How Trump Tried and Failed to Intimidate and Threaten Pope Leo

The Trump Administration has tried & failed to intimidate, threaten & silence the first American Pope for his anti-war & pro-immigrant statements. Instead, MAGA risks fracturing its Catholic voters.

open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...

Graphs showing how little Tax Australia gets in comparison to Norway.

Australia and Norway both have highly profitable resource industries – but Norwegians receive a much larger, fairer share.
Norway taxes oil and gas at 78% and has used that revenue to build the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, now worth $1.9 trillion […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

"Men Are Scary." I have never been an “all men” person.

‘So when women say men are scary…They are naming a lived reality. They are saying that the line between safety and danger is often invisible until it’s too late. And more and more, they are deciding that the risk is not worth it.’

drstaceypatton1865.substack.com/p/men-are-sc...

ZioTerrorists

They are fucked up in their brains. So many wars for so many years.

The State of Tas. spent $3.3 million on lawyers’ costs for a process they later rejected. And with the cost of airfares and the battery of expert witnesses, the true cost would be closer to $4 million. How many teachers could they have employed for this money? #nonewstadium

The Iranians are saying “we’re not going to negotiate with a liar who changes his position every twelve hours”, and the Americans are like “we can’t stop him doing that”.
So yes, it’s all going great for the global economy.

Gaza reconstruction to cost over $71 billion, EU-UN report says Gaza would need over $71 billion for recovery after two years of war, EU and UN warned Monday, as damage to homes, hospitals, and schools leaves most people displaced.

Gaza would need over $71 billion for recovery after two years of war, EU and UN warned Monday, as damage to homes, hospitals, and schools leaves most people displaced.

"Damn this world that has remained silent in the face of all these massacres, and damn these Zionists, for whom to this day I have not found a description vile enough to do them justice"

The first epidemic of the 1918 flu in the United States occurred at the military’s Camp Funston, Kansas (later Fort Riley).

Infected soldiers headed to WWI battlefields carried the flu to Europe. Millions died

It’s not *vaccination* that weakens force readiness.

My goodness the US does seem to hate its troops as well as despise its veterans!

A golden retriever has both paws up at a bank teller’s window.

“Are you the branch manager?”
“Yes I am, how can I help you?”
“I would like two branches, please.”
“How would you like that?”
“Two big sticks, four little sticks.”

So, as a non-Catholic, let me get this straight - some bloke, who converted to Catholicism in much the same way that he converted to Trump, is trying to tell the Pontiff they need to be careful of theologising, when they are the head of the theology they’re theologising about?

JD Varrogance…..

Attending an Ivy will not protect one from Dunning-Kruger

"I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology," Vance said.

🙃

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.

Of course they are concentration camps. And @anatosaurus.bsky.social is right that once you accept the euphemism you are halfway to normalizing the thing.

Superpower Suicide The geopolitics of our moment

“Superpower Suicide” is a concept to help understand the approach of the Trump regime to the rest of the world. We are fighting a war for no reason we can name, losing it, and covering our defeat with genocidal and apocalyptic propaganda.
snyder.substack.com/p/superpower...

This is what Labor don't understand. They deludedly think they just have wait out Trump until he's gone and everything will return to normal. #auspol

Inside Angus Taylor’s immigration strategy: ‘It’s a bit of chaos’ The Coalition’s new plan has alarmed some Liberal sources, who say it has sunk their chances of winning back urban seats and can’t staunch losses to One Nation.

The Coalition's Australian values-based immigration measures replicate much of the American immigration agenda under President Donald Trump, and were quickly welcomed by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson as an endorsement of her policies. satpa.pe/esRTj19

Attention 🌏🌍🌎
How Trump’s America treats it’s supporters.

in an age when the brutality, xenophobia, aggression, and cruelty of American politics have been amplified to new levels, we can perhaps all be glad that the Successor of Peter has shown a willingness to contribute to a popular front.’

‘The current political climate makes it highly unlikely that Trump could face a 25th Amendment challenge’😢

Hobart Women’s Shelter unveils renovated spaces for family violence survivors The renovations include a purpose-built activities space and play area…

‘“We are seeing growing demand for crisis accommodation across Tasmania and investments like this are an important part of strengthening how communities respond”’

pulsetasmania.com.au/news/hobart-...

Rise in Radiance Women’s Choir launches ‘joyous’ Sundays in Battery Point The creator said the choir is for everyone, not just confident singers…

‘“I feel it is pertinent in these times that we actually have in-person gatherings, that we are prioritising community, and the online space is awesome, but we also need these community initiatives where we’re building real-life connection,”’

pulsetasmania.com.au/news/rise-in...

‘Once the men were on the patrol boat, the US personnel boarded the fishing boat and stole the crew’s food and the beer’…

“They knew we were fishermen. Even the Salvadorian authorities told us things had been handled very badly.”’

‘“Israel is…a nation whose addiction to violence & oppression, reliance on great powers..& constant harping on the horrors of the Holocaust as an excuse for untethered violence against Palestinians are making even some of its erstwhile supporters shrink from it in discomfort, or horror & disgust.”’

I think you had it right at “we are all migrants”. It’s the nature of our species. Even those who arrived before us had people who came from somewhere else at some point in time.

Rabbi who boasts of bulldozing Palestinian homes will light torch for Israel’s national day Human rights campaigners say honour for Avraham Zarbiv endorses ethnic cleansing and war crimes

‘In January 2025, he boasted of demolishing “50 homes a week” in Gaza. “They have nothing to return to in Rafah and Jabalya … tens of thousands of families have no papers, childhood photos, ID cards, no homes. They have nothing.”’

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

‘Black was released from prison & hired by One Nation. He was fired after internal complaints, then rehired. Then promoted…One Nation’s campaign director … He was fired again this week He was fired again this week after public pressure.

Pauline Hanson called the criticism “gutter politics.”’

Israeli soldiers using sexual assault to force Palestinians out of West Bank, report says Experts say attacks, also carried out by settlers, are leading girls to quit school and enter early marriages

‘Israel’s failure to prosecute settlers who attacked Palestinians in the West Bank led to the country’s former prime minister❗️, Ehud Olmert, calling for the international criminal court to intervene to save Palestinians from “Jewish terrorists”’

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...