Dr_Aust_PhD
@draustphd.bsky.social
Grumpy old lab scientist (retd.), Uni teacher & centrist dad. Irked by trendy nonsense, own waistline, hair 📉 etc. NOT a medic - other ½ of NHS doctor. Long-ago 70s punk rock fan/ guitarist. 2 kids & now no dog (RIP). Personal views.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
One human rights observer in Maine said agents followed her home, blocked off her street, and came to her door to say they know where she lives. Her children are now staying elsewhere, to keep them safe.
Now in Maine: ICE watchers say federal agents are coming to their house to threaten and intimidate them.
www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
ICE watchers in Maine say they were threatened by federal agents
Community members have been monitoring the activity of immigration agents in Greater Portland.
www.pressherald.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:14 AM
One human rights observer in Maine said agents followed her home, blocked off her street, and came to her door to say they know where she lives. Her children are now staying elsewhere, to keep them safe.
Summary execution of an unarmed citizen by a paramilitary death squad.
Welcome to Trumpitania.
Welcome to Trumpitania.
A NYT narration of the multiple angles of Pretti’s execution shows that he never posed a threat; that ICE brutally instigated violence and Pretti only sought to defend a prone woman; and that two ICE agents shot him 10 times in total.
Devastating. Horrific.
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
Devastating. Horrific.
www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...
Video: New Video Analysis Reveals Flawed and Fatal Decisions in Shooting of Pretti
A frame-by-frame assessment of actions by Alex Pretti and the two officers who fired 10 times shows how lethal force came to be used against a target who didn’t pose a threat.
www.nytimes.com
January 27, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Summary execution of an unarmed citizen by a paramilitary death squad.
Welcome to Trumpitania.
Welcome to Trumpitania.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
We did #Brexit.
Matt Goodwin: My profile of a charlatan for our times
They say we get the politicians we deserve. I wonder what the bloody hell the British did to deserve this
comment.press/charl2701
They say we get the politicians we deserve. I wonder what the bloody hell the British did to deserve this
comment.press/charl2701
Matt Goodwin: A charlatan for our times
What have we done to deserve this?
comment.press
January 27, 2026 at 5:38 PM
We did #Brexit.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
www.theverge.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Proud of this British export.
January 27, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Proud of this British export.
This is 100% accurate. It's on Reform's website under 'Policies' & is titled 'Operation Restoring Justice'. The ICE-alike agency will be 'UK Deportation Command' & will pool data (just as ICE do, aided by Peter Thiel's sinister Palantir) to 'power bulk warrants'. The detention camps are there too.
The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.
It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
January 27, 2026 at 5:40 PM
This is 100% accurate. It's on Reform's website under 'Policies' & is titled 'Operation Restoring Justice'. The ICE-alike agency will be 'UK Deportation Command' & will pool data (just as ICE do, aided by Peter Thiel's sinister Palantir) to 'power bulk warrants'. The detention camps are there too.
A succinct statement of exactly what Miller and the US radical right really believe.
You might, alternatively, term this 'fascism',
You might, alternatively, term this 'fascism',
The Trump regime's position seems to be that Republicans have the right to bear arms and everyone else has the right to get shot by them.
January 27, 2026 at 5:31 PM
A succinct statement of exactly what Miller and the US radical right really believe.
You might, alternatively, term this 'fascism',
You might, alternatively, term this 'fascism',
Far right a**holes are born again as unrepentant far-right a**holes. Lovely people.
Reform has become a sort of born-again Christianity for Tory politicians. Embrace the turquoise waters and rise, baptised, all your many sins and iniquities during the previous government simply washed away.
January 27, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Far right a**holes are born again as unrepentant far-right a**holes. Lovely people.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
He worked at the same institution as I did (Kent). Walked the same halls, sat in the same meetings, ate the same food. Not sure how he was radicalised into the walking cloud of racist smugness he now is.
Matthew Goodwin's selection may genuinely be the biggest unforced error in Farage's political career.
January 27, 2026 at 4:47 PM
He worked at the same institution as I did (Kent). Walked the same halls, sat in the same meetings, ate the same food. Not sure how he was radicalised into the walking cloud of racist smugness he now is.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
It turns out that Danny Kruger MP (Now Reform, formerly Tory) has embraced this way of thinking publicly. This is from his latest piece for the Spectator:
January 27, 2026 at 4:52 PM
It turns out that Danny Kruger MP (Now Reform, formerly Tory) has embraced this way of thinking publicly. This is from his latest piece for the Spectator:
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Universal in all languages, actually!
January 27, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Universal in all languages, actually!
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
NEW: Nobody in Britain is going to see the new Melania movie – I've crunched the data to prove it (FREE TO READ)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
Nobody in Britain is going to see the new Melania movie – I've crunched the data to prove it
I really don't care, do u?
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk
January 27, 2026 at 3:15 PM
NEW: Nobody in Britain is going to see the new Melania movie – I've crunched the data to prove it (FREE TO READ)
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/i-really-d...
Quite. Why is it so difficult for the BBC and Question Time to say 'Ex-academic and commentator'? Though now that would read 'Ex-academic and Reform activist'.
Reform picks anti-migrant activist Matt Goodwin as its candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election.
A reminder that just a few months ago the BBC invited him onto Question Time as a supposedly independent "author and academic"
A reminder that just a few months ago the BBC invited him onto Question Time as a supposedly independent "author and academic"
January 27, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Quite. Why is it so difficult for the BBC and Question Time to say 'Ex-academic and commentator'? Though now that would read 'Ex-academic and Reform activist'.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I reported back in *August 2024* that Goodwin had left the university of Kent. And that the supposed emeritus title he used was nothing of the sort. Since then he’s only hid a part-time title from a private for-profit university. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
January 27, 2026 at 3:25 PM
I reported back in *August 2024* that Goodwin had left the university of Kent. And that the supposed emeritus title he used was nothing of the sort. Since then he’s only hid a part-time title from a private for-profit university. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-m...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
It's not quite the most pressing issue at the moment, but the American people absolutely have a right to know the names of the federal officials who shot and killed a man peacefully protesting, who was on his knees, prone in the street when they shot him in the back.
January 27, 2026 at 1:58 PM
It's not quite the most pressing issue at the moment, but the American people absolutely have a right to know the names of the federal officials who shot and killed a man peacefully protesting, who was on his knees, prone in the street when they shot him in the back.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
oh no not gavin williamson, the most beloved tory mp since er suella braverman, seriously is Kemi paying Farage for this service
Gavin Williamson on Reform defection watch reports James Tapsfield www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...
January 27, 2026 at 3:25 PM
oh no not gavin williamson, the most beloved tory mp since er suella braverman, seriously is Kemi paying Farage for this service
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
A reminder that the BBC have consistently platformed Goodwin as an 'impartial' commentator.
New: Reform UK unveil Matt Goodwin as their candidate for Denton and Gorton
January 27, 2026 at 2:24 PM
A reminder that the BBC have consistently platformed Goodwin as an 'impartial' commentator.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
This is embarrassingly on-the-nose textbook “psychology of fascism” stuff. Bitter, impotent tools getting to feel powerful by proxy watching brutality done on their behalf.
Tim Pool: “I’m not licking the boot. It’s my boot. I voted for it. I’m the one stomping…”
This mindset is genuinely pathetic.
It’s an alpha fantasy: watching state violence and imagining you’re exercising power rather than the one submitting to it.
/1
This mindset is genuinely pathetic.
It’s an alpha fantasy: watching state violence and imagining you’re exercising power rather than the one submitting to it.
/1
January 27, 2026 at 1:00 PM
This is embarrassingly on-the-nose textbook “psychology of fascism” stuff. Bitter, impotent tools getting to feel powerful by proxy watching brutality done on their behalf.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Kash Patel this Sunday: “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines, to any sort of protest that you want."
January 27, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Kash Patel this Sunday: “You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines, to any sort of protest that you want."
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
To avoid the possibility Holocaust remembrance might lead to empathy for migrants, Trump's antisemitism envoy claims Anne Frank "was in Amsterdam legally."
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
January 27, 2026 at 3:28 PM
To avoid the possibility Holocaust remembrance might lead to empathy for migrants, Trump's antisemitism envoy claims Anne Frank "was in Amsterdam legally."
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
In reality, Margot Frank received a summons to go to a labor camp on July 5, 1942. After ignoring this call, they were in Amsterdam illegally.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Can't see this happening on Question Time...
Mehdi Hasan: “You falsely said on TV that 50% of social housing goes to non-British people but the real number is actually 14%.”
Matthew Goodwin: I don’t think the government census data or the Mayor of London are credible sources.
*audience laughter*
Matthew Goodwin: I don’t think the government census data or the Mayor of London are credible sources.
*audience laughter*
January 27, 2026 at 4:03 PM
Can't see this happening on Question Time...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
I am always obligated when Niall Ferguson is mentioned to point out that he encouraged some of his students to go after another student whose politics he didn't like. One of the most unethical things I've ever seen an "educator" do.
www.theguardian.com/media/2018/j...
www.theguardian.com/media/2018/j...
Niall Ferguson quits Stanford free speech role over leaked emails
British historian resigns after urging ‘opposition research’ be done on a leftwing student
www.theguardian.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:25 PM
I am always obligated when Niall Ferguson is mentioned to point out that he encouraged some of his students to go after another student whose politics he didn't like. One of the most unethical things I've ever seen an "educator" do.
www.theguardian.com/media/2018/j...
www.theguardian.com/media/2018/j...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
Turns out that Bari Weiss's all hands at CBS today is to announce she's bringing on some anti-vax guys and Niall Ferguson. www.axios.com/2026/01/27/b...
January 27, 2026 at 12:21 PM
Turns out that Bari Weiss's all hands at CBS today is to announce she's bringing on some anti-vax guys and Niall Ferguson. www.axios.com/2026/01/27/b...
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
now hold on just one minute. when I signed on to work for a creepy right-wing surveillance company named after seeing stones used by the dark lord Sauron to manipulate and control others in an attempt to enslave the free people of middle earth I had no idea we might do some evil.
More: “I’ve read stories of folks rounded up who were seeking asylum with no order to leave the country, no criminal record, and consistently check in with authorities. Literally no reason to be rounded up. Surely we aren’t helping do that?”
www.wired.com/story/palant...
www.wired.com/story/palant...
January 26, 2026 at 10:48 PM
now hold on just one minute. when I signed on to work for a creepy right-wing surveillance company named after seeing stones used by the dark lord Sauron to manipulate and control others in an attempt to enslave the free people of middle earth I had no idea we might do some evil.
Reposted by Dr_Aust_PhD
People of Maine, how can the rest of the country help you stand up the way MN successfully did?
ICE is changing tactics in Maine: "Now, the volunteers in Maine say federal agents have started showing up at their homes and intimidating them or threatening arrest. Some of them, masked and wearing tactical gear, have issued stark warnings not to follow them." www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...
ICE watchers in Maine say they were threatened by federal agents
Community members have been monitoring the activity of immigration agents in Greater Portland.
www.pressherald.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:25 PM
People of Maine, how can the rest of the country help you stand up the way MN successfully did?