It’s been kinda wild this year to discover that I believe in the US more than a sizeable chunk of its own citizens do. More to the point, I think that, if it’s anything, ‘America’s an idea’, but it’s clear many US folks see it primarily as a particular ethnic or cultural heritage.

Time to move the United Nations HQ to Singapore I reckon.

I’m preaching this Sunday at Inner West Church on the armour of God from Ephesians 6. Come along! 9:30 am at 12 Brighton Street, Flemington.

Jon Stewart calls the algorithmically served social media ‘content’ that poisons civil discourse and fuels polarisation ‘ultra-processed speech’. It’s an apt metaphor.

Thinking of this scene today.

Here’s a reason to care about the dramatic cuts to foreign aid and the decay of the post-WW2 liberal international order. Scamming/hacking is now an international industry that thrives in lawless corners of the world entwined with autocratic regimes.

1/ ‘“You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”’ 1 Samuel 8:5. The voters of the US demanded a president like that of other nations—

Been reflecting once again on the dysfunction of Australia’s public health system. (Apologies in advance for my rant.)

‘Overall, what is happening here is the genetics align with how people with #ME have described their illness.’ Welcome if frustratingly unsurprising news.

1/ Who better than a butcher to bring Leviticus—perhaps the driest, most unreadable, most misunderstood book of the Bible—to life? www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Another interesting research avenue for #MEcfs and #LongCOVID.

1/ As a disability pensioner, it’s a little worrisome watching welfare get savaged in both the US and UK by governments on different sides of the politics. Governments here have not been friends to welfare recipients, but not so heartless as this.

It’s tax time! So what’s Australia’s top tax rate? 45%, you say? Close, but not quite!

1/ A really worrying ruling by the US Supreme Court that undermines the rule of law, severely limiting the US judiciary's ability to check unconstitutional and unlawful actions by the executive, and curbing legal protection against violations of peole's rights.

An excellent primer on #MEcfs and how things stand in Australia atm. The #MEcfs community here are nervously awaiting the new clinical guidelines hoping that they will follow the evidence and not be derailed by vested interests seeking to maintain the harmful outdated measures.

Pray that this will not escalate and will strengthen, not weaken, the position of those negotiating for an end to Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The people and institutions of the US needs our prayers. As military hardware is being massed for his birthday parade, Trump is deploying the National Guard against those protesting ICE’s abuses and overreach—over the objections the governor and despite police saying there is no need.

A game-changing operation for warfare that will have all air forces nervous. The effect on this war will be come clearer in the coming months, but what’s clear now—if it wasn’t already—is that not only does Ukraine have cards to play, it plays very well. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06...

Peter McCluskey cares for his wife, Jenny, and their daughter, who both have #MEcfs, which Peter likens to living in ‘lockdown’. Tbh, I’m always amazed at how much ‪@jennmeagher.bsky.social‬ gets done from lockdown in their ‘bunker’.

Payments to our politicians need to handled by Centrelink because, while they don’t have to deal with it, it remains absolutely terrible.

Labor will want Antony Green to retired every election now.

This is unexpected.

The Trump effect has now got two conservative opposition leaders kicked out of their parliaments!

Antony Green has called it: Peter Dutton will at long last go! Feeling hopeful.

It's still early and assuming there isn't too much of a red mirage, let's hope the result enables Labor to find its courage.

2025 felt like the year to give this another chance, but I didn’t like it much better the 2nd time around. Fitzgerald’s prose sparkles even if his story does not. A dazzling but insubstantial book—much like Gatsby’s parties, and perhaps that’s the point. 2.5 stars. www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

It’s Palm Sunday this Sunday! Come to Inner West Church, 9:30 am at 12 Bright St, Flemington, to celebrate Jesus arriving at Jerusalem. 📷 Félix Louis Leullier, Entrée triomphale du Christ à Jérusalem (1858)

So a year’s worth of stock market gains has been wiped out by Trump’s Liberation Day. This torching of capitalisation shows not only his cluelessness but his recklessness (the same recklessness with which Musk is demolishing US institutions).

Trump’s so out of touch with reality that has slapped a 10% tariff on uninhabited islands. Take that you duplicitous penguins!

Wouldn’t it be great if the US had an agency that could help with the rescue efforts, clean up, and rebuilding.

Seems like an appropriate time to repost this.

The march to autocracy in the US is speeding up. Here’s another arbitrary visa cancellation. This time a Russian scientist critical of Putin will be deported back to Russia. Tbh, this is all happening faster and with much less pushback than I expected.

I wonder how long it will be until other nations start issuing travel warnings to their citizens against visiting the US.

Expect more stuff ups like this.

Twitter bots going meta-meta.

The entire world seems to understand this except Trump, Vance, Musk, many Fox hosts, and their cult.

A US-born citizen was walking near Chicago in January. ICE snatched him off the street, handcuffed him, threw into a van. His wallet, which contained his ID, was confiscated. He was detained for 10 hours before being released without a record of what occurred. immigrantjustice.org/sites/defaul...

Yesterday and today, I binged this short podcast series on Autocracy in America from @anneapplebaum.bsky.social and Peter Pomerantsev. It’s from last year, but worth listening if you want to understand what’s happening in the US now.

And so begins the stupidest recession in history.

It’s that time of the year again where I have to use MS Office to check my work exports correctly and am freshly shocked at how terrible its UI is and astounded that it’s the market leader.

Macron stepping up to be the new leader of the free world.

I can't think of a faster way to undermine the country than simultaneously firing government workers, cutting scientific research, rolling back protections on public health & environment, & cutting essential services. It's like the US was defeated in war and is being occupied by a hostile enemy.

The existing private companies often rely on the USPS for the last leg of rural deliveries so this would just be the end of mail for them entirely. But remember, it’s the Democrats who have contempt for rural Americans

IMHO, whether or not Trump is a Russian asset is beside the point. His actions are a gift to Putin (and other autocrats) as he is almost systematically dismantling everything that makes US strong.

JFC. Like, literally, USAID was the counter to the Belt and Road Initiative, and removing it has opened up all sorts of opportunities for China to harm the US.

Trump’s meltdown and Vance’s calculated bullying of President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office make it clear that democracies need to walk away from the US until saner, more responsible people hold office there.

A trifecta.