Wapping Bloke

I've just finished Rob Wilkins excellent and moving biography of Terry Pratchett - A Life with Footnotes. On the back of that and as a distraction from the real World, I have been inspired to do a re-listen to the entire Discworld canon in order of publication. I'll add comments here as it goes 1/

In the interests of not living in a bubble I really try to watch the Bulwark but too many of them are more afraid of real change to the status quo ante than they are of fascism

Sad news for cinephiles: Tilly Norwood has been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike.

"Christian nationalism" in the UK is essentially a post-religious identity. Unlike the evangelical right in the US, it has no theological content, does not require belief in God & demands no moral or religious commitment. It reduces Christianity to a cultural "heritage" to be "defended" from Islam

5) Press panic and social media manipulation to raise saliency 6) Secure elite support for your demand (fewer minorities in public life and less legal support for them)

This is exactly what happened with trans people first. 1) Take a settled matter of human rights 2) Portray it as "a debate" 3) Invite the minority group to debate - either they validate the debate or self-exclude <- we are here 4) Require that discussions of minority human rights are "balanced"

Dog Can’t Believe Guy She Hooked Up With 10 Years Ago Now Head Of FBI https://theonion.com/dog-cant-believe-guy-she-hooked-up-with-10-years-ago-now-head-of-fbi/

This image is so bad that I don’t even know where to start with it

You shouldn't say "y'all" unless you're from the area covered by the Tennessee Valley Authority. That's because it's an Appalachian Controlée

I’ve never seen the politics of the right described so accurately and pithily before

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

we're at the "they're arming unaccountable masked men with electric torture gloves" stage of fascism

@libdems.org.uk

Leo Messi is clearly the GOAT but can we acknowledge that he had a terrible final. He was just as much of a dead weight as CR7 earlier. He’s had some great moments this World Cup but not today

He may not personally shithouse, but he's blatantly comfortable with the shithouseing of the rest of the team and there's something mildly pathetic to him whenever he's complaining to the ref (a trait he shares with Harry Kane, tbf)

Where’s your fucking Malvinas banner now?

Messi’s been a passenger this game. You can’t have a player doing nothing in defence against a team this good with the ball. Certainly not with ten men

Yeeeeesssssss!!!!!!!

When Argentina win this on penalties can we at least be spared all the post-facto articles explaining why they were the best team Or for that matter the Messi’s still got it nonsense. He’s done absolutely nothing

Ref doing nothing to avert the idea this is fixed for Argentina

This Argentina run at the World Cup has been a demonstration of what happens when refs are told to be lenient with cards You need to actually apply the rules if you what teams to obey them

Does an Argentinian player have to actually kill an opponent before they get a yellow card?

Has there ever been a national team as easy to hate as this Argentine one? If it wasn’t for Messi they’d have no redeeming features whatsoever

Viva Espana

I don’t care a jot about the Falklands but it is galling took ow that FIFA will say and do nothing about this while clamping down on rainbows and Haiti’s shirt design

It was easy during the game to. I know because I did it

F@ck! I was right

I hope I’m wrong but these changes are madness. We can’t play defence v attack for 15 mins against Messi

This game has really exposed France’s midfield. Rabiot has been ok this tournament but even before he went off they couldn’t lay a glove on Fabian Ruiz and Rodri. Their attacking riches count for nothing if they don’t have the ball

Jeez Sam, you’d have thought by now you’d know how to pronounce Deschamps.

The juxtaposition of this tweet being directly below this pinned tweet is really something

Really hard to give a shit about a match between an abuser and a drug cheat

Michael Fanone's take on Lindsey Graham is one of the most powerful I've read:

Watching this match is making me seriously consider switching all my oil refining needs to Aramco

Bluesky during England-Argentina

Edvard Munch, Henrik Ibsen, Magnus Carlson, are you watching? Roald Amundsen, Roald Amundsen, you’re boys took a hell of a beating

It's crazy how much better all these Real Madrid players have been now that they're not playing for Real Madrid

The people's pro shop

"Emergency podcasts, sir. Thousands of 'em"

Nigel Farage resigns

Donald Trump has no shame, but Folarin Balogun is a class act. He spoke to Belgian head coach, Rudi Garcia, after the match. Garcia said of Balogun "He came to talk to me. I really liked that. It is not his fault. He is not the one to blame. That's what I told him." H/T @resistrebelrevolt.net

Pochettino thoroughly debased himself in this tournament and before it with his sucking up to Trump and his gleeful acceptance of open corruption in his favour. He richly deserved this humiliation even if his players didn’t.

Tune in to BBC now for your last chance to see Ronaldo cry on the World Cup stage

It’s depressing how quickly the Balogun debate has devolved to US fans saying “FIFA’s always been corrupt so it’s all OK” vs literally everyone else saying “this corrupt decision stinks” Sure FIFA has always been corrupt but that doesn’t make it ok

While alarming this is nothing new. The original mad right wing American conspiracists, the John Birch Society, was a collection of ultra-wealthy loons convinced that anyone who wanted to tax them or do anything for others was a dangerous commie