tomfreeman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

The "flatter Trump into acting more like a normal Republican president" diplomatic approach had partial success in his first term, because back then a lot of the people around him were normal Republicans. But now he's surrounded by kleptocrats and fanatics who adore his extremist instincts.

submitted just now • 0 comments

The lamps are going out all over America

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

An admin throwing away all its leverage. "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia, including offensive digital actions, according to three people familiar with the matter." therecord.media/hegseth-orde...

submitted 1 hour ago • 30 comments

The White House is occupied by an emotionally unstable Kremlin spokesman. Nato has been shut down until at least 2029. 2.5% of GDP is not going to cut it.

submitted 3 hours ago • 1 comment

Unmistakable how they talk like mob bosses, move like mob bosses, understand the world like mob bosses. Everything makes sense when you look at them through the lens of being mob bosses

submitted 3 hours ago • 3 comments

Trump and Vance, two small men who think their spite makes them big.

submitted 3 hours ago • 1 comment

This is like the time Jeremy Corbyn said Putin should be in charge of assessing responsibility for the novichok poisoning, except about a billion times worse

submitted 4 hours ago • 0 comments

My slightly meta view on this is that it's ridiculous (and arguably unconservative) to insist that a concept like Englishness, which is substantially cultural and subject to change and indeterminacy, needs to be precisely defined so that the state can "protect" it and classify people accordingly.

submitted 6 hours ago • 3 comments

I've been trying to figure out how to depict a round of non-live ammunition, and after hours of effort I've drawn a blank.

submitted 11 hours ago • 2 comments

"See it, say it, sort it. No, I mean sortED, someone else will do the sorting, you see. Yes it's clever isn't it"

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

Yes, eyesight being an issue is much likelier

submitted 23 hours ago • 0 comments

Watching Trump open the letter from Charles and then mumble a bit vaguely and then hand it back to Starmer to tell everyone what it says... Can he... I mean, I know he can read, of course he can read, but... can he read?

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

"When I watch Gogglebox I see people who don’t look like me, who don’t talk like me, who don’t have the same experiences or political beliefs, and I see them laugh at what I laugh at, gawp at what shocks me, cry at what touches me, and take the piss out of most of it, and I feel kinship with them"

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Not sure if this'll work out, but it's definitely a clever effort. #NewRiverBirds

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What a hopeless mess that article is. If "English" is defined as an inherited, unchangeable ethnicity which is unaffected by citizenship, homeland, moral/political/social outlook, cultural habits and affinities etc, then that doesn't make Englishness a "substantial" concept but a nearly empty one.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

🎵 In the navel Yes, you can store your spare old fluff In the navel No, you can never have enough In the navel Leave your collection to expand In the navel Or retrieve some with your hand

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Well yes, we started off thinking that the escape room would be a fun afternoon's activity, but it turned out to be so cosy that we decided to stay. Much cheaper than renting. And very secure. Been here three years now.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Follow the money. Applaud the money. Adore the money. Obey the money. Cater to the money's every whim. Earn yourself a place in the money's loyal service and maybe you too can partake in the money.

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

it's not surprising a 78 year old has health issues; it's telling that they feel the need to lie about them, as they do so much else

submitted 2 days ago • 23 comments

Kind of weird that Paul McCartney knew the French for "these are words that go together well" but not "I love you". Would have been more plausible like this: 🎵 I will say the only words I know that you'll understand Bonjour, ça va? J'ai douze ans, j'habite à Liverpool À Liverpool

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

People are dunking on this but tbh if we can can get him to focus his megalomania-by-numbers on an AI fantasyland then that will probably be good news for the real world

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Here's @danielfinkelstein.bsky.social on how Liz Truss is selling her reputation and receiving a fair price for it: www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Then as now, a gesture intended to display power and loyalty and to intimidate anyone who isn't "one of us". Whether you're smirking as you do it has no bearing on its meaning.

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This means the defence budget being maybe 8-9% higher than it would have been, and the aid budget being something like 40% lower. I think only one of those two changes is going to have powerful effects.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Have we considered the possibility that Elon just wants to make some new penpals and he's using "What did you do last week?" as a friendly icebreaker

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

A typical fingernail grows 3.6cm in a year. It would take 10.7 billion years to grow your nails long enough to reach the moon, 384,400km away. But its orbit is expanding, taking it farther out each year by 3.8cm. So, alas, you will never fulfil your dream of scratching the moon.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

I appreciate that "what on earth is Kemi Badenoch talking about" is an extremely unoriginal thought, but on the other hand what on earth is Kemi Badenoch talking about

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Was wondering what a plausibly effective way of "wooing" Trump might be, and it's just money, isn't it. Never mind defence spending, just bribe the fucker with a couple of billion quid a year and he'll play nice

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

Obviously this is the kind of glib smug crap that some know-nothing on social media would come up with, but I reckon Zelensky should say "Sure, you can have mineral rights in Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. You might need to help us get rid of some squatters first."

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

The first US president ever to seek to be the leader of the unfree world.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: US voted against Ukraine's UN resolution which branded Russia the "aggressor" & demanded withdrawal of its troops. US on list of 18 nations also incl Russia, Iran and North Korea to vote against. UK & most European nations among 93 states to back Ukrainian resolution. China abstained.

submitted 4 days ago • 80 comments

"Spend 2.5% (or 3%) of GDP on defence" plays the same role now that "Spend 0.7% on development" did 20 years ago: an essentially arbitrary target whose achievement would have unclear results, but a handy device to chivvy policymakers along when there's a general sense that more needs to be done

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

OK, so this is what he meant when he said that his position on Ukraine was "rock solid"

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Age yourself with the first movie you remember seeing in the cinema

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Dear Mr Musk, 1) I started with a bottle of Moët for two Monday 2) Took her for a drink on Tuesday 3) We were making love by Wednesday and on Thursday and Friday and Saturday 4) We chilled on Sunday 5) Then I wrote this email

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Ah, time to settle down for a Sunday-night watch of what I'm sure will be a delightfully quirky comedy, checks notes The Banshees of Inisherin

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

At that annoying not-quite-post-tummy-ache stage where I want to stuff my face with food but also have to take it very carefully

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Dear Mr Musk, 1) I started with a bottle of Moët for two Monday 2) Took her for a drink on Tuesday 3) We were making love by Wednesday and on Thursday and Friday and Saturday 4) We chilled on Sunday 5) Then I wrote this email

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Sifting through all the emails, assessing the responses and deciding who to fire sounds like a perfect job for Grok

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments