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Austin Flack

@austinflack.com
1.2K followers 1.3K following 1.2K posts

TV Producer. Washingtonian in exile.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Austin Flack
Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 9h
“U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies” — www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
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pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Sad news everyone. Our beloved friend the computer has now become a hated enemy
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 02/10/2026
“Just 7 percent of Brits think social media is a force for good and around one in three suspect that life would get better if all these sites were erased from the internet tomorrow.” Hard to disagree. Social media is a cancer and its social harms need to be taken seriously.
theregister.com
Erase social media tomorrow? Brits say yes
So why are more and more people snorting their daily fix of cat videos, men fighting and political propaganda
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Austin Flack @austinflack.com · 02/10/2026
Booooooooo
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Aaron Huertas @aaronhuertas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
One knock on effect of Musk buying out Twitter is that the “respectable” racists have lost their sense of how many layers of kayfabe they have to slap on their bigotry.
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Austin Flack @austinflack.com · 02/10/2026
He’s not being glib! This is literally what they say.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The literal argument here is that you're not assimilated if white people are racist against you because of who you are or how you look. bsky.app/profile/jame...
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Jon Pyle @jonpyle.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The great @hollyanderson.bsky.social has a thread, which inspired this thinking. But culture >>>> conspiracy. It’s so complicated to coordinate moving parts: people, organizations and communication. It’s much simpler to create a culture (tolerated thoughts, beliefs, actions) that values toxicity
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rivers mccown @riversmccown.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Frustrating enough that I hate my coach and my receivers and it's everyone else's fault, but now Mason Rudolph thinks he can talk to me?
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Last year not a single refugee fleeing religious persecution was admitted to the US.
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Doug Lindner @douglindner.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Weird that the aspiring fascist regime is constantly trying to make the security services’ rank and file hate them, and yet
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Mike Elk @mikeelk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
X is blocking the Brazilian Catholic Bishops' Conference account as polling shows Catholics backing Lula. The Church has denounced outside interference in the election
paydayreport.com
X Blocks Account of National Conference of Bishops of Brasil As Catholics Back Lula
Polls show Catholics backing Lula as the church denounces foreign interference.
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Starfire’s Deranged Neocon Foreign Policy Podcast @irhottakes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I don’t trust the mainstream media, but I feel like the primary alternate model, getting the news from the posts of a 14 year-old Romanian schizophrenic shitposter named “G00n3R the Swamp Pervert,” is not necessarily a superior alternative.
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This a perfect little clause summing up our very very strange times. "to learn how Anthropic — which could be valued at $2 trillion — might apply centuries of human moral wisdom to its models, as rapidly as possible" www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Religious Scholars Met With Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them.
In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
OPERATION: ALBATROSS is off to a roaring start.
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
“These are serious allegations. Serious allegations require evidence.” Dude, everyone is just going on a story YOU TOLD, voluntarily.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing
Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/u...
cnn.com
Jared Kushner’s company has large stake in firm with Israeli military links | CNN
At the same time Jared Kushner has negotiated in the war in Gaza, his company has held the largest stake in a firm backing businesses involved in Israel’s military campaigns.
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Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT @mikezaccardi.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
From Bloomberg: 10 reasons rates are surging
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
for weeks, christa’s lawyers have argued that tennessee’s lethal injection process is so unreliable that it constitutes torture. they were right. last night, the state tried and failed to execute her, and had to rush to the hospital to save the life they were trying to kill. second time this year.
washingtonpost.com
Tennessee once again botches execution; governor orders outside review
Christa Pike, who was convicted in a brutal 1995 killing, continued breathing after she was given two doses of lethal injection drugs, her lawyers said.
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
AP/ NORC Trump approval 31 %, disapproval 69%, net -38 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
President Trump’s Approval Rating: Latest Polls (Free Access)
Track the latest approval rating and polls on Americans’ approval of President Trump.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 01/10/2026
New in PN: Scenes from a personality cult "The ads are unambiguously illegal — & that’s the point. Again & again, this regime has broken the law not just to accomplish some immediate goal, but as a dominance display to say to everyone: Donald Trump does whatever he wants, & nobody can stop him."
publicnotice.co
Scenes from a personality cult
Trump’s taxpayer-funded agitprop is clearly illegal — and that’s the point.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 01/10/2026
Switzerland’s iconic glaciers lost an enormous amount of ice in 2026, a new report shows, signaling an ongoing rapid meltdown driven by climate change that has astonished scientists. About 20 percent of glacial ice in Switzerland has vanished since 2021.
washingtonpost.com
Switzerland’s glaciers are losing an astonishing amount of ice. See the meltdown.
Dry winters and a warming climate are taking a toll on centuries-old ice in the Alps, researchers say, with about 20 percent of Swiss glacial ice melting since 2021.
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Pé 🍺🧿 @forevernever.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's weird how the federal government is constantly being hacked after DOGE gutted the government's cybersecurity agencies.
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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Colorado GOP nominee for governor, Victor Marx, laughs as he recounts a violent fight with his wife: "I remember grabbing her, slamming her into our front door. She bent over and started crying."
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There is a moment at the very very end of Abdul El-Sayed's podcast with Ezra Klein (book recommendation section) where he talks about the idea of "speaking truth to pain" and this will be staying with me for an extremely long time. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/o...
But there’s also something about truth to pain. We talk a lot about truth to power, but I think it’s actually a lot harder to speak truth to pain. I say that as someone who went to medical school, realizing that in a lot of our politics right now, we’ve got to get a lot better at speaking truth to pain if we’re going to get through some of these challenges that we have.

What does “truth to pain” mean?

It’s one thing to look power in the eye and say: You’re wrong about this. But there’s a way in which pain is very difficult to reason with. Because when somebody is in their pain, they’re in their trauma. They see that pain, and they may not see what’s causing it.

I remember just very explicitly being in a trauma ward with a gunshot wound patient and watching this big guy with his hand on his gunshot wound. All the folks are trying to pull his hand off his pain, that point of his gunshot wound, this clear vulnerability.

And this emergency room doctor had the presence of mind to be like: Everyone, stop. And she looks him in the eyes, and she’s like: I get that really hurts, and I’m so sorry that you’re here. You don’t want to be here. We don’t want you to be here. But if you don’t let us fix this, you could die. So I’m going to take your hand, and I’m going to move it off, OK? Because I need to get there so that you can live.

She was speaking truth to pain. He understands he’s at the hospital, he needs care, but he also doesn’t want anybody to touch the wound. Which is a natural thing. And I think it is a really great metaphor for how we think about a lot of these challenges we talked about today.
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Austin Flack @austinflack.com · 30/09/2026
The funniest 17 seconds in television history youtu.be/EWeWBnxH6hg?...
youtu.be
Show Me the Receipts!
YouTube video by Generically Awesome
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 30/09/2026
This is priceless. Check out how local news is reporting on Sen Eric Schmidt’s clown-show grilling of Jack Smith. They found Jack Smith at the game… “Top corner, section 109, row 1. In fact, that seat doesn’t even exist in Atlanta.”
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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I have stared at this photograph more times than I can count. Every time, I look at the man in the white cassock and say, Tu es Petrus. With every passing day, this 71-year-old American, born Robert Francis Prevost, reminds me of Jesus. Then again, I guess that’s the point.
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Gobsmacked by the elite levels of not knowing ball in the Senate today, thinking an NBA team is called the Hawkeyes then, refusing to Google it, then accusing a guy of treason because you didn’t know the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes aren’t in the NBA. Somehow I don’t trust these people to Save Girls Sports.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today, Marist's midnight poll drop is from Ohio: Sherrod Brown leads Sen. Husted 51% to 43%. Amy Acton leads Vivek Ramaswamy 50% to 44%. A key stat: 50% *strongly disapprove* of Trump, in Ohio. maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/midter...
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Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 29/09/2026
Send Stephen Miller to The Hague.
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Sure, the 2024 election was one too, but 2026 might be the clearest intelligence test ever presented to the American electorate. Taken at face value, he's saying he stole hundreds of billions from the gov't, hid it somewhere Congress can't reach, and he pinky swears he will give you a piece. Really.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
PANTHEON: “.. We now expect headline #CPI inflation to average 3.5% in both Q3 and Q4, up from previous forecasts of 3.0% and 2.7% ..”
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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
it’s so funny that people were like “OMG a 2PM Oval Office announcement, is Trump going to end the war in Iran or invade Cuba?!?!” and it turns out, no, he’s just going to rant about how good the economy is + how elections are rigged and then fall asleep
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ghost malone ergo propter bones @proptermalone.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
we are watching our future get so much more expensive
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Micah @rincewind.run · 28/09/2026
dude you can’t address the entire nation just to announce a steel mill in iowa we can smell the flop sweat from here
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Absolutely extraordinary strategic and military concessions offered by Trump to Xi. Trump offered to sell weapons to China. That was revealed in an interview by David Perdue, the US ambassador. Trump is withholding a $14bn arms package to Taiwan already approved by Congress. All of this
nytimes.com
Trump Offered to Sell Arms to China, U.S. Ambassador Says
President Trump made the offer to Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said David Perdue, the ambassador to China. The White House later said the U.S. had no plans for such a sale.
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the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
not good
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CJ Fogler @cjzero.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
is it possible that Drake Maye cannot see teal
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Maciek Hamela @maciekhamela.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
With the Strait of Hormuz closed, Iraq has resorted to moving its oil across the desert to Syria in hundreds of tanker trucks, in true Mad Max style. From there, it will be shipped to worldwide markets.
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Yeah, this is the piece I want to read. We all knew that Where the Red Fern Grows was sad! This was the point of the book! Your real-life childhood dog will die too and that's why there is art about it! "I refuse to watch this one kind of sad thing" seems like a new development.
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rev. howard arson @theophite.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
he's right though
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Will Harris @sandwichpick.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This might be the easiest and most wtf pick six I've ever seen
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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
And @nytimes.com confirmed @haaretzcom.bsky.social report that UAE's leader called Netanyahu days before the attack with a warning of his own. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/w...
nytimes.com
Netanyahu Said to Have Been Warned by Emirati Leader About Hamas Attack Before Oct. 7
The warning from the leader of the United Arab Emirates, which lacked specific details about the nature of an attack, never reached the chiefs of Israel’s security establishment, Israeli officials sai...
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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Eleven days before the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, Egypt's intelligence chief made a secret mission to Israel to warn officials of a possible assault. He was on the ground just 67 minutes, so intent he had to come in person. Vivian Salama has the receipts. www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
theatlantic.com
Egypt’s Warning to Israel
Cairo’s intelligence chief visited Tel Aviv shortly before October 7 with a dire message about Gaza.
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Christopher Hale @christopherjhale.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Peter Thiel said yesterday that Pope Leo XIV is a “useful idiot” for the Chinese Communist Party because the pope wants safeguards on the development of artificial intelligence.
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Steve Benen @stevebenen.com · 25/09/2026
Sept 2024: Trump promises, “We’re going to bring [mortgage rates] down very fast. ... We will drive down the rates, so you will be able to pay 2% again.” Sept 2026: Trump’s war pushes mortgage rates to 7% as he stops talking about the issue. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
ms.now
Mortgage rates reach 7%, despite Trump’s misguided 2024 campaign promises
Until fairly recently, the president wanted the public to see him as directly responsible for mortgage rates. I think we know why he changed course.
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Jill Lawrence @jilldlawrence.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Fossil fuel donors have made "an estimated $190 *billion* return on a $201 million investment in Trump’s reelection," Senate Democrats conclude after 45 investigations... 1/2 www.epw.senate.gov/public/index...
epw.senate.gov
Leader Schumer, Whitehouse Unveil Comprehensive New Report Exposing Corrupt Fossil Fuel Industry Control Over Trump Administration
As energy and electricity costs skyrocket, Americans are paying Trump’s debt to the fossil fuel industry Bombshell investigation released as part of Leader Schumer’s Anti-Corruption Workin...
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