Matt Smith
@smithmatt.bsky.social
Comics enthusiast, policy wonk at MBIE, focusing on gas. Cat/dog person, PC Gamer, avid devourer of politics and legal ephemera. Opinions my own, not my employer. Pōneke. He/him. PFP @exocomics
Reposted by Matt Smith
"international law must be followed" is european for "thoughts and prayers"
January 3, 2026 at 2:08 PM
"international law must be followed" is european for "thoughts and prayers"
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I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
January 3, 2026 at 9:13 AM
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
Reposted by Matt Smith
The consent manufacturing has begun.
Nicolas Maduro's heavy-handed rule in Venezuela is finally ended by Trump reut.rs/3YWbo3K
Nicolas Maduro's heavy-handed rule in Venezuela is finally ended by Trump
Nicolas Maduro ruled Venezuela with a heavy hand for more than 12 years, presiding over deep economic and social crises and resisting pressure from domestic opponents and foreign governments for political change.
reut.rs
January 3, 2026 at 6:28 PM
The consent manufacturing has begun.
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hey remember when a bunch of middle-aged drunk korean lawmakers climbed the locked gates to the national assembly to hold an emergency session after the president gave illegal orders to the military, all of which ended with said president being sentenced to prison
January 3, 2026 at 7:02 AM
hey remember when a bunch of middle-aged drunk korean lawmakers climbed the locked gates to the national assembly to hold an emergency session after the president gave illegal orders to the military, all of which ended with said president being sentenced to prison
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Bill Watterson could do Sin City but Frank Miller could not do Calvin and Hobbes
January 2, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Bill Watterson could do Sin City but Frank Miller could not do Calvin and Hobbes
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Magic Johnson was the grand marshal of the Rose Parade today, and as someone who remembers his November 1991 HIV announcement: if you had told anybody that day that he would be alive and healthy 34+ years later, I don't think they would have believed you. Medicine and research—they work.
January 1, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Magic Johnson was the grand marshal of the Rose Parade today, and as someone who remembers his November 1991 HIV announcement: if you had told anybody that day that he would be alive and healthy 34+ years later, I don't think they would have believed you. Medicine and research—they work.
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Just like every year, a friendly PSA:
“Feliz ano nuevo” means “happy new anus.”
“Feliz año nuevo” means “happy new year.”
Wishing folks either one is nice, but make sure you’re using the one you mean.
“Feliz ano nuevo” means “happy new anus.”
“Feliz año nuevo” means “happy new year.”
Wishing folks either one is nice, but make sure you’re using the one you mean.
December 31, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Just like every year, a friendly PSA:
“Feliz ano nuevo” means “happy new anus.”
“Feliz año nuevo” means “happy new year.”
Wishing folks either one is nice, but make sure you’re using the one you mean.
“Feliz ano nuevo” means “happy new anus.”
“Feliz año nuevo” means “happy new year.”
Wishing folks either one is nice, but make sure you’re using the one you mean.
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Here, at time of writing (first minutes of 2026) is what I understand to be the case about the Manage My Health data breach. I am writing this out as a what I know and why (and don't know) as of now to help anyone trying to explain this to others.
This is a data breach with stolen patient data.
This is a data breach with stolen patient data.
December 31, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Here, at time of writing (first minutes of 2026) is what I understand to be the case about the Manage My Health data breach. I am writing this out as a what I know and why (and don't know) as of now to help anyone trying to explain this to others.
This is a data breach with stolen patient data.
This is a data breach with stolen patient data.
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Tough to pick, but this was probably my favorite of his
December 30, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Tough to pick, but this was probably my favorite of his
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Reposted by Matt Smith
This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)
Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.
December 30, 2025 at 4:21 AM
This is true and I was the only one on set excited about it (and playing the song on my phone to blank stares)
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the first time in history this shit has happened. first time and it's on camera. what a privilege
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 6:33 PM
the first time in history this shit has happened. first time and it's on camera. what a privilege
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My take on the "AVATAR hasn't made a big cultural impact" thing is that for movies in the last 40 years to make a big cultural impact, people need to watch them over and over and over, and among popular films, AVATAR is uniquely bad at being a movie that people want to watch on their TV.
December 27, 2025 at 5:57 AM
My take on the "AVATAR hasn't made a big cultural impact" thing is that for movies in the last 40 years to make a big cultural impact, people need to watch them over and over and over, and among popular films, AVATAR is uniquely bad at being a movie that people want to watch on their TV.
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This is a completely different function than taxation to fund public and social services, which is necessarily much more broad-based. Rhetorically it’s good to conflate them into “tax the rich,” but as a matter of policy design we need to keep them distinct and complementary.
Important point that so many people miss. A billionaires tax, actually doesn't raise that much money. What it does do is put some control on the astronomical concentration of wealth, and therefore power, in the hands of a few suspect actors.
That billionaires tax is for democracy not primarily for revenue.
December 26, 2025 at 5:09 AM
This is a completely different function than taxation to fund public and social services, which is necessarily much more broad-based. Rhetorically it’s good to conflate them into “tax the rich,” but as a matter of policy design we need to keep them distinct and complementary.
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my son got two different toy fire trucks for christmas. two. and despite being considerably more familiar with their purpose and operation, i didn’t receive a single fucking fire truck
December 25, 2025 at 9:24 PM
my son got two different toy fire trucks for christmas. two. and despite being considerably more familiar with their purpose and operation, i didn’t receive a single fucking fire truck
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This is a double whammy story... Multiple entirely fake entries on this list published in multiple papers.
But the list itself is taken whole from a press release.
So it's a warning story about AI slop, but also a warning about unquestioning reproduction of press releases.
But the list itself is taken whole from a press release.
So it's a warning story about AI slop, but also a warning about unquestioning reproduction of press releases.
#4 sounds like a lovely book but I didn't write it. Have had whānau up and down the country send me clippings lol
Whoever put together this list that has been circulated to regional papers, didn't fact check.
Whoever put together this list that has been circulated to regional papers, didn't fact check.
December 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
This is a double whammy story... Multiple entirely fake entries on this list published in multiple papers.
But the list itself is taken whole from a press release.
So it's a warning story about AI slop, but also a warning about unquestioning reproduction of press releases.
But the list itself is taken whole from a press release.
So it's a warning story about AI slop, but also a warning about unquestioning reproduction of press releases.
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READ: Palestinian Christians released a powerful new document calling Zionism "a theology of racism and ethnic supremacy" that has produced genocide. The document demands churches worldwide repudiate Zionist theology. mondoweiss.net/2025/12/what...
‘What is the Christian word in the face of genocide?’: new Kairos Palestine document calls for repudiation of Zionism
“What is happening [in Palestine] today is the true face of Zionist ideology . . . turning Palestinian existence into an unbearable hell,” declares the recently released Kairos Palestine document, “A…
mondoweiss.net
December 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
READ: Palestinian Christians released a powerful new document calling Zionism "a theology of racism and ethnic supremacy" that has produced genocide. The document demands churches worldwide repudiate Zionist theology. mondoweiss.net/2025/12/what...
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Yeah... yeah... but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they *could*, they didn't stop to think if they had forgotten something before rushing to the airport to meet the publisher & ... 𝙊𝙃 𝙈𝙔 𝙂𝙊𝘿! 𝙆𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙉!!
December 24, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Yeah... yeah... but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they *could*, they didn't stop to think if they had forgotten something before rushing to the airport to meet the publisher & ... 𝙊𝙃 𝙈𝙔 𝙂𝙊𝘿! 𝙆𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙉!!
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My kid is 14. He uses discord to talk to friends when playing Minecraft and dnd. He has no interest in FB or instagram or TikTok, but a social media hard-cap of age 16 would limit his social life unnecessarily with no benefit. Ffs, direct policy at platforms not users. Or ban boomers as well.
December 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM
My kid is 14. He uses discord to talk to friends when playing Minecraft and dnd. He has no interest in FB or instagram or TikTok, but a social media hard-cap of age 16 would limit his social life unnecessarily with no benefit. Ffs, direct policy at platforms not users. Or ban boomers as well.
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Watching the Prime Minister doco and the March 19 mosque attack and reminded how David Seymour was the ONLY MP who voted against the gun reforms.
December 18, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Watching the Prime Minister doco and the March 19 mosque attack and reminded how David Seymour was the ONLY MP who voted against the gun reforms.
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Extremely evocative of stealing jpgs from the NFT people
December 21, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Extremely evocative of stealing jpgs from the NFT people
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The White House has been caught.
The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims.
In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.
The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims.
In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.
December 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM
The White House has been caught.
The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims.
In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.
The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims.
In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.
Reposted by Matt Smith
Reposted by Matt Smith
Having a cat is so cool. There is a little creature in my bed who loves me and vibrates like a tiny motorcycle and is so fuzzy and wants to snuggle. How could I want anything else
December 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Having a cat is so cool. There is a little creature in my bed who loves me and vibrates like a tiny motorcycle and is so fuzzy and wants to snuggle. How could I want anything else
Reposted by Matt Smith
Remember when the NZ media went through its archives deleting racist outrage bait targeting Muslim immigrants? Remember what the ‘emotional junior staffer’ thing was in relation to? Actual things that happened. We have learned zero lessons about racism and violence and it’s disgraceful.
December 20, 2025 at 4:35 AM
Remember when the NZ media went through its archives deleting racist outrage bait targeting Muslim immigrants? Remember what the ‘emotional junior staffer’ thing was in relation to? Actual things that happened. We have learned zero lessons about racism and violence and it’s disgraceful.