excog
excog.bsky.social
excog
@excog.bsky.social

"I do not think therefore I am a moustache"

Sartre, La Nausée, 1938


Interests:

art, art history, culture, film/photography, history, music, science, sociology, comparative religion, technology, current affairs.

* adferoafferro.wordpress.com
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#The_Rest_Is_Politics
#BillBrowder

The great Sir Bill Browder tells in fascinating, rapid-fire detail, his own story and what led to the Magnitsky Act named in honour of Browder's employee [tax lawyer], Sergei Magnitsky who died while in Russian custody.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkE6...

48 mins
The Man Putin Can't Silence | Sir Bill Browder
YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics: Leading
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 5:05 PM
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#Epstein
#BillGates
#RichardBranson

Is This proof Epstein blackmailed Bill Gates?

Novara Media, 3 Jan 2036

34 mins

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdR7...

⚪ Mini-forensic on Epstein emails re Gates, Melinda divorce, some conjecture on Branson.

Title a tad dramatic but that's what was chosen
Is This PROOF Epstein BLACKMAILED Bill Gates?
YouTube video by Novara Media
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
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#Mandelson

🎵 Mandy🎵 has got other stuff.

Do Lords get pensions?

There his EU pension (considerable) and his MP and ministerial pensions.

At a minimum his ministers' pensions should go. Though no doubt it won't because of some sort of contractual arrangement that allows him to keep it.
February 3, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by excog
Reform says Britain is broken, and they offer radical change to put it right. But who broke it? We name the guilty parties. | Stephen McNair
Who broke Britain?
Reform says Britain is broken, and they offer radical change to put it right. But who broke it? We name the guilty parties.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 6:18 AM
After 18 years of decline, Reform are promising radical change. But who was it who broke Britain, and how did they do it?

Here, the author lays out all the culprits ⤵️

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social
Who broke Britain?
Reform says Britain is broken, and they offer radical change to put it right. But who broke it? We name the guilty parties.
eastangliabylines.co.uk
February 2, 2026 at 10:59 PM
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Old Barry Manilow smash-hit chart rise in UK and US
February 2, 2026 at 7:14 PM
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🎵 Oh Mandy
Max Wilkinson, Lib Dem MP: "The evidence is damning, the use of public office for private gain is the very definition of corruption."
February 2, 2026 at 5:21 PM
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🎵 Oh Mandy
Three parties - SNP, Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru - now asking for the police to investigate Mandelson.

Hard to recall a worse public scandal than a cabinet minister allegedly colluding with foreign bankers to share market sensitive info and encourage threats against Chancellor
February 2, 2026 at 5:15 PM
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#Gaza

Aaron Bastani talks to Oborne about his book:

'Complicit: Britain's Role in the Destruction of Gaza'

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5m-...

⚪ 1 hr 12 mins
Media Insider EXPOSES Israel’s Capture Of British Politics | Aaron Bastani Meets Peter Oborne
YouTube video by Novara Media
www.youtube.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:40 PM
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#moneylaundering
#Oliver_Bullough

From author of Moneyland & Butler to the World, new anatomy of global money laundering, Everybody Loves Our Dollars. On Audible read by author Oliver Bullough.

Bicester, Oxon., enters the story. And in a, What? Shakes head amazing way.
February 1, 2026 at 11:18 AM
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#Gaza

Petraeus, ex-Iraq surge, ex-CIA, is getting
carried away saying the lessons he learned from defeating Falluja insurgency, a Sunni uprising against US occupation of Iraq, has lessons for Gaza.

Iraq was a state, Gaza a territory settler colonial Israel has hemmed in.

tinyurl.com/zdd5b5ja
Ex-CIA Chief David Petraeus Briefs Officials in Israel Overseeing "New Gaza"
Petraeus, who was a major proponent of biometric gated communities in counterinsurgency, now works for KKR whose portfolio includes companies that have technology and defense interests in Gaza.
www.dropsitenews.com
January 31, 2026 at 10:56 PM
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#CH4
#TheChelseaDetective

Part 1 Series 1

www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

⚪ Might well be a cut above the normal detective series.

Was attracted to it with its Chelsea specific policing. Just read William Boyd's, Ordinary Thunderstorms, which centres on Chelsea, where also Boyd lives.
The Chelsea Detective - Series 1 Episode 1
Stonemason Andrew Knightley is pushed under a London Underground train during rush hour.
www.channel4.com
January 31, 2026 at 8:41 PM
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#NeilKinnock

2 hours. 82 yrs old. Still sharp as a button. Memory of an elephant. Feel free to suggest other superlatives.

No mention of, "The best PM we never had". Though it probably wouldn't have been an easy ride.

Riveting for those who lived through it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNQn...
Neil Kinnock | A Labour Rebel's Path To Power.
YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics: Leading
www.youtube.com
January 31, 2026 at 5:49 PM
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#collapse_of_compassion

LLMS are good at neologism German compounds.

So: awareness of terrible things in the world while telling a joke.

Katastrophenkomikschuld (Katastrophe – catastrophe
- Komik – comedy - Schuld – guilt )

⚪ There is a psychological phenomenon termed collapse of compassion:
January 31, 2026 at 12:48 PM
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#ICE

Antifa used to unmask neo-Nazis, now it’s exposing ICE: ‘Predators don’t get anonymity’

Christopher Mathias, Guardian, 30 Jan 2026

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

⚪ Perhaps that's where Homan got the idea to post up pics of members of the public protesting ICE
Antifa used to unmask neo-Nazis, now it’s exposing ICE: ‘Predators don’t get anonymity’
Following in a long American tradition of identifying fascists, a network of leftists has set out to name and shame Trump’s immigration agents
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by excog
And Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Here’s Ben Horowitz’s father talking about his protégé, Stephen Miller

Folks. it’s time to delete your data, delete your TikTok accounts, and delete the TikTok app.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4OC...
Zero Tolerance: David Horowitz Interview | FRONTLINE
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
www.youtube.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Reposted by excog
Confirming our story:

👉 bylinetimes.com/2026/01/29/d...

"Agents are tapping into a database, built by the data analytics company Palantir, that combines government and commercial data to identify real-time locations for individuals they are pursuing"

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/t...
How ICE Already Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are
www.nytimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:01 PM
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#ICE

The Vast, Terrifying Scale of Trump’s Detention State
With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.

Ian Gordon, Mother Jones, Nov-Dec 2025

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The vast, terrifying scale of Trump’s detention state
With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.
www.motherjones.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:05 PM
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#AI

After AI

Cédric Durand, Sidecar, NLR, 15 Jan 2026

newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

⚪ Ey up AI
Cédric Durand, After AI — Sidecar
Legacies of the bubble.
newleftreview.org
January 30, 2026 at 12:32 PM
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#ICE
#ErnstFraenkel
#DualState

The Nazi Political Theory That Explains ICE’s Impunity

Trump’s Immigration & Customs Enforcement has become the violent face of the country’s transformation into a new 21st c. dual state.

Bill Blum, Truthdig, 23 Jan, 2026

www.commondreams.org/opinion/ice-...
The Nazi Political Theory That Explains ICE's Impunity | Common Dreams
​Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become the violent face of the country’s transformation into a new 21st-century dual state.
www.commondreams.org
January 28, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by excog
We hope the good people of #SanFrancisco will forgive us for adapting a song about their city in 1967 to address the shocking and tragic events in #Minnesota in recent weeks. This is dedicated to Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and in solidarity. Our version is called "Minnesota" ❤️

youtu.be/BRHxXHZmVAM
"Minnesota" - Marsh Family adaptation of "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)"
YouTube video by Marsh Family
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 12:21 AM
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#Palantir
#PalantirUK

Revealed: Palantir deals with UK government amount to at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency

The Nerve, 27 Jan 2026

www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-t...

⚪ How *would* a govt. divest itself Palantir with such a toe-hold in many areas of govt.?
Revealed: Palantir deals with UK government amount to at least £670m – including £15m contract with nuclear weapons agency
Exclusive: Nerve investigation finds Trump ally Peter Thiel's surveillance firm has won at least 34 contracts, including management services for Britain's nuclear deterrent, with MPs warning of 'gapin...
www.thenerve.news
January 28, 2026 at 12:57 PM
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#Reform
#MatthewGoodwin

Perhaps do a 6 degrees of separation between Goodwin and Hitler by way of James Orr [National Conservatism, Ed. Burke Foundation] and J D Vance [says Orr is his British Sherpa] .

Recall Orr attended Vance's shindig in Cotswolds Aug 2025. ↙️

↘️ Cotswolds symbolism?
January 28, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by excog
The question isn't how we save ourselves from Reform.
It's how we save ourselves from Labour.
Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem.
Thank you.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The UK government didn't want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I'm not surprised | George Monbiot
It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:58 AM
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“This is a Marxist—this is the red-green alliance coming together to try to take down the American republic.... It’s a domestic terrorist mob.”

Steve Bannon

⚪ Coming from a man who was convicted and served a 4 month sentence for not turning up to the House January 6 Committee
January 27, 2026 at 4:14 PM