@pgmookster.bsky.social
Reposted
Today's story about the Trump administration sanctioning European anti-disinformation campaigners and politicians emphasises what I argue here. They're out to get us. open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
The Plot Against Europe
Because this time they really are out to get us
open.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Today's story about the Trump administration sanctioning European anti-disinformation campaigners and politicians emphasises what I argue here. They're out to get us. open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
Reposted
History will record how a non-trivial number of supposedly liberal centrists went along - wittingly or unwittingly - with the transparently McCarthyite scam of the cancel culture/free speech moral panic And in doing so helped pave the way for neo-fascism.
The people who profited most from the cancel culture/free speech panic were less interested in actual freedom of speech than establishing their own control over public discourse. You don't even have to take my word for it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
December 24, 2025 at 8:09 AM
History will record how a non-trivial number of supposedly liberal centrists went along - wittingly or unwittingly - with the transparently McCarthyite scam of the cancel culture/free speech moral panic And in doing so helped pave the way for neo-fascism.
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Harsh but fair. (Source: www.ft.com/content/11a8...)
December 24, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Harsh but fair. (Source: www.ft.com/content/11a8...)
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So the US administration considers hate speech and disinformation “American viewpoints“? 🙄
HateAid is an organization that also helps climate scientists to defend themselves against online abuse and threats.
Its founder was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 🇩🇪 this year.
HateAid is an organization that also helps climate scientists to defend themselves against online abuse and threats.
Its founder was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 🇩🇪 this year.
“Imran Ahmed, chief executive of Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for digital affairs; and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index.”
US bars five Europeans it says pressured tech firms to censor American viewpoints online
The State Department is barring five Europeans it accuses of leading efforts to pressure U.S. tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.
apnews.com
December 24, 2025 at 6:59 AM
So the US administration considers hate speech and disinformation “American viewpoints“? 🙄
HateAid is an organization that also helps climate scientists to defend themselves against online abuse and threats.
Its founder was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 🇩🇪 this year.
HateAid is an organization that also helps climate scientists to defend themselves against online abuse and threats.
Its founder was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 🇩🇪 this year.
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This US administration is now completely losing any semblance of sanity in sanctioning "censorship masterminds". There's no other way to put it, this is tin pot dictatorship territory and must be called out as such. Including in the US.
Definite upsurge in Trump administration attacks on the EU / Europe in the last week, and I think of it rather as a cross between a toddler tantrum and an arsonist where the key fact is the project to reshape the world and even the US is failing.
December 24, 2025 at 7:23 AM
This US administration is now completely losing any semblance of sanity in sanctioning "censorship masterminds". There's no other way to put it, this is tin pot dictatorship territory and must be called out as such. Including in the US.
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There is a serious financial crunch facing universities – with alarm that if overseas student enrolments in January are lower than expected (and they have been for a few years now), bankruptcy is a very real prospect.
Lords minister Jacqui Smith gave evidence to parliament and suggested universities could simply continue to teach students if they were insolvent – something widely believed to be illegal
✏️ @jamesrball.com
✏️ @jamesrball.com
Is 2026 the year that Britain’s universities go bankrupt?
Immigration crackdowns are cutting revenues from overseas students - and now some institutions are on the brink
www.thenewworld.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 11:23 AM
There is a serious financial crunch facing universities – with alarm that if overseas student enrolments in January are lower than expected (and they have been for a few years now), bankruptcy is a very real prospect.
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NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇
December 17, 2025 at 4:14 AM
NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇
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Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.
Finland has emerged as a global leader in countering “fake news”. Here's how they've done it
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
newhumanist.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Most discussions about “misinformation” treat the problem as if people simply don’t have good enough critical-thinking skills. It sounds intuitive, but it’s not entirely accurate. The problem isn’t just individual ignorance, it’s the structure of the information environment people are placed into.
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“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda.
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
December 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
“The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda.
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
- Garry Kasparov
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Perennial reminder that the Republicans claimed Democrats were engaging in “censorship” and threatening free speech on campus…
December 2, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Perennial reminder that the Republicans claimed Democrats were engaging in “censorship” and threatening free speech on campus…
Reposted
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), p. 333
December 2, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), p. 333
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Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
November 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
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We rely on migration for the economy and several industries, decrease that and the economy is worse. A worsening economy means worse conditions. Unhappy public looks for someone to blame. Politicians tell them it's migrants. And so we end up in a never ending loop while everything gets worse.
November 27, 2025 at 10:57 AM
We rely on migration for the economy and several industries, decrease that and the economy is worse. A worsening economy means worse conditions. Unhappy public looks for someone to blame. Politicians tell them it's migrants. And so we end up in a never ending loop while everything gets worse.
Reposted
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
The CDC website now disseminates disinformation about vaccines, claiming erroneously that infant vaccines might cause autism, when we know conclusively that they do not. It is difficult to overstate just how dangerous this is. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
November 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This does feel like a major crossing of the Rubicon – the world's best-funded and in many ways most powerful public health agency is now actively pushing disinformation.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
I know there's a *lot* going on to care about at the moment, but this one really is significant, and matters well beyond the US.
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Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
Reposted
Meta is using your Whatsapp messages and Facebook & Instagram DMs to train its generative AI. If you want to object, you can do so here www.facebook.com/privacy/genai
How Meta uses information for generative AI models
Learn how Meta uses information for generative artificial intelligence, generative AI models.
www.facebook.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Meta is using your Whatsapp messages and Facebook & Instagram DMs to train its generative AI. If you want to object, you can do so here www.facebook.com/privacy/genai
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Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
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"it is striking how many of the key players we have looked into — the people who have gone out of their way to put up hundreds of flags — seem anything but ordinary."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
The men who raised the flags
Nigel Farage says this summer’s movement was led by ‘ordinary people’ expressing their patriotism. That’s not what we found
manchestermill.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 8:18 AM
"it is striking how many of the key players we have looked into — the people who have gone out of their way to put up hundreds of flags — seem anything but ordinary."
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...
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Chatting Trump, Musk and the radicalisation of the right with @mollyjongfast.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
October 22, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Chatting Trump, Musk and the radicalisation of the right with @mollyjongfast.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...
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The Conservative immigration proposals cannot be allowed to stand without a profound and widespread statement of moral condemnation inews.co.uk/opinion/tori...
October 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
The Conservative immigration proposals cannot be allowed to stand without a profound and widespread statement of moral condemnation inews.co.uk/opinion/tori...
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Peston tells Lam that she said something that he "genuinely didn't understand". "But who are these people who came legally who should leave?"
This does not look like faux naivety.
He should know the answer!
She misleads in her answer to him.
So he gives a misleading summary of her policy on air.
This does not look like faux naivety.
He should know the answer!
She misleads in her answer to him.
So he gives a misleading summary of her policy on air.
October 21, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Peston tells Lam that she said something that he "genuinely didn't understand". "But who are these people who came legally who should leave?"
This does not look like faux naivety.
He should know the answer!
She misleads in her answer to him.
So he gives a misleading summary of her policy on air.
This does not look like faux naivety.
He should know the answer!
She misleads in her answer to him.
So he gives a misleading summary of her policy on air.
Reposted
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
RFK Jr. in interview with Scripps News: ‘Trusting the experts is not science’
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. sat down with Scripps News for a wide-ranging interview, discussing mRNA vaccine funding policy changes and a recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
www.scrippsnews.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:48 AM
1. "'Trusting the experts is not a feature of either a science or democracy," Kennedy said."
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
It's literally a vital feature of both science and of representative democracy.
I've written a fair bit about trust in expertise as a vital mechanism in the collective epistemology of science.
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I've spent *weeks* working on this special report for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on GB News co-owner Paul Marshall – and the astonishing, unprecedented influence network he's built on the UK's right. There's never been anything like it before. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-p...
Paul Marshall, the man who owns the right
The multimillionaire controls a network of news channels, publications and think tanks that the left could only dream of. If Reform or the Tories win the next election, he will become the country’s mo...
www.thenewworld.co.uk
October 15, 2025 at 8:03 AM
I've spent *weeks* working on this special report for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on GB News co-owner Paul Marshall – and the astonishing, unprecedented influence network he's built on the UK's right. There's never been anything like it before. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-p...
Reposted
Reposted
There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
October 15, 2025 at 12:35 PM
There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...