MediaActive ▪️EQUALITY ▪️JUSTICE ▪️PEACE

rss.comPAULINE HANSON'S ONE NATION RISES AGAIN - THE TRUMP EFFECT. | Podcast Episode on RSS.comThe United States is celebrating, if that’s the right word, its 250th anniversary of independence. President Donald Trump has announced a decidedly shaky agreement to ostensibly end his war of choice ...

16 June

#PODCAST “Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Rises Again: The Trump Effect”. @mediaactive.bsky.social with veteran political journalist, long time Hanson chronicler, @margokingston.bsky.social . #auspol #Trump #AUKUS #democracy rss.com/podcasts/tra...

Really looking forward to the launch tomorrow night of “The Culture Wars” by @timdunlop.bsky.social, moderated by @paulbarclay.bsky.social @readingsbooks.bsky.social here in Melbourne. It’s a terrific read about a complex and crucial aspect of Australian political #history. #auspol

theguardian.comTrump administration asks Washington to set aside hundreds of ballots from suspected noncitizen votersThis is the latest sign of the administration’s attempts to challenge states with competitive midterm races that could determine control of Congress

This is clearly a tactical pattern to “ flood the zone with doubt (shit)” to subvert & short circuit the looming #USA midterms voting processes & results. It’s all claim & assertion without evidence so far. As usual. #Trump #BigLie #fascism www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Ryan points out that within days of the horrendous attack, the politicians were back to brawling in a way that you can’t really let your children observe. Is wanting decency, respect, integrity, ethics too much to ask? We mourn what happened to Helen Haines. We hope a sliver of light can penetrate.

Dr Monique Ryan@mon4kooyong.bsky.social

There's much love for Helen Haines in the House today. 🧡

#AI #dystopia

Wendy Harmer@wendyharmer.bsky.social

Like so many of us, freaked out that bad actors using AI might steal our Super savings. Time to hit the mattresses (stuffed with cash)? Ironic that most future jobs in IT will be in shoring up defences to protect us from AI. Like the legendary Ouroboros... the snake that eats itself.

theguardian.comTrump continues midterm campaign blitz in Mississippi amid outcry over racist, Islamophobic attacks – as it happenedThis live blog is now closed.

“South Carolina’s former governors David Beasley and Jim Hodges, a Republican and Democrat respectively, have come together for a rare joint endorsement for Democrat Annie Andrews’s #USA Senate bid.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

#MAGA

THREAD #Gaza #genocide #Netanyahu

One_Alien@one1alien.bsky.social

In Gaza, you dig a trench for a water pipe and uncover a body. You drive a tent peg into the ground and strike human bones. You clear the rubble of a home and recover another body. Gaza itself has become a graveyard

We have not forgotten. The slaughter of civilians including many thousands of babies & children. Countless others orphaned. Maimed. Scorched earth destruction. These are war crimes. But the brutal, corrupt #Netanyahu regime in #Israel claims THEY are always the intrinsic victims. #fascism #genocide

Paul Eric@pauleric70.bsky.social

A silent march was held on the streets of Paris to mark 1,000 days since Isr@el's war on Gaza began. 🇵🇸💔😢💔😢🤬🇮🇱🤬🤬🤬🤬🇮🇱♾️

themonthly.com.auTech, truth and the decline in democracyIn his Thea Astley Address at the Byron Writers Festival, the celebrated journalist used the occasion to reflect on the perfect storm that is destroying our politics

#democracy #auspol

Peggy Sanders@peggysanders.bsky.social

Kerry O’Brien:What’s left of the democracy we thought we had? In the eyes of many Australians, government is a hollowed-out husk of what it once was, with limited will and capacity to plan for, let alone exercise, a measure of sovereign control over technology.. www.themonthly.com.au/october-2026...

#Trump

This is real. No #AI involved. #Trump, the president of the #USA had just been rhapsodising about certain, athletic men’s “asses”. (Don’t think about it too much.) Then he switched to enthusiastically extolling Nicki Minaj’s “ass”. At a campaign rally in Michigan. All “cool & normal”. Yeah? #fascism

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“I Didn’t Mind …” #Trump #fascism www.instagram.com/reel/De97Mk8...

washingtonpost.comOpinion | Brace yourself, GOP. Trump’s Iran war and tariffs are going to sting.Foreign policy rarely sways voters, but the economic pain of Iran and trade wars has hit home.

“YouGov also found that Volodymyr Zelensky is the most popular foreign leader in the #USA; his 53% approval rating is far higher than Trump’s. So insulting Zelensky, as #Trump does with distressing regularity, isn’t a smart strategy for reversing the president’s crumbling popularity.” #Ukraine #GOP

MediaActive ▪️EQUALITY ▪️JUSTICE ▪️PEACE@mediaactive.bsky.social

“Trump claims foreigners pay the cost of #tariffs, but a new study released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs are passed along in higher consumer prices.” How has #Trump been able to peddle this bald faced lie? #journalism #fascism shorturl.at/FKln6

washingtonpost.comOpinion | Brace yourself, GOP. Trump’s Iran war and tariffs are going to sting.Foreign policy rarely sways voters, but the economic pain of Iran and trade wars has hit home.

themarginalian.orgWhy Look at Animals: John Berger on What Our Relationship with Our Fellow Beings Reveals About Us“[Animals] are the objects of our ever-extending knowledge.”

About “Why Look at Animals” by John Berger, 1980. www.themarginalian.org/2014/04/01/w...

MediaActive ▪️EQUALITY ▪️JUSTICE ▪️PEACE@mediaactive.bsky.social

Prolific writer and author, John Berger, of “Ways of Seeing”, 1971, fame, wrote a fascinating essay, “Why Look at Animals”, in 1980. #wildlife #nature www.academia.edu/35943173/Ber...

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Prolific writer and author, John Berger, of “Ways of Seeing”, 1971, fame, wrote a fascinating essay, “Why Look at Animals”, in 1980. #wildlife #nature www.academia.edu/35943173/Ber...

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Beautiful images. #photography #wildlife #nature www.instagram.com/p/DeCj3tiCDS...

instagram.comInstagramCreate an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.

Excellent idea and practice: floating islands on the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia. #wildlife www.instagram.com/reel/Ded9YjC...

nine.com.auBombshell UN report accuses Israel of genocide hours before electionIsraelis will go to the polls today in the first national elections since the October 7 attacks.

“Hours before Israel’s polls open for its first national elections since the October 7 attacks in 2023, the United Nations has released a bombshell report that accuses the nation of ongoing war crimes incl ‘extermination’ in #Gaza.” We already knew? #Israel #genocide www.nine.com.au/world-news/m...

The #Trump crowd at his Mississippi rally was YUGE! A packed venue. And they were riveted.

theguardian.comWhat you need to know about the most consequential election in Israel’s historyBenjamin Netanyahu is seeking a new mandate in Israel’s first election since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks

10h

“In the occupied West Bank, more than 500,000 Israeli settlers can vote. They live among 3.1 million Palestinians who are subject to military rule and do not have the right to vote.” #Israel #democracy #Netanyahu shorturl.at/vsZng

theguardian.comBrazil: defeated Flávio Bolsonaro ordered to surrender passportsFar-right senator banned from leaving country as supreme court judge’s ruling makes reference to money-laundering case

10h

“The far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro was banned from leaving #Brazil and ordered to surrender his passports just hours after his dramatic loss in the presidential election to the leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.” #fascism #democracy www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

newrepublic.comTrump Rages Viciously at Young Female Journo—and Even Fox Is CringingAs Trump explodes at tough questions over the vile Ohio ad, a historian of the right explains how Trump-MAGA are deploying open misogyny in the home stretch of the midterms.

14h

Any reporter, but especially women, need to don their mental flack jacket asking questions of #Trump. He is vile. His #misogyny patterns are crystal clear & long term. I do wonder why the #journalism colleagues of those so egregiously abused by the president do not express solidarity & condemnation?

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social

Trump's vicious abuse of a female reporter who pointed out the sexual abuse that Amy Acton faced shows MAGA is betting on misogyny as their midterm Hail Mary. On the pod, @pastpunditry.bsky.social is just brilliant on misogyny as longtime bedrock of MAGA politics: newrepublic.com/article/2171...

14h

Remember how crucial the establishment of an NACC was during that wave of community independents’ gaining traction in the federal parliament? Helen Haines was front and centre as an intellectual and political force in that campaign. Rigorous. Unflagging. It’s a shame about the actuality? #auspol

Senator David Shoebridge@davidshoebridge.bsky.social

Legal and Con Estimates today, I’ll be asking: 🔎 Why the NACC has still never held a public hearing ⚖️ The Brereton reports that were never released 🎙️ How private court recordings were offshored ❌ How new hate laws are being used against Palestinians

youtu.beObama 'crushes' Trump in polling as both make midterm pitchYouTube video by CNN

OPINION “President @barackobama.bsky.social absolutely crushes president #Trump when it comes to who is more liked by the American public.” We shall learn more, much more, on and after 3 November. #democracy #fascism #GOP youtu.be/tJ8NYy5Ivvk?...

#Trump is stepping up his utterly predictable attempts to subvert and short circuit the results of the #USA midterm elections. Same old #BigLie playbook. With an extra dash of desperation. The spurious, Alaska lawsuit is part of the plan too. Just watch. #democracy #fascism #GOP

nytimes.comThe Man Who Taught Us How to Pay AttentionThe works of the British art critic John Berger offer the antidote to our age of infinite scrolling.

OPINION “Berger, a British art critic, novelist and political polemicist who died in 2017, devoted much of his writing life to the theory and practice of looking — at paintings, at animals, at the natural world.” John Berger’s, “Ways of Seeing”, 1972, was seminal. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/18/m...

smartenergy.org.auDirty Data: The $40 Billion AI Power Bill From Fossil Fuel - Smart Energy CouncilNew economic analysis released today by the Smart Energy Council warns that the rapid expansion of data centres could add hundreds of dollars a year to

“New economic analysis released today by the Smart Energy Council warns that the rapid expansion of #datacentres could add hundreds of dollars a year to household power bills & drive up electricity costs by $40 billion over six years”. Well, duh. #renewables #AI smartenergy.org.au/dirty-data-t...

flip.itThe Collapse of CubaHunger. Sickness. Blackouts. Abandoned streets. The withering of the state is shocking to behold.

#Cuba #USA #Trump flip.it/F9Yab_

“The Government’s just announced a further Snowy 2.0 blowout. From $2B at project announcement in 2017, to $5.5B in 2019, to $12B in 2023, and now $25B” How surprising? #auspol

Michael West@michaelwestbiz.bsky.social

Tunnel Vision. Snowy case to blow secrecy lid off $100b in government contracts Rex Patrick reports. Read it here: https://michaelwest.com.au/snowy-blow-out-court-case-to-blow-lid-off-100b-in-secret-government-contracts/

cnbc.comTrump DOJ unlawfully fired Epstein prosecutor Maurene Comey, judge rulesThe judge ordered that Comey, the daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey, be retroactively reinstated to her job as an assistant United States attorney.

It increasingly seems the #USA federal courts are the only #democracy bulwarks left against the #Trump regime? He & his myrmidons constantly violate statute law & shrug off court orders. #ruleoflaw #fascism

Katie Phang@katiephang.bsky.social

NEW: A federal judge has now ruled that former SDNY prosecutor, Maurene Comey, was UNLAWFULLY fired by the Trump DOJ. He orders her retroactive reinstatement and back pay. Comey alleged in her lawsuit that she was fired for politically motivated reasons. www.cnbc.com/2026/10/26/m...

OPINION Now we watch #Israel. My friend in Jerusalem texted me, “Will this be a place of new hope, no matter how tiny the crack is that lets the light in, or will we continue the fascist, horrific trajectory that represents those currently in power.” #fascism #Brazil

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Cringeworthy from @jd-vance-1.bsky.social. Self confidence is something you show not tell. Hand the man another glass of Kool-Aid. #USA #GOP

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

JD Vance: "We're self-confident men in the Trump/Vance administration. The president has been noticing a lot about the physiques of everybody lately"

theguardian.comNetanyahu reportedly pressured military to attack Iran in run-up to electionIsraeli prime minister increases alarmist rhetoric as his far-right coalition narrowly trails in polls

“Benjamin #Netanyahu has resorted to increasingly alarmist rhetoric & reportedly put pressure on Israel’s military to take action against #Iran as his far-right coalition narrowly trails in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s close-run elections.” On brand? #Israel #fascism #Palestine shorturl.at/Wybrz

harpers.orgCommunion of Saints, by Sam KestenbaumThe dawn of an LLM New Age

OPINION “Hundreds of thousands of men and women have reported uncanny or manic experiences with their bots.” Chilling. These are machines. Despite all the hype, these LLM bots do not have consciousness, experience, emotions, or even actual visual or aural perception. #AI harpers.org/archive/2026...

thenation.comThe Fall of “Scientific American”When the Trump administration objected to the magazine's political coverage, its corporate owners stepped in. Now its future is uncertain.

OPINION #journalism #Trump #science www.thenation.com/article/soci...

theguardian.comJacinda Ardern joins University of Sydney as lecturer and mentorFormer New Zealand prime minister will focus on leadership, social cohesion and public health in new role

“The former New Zealand prime minister @jacindaardern.bsky.social will lecture and mentor at the University of Sydney after moving to Australia earlier this year.” #democracy www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

washingtonpost.comThe sleeper issue that could decide the U.S. Senate race in TexasThe race between Ken Paxton (R) and James Talarico (D) has revolved around the issue of government corruption, a top voter concern just behind the economy.

“Americans’ concern with what they view as government #corruption is defining midterm races across the country, as voters from both parties consistently rank the issue second only to the economy and high prices.” #Trump www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

trumpstruth.orgDonald J. Trump: "Let’s talk about this COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, Bill Maher. He’s got a Low R... - Trump’s TruthLet’s talk about this COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, Bill Maher. He’s got a Low Rated Show on equally Low Rated HBO, which was once, long ago, a Network of Qualit...

The longest #Trump, unhinged Truth Social rant ever. This is the president of the #USA. He has executive access to nuclear weapons. No other so called, “liberal #democracy”, would allow a convicted felon, ajudicated sexual assaulter, mad man, to lead a government. www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/42725

broligarchy.substack.comThe Dark Triad: Trump, Musk, PutinOr why now’s the time to buy a wind-up radio

OPINION #Trump #Putin #fascism

Carole Cadwalladr@carolecadwalla.bsky.social

NEW: Trump is a Russian asset. And the UK government is finally waking from its decade-long slumber Read this. And order a wind-up radio. broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-dark-t...

#USA

OPINION Angus Taylor’s maladroit echoing of One Nation in parliament today during the tributes to Helen Haines was jarring. But let’s be clear: One Nation is gaining traction for a complex of interlocking reasons. With #democracy being stress tested globally, we must stand firm. #pluralism #auspol

tonywindsor.bsky.social@tonywindsor.bsky.social

Angus Taylor lost his job today.Andrew Hastie has taken the leadership position in the Liberal Party.Taylors failure to read the room on the “words matter”/ Helen Haines debate and role play One Nations view on the role of political speech will mean the end of his leadership. Only unknown is When?

OPINION “He is the equivalent of the robber barons of the first gilded age.” #Musk #oligarchy #fascism #democracy

Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social

Elon Musk is spending $445M+ to buy the midterms for one very simple reason. He's terrified that a Democratic Congress might finally hold him accountable.

theguardian.comBrazil runoff live updates: Bolsonaro says it is ‘impossible to concede’ election result after historic Lula winLeftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated the far-right senator and was elected president of Brazil for a fourth non-consecutive term

The next, globally significant election is in #Israel, 27 October, when the corrupt, murderous regime of #Netanyahu faces the people. Then, a week to the #USA midterms. #Gaza #genocide #Palestine

MediaActive ▪️EQUALITY ▪️JUSTICE ▪️PEACE@mediaactive.bsky.social

“Far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro said it was ‘impossible to concede the election result’ & that his legal team would seek to have the election annulled.” Jair Bolsonaro, often described as a “South American #Trump”, continues his 27 year criminal sentence. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

flip.itCatholic bishops regret White House prayer photo with Trump, say it was used politicallyTwo Catholic bishops have expressed regret that they agreed to a White House meeting that produced a publicly distributed photo of them praying with President Donald Trump.

“Two Catholic bishops have expressed regret about agreeing to a White House meeting that produced a publicly distributed photo of them praying with President Donald #Trump.” Pretty naive of them I would have thought? Suckered? #propaganda #fascism #religion flip.it/aHtP2Q

theguardian.comThey wallow in Trump gunk 24/7. They say it’s necessaryJoanna Coles and Michael Wolff spend most of their days thinking about the president’s follies for their podcast, Inside Trump’s Head. Someone’s gotta do it

“For a couple of journalists who spend such an inordinate amount of time sloshing around the putrid inner recesses of Donald Trump’s mind, they come across as remarkably chipper.” @joannacoles.bsky.social & @michaelwolffnyc.bsky.social. All HazMat suit free? #journalism #Trump shorturl.at/1ISrS

tomshardware.comWolves roam into Finnish villages after Google destroys 1,300 acres of forest for AI data centers — forest where wolf packs used to live is now an expanse of mudThis is thankfully a less common but still very serious side effect of an AI data center being built nearby.

THREAD #AI #wolves

Lenticulus@lenticulus.bsky.social

Now wolves are showing up in villages because their forest got destroyed for a giant corporate data center. www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

Well, it’s all relative isn’t it? #Trump is a flailing, fascist, self-infatuated fuckwit. @mark-carney.bsky.social is a sober, low charisma technocrat. #Canada #USA #fascism