This has been NATO standard procedure since 2022. Nothing is ever considered a hybrid attack, so nothing needs to be investigated. It's a bit strange, though, at the same time to acknowledge that this is something that happens every day. Maybe they should investigate it, then.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Ostrich security and defence policy. I wonder why these non- events just keep happening. No one knows. Just one of things.
[Q]: On Sunday, the satellite signal of Ursula von der Leyen's plane was jammed by Russia. President Trump: Well, nobody knows where it came from, but they did take away her ability to use a phone. You know, sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes that could happen to me, I'd be very happy.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Finally, a leader who seems to understand who/what Putin is, willing to declare it clearly and unequivocally, and apparently (we will see) planning to take it into account and directly address it in domestic, EU, and NATO security and defence policy.
🇩🇪 Merz: Putin is a war criminal. He is perhaps the most serious war criminal of our time that we have seen on a large scale. We must be clear about how to deal with war criminals: There is no room for leniency.
🇩🇪🇭🇺 Germany now sees Orbán’s anti-Ukraine stance as a security threat, - Átlátszó Berlin is considering freezing €43 billion in EU funds and pushing to suspend Hungary’s EU voting rights under Article 7. EU leaders are also weighing ways to bypass Hungary’s veto power.
Aside from the comical inaccuracy of this post, I maintain that I will stay on this site till I'm the last one here as long as Glenn fucking Greenwald isn't on it
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social)
Glenn has had his soul consumed by Dementors, leaving only a shrivelled strident yet horrifically self-assured and self-righteous apologist for the most patently corrupt, racist, murderous people, movements, and regimes on the planet. Nothing and no one is too despicable that he won’t defend it.
On this website there are a lot of people who refuse to hear that moderating on an 80/20 issue might be politically advantageous for winning elections. On the other website, you have to censor the name of this website to avoid the richest man in the world throttling your posts. It’s not a hard call
“Donald Trump has figured out the cheat code for authoritarianism: Fake emergencies bring real power,” @rosenzweigp.bsky.social argues. Yet more troubling is the lack of effort from Congress or the courts to curtail the use of such “emergency” powers:
There is no limit to Trump's greed & cynicism. Now he wants US contractors to profit on the war in Ukraine, while not giving Ukraine any support: Ukraine must say no. If it is Eric Prince, he is likely to work covertly for Russia. Stick to Europe! www.kyivpost.com/post/59188?u...
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Their “principles” are infinitely plastic, malleable, selective and self-serving— which is to say, they have no principles or integrity. Their actual, objective governing “principle” is: does it benefit me personally, will I make money from this, will I obtain more power and influence and wealth.
American business has no objections to crony capitalism as long as they are the cronies. As it turns out, they also have few objections to a state-run economy if they think they will be the beneficiaries of a beneficent regime. open.substack.com/pub/charlies...
At this point I think I need a labeller on Bluesky that tells me if someone is still active on Twitter, just to know if they have cooked their brains in the Nazi soup over there.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Anyone still posting on Twitter/X, whatever their intentions or rationalizations and however well-meaning (or not), is objectively just feeding the Beast. It’d be like continuing to post a dissenting column or letter to the editor in Der Sturmer. It can only serve to boost/validate the platform.
Angry melted candle, rotting pumpkin with a PPE degree, moist sex offender, alien wearing human skin like Edgar in Men in Black, D&D Monster Manual ghoul/zombie/lich, human-shaped doll with unnaturally wide stance: there are many types of British politician. We can do better
Great story by my colleagues on the constant political realignment of Grok, the generative AI chatbot over on the other site. This change to Grok’s answer about the greatest threat to Western civilization is particularly ironic/meta. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/t...
How to report on Nazis. And it's real, I checked thenightly.com.au/editions
Your reminders: Trump ended the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team which investigated crypto-related crimes like fraud and money laundering. Trump also fired the ethics watchdog overseeing corruption in the executive branch. This is just another Trump family scam.
This is not reporting. This is propaganda.
federal consumer protection is dead and the impact will be generational
“I keep seeing these memes where Indians are bragging about taking our tech jobs,” said Ely, 36. “So I said, ‘Oh yeah? Well I’m going to work with these guys that are going to arrest you, slam your face on the pavement and send you home.’” wapo.st/3VrzEJg
I think fascism is ultimately vacuous at its core because it leaves its adherents absolutely hollow, and the ones who bother to elucidate on their philosophy never have anything real to their writing other than the grievances. Decades on decades of empty men who would rather hurt others than grow up
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Take Yarvin, for example—the aspiring pseudo-intellectual of white nationalism. If you crack that nut open, once you’ve cleared away the blood and pus, all you’ll find is one of those tumors composed of hair, teeth, muscle tissues and 8 eyeballs all stitched together with hate and resentment.
Fascism is the malicious misrule of maladjusted misogynistic meatheads, and we shouldn't over-intellectualize it. They're all crazy stupid racist assholes who hate and fear women and Jews. They hate thinking and lie all the time. Even the educated ones are illiterate. Their ideology is vapor
What will Donald announce today? A. "Russia has just two weeks" B. His successful defection C. A successful defecation D. His recent death E. A new crypto scam
Hungary's biggest employers are German companies like VW and Bosch. If Germany wants to put pressure on Orbán, that's where you would want to start.
Of the many reasons this is a bad answer — the kind of answer I would delight to get in cross-examination because it makes the speaker look shifty and untrustworthy - is that “maintain or rebuild institutions” is not particularly less abstract than “democracy under threat.” It’s just less direct.
Break the damn silence. There is something CLEARLY wrong with Donald Trump. Hints came with JD Vance on Thursday with his "tragedies happen" interview. Then the proof-of-life photos with Trump looking dazed and slack jawed. Did he have a stroke? www.youtube.com/live/vDqh8k3...
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
I’ve been wondering if anyone had spotted Maester Qyburn at the WH recently? The photos of Trump show him with the same watery, soulless, bloodshot eyes as the re-animated Mountain. There’s probably been some strong blood magic going down in the Situation Room over the past few days.
Until Trump speaks publicly, I’m going to assume he’s incapable.
Joseph Weizenbaum said “The myth of technological and political and social inevitability is a powerful tranquilizer of the conscience. Its service is to remove responsibility from the shoulders of everyone who truly believes in it. But in fact there are actors”
We’re only a few years removed from creatjng a vaccine to protect against a deadly airborne virus in a matter of months. Now, we have a scion fail son running the CDC into the ground not because it failed, but because its success conflicts with RFK Jr’s eugenicist ideology.
"The thing that works about Death of Stalin perfectly for this is is that it blends murderous menace with buffoonery, which I feel like tracks for the moment about as well as anything else." —Sarah Longwell, The Bulwark @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social @thebulwark.com
Once again, of the laws creating aircraft carrier-sized loopholes for the president to utter the magic words "national emergency" or "national security" & then rule like a King must go. We can have nuanced discussion about re-delegation later but not now. bsky.app/profile/mcop...
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah his mitochondria are f*cked up
Vaxxed?
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Has anyone spotted Maester Qyburn at the WH? Trump has the same eyes and look as the re-animated Mountain. There’s probably been some strong blood magic going in the Situation Room over the past few days.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
When I stop to think about, it occurs to me: Am I hallucinating this— because this whole Gaza Riviera development scheme is psychotic.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
I’m sure somewhere Tony Blair is sitting sipping a cup of tea and thinking to himself: “Hmm you know, I still think I can sell this.”
Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Did everyone else miss the news that Trump's director of personnel failed a background check, was using a false name, was born in the Soviet Union despite claiming to be from Malta, and has now been made Ambassador to India? nypost.com/2025/06/17/u...
nypost.com/2025/08/22/u...
I love this guy
the whining about bluesky (whether Nate Silver or Mark Cuban) is about narrowing the contours of "acceptable" discourse with an eye on protecting center right ideology from criticism but they can't be honest about this so it gets dressed up as some deep, noble intellectualism
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s astonishing (but perhaps not when you step back and look at the big picture) that this was allowed to happen. Every single one of those appointments should be investigated and freshly vetted. But Putin’s agents are now likely burrowed into the literal woodwork of WH and pillars of government.
Trump appointed a Russian spy, Sergio Gor, as his Chief of Presidential Appointments. Sergio lied about where he was born and refused to submit the paperwork for a proper security clearance. Sergio appointed 4,000 people to the federal government before Trump fired him. youtu.be/Ag7yv95d1i0
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Honestly, any “philosopher” or “intellectual” attending this event — who does not get up and loudly, directly, clearly, emphatically denounce Yarvin and the hosts of this event for including him—has lost all credibility and should be continually reminded of their silence and complicity thereafter.
I don't want to be all "but her emails" about this but with each passing day the friendly fire that took down Joe Biden feels more and more like the world's biggest self-own.
You know who benefited from the Biden-in-decline stories? The same billionaires who were angry at Biden for empowering the NLRB and having mildly anti-trust policies. The media outlets that the billionaires owned and influenced were more than happy to play along. And here we are.
Somebody is throwing things out of a window of the White House wtaf
this is the guy that the modern right wing considers one of their finest intellectuals
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yarvin is an actual moron. Self-taught 4chan political “philosophe” and aspiring pseudo- intellectual who, without fail, throws out the baby— every baby every time—and only ever keeps the bath water (nothing but bath water). And this is what he feeds to his audience of fascist incels and gooners
A 1941 WPA road gang of migrant workers in New Mexico, many of whom were simultaneously working as farm laborers. Trump would have deported all of them.
4. Brazil is now convening the BRICS to counter Trump's trade war, reinforcing BRICS. 5. Trump has effectively killed the Western alliances - NATO, the Quad, etc. He has turned India into an adversary for his vanity, while the EU is not yet aware that it is.
“.. a scene .. almost certainly intended for an audience on the other side of the world: The leaders of China, Russia and India .. smiling and laughing like good friends ..” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/w...
QAnon memes were not a small part of what mobilized Trump’s January 6th mob. Ignoring this is a dangerous mistake and we are making it twice.
Putin's aide Ushakov: Now everyone is talking about a trilateral meeting, about a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy. But as far as I know, there was no agreement between Putin and Trump specifically on this.
happy labor day
Another humiliation for Trump: “There was no agreement on either a trilateral or bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy," said Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov. The summit in Russian America (Alaska) turned out to be a catastrophe that accelerated the decline and fall of the United States.
Already bad when people in your country try to get you rounded up and kicked out. A foreigner doing it, and stoking the sentiment, including with bigoted lies at scale, because his wealth and media control enables it, is insane. It’s already caused considerable harm, and appears to be getting worse.
The US disaster with India is so profoundly stupid and venal that I have written this short and free piece about it, if you want to read more. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
RFK Jr: “If you’ve ever compared an unvaccinated kid to a vaccinated kid… you see the bright eyes, the engagement, the social interactions, the curiosity. And you compare them to the child who even had one or two vaccines, and they’re completely different.“ This man is an existential threat.
In retrospect, Trump's early move to create a sovereign wealth fund was an ominous sign of his interest in developing a sort of personal piggy bank to hold the proceeds of corporate shakedowns and expropriations [Tad DeHaven, @cato.org]
Everything is perfectly normal and fine. Nothing to see here.
J.B. Pritzker is 100% right. Please listen to him, pay attention, and join us in speaking out against authoritarianism and to protect free and fair elections.
Very-very final wake-up call for Europe.
People obsessed with this country's "heritage" are violently opposed to ever actually addressing its real heritage, so all they're left with are consumerism and symbols chosen for their plausible deniability. Imagine claiming the Cracker Barrel logo as your birthright.
⚡️ Update: EU confirms von der Leyen’s plane hit by GPS jamming, Russian involvement suspected. "We can confirm there was GPS jamming," European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta told the media, adding that Bulgaria suspects Russia to be behind the “blatant interference.”
Can the media STOP referring to Jeffrey Epstein as a “financier”? The money he made came from SEX TRAFFICKING MINORS, RAPING CHILDREN, and BLACKMAIL. He was NOT a financier. I’ve seen at least five stories from three outlets refer to him this way in the past week. This is the latest from the Times:
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Almost certainly he did not go golfing today. If he had even stepped on the golf course, there would have been photos and Trump’s people would have had them in circulation. So a “faked” golf outing is what we had today—and maybe not even that.
Ultimately, the problem isn’t that the Alaska meeting happened. The problem is THE SHOW squanders any the real chance of holding Russia to account for what it has done to global security. This is dangerous — for Ukraine, and for America & its future My latest: www.greatpower.us/p/half-baked...
Ukraine has announced their first operational use of their new Flamingo Cruise Missile against an FSB outpost in Crimea. Ukraine has aggressively been targeting Russia's air defense systems so their new cruise missile can effectively hit their targets. Russia's oil refineries continue to burn.
Remember the Goolsbee Rule, also called the “pathological irony of crisis”: If you lose credibility, your statements begin to mean the opposite of what you say.
The latest ignorant, lazy, recycled take. Allison says this several times a year. Stop already.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Corey Doctorow and Varoufakis have interesting takes on the big tech platforms.
"The lunatics are running the asylum."
I was doing something super heroic and cool before I got in a car accident, please do not look into this any further
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
There it is. Explains most — if not everything about corporatist support (accommodation, complicity, collaboration, overt championing) for the Trump administration.
Look at this graph. The share of national income going to the richest 10 percent was lowest (and share to lower 90 percent highest) when union membership was at its highest. As unions have weakened, inequality has widened. This is why we must build back union power.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Can some government somewhere stand up hard to this fascist menace?!
Musk has shadowbanned the 10 Downing Street account on X, and is stepping up his destabilisation antics as he pushes forward his efforts to control the entirety of Britain's electric power. We have to push back against this foreign chaos-merchant dividing this country with his hate.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Big tech platforms run the same old plays over and over and over again… and we fall for it every time.
Get the hell off Substack before you literally can’t anymore without blowing up your business
There's only one way to stop the rumors about Donald Trump's health: a press conference. Why won't he talk to the press, and why isn't the media doggedly demanding it?
Hannah Arendt:
(no actually, but he’s definitely not ok in some way I think)
⚡️Russia's war in Ukraine 'to last a long time,' Merz says. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an interview on Aug. 31 that he expects Russia's war in Ukraine to last a long time, as most wars end in military defeat or economic collapse — a scenario he does not foresee for Russia or Ukraine.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
Up is down; black is white; criminality is justice; treachery is loyalty; vice is virtue; virtue is vice—watching the media every day is like looking through the fascist looking glass. All principles are disposable and “the truth” is untethered from actual facts. Other than that, she’s all good.
I guess he changed hats and won’t go anywhere near the press for 5 days for no particular reason. Also can’t get any video of him actually playing golf from the usual sources.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
I think his lack of availability over past few days to address the rumours confirms that there are serious health issues of some kind that direct exposure to the media would make clear. So damage from open media event > damage from his unaddressed rumours and continued unavailability
"Why wouldn't you want the President of the United States to flood the streets of your city with soldiers to very temporarily and completely unsustainably suppress all human activity, including crime? I am a very serious journalist."
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
What? You don’t want all blue American cities under siege by the US military? So you must be pro-crime… just look at the ridiculous and obviously, intentionally misleading framing of the issue.
lbloom.bsky.social (@lbloom.bsky.social) reply parent
It’s always—and on all fronts—a full court press by the media to euphemize, rationalize and normalize the most authoritarian, racist and anti-democratic (ant-Constitutional) policies and actions and incitements/intentions of the Trump administration.
He’s providing them with valuable mulching experience though.
Time for some hopscotch civil disobedience. Dance D.C.! Dare the fascists and have fun while you do it 💃🕺
The Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council openly threatens that Macron and Merz will be "identified by their teeth."
