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Posts by Alastair Smith

CNN: Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost assaulted at Sundance Film Festival event, police say
By Aleena Fayaz
Updated Jan 24, 2026

CNN: Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost assaulted at Sundance Film Festival event, police say By Aleena Fayaz Updated Jan 24, 2026

NBC News: Man lunges at Ilhan Omar during town hall and tries to spray her with unknown substance
January 27, 2026

NBC News: Man lunges at Ilhan Omar during town hall and tries to spray her with unknown substance January 27, 2026

Two Democratic members of Congress attacked in three days. Maxwell Frost was assaulted on Saturday, Ilan Omar tonight.

2 months ago 10510 4230 283 247
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These words demand attention.

“In a real sense this is holy ground, consecrated by blood spilled here. The cost is high, and so I had to be here to stand in the very place where this tragedy unfurled… I think we’re at a defining moment for our country…” ~ Rev Warnock

Take a moment, so much more…

2 months ago 9407 3073 228 151
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Amazing story in The Times. Reform UK failed to pay VAT to HMRC on its sales (tickets, merchandise). About £400k in all.

Not tax avoidance. Not tax evasion. They just didn't realise when you sell stuff you have to charge VAT.

5 months ago 1510 749 171 136
A picture of a foggy street

A picture of a foggy street

Edinburgh castle failing to render, likely thanks to the AWS outage

5 months ago 9145 1392 85 44

There’s a lot of things I like about working for @1password.bsky.social, but today’s DJ hour was *chef’s kiss*

6 months ago 1 0 1 0

Likewise! Hope your keynote went well and you had/have a smooth journey home!

6 months ago 2 0 1 0
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Scrapping of audit watchdog for English councils ‘led to soaring costs and chaos’ Highly critical report finds that instead of promised annual saving of £100m, fees have rocketed amid financial crisis

Seems a lot like the Cameron/Osborne austerity programme was an entirely avoidable national calamity with devastating, still worsening consequences, but I don’t get much sense anyone has learned any lessons from it except “We got away with it by shouting into microphones”.

7 months ago 48 18 2 0
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This is a great read, very insightful. Thanks for sharing!

7 months ago 0 0 0 2

Found this line buried in our code:

// this relationship would make Cersei Lannister blush

…and honestly I think I’m done for the day.

7 months ago 10 3 0 0

Extremely pleased to have been able to write for Comment is Freed about the problem of low turnout in UK elections, and its wider political-economic implications.

Once again, I draw on @duncanweldon.bsky.social's notion of a high-turnout "post-economic voter bloc" as a central obstacle to growth.

7 months ago 33 12 3 0

A strong thesis exceptionally well-argued IMO. Well worth your time.

7 months ago 3 0 0 0
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COME ON DOWN TO THE BLUESKY BALLS RACE!

PUT YOUR BETS DOWN NOW ON THE MOST AMAZING RACE OF 2025

9 months ago 143 31 13 6
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Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.

9 months ago 12439 4034 908 644
According to the forecasting models, the current steep funding cuts— coupled with the potential dissolution of the agency—could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, averaging more than 2·4 million deaths per year. These deaths include 4·5 million among children younger than 5 years, or more than 700 000 deaths annually.

According to the forecasting models, the current steep funding cuts— coupled with the potential dissolution of the agency—could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, averaging more than 2·4 million deaths per year. These deaths include 4·5 million among children younger than 5 years, or more than 700 000 deaths annually.

There is not a single person in the Democratic Party who is treating the death of USAID with the gravity it deserves. There’s no political issue more important than the death of 14 million people, but they’re just delivering boilerplate condemnations and nothing more.

9 months ago 4541 1214 105 68
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maybe instead of asking socialists whether billionaires should exist we should be asking billionaires whether poverty should exist

9 months ago 1004 256 16 20

u know what
this *is* a really well done video
and worth watching

9 months ago 764 95 14 1

because it has to pass again in the house everyone PLZ call and writer your congresspeople AGAIN and tell them they MUST votes against it. The current Medicaid bill lasts til Jan 2026, then it will kick 20 Million people off Medicaid. 40% of all children are on Medicaid. 70mill Americans total.

9 months ago 313 197 5 1

If only there were a clinically proven, totally safe way to prevent diseases like measles…

9 months ago 1539 297 32 7
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Susan Hall is the GLA Conservative group leader. She has become the most senior Conservative to support Rupert Lowe's Restore Britain movement. One of Lowe's core goaıs is to shift the immigration debate to remigration: not how many people come but how many leave: mass deportations & net outflows

9 months ago 90 61 11 7

@goodlawproject.org can you lend a boost?

9 months ago 1 0 0 0

TRANS PEOPLE - If you've had your account on any social media site - but especially LinkedIn - censored, taken down, removed, etc, for using your chosen name - message me.

I'm working on a story about this happening as a broad phenomena, and the more people I talk to the better.

DMs open!

9 months ago 512 225 24 4

I’m not the first to say it, but today’s Senate vote sure feels like a punch in the face to the first day of Disability Pride Month.

A reminder that one source of pride is sheer survival.

9 months ago 108 24 0 1
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The problem with hung parliaments is that important Bills end up having to be negotiated between ministers and backbenchers.

And that is why we need governments with large overall majorities, to avoid such embarrassing brokerage.

Oh.

9 months ago 391 61 12 0
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ICEblock, which allows users to alert others to the geographical location of ICE officers, is the top social networking app in the App Store right now after Karoline Leavitt condemned it from the podium yesterday.

9 months ago 20817 7076 626 541

This is a concentration camp.

Call it Alligator Auschwitz, because that's what it is.

This is America. Never forget and never forgive the people who allowed this to happen.

9 months ago 903 276 52 19

I work as an elder and hospice caregiver, which I am oddly passionate about. I can love on them shamelessly and no one complains about my codependence. It's a win-win situation. 

Many of my caregiving colleagues complain about the repetitive questions and, sometimes reactions, of the elderly, especially when those patients happen to read the newspaper, especially with the current downward spiral of our country — as if these people haven't lived through enough horror...

I love my dementia peeps, but sometimes wonder if there's a Guinness Book World Record for how many times an hour a dementia patient can repeat the same question — it's got to be in the hundreds. At least with small children, they ask different questions. Dementia patients will get stuck on one short question and ask it until you can interrupt their train(carousel) of thought and successfully redirect their attention. That carousel is pretty manic sometimes. 

A couple days ago, I picked up my mail from the post office and drove over to the nursing home to take (let's call her "Miss Daisy") Miss Daisy out for a drive. Before we took off on our road trip, to the end of The Road and back, in our landlocked little town (Juneau, Alaska), I set my copy of The Onion down in front of her. 

Over our two-hour excursion, tiny Miss Daisy read that front page at least a dozen times and each time she would snicker, giggle, and guffaw, then put it down on the dash board and, a minute later, discover it anew. I think it was the best afternoon of my life. We don't often hear them laugh and when they do, it's the sweetest thing you've ever heard. 

...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the really important work all of you do. You make the world a better place.

I work as an elder and hospice caregiver, which I am oddly passionate about. I can love on them shamelessly and no one complains about my codependence. It's a win-win situation. Many of my caregiving colleagues complain about the repetitive questions and, sometimes reactions, of the elderly, especially when those patients happen to read the newspaper, especially with the current downward spiral of our country — as if these people haven't lived through enough horror... I love my dementia peeps, but sometimes wonder if there's a Guinness Book World Record for how many times an hour a dementia patient can repeat the same question — it's got to be in the hundreds. At least with small children, they ask different questions. Dementia patients will get stuck on one short question and ask it until you can interrupt their train(carousel) of thought and successfully redirect their attention. That carousel is pretty manic sometimes. A couple days ago, I picked up my mail from the post office and drove over to the nursing home to take (let's call her "Miss Daisy") Miss Daisy out for a drive. Before we took off on our road trip, to the end of The Road and back, in our landlocked little town (Juneau, Alaska), I set my copy of The Onion down in front of her. Over our two-hour excursion, tiny Miss Daisy read that front page at least a dozen times and each time she would snicker, giggle, and guffaw, then put it down on the dash board and, a minute later, discover it anew. I think it was the best afternoon of my life. We don't often hear them laugh and when they do, it's the sweetest thing you've ever heard. ... Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the really important work all of you do. You make the world a better place.

I got permission to share this, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

The Onion got this letter from one of our subscribers in Alaska. She works with dementia patients and decided to leave a copy in the car for each one.

This email made my year. Read it and you'll see what I mean. People are good.

9 months ago 37360 6832 643 509

If a sitting president can openly muse about arresting and disappearing someone who is likely to become mayor of the country's largest city, while also getting the funding for a massive secret police, it'd be hard to find sufficient evidence to qualify that country as a democracy.

9 months ago 9695 3065 186 77

“Turdles” was right there

9 months ago 4 0 1 0