Is America contagious? Scholars in political extremism are documenting the global spread of right-wing populism.

Orban’s defeat also removes a major part of the far-right populist infrastructure worldwide, which I wrote about this fall: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Péter Magyar victory speech:

"We want to make a country where no one is persecuted because they think differently or because someone loves in a different way to others."

He may not have campaigned as a liberal. But this is a huge change of direction and rhetoric from Orbán’s anti-LGBTQ+ crusade.

The Fool tarot card from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck showing a young traveller stepping forward at the edge of a cliff under a bright yellow sky, holding a white rose and carrying a small bundle on a staff, with a white dog leaping beside him. Classic Pamela Colman Smith illustration symbolising beginnings, creativity, openness and new journeys. Used to celebrate one year of the Tarot Interviews project, a podcast and interview platform exploring creative practice through tarot conversations, including Tarot DMs and the British Tarot Archive.

Oh boy. This time last year, I started The Fool's Journey and released the Tarot Interviews podcast. My guest was the fabulous @laurenbeukes.com

In 2026 Tarot Interviews now reaches 30 countries and 350,000+ people. In 50 interviews I have met creatives just starting out, also household names.

aw thanks martha!

This whole thread, on how mass public protest changes the incentives and options for politicians.

thinking about this while the biggest movie in the country is an original story done with in-camera effects, miniatures, puppets, and fully constructed sets

Kat is amazing, if you're looking for an editor!

Are White Men Missing Out?: Differences in Friendship Closeness by Gender and Ethnoracial Identity - Sex Roles Sex Roles - Research has consistently found that boys’ and men’s friendships are less close, intimate, supportive, and satisfying than girls’ and women’s...

Fascinating new study about men’s friendships.

There’s a lot of evidence here that the “male loneliness crisis” is actually a white, wealthy man problem. Other men are building friendships with similar depth to women’s friendships.

Author Steven Vickers wrote on Threads, "To confirm, this '100% AI generated' passage is the opening of Chapter 5 from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I think authors are going to get screwed in these AI witch hunts."

I agree 100% with Steven Vickers that authors will be falsely accused of using AI in the coming years. In particular, authors like myself whose works were stolen to train AI systems are at risk. When we write in our own unique styles, AI trained on us will quite likely flag us as using AI.

Yeah, this just sucks. All of it sucks. I dunno how to combat something like this tbh.

"I know as an author we're supposed to aspire to express our shared humanity in unique and meaningful ways, but have you instead considered becoming the most mid, average, undifferentiated composite of everybody else?"

This is an excellent interview on the thief product.

The quote that stood out for me, from the AI bro: "What are LLMs really good at? They’re really good at averaging what everybody says."

Erika, a cartoon white woman in a red dress, looks quizzically at a collage of Oh Joy [censored] Toy comic panels that have words censored out of them with the peach emoji. "Why does Oh Joy [censored] Toy censor random words?" She asks.

Text: Because Instagram HATES Oh Joy [censored] Toy. "Tha [censored] did WE do?" Erika asks, shrugging in confusion.

Text: Since 2013, Oh Joy [censored] Toy has published weekly comics about [censored], [censored], [censored], and just being a human from hundreds of diverse artists. A selection of cartoonist self portraits is showcased, including Ripley LaCross, Hien Pham, Erika Moen, and Jey Pawlik. They range across the gender, sexuality, and race spectrums.

Text: Meta (Instagram & Facebook) finds these topics offensive, so they frequently remove our (censored) posts, and threaten to delete our accounts. Linking to our website and pay-tree-on are prohibited. Image: Instagram and Facebook icons float on the page.

Over on The Other Sites, we have to censor words that can get us in trouble- words like "sex" and "trans" and "gynecologist". Here's an explainer post we just shared on Instagram about it! 1/2
www.instagram.com/p/DSdSsOBkiC6

looks like it might even be a first edition

Immortalise Your Pet! (in fiction) Auction item 'Immortalise Your Pet! (in fiction)' hosted online at 32auctions.

Okay, the #TransRightsReadathon auction is up, and I have an offer in there! Drumroll...

I will put your pet in my forthcoming book. Name, description, personality! (Nothing bad will happen to them, I'm not a monster.)

Now please may I have back everything that was already stolen?

This feeling in my chest...hope? Unfamiliar

friend, this is Marcus Junius Brutus

CAESAR has declared himself DICTATOR FOR LIFE and MUST BE STOPPED

can you rush a donation of ten denarii today to show that you STAND WITH THE REPUBLIC?

Cape Town Theatre Mentorships. Looking to develop your skills on a fresh and edgy theatre production. The following mentorships are available: 1 Technical Intern (Lighting, Sound and Projection) 1 Stage Management Intern 1 Marketing Intern 1 Production Intern 1 Art Design Intern Looking for any young people, especially newly trained, interested in developing their technical theatre skills! No practical experience necessary, but some knowledge is preferred. All mentees must be available for full work days from 16 March to 22 March at Magnet Theatre in Observatory and Azande Theatre in Khayelitsha. There will be a small stipend. Email your CV, a short bio & a letter of motivation (max 1 page) to info@umhambidigital.com by 11 March 2026

Hey South Africans, the brilliant writer/director/actor/activist Qondiswa James (who also narrated the new audiobook of Zoo City) is offering theatre mentorships, which you can apply for by 11 March, small stipend paid. www.instagram.com/blqgrl.radikl/. All info in alt. text.

This looks so great! Trip told me lots of cool details, like how each Legendary House is inspired by ballroom culture, obviously, but each house is also influenced by different aspects of queer culture and it all sounds bonkers and wonderful.

Top Trump officials rush to purchase nuclear war-proof bunkers after Iran attack: report Since President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attack on Iran last week, at least two top Trump administration officials have raced to purchase their own survival shelters designed to withstand an apoca...

A dude in Texas who makes bomb shelters for nuclear war has seen his business skyrocket this week.

Recent clients include 2 Trump admin members, and the rest were almost all “Christian, conservative CEOs,” which included “several of the wealthiest men on the planet."
www.rawstory.com/iran-war/

People should be REALLY scared by this, it's normalising refusing healthcare to a section of the community for entirely ideological reasons with absolutely no medical reason

NHS England pauses new prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for under-18s The health service said young people who already receive the drugs will continue to do so.

The Cass review, used to justify an ideological decision to withhold medical care from trans teenagers, is throughly discredited.
The Health Secretary and NHS England are lying to patients and their families and to the public.
This is severe institutional transphobia.
bbc.com/news/article...

Aw thank you! I'd be interested in how you think they compare especially revisiting it!

the shining girls by lauren beukes, a red frame around a woman's face, which is cut off by the red frame at the middle; she looks ahead dispassionately; a silhouetted insect flies on the left side of the cover

@laurenbeukes.com 's "The Shining Girls," a creepy-as-hell time-bendy serial killer riff.

In the style of an industrial warning sign — WARNING Cognitohazard: Do not think about it

I kept needing this, so I finally made it.

To move from the specific to the general: Let’s make a checklist to help in the discourse on public decision-making. Should one not ask of any public project or loan whether it: (1) promotes justice; (2) restores reciprocity; (3) confers divisible or indivisible benefits; (4) favours people over machines; (5) whether its strategy maximizes gain or minimizes disaster; (6) whether conservation is favoured over waste; and (7), whether the reversible is favoured over the irreversible?

"Should one not ask of any public project … whether it (1) promotes justice; (2) restores reciprocity; … (4) favours people over machines; (5) maximizes gain or minimizes disaster; (6) favours conservation over waste; (7) is reversible or irreversible?

Franklin, The Real World of Technology, 1990

This is so fascinating. Must read.

AI is revolutionizing the world! A Playstation now costs $5,000 and this is the last phone you will ever own.

AI Delusions Are Leading to Domestic Abuse, Harassment, and Stalking ChatGPT and other AI chatbots are reinforcing users' delusions about other people — fueling fixations linked to stalking and abuse.

"In some cases, our reporting found, ChatGPT continued to stoke users’ obsessions as they descended into unwanted harassment, abusive stalking behavior, or domestic abuse, traumatizing victims and profoundly altering lives."