what the hell

Outlaw stadium hostage negotiation tactics, and while we’re at it, all USA state tax races to the bottom.

States should not have to continue debasing themselves.

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

In the space of a few weeks in 2025, Simon Harris required armed gardaí at his family home due to multiple bomb threats, while former taoiseach Leo Varadkar was subjected to a homophobic tirade by a self-styled citizen journalist who filmed the confrontation for social media. A man is due before the courts in July in connection with an alleged assault on Mary Lou McDonald and two canvassers the day before the presidential election last year. The incident was filmed and went viral online. So, last week when a video of Senator Eileen Flynn speaking about racism and nationalist propaganda went viral, a predictable and inevitable online pile on began, with posts attacking Flynn's "patriotism" or perceived

Much of the abuse directed at Ms Flynn came from Irish accounts run by people who benefit from algorithmically amplification (so called blue tick accounts), and content monetisation. Monetisation is now a commonplace feature on social media platforms like X/Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, that allows the company to "share" revenue. The more attention (likes, shares, comments etc) a post gets, the more revenue a user earns. Influencers also often have accounts on three or four platforms and post dozens of times a day, and can also benefit from tips, and paid subscribers so it is difficult to gauge how much they earn, but a single viral post on X can generate over €300 for an influencer, so this can become a quite lucrative activity for not a lot of work. Power

The abuse directed at Ms Flynn did not only come from Irish accounts; international social media influencers whose attention was already on Ireland since the fuel protests latched onto it too. Defiant Ls, an account run by a Macedonian influencer who promotes Maga content shared the video, as did the account LibsofTikTok, with the caption, 'Irish Senator Eileen Flynn says that she is "terrified" to see her nation's flag and thinks it's "disgraceful" to fly it', received more than 250,000 views and over 1,300 comments, mostly abusive. LibsOfTikTok has nearly five million fans and the account is run by Chaya Raichik, a right wing influencer who has previously targeted schools, hospitals and libraries across the United States. Victims of her attention have gone to be inundated with threats of violence.

I have a piece in the Examiner today on how content monetisation is fuelling a new wave of online harassment

Irish influencers with monetised accounts are mimicking the behaviour of people like Chaya Raichik, the owner of LibsOfTikTok, who has turned online abuse & harassment into a business model.

kinda says it all that this gets more scrutiny than killing tens of thousands of brown children

1/ Ukraine's increasing dominance in drones is reportedly leading to individual Russian soldiers being attacked by 20 or 30 drones at once. Russian warbloggers say that Ukrainian drones are operating with impunity while their side faces a shortage. ⬇️
bsky.app/profile/maks...

Newly released records detail police response to lawmaker attacks Authorities first identified Vance Boelter as a suspect within three hours of the start of the politically motivated rampage.

Newly released records on the police response to the assassination of Melissa Hortman show officers knew a woman was lying motionless on the top of the stairs inside the Hortman home but waited 30 minutes to physically check on her.

The cover of the May/June 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine depicts a drawing of two androgynous track and field athletes running on a track. In the sky, stripes in the transgender pride flag colors run parallel to the track lanes. Headline: Let Them Play, How welcoming trans athletes can improve sports culture for all by Jessica Luther.

Introducing the May/June 2026 issue of Texas Observer magazine, with cover story by @jessicawluther.com and art by Adrià Voltà.

Visit our site to become a member and receive our magazine, six times per year.

Almost no retail businesses will refund their customers, but they might be able to sell things in more realistic prices again.

Not gonna happen going toe to toe with Dune 3.

I have long been uninterested in the latest marvel releases.

I realized it was just the wrong medium - comic books are so much more casual and easy to breeze through.

Marvel movies are 2.5 to 3 straight hours of sitting through stuff.

Never thought the colorful book would be less intimidating.

At some point this stuff stopped being fun tie in easter egg shit and became homework

Powerful quake triggers tsunami warning for Iwate and Hokkaido The tsunami warning was issued after a quake struck off the coast of Iwate Prefecture.

BREAKING: A tsunami warning — with the threat of waves of up to 3 meters — was issued on Monday for Iwate, Aomori and Hokkaido in northern Japan after a quake struck off the coast of Iwate Prefecture.

Nazi in hiding tries to justify his atrocities with "We were under orders..." to Magneto.

We need the 2030s to look like this

Great, but extremely pathetic the media and Trump sphere is so easily able to hoodwink the majority of Americans into flirting with dangerous and bigoted policies that will also hurt their own communities. (medical care, senior care, food costs, home construction, social fabric, etc)

"I'm politically homeless." -Joe Rogan, 10 days ago.

Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement

Opening text of a thread by Palantir from X Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief. 1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation. 2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible. 3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public. 4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software.

Palantir put out a 22-point summary of their CEO's book The Technological Republic. It's pitched as a defence of the West, but if you read it through the VDA framework, verification, deliberation, accountability, what it's actually doing looks rather different.
twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

The atomic age is ending. One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin.

The age of men is over. The time of the Orc has come.

Palantir put out the most cartoonishly evil statement possible. They’re so arrogant and self-confident they don’t seem to believe their fascistic plans can be opposed.

We must get rid of Palantir altogether.

twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...

Screenshot of male Instagram influencer demonstrating how now to pull a chair out from a table, leaning over to drag it with a large red X superimposed over it.

Screenshot of male Instagram influencer sitting in the correct manly manner with green checkmark superimposed on it

Comments planetmike_ 11w • Author Stop serving the chair; instead, make the chair serve you Reply katbutler33 9w Thanks for the tutorial f I'm studying so hard for sitting school I hope to get an A+ on my next sit exam Reply planetmike_ 9w • Author @ katbutler33 I give advise to Men only Reply katbutler33 9w @planetmike I guess l'll get an F in sitting school then ):

Obsessed with this account that gives advice on how to sit manly:

Canadian sports press makes it a mission to absolutely ruin anyone who is outwardly sensitive or emotional when they don’t perform well for a Canadian hockey team. It’s why many players opt out and go to the USA and enjoy low taxes and less attention.

There’s a kinda hockey archetype that absolutely obliterates everyone on the ice through fancy goal scoring, passing, and skating, then gets in an interview and is literally just some guy. It’s like Canadians make them in labs to be non controversial to their feisty sports press.

eventually he was executed

Ideal relationship dynamic

Israel escalates attacks on medics in Lebanon with deadly ‘quadruple tap’ Lebanese health ministry says killing of 91 healthcare workers shows ‘total disregard’ for international law

The Israeli army struck civilians in the Lebanese city of Mayfadoun.

And then, the Israelis double-tapped the medics who arrived onto the scene.

And then, they triple-tapped the next wave of medics.

And then, they did it one more time for good measure.

When did the divorce court settle on Yeti?

Their headquarters is in Austin so not that surprising but usually it depends on the Austin owners/management more than the employees.

I think we also get MLB, Nike, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Jesus himself, and why the hell not, just throw in Apple Pie, that’ll be next.

Mike Nellis @MikeNellis "I'M NO LONGER CATHOLIC!" Hannity ABANDONS HIS FAITH for Trump NELLIS X.com • +*+

Amazing that in the national divorce the libs are getting the NFL, butter and cooking oil, being attracted to adult women, standup comedy, Bud Light, and now also Catholicism

Seems like the Strait of Hormuz is only open when the stock market is.