Happy 80th birthday, Dolly Parton 🥰 ‘Two Doors Down’

I wrote this some time ago - with all of us knowing this day would come, and Rob, of course, fighting like the bloody-minded bastard he was to the very end. He irrevocably changed my life - and how our country saw itself. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...

So I could go to jail for discussing Israel in my lectures on settler colonialism? Is that really where we're at?

A bit gutted by this news. To begin: he was almost indisputably the greatest drummer in Australian rock. His great talents as a singer and songwriter were always (understandably but unfairly) eclipsed by the immense presence of his frontman. He was also just fucking cool.

We start our book reviews with...not a book review! @sighmonger.bsky.social reviews the ABC's "Eat the Invaders", hosted by Tony Armstrong.

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

yeah man i think we are fully in "anything could happen" territory here now. hard to tear the wool away from your eyes but better to do it now, time to kick that "realm of the possible" distressingly wide open

Eric Adams quote

He was probably the worst thing to happen to white Australians since WWII. (Also extremely hostile to non-white Australians!) I've been waiting for a book like this. We need it badly.

Interesting thread

I don't think it's a stretch to say these ICE agents were enacting a dynamic that dates back to the Atlantic slave trade and still underpins racial capitalism in the US and across much of the world today: white people feel entitled to the labour of non-white people. They see it as their birthright.

The envy that Sydney public transport induces in me can only be described as Biblical

The City and The City - China Mieville. Never quite as clever as it thinks it is - Mieville is never at his best when telling a story set in our "real" world, even if it's a heightened version. Nonetheless, the back half is completely gripping, and you can't help but be dazzled by the creativity.

This submission by David Brophy is hilarious and demonstrates how poorly drafted the hate speech bill is

I mean this would be kind of cool if they hadn't given the prize to Machado in the first place - thus giving a huge legitimacy boost to the US' aggression towards Venezuela and smoothing the path for their kidnapping of Maduro.

Why didn't I see any posts on here laughing about Scott Adams dying? Do I need to follow more overly online mean-spirited leftists? Or are they all still on the paedo app?

One of the things about people showing up to protest for the first time, that many, many armchair theorists don't grasp, is the effect of seeing what happens with your own eyes, then seeing how media covers it, and what is said ABOUT YOU by media and political personalities/office holders.

this sucks man. what can we do for the bats www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Extraordinary insight from former Adelaide Writers’ Week director Jo Dyer — Malinauskas killed Adelaide Festival, he is solely to blame for this disaster, for the international embarrassment and for the major economic losses. All this to serve Apartheid Israel.

The Climate Risk Assessment report predicts 1.5 million Australians will be affected by sea level rise within 25 years. Chief Economist Greg Jericho unpacks how the report predicts climate change will affect the economy: https://australiainstitute.org.au/news/category/podcasts/dollars-sense/

“The vision of the world here is the vision of a rapist”. Such good analysis. Subtext is for cowards!

First new blog post in ages - on 'killability'

A letter from Henry Reynold's lawyer. Of course an academic who wrote first (?) books about Australia's genocide/s of First Nations peoples, at a time when speaking up was even dangerous for white people's careers, is standing in solidarity with Randa. (Apologies for no ALT)

Pretty wild that left-wingers started to abandon "identity politics" just as gender and race became the most salient categories of political analysis. You just can't explain the current fascist turn in the US and elsewhere purely in terms of labour relations and class struggle.

BIG FIGHT AT POLAND’S WROCLAW ZOO!!!

I can't even do my silly little bird research without being reminded of Israeli sadism

need more cosmopolitan chauvinism imo. to be able to go to a world city and do this without crossing a border is something you should be proud of, it means you're a great country. To want to tear it down means you are inbred provincial hog with no greater drives than envy and fear.

When putting out containers of water for wildlife on hot days, please place a rock and a stick or two in there, so small animals, including insects and reptiles, can get in and out easily. Placing containers in a shady and protected spot is best.

True of Republicans, true of Zionists, true of Nazis in all their guises

This is such a harrowing event, but credit where it's due - Frey is doing so good.

RC advocates broadly want the conclusions to be thus: - Muslims are exclusively responsible for antisemitism - Any and all criticism of Israel must be prohibited - Right to free speech and assembly must be curtailed - Israel's actions in Gaza, including genocide, are justifiable

Bringing this up again for no reason

Maybe a lib take but I do think this is true in a more meaningful way than anything a structural, material analysis might produce. A lot of people out there - and not just in the US - just want to blow everything up and replace it with a Hobbesian nightmare.

albo is a pathetic worm trapped between spreadsheets of opinion polling, media attacks and lobbying groups. terrified by everything in every direction. no once has he shown an ounce of character. completely lacking in identity or conviction. a vapour, a faint blur of antimatter

Started watching The Wire recently and at the end of each episode I say - aloud, to nobody - "What a program!"

“If a woman dares to show herself in public in any way, then she can and will be sexually harassed with the aid of genAI-driven tools that can easily turn her face into highly realistic pornography” is an absolute red-alarm human rights disaster

Marco Rubio’s history and connection to the drug world is pretty insane prospect.org/2025/12/23/n...

Forceful commentary from my Sydney colleague, international law expert Ben Saul: 'Countries like Australia need to wake up to who they are dealing with in the US ... Appeasing him emboldens him to do worse...'

The most moderate acceptable position now - and it's honestly still milquetoast - is heavy sanctions on and divestment from the USA

this news is so absolutely heartbreaking. Shared with respect to the family💔(and not to the devastatingly racist victim blaming framing of this article). Content warning❤️‍🩹

it’s stupid to not use ai just because it can induce psychosis and generate child porn. it’s like saying you’re hungry when there’s a hot dog on the ground outside that induces psychosis and generates child porn

Many things have gotten a lot worse in the last ten years. But not everything.

Ten Very Good Books I Read For The First Time This Year (1/2) The Life and Times of Michael K - JM Coetzee Call for the Dead - John Le Carre Neuromancer - William Gibson City of Glass - Paul Auster After Delores - Sarah Schulman

Twelve Very Good Movies I Watched For The First Time This Year (1/2) A Real Pain (2024) Castle in the Sky (1986) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) The Naked Gun (1988) 9 to 5 (1980) Superman (2025)

I angered a moorhen :(

another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls