John B
@johnb78.bsky.social
Yes, that one. Australian. Saying things; around the place. On the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. He/him.
created July 3, 2023
2,238 followers 993 following 5,099 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
ellie lockhart (she/they) (@eleanor.lockhart.contact) reposted reply parent
"sexual harassment doesn't exist" is one of the wildest outgrowths of the left this decade, but I guess it makes sense for a decade that began with "we are going to organize against the idea of a female president and mock the concept of women being bosses"
Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty (@irhottakes.bsky.social) reposted
racists who hate Obama for his Kenyan ancestry and racists who hate him for his Irish ancestry united by a common cause
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
There are two reasonable definitions of "working class", but there are none which don't either include both of "schoolteacher" and "accountant below partner level" or exclude both of "schoolteacher" and "accountant below partner level"
Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) reposted
Problem is that while most real people DON'T want to be working-class (because it means less money), highly-educated very-online types DO want to be working class (because of the social cachet), which means if you say, e.g., teachers aren't really working class, everyone thinks you're insulting them
matt (@windows98support.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
“Got treated like a terrorist lads” “Tell us what happened lad” “Got accused of encouraging violence on Twitter” “Yea but why” “I was encouraging violence” “On Twitter?” “Yeah it was on Twitter”
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
It would be insanely easy to get an AI to write a vacuous piece like this; given that the alleged author has no other articles on their site I wonder if this is actually someone doing such a bit anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/h...
Kelsey Atherton (@atherton.bsky.social) reposted
Does...does fucking anyone quotimg Leonidas know how that battle ended or what happened to Sparta after that war
Chise (@sailorrooscout.bsky.social) reposted
WELL NOW, would you look at that? A massive GLOBAL study revealed COVID-19 vaccines utilizing mRNA technology PREVENTED OVER 2.5 MILLION deaths WORLDWIDE between 2020 and 2024. It reveals that vaccinations didn’t JUST protect against illness. They PRESERVED nearly 15 MILLION years of human life.
lastpositivist.bsky.social (@lastpositivist.bsky.social) reposted
The thing is, like, Glinner umabiguously was calling for violence. He calls for punching people in the balls, explicitly, in those words! They're not meant ironically or something, in context he's just saying that would be good to do if its the only way to drive a trans woman from the bathroom.
James Ball (@jamesrball.com) reposted
Nigel Farage is about to give evidence to the US Congress on threats to free speech in the UK. So here's one for him: Reform UK has just banned me (and @thenewworldmag.bsky.social) from attending its party conference this weekend. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-w...
Stephen Bush (@stephenkb.bsky.social) reposted
👇 In addition to the fact that numbers have gone way down, and the government's rating on the issue has down, the 'numbers need to come down' people do need to reckon with 'which one of these categories do you actually think, in practice, people will welcome the consequences of lower numbers?'
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
You need this player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/wa...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
It's hard to sell "you'd be even worse off if....", but it's also true
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
The most horrifying film that I have seen and would recommend anyone else to see
Jonathan M. Katz (@katz.theracket.news) reposted
Hate when 'The Internet' stokes baseless conspiracy theories about a president's health
Andrew Hickey (@andrewhickey.500songs.com) reposted
The consequences (arresting Glinner for inciting violence) were in fact the *intended* ones of the laws. Streeting just hates trans people and wants them dead, and thinks that Glinner's Streicheresque hate-rants are a good thing.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Reform won't win because there's too much migration - there's no correlation between migration levels and far right support (Germany shows the literal direct opposite) - they'll win because the government fail to deliver
LeithMotive (@leithmotive.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Australia has compulsory voting, the US government would like compulsory non-voting.
Alex Hern (@hern.bsky.social) reposted
www.economist.com/science-and-... come work with me
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
In Australia, a civilised country, the independent agency that arranges and monitors elections has staff at naturalisation ceremonies doing their best to ensure that all new citizens are found to satisfy their right and duty to vote!
James Ball (@jamesrball.com) reposted reply parent
Understandably and predictably, sometimes people choose the latter. And that means police have to intervene on lots of cases that could and should’ve been dealt with by moderators instead. Right wing people are getting arrested because Musk won’t enforce the law on X. And politicians won’t say that.
RRRMMM (@strongmisgiving.bsky.social) reposted
Guy who regularly confuses poptimism with papism
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Anyone who isn't a mad bigot should be happy that migration is high because it's a good thing that enriches everyone.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Disappointing that Corbyn is aligned to this
Richard J (@preachypreach.bsky.social) reposted
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_T... I did absolutely not know whose father this was.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
There's a famous English-language song (most memorably performed by Dusty Springfield) which has the line: The only boy who could ever teach me, was the son of a preacher man
Orkney Library & Archive (@orkneylibrary.bsky.social) reposted
It's seven years since we posted on Twitter about how kids kept coming into the library asking if we had any books about FORTNITE. We didn't back then, and we'd never heard of it so we tried asking what it was.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Oh my god, this one is worthy of me at my worst
Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty (@irhottakes.bsky.social) reposted
I’ll never understand how “you get the post-1945 international political economy of the entire world rigged in your favor and I get to wear a dress sometimes without being murdered” was seen as an arrangement unfairly rigged in my favor by like half of American elites.
Fourth Crown War FPV Drone Operator 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇵🇸 (@dov.bsky.social) reposted
This is literally antiscience crap.
Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) reposted
wow is it possible for seven people to all be wrong about something? www.axios.com/2025/09/02/a...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
*Haigh, I mean
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
She did a crime! I recognise it's a stupid crime, but it is one that would get you disbarred as a High Court Judge or dismissed as a CEO
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
I recognise this doesn't quite literally work as stated because hedonistic criminals exist, but I think I'm about 90% of the way to believing a steelman-Popperian moral philosophy where the *only* evil people are the intolerant ones, and hence it's completely reasonable to punish those severely
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
I recognise that Stephen is correct on the politics of the matter, but this is so stupid - Rayner has done nothing wrong, legally or morally, and someone in her position in literally any other position (including High Court Judge, CEO, surgeon) would face no consequences other than back-paying.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
It would be nice if The People were to notice this re Nigel
Marios Richards (@mariosrichards.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
From Brexit forwards, it's felt like any social liberal with a degree - or just someone with similar opinions - is treated not like a voter but an unsalaried party worker. "Guys - of course I sympathise, but you got to quit it - I'm engaging with voters here!"
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
I don't think Southwark were especially to blame here, most of the issues were surfaced by the fire rather than clear beforehand. It really highlights how criminally evil K&C were in Grenfell www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhUP...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Good thread. I think a key problem it touches on is that a lot of Labour activists are well-off cis white social liberals like me, for whom it's easy to say "let's hold our noses and pitch to the proles", while having a 1950s aristo perception of what "the proles" look like and want
Marios Richards (@mariosrichards.bsky.social) reposted
Great breakdown from BES folk (now very excited for the Wave 30 release!). Stresses the point that Labour won in 2024 with a lot of 'vote lending' - across the Lib-Left bloc - which, unlike Johnson in 2019, it has failed to acknowledge.
Greg Jericho (@grogsgamut.bsky.social) reposted
Suggesting Nazis should be criticised is now apparently a controversial take
Simon Rosenberg (@simonrosenberg.bsky.social) reposted
"Those rallies were whipped up by far-right extremists and neo-Nazis. A lot of people were warned about that. I am not in the business of doing ‘there are good people on both sides’ argument... In particular, I haven’t seen a good fascist yet." 💥👏👏👏 #auspol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Bluesky is hilariously Yank for putting a CW on the blog photo
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Labour got 40% of the vote in 2017, I agree much of that was despite rather than because of Corbyn. I wrote about this at the time - www.johnband.org/blog/2017/02...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
I mostly agree with the premise that local councils should focus on bins rather than Levantine politics, but if the side of Levantine politics that's currently attempting a genocide is specifically subverting local councils then you can hardly stand by and watch www.deepcutnews.com/p/todays-ant...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
I think you're wrong here. About 30% of people would vote for Corbyn, about 70% of people hate him. About 30% of people would vote for Farage, about 70% of people hate him. But if we end up with 30% of people voting for Reform and 30% of people voting Green, the outcome is ~who fucking knows~!
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
This is a really odd take. The main reason the Tories lost by a huge margin was that they were too focused on the (minor) threat from Reform on the far right to notice the (much larger) threat from everyone else on the centre-right, centre and left. They've continued to focus solely on Reform!
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
The thing is, this is absolutely second-order to Jewish Zionists but it's the primary thing driving Christian (broad cultural sense) Zionists, from the evangelical fanatics all the way through to the hand-wringing German liberals
Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov.bsky.social) reposted
Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst Article I constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & well, 👇
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
I think this is a really important point where Jewish Zionists and Christian Zionists differ - the backing by Christian societies of Israel is absolutely based on the latter, even though Jewish Zionism is based on the former
Fourth Crown War FPV Drone Operator 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇵🇸 (@dov.bsky.social) reposted
If I may politely disagree, I politely categorically disagree with the fact that "deep history" is irrelevant to the story of Zionism. Zionism could not have successfully worked in literally any other land than Palestine.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (@diffractiongrating.bsky.social) reposted
I looked up public holidays for next year and the AI overview got literally every one of them wrong by putting them on day/combinations which don't exist next year and can't all exist within the same year.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Terf in "completely deranged monomaniac" shock
Paul Bernal (@paulbernal.bsky.social) reposted
Y’know, free speech IS under threat in the U.K., just not in the way people suggest. If you mention internet free speech here without talking about the Online Safety Act, well, you’re missing the elephant in the room.
Robert Black (@hurricanexyz.bsky.social) reposted
Look, the actual causes of the Revolutionary War are oft misunderstood, but to be clear: this is bullshit It was a dispute about the nature of the British empire, & specifically whether the American colonies had the same standing relative to the king as Great Britain did, or, rather...
Joey Politano🏳️🌈 (@josephpolitano.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
this is what annoys me so much when JD Vance does his anti multiculturalism ranting too. Like bro you are a Catholic convert married to a Hindu woman either stop lecturing me about how the founding fathers didn’t want a pluralistic society or stop living your life like pluralism is fine!
Joey Politano🏳️🌈 (@josephpolitano.bsky.social) reposted
The Schmitt speech today is beyond reprehensible, but it’s also just such a weird moment in American politics where people like Schmitt have to reconstruct an alternate history where *they* are “Heritage Americans”. Bro you are German and Catholic the founding fathers did not want you on the team
Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce.com) reposted
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL
Reconstructionist (@unavaleable.bsky.social) reposted
i think the framers would be genuinely aghast at how fucking whipped this congress is, just the absolute lack of self-respect and unwillingness to use any of their power
Reconstructionist (@unavaleable.bsky.social) reposted
So cool this is just how things are now
Ryan J. Reilly “paints a vivid and urgent portrait of… disarray” (@ryanjreilly.com) reposted
This Adam Serwer piece has always stuck with me and really makes you reflect on the stage we’re at in this USA project. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
The loonies at MacroBusiness have gone full Paul von Hindenburg
Lee Hurley (@hleehurley.com) reposted
State of Your Party supporters
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Sorry to everyone who knew the Canuck actor who sounds like a good chap, but the Graham Greene tributes feel like a very weird time travel
The Associated Press (@apnews.com) reposted
Pope Leo XIV met with one of the most prominent advocates for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church. The Rev. James Martin said Leo told him that he intended to continue Pope Francis’ policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
If LOTR were set in Australia rather than implicit GB/NZ, the ents would be the worst villains in the whole literary universe
pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” (@pixelatedboat.bsky.social) reposted
How can anyone say British food is bad when Britain invented both hotdogs and hamburgers
Nikhil Venkatesh (@nikvenkatesh.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
This take from someone else clarified things for me: Americans think US is a melting pot of previously homogeneous cultures. Lib Americans think this makes America great and right-wing Americans pine for the imagined homogeneity of the old country. Useful for both to deny multiculturalism elsewhere.
𝔐𝔞𝔤𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔰 🧲 (@magnets.bsky.social) reposted
american racists: british cities are full of people who are not british and pollute your noble culture loads of american "progressives" on bluesky, for no reason whatsoever: anything which isn't made by a white briton isn't british and your e.g. british-indian culture isn't actually british either
Allan Faulds (@afaulds.bsky.social) reposted
Fundamentally the default Yank position is that the British Empire was the most evil thing in human history, whilst the process of expanding from 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard to 50 states stretching to and in the Pacific(without which the US would not be a melting pot) was at most a whoopsie
Alan Beattie (@alanbeattie.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
I'm a HUGE fan of the rise of the Brics narrative as it basically creates a job for life for me going "no that's bollocks".
Alexander Clarkson (@aphclarkson.bsky.social) reposted
This sort of hysterical take based on optics never quite delves into how many states involved in these summits actually share a free trade zone, customs union, currency structure and unconditional defence pact
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
This is true for the vast majority of food cultures across the 2-5 countries involved, isn't it?
Julianna 💎 (@batariangal.bsky.social) reposted
British food discourse is usually pointless arguing over stuff that doesn’t matter, but the blatant hypocrisy of “food brought by immigrants to America is American, food brought by immigrants to Britain is not British” will never not infuriate me
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
That's diametrically the opposite of the point, unless you're a time traveller from 1950
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Really quite sad about this one, the last couple of QLD governments have made valiant efforts to turn SEQ into a vaguely habitable metro area
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Dreadful government of arsehats in "dreadful government of arsehats" shock www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
I can understand why ASIC didn't chase this one but I do hope and also suspect the 777 Partners guys will end up in jail over one of their many shonky deals australianaviation.com.au/2025/08/ex-b...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Liberalism and socialism
Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) reposted
One strange advantage of fascism is that a surprising number of intellectuals appear to find talking about it incredibly boring: it’s so facially evil. “Fascism bad” doesn’t seem worth anyone’s time so it often gets attacked only as part of a collateral attack on other, more interesting targets.
Cruel Angel's 95 Theses (@grayathena.bsky.social) reposted
No more Braedynns. If you're Jewish, you get named for a dead relative, if you're Catholic you get named based on the nearest saints day and if you're Protestant you open a Bible to a random page and choose the first name on that page. Return to tradition
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
Not unless it develops a horrible static buzz because the grounding through the RCA cables has stopped working properly, which unfortunately was the thing which happened here and attaching an earth is easier than resoldering the cables
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Not sure I really want the (on the face of it plausible) claim that President Vance couldn't be any worse to be tested
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Today's DIY project: making my entry level turntable resemble a much more expensive one (by accidentally breaking all the mechanical automation while trying to install a ground wire)
Peter (@notalawyer.bsky.social) reposted
one of the great conservative moves over the past decade has been to make themselves so unpleasant that their own family members are forced to cut them off, and then use that fact to argue that *liberals* are too uncivil
Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) reposted
Was rummaging through old articles and found this one of Demetre Daskalakis. Apparently, back in 2013, he went to New York City's gay sex clubs and bathhouses and administered meningitis vaccines and helped beat an outbreak.
Edward (@arkayne242.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) reposted
regardless of what happens to the tariffs, they're doomed from the start because the average conservative holds all three of these positions at once: — virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing — against increasing the minimum wage — buys foreign imports because they're cheap
jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) reposted
someone should put together a "kennedy death count" for everyone who dies of a preventable disease and just plaster it everywhere www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/c...
disc horse bot (@horsedisc.bsky.social) reposted
Groups of 30-50 feral hogs are fucking disgusting and won't exist under anarcho-transprimitivism
David Combest (@decombest.bsky.social) reposted
Chicago keeping art alive:
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
He also went head to head against Bush at a time when his wife was a prominent censor of cinematic depictions of both
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
The marketing department hate this with the passion of a glowing sun, but the proprietor bought the domain before he had marketers to employ. There are still traces in the customer URL structure of when my employer's main product used WORMS as its product name acronym
Marie Le Conte (@youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com) reposted
so first of all your honour, ewww
Duncan Casey (@duncancasey.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
On a related topic, I received a marketing email from an audio-visual company called AVAG the other day, who had unaccountably bought the domain www.useavag.com. This probably made sense to the marketing department at some point.
Osman Faruqi (@osmanfaruqi.bsky.social) reposted
Every single publicised arson attack on a synagogue has now been linked to criminal gangs and/or Iran. You’d imagine this would be front page news, considering how the media has sought to blame pro-Palestine protestors for two years. But it’s nowhere. www.lamestream.com.au/the-media-bl...
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social)
Good thread
Alt-Effy Safety Board (@effinvicta.bsky.social) reposted
Hot take: contemporary rural anger at cities is partly downstream of being dependent on urban areas and aware of that fact.
John B (@johnb78.bsky.social) reply parent
No it didn't, you loony