Benjamin Smart
@bthsmart.bsky.social
Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Epidemiology, Medicine and Public Health, University of Johannesburg.
Loves being a dad.
Bad golfer.
Not my equations in the profile pic.
Loves being a dad.
Bad golfer.
Not my equations in the profile pic.
He wasnt deported, by the way. Eventually he got a lawyer who got his papers. But he's flown home to South Africa. America has authoritarian leadership - Africans know how to spot it. More experience of it than you guys.
September 5, 2025 at 8:48 PM
He wasnt deported, by the way. Eventually he got a lawyer who got his papers. But he's flown home to South Africa. America has authoritarian leadership - Africans know how to spot it. More experience of it than you guys.
Btw if you think you still live in a fred country ur mistaken. A British/South African friend of mine has just come home after 10 years as a permanent resident in the USA. No criminal record. Just an ordinary low level engineer. Kidnapped by ICE and chained to a bed in a warehouse for 17 weeks!
September 5, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Btw if you think you still live in a fred country ur mistaken. A British/South African friend of mine has just come home after 10 years as a permanent resident in the USA. No criminal record. Just an ordinary low level engineer. Kidnapped by ICE and chained to a bed in a warehouse for 17 weeks!
Every percentage in effective tariff rate is typically accompanied by a 7 basis point drop in GDP. So look forward to a 1% decline in growth, huge unemployment, and higher prices. Go Trump! What an economic genius.
August 31, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Every percentage in effective tariff rate is typically accompanied by a 7 basis point drop in GDP. So look forward to a 1% decline in growth, huge unemployment, and higher prices. Go Trump! What an economic genius.
Violent crime was down 33% BEFORE you turned the city into an authoritarian dystopia.
August 27, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Violent crime was down 33% BEFORE you turned the city into an authoritarian dystopia.
Does it involve a full scale invasion of the United States by its own armed forces, by any chance?
August 27, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Does it involve a full scale invasion of the United States by its own armed forces, by any chance?
This study is effectively p-hacking. GPT4o-mini is not designed for that task. Should have used GPT5 Thinking or o3 of the legacy models. GPT4o-mini is for quick easy tasks than require little reasoning capacity.
August 25, 2025 at 3:03 PM
This study is effectively p-hacking. GPT4o-mini is not designed for that task. Should have used GPT5 Thinking or o3 of the legacy models. GPT4o-mini is for quick easy tasks than require little reasoning capacity.
You're not wrong. At least not from a populist perspective. Also I don't think being a black woman helped. But said something that Americans would rather a narcissistic convicted felon and sexual predator than a progressive black woman.
August 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
You're not wrong. At least not from a populist perspective. Also I don't think being a black woman helped. But said something that Americans would rather a narcissistic convicted felon and sexual predator than a progressive black woman.
Plus be takes money from the poor (e.g Medicaid) and gives it to billionaires in the form of tax cuts. And why do people vote for him? Cos he's anti woke? Really? People are willing to give up all that, just so they can hate on progressive social policies. Weird values.
August 24, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Plus be takes money from the poor (e.g Medicaid) and gives it to billionaires in the form of tax cuts. And why do people vote for him? Cos he's anti woke? Really? People are willing to give up all that, just so they can hate on progressive social policies. Weird values.
Don't have to kill 10m ppl to be fascist. Not Hitler, but fascist. Ignores the courts, uses the military to enforce his will in his own country, arrests and deports people without due cause or due process, uses his power to take autonomy from universities and media, and destroying health science.
August 24, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Don't have to kill 10m ppl to be fascist. Not Hitler, but fascist. Ignores the courts, uses the military to enforce his will in his own country, arrests and deports people without due cause or due process, uses his power to take autonomy from universities and media, and destroying health science.
I peer review a lot of academic papers. So I guess the answer is yes.
August 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I peer review a lot of academic papers. So I guess the answer is yes.
No. It's not. Masked men attacking innocent people, attacking the free press, and flooding the streets with the militia, is pretty fascist.
Why bring up Trump? Because he is the president of the formerly free world, and the target of Newsom's tweets.
They're ridiculoys - because they mimic Trump's.
Why bring up Trump? Because he is the president of the formerly free world, and the target of Newsom's tweets.
They're ridiculoys - because they mimic Trump's.
August 23, 2025 at 7:02 PM
No. It's not. Masked men attacking innocent people, attacking the free press, and flooding the streets with the militia, is pretty fascist.
Why bring up Trump? Because he is the president of the formerly free world, and the target of Newsom's tweets.
They're ridiculoys - because they mimic Trump's.
Why bring up Trump? Because he is the president of the formerly free world, and the target of Newsom's tweets.
They're ridiculoys - because they mimic Trump's.
Love how the MAGA crowd think pink hair is an argument, when their guy pushing vaccine hesitancy, hiding a report implicating him as a pedophile, destroying the economy with tariffs, and using the army to normalise fascism like some African despot. #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles
August 23, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Love how the MAGA crowd think pink hair is an argument, when their guy pushing vaccine hesitancy, hiding a report implicating him as a pedophile, destroying the economy with tariffs, and using the army to normalise fascism like some African despot. #ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles
Tell you what. List the fascist actions of Newsom, and his criminal record, and I'll return the favour for the pedophilic orange man baby.
August 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Tell you what. List the fascist actions of Newsom, and his criminal record, and I'll return the favour for the pedophilic orange man baby.
Gavin Newsom is rocking it. Mocking that ignorant criminal fascist is just perfect. You can just imagine Trump turning purple with rage.
August 23, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Gavin Newsom is rocking it. Mocking that ignorant criminal fascist is just perfect. You can just imagine Trump turning purple with rage.
Dear chatGPT. Please remove all references to Donald Trump and his associates from the attached file, and replace with "Obama".
August 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Dear chatGPT. Please remove all references to Donald Trump and his associates from the attached file, and replace with "Obama".
Release the full Epstein files. Prove it
August 14, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Release the full Epstein files. Prove it
Aww man I hope Murdoch puts up a fight. But looks a lot like just a way for Murdoch to give trump money. Much like that TV station. Passing money through the courts is the new way to launder money. Lol. The irony
July 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Aww man I hope Murdoch puts up a fight. But looks a lot like just a way for Murdoch to give trump money. Much like that TV station. Passing money through the courts is the new way to launder money. Lol. The irony
Netanyahu been saying this for a decade. Shades of Iraq war.
June 21, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Netanyahu been saying this for a decade. Shades of Iraq war.
MK is a party of criminally accused. Associating with criminals means nothing. Nah, he was sacked because of his spat with the party leader's daughter, Duduzile. Who will likely be named MK leader by Zuma (no party elections), and then MK dies. Few Zulus will vote for a non isiZulu speaking woman.
June 4, 2025 at 9:52 AM
MK is a party of criminally accused. Associating with criminals means nothing. Nah, he was sacked because of his spat with the party leader's daughter, Duduzile. Who will likely be named MK leader by Zuma (no party elections), and then MK dies. Few Zulus will vote for a non isiZulu speaking woman.
Funny. Why do the Senate Republicans think it does lead to cuts in Medicaid?
June 3, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Funny. Why do the Senate Republicans think it does lead to cuts in Medicaid?
Trump thinks he's above the courts. He is not. The courts aren't really above him, either. But I think he should try to understand the US system a little better.
May 29, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Trump thinks he's above the courts. He is not. The courts aren't really above him, either. But I think he should try to understand the US system a little better.
😂 No. They are not.
May 28, 2025 at 7:46 AM
😂 No. They are not.
Happy memorial day, including to orange draft dodging sociopaths.
May 26, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Happy memorial day, including to orange draft dodging sociopaths.