bonfire

The Bad Newsletter

The Bad Newsletter is currently on hiatus, for child-having reasons. I’m maintaining the archive of posts here while I decide what to do with it. I’m sure some of the posts I put together in the future will be Bad Newsletter-worthy.

  • The bad news for news

    The bad news for news

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    Straight to the point: News media in this country is getting pulped and it’s an absolute goddamn catastrophe. It’s happening so fast, insanely fast, and I worry we’re not even beginning to grasp the sheer loss to society. Newshub will soon be gone, disposed of like so much trash by its megacorporate owners Warner Brothers […]

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  • Why is Stuff promoting right-wing propaganda?

    Why is Stuff promoting right-wing propaganda?

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    The way New Zealand’s Taxpayers’ Union works should be obvious by now. This fake union — which is actually a neoliberal, ultra-capitalist lobby group acting in concert with a dense network of international right-wing think tanks called…

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  • A Simple Nullity

    A Simple Nullity

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    An incredibly important documentary went live today, and I don’t want you to miss it. “Trick or Treaty? Indigenous rights, referendums and the Treaty of Waitangi” is a deep dive on how right-wing influence networks in Australia…

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  • The Hand That Feeds

    The Hand That Feeds

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    A short lunchtime post today. Let’s begin with a (gift) link to an Atlantic story revealing Substack’s Nazi problem. How bad is is it here? This bad: At least 16 of the newsletters that I reviewed have…

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  • The Dark Present

    The Dark Present

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    Hi! I hope you enjoyed the sunshine in the Brighter Future. Unfortunately, today’s newsletter is a return to the Dark Present, with a timely reminder that everything is danged1 and it’s all economics’ fault. Well, that’s not…

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  • The Brighter Future

    The Brighter Future

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    Saturday starts out sunny, so we catch the 9:05 rapid from Kirikiriroa to Paeroa. The plan: beach day. We make it to the station with time to spare, which isn’t too bad, as it was kind of…

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  • The Party That Can’t And The Party That Won’t

    The Party That Can’t And The Party That Won’t

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    Approximately every three years I indulge in a bit of political punditry, which is about as much as I can stand. It’s nearly that time again, which is my opportunity to do something pundits almost never do:…

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  • The Biggest Liar

    The Biggest Liar

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    Political debates are shit. Not only do they not follow the rules of actual debates, they’re a boring yet simultaneously wildly frustrating sideshow in which politicians demonstrate their ability to give glib answers to (sometimes) important questions.…

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  • The Metiria Turei Test

    The Metiria Turei Test

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    It’s Friday, 4 August 2023, and with utterly dull regularity the Post has produced another hit job on non-Tory politician, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. Whanau is in the news near constantly because she keeps doing normal human…

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  • Ecomedy of Economicerrors

    Ecomedy of Economicerrors

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    The below image of a harried-looking nerd popped up on my LinkedIn feed today, and of course, you’re right. It’s my fault for using LinkedIn. But it did prompt me to whip this article together, which turned…

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  • An extended conversation about AI with an actual brain scientist

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    Gidday. Some of you have probably seen the article I wrote for Webworm about AI. In it, I interviewed my mate Lee Reid who’s a neuroscientist and extremely talented programmer (he’s the creator of some excellent music…

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