Hope Talbot

I'm Hope Talbot, a freelance journalist and copywriter from the UK. I have bylines in The Independent, Euronews, and The Daily Express. I frequently write about politics, and inequality, as well as climate and sustainability. I have a strong background in local reporting, having worked with Bristol24/7 for several years on a freelance basis. As a copywriter, I have written for companies across the construction, tech and agricultural industries, most notably for Stratton Craig. 


I am currently based in New York City, pursuing an MS in Journalism at Columbia University. I have a BA in History from the University of Bristol. I was previously Editor-in-Chief of The Bristorian, based out of the University of Bristol Humanities Department. 

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The Daily Dot •

Leftist Twitch steamer, U.S citizen, says CBP searched phone at Mexico border

A self-described “leftist shitposter” said he had his phone searched while coming back into the U.S. from Mexico on March 31. The search comes as reports of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) searching travelers’ phones when entering the United States increase and, in some cases, denying entry over anti-Trump social media posts. @vorloe, a Twitch streamer whose X feed criticizes President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, said he “hoped” the search was random and didn’t believe he was targeted for hi...
The Daily Dot •

Columbia anonymous messaging app explodes in fury after Mahmoud Khalil arrest

The private messaging app Sidechat exploded following the arrest of a Palestinian activist who helped lead campus protests at Columbia University. Sidechat, an anonymous messaging app popular with college students that requires a university email address, has previously been used to coordinate protests at several American university campuses. It has also faced criticism for allowing hate to flourish among student bodies. Thanks to the app’s anonymity, users speak far more freely than they would...
The Daily Dot •

X users aren't buying Musk's claim Ukraine was behind site's massive outage

Users on X are having a hard time believing Elon Musk’s claim that Ukraine was behind the site’s massive outage yesterday. Following lengthy outages on Monday that left thousands of users without access, Musk claimed the site experienced a “massive cyberattack.”“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X,” he wrote. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing …”Despite the hacking collect...
The Daily Dot •

Gruesome POV TikToks of horrific tragedies are the latest get-rich-quick AI scheme

A TikTok with over 2.4 million views begins with the title “POV: You wake up as a slave in 1800s America.” Viewers “awake” to see their outstretched legs on the ground of a dirt-floor shack, before “blinking” and reappearing in a field, holding a basket of cotton, as other enslaved people toil under the eye of a “master.”The video then contrasts a stew eaten on the floor with being forced to serve a white tableclothed dinner, before switching to a pair of hands tied to a wooden pole, a whip crac...
The Daily Dot •

DOGE has saved Americans $55 billion. Or $24 billion. Or just $1.5 billion

In just a month of cost-cutting, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) saved the federal government $55 billion. Or $24 billion. Or $16 billion. Or, barely over a billion dollars.  A spate of trackers keeping an eye on DOGE’s contract terminations has sprung up—including on DOGE’s own website—and no one can say, for sure, just how much Musk’s merry band of cost-cutting coders is accomplishing. The agency claims to have saved $55 billion. Only Polymarket, the political futures...
The Daily Dot •

MAGA fan crashes car on live stream after claiming 'God' cleared the roads for him

A video of a Trump supporter crashing his car while paying tribute to Jan. 6 went viral—because he was live streaming while driving.  In the video, the driver is joined by two women in the car. Speaking to a live stream on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the driver says, “You know what, me, personally, I’m already at the Capitol. I’m already yelling on my bullhorn, I’ve already got my flag up in the air.”The driver then plays the song “YMCA”—a rallying cry for voters President-el...
The Daily Dot •

Meta's AI Instagram bots spark swift backlash: 'Manufacturing the human experience'

Internet users swiftly went to work in the wake of an interview Meta executive Connor Hayes had with the Financial Times, where he said the company hosted entirely AI-generated characters that post on Instagram and other platforms.  These profiles “exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do … they’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform,” Hayes added. In the aftermath of this interview, people online quic...
The Daily Dot •

German car attack suspect's X account pushed praise of Musk

In the wake of the car attack on Friday evening at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany that killed five people and left more than 200 people injured, police in Germany detained Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen. On X, Al-Abdulmohsen posted Islamophobic content, with his account bio warning that “Germany wants to islamize Europe.”Some believe that in the aftermath of the attack, Elon Musk censored the suspect’s posts.In the lead-up to the attack, al-Abdulmohsen made repeated threats against Germany,...
The Daily Dot •

Crypto hucksters push AI image to profit of subway fire victim

This weekend, a man set fire to a woman inside a subway car in Brooklyn. The suspect was arrested hours later in Manhattan, but the woman, who was sleeping in the subway train at the time of the attack, has yet to be formally identified.Given the suspect’s status as an illegal immigrant, people across social media rushed to post a fake image of a white woman to gin up sympathy and push anti-immigrant sentiments.In the process, they’re getting played by cryptocurrency hucksters.  “Say her n...
The Daily Dot •

Alleged United Healthcare CEO shooter read numerous books about chronic back pain

Today, authorities announced they’d arrested a “strong person of interest” after a nearly week-long manhunt in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thomspon.  The New York Post confirmed the identity of Luigi Mangione, who was caught by police in Pennslyvania. According to the New York Times, police found him with a fake ID that matched one he used for a hostel in New York City, as well as a gun that appeared similar to the murder weapon. Online, the 26-year-old Mangione had a v...
The Daily Dot •

Kash Patel once claimed he got to see who really killed JFK

Trump’s pick for FBI Director Kash Patel once insinuated that he knows who really killed JFK. In a video from December 2023, Patel claimed he has “seen it all” referring to the files disclosing the truth of former President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. After host Glenn Beck dismissed the claim that the CIA was involved in the JFK assassination, Patel retorted, saying “You’re talking to a guy who has read the entire JFK file … I’ve seen all of that, and I’ve seen the seven pages of the 9/...
The Daily Dot •

TikTok is tariff prepping

Following President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to raise tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, TikTokers started plotting how to stockpile supplies before he takes office. This week, Trump said he would sign an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico and Canada immediately after his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, aiming to use the fees to force the countries to crack down on fentanyl and immigrants. Additionally, Trump would also put an extra 10% tariff on g...
The Daily Dot •

'Rock bottom': Matt Gaetz is dishing out career advice on Cameo—after nuking his own

After backing out of potentially serving in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet, Matt Gaetz pivoted to Cameo, a website where celebrities are paid to make videos for fans.  Gaetz joined the platform on Friday, a day after he withdrew his name from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. Now, after having sabotaged his own aspirations, he’s dishing out career advice. The news came as sexual misconduct allegations, centered around an underage girl at a 201...
The Daily Dot •

EXCLUSIVE: Non-profit Linda McMahon chaired once steered $1 million to Project 2025 'sister' organization

This week, President-elect Donald Trump picked Linda McMahon, a former WWE executive, as his Education Secretary. The Department of Education is one of the many cabinet-level government agencies that Project 2025, the ultra-conservative wish list put forth by the Heritage Foundation, wants to eliminate.  While the Trump campaign denied links to Project 2025, McMahon once steered a million dollars to the think tank behind it. In 2020, America First Works, which McMahon chaired at the time, do...
The Daily Dot •

Trump Jr.'s curious index finger moves at SpaceX launch sparks rampant speculation

A video of Donald Trump Jr. rubbing his gums with his index finger has people online wondering just, exactly, he might have been doing.  Yesterday, Trump Jr. joined his father for SpaceX’s Starship rocket launch in Texas alongside Elon Musk.Following the event, the video surfaced online, showing Donald Trump Jr. sticking his finger into his pocket and then rubbing it against his gums. A video on TikTok swiftly racked up over 600,000 views. “Am I crazy or does that look like what I think it...
The Daily Dot •

Biden's Amazonian press conference exit has people afraid he'll never be seen from again

The internet has been set alight thanks to a press conference yesterday by former President Joe Biden in the Amazon rainforest, with conservatives claiming he is being sent into the jungle so the deep state can begin World War Three.  The claim comes as the Biden administration allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-manufactured long-range missiles to strike inside Russia, a measure it has held off on until now. This authorization takes place on the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the W...
The Daily Dot •

MAGA ditches 'left-wing psyop' fears about NFL after players break out Trump Y.M.C.A. dance

A celebration mimicking a dance by President-elect Donald Trump has spread across the NFL, with players performing it after touchdowns, sacks, and other big plays. It’s led to right-wing proclamations Trump saved sports from “wokeness” after his base ditched the league over the theory it was a psyop to elect President Joe Biden and push vaccines. While Trump has been doing the dance since the 2020 election, his moves took on new life after a town hall in Pennsylvania. After questions were p...
The Daily Dot •

Marco Rubio cabinet nomination kickstarts unironic Hulk Hogan for Senate movement

With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) expected to be named President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state, CNN’s Scott Jennings suggested an unconventional choice to take his place in the Senate.  While on air Tuesday evening, the Republican commentator pitched WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan to replace the Florida senator. Delivering his pitch, Jennings revealed a bright yellow Hulkmania T-shirt, hidden underneath his blazer. “If Marco Rubio does, in fact, become secretary of state, we’re going to need...
The Daily Dot •

Former GOP congressman's $2.5 million GoFundMe trolled over his anti-Obamacare vote

Left-wing trolls bombarded a GoFundMe page for Michael Grimm, a former Republican congressman when he experienced a life-altering injury.  In September, Grimm was paralyzed from the waist down after he was thrown from a horse during a polo tournament.A former Marine and FBI agent, the 54-year-old previously represented Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn before resigning in January 2015 after being convicted of tax evasion. Following conviction, Grimm served eight months in prison.  Grimm...
The Daily Dot •

TextNow, app used to send racist post-election texts, faces complaints it enables stalking, harassment

In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election, Black Americans received texts telling them it was time to “report” for slavery.  The messages said recipients should “board a van” that would transport them to a “plantation” to work as slaves. Black men, women, and children in at least 14 states reported getting texts. These messages come as Black Americans fear the aftermath of a resounding electoral victory for President-elect Donald Trump, who has previously and frequently been accused of...
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