Consular of Brisbane

post hoc ergo propter hoc. Proud union member. Lifelong Queenslander.

[Consular of Brisbane @BrisbaneConsul]

If you start with premise that everything the White House and Israel say is horseshit, you will be in the same ballpark as the truth.

[friendlyjordies @friendlyjordies]

This is how fast the Teals will change their stance

[Consular of Brisbane @BrisbaneConsul]

#auspol

[Fiona @Squigglybitch1]

Fun fact;

Palantire, the company building AI kill lists for Israel's military in Gaza now holds top-level Australian security clearance and $50M+ in govt contracts. Palantir is inside our national data. Australians were never told. Never consulted. Never asked.

[Live Monitor @amlivemon]

A mighty China was supposed to be America’s saving grace, the civilizational foil that would finally shock a divided superpower back into cohesion. Instead, today’s reality has delivered a stranger, darker irony: even a peer threat cannot cure Washington’s self-sabotage. The cold war with Beijing has not unified the home front… it has simply been swallowed by it, carved up into fresh ammunition for the domestic culture war. One side views China as an ideological menace to global democracy; the other views it as a globalist economic parasite. The threat is universally acknowledged, yet it has failed to produce a unified response. Instead of an external shield, the geopolitical rivalry has become another mirror reflecting America's internal fractures.

If a generational struggle with a rising superpower cannot bridge the chasm, the lesser remedies look even more tragically small. We are still treated to the familiar, well-meaning technocratic wish lists: antitrust crackdowns on AI monopolies, algorithm transparency bills, and minor overhauls to primary voting systems. These are sensible ideas on their own terms. But the mismatch between the civilizational scale of American discord and the fiddliness of these policy tweaks is the absolute definition of bathos. Expecting a change in algorithmic filtering or a bipartisan retreat to heal a country experiencing a deep structural unraveling is pure fantasy. Politicians, blinded by the exhausting theater of acquiring power, still overrate how much a piece of legislation can achieve against the crushing weight of historical and cultural forces. The US did not arrive at this age of fragmentation because of a glitch in its political software. It will not escape it by running a routine system patch.

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Longtime Fed Chair Alan Greenspan died yesterday at age 100.

The true through line in his career was not free-market ideology but rather utter devotion to the interests of the ownership class: https://t.co/ZEThb0wVWT

[Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire]

“Our failure to prevent moments of national importance—and personal devastation for the politicians involved—from being interrupted by one guy with a boom box and a very basic record collection is all the proof you need that this is true” https://t.co/CEUZvGRuik

[Aaron Smith @aaronsmith]

@karlstefanovic Karl, platforming Tommy Robinson is a terrible choice.

His record:

Jailed for assaulting a cop
Jailed for Mortgage fraud
Contempt of court prejudicing grooming-gang trials
Stalked and threatened journalist at her home at night
Defamed a child

'Today' should end your contract.

[Michael Shoebridge @MichaelS_SAA]

2500km and 3000km range strike drones look relevant to Australia and the Indo Pacific. Maybe it’s time for our Defence officials- and even ministers- to stop downplaying the lessons we must learn fast from Ukraine in its war against Russia.

[Michael Shoebridge @MichaelS_SAA]

A tiny fleet of nuclear subs comes at the cost of a weaker Australian military. Nuclear subs are not magical, so is choosing a weaker ADF to afford them smart? https://t.co/LeKYUPcSqX

[Michael Shoebridge @MichaelS_SAA]

A tiny fleet of nuclear subs comes at the cost of a weaker Australian military. Nuclear subs are not magically, so is choosing a weaker ADF to afford them smart? https://t.co/LeKYUPcSqX

[Consular of Brisbane @BrisbaneConsul]

@Qldaah I worked in the water agency DRDMW for four years. There are no dam sites in SEQ that don't require rehoming hundreds of families and all cost at least $10 BILLION to build. SEQ will be on water rations by 2040 unless a new desal or recycled scheme is greenlit by 2030. #qldpol

[David Marler @Qldaah]

The Queensland budget will include $10 million for Seqwater to continue scouting for potential new dam sites, but a timeline has not been confirmed.

(Need to keep an eye on whom is ultimately receiving this money. Endless feasibility studies.) #qldpol https://t.co/1p7rRlAZBv

[Overland Journal @OverlandJournal]

“Heat kills more Australians than floods, bushfires, and cyclones combined, yet it remains one of the least discussed public health problems in the country.”

Noa Wynn on Australia’s unequal summer.
https://t.co/WQ3csuym67

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

Hezbollah pledges to stop firing at Israelis if they leave Lebanon.

Seems reasonable?

Israel’s invasion hasn’t protected Israel’s northern communities so what is the point?

[Consular of Brisbane @BrisbaneConsul]

#qldpol here's the problem: Seqwater is debt laden. Bulk water supply has not kept up with population growth and industry water consumption. We are entering another El Nino drought cycle. So...is Brisbane going to go on water rationing?

[Brisbane Times @brisbanetimes]

The price of bulk water in south-east Queensland will be frozen for the next two years, Premier David Crisafulli has revealed.
https://t.co/V4X8Gwocde

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Centrist liberals have rallied behind the idea of Federal Reserve independence in reaction to Trumpism.

But unthinking defense of institutions that are responsible for escalating inequality is what has allowed MAGA to flourish in the first place. https://t.co/w8l126gq6T

[Dave Donovan @davrosz]

Hanson and the media: an unholy alliance of the ruling class
~ Dr Martin Hirst / @ethicalmartini
https://t.co/r6cEvCd2qn via @IndependentAus

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

If this bill becomes law, Israel will become an autocracy with no oversight | Opinion

Link to the full article in the comments: https://t.co/pSqMEPujnN

[Jacobin @jacobin]

Defenders of the capitalist status quo often justify severe income inequality on the grounds that highly paid workers contribute much more to society than others.

This argument rests on a confusion about what determines the value of a worker’s labor. https://t.co/AbHA9LKOXW

[Jacobin @jacobin]

The eight-hour day was the product of labor struggle, not employer enlightenment.

The same will be true of further work-time reductions today. https://t.co/BShlJO5e2S

[Live Monitor @amlivemon]

The danger of AI isn't that machines will become too smart… it's that bureaucrats will use them to bypass accountability.
When the state uses algorithms to dictate public policy, "the science" becomes an unassailable shield against scrutiny. It replaces the messy, necessary friction of governance by consent with the clinical efficiency of governance by decree.

The social contract depends on citizens being able to vote out bad decision-makers. But you cannot vote out an algorithm, and you cannot reason with an administrative state that hides its political preferences behind "impartial" code.