David Branch

David Branch

@dbranch9.bsky.social

Retired, living in Wadawarrung country 🇦🇺. Exiled long-suffering Norwich City supporter. 1/8th Canadian 🇨🇦. Climate action now. I hate corruption in politics so I hate the LNP, Tories and the GOP. I get my daily Ukraine update from balloon-juice.com.

2.9K followers4.3K following2.9K posts

David Branch reposted

Dana Houle
@danahoule.bsky.social

Because they’re worried he’s going to stroke out, & Vance doesn’t owe them anything.

Roger Sollenberger@sollenbergerrc.bsky.social

…why are they discussing this when he’s not even halfway through his term?

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

The world is so full of bad news at the moment that reading something like this gives me a brief moment of warmth. 'One senior House Republican involved in the conversations added: “I think the scary part is we don’t know where the bottom is.” ' balloon-juice.com/2026/10/12/l...

balloon-juice.comBalloon Juice - Late Night Open Thread: If He Could Turn Back Tide...soon they’ll wheel Trump out to the beach waterline and he’ll command the tides to stop rising and falling. [image or embed] — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) October 10, 2026 at 6:31 PM Per Poli...
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

"I'm asking for proof of spine" 😂😂

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social

Talarico: I've heard credible reports that Ken Paxton has a serious medical condition that causes clinical levels of cowardice. People are concerned. He has asked for proof of life from me. I'm asking for proof of spine from him.

David Branch reposted

Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News
@froomkin.bsky.social

Trump has picked a side in the Russia Ukraine war. News organizations should make that clear. And every single Republican running for office should be forced to answer whether they, too, support Russia, and how much of Ukraine Russia should be allowed to rule.

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

A very enjoyable read. Are there any sane republicans left? I doubt it.

David Dayen@ddayen.bsky.social

When politicians who have never had to appeal to non-conservatives in their lives suddenly face a tough general election campaign, it turns out they're very bad at it! Here's @ryanlcooper.com on the candidates who can't candidate: prospect.org/2026/10/02/m...

prospect.orgPanicked Red-State Republicans Learning Politics on the Fly - The American ProspectGOP candidates in places like Kansas and Texas are having to really campaign for the first time.

David Branch reposted

Catherynne M. Valente
@catvalente.bsky.social

I don’t care where you started out on the political spectrum If your kid comes out as trans & you don’t become a rainbow-clad, parade-cheering ally & rock-solid supportive girl/boy/enby dad/mom? You were never a parent at all You were a doll collector furious they didn’t stay in their packaging.

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

An update on the Irkutsk plague death that is well worth reading, plus grim news on the Ebola outbreak (and any Americans exposed to it) and RFK Jr's problems with facts. balloon-juice.com/2026/10/07/l...

balloon-juice.comBalloon Juice - Longer Notes On Our Current Healthcare SituationReally informative article on what we know / don't know about the reported Russian plague (?) case, from an actual biologist: alexwasburne.substack.com/p/the-irkuts… [image or embed] — Anne Laurie (@a...
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

Has YouTube recently been "improved" by AI. I've never had a problem before but now I'm getting videos lagging or not loading at all. If I switch to a different video within YouTube it works fine. It's definitely not my internet connection.

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

If you love football, this is a fantastic article by, you can tell, a real football lover that tells the story of the 'Thatcherite' sell-off of football just when there was money enough for everyone. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

theguardian.comManchester City’s guilty verdict brings football’s great sell-off crashing to earthOn the day Andy Burnham spoke of the wrong turn Britain took under Thatcher, football was facing a day of reckoning over its own story of corporate acquisition

David Branch reposted

Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH
@gavinyamey.bsky.social

When it comes to RFK Jr and "unsettled science," the only thing that's unsettled is the *exact* body count resulting from his anti-science, anti-vaccine, conspiracy theory-based policies

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social

RFK Jr. has a contract for a book entitled “Unsettled Science”. He likely means it in the sense of “not yet resolved or decided” (as he falsely claims about vaccines). I think the title works in the sense of “feeling nervous, upset, or worried; not comfortable” (with him in charge).

wsj.comExclusive | RFK Jr. Got Free Flights to Fiji and Greece From a Top DonorThe health secretary disclosed over $250,000 in gifts from security specialist Gavin de Becker.
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

If you're interested in health and what to keep up to date with what the US is doing to kill its citizens, this weekly update is well worth your time. balloon-juice.com/2026/09/30/p...

balloon-juice.comBalloon Juice - Plagues & Pandemics Update – September 30, 2026Fake. USDA. Seals. Used by an NC meat processing plant on 83.5 TONS of meat. Produced entirely outside the federal inspection system, according to news reports. We are pretty close to The Jungle (seco...
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

Key part "What they have not succeeded in doing is, (a) providing that product at a cost that can be reasonably amortized by customer-generated revenues, or (b) providing a product that can operate unsupervised by a human domain expert. Both of these failures are significant."

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

If you want to see how bad the healthcare system is in the US, and why it's going to continue to worsen in the next two years, these madmen and women are in charge. balloon-juice.com/2026/09/23/p...

balloon-juice.comBalloon Juice - Plagues & Pandemics Update – September 23, 2026Did you know this Thursday 9/24 is a national day of visibility to bring attention to the attacks on health care and public health? Find an event near you or host your own: sosforhealth.org [image or ...
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

The first question is why is a declining population bad news? GDP might go down but GDP per capita probably wouldn’t . Obviously the answer is increasing immigration, but the billionaires have decided that racism is the wedge they’re going to use so 🤷‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.comAustralia’s economic challenges are mounting as deaths start to outnumber births. But ‘baby bonus’ policies would be pointless | Nicki HutleySlower overall economic growth doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It is the quality of that growth that matters
David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

Exactly this 👇

headfallsoff@headfallsoff.com

people are always saying anti-AI arguments don’t understand the full nuances of the technology. which is correct. but only because it stole everyone’s work, exists solely to get you fired, has made the entire internet unusable and has been forced on everyone without consent

David Branch reposted

Ken Jennings
@kenjennings.bsky.social

I’m on a quiz show that only tapes 46 days a year and even I think this schedule is a little light.

Jamie Dupree@jamiedupree.bsky.social

House GOP leaders cancel votes on Thursday - sending lawmakers home later today until after the elections. That means the House can avoid a vote on the Hegseth impeachment plan from Rep. Thomas Massie R-KY.

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

There has been so much crime committed this term that the Democrats should be assigning a lead lawyer to each identified case now so they can hit the ground running when we eventually see the back of this crime cartel. The US has always had an over-abundance of lawyers, they should use them.

David Branch
@dbranch9.bsky.social

If you’ve watched the NFL game in Melbourne you’ll have seen from the drone shots what is great about the city. Everything is walkable from downtown - the MCG, the tennis centre with Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park (soccer and rugby), Albert Park for F1. #NFL