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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚

@morewretchthansage.bsky.social
1.4K followers 3.2K following 2.2K posts

Freelance Journalist: muckrack.com/rod-w-mcmillan Blog: morewretchthansage.substack.com Co-owner New Internationalist Magazine: newint.org

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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 50m
The endgame of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg et al. doesn’t resemble Totalitarian Oceania—it looks far more like the fake history written by the Party within the book to justify the world they have built. #1984 #Trump #Musk #Orwell morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/a-fate-wor...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
A Fate Worse than Nineteen Eighty-Four?
The ultimate aim of the Trump-Musk Broligarchy isn't 1984's Oceania - it far closer resembles the fictional past created by IngSoc to make totalitarian hardship preferable by comparison.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 2h
The Dictators's Dilemma Democrats are still playing by the rules... But Trump has marked the cards, loaded the dice and paid off the dealers... What #GameTheory tells us about Dictatorship morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/the-dictat...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
The Dictator's Dilemma
Democrats are still playing by the rules; Trump’s marked the cards, loaded the dice and paid off the dealers. 'The Dictator's Handbook uses Game Theory to explain how, and why, he's changed the game.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Comes round faster every year ...
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New Internationalist @newint.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If meeting obscene military spending targets means cutting hospitals and welfare, it’s time to reassess NATO membership, argues Kevin Cashman of the @transitionsec.bsky.social.
newint.org
Military budgets paint a target on social spending
The US is pushing Europe to choose warfare over welfare. Now is the time to reassess NATO membership, argues Kevin Cashman.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I've only just realised the atmoSPHERE is literally spherical. 🙇
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"France rocked by massive public sector and student strikes Firefighters, teachers, and healthcare workers joined the fray, citing frozen salaries and crumbling public services" freedompress.org.uk/2026/09/30/f...
freedompress.org.uk
France rocked by massive public sector and student strikes - Freedom Press
Firefighters, teachers, and healthcare workers joined the fray, citing frozen salaries and crumbling public services
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The older I get, the more I believe that if we want to understand the world rather than merely react to it, we must make a place for print in our lives. Not nostalgia. Not affectation. A practical defence of our attention, memory, judgement, & sanity. morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/how-to-sav...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
How to save the world: the peerless power of print
In the beginning was the word, and the word was spoken. Then pressed with reed wedges into clay, scratched into wax, inked onto vellum. Then the words were set in lead …and these words had weight.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A free #Stoic lesson in managing #anxiety from Donald Robertson donaldrobertson.substack.com/p/how-to-fin...
donaldrobertson.substack.com
How to Find Strength in Your Own Character
Lesson 4 of The Stoic Mind Miniseries
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Wait a minute... Athena *Parthenos* gifted the olive tree to mankind ...is this why we have extra virgin olive oil? 😮
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New Internationalist @newint.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Get the facts on the global crackdown on #ACTIVISM in our latest issue. Available now at newint.org – subscribe for instant digital access, or purchase a single print issue from our very own Ethical Shop.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The trial of Germany’s Ulm 5 is part of a systematic repression of Palestine solidarity, argues Julia Damphouse, with wide-reaching consequences for activists everywhere." #FreePalestine #Ulm5 digital.newint.com.au/issues/312/a...
digital.newint.com.au
The repression spectacle
The trial of Germany’s Ulm 5 is part of a systematic repression of Palestine solidarity, argues Julia Damphouse, with wide-reaching consequences for activists everywhere.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Here is how politics, in most cases, works: Rich and powerful interests, whether in fossil fuels, finance, big tech, media, meat, pharma or foreign governments, make a demand, and use their sophisticated tools to persuade a government to adopt it. The government adopts it. Please read whole🧵
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
That’s because the decision has already been made. The issue being debated is merely the post-hoc justification. Where decisions happen and where debate happens are different places. The idea that debate leads to policy outcomes is a fiction designed to create an impression of democratic consent.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I'm moving shortly from a salaried role to fixed term freelancing & contracts, with more flexibility, and I found this old guide I'd made on job-hunting. Sharing for free in case it is of use to anyone this week - good luck! #Jobhunting #Hiring morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/freebie-eb...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
Freebie eBook: How To Actually Find A Job
Found This in the Archives – Still Good Advice for Job Hunters
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"In the Philippines, being labelled as a communist ‘terrorist’ can mean arrest, imprisonment and even death, writes Iris Gonzales. But that hasn’t stopped journalists or activists." digital.newint.com.au/issues/312/a...
digital.newint.com.au
‘Love means fighting back’: resisting red-tagging
In the Philippines, being labelled as a communist ‘terrorist’ can mean arrest, imprisonment and even death, writes Iris Gonzales. But that hasn’t stopped journalists or activists.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
With the keys of Scottish Independence being jangled once again above the cradle of nationalists, EU membership will be used as a carrot and Brexit as a great historical wrong: but Scots are still being kept in the dark on feasibility of membership. morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/if-a-light...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
If a light was left on: why are Scots still in the dark?
The Scottish National Party asked the EU to ‘leave a light on’ for Scotland, yet it fights tooth and nail to keep Scots in the dark about if, how, and when membership could possibly happen.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Ahoy: Here is my blog, payments optional, it might not be your sort of thing, but there's only two ways to find out... substack.com/@morewretcht...
substack.com
Roderick McMillan | Substack
Freelance Journalist. Long Covid Carer. Partially practicing Stoic.
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UK Politics News // Papernaut @ukpolitics.papernaut.co · 25/09/2026
THE CONVERSATION: The far right targets trusted volunteer groups because intimidating them can make essential services retreat. At Portsmouth, abuse of RNLI crews over rescuing migrants exposed how solidarity - and lives - can be put at risk. - by Maria Christina Galanaki
theconversation.com
Why far-right protesters target non-political groups like lifeboat volunteers
It goes further than just briefly disrupting services.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Ah, C'mon now, if that had happened surely there would have been signs! 😐 #PostLiteracy
Only 5 percent had an accurate, detailed understanding of what they’d read.

These changes aren’t confined to college campuses. American adults’ ability to answer logic questions, reason effectively, and analyze patterns declined from 2006 to 2018. American adults also tend to have a smaller vocabulary than those with an equivalent level of education did half a century ago. Recent studies suggest that the Flynn effect—the steady rise in IQ between generations since the 1930s—has reversed over the past two decades.Only 5 percent had an accurate, detailed understanding of what they’d read.

These changes aren’t confined to college campuses. American adults’ ability to answer logic questions, reason effectively, and analyze patterns declined from 2006 to 2018. American adults also tend to have a smaller vocabulary than those with an equivalent level of education did half a century ago. Recent studies suggest that the Flynn effect—the steady rise in IQ between generations since the 1930s—has reversed over the past two decades.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Pope Innocent III,who died in 1216, spoke of a certain kind of older man, who is "easily provoked", "will believe anything and question nothing", is "stingy and greedy" and "praises the good old days and hates the present." Reform UK's voter base has been knocking around for a very long time.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"The F Word" - Is it Fascism? All fascists are far right, but not all far right are fascists. If we are to defeat both, we must be politically literate for effective strategy. I look at overlapping, but different, definitions and the implications. morewretchthansage.substack.com/p/the-f-word...
morewretchthansage.substack.com
'The F Word' It’s Bad; but is it Fascism?
Is calling Trump literally ‘Fascist’ helpful, harmful or hyperbole? If you want a definitive, detailed answer: and the receipts to back it up, read on and find out.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The story of a banner: "МИ ПРОТИ ПОЛІЦЕЙСЬКОЇ ДЕРЖАВИ—We Are Against a Police State" Emily Channell-Justice In Freedom News. freedomnews.org.uk/2026/08/16/l...
freedomnews.org.uk
Left of Maidan: The story of a banner - Freedom News
“We Are Against A Police State”, it declared in 2014: Black, block letters on a white sheet, with no logo ~ Emily Channell-Justice ~ O…
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
🗞 Newsroom Assistant Job 📰 Kyiv Independent #Kyiv #Journalism #MediaJobs kyivindependent.com/newsroom-ass...
kyivindependent.com
Newsroom Assistant
The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s main English-language publication, is looking for a Newsroom Assistant.
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shaun @shaunvids.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
it is incredibly fucked up that the UK government and police consider it a much worse crime to wear a t-shirt or wave a placard with 'palestine action' on it than to block ports and attack lifeboats
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Conrad Landin writes from the world Nomad Games in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. I'm fascinated by the propaganda technique he references of 'invented tradition' - it fits in with my volksgeist model of Nationalist Narrative. #Propaganda #Kyrgystan www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
lrb.co.uk
Conrad Landin | In Bishkek
Kok-boru is a horseback sport related to polo, played with a headless goat carcass rather than a ball and mallets. The...
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
😮 On the WhiteHouse.gov FAQ page every answer now is just - "I invoke my Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.” 🗑🗂🗂🗂🗂✂🇺🇸
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The language used in reports and then quoted in media is propaganda 'framing'. We must look beyond it at the facts on the ground. #FreePalestine #Ramallah @mariambarghouti.bsky.social
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
They can't ALL have been Tyrannosaurus Rex, surely SOME of them must have been Tyrannosaurus Regina?! 🐉
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🍔The collapse of complex burgers🏺 presterjohnsrevenge.substack.com/p/the-burger...
presterjohnsrevenge.substack.com
The Burger Age Collapse
Approximately twelve centuries before the birth of Christ, the world existed as we can scarcely imagine it today.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
hearttoheartwithana.substack.com/p/how-not-to...
hearttoheartwithana.substack.com
How NOT to talk to a Ukrainian (if you ever meet one)
a guide from the Ukrainian perspective
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Far Right targeting of the RNLI speaks to a fundamentally different worldview of how societies should function: Kropotkin knew this, read my analysia in Freedom News : The journal he co-founded in 1886! @freedompress.bsky.social #Anarchy #RNLI #Kropotkin freedomnews.org.uk/2026/09/21/k...
freedomnews.org.uk
Kropotkin’s lifeboats: Mutual aid VS welfare chauvinism - Freedom News
The RNLI’s cosmopolitan philosophy undermines a cornerstone of the far right’s worldview ~ Roderick McMillan ~ Royal.
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New Internationalist @newint.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
William J Astore explores the growing militarization of space, the powers driving it and what is at stake in our previous Space Issue. Read ‘The militarization of space threatens us all’ from the archive for free now.
newint.org
The militarization of space threatens us all
As space becomes an increasingly vital arena for war, William J Astore tracks its increased militarization.
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Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
BREAKING: TV pool will not be providing coverage of presidential events until further notice b/c of CNN's ban, pool chair and FOX News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton said. It's effectively a boycott by the fellow members — ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX: www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Oh look, it’s the Leviathan. What a surprise.
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punkacademic @punkacademic.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Great piece mate.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The Far Right targeting of the RNLI speaks to a fundamentally different worldview of how societies should function: Kropotkin knew this, read my analysia in Freedom News : The journal he co-founded in 1886! @freedompress.bsky.social #Anarchy #RNLI #Kropotkin freedomnews.org.uk/2026/09/21/k...
freedomnews.org.uk
Kropotkin’s lifeboats: Mutual aid VS welfare chauvinism - Freedom News
The RNLI’s cosmopolitan philosophy undermines a cornerstone of the far right’s worldview ~ Roderick McMillan ~ Royal.
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New Internationalist @newint.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Navigating today’s complicated world can feel like a moral minefield. But our Agony Uncle is here to help. Send us the ethical dilemmas that are weighing on your mind, and he might just have the answer. Got a tricky question? Send your dilemma to advice@newint.org.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Great video summary on manufacturing of consent in the media
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
freedomnews.org.uk/2026/09/19/g...
freedomnews.org.uk
Greek prisoners release: Selective American condemnation is telling - Freedom News
Two long-term prisoners were released in Greece this week: a leader of a prominent neo-nazi organisation and an anarchist.
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Jared Goyette @jaredgoyette.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Allow me to reintroduce myself: I'm a 🇺🇸 copy editor and journo based in Kyiv. I edit translations for The Ukrainians Media. On Wednesdays, I host a free English conversation club for 🇺🇦 journalists. 18:30 Kyiv time. Help me connect with UA supporters here, будь ласка.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
jaredgoyette.substack.com/p/reading-ne...
jaredgoyette.substack.com
Reading next to Davyd Chychkan’s tree in Kyiv
Yesterday, I went up Shchekavytsia (Щекавиця) hill in Kyiv to read by the memorial tree for Davyd Chychkan, the late Ukrainian anarchist artist and fighter.
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
How quaint! In the worrying opening of this apocalyptic film they shockingly move the doomsday clock up to 5 mins to midnight! 😧 (In real life it's currently at 85 seconds and ticking...)
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Trump uses ad hominem to delegitimize legitimate criticism. Specifically, he uses tu quoque to deny the press status so they can't question him. Rather than respond to criticism, he reroutes our attention. What a loser. If he had good arguments, he'd make them. He doesn't, so he does fallacies.
Ad hominem (attacking the person instead of their argument). Used by dangerous demagogues to mock and delegitimize legitimate opposition.
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Ireland against Fascism @irlagainstfascism.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Unpaid volunteers who save lives every time they're called upon, and this is how they're treated. Meanwhile, Danny Tommo's mum has almost 70k in a crowdfunder to relocate to another house after Danny doxxed her. No thought for the RNLI volunteers who were doxxed by his fans though.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 10/09/2026
🎯 by @ellabaron.bsky.social The abuse directed towards RNLI volunteers is horrendous. Solidarity with RNLI volunteers. They are doing incredible work.
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New Internationalist @newint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Marwan Baghouti has been given many labels over the years: the Palestinian Mandela, a freedom fighter, Israel’s most dangerous prisoner, a terrorist. But to Arab Barghouti, he also has another label: Dad. Arab tells Bethany Rielly what it was like growing up under the label of ‘terrorism’.
newint.org
‘It’s a colonial word’: the son of a ‘terrorist’ speaks out
Arab Barghouti, the son of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, speaks to Bethany Rielly about life with a father who’s been labelled a ‘terrorist’.
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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Mindblown Owl Reaction: WHOA
Alt: Mindblown Owl Reaction: WHOA
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mariaevajarrous.bsky.social @mariaevajarrous.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well, well....
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well, you know what they say... "Thought-terminating cliché!"
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Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Midnight again. Feels like this happens every day.
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