"logic of Musk’s empire is total. X shapes the discourse. Grok automates it. Grokipedia rewrites the historical record. Starlink can deliver it all, everywhere, to everyone. Each layer reinforces the others. It’s not about winning arguments in the public sphere. It’s about building a replacement."

Twitter uses algorithms that ensure that 90% of the most visible accounts will be on the far right politically. Here's why Bluesky has an intellectual diversity problem.

Farage urged to act against candidates with racist, misogynistic and homophobic views Exclusive: Despite the pledge to employ the best vetting system in British politics, some Reform UK candidates have been condemned for their ‘grotesque views’ posted online

“Reform plagued by vetting issues”
Candidates found to have “grotesque” views.

Come on. It’s not the vetting, is it.
It’s the party. Whatever they do, they’ll always attract the racists, homophobes, misogynists and haters. Because that’s Farage. That’s Reform.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Debunked: Fringe commentator from US spreads false rumour of stabbing at Connolly Station An accident which left a thick trail of blood appears to have prompted the story.

False claims of a stabbing at Connolly Station on Saturday night were shared to millions of people by a US commentator who had travelled to Ireland to cover the fuel price protests.

jrnl.ie/7019035

The Texas legislature rammed through a gerrymandering bill at the request of Trump.

Virginia actually voted in favor of redistricting to counterbalance what Texas and other Republican-controlled states have done.

Yet only one is considered a "power grab."

Oligarch-owned media in a nutshell.

GOP folks crying about Democrat redistricting in response to their redistricting = Brexiters crying about it being more difficult to visit the EU as a consequence to leaving the EU and ending free movement of people

This is a new stage of dementia and Alzheimer decline that he is having. He might be reaching the point in his decline that he no longer remembers anything in the present time and only in the past. Because his short term memory is either very limited or mostly just gone.

That’s not a thing! There is no different way to calculate the percentages!

BTW, for all those liberal types who said "the Irish far right don't do well in elections", here's a bit of a wake-up for you -
these lads have 24 councillors, four TDs and an MEP.
Start taking the far right seriously - the calls are, in this case literally, coming from inside the House.

Right wing double standards shitshow #698,453

Simple rule: the Senate should not confirm any appointee to any post who can’t say clearly who legitimately won the 2020 presidential election. Not just who was “installed”, but who won the vote and the electoral college.

IDF To Punish Soldier For Hitting Jesus Statue When He Should Have Been Committing War Crimes waterfordwhispersnews.com/2026/04/21/idf-to-punish...

Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business Senator Eileen Flynn's comments on far-right use of the tricolour have made her a lightning rod for online abuse — because viral hatred is highly profitable

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Almost everything we argue about is a substitute for the thing we should be arguing about: the immense wealth & power of an oligarchic class, which captures governments, ruins lives and wrecks the living planet.
This class redirects our rage at scapegoats. To resist its lies is to resist its power.

Released 47 years ago today
Jimmy Jimmy, the third single by the Northern Irish band The Undertones

Jimmy Jimmy - The Undertones (Old Grey Whistle Test 1979)

#punk #punks #punkrock #theundertones #jimmyjimmy #history #punkrockhistory #otd

Bid to take down fake videos and images of garda response to fuel protests False viral information, much of it being generated abroad, is on a scale ‘never seen before’ in Ireland

Meanwhile, Aidan O’Brien, an analyst at the European Digital Media Observatory Ireland at Dublin City University (DCU), has been monitoring how the far-right in Ireland and abroad reacted to the fuel blockades. He said a “disinformation economy” went into full swing during last week’s protests. He uncovered conspiracy theories about the energy crisis and talk of “the great shutdown”, which were already in heavy circulation on Irish social media by the middle of March. “When the protests erupted, Irish right-wing social media influencers went into overdrive posting video content. Many of these influencers benefit from features introduced on the platforms, like algorithm promotion, and have monetised their accounts,” he explained. “There is now a disinformation economy. Influencers know the most dramatic footage, alongside the most sensational framing, will go viral, generating income. They aren’t just promoting this footage and their narratives because it suits their agenda, they’re making money doing so.” After that international far-right influencers pounced on the content, he said. “Nearly immediately, and often within minutes of the initial videos being posted, it was downloaded and repackaged by influencers outside Ireland. “It happened so quickly that you might assume these people are heavily immersed in the situation, but they’re chasing the content, and the story, often repackaging footage with false claims that the protest was about migration. “This happens because over the last five years our disinformation ecology has become exponentially complex and is fully integrated with the international far-right disinformation ecosystem.” Ireland has now become a “major focus of attention” for the international hard-right, he said. Canadian far-right influencer Ezra Levant travelled to Ireland last week as did Kevin Posobiec, whose brother Jack is an American far-right political activist and social media personality. Both filmed content while here. The fact both men…

The fact both men were willing to “jump on a plane” said a lot, added Mr O’Brien. “The foreign attention and amplification of these protests are concerning…Our Government needs to start demanding real accountability and action from these [social media] companies… “If the Minister [for Communications Patrick O’Donovan] is concerned about ‘lopsided coverage’ of the protests, he shouldn’t be worried about the radio but look at social media.” On Friday, Minister O’Donovan admitted he made a “hames” of his call for a “review” into broadcast media coverage of fuel protests. He said, “in hindsight”, he should not have suggested that the media regulator — Coimisiún na Meán — should “review” both local and national broadcast coverage of the fuel protests.

I spoke to the Sindo about the unprecedented scale of disinformation we witnessed during the fuel protests & the disinformation economy. It's not enough to get this content removed post-hoc; we need to hold the platforms accountable for promoting disinformation & hate speech.
archive.ph/AOVHC

More of this united opposition please

BREAKING: “That I wasn’t told that he (Mandelson) had failed security vetting when I was telling Parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable. Not only was I not told, no minister was told” - Keir Starmer

Absolutely staggering

Look:
All that happened was, I decided to butter up a fascist sex criminal by appointing an omni-disgraced ghoul as ambassador, despite everybody knowing he was pals with a top paedophile; then I either overruled people who didn't clear him, or I'm so shit that nobody told me.

What's the problem?

If you step back, it is truly extraordinary that so many people went to such great lengths and broke so many conventions and risked their political careers and the only outcome of all these efforts and risks was appointing a washed-up old spinner to an ambassadorial post

Exactly one year ago today:

Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision Guardian investigation uncovers decision by UK security officials to deny clearance before Mandelson took up role as US ambassador

EXCL: Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to US - a Guardian investigation by Paul Lewis @direthoughts.com & me

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Trying to explain St Augustine to the pope, the former head of the Augustinian order, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine, on his way back from celebrating mass at the Basilica of St Augustine in Annaba, Algeria, overlooking the site where Augustine lived is peak Adult Catholic Convert.

On this day in 1981, R.E.M. recorded 'Radio Free Europe', 'Sitting Still' and 'White Tornado' with a 26-year-old Mitch Easter at his Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The studio was part of Easter's parents' home.

Come on

In Britain people like this still have to use the euphemism of being anti-Net Zero. In the land of brainrot you can just come out and say it

Yes

In the 1930s, Oswald Mosley claimed to be a patriot, while his British Union of Fascists was secretly funded by the Italian government. We are just beginning to grasp how much of the far right in the UK today has been funded by Viktor Orbán and Russian oil money.
Their "patriotism" is always a con.

🚨 Michael Healy-Rae resigns as junior minister and will vote no confidence