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Matheson Russell

@mathesonrussell.bsky.social
377 followers 161 following 219 posts

Social & political philosophy | deliberative democracy | social epistemology | climate activist | music lover | him/his | sidekick to @drjinrussell @AucklandUni

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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Okay wait, I did not know this existed at all. Has made my day
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Truth. Not much is remembered for long. And yet that doesn’t mean nothing matters! Things still do matter. They just matter for us and for now. And that’s enough.
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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"what we need to demand from universities far and wide is clear: Cease to be a place where sexual assault is often subject to less punishment than protesting and plagiarism." Cornell philosophy prof @katemanne.bsky.social in The Cut:
thecut.com
What It Feels Like at Cornell Right Now
As a professor at the Ivy League school, Kate Manne has known many, many victims. There’s a palpable feeling on campus, she writes, that this is big.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Slow news day in New Zealand evidently www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions...
rnz.co.nz
Seal pup who crossed busy Wellington road receives police escort back to water
A seal pup caught crossing a busy Wellington street over the weekend received a police escort back to the water.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
One of our nation’s finest
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The old line that analytic philosophy is answering questions that come naturally to toddlers via methods that come naturally to lawyers remains undefeated.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Excellent concept - really has the potential to bring justice for victims of abuse and, just as importantly, to function as a serious deterrent
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“Trump is in many ways the American id—especially for the white men who comprise the majority of his voter base. … To make American white men feel great again is Trump’s implicit promise. This will involve casting others down the relevant social hierarchies.” (Kate Manne in 2016)
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Newsroom NZ @newsroom.co.nz · 13/09/2026
Fixing complex problems usually involves difficult, unpalatable decisions. One solution: randomly select a group of ordinary people to debate the pros and cons and find a way forward.
newsroom.co.nz
Can a room full of strangers solve problems MPs can't?
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Gaia Vince @wanderinggaia.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The normalisation of far right rhetoric and policies across Western Europe and including Scandinavia is utterly depressing this century
theguardian.com
How Sweden lost its soul – and stopped being Sweden | Martin Gelin
In 2022 my country entered a new era of cruelty. It will take more than one election to get the old, tolerant Sweden back, writes Swedish journalist Martin Gelin
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Equal Earth projection is nice. But the UN rejected an alternative proposal from the New Zealand delegation, the Middle-earth projection:
A map projection centered on New Zealand. It's Middle-earth, get it?
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 03/09/2026
New WoodMac report discusses "natural carbon sinks," which currently absorb about 40% of human carbon emissions ... but are not valued by carbon pricing schemes, are not captured in climate models, and are all basically in decline. And unlike engineered removals, you can't just build new ecosystems.
globenewswire.com
Wood Mackenzie: Natural Carbon Sinks Absorb 40% of Human CO2 Emissions and Are Not Valued in Most Climate Models
New analysis finds land and ocean sinks are weakening and carbon prices and coverage fall short of what is needed to protect them, leaving net zero...
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 31/08/2026
in 1989 francis fukuyama invented the clickbait title and has been punished for his sins ever since
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Russell Brown @publicaddress.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I bumped into my Hungarian buddy on Friday, fresh back from a visit home. He said it's hard now to find anyone who'll cop to having been an Orban supporter. The regime is very rapidly disappearing into history. This how quickly things can turn. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Guardian view on the new Hungary: de-Orbánising at pace | Editorial
Editorial: As a Brussels deadline looms with over €10bn at stake, Péter Magyar’s first three months have been transformative in addressing a corrupt legacy
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Introduce yourself with 10 acts you’ve seen live: Herbie Hancock Kurt Elling Arturo Sandoval Wynton Marsalis Snarky Puppy George Benson James Brown Hiatus Kaiyote Erykah Badu Bobby McFerrin
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Cory Laran @corylaran.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
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David Owen @artsofdenial.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Please consider signing. c.org/HbfvvGzVvD
c.org
Sign the Petition
Save the Philosophy Programme at Dundee University
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
People on here are starting to forget why freedom of extramural unscholarly speech is part of academic freedom, even with the firings of people who said unkind truths about Charlie Kirk in recent memory and attacks on extramural pro-Palestinian speech ongoing. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
annualreviews.org
Conceptualizing Academic Freedom
Academic freedom is an unusual and complex set of norms and practices. It arises out of the combination of the corporate self-governance of medieval universities and the spirit of disciplinary scienti...
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TheBossRoss 🧶 @thebossross.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This must be the third video of wonderful voices singing global scales I have seen, and each is mesmerising and has taught me things I didn't know. Such as: That these scales exist and how they, the bare backbone of tunes, reflect and unlock whole world regions' music. This is amazing.
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Michael Plank @michaelplanknz.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Chris sacked Chris for plotting to replace Chris with Chris to stand against Chris #nzpol
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
if the cheese banks fail we will have a problem worse than 2008
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
New publication: "Democracy and Rule over Others" doi.org/10.1017/S003... In this article, David Kelley and I offer some new reasons to abandon the idea of democracy as collective self-rule. /1
doi.org
Democracy and Rule over Others: The Boundary Problem and the Limits of Collective Self-Rule | The Review of Politics | Cambridge Core
Democracy and Rule over Others: The Boundary Problem and the Limits of Collective Self-Rule
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Nathan Daniel Hernandez @natedhernandez.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Gotta shut down the factory that makes this kinda guy
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 28/07/2026
Israel is giving Trump's former campaign manager millions of dollars to fill the internet with pro-Israel articles written by AI, not so that anyone will actually read them, but so that *LLMs will train on them* & regurgitate their perspective. This is the future of the information environment.
dropsitenews.com
Israel Is Paying Millions to Train AI Chatbots How to Talk About Gaza. It's Working.
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is overseeing an operation posting hundreds of blog posts on behalf of Israel, with the goal of infiltrating artificial intelligence.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
To the the climate concerned - please sign: our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/st...
our.actionstation.org.nz
Stop the Climate Amendment Bill!
This is important because climate change is the most serious and important issue facing humankind. We have a rapidly closing window of opportunity to prevent catastrophic damage to the natural world ...
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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Matt Walsh complains that Nolan brought his obsession with nonlinear story telling to the Odyssey, undercutting the original's narrative. The defenders of western civilisation, folks.
Matt Walsh tweets: Nolan's obsessions with the non-linear storytelling gimmick really hurts this film. It jumps around so much, and spends so little time on any one particular moment or scene, that you never really feel like Odysseus is on an epic journey spanning many years. When he makes it home, you never feel like he's been gone for 20 years. The film does not capture the grandeur and scope of the original epic. That's why it feels rushed and too long simultaneously. The movie comes off like a rough draft. Nolan was searching for the actual story but never quite found it.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
This is the fulfillment of a fever dream of the far right to punish universities for hosting new ideas of social progress since William F Buckley published GOD AND MAN AT YALE in *1951* It took this long for a group of short-sighted hate-fueled degenerates to rise to the pinnacle of national power.
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James O’Brien @mrjamesob.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
And there it is… www.desmog.com/2026/04/30/r...
desmog.com
Revealed: Reform’s £24 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests
Reform UK has received £24 million from oil and gas interests, accounting for more than two thirds of its total income, DeSmog can reveal. Led by Nigel Farage, the party is calling for new North Sea o...
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Love this. If your solutions are not commensurable with the scale of the problems, I will give you a polite nod and move on
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Suzanne Vega releases “Luka” 39 years ago this weekend. She said she once received a fan letter about it: “Dear Suzanne, Luka is the most compelling piece of music I’ve heard in a long time. There are no words 2 tell U all the things I feel when I hear it. I thank God 4 U, Prince”
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ChonginTommy @benrockstock57.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
This is great. Genuine step forward
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Marc Daalder @marcdaalder.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
No government since at least 1987 has passed 30 or more laws without a select committee vet – until the coalition last month. newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/16/g...
newsroom.co.nz
Govt sets new record for bills skipping select committees
No government since at least 1987 has passed 30 or more laws without a select committee vet – until the coalition last month, Marc Daalder reports.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Let’s hope
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
We saw that press conference with Trump, JD and Zelenskyy. We know their negotiation style. It’s a masterclass in treating ppl like sh*t.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
People hear "judge" and they assume judicial independence. But the Trump administration has hacked away at immigration judges independence to the point that they can expect to be fired if they don't do the Trump administration's bidding. And the Supreme Court has blessed this loss of autonomy.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Still one of my all time favs on the Tiny Desk. If you haven’t seen it, check it out youtu.be/dzgEjZyN9ec?...
youtu.be
Lous and The Yakuza: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 29/03/2026
Love this: a "universal basic neighborhood."
usa.streetsblog.org
How a 'Universal Basic Neighborhood' Can Help Americans Live Longer — Streetsblog USA
Want to increase your chances of living to 80? A new paper argues we need to start with our neighborhoods — and we need to do it for everybody.
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
To be honest, this is a big f*cking flaw in the US constitution. But it’s not that the constitution lacks mechanisms to remove illegal actors from power. The flaw is that it empowers partisans to be the judge and jury.
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Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa @sanjanah.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
I'd strongly argue that a similar study conducted in New Zealand would result in comparable observations. | Foreign disinformation: “the new warfare and open liberal democracies are sitting ducks” committees.parliament.uk/committee/78...
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
And people wonder why billionaires buy up loss-making media orgs
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/03/2026
I'm telling you, the first time some blonde white woman whose also a major sports star gets disqualified for being intersex, all hell is going to break loose.
A screenshot of a post on X by Brian Sutterer MD (@BrianSuttererMD) quoting a post by The Associated Press (@AP).
​The main text by Brian Sutterer MD reads:
"I don’t think the sports world is ready for how many unexpected positive tests they are going to find if every athlete is tested.
​Especially anxious to see how this plays out in sports like women’s basketball, where genetic gender testing isn’t done
​If they are truly going to do genetic testing on every female athlete, guaranteed there will be unexpected positives that will have a major life impact in the athlete who may have had no idea."
​The embedded quoted post from The Associated Press reads:
"BREAKING: Trans women athletes are banned from the Olympics by a new IOC policy on female eligibility."
​The main post is dated March 26, 2026.
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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
104 urgent bills for this government. The fuel supply is not a circumstance needing urgency.
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Agathe Demarais @agathedemarais.com · 20/03/2026
The war in Iran could trigger a global food shock • More than 1.1mn tonnes of fertiliser and fertiliser inputs is currently stuck in the Gulf • Shortages are starting during northern hemisphere’s planting season, raising the risk of lower harvests for staples like rice www.ft.com/content/1054...
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
One measure of an authoritarian state is that people with ties to the regime use their connections to get personal enemies or troublesome family members disappeared, because the rule of law now depends on political connections. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/u...
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Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
“Guillo-teen” was right there.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Most of the media reflects neither reality nor public opinion. It reflects the views and demands of those who own it: the Oligarch Class. They employ editors and journalists to channel their demands and sell their fictions. Hence the endless attacks on net zero. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Rightwing narrative fuelling false belief UK public oppose net zero, study finds
Reform, Tory and some media rhetoric runs contrary to poll showing far more voters for net zero than against it
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
People like me who study democracy overwhelmingly come to think first-past-the-post is bad and that proportional representation (vote for the party you like best and they get seats in parliament proportionate to their vote share) is a superior system. So George is on point here
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Matheson Russell @mathesonrussell.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Just wanted you all to know that there are humans out there that can do this ... youtube.com/shorts/54H8k...
youtube.com
One more time #beatbox
YouTube video by Improver
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Matt McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
My obituary for Habermas in @jacobinmag.bsky.social jacobin.com/2026/03/habe...
jacobin.com
Jürgen Habermas Showed What Philosophy Could Be
The death of Jürgen Habermas has left philosophy and the Left poorer. Central to his work was a profound critique of irrationality in all its forms. Taken seriously, his philosophy provides an indispe...
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