narrow audience. Then Musk let him back on Twitter, Rumble verified him, and other media influencers (like Alex Jones) amplified him. From @megansquire.bsky.social:

"Let's talk about Sects with Sarah Steel" I was a Teenage Fundamentalist. An Exvangelical podcast. 6 Sep 2025 [1:12:10] #Cult https://s.cultpodcasts.com/u4eVfbMiYEiaJ_NX-BT6Ng#Cult

Robert Jay Lifton was an amazing scholar. All his books are worth reading. The Protean Self is under appreciated. The Nazi Doctors is brilliant but an extremely difficult read. And his Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism is foundational in cultic studies. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/o...

For years, police have been warning about the potential of violence from "small cell" or lone wolf actors who have sovereign citizen (or pseudolaw) and anti-government beliefs Here's some briefings I got via FOI in 2023: www.crikey.com.au/20... and 2024: www.crikey.com.au/20...

The Productivity Commission talks a big about living standards… talk is all it has, tbh

In recognition of James Dobson's all too delayed death, we republished an account of his legacy -- a three part series about evangelical child abuse, a culture Dobson disseminated and propagandized. buttondown.com/theswordandt...

“It’s not scarcity that has gotten us here. It’s the distribution of the resources, and the deliberate lack of focus on people.”

‘We’re not a cult,’ says every cult. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

“Claims that working people will automatically be better off if productivity increases are wrong. Dr Jim Stanford’s recent paper on productivity shows that if real wages had grown at the same rate of productivity since 2000, average wages would be 18% – or $350 per week – higher than they are now.”

Being careful about the use of language is useful for surviving authoritarianism because authoritarianism seeks to control fact, truth, history, reality itself through misleading, false, inflammatory, and distorted language, as well as suppressed information, and to make it the norm.

Slight imposter syndrome over at the Marrickville Library (spotted by a friend)

Obviously, no mainstream outlet is going to let Palestinians have a voice about our own recognition, and many "progressive" publications are not much better. We should be hearing from Palestinians right now. If you're in a position to commission something, please contact me.

Our story tonight on the drive to stamp out cultish behaviour in Toowoomba Christian churches following the death of an eight year old girl. 630 pm ABC TV #Compass www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

“No matter how great the distance is, you just need to give me a phone call. Then I can instantly see the house that you live in, your family members, and everything about you.” www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

The huge Harbour Bridge march shows people have had a gutful of seeing starving children in Gaza. Politicians need to catch up | Anne Davies

Terrible weather didn’t seem to impact a huge turnout in Sydney today, hope our leaders are paying some attention

“The key thing is this is not about all of humanity creating these threats. It is not about human nature. It is about small groups who bring out the worst in us, competing for profit and power and covering all [the risks] up.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

“For the first nine months of her involvement with Shincheonji, [Gloria], like other new recruits, did not know the name of the group she was being groomed into.” www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

"One of the reasons the epidemic of violence against women is so unacknowledged is because cases like these are talked about individually, and often treated as though they are shocking aberrations rather than part of a pervasive pattern that operates at all levels of society."

reading this story this morning gave me joy. more cities should shun falun gong.

"Once-fringe ideas and the language of conspiracy have become increasingly part of Australian public life, egged on by politicians and influencers in search of an audience, and by irresponsible journalism" From @arielbogle.bsky.social & @cameronwilson.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Please consider reading and supporting this submission by Victorian network, Survivors of Coercive Cults & High-Control Groups. It’s very well researched and makes recommendations for law reform - including broadening coercive control laws #cults