Dom
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domruston.bsky.social
Dom
@domruston.bsky.social
Radical centrist. Learning to sing. But not really wanting to. Beekeeper.
Pinned
This one thing perfectly highlights the failure of the U.K. political process:

The referendum result was 52/48.

That is *not* a decision or a mandate. It’s basically a *we don’t know *.

Would you bet your family’s future on a 52/48 opinion? Of course not.

But Theresa May did. 🤬🤬🤬🤬
👇👇👇😳
The thing to understand about this is that this catastrophe in the UK has redounded to the political benefit of the very same people and political movement that pushed for it! Extremely perverse.
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?

Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
November 11, 2025 at 6:40 PM
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SNAP embarrassed him. So now he's against SNAP. SNAP is now the James Comey of government assistance programs.
President Trump criticized the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during a Fox News interview tonight, saying people "get it automatically now so the number is many times what it should be, it's disgraceful."
Trump says "we can reform" SNAP
"SNAP is supposed to be if you are down and out," Trump said on Fox News this evening.
www.axios.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:20 AM
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Call in the troops to solve the commercial real estate crisis in our swanky downtown cores

You can’t make this shit up, folks
November 11, 2025 at 5:53 AM
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A tech billionaire mocked Pope Leo XIV’s call for ethical AI.

The post was deleted — but not before exposing Silicon Valley’s deeper discomfort: a pope they can’t buy or bully.

It also revealed something older: the Valley’s original sin — the desire to be God.
Tech Billionaire Mocks Pope Leo’s AI Warning — and Reveals Silicon Valley’s Original Sin
A billionaire tech guru openly mocked Leo's call for moral AI — and quickly backtracked after backlash. It’s a telling collision of Silicon Valley hubris with a pope they cannot buy, bully, or ignore.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:56 PM
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This….is why it’s a BIG fucking deal.
November 11, 2025 at 5:46 AM
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The pardon covers 77 people, including members of the president’s former legal team, including John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
Trump Pardons Giuliani And Others Allegedly Involved In Bid To Overturn 2020 Elections
The pardon covers 77 people, including members of the president’s former legal team, including John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
www.forbes.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:30 AM
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Key move in arguably the biggest story in American history
November 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM
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“The only democracy in the Middle East.”
#BREAKING | The Israeli Knesset approved a bill proposed by the Ben Gvir party that allows Israeli forces to arrest Palestinians over social media posts without requiring approval from the Attorney General.
November 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
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Joyce Carol Oates' assessment of Musk also reminds me of this brutal Stephen Collins cartoon
November 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
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November 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
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this is brilliant satire:

“Given what I took to be the anti-Trump nature of the Sketch, I of course assumed there would be a similar, balancing Sketch discussing the possibility that the Capitol building had attacked the rioters....."
November 10, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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Very interesting piece, including the extract below which has the ring of truth
November 10, 2025 at 7:42 PM
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Judge Wolf’s own words www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
November 10, 2025 at 4:38 PM
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"To keep (Russia's) military machine running like this, a lot more money is needed — and there simply is not any," Milov, who was an economic advisor for the Russian government in the early 2000s, told the Kyiv Independent.
The cost of war: Is Russia running out of money to continue the fight?
In early October, the Russian government released the full draft of its 2026–2028 federal budget, outlining President Vladimir Putin's key policy priorities for the coming years. In his report for th...
kyivindependent.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
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WTAF
Plaques commemorating Black WWII soldiers fighting against Nazi Germany have been removed from a U.S. military cemetery in the Netherlands —Newsweek
November 10, 2025 at 5:36 PM
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Isn't this just going to embolden people to rip this documentary from the iPlayer using technical wizardry before it gets pulled on Friday (because of course it will) and then put it up on literally every other online platform so that it will always be one step ahead of the White House?
Lawyers for Donald Trump say the BBC must retract the Panorama documentary Trump: A Second Chance? by Friday (i.e. remove it from iPlayer etc) or face a $1bn lawsuit. I hope the BBC doesn't cave in to this legal sabre-rattling.
Trump threatens BBC with legal action over edit of speech in documentary
Leaked BBC report said film had ‘completely misled’ viewers by splicing two parts of January 6 speech together
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:38 PM
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Prescott's claims that the BBC has a pro-trans bias are even flimsier than you might imagine. He thinks all positive stories about trans people represent bias unless some ghoul from Sex Matters is invited to say that they are awful actually. Crackpot green-ink stuff
So the Telegraph’s “BBC bias dossier” - supposedly written by ex-BBC adviser Michael Prescott - is being used to claim there’s a rogue LGBT+ unit “censoring” gender-critical voices inside the BBC.

Let’s look at what’s actually in it. Spoiler: it’s nothing but recycled transphobic talking points!

🧵
For reference - Here’s the Telegraph article with the Prescott memo complaining about the BBC published in FULL.

Obviously, it’s an archived link which circumvents their paywall - as there’s no way I’m gonna give that transphobic rag any clicks or coin! 😣

👉 archive.ph/mJIsB
November 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
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I mean, what kind of legal action would this be exactly? Defamation? I would truly love to see it. 'They made it look like I instigated a coup during my very well recorded coup attempt.'
November 10, 2025 at 2:12 PM
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Great thread by one of the smartest Congress-watchers out there ...
Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.

1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.

Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 2:20 PM
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Dear TV executives. I'd like to pitch for a new TV series:

“BBC Board Traitors”

Details to follow
November 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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This is absolutely right.

The eight who signed off on this disaster of a deal were acting as a shield for colleagues who are up this cycle. Don't let any of them off the hook just yet.
The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it.

Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.
so currently defectors are:

Kaine (2030)
Shaheen (Retiring)
Hasan (2028)
Fetterman (2028)
Durbin (Retiring)
CCM (2028)
Rosen (2030)
King (2030)
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 PM
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Wow. Just wow. We can safely say that leaving Europe is very bad for your economic health.

So what are UKG doing about it, and why is the answer not dropping the May-Johnson redlines?
Headline from a serious and long working paper on the economic impact of Brexit. Possible that this has been feeding into OBR and HMT discussions?
November 10, 2025 at 12:08 PM
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Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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Unfortunately still true bsky.app/profile/adam...
American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.
November 10, 2025 at 12:09 PM