Ben Eltham
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beneltham.bsky.social
Ben Eltham
@beneltham.bsky.social
Writer, journalist, researcher, trade unionist
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QUT will take over famous literary magazine Meanjin, after the journal was closed by Melbourne Uni Publishing last year.

This is a win for all who campaigned to save the masthead, but hardly makes up for the damage done last year www.smh.com.au/culture/book...
Axed literary magazine Meanjin finds a new home after its axing
Melbourne University Press closed the much-loved literary magazine last year, saying it was losing too much money.
www.smh.com.au
Reposted by Ben Eltham
February 12, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
oh noooooo, is someone trying to scrape your output to make a shitty knock off of the work you did without acknowledging or paying you for it??? gosh that must suck so much for youuuu
February 12, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Part one of @Ketanjoshi.co’s new two-part series unpacking the collapsing core case for gas is now live on The Point.

Read the full piece on The Point: https://theaus.in/46FVDlL
February 9, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
At Google, speech critical of ICE is censored from the company's internal platform, employees who speak out are served with warnings, and leadership refuses to acknowledge a petition that's now gotten 1,200 employee signatures.

Inside the worker-led push to get ICE out of Google:
Google is stifling anti-ICE speech in the workplace as 1,200 employees call on the company to cut ties
The search giant has made it harder and riskier to protest its policies. Workers are still fighting back. Plus: A community takes down a data center, QuitGPT, and the 5 worst Super Bowl AI ads.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Why do people hate ai? It’s a mystery for the ages.
OpenAI’s President Gave Millions to Trump. He Says It’s for Humanity
In an interview with WIRED, Greg Brockman says his political donations support OpenAI's mission—even if some employees at the company disagree.
www.wired.com
February 12, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
"The global LNG industry has an economics problem. The main use for LNG (liquefied natural gas) is to burn it to generate electricity. However, there are lots of ways to make electricity these days and importing LNG to then burn it to power gas turbines is currently one of the most expensive."
LNG: The India Question
The global LNG industry has an economics problem. The main use for LNG (liquefied natural gas) is to burn it to generate electricity. However, there are lots of ways to make electricity these days and...
powering-the-planet.ghost.io
February 12, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
This sudden change in opinion was expressed in an angry Facebook comment left on a News Corp headline. chaser.com.au/general-news...
February 12, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
According to multiple NYT sources, it wasn’t even military personnel at Fort Bliss that fired an anti-drone laser at alleged cartel drones. It was CBP who used the weapon on loan from DoD against a child’s party balloon they mistook for a drone. The Pentagon gave CBP an anti-aircraft weapon.
February 12, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Melbourne protest against the visit of President Herzog, 12 February 2026
February 12, 2026 at 11:32 AM
One thing that astonishes me about the Herzog visit is that Israel has murdered more journalists than any other state in the 21st century, and he hasn’t faced a single question about this (to my knowledge) from the Australian media
February 12, 2026 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
February 11, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
insane to be reporting this stuff with a straight face. like what are we doing here man
February 11, 2026 at 10:59 PM
I, for one, look forward to a renewed focus on the business dealings of Jam Lands Pty Ltd
February 11, 2026 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
i told my dad i was switching his phone to dark mode and he said don’t do that i need to see happy things
February 11, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Justice Wright’s decision in the matter of Lees v NSW , the challenge against the NSW govt’s decision declare Isaac Herzog’s visit as a major event, just dropped on caselaw.

www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19c...
Lees v State of New South Wales - NSW Caselaw
www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au
February 11, 2026 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
NSW Police on the defensive in the wake of Monday's attacks on protestors as details of victims/those arrested begin to emerge - such as Ali (below)
#auspol #Herzog @sstephanietrann.bsky.social
michaelwest.com.au/herzog-prote...
Herzog protests. Medics attacked too, lawyers question police violence - Michael West
Monday's police actions against anti-genocide protestors in Sydney represent a significant escalation of unwarranted violence.
michaelwest.com.au
February 11, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
glass by Jane Gray at Woolstaston, Shropshire
February 10, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Sora 2 apparently cost something like $5 billion to run every year and so far made OpenAI around $1.4 million.
February 10, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
More reports of Gmail turning over email content to ICE are coming out now.
techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/g...
Google sent personal and financial information of student journalist to ICE | TechCrunch
The tech giant handed over the personal information of a journalist and student who attended a pro-Palestinian protest in 2024. This is the latest example of ICE using its controversial subpoena power...
techcrunch.com
February 11, 2026 at 3:46 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Professor Ben Saul, UN SR Human Rights & Counterterror—
February 11, 2026 at 4:43 AM
If only we could build submarines with the efficiency of the retired generals revolving door
I asked Defence where Major General King now works having recently left his job in the Department overseeing billions in contracts for companies like Lockheed Martin... can you guess where he went too?
February 11, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Wednesday's cartoon in The Mercury Newspaper: Jon Kudelka helped me get my first cartooning job at The Mercury. He also showed me how to be quick-witted and fearless. I was in a constant state of joke-envy over his cartoons. I'm gonna miss that feeling, but more than that, I'm gonna miss my friend.
February 10, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.
Building the camps
The warehouseification of detention and initial thoughts on stopping it.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
February 11, 2026 at 2:24 AM
QUT will take over famous literary magazine Meanjin, after the journal was closed by Melbourne Uni Publishing last year.

This is a win for all who campaigned to save the masthead, but hardly makes up for the damage done last year www.smh.com.au/culture/book...
Axed literary magazine Meanjin finds a new home after its axing
Melbourne University Press closed the much-loved literary magazine last year, saying it was losing too much money.
www.smh.com.au
February 11, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Ben Eltham
Morning. ☕️
February 10, 2026 at 7:34 PM