Fiona Armstrong
farmstrong.bsky.social
Fiona Armstrong
@farmstrong.bsky.social

Climate, environment, biodiversity, health, strategy, systems change, collaboration, imagination, cohousing, surfing, art

Public Health 41%
Medicine 26%
This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

China’s Yangtze River shows signs of remarkable recovery after fishing ban

- the most positive freshwater conservation story in the world in 20 years, says one veteran biologist

Story by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
China’s Yangtze River shows signs of remarkable recovery after fishing ban
Doubling of fish biomass and rebounding of endangered species shows government measures starting to work, biologists say
www.theguardian.com
African states should develop the energy sources they need to power their development. But the US has decided to sit this one out, and under Trump to jump in on the side of fossil fuels, whereas China is reaping the benefits of decarbonization. Self-own.
Africa leads growth in solar energy as demand spreads beyond traditional markets, report says
A report shows that Africa has emerged as the world's fastest-growing solar market even as global growth slowed last year, driven by a 60% surge in imports of solar panels from China.
apnews.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

Editorial: It is very obvious that donations from fossil fuel companies should be banned. This is a kind of sickness shared across politics, a cynicism that fits neatly into brown paper bags. satpa.pe/NqcwLhz
The case for banning fossil fuel donations
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not much money. This is part of what makes it so sad. The country’s politicians have sold out the climate for little more than a rounding error on projects that will continue for decades.
satpa.pe

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

#BREAKING 🚨 Independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe has confirmed she will recontest Farrer at the upcoming by-election, setting up a possible five-cornered contest following the resignation of Sussan Ley

Milthorpe received 43.7% of the two-candidate-preferred vote in 2025
The details of the Kristi Noem blanket incident are just fucking perfect
“…in one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after Noem's blanket was left behind on a plane, according to people familiar with the incident.”

Oh boy

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

“ANZUS has slipped from being an opportunity for a chat to a continuing display of Australian subservience and servile support for US military power.” - Allan Behm, Advisor, International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute

Read more on The Point: https://theaus.in/4q8vEdP
I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.

Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.
Sundance’s filmmakers spoke to the urgency of the political moment. Their movies, mostly, did not. But there was one powerful exception.
The Inspiring New Movie About a Neighborhood That Stood Up To an Immigration Raid—and Won
The most timely movie at this year’s Sundance Film Festival is also a lot of fun.
slate.com
It’s really difficult & disorienting but the feds hit LA extremely hard today. There were kidnappings all over & reported cluster raids in Chinatown, East LA, Ktown. This list shows to 1130 AM but they haven’t stopped all day

Just because the media attention stopped doesn’t mean the abductions have

Reposted by Dunlap, Caterina Froio, Jesse M. Shapiro , and 181 more

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

What measles does to a body, since most of us were raised having been responsibly vaccinated and never had to encounter it:

med.stanford.edu/news/insight...
Holy moly this chart: Cumulative US measles cases

What’s the book?

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

Join Chief Political Analyst Amy Remeikis on The Point Live, and get the lowdown on what's happening in politics today, as it happens! #auspol @amyremeikis.bsky.social
⏬⏬⏬

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

The new directive asks USDA workers in the agency’s research arm to use Google to check the backgrounds of all foreign nationals collaborating with its scientists.

The names of flagged scientists are being sent to national security experts at the agency, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.
Trump Administration Orders USDA Employees to Investigate Foreign Researchers They Work With
The new directive asks workers to check the backgrounds of foreign nationals collaborating with the department’s scientists for evidence of “subversive or criminal activity.” Their names are being sen...
www.propublica.org
Pew Research Institute (2023):

• Red State Texas has about 2.1 million undocumented immigrants

• Red State Florida has 1.6 M undocumented immigrants

• Blue State Minnesota has 130,000.

And yet only Minnesota is being occupied by masked thugs over "immigration."

It's *not* about immigration.
What I always hear: “We can’t afford to pay our workers more than $15 an hour.”

What I never hear: “We can’t afford to pay our CEO millions of dollars a year.”

Funny how that works.

A precursor to slavery?
European governments that have pledged to clamp down on immigration are still expanding schemes for workers to come on short-term visas.

Their goal is to maximize predatory exploitation of migrant workers without giving them any rights or security.
Guest Worker Schemes Are a Machine for Labor Exploitation
European governments that have pledged to clamp down on immigration are still expanding schemes for workers to come on short-term visas. Their goal is to maximize predatory exploitation of migrant workers without giving them any rights or security.
jacobin.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

At an unusual event in Queens on Sunday, everyday New Yorkers lined up to offer their expertise and experience to democratic socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Zohran Mamdani Is Listening — and Taking Notes
At an unusual event in Queens on Sunday, everyday New Yorkers lined up to offer their expertise and experience to democratic socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
jacobin.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

European governments that have pledged to clamp down on immigration are still expanding schemes for workers to come on short-term visas.

Their goal is to maximize predatory exploitation of migrant workers without giving them any rights or security.
Guest Worker Schemes Are a Machine for Labor Exploitation
European governments that have pledged to clamp down on immigration are still expanding schemes for workers to come on short-term visas. Their goal is to maximize predatory exploitation of migrant workers without giving them any rights or security.
jacobin.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

“We asked the question a little differently: did places with more gun buybacks experience a larger drop in gun homicide and suicide? The answer turned out to be a resounding yes.”
The upsides of the gun buyback • Andrew Leigh
John Howard’s buyback scheme had more than one clear benefit
inside.org.au

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

Of course people of Jewish faith have the right to live without fear, George. This has my FULL support.

Exactly like people of Muslim faith have the right to live without fear as well as without settler-colonial violence, apartheid, illegal occupation of their lands & genocide. #auspol #BondiBeach
Australian here 👋

Stop saying the tragedy in Sydney demonstrates that strict gun laws don’t work.

There were ZERO mass shootings in Australia in the two decades after strict gun laws were passed in 1996.

We have so much we need to do, but strict gun laws remain a critical part of the solution.
Because it’s not getting reported on enough:

Muslim fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed, father of two, was the hero who bravely tackled one of the Bondi Beach shooters and took away his gun.

He saved lives during a major terror attack. Say his name, and honor the lives of the victims of the shooters

4%?
If someone wanted to destroy the US automobile industry and tremendously strengthen the Chinese automobile industry, they wouldn't be doing anything differently than what Trump is doing now. China is now producing smarter, cheaper, cleaner cars than the US.

www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Trump to Roll Back Fuel Economy Rules in Nod to Rising Car Prices
It’s not clear that relaxing the standard will lower costs for consumers.
www.bloomberg.com

Reposted by Fiona Armstrong

David Shoebridge doesn’t hold back after Chief of Defence David Johnstone repeatedly refuses to state his salary
“You get paid $896,373 a yr, & the Chief of Def in the US gets paid $343,000 a yr. You get paid 3 times as much! Is that why you didn’t want to tell me?”🔥 #Estimates