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Michael Swanson

@affablehygge

Lawyers to birds, for birds and by birds.

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21.08.2023
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Latest posts by Michael Swanson @affablehygge

imagine if the president of the United States were personally directly responsible for your child being raped

07.03.2026 15:34 πŸ‘ 73 πŸ” 23 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
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β€˜From one catastrophe to another’: Lebanese Australians look on in horror as relatives flee homes With friends and relatives in danger amid bombing in parts of Lebanon, many diaspora members are suffering a heavy psychological toll

β€œI’m living in two places,” she says. β€œMentally, I’m not here.”

She barely sleeps and is hypervigilant, checking her phone at all hours, fearing the worst for her family – who are all in Lebanon.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

07.03.2026 21:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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More than 180 authors quit writers' week. Many returned for a DIY replacement Constellations emerged from the ashes of Adelaide Writers' Week, which was cancelled after authors withdrew over censorship. Organisers share how it came together and lessons for the future.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
Really decent piece from Hannah Story that centralises Indigenous voice of Ren Wyld on the grassroots SA event that rose from the ashes of AWW .

07.03.2026 04:16 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

These are the 4 things AI can do well:

β€’Clean up your email inbox (badly)
β€’Give my shittiest neighbor (Alan) something to talk about at a party
β€’Tell a 12 yr old to kill himself
β€’Incinerate a school at 10:16 AM on a Tuesday

You can see why we need to base our economy around it

06.03.2026 18:46 πŸ‘ 4901 πŸ” 1049 πŸ’¬ 62 πŸ“Œ 9
We’re Training Students To Write Worse To Prove They’re Not Robots, And It’s Pushing Them To Use MoreΒ AI About a year and a half ago, I wrote about my kid's experience with an AI checker tool that was pre-installed on a school-issued Chromebook. The assignment had been to write an essay about Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeronβ€”a story about a dystopian society that enforces "equality" by handicapping anyone who excelsβ€”and the AI detection tool flagged the essay as "18% AI written." The culprit?

We’re Training Students To Write Worse To Prove They’re Not Robots, And It’s Pushing Them To Use MoreΒ AI

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about my kid's experience with an AI checker tool that was pre-installed on a school-issued Chromebook. The assignment had been to write an essay about Kurt…

06.03.2026 23:14 πŸ‘ 45 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 5
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More than 180 authors quit writers' week. Many returned for a DIY replacement Constellations emerged from the ashes of Adelaide Writers' Week, which was cancelled after authors withdrew over censorship. Organisers share how it came together and lessons for the future.

We stood together against anti-Palestinian racism and they cancelled our festival. So we organised our own.

Very tired now, but very proud of Constellations!

Great in depth coverage from Hannah Story here

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

07.03.2026 00:45 πŸ‘ 202 πŸ” 80 πŸ’¬ 13 πŸ“Œ 3

Schools and hospitals, next will be universities , while murdering as many innocents as they can.

07.03.2026 02:31 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Jillian Segal’s office hand-picked candidate to assess controversial university antisemitism report card Greg Craven, a former vice-chancellor of Australian Catholic University, chosen after no other bids made for the tender

Mates helping mates is a crime now is it?

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

07.03.2026 02:36 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

No one had ever thought of Greg Craven as an eminent jurist.

07.03.2026 02:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Fuck. I think we all know now what that "overseas deployment supporting advanced technology deployment for the armed forces" was.

05.03.2026 23:06 πŸ‘ 274 πŸ” 31 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 0
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Article 18(1) of the Second Geneva Convention requires the parties to search and collect the shipwrecked without delay after an engagement.

Commentary:

ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treat...

06.03.2026 11:09 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

This is absolutely sick. Look at the bloated POS sitting there genuinely thinking he's some sort of deity while these wackos channel his 'divine power'. You couldn't write a comedy sketch this far-fetched and yet here it is, actually happening for real. America, you are cooked.

06.03.2026 08:21 πŸ‘ 49 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 0

Tonight, two of the white nationalists I reported on in this piece showed up to attempt to intimidate me on a private night out at a small music venue.

I’ll have more to say tomorrow. I’m safe.

They also didn’t pay cover πŸ–•

05.03.2026 04:43 πŸ‘ 3044 πŸ” 1003 πŸ’¬ 153 πŸ“Œ 95
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Israel launches huge strikes against south Beirut after mass evacuation order Residents fled Lebanese capital in panic before assaults on claimed Hezbollah targets while Tehran continues to launch retaliatory attacks

Forcing half a million people to leave their homes and then destroying their homes is ethnic cleansing.

Why are you just sat here watching?
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

06.03.2026 09:02 πŸ‘ 143 πŸ” 72 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

He's the nephew of the AG in the NT. He got home detention for killing a man with his car on purpose then bragging about it and seriously injuring another man. They were both Aboriginal and it was a hate crime.

06.03.2026 03:46 πŸ‘ 150 πŸ” 81 πŸ’¬ 11 πŸ“Œ 1

American centrists already going hard on the β€œha ha how can it be a war crime, its an iranian warship. Lol the extreme communist left so unserious”, because fundamentally their approach to discourse is to position two mirrors so they can see themselves twice while they wank gargling blood

06.03.2026 09:37 πŸ‘ 79 πŸ” 22 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1

3 Australians involved.

06.03.2026 09:12 πŸ‘ 265 πŸ” 100 πŸ’¬ 25 πŸ“Œ 5

If those personnel have committed war crimes they, as Australians, are subject to the jurisdiction and obligation, on Australia to prosecute them or the eventual jurisdiction of the ICC.

Having Australians involved is a risk for all Australians and the ADF personnel particularly.

06.03.2026 09:56 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There is a positive obligation on Australia to ensure that its resources and military personnel do not take part in war crimes or the high crime of aggression.

The acts of ADF personnel, even on US boats or bases, could mean that Australia had participated in those war crimes or high crime.

06.03.2026 09:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Media Held Politicians To Account During The Iraq War. What Changed? Outside of elections, the media is the only real mechanism of accountability for our government. So far, it's failed to do its job on the illegal war with Iran.

Quite telling to compare how Kerry O’Brien interviewed John Howard about Iraq to Sarah Ferguson’s bizarre efforts this week. I wrote about it www.lamestream.com.au/the-media-he...

06.03.2026 02:19 πŸ‘ 91 πŸ” 28 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Agreed. The US military has the ability to park these weapons with ridiculous precision.

If intentional, a monstrous crime.

If unintentional, gross negligence- and still a crime 🀬🀬🀬

06.03.2026 05:02 πŸ‘ 1853 πŸ” 321 πŸ’¬ 47 πŸ“Œ 6
David Pope cartoon.

David Pope cartoon.

David Pope.

06.03.2026 05:02 πŸ‘ 153 πŸ” 58 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Slurs Filled a Chat Created by a Republican Party Official in Florida

passive voice final boss grand champion honorable mention award for turning slurs into a sentient thing that can do actions www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u...

06.03.2026 03:51 πŸ‘ 2242 πŸ” 515 πŸ’¬ 39 πŸ“Œ 22
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Kelly Wilkinson was turned away from Southport police station and told to β€˜cool off, give Brian a break’ while seeking help just four days before her estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, burned her to death in 2021, an inquest has heard.

Read the full story πŸ”—πŸ‘‰ www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

05.03.2026 06:19 πŸ‘ 105 πŸ” 47 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 15

morbidly curious about which wars of the past were "politically correct"

06.03.2026 05:17 πŸ‘ 503 πŸ” 63 πŸ’¬ 40 πŸ“Œ 0

Follow up: The world's most visited porn website PornHub is set to block Australian users before the Monday deadline for implementing age checking

06.03.2026 02:08 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 3
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Muslims 'should not be forced to beg’ for protection, Labor MP says Labor backbencher Ed Husic says Islamophobia should be examined as part of Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

Labor backbencher Ed Husic has accused his own government of failing to deliver protection for Australian Muslims. The MP says the royal commission examining the Bondi terror attack and social cohesion should also focus on Islamophobia. #auspol Hear! Hear!
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

05.03.2026 21:21 πŸ‘ 147 πŸ” 57 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 4

You can tell how much Labor and the Coalition care about the poor Iranians by the way they hastily built a series of offshore concentration camps to imprison Iranian refugees *forever* when they tried to escape the regime.

06.03.2026 00:02 πŸ‘ 366 πŸ” 134 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 6
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The disgusting AUKUS agreement has locked Australians into Trumps military madness.
The public can’t get an honest answer from our govt, we are treated with contempt as our military personnel engage in illegal US/ Israeli warmongering. What’s next, sinking Chinese warships?

05.03.2026 20:22 πŸ‘ 42 πŸ” 26 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1

The US government has no interest or conception of a world order that does anything other than bend to their whims. That's it. That's the logic. Can we stop being shocked by this and just get on with opposing it?

05.03.2026 21:40 πŸ‘ 84 πŸ” 38 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 1