Simon McGarr
@tupped.bsky.social
Solicitor, consultant, artist, writes TheGist.ie newsletter.
Visiting Lecturer. External Examiner in Data Protection law.
Visiting Lecturer. External Examiner in Data Protection law.
May their beds grow thorns
May their food choke and tear
May water never slake their thirst
And the Sun burn but never warm them
May the Earth refuse them
And the heavens turn their back
May they know no peace
No rest
No forgiveness.
May their food choke and tear
May water never slake their thirst
And the Sun burn but never warm them
May the Earth refuse them
And the heavens turn their back
May they know no peace
No rest
No forgiveness.
January 26, 2026 at 12:01 AM
May their beds grow thorns
May their food choke and tear
May water never slake their thirst
And the Sun burn but never warm them
May the Earth refuse them
And the heavens turn their back
May they know no peace
No rest
No forgiveness.
May their food choke and tear
May water never slake their thirst
And the Sun burn but never warm them
May the Earth refuse them
And the heavens turn their back
May they know no peace
No rest
No forgiveness.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
life changing news.
jaguars are indeed soft.
jaguars are indeed soft.
Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.
January 25, 2026 at 11:50 PM
life changing news.
jaguars are indeed soft.
jaguars are indeed soft.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Guy famous for making torture legal voice: “no I totally used to believe in international law….”
International law no longer serves as an instrument of global stability—and the U.S. should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war, John Yoo argues.
A New International Law Can Rise From the Ashes
The United States should use this moment to argue for a different approach to the rules of war.
bit.ly
January 25, 2026 at 10:21 PM
Guy famous for making torture legal voice: “no I totally used to believe in international law….”
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey was present in the House of Commons when Reginald Maudling said this shit and responded by marching over and slapping him across his lying Tory face btw
January 25, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey was present in the House of Commons when Reginald Maudling said this shit and responded by marching over and slapping him across his lying Tory face btw
Reposted by Simon McGarr
"We don't require a video. We have an official statement from DHS which has not been disproven." - Walter Hudson, Republican Representative from Albert Lea.
January 25, 2026 at 8:15 PM
"We don't require a video. We have an official statement from DHS which has not been disproven." - Walter Hudson, Republican Representative from Albert Lea.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
It's not lost on me that when pressed by Dana Bash, the ultimate reason Bovino gave for Pretti's murder was "because he was there."
January 25, 2026 at 5:58 PM
It's not lost on me that when pressed by Dana Bash, the ultimate reason Bovino gave for Pretti's murder was "because he was there."
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Grokipedia, which was purpose-built to poison the training data of LLMs, working as intended.
Tests show GPT-5.2 on ChatGPT citing Grokipedia as a source on a wide range of queries, including on Iranian conglomerates and Holocaust deniers (Aisha Down/The Guardian)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
January 25, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Grokipedia, which was purpose-built to poison the training data of LLMs, working as intended.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Somehow the idea of people being nice and supportive to each other, and society being supportive in general, has been dismissed as fantasy politics for babies. Whereas making difficult decisions like driving children into poverty while swimming in record tax receipts is good realistic politics
January 25, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Somehow the idea of people being nice and supportive to each other, and society being supportive in general, has been dismissed as fantasy politics for babies. Whereas making difficult decisions like driving children into poverty while swimming in record tax receipts is good realistic politics
By special request I got a great big shoulder of pork yesterday and rubbed it with salt and pepper and 2 tsps cumin, smoked paprika, adobo chilli paste, garlic salt and onion salt and mushed up with a tbls of Olive oil before mashing t into the pork and leaving in the fridge covered up all night.
January 25, 2026 at 2:17 PM
By special request I got a great big shoulder of pork yesterday and rubbed it with salt and pepper and 2 tsps cumin, smoked paprika, adobo chilli paste, garlic salt and onion salt and mushed up with a tbls of Olive oil before mashing t into the pork and leaving in the fridge covered up all night.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Years ago, when I was a teenager, I heard @marcusbrig.bsky.social on the Now Show say that the best way to resist the temptation to have cocaine for breakfast was not to keep it in the fridge. Good lesson for mechanisms of state oppression too.
January 25, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Years ago, when I was a teenager, I heard @marcusbrig.bsky.social on the Now Show say that the best way to resist the temptation to have cocaine for breakfast was not to keep it in the fridge. Good lesson for mechanisms of state oppression too.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
They also took their blueprint for torture in Guantanamo Bay from how the UK govt treated people they accused of being IRA
January 25, 2026 at 1:57 PM
They also took their blueprint for torture in Guantanamo Bay from how the UK govt treated people they accused of being IRA
If you were wondering where the US regime found their internal oppression & lies blueprint, take a read of the Statement from the U.K. Govt after the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.
January 25, 2026 at 1:48 PM
If you were wondering where the US regime found their internal oppression & lies blueprint, take a read of the Statement from the U.K. Govt after the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.
I raised all these Leopards!
January 25, 2026 at 1:14 PM
I raised all these Leopards!
The Irish Times is so proud of this execrable fascist framing headlined piece that they have posted it for a second time.
Minneapolis shooting deepens US immigration crisis as federal accounts are challenged
Minneapolis shooting deepens US immigration crisis as federal accounts are challenged
Video evidence, political rhetoric and competing narratives collide after the death of Alex Pretti
www.irishtimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 1:12 PM
The Irish Times is so proud of this execrable fascist framing headlined piece that they have posted it for a second time.
Nixon-ass retribution.
Mischief Toy Store in St. Paul has until Wednesday to turn over employment records to the Department of Homeland Security as part of a surprise audit launched Friday, just hours after one of the shop's owners criticized ICE agents during a television interview. bit.ly/4r5AFol
January 25, 2026 at 1:09 PM
Nixon-ass retribution.
No way we let Sweden get over the line on this ahead of Ireland.
Tell your friends. This isn’t just any old petition, this mechanism has EU clout.
Tell your friends. This isn’t just any old petition, this mechanism has EU clout.
358 806 signatures for the full suspension of the EU-Israel association, more than 1/3 of what is needed and 4 of the 7 countries needed over 100%.
tinyurl.com/mv8fzdhu
☑️Belgium 103%
☑️Finland 100.5%
☑️France 296%
Ireland 58.7%
Italy 79.8%
Netherlands 31%
Poland 51.4%
☑️Spain 111.9%
Sweden 81.6%
tinyurl.com/mv8fzdhu
☑️Belgium 103%
☑️Finland 100.5%
☑️France 296%
Ireland 58.7%
Italy 79.8%
Netherlands 31%
Poland 51.4%
☑️Spain 111.9%
Sweden 81.6%
January 25, 2026 at 10:40 AM
No way we let Sweden get over the line on this ahead of Ireland.
Tell your friends. This isn’t just any old petition, this mechanism has EU clout.
Tell your friends. This isn’t just any old petition, this mechanism has EU clout.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
358 806 signatures for the full suspension of the EU-Israel association, more than 1/3 of what is needed and 4 of the 7 countries needed over 100%.
tinyurl.com/mv8fzdhu
☑️Belgium 103%
☑️Finland 100.5%
☑️France 296%
Ireland 58.7%
Italy 79.8%
Netherlands 31%
Poland 51.4%
☑️Spain 111.9%
Sweden 81.6%
tinyurl.com/mv8fzdhu
☑️Belgium 103%
☑️Finland 100.5%
☑️France 296%
Ireland 58.7%
Italy 79.8%
Netherlands 31%
Poland 51.4%
☑️Spain 111.9%
Sweden 81.6%
January 25, 2026 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Simon McGarr
OK so in 1992 a girl I know went with her brother to Lepre-con and she was one of the only girls there. The shy nerdy boys acted like she was the goddess Aphrodite and it did wonders for her self-confidence. Then one boy approached her with a figurine and said "I have painted you an orc".
January 25, 2026 at 10:29 AM
OK so in 1992 a girl I know went with her brother to Lepre-con and she was one of the only girls there. The shy nerdy boys acted like she was the goddess Aphrodite and it did wonders for her self-confidence. Then one boy approached her with a figurine and said "I have painted you an orc".
What in the fascist framing is this headline?
Minneapolis shooting deepens US immigration crisis as federal accounts are challenged
Minneapolis shooting deepens US immigration crisis as federal accounts are challenged
Video evidence, political rhetoric and competing narratives collide after the death of Alex Pretti
www.irishtimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 10:37 AM
What in the fascist framing is this headline?
Reposted by Simon McGarr
the current speaker is a Black judge. he is being _extremely_ blunt that it used to be normal for them to kill Black people but they would leave white people alone. now they’re killing white people. they believe the rules are different, and so must we.
January 25, 2026 at 1:52 AM
the current speaker is a Black judge. he is being _extremely_ blunt that it used to be normal for them to kill Black people but they would leave white people alone. now they’re killing white people. they believe the rules are different, and so must we.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
These stacks outcompete democracy because they exploit what in the current information are three institutional failures: latency, opacity, and exclusion. Institutions are too slow, too closed, and too distant from public participation.
January 23, 2026 at 9:27 AM
These stacks outcompete democracy because they exploit what in the current information are three institutional failures: latency, opacity, and exclusion. Institutions are too slow, too closed, and too distant from public participation.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
The conspiratorial stack treats hidden revelation as its moral source. Gaps are not uncertainty but proof of cover-up. This makes it self-sealing and impossible to falsify. Both stacks are highly compatible with each other, which you can see reflected in the MAGA movement and Reform UK.
January 23, 2026 at 9:27 AM
The conspiratorial stack treats hidden revelation as its moral source. Gaps are not uncertainty but proof of cover-up. This makes it self-sealing and impossible to falsify. Both stacks are highly compatible with each other, which you can see reflected in the MAGA movement and Reform UK.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
The populist stack grounds authority in the intuitive will of “the people.” Doubt becomes betrayal. Moral clarity is immediate. Institutional nuance is treated as evasion.
January 23, 2026 at 9:25 AM
The populist stack grounds authority in the intuitive will of “the people.” Doubt becomes betrayal. Moral clarity is immediate. Institutional nuance is treated as evasion.
Reposted by Simon McGarr
Populist, conspiratorial, & authoritarian stacks perform very well in the new information environment. They deliver speed, certainty, & identity coherence where traditional democratic institutions deliver delay, complexity, & opacity, assuming they're performing in a substantial way to being with.
January 23, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Populist, conspiratorial, & authoritarian stacks perform very well in the new information environment. They deliver speed, certainty, & identity coherence where traditional democratic institutions deliver delay, complexity, & opacity, assuming they're performing in a substantial way to being with.