Lethargic Maze
gambariste.bsky.social
Lethargic Maze
@gambariste.bsky.social
My posts fly up; my thoughts remain below.
Posts without thoughts never to blue sky go
Pinned
"As for us," he said, in addressing the senate, "we are so far from possessing anything of our own that even the house in which we live is yours."

— Marcus Aurelius
Reposted by Lethargic Maze
For decades, Parkinson’s research has focused on genetics, on finding the rogue letters in our genome that cause this incurable disease. But researchers are looking at another unsuspecting cause: environmental factors.
Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water
New ideas about chronic illness could revolutionize treatment, if we take the research seriously.
www.wired.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:54 PM
There are no jury trials in Singapore. The death penalty is mandatory if judges find the accused guilty.

What the US is doing is akin to Duterte’s dirty ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines. He is now in The Hague facing ICC charges. Hegseth should consider his post-Trump travel plans carefully.
Just to note that Singapore has the death penalty for drug smuggling. Not saying it's right, just not unique.
Singapore, however, involves the full judicial process before sentencing. Proof beyond reasonable doubt, jury of peers. Not simply shooting up a small boat in the middle of the sea.
December 5, 2025 at 7:26 AM
If J “Demogorgon” Vance is Vecna, what does that make Trump? Well, one anagram deserves another and anagrammatically, Muprt brings Miss Piggy to mind. But Trump’s muppet is destined to live in a rent controlled trash can. In the upside down world of MAGA, stranger things may happen.
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

No reporters ever: "I'm Miss Piggy." "No, I'm Miss Piggy." "I'm Miss Piggy and so's my wife."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/19/trump-quiet-piggy"I'm
November 20, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Westminster-style parliamentary democracies have whole shadow administrations. Cabinet Secretaries aka ministers are -er- shadowed. By elected opposition spokespersons. Who have a whole term to prepare to take office, not just the 3 months following a presidential election. So there’s that.
Watching Karoline Leavitt spew her usual misinformation and divisive nonsense makes me wonder, why isn’t there a People’s press secretary?

Someone who stands at a podium, tells the truth, and gets covered too.

Democracy deserves balance, not propaganda.
November 13, 2025 at 1:57 PM
What is the answer to the ultimate question of Epstein, the shut down and everything?

42 (days)
November 12, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Lethargic Maze
50 years since the Dismissal.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Australian Senator Alex Antic: 2m immigrants is too many for the size of the country. But net migration to Australia over the last 3 years is 470k (1.82m in, 1.35m out). Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics. On a population of 27.8m that is 1.7%. This is a dog whistle.

youtu.be/hjICCpzcZBA
November 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Son of Man in Oval
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Don’t watch The Matrix, read Brave New World for where this might lead.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
This machine could keep a baby alive outside the womb. How will the world decide to use it?
For parents who have buried infants born too soon, a device like the AquaWomb is a miracle in waiting – and an impossible choice
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Translation: “The piano has been drinking; not me”
November 5, 2025 at 4:53 AM
A clerihew:

Dick Cheney
Was so brainy
His ties to Halliburton
Made the war for Iraqi oil all but certain
November 4, 2025 at 1:39 PM
“Australia’s history began in 1770 when Captain Cook waded through the surf at Botany Bay in his budgie smugglers and declared it a super spot for the new sport of surfing which he had just invented in Tahiti. He tried talking to the natives but they weren’t very nice so he made them bugger off”
📚REVIEW: Tony Abbott begins his book Australia: A History, by telling off professional historians – and laments the “cultural confusion” of our present moment.
Tony Abbott’s history of Australia wants us to be proud of men like him
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Inspired by Trump’s Asian meandering, perhaps we can apply an Eastern-flavoured riposte to the TACO acronym:

TOFU - Trump Only Fucks Us (or Up, or USA, as you prefer; even just U / you works).
November 3, 2025 at 4:53 AM
His teeth are unnaturally perfect. Like Halloween vampire costume teeth without the fangs.
Trump enjoying his return to Mar-a-Lago last night
November 2, 2025 at 8:32 AM
On the Epstein files, the point ought to be to release them in the context of prosecutions. If criminal investigations were in the works, there’s a case for holding them back. For now. But as things stand, Bondi, Patel, et al are only storing trouble for themselves.

💔😔 substack.com/@therickwils...
Nobody's Girl: Virginia Giuffre's Reckoning for Epstein, Maxwell, & the Billionaire Elite
My latest podcast episode with Virginia Giuffre's family + co-author Amy Wallace
substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:20 PM
"As for us," he said, in addressing the senate, "we are so far from possessing anything of our own that even the house in which we live is yours."

— Marcus Aurelius
October 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
And clearly, it is news media’s failure as well to acknowledge Trump’s enthusiasm for a genocide. Not to exonerate Biden totally, but it’s not clear that he was played by Netanyahu in the same grifting way as Trump/Kushner. Plus Biden is not looking for a Nobel.
‘The Republican party fails to fully acknowledge the role Trump’s unchecked and unbridled support of what the UN has described as Israel’s “genocidal” war on Gaza plays in alienating voters.’

Oh, sorry, that’s Dems’ & Harris’ failure on Biden’s complicity.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I am not done’: Kamala Harris says she may run for president again
In a BBC interview, former vice-president says she isn’t done with politics and could ‘possibly’ be the next president
www.theguardian.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:29 AM
‘The Republican party fails to fully acknowledge the role Trump’s unchecked and unbridled support of what the UN has described as Israel’s “genocidal” war on Gaza plays in alienating voters.’

Oh, sorry, that’s Dems’ & Harris’ failure on Biden’s complicity.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I am not done’: Kamala Harris says she may run for president again
In a BBC interview, former vice-president says she isn’t done with politics and could ‘possibly’ be the next president
www.theguardian.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Reposted by Lethargic Maze
If you're in Australia, my Boyer lecture will be on ABC in about 20 minutes. I'll wave to you from inside your TV. Should also be on iview if you're not near your telly.
This is sort of a thing, and I'm kind of proud of myself. The thing: I'm giving the keynote Boyer Lecture this year. Won't mean much to non-Aussies, but it's the leading annual "public intellectual" lecture series in my native Australia, and it means a lot to me.
2025 ABC Boyer Lecture series examines Australia as a Radical Experiment in Democracy - About the ABC
Academics, writers and policy experts will explore Australia: A Radical Experiment in Democracy across a series of five orations for the 2025 Boyer Lecture series, hosted by its creative director…
www.abc.net.au
October 19, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Beginning to understand what is meant by ‘brain rot’

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Are we living in a golden age of stupidity?
From brain-rotting videos to AI creep, every technological advance seems to make it harder to work, remember, think and function independently …
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Putin, Kim Jong Un, Orbán, Vučić, Erdoğan, Bolsonaro, Milei, Maduro…

Wait, Trump likes authoritarian leaders, so what sets Maduro apart? USA’s long stand on Venezuela’s lack of democracy is Trump’s least concern. What does set it apart however is oil.

rb.gy/pdjx0x

Now with added Nobel envy.
Maduro Offered Venezuela’s Oil to Trump to Avoid Conflict with U.S. | OilPrice.com
Nicolás Maduro's administration offered Venezuela's oil and gold projects to US companies, and proposed ending deals with Iran and Russia to avoid conflict with the Trump Administration, but the offer...
rb.gy
October 16, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Trump turns up late to his Shame-el-Shakedown victory lap and hits on Meloni.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘I am the only one that matters’: Trump deals praise and insults at Gaza summit
Self-styled world’s greatest peacemaker calls Meloni ‘beautiful’ and Erdoğan a ‘friend’, but takes jab at Iraqi and Canadian leaders
www.theguardian.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:44 AM
“Trump may be lying or he may be hallucinating. But he’s clearly calling the shots.”

Yes, but focused on revenge, aggrandisement and his legacy (building monuments and seeking accolades like the Nobel). But not all through yes-men; some like Stephen Miller and Vought have their own agendas.
"He may have been president on January 6th. But an FBI that wasn’t jumping to do his will at that given moment was a Biden FBI, in his brain. It isn’t just the tweets—Trump now runs the whole government this way." www.thebulwark.com/p/is-he-lyin...
Is He Lying Or Crazy? Does It Matter?
Living in the world the president dreams up.
www.thebulwark.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:28 AM