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Astra Taylor

@astra.bsky.social
35K followers 530 following 852 posts

Writer of books (latest one is END TIMES FASCISM with Naomi Klein), maker of documentaries, schemer with the Debt Collective, editing at Hammer & Hope. "A hugely influential figure on the modern Left" — City Journal

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Reposted by Astra Taylor
Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 10h
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 11h
‘If we’re looking for soldiers goose-stepping down the streets, that’s not the fascism of our era. We’re in an era of automated weaponry and influencers. This is not the Fordist fascism of yore.’ @astra.bsky.social on fascism in the time of AI, on the podcast: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
Fascism in a time of AI
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 6 October · 54min
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Some thoughts I shared while in the UK, where Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has acknowledged that anti-genocide protestors "were right" but activists are still serving long prison terms for stepping in where their government failed. @astra.bsky.social
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Should have cut!
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 06/10/2026
On the podcast: @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social join @adamshatz.bsky.social to discuss what fascism looks like in the age of AI, and why we have reached a point where tech billionaires declare they are ‘unapologetically on Team Humanity’. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
Fascism in a time of AI
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 6 October · 54min
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Damn you were there?!??
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David Bonowitz @dbonowitz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Fascism surges in moments of real material crisis." Another (maybe the best) reason to design for reliable recovery, not just immediate safety.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
As Churchill famously said, we shall debate fascist semantics in the New York Times, we shall debate it on Channel 4 News, we shall debate it on the BBC (coming soon)... We shall never surrender! @astra.bsky.social youtube.com/shorts/cd0kC...
youtube.com
But IS IT fascism
YouTube video by Naomi Klein
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Katie Holten @katieholten.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Sally Hayden is in conversation with Naomi Klein & @astra.bsky.social re END TIMES FASCISM: And the Fight for the Living World 🔥 Then, Sally’s touring the US with her book, This is Also a Love Story: Searching for Good in a Divided World. If she’s at a bookstore near you—go! I wish I could!
dublinbookfestival.com
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor: End Times Fascism -BOOKED OUT - Dublin Book Festival
Join Dublin Book Festival for an unmissable evening with award-winning authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, around their new book End Times Fascism
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Could the bipartisan AI revolt help us prevent end-times fascism? Here's what my friends Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor think.
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wow what a nice review.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I just saw a film about the AI-enabled apocalypse. Only it's not science fiction. It's not even in the future. It's in the present. The film is called NAZA. See it. @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com youtu.be/98xLCdc7t7E
youtu.be
Apocalypse is here
YouTube video by Naomi Klein
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Mark Hurst @markhurst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/b...
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
very fair. thank you!
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A few days late on the draw, but I'm still totally floored by this. True thanks to all who have read, spread the word, shaped our thinking, or put up with me when I'm deep in the writing zone. And the biggest huzzah to my amazing co-author and book tour buddy @naomiaklein.bsky.social
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My broader take on all three German state elections and why focusing only on the success of the far right is both incomplete and self-defeating.
theguardian.com
Look again – there’s more to Germany’s election trends than far-right success | Cas Mudde
Defeatist narratives abound. Yet Germany’s latest elections suggest voter dissatisfaction is benefiting the left as well as the right, says the political scientist Cas Mudde
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Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The ‘End Times’ Fascists Want Doomsday. Can They Be Stopped? Another great conversation, as @mehdirhasan.bsky.social interviews @naomiaklein.bsky.social & @astra.bsky.social zeteo.com/p/naomi-klei...
zeteo.com
The ‘End Times’ Fascists Want Doomsday. Can They Be Stopped?
Authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor join Mehdi to discuss how Trump, billionaires, evangelicals, AI, and Israel have brought the world to a new and dangerous era that they call ‘end times fascism.’
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Jim Aldrich🌱 @jimaldrich.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
AI is the cancer
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Forget grandiose talk of curing cancer - this is what AI is actually doing to healthcare. In the words of one cardiologist: “it’s bots fighting bots, agents fighting agents, a horrible dystopic future nobody wants to live in.”
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Awful: Trump's Office of "Remigration" has just been exposed making sordid payments to authoritarian governments to take third-country deportees, leading to serious abuses. Dems tell me they will try to defund the agency if they win power. They should. 1/ New piece: newrepublic.com/article/2157...
newrepublic.com
Stephen Miller’s MAGA Terror Campaign Exposed by Damning New Leaks
Sordid revelations about the white-nationalist-themed Office of Remigration should galvanize Democrats: If they win power, they must try to shut it down.
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Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
From shock doctrine to end-times fascism. Beautiful review by @chrishatch.bsky.social of Naomi and Astra's extraordinary new book www.nationalobserver.com/2026/09/21/o...
nationalobserver.com
From shock doctrine to end-times fascism
What we’re experiencing is not the disaster capitalism of the past, write Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor in their new book. What’s new is the centrality of apocalyptic “end times” beliefs — one of the o...
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Yea!
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
www.cityarts.net/event/naomi-... www.eventbrite.com/e/writers-bl... townhallseattle.org/event/naomi-...
cityarts.net
Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor | City Arts & Lectures
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
West coast friends Naomi and I will be doing book events in: San Francisco (Tuesday) Los Angeles (Wednesday) Seattle (Thursday) There are a few spots left in each city. Come out and say hello.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 19/09/2026
our episode with @astra.bsky.social on her new book End Times Fascism is now unlocked! www.leftanchor.com/e/end-times-...
leftanchor.com
End Times Fascism - 400 UNLOCKED | Left Anchor
Today we've got our old pal Astra Taylor on to talk about the new book she co-wrote with Naomi Klein: End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World. What distinguishes today's neofascists--from...
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Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
@aoc.bsky.social just put out a great statement on AI. Refreshing to see a major politician on the left nail this. "Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity. But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves." 🎯
Charles,

Last weekend, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the largest Al companies in the world, publicly asked his industry to slow down Al development.

Shortly after, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAl, followed suit. Then Elon Musk.

This all came days after an Anthropic researcher quit, citing his belief that this technology could wipe out humanity and that Al companies are "gambling with our lives."

For years, people have warned that generative Al could slip out of our direct control.

Those safety concerns must be taken seriously.

And this is why I have advocated for strict safety standards on how Al is built and deployed, public oversight over this technology, and using existing laws to hold these companies accountable when they cause harm.

But I want to draw your attention to another reality: Right now, the U.S. economy and our financial futures are riding on Silicon Valley's bet that Al will soon be immensely profitable and pay off. And that bet isn't looking good.

The formula for a profitable business isn't complicated: make more money than you spend. But the biggest Al companies aren't doing that. They are spending hundreds of billions per year on data centers, chips, and other costs while their ability to make revenues that exceed their already-immense sunk costs are unclear. Experts estimate that these Al companies will require another $600 billion of debt just to financethemselves in 2026 alone. That is more than the entire budgets of the U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, & Education combined.
Meanwhile, despite almost every single one of these companies not turning a profit & having sunk billions of investor dollars in development of data centers & other infrastructure, Al companies are also on a spending spree of hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying & dark money in our elections.
It would be one thing if we were discussing a few private companies with a poor business model. But last year, virtually all stock market gains - 80% - rested entirely on just a handful of Al companies.
That tells us two things:
1. Nearly the entire U.S. economy outside the Al industry is relatively stagnating and faring poorly & the gains from these few companies are disguising it; &
2. Millions of people's retirements - including their pensions, 401ks, & investments - are potentially exposed to this risk.
That's why these Al companies' dubious financial positions matter to working people.
These companies argue that debt is necessary. They'll tell you that building transformative technologies requires upfront capital, & that massive borrowing today will pay off in generating unprecedented prosperity tomorrow.
But this is not the typical debt that startups take on while they build out a company. We are talking about billions going on trillions of dollars leveraged with no indication that these companies will be able to recoup these funds profitably. And they are increasingly looking to the government as their source of cash.
In an effort to hide their debt, tech companies have been relying on "circular financing" where tech giants like Google, Amazon, & Microsoft give billions to Al startups like OpenAl & Anthropic, only for those startups to hand that money right back to buy Al processing power.
In other words, these Al companies are luring in new investors by making it look like their financials are healthier than they really are.What's even worse is that retirement & pension funds are key to supporting this illusion.
When the Al companies issue bonds to raise more money, your pension funds & retirement accounts are some of the biggest buyers. When Musk's Al business went public, it became part of index funds where millions of Americans invest our savings. Many Americans don't even know that their retirement investments are tied up in these companies at all.
From Big Tech's perspective, that's a feature, not a bug. By tying our futures to their reckless gambling, Al billionaires are trying to make themselves too big to fail. They think they can take such dangerous risks because we will bail them out if things go wrong.
Sound familiar? This scene is dangerously reminiscent of the rampant speculation, corruption, & broken incentives leading up to the 2008 financial crisis that plunged millions of working class Americans into financial chaos that we never fully recovered from.
It is no accident that these warnings from Altman & Amodei come months-if not weeks-before these companies were meant to go public.
When companies go public, they have to be more transparent about how they are doing financially. And after a waiting period, they typically have to let private investors-like their own employees-sell their shares.
The New York Times recently confirmed that OpenAl has postponed going public for this very reason. They are in no rush for the truth about their finances to come out.
But the moment these oligarchs began to seek our public tax dollars & public contracts while exposing their companies to public pension funds & investments, they opened themselves to public accountability & scrutiny.
Silicon Valley billionaires have rigged the game & are attempting to shift their financial risk to working people: If they're right about Al's potential, they reap the profits. If they're wrong & the bubble bursts, they are setting up the American people to pick up the tab.
Heads, they win; tails, we lose.We can stop this, and we shouldn't play their game. Together we can address both the economic and safety threats of unrestricted Al development and prevent financial chaos and stabilize market risk.

We must make it clear now that should the Al bubble pop, Congress should not bail out Big Tech.

And across our federal agencies, we have the authorities and tools to hold Al companies and their leaders accountable for releasing dangerous, unvetted, and defective products. We must not wait.

Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity.

But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves.

It's time we hold them accountable.

Thank you for reading.

In solidarity,

Alexandria
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
NYT - Two men deported to Equatorial Guinea by the Trump administration were hooded, bound, beaten with guns and shoved down a flight of stairs recently by police officers at a remote hotel where immigrants are being held indefinitely. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/wo...
nytimes.com
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Everyone should watch this from @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social.
m.youtube.com
How modern fascism works | End Times Fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
YouTube video by Naomi Klein
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
On CNN's Amanpour Astra answered the question that’s on lots of people’s minds this week: How should we understand all of the Silicon Valley executives and engineers warning that AI might destroy humanity? Her advice: watch what they do more than what they say. @astra.bsky.social
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BostonJoan 🏳️‍🌈 🦫 @bostonjoan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Today at 1pm on @wgbh.org on THE CURIOSITY DESK, it’s the GLITCH REPORT! We talk to Astra Taylor about End Times Fascism, her new book coauthored with Naomi Klein. Watch livestream here: www.youtube.com/live/Q7G0Dho...
youtube.com
Boston Public Radio, The Curiosity Desk, & The Culture Show Live Thursday, September 17, 2026
YouTube video by GBH News
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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
If you're wondering how GOP lawmakers went from "mass deportations now!" to cutting ads like this in an R+15 district, you should read @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social's new book:
ms.now
Opinion | ‘End Times Fascism’ offers an answer for Trump’s polling decline
The far right’s bleak vision of a nation besieged by foreigners works better on the campaign trail than when a movement is in power.
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James Downie @jamescdownie.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“Sadism is not a new addition to the fascist playbook,” @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social write in their new book. “What is new is how little else is on offer. This absence...is end times fascism’s greatest weakness” A remarkable new poll confirms this, I write for @ms.now:
ms.now
Opinion | ‘End Times Fascism’ offers an answer for Trump’s polling decline
The far right’s bleak vision of a nation besieged by foreigners works better on the campaign trail than when a movement is in power.
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Anyone in DC Thursday night? Come check us out. Moderating a great convo with @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social about their new, important book END TIMES: AND THE FIGHT FOR THE LIVING WORLD politics-prose.com/klein-taylor...
politics-prose.com
Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor — End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World - with Wajahat Ali — at Conn Ave
A scathing investigation into the apocalyptic thinking of the Christian nationalists, tech-bro reactionaries, and populist survivalists who increasingly define the contemporary right—and a recipe for how to fight them. As the planet burns and shared reality melts, a new iteration of the far right is on the march. How can we understand this dangerous new development, and what resources can we draw on to resist it? In their scathing assessment of the contemporary scene, the celebrated activists and authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor explore how the religious fundamentalists, Silicon Valley technologists, and ethno-nationalists who make up this apocalyptic alliance share more than one might think: they are united in their belief that some kind of cleansing cataclysm is coming, whether through the manifestation of messianic prophecy, the rampages of a resource- and job-consuming artificial intelligence, or the purported existential threat of immigration and cultural replacement. Rather than avoiding this conflagration, they welcome it, convinced they will be among the saved on the other side.“End Times Fascism” is the ideology of the actors who strive to make the world unlivable and then seek to protect themselves from the fallout—whether by repairing to luxurious private islands, rocketing off to Mars, or bunkering the nation to keep their enemies at bay. The new survivalists have accumulated power, but they are far from impregnable. As Klein and Taylor show via original reporting and analysis, their many internal conflicts and contradictions and their nihilistic inability to envision a shared future, even for their ostensible allies, leave them vulnerable to a new kind of “pro-life” politics—rooted in reverence for our shared existence and regard for the earth we inhabit and must protect.
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Alexis Goldstein @alexisgoldstein.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“Fascism is capitalism’s most ferocious threat response, a way of making sure that the public anger that wells up during times of deep crisis is directed downward at the vulnerable rather than upward at the system.” 🎯 I’m *devouring* @astra.bsky.social & @naomiaklein.bsky.social’s newest book.
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Naomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today is the day! A journey that Astra and I started as an essay in The Guardian is now officially out in the world. End Times Fascism – And the Fight for the Living World is in bookstores now. If you are inclined, please buy one from an indie bookseller or borrow it from your local library.
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
True
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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This conversation with @naomiaklein.bsky.social and @astra.bsky.social couldn't be more timely. With the AI industry talking about *its own products' potential to cause human extinction* we drill into who might still want to build such technology, and why. Hint: it's in the title of their new book.
bloodinthemachine.com
The End Times Fascists of AI, ft. Naomi Klein + Astra Taylor
Listen now (64 mins) | A conversation with Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor about “end times fascism” in the tech industry.
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Antonia Juhasz @antoniajuhasz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I've been talking for a while about how Big Oil has tied its fate to Big Tech & vice versa. Big Oil was just running out of products to pitch until Big Tech came along with its energy-destroying data centers. Now, a fantastic name for the unholy alliance: "Fossil Tech." substack.com/inbox/post/2...
substack.com
Big Tech and Big Oil have fused – Call it Fossil Tech
Final sneak peak before launch day of my latest book with Astra Taylor
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
So appreciate your work Antonia
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Lmao
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ok so by far the funniest response to these photos was a comment from a pal who said we look like we’re starring in a soap opera called “As the World Burns” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/m...
nytimes.com
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Say the End of the World Is Now on the Table
In a new book, the writers argue that a powerful coalition of “end times fascists” is just fine with the earth’s demise.
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
An excerpt of End Times Fascism newly published in @guardian. Here's a passage on awe and the danger of its absence. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
LORD! THIS IS GOOD.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13/09/2026
Patient data from GP surgeries is being added to the NHS’s Palantir-built data platform in a significant expansion beyond its current use in hospitals: ft.trib.al/UJsbcrK
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
And that, fundamentally, is the prospect that terrifies end times fascists more than anything else. What keeps these men up at night is … us. It’s the possibility that a popular and vigorous movement will rise up and defend this planet and the many life-forms who call it home.”
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Larry Ferlazzo @larryferlazzo.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor Say the End of the World Is Now on the Table www.nytimes.com/2026/09/12/m...
Taylor: I think building multiracial democracy is harder than building fascism or authoritarianism. Because we don’t want to just grab the levers of power. You want to share power, and you have to figure out how to live together. So I think our project is just inherently more difficult.
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Jim Aldrich🌱 @jimaldrich.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Watch this powerful video to learn about the three main groups pushing us into end times fascism
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Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
CREDITS FOR FILM Produced by Emma Dessau Edited by Austin Bedell, P. Nick Curran, Emma Dessau DP, Austin Bedell Cam Op, Erick Stoll Additional Camera, P. Nick Curran A That’s Us Production
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Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It’s astonishing to see this, even though we saw it coming months ago. White = 10°F + above normal in the El Niño regions. Its immense! In the air, a regional warming of 10° is no big deal. But in the ocean it’s immense! Think about how hard it is/ how long it takes to cool/ heat your pool. 1/
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“Don’t mistake kindness for weakness” @mupx2.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A must watch.
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