iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

New WWE Survivor Series promo package seems strange.

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NHATional Scissoring Day ✂️ @nhathanielh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

JUSTIFIED “FUCK ICE” CHANTS: LIVE FROM HOFFMAN ESTATES #AEWAllOut

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Fun (?) fact, Logan Paul is not the first WWE Superstar to visit The Pentagon.

screenshot of U.S. Department of War website showing “The Rock” visiting the Pentagon on November 15, 2023

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Or, as I wrote elsewhere: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

He was also responsible for producing and presenting the television show Reslo (Wrestling), which aired weekly from 1982 to 1995 on the Welsh-language broadcaster Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). Notably, Reslo was the only British wrestling show to feature women wrestlers, whose inclusion was otherwise banned on TV outside of Wales – a point actually highlighted by Michael Cole during the Clash at the Castle broadcast. After ITV cancelled World of Sport in 1985, Reslo became the sole British pro-wrestling show on terrestrial television, underscoring its unique popularity in Wales.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Recent BBC archive footage from 1965 on the ‘controversy’ around women’s pro-wrestling. Fun fact; while Women’s wrestling was kept off TV in England as ITV refused to show it 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, in Wales, ‘Reslo’ on S4C 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 regularly showcased women’s wrestling until the show ended in 1995 youtu.be/twgelvu6xVE?...

youtu.be

1965: Is Women's Wrestling Wrong? | Tonight | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

If you like art *by* George W. Bush, how about Mark Lombardi’s art *about* him: “George W. Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens, ca. 1979–90 (5th version)”, 1999. Graphite on paper.

Mark Lombardi print: George W. Bush, Harken Energy and Jackson Stephens, ca. 1979–90 (5th version), 1999. Graphite on paper, 38.88 x 122.56 cm. Courtesy of Donald Lombardi and Pierogi Gallery.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

And there are some great quotes you could use as well: www.cia.gov/readingroom/...

“… used as a conduit for CIA money, Ms. Steinem is quoted as saying of the CIA agents, “with whom she collaborated,” as Kaiser put it:: “I found them liberal and farsighted and open to an exchange of ideas.” “The CIA,” she declared, “was the only one with enough guts and foresight to see that youth and student affairs were important.” A few days later, the New York Times carried a similar story quoting Ms. Steinem as saying of her CIA connection: “Far from being shocked by this involvement, I was happy to find some liberals in government in those days who were farsighted and cared enough to get Americans of all political views to festivals.”

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Perfect timing for the WWE to have Stefanie McMahon remind everyone of how closer her family are to Trump, even beyond her mother’s role. www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/471184/s...

Stephanie McMahon opens up about her parents’ longtime ties to Donald Trump

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Governments have passed multiple pieces of legislation designed to hinder, criminalise and punish peaceful protest & direct action - the misuse of proscription is another element of this - w. routes to exert political pressure increasing constrained to an electoral process offering little option ...

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A reminder with the Clayton by-election that masked heroes have won election before under their ‘gimmick’ names.

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

It certainly shows allegations about racism in the Tories are real but somewhat more importantly, it double-underlines a horrible reality: *British politics* is not real, in the same sense that American wrestling - while people do actually have to work for it and do get hurt in it - is not real.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

TKO lost approx. $30 million running the UFC fight on the White House lawn. www.cagesideseats.com/post/kZfbmmr...

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chakrabortty.bsky.social @chakrabortty.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

This is brilliant, by the way.

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Peter Allen @peterallen.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

To quote Mark Blyth, the climate crisis is ‘a giant non-linear outcome generator with wicked convexities. In plain English, there is no mean, there is no average, there is no return to normal. It’s one way traffic into the unknown’. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

There is no ‘getting back to normal’ with climate breakdown | Mark Blyth

As the IPCC report makes clear, there are now only unknown and unfamiliar alternative futures that we can choose from, says political economist Mark Blyth

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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Somehow it’s so appropriate that at the end of this bizarre experience you might notice where it says “Glenn Jacobs Treasurer” and yes that is Kane from WWE

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

On Count Binface being elected *as Count Binface*: In Japan, at least 3 pro-wrestlers have been elected having run as masked gimmicks: Great Sasuke, Super Delfin & Skull Reaper A-Ji. The first two wore masks in the legislature. Skull Reaper had to unmask. In Mexico, Tinieblas ran for Mayor but lost.

Top left: Great Sasuke, elected to Iwate Predectural Assembly in 2003.
Bottom Left: Super Delfin, elected to Izumi City Council in 2012.
Top Right: Skull Reaper A-Ji, elected to Õita City Council in 2013.
Bottom Right: Tinieblas, ran for Mayor in 2021 for Redes Sociales Progresistas. Won 0.81% of the vote.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Absolutely key that Count Binface does not break Kayfabe. Stay in gimmick, brother. Don’t let the media work you into a shoot.

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CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, PhD @doctorcarrie.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Wait...wait wait wait... Does RFK Jr. not know about kayfabe, or is he in kayfabe? youtube.com/shorts/OCuM-...

youtube.com

LMAO: RFK Jr thinks WWE wrestling is real??

YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I’m writing about Jesse Ventura currently and IMO his is a truly authentic populist performance. Read his books, follow his career & the persona he enacts in political arenas is at once the one he developed as a pro-wrestler, action star, shock-jock, *and* his authentic self barely dialled-up. (1/2)

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This is a point I made in my recent piece for @renewaljournal.bsky.social - when it comes to the current cast of characters who dominate politics, anyone who hasn’t been listening to QAA, True Anon, Chapo, etc is playing serious catch-up. Constant shock @ known stuff. renewal.org.uk/articles/in-...

From social media’s margins, left-wing ‘shitposters’1 have long replied to jour-
nalists’ encomia to Mandelson with the infamous photographs of him alongside
Epstein. Listeners to podcasts such as True Anon, Chapo Trap House, and The
QAA Podcast (formally, QAnon Anonymous) were familiar with Epstein’s British
elite connections. As outlined below, enough evidence to warrant an investiga-
tion into both Mandelson’s and Mountbatten-Windsor’s private dealings with
Epstein while in public office had been evident since 2023 at the latest. From
this vantage point, the professed shock of broadsheet columnists and elected
politicians felt less like surprise and more like gaslighting.
Many in the media treated any mention of Epstein’s association with British
power as conspiracy theory. Such narrowing of reasoned public discourse was
made easier because these concerns were largely voiced by people already
dismissed as ‘unserious’: ‘dirtbag’ podcasters, unapologetic left-wingers such
as Zarah Sultana, and the aforementioned social media shitposters. The whole
episode ultimately revealed a cognitive failure amongst the class of people paid
to understands and explain politics: an inability, or unwillingness, to recognise
the role of elite networks in politics and situate events within them. In short, a
deficit of healthy concern about political conspiracies.
Anxiety about conspiracism is understandable. From anti-vaccine activism to
the seepage of ‘great replacement’ rhetoric into mainstream politics, the harms
associated with disinformation have been turbocharged by the Internet age. For
most of the democratic left, the reflex is instinctive: defend reason, pluralism,
and a healthy public sphere against the paranoid style in politics. Yet in the
rush to repudiate fantasy and defeat hatred, serious analysis of real conspiracy
has too often been dismissed. The result, as the Epstein affair illustrates, is an
incomplete grasp of politics as it actually operates, and a vacuum readi

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Anyone feeling sympathy for how Keir Starmer was treated by newspapers should recall: 🔴 as DPP he rejected bringing charges on phone hacking; 🔴 he was therefore found ‘culpable’ for phone hacking; 🔴 he then called to end prosecutions for criminality early; 🔴 & he refused to bring back Leveson Pt.2.

Four news headlines. Top Left: “No charges in News of the World phone-hacking probe”. Top Right: “John Yates and Keir Starmer ‘Culpable’ for phone Hacking, say MPs. Bottom Left: “Time to wind up phone hacking probe, says top prosecutor. Bottom Right: “Keir Starmer confirms he has no plans to revive second stage of Leveson inquiry.”

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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

This rather speaks to this analysis of the value of political paranoia. Sometimes they are out to get you! Sometimes world affairs are run by a small group of people!

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I have a provocatively titled piece in the latest issue of @renewaljournal.bsky.social, in which I propose that among the lessons of the “Epstein files” revelations is the value of a properly directly, healthy paranoia suited to an age of opaque networks, dark money, and unaccountable elites. (1/2)

Title: In defence of paranoia: rethinking
politics after the Epstein Files

Abstract: Th is article argues that a refl exive dismissal of ‘conspiracy’ has left political analysis blind to the routine operations of elite collusion, a failure exposed in stark terms by the Epstein case. It calls for a disciplined, evidence-led ‘paranoia’ capable of tracking power across the opaque ‘parapolitical’ networks that structure contemporary politics.

Just as politics itself has a ‘Too Difficult’ box32 – long-term problems such as
climate change or media regulation that are quietly shelved because they are
complex, unpopular, or resistant to accessible solutions – so too, it seems, does
political studies. Structural questions about the influence of security services,
corporate lobbyists and/or organised crime on democratic outcomes are almost
entirely nudged to the margins, bracketed as conspiratorial and excluded from
peer-reviewed publication. Instead, answers are sought where data is more
accessible and ostensibly transparent – elections, legislatures, policy pro-
grammes – and approached in turn from a perspective buuilt upon broadly
pluralistic assumptions. This matters, because despite their relatively small
readerships, the outputs academia produce provides a key evidential basis that
structures wider political discourses.
When political scholarship declines to grapple with these darker dimensions
and subsequently fails those seeking reliable, authoritative sources, it cedes
fertile ground that can, in turn, be exploited by more malicious or misguided
actors. Movements like QAnon weave genuine historical conspiracies – such as
MK-ULTRA, Operation CHAOS, or Project Paperclip – into their narratives of
mass deception. In doing so they blur truth and fabrication to increase the per-
suasiveness of their fantastical claims.33 In short, when scholarship fails to offer
rigorous analyses that take account of the darker workings of power, demagogues
and opportunists readily fill the void.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

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Laura Jedeed @laurajedeed.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

The UFC is doing a very clever thing: they have given each fighter an honor guard that includes a medal of honor recipient, which means every service member must salute as the fighter walks past

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Judged against Trump & UFC’s own goals, the White House event looks like a huge success. Trump pulled off a spectacular hyperbolic celebration of the MAGA aesthetic, framed by U.S. state symbolism and military power - upsetting all the people they’d want… (1/2) www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

theguardian.com

Trump’s White House UFC fights marred by ugly Michelle Obama smear

Justin Gaethje stunned Ilia Topuria in the main event as a night of military pageantry, political theater and cage fighting veered into conspiracy-laden culture-war rhetoric

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Roman Reigns previously announced he’d voted for Trump, despite being a registered Democrat, so choosing to attend the UFC White House event is on brand I guess. But he seems to have been the only non-exec there. www.cagesideseats.com/post/RZbtV8f...

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

It’s me - 英バース大のデービッド・ムーン上級講師（政治学）- quoted in Nikkei, with more comments on the politics behind the UFC fight on the White House lawn: www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZ...

英バース大のデービッド・ムーン上級講師（政治学）は試合開催について「トランプ氏がポピュリスト、反エリートのイメージを高め、『職業政治家』でないことを強調する効果がある」と指摘する。

格闘技ファンはトランプ氏の支持層と重なる部分がある。UFCによると、25年時点では米国のファンの66%が男性で、18〜49歳が76%を占めた。

ムーン氏は「トランプ氏はUFCとの関係を誇示することで、米有権者の中で最も接触が難しく投票率が低いブルーカラーの男性を引き付ける狙いがある」と分析する。こうした層は最近、物価高を助長したイラン攻撃への不満などから離反が指摘されている。

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Some thoughts from me in Libération today about the UFC fight on the White House lawn: www.liberation.fr/internationa...

David Moon, un chercheur britannique de l’université de Bath qui a publié un article remarqué sur le sujet, estime que c’est même ainsi que Donald Trump s’est construit politiquement, sur le modèle de la performance très maîtrisée du catch, en multipliant les provocations et les exagérations pour arriver efficacement à ses fins. «Il s’est attaché non seulement aux colonnes des tabloïds, mais aussi à des formes de divertissement qui sont souvent perçues d’un mauvais œil par l’élite culturelle américaine, raconte-t-il. C’est ainsi qu’il s’est créé son image de “milliardaire en col bleu”, cette image populaire de quelqu’un d’ordinaire et surtout anti-élite.»

A l’origine, ce devait être la célébration de cette culture machiste et violente qui a en partie conduit Trump au pouvoir. Un an après s’être offert un défilé militaire décevant aux allures fascisantes. Mais il s’agit finalement plutôt d’une opération de sauvetage politique. «Le désir d’être vu comme un vainqueur et un combattant fait aussi partie de l’enjeu», insiste David Moon. Une tentative désespérée de masquer ses déboires politiques récents, l’échec de sa politique économique, le dossier Epstein qui lui colle à la peau, et surtout la guerre en Iran qui a fait exploser le prix de l’essence, et fut surtout très mal reçue par cette base de jeunes hommes qui n’y voient rien d’autre que la mainmise d’Israël sur la politique extérieure américaine.

C’est aussi une manière symbolique, pour le plus vieux président à avoir prêté serment, de vaincre son âge avancé. «Il y a une juxtaposition évidente entre un homme qui est très clairement en train de s’effondrer physiquement sous nos yeux et une chose que Donald Trump ne veut absolument pas paraître : faible et vieux, poursuit le chercheur britannique. En s’associant à ce qui est essentiellement un sport de gladiateurs, avec des combattants jeunes, sains et en bonne forme qui luttent dans une cage pour la victoire, il espère, je pense, qu’une partie de cette gloire, de cette force et de cette vaillance rejaillira sur lui.»

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Miz and. Charlotte Flair at the White House UFC event. I’m very interested the extent to which this event will see greater blurring across the TKO lines in terms of visuals of WWE workers at Trump events - and the extent to which it’s noticed.

X post titled THE MIZ AND CHARLOTTE FLAIR AT THE UFC FAN FESR FOR THE WHITE HOUSE CARD. THE MIZ STARTS A USA CHANT

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C.R. Denis @crdenis.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Last night sixteen service members lined the path of UFC fighters at the Lincoln Memorial. The military’s highest honor. Reserved for funerals for heroes. Today they enter the ring from the Oval Office. Where Kennedy sat during the Missile Crisis. He owns the stock. That is the institution now.

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

“Trump is shrewd about what his fans – the Maga base– wants to see, according to biographer Gwenda Blair. “They want to see this anti-elite, anti-upper-crust, anti-upper-class event,” she said. “It’s on the White House lawn? That is rubbing everybody’s face in it. It’s a version of bragging.” “

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

‘Rubio, who described UFC as “the United Nations of fighting,” claimed that the fights are “educating Americans about cultures, societies all over the world.”’

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

If, as reported, there’s a larger than already reported no. of WWE wrestlers at the UFC 250 event this weekend, it could be a key breaching moment in the evidently conscious attempt to separate the brand from Trump. Having executives at the WH different to workers. cultaholic.com/posts/severa...

cultaholic.com

Several WWE Wrestlers Interested In Attending UFC Freedom 250 At The White House

UFC Freedom 250 is taking place this weekend on the south lawn of the White House, and WWE wrestlers want to be there.

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Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @hcrichardson.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

A reminder that Trump recently bought stock in TKO holdings, the parent company of UFC.

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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Me: Whom amongst us was not personal friends with the head of the British intelligence service Also Me: Coincidentally, and on an entirely unrelated topic - here are my very detailed arguments and my very specific demands for hugely increased government military spending

Tom Newton Dunn c
@tnewton... 9h X
So hidden that all the tributes were made on open social media. Pathetic click bait for the tin foil hatted... never read any story that relies on a 'points to' intro
N The National
@ScotNational • 18h
The tributes that flowed for Alex Younger on his untimely death points to a hidden network of contacts between the state and the establishment media, sources who worked at the top flight of the Britis...

Tom Newton Dunn • @tnewtondunn
X.com
A rant. There's a misunderstanding about just how short the government's Defence Investment Plan will fall, when we do finally see it. Sadly, it's so much worse than the general conception.
It's not just the gap between the £28billon that the chiefs asked for and the £13.5bn Rachel Reeves is offering. The chiefs' £28bn was actually just the minimum they think defence needs to get through the next four years. To pay for the full transformation that the SDR prescribes, and insists is vital, I'm told internal MoD estimates put the real sum needed at 4.5 or 5% of GDP (which btw is also NATO's new annual spending target). The UK currently only spends 2.3% of its GDP on defence, rising to 2.5% next April.
In cash terms, that means defence actually needs an extra £60bn, and not just over 4 years but EVERY year. That's the true scale of the tack and what nur allies like Germany and

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FactPost @factpostnews.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Trump tests the lights on his 92-foot-tall UFC stage on the White House lawn

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David S. Moon @daimoon.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

“UFC chief Dana White said in an interview that he invited a handful of megawatt stars to join him at the bout [including] Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson… A source close to The Rock tells Vanity Fair that he will not be attending.” TKO board member snubs TKO. Tut tut www.vanityfair.com/story/ufc-25...

vanityfair.com

Trump’s White House Fight Night Has a Star-Power Problem

UFC's Dana White and the White House are trumpeting the guest list for a festival of blood sport on the South Lawn. Tickets are in high demand among Washington power players, but actual celebrities ha...

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