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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

This blog will pay for itself.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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Open Thread:  Hey Lurkers!  (Holiday Post)

Open Threads

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

Early Evening Open Thread

by WaterGirl|  October 14, 20256:42 pm| 27 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

The baseball post will be going up soon and I don’t see anything happening in the back room, so I thought an open thread would be good.

Time for me to go walk on the treadmill.  Not thrilled about that today.

Is anyone watching the new season of Slow Horses?   Or The Morning Show?  I am waiting until the whole seasons are up and then I’ll subscribe again and watch.  The great thing about streaming is that you don’t have to wait a week between episodes, dammit!

Greedy bastards!

Open thread.

Early Evening Open ThreadPost + Comments (27)

Take A Minute to Take Action

by WaterGirl|  October 14, 20253:10 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Political Action, Politics

Zoom With Four Directions Set for Thursday at 7 pm ET 1

Our friends at VAAC (Voting Access for All) just sent me this action item.

Anti-voter groups have flooded the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) with more than 200,000 comments demanding a dangerous new requirement: that Americans show a passport or other proof of citizenship just to register to vote.

If voted in, this change would disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans—including students, Black and Brown voters, returning citizens, rural residents, lower-income and working-class individuals, and married women—all who could face severe difficulties obtaining or producing these documents. We can’t let it go unanswered.

Michigan has seen efforts to pass this requirement in the statehouse, and we’re currently facing a looming threat in the form of a ballot initiative. This is obviously a multi-pronged effort to undermine the will of the people and a direct attack on voting access.

With just days left until the October 20 deadline for comment, we urgently need a flood of pro-voter comments to show public opposition and stop this barrier to the ballot box from being implemented. This is where we need you.

Here’s how you can take action right now:

Submit a Public Comment (it takes only one minute!). Feel free to copy and paste the message below into the EAC’s comment form, but adding your personal flair to the message is always recommended!

Here’s what you need to say:  (no need to include this specifically, just supplying info you can use)

I’m against requiring citizens to submit a passport or other documents to prove citizenship to register to vote. Only half of American citizens have a passport, and 69 million citizens lack a birth certificate that matches their current legal name—most of them women. States already verify eligibility. We don’t need to add more barriers to the ballot.

Click here to submit your comment to the EAC now!

Thank you for taking urgent action,

Voting Access for All Coalition

*****

Note from WG:

They submitted 200,000 comments in an effort to stop people from voting.

Let’s be like Elliott Ness:

“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!”

Submit your comment today, and ask everyone you know to submit a comment opposing this un-American policy.

 

 

Take A Minute to Take ActionPost + Comments (151)

Virginia Meetup – Proof of Life – Oct 11, 2025

by WaterGirl|  October 14, 20251:00 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Meetups, Open Threads

Sounds like a good time was had by all!

Present at the meetup!

piratedan
lowtechcyclist
Mr. Bemused Senior
PAM Dirac + Observer (Karen)
Rekoob

piratedan with Blackberry

 

close up of Beauregard!

 

pirated, lowtechcyclist, PAM Dirac and Karen, Mr. Bemused Senior

 

lowtechrider (Kim), piratedan, the back of the head of Bemused Senior (Bob) and PAM DIRAC (Dan Z.) and Beauregard on the deck

 

Nomini Creek from the deck…

I believe there might be plans to have another one in the Spring – seemed like there were a lot of people who wanted to attend, but they timing didn’t work for one reason or another.

Virginia Meetup – Proof of Life – Oct 11, 2025Post + Comments (45)

Beware The Reactionary Centrists

by Betty Cracker|  October 14, 202511:22 am| 222 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

Here’s a cartoon that cleverly illustrates how right-wing extremism gets mainstreamed by ostensibly liberal pundits:

New comic: Pundit Bro Doom Loop www.dailykos.com/stories/2025…

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— Jen Sorensen (@jensorensen.bsky.social) October 1, 2025 at 10:21 PM

That’s definitely a thing, liberal pundits bonding with right-wing extremists over their shared experience of people being mean to them on the internet. And people ARE mean to each other on the internet, and it really sucks to be on the receiving end of a dumb, self-righteous pile-on.

But the proper response isn’t to assume the ideas or actions that attracted the pile-on deserve a mainstream platform because they’re “out there.” It’s to examine the ideas or actions on their own merit.

Charlie Kirk’s murder is a recent and extreme example of how this plays out. It’s possible to condemn the shooting without implying Kirk had anything worthwhile to contribute. The latter mainstreams extremism.

***

A Bluesky post by commenter Sister Golden Bear a while back highlighted a related phenomenon. She reposted a cite from a Prospect article about how “reactionary centrists” are driving politics in the UK to the right, with disastrous results for trans people in that country.

“In 2012, 60 trans-related articles were published by Britain’s media. By 2022, it was more than 7,500, according to figures from Trans Media Watch. The media is not responding to public rage against vulnerable minorities; it is helping to create it.” www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/709…

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— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper.com) October 1, 2025 at 9:52 AM


In her post, SGB points out that the NYT is playing the same role here in the U.S. Other oligarch-owned platforms and news outlets are also all-in on the effort. Now that an oligarch family has put Bari Weiss is in charge of CBS News, we can expect that formerly venerable source to double down on its reactionary narratives too in the guise of centrism and objectivity.

***

Trans rights are a major focus of reactionary centrism, and so is immigration. A couple of excerpts from the Prospect piece:

(Reactionary centrists) are people who—while not exactly supportive of the political right—tend to view it as without agency, as if the radicalisation of US conservatism is the result of people responding to the excesses of social justice, incivility from the left or cultural disrespect. So-called reactionary centrists both blamed the victims of the populist right, and spent a lot of time humanising the perpetrators.

If only liberals could understand what drove Maga voters. Reactionary centrists admonished liberals to be very careful in their language, to not call very obvious fascists fascist, lest they be further provoked. The solution was to give ground; if democrats made appeals to the centre, particularly if they moved right on immigration and trans rights, they could regain votes lost to Trump. …

This desire to meet the hard right halfway, to find a middle point, is hopelessly exploitable. In an age of radicalisation, you simply get pulled further and further to the right, while tacitly validating those values at every step…

Emphasis mine: it’s a form of Murc’s Law, i.e., only Democrats have agency, in action. The article’s author, Toby Buckle, borrows the U.S. term “reactionary centrist” to describe what’s happened to Labour in the UK under PM Kier Starmer:

The motivation for this move against LGBT rights seems to have been to take the issue off the table for voters. Morgan McSweeney, the Starmer aide most associated with the government’s political strategy, operates on classic reactionary centrist logic: we need to meet the public where it’s at and understand the concerns of defectors to Reform (while aggressively ignoring the concerns of the, much more numerous, defectors to the Lib Dems or Greens).

To put it mildly, this has not worked. The theory was that feeding the wolf would starve it. But, somehow, the beast is stronger than ever. Reactionary centrists simply cannot account for this outcome. All they can think to do is keep throwing more meat.

The only thing I know about Labour is what I read about it here from Tony Jay and Rose, but we see the same impulse described above in U.S. politics. The phrase “meeting voters where they are” isn’t inherently bad, IMO — you have to show up were voters can hear your message.

But tacitly validating existing  prejudices is fatal; it inexorably moves the framing to the right and throws vulnerable people under the bus. It also doesn’t work to take issues off the table for voters.

Ten years ago, there wasn’t widespread hysteria about trans people in the U.S. Remember in 2016 when Trump said Caitlyn Jenner could use any bathroom she chose? The right deliberately manufactured anti-trans hysteria, which implies that it can be dismantled too. The same goes for immigration and reproductive rights and other issues Dems are urged to “moderate” on to win elections.

The article notes that while the Democratic Party has some members who could be described that way, reactionary centrists don’t dominate the party like they do in the UK. I think that’s true and hope and trust we can keep it that way.

Open thread.

Beware The Reactionary CentristsPost + Comments (222)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  October 14, 20256:28 am| 269 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republicans in Disarray!, Today in Republican Corruption

??MAJOR BREAKING: Rep-Elect Adelita Grijalva announces her election results will be OFFICIALLY certified tomorrow, destroying Mike Johnson’s last excuse to delay her swearing in.
“Mike Johnson needs to do his job so I can do mine.”
No more lies.
No more delays.
Swear her in!

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— Harlow’s Musings (@harlowsmusings.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 10:53 PM

===

THEN WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY??

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— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 12:23 PM

===

There's probably enough material for media outlets to be doing front page stories just about every day on foreign government efforts to influence Trump through deals involving his family business. Not sure why the media isn't doing more with this.

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— Simon Lester (@simonlester.com) October 13, 2025 at 2:56 PM

===

they’re scared fucking shitless of this weekend, or, at the least, are scared fucking shitless of trump seeing it on the television

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— GHOULLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachine.com) October 13, 2025 at 10:57 AM

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These are the same kind of weasels who would’ve called George Washington & America’s revolutionaries “terrorists.” They spend their days sucking up to King Trump & demonizing peaceful protest just as some in America sought to appease King George III. 
Looking forward to No Kings Day.

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— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) October 13, 2025 at 5:29 PM

… The No Kings movement first sprang up as counter-programming to a military parade spearheaded by the White House in June, leading to the largest coordinated demonstration against Trump to date since his return to the Oval Office. The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, and organizers at the time said they specifically did not plan an event in Washington to avoid a conflict.

The coast-to-coast protests went on almost entirely without incident, with one notable act of violence — when rally “peacekeepers” in Salt Lake City shot and killed a bystander because they believed another man with a gun was about to fire on the crowd.

The organizers of the upcoming rally largely brushed off House GOP leaders’ characterization. In a joint, unsigned statement, which they said they issued “after a few moments of laughter,” they pressured Johnson over the government shutdown.

“Speaker Johnson is running out of excuses for keeping the government shut down,” the No Kings coalition wrote. “Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable healthcare, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings.”

The organizers of the rally run the gamut of the Democratic coalition, from labor unions to the Indivisible to Vote Save America, the fundraising and volunteering arm of Crooked Media.

Jon Favreau, one of Crooked’s co-founders, criticized Emmer and Johnson on social media, emphasizing that the first No Kings protest was “peaceful” with “American flags everywhere.”

“Those of us who will be participating next weekend in what Emmer calls a ‘hate rally’ for ‘terrorists’ love our country — particularly its promise that we’re all created equal, that we all have the right to speak freely, to enjoy equal protection under the law, to believe what we want, and to choose our leaders without fear of reprisal,” he wrote…

Tuesday Morning Open ThreadPost + Comments (269)

Late Night Open Thread: It’s Quiet… *Too* Quiet…

by Anne Laurie|  October 14, 20251:30 am| 60 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Trumpery, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

'Confused' Trump told to sit back down amid attempt to speak out of turn: report
www.rawstory.com/donald-trump…

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— ❌👑 Becki (@sagan10.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 7:14 PM

Intercontinental air travel is hard on an old man, and we all remember how much grace our Very Serious Media granted President Biden concerning that problem.

'No one has an annual physical twice': Trump insider baffled by Friday hospital visit – Raw Story www.rawstory.com/trump-health…

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— Sue Stone (@knittingknots.bsky.social) October 10, 2025 at 11:18 AM

Probably this ‘annual physical’ was nothing more serious than an effort to make sure Trump’s ‘chronic venous insufficiency’ was up to the challenge of a 12-hour-plus flight, even in Air Force One, but… who knows? It would be irresponsible not to speculate… especially with JDivan Vance throwing himself in front of every camera he can spot, babbling about how he’s ready to take the big chair at a moment’s notice.

******

Leukemia is among the illnesses treated with once monthly infusions that could have side effects that last more than a day or so. There are also 2 new monoclonal antibody drugs for early stage Alzheimer’s that are administered monthly & through an IV.

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) October 4, 2025 at 6:27 PM

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I don’t know actually what’s up with trump’s health but as he gets older and more decrepit, I think it’s incumbent on us to loudly and repeatedly demand proof of life every day

— mr. sardonicus (@mmcgrath.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 2:41 PM

this myth of his virility is so important to his whole deal, so get him on camera out in public every fuckin day looking like milled shit

— mr. sardonicus (@mmcgrath.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 2:44 PM

===

I think we should do Trump-is-dead speculation every time we get a clean chance, it’s clearly great for team morale.
If you’re not into it, I dunno, post cat pics or something and enjoy the downstream benefits of other people being in a good mood

— ghost malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 5:45 PM

===

we know he's not dead, but last time it really freaked them out and they pushed a half baked Trump back into the light, so if we can stress out his very on-line staff and interrupt Trump's much needed R&R, lovely

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— Henry (@henrythedog.bsky.social) October 3, 2025 at 5:51 PM

Late Night Open Thread: <em>It’s Quiet… *Too* Quiet…</em>Post + Comments (60)

War for Ukraine Day 1,327: Another Day Another War Crime

by Adam L Silverman|  October 13, 20259:09 pm| 21 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Israel, Military, Open Threads, Palestine, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

Painting by NEIVANMADE. It has a white background an in the center are Soldiers in green doing air defense by firing at incoming Russian missiles in the upper right. The missiles are red and yellow. In the upper left, written in green, is the text: "SAVE THE BRAVEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!" Below the Soldiers, also written in green, is "SUPPORT FOR KHARKIV"

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

The Russians dropped a glide bomb on a hospital in Kharkiv about four or five hours ago. I’ll get to all of that, as well as the other genocidal war crimes after the jump.

One quick note on another matter: the twenty surviving hostages and, as far as I know the remains of the others who did not survive, have been exchanged for a large number of Palestinian prisoners. That’s basically where things are for Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza. My professional assessment is this is about as far as we’re going to get. I expect the Israelis to start dragging their feet and come up with an excuse to restart their war on Hamas, which is functionally an ethnic cleansing of the Gazan Palestinians bordering on/overlapping with a genocidal campaign in Gaza. There’s no reason now for Bibi to go beyond Phase 1. There are multiple reasons – keeping the most extreme members of his coalition (Ben-Gvir, Smoltrich, and their extremist constituents) happy so he can keep his tuchas out of court and potentially out of prison. This is not that Hamas doesn’t have agency, they do, and whatever they do will be used to justify whatever Bibi will do going forward. This is what Bibi did to every previous agreement, as well as in southern Lebanon.

President Zelenskyy met with Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, today, Here’s the video of their joint press conference.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address to the 71st annual session of the NATO parliamentary assembly. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Address by the President to the Participants of the 71st Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

13 October 2025 – 13:36

Thank you so much!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Thank you for your attention to Ukraine and for supporting our people and our country.

And let me praise Slovenia today – it is hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly now. Slovenia has supported us from the start of this war, like other free nations, and we value that. Robert, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your personal engagement. And Marcos, Mr. President of the Assembly, thank you for the invitation today and for your support.

First, a frontline update. This matters because our people have held back another wave of Russian attacks in Sumy and Donetsk regions. And that shows again – Russia cannot achieve its goals when our unity generates enough support.

Russia has failed many times to carry out Putin’s order to take Donbas. They keep delaying this senseless goal.

In summer, they told the United States of America and others they would achieve it in a few months – by October or November. Instead, it is our troops who are pushing forward now. Our results are possible because we no longer face the big shortages of regular weapons we had before. Some items are still missing, but we are working hard to ramp up our industry so it can supply more. I want to stress – we are steadily increasing production of our own weapons. More than 40% of the weapons on the front now are made in Ukraine. But every package of military aid from your countries still matters.

And please keep supporting us so we can keep the Russians on the back foot. The worse things are for Russia at the front, the greater the internal pressure on Putin to negotiate seriously.

Second point.

To cover up their failures on the ground, Russia has started a new wave of air terror against Ukraine – against our cities and civilian infrastructure. Their main targets are our energy systems. Every day, every night, Russian missiles and drones hit power plants and transmission lines. And this is a brutal attack on normal life, and it is dangerous. To defend against it, we need systems and missiles – air defense systems – we cannot fully produce in Ukraine. Yes, we have started making interceptor drones to stop “shaheds,” and we have mobile strike groups and aircraft. But Russian strikes are mixed and use many cruise and ballistic missiles. So the systems like Patriot, NASAMS, SapmT and others are absolutely vital. We are talking to everyone who can help with air defense systems and with missiles. Before winter, Putin hopes to use this terror to break our resistance. We must not let that happen.

So I urge you to advocate in your parliaments and governments for stronger air defenses and the missiles we need. And the decisions are needed in the coming weeks – on both systems and missiles. Russia must learn it cannot terrorize any country with impunity.

Yesterday, I spoke with President Trump for the second time in two days. We went through details — air defense, Patriot systems, Tomahawks, the energy equipment we need, and the need to stop partners buying Russian oil. Even if Hungarian guys claim it helps their election chances, in the long run, it undermines their country’s security and Europe’s – for Putin, every billion matters. You cannot be part of the free world and at the same time fund those who want to destroy it. We also discussed the PURL program. This program helps us buy American weapons, including missiles for Patriots, and it helps convince the U.S. administration that America’s alliance with Europe and other NATO partners matters. I thank the countries that have already joined this program PURL – the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, the Baltic states, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Iceland. And I thank Slovenia as well for its decision to join. Thank you! It’s important that the pledged contributions arrive and are used quickly – they save lives. Some funds have not come yet. And we hope other Allies will join the PURL program – it will help.

Air terror is Putin’s last move. We must stop it. Deny him victories on the ground and in the sky – then real diplomacy becomes possible.

There are delegations from almost 50 countries here – from Europe, the whole Alliance, the Middle East, and others, other regions. This matters. We now see that the war in the Middle East is finally ending – after so many victims, there is a real chance for peace. It was difficult, but it is happening. Russia’s war in Europe remains the biggest source of global instability. And it depends on all of you whether this war will end too. Putin can be forced into peace – just like any other terrorist. Even Hamas is now preparing to release hostages. If that is possible, then Putin can also be forced to restore peace.

One more thing. Please do not ease sanctions on Russia – strengthen them.

Sanctions limit Russia’s war machine. We also need pressure on those in your countries who continue to supply critical components for Russian drones and missiles. No Russian missile or drone would fly without parts from other countries. This is not only China and Taiwan – some components still come from European countries, and from others around the world who still cooperate with Russia’s manufacturers of death. Our team can provide all the facts, and we are ready to share any information you need. Please take this up in your governments.

By stopping Russia now, you are not only helping us protect our lives – you are helping yourselves. And you spare your leaders from having to do what I do – appeal to the world for help if Russian drones, missiles, and soldiers become a threat to you. Russia must lose.

And on that basis, we must build a real system of guaranteed security – one that does not depend on shifting geopolitics or election moods. Dozens of countries are already part of this project – 35 countries in our Coalition of the Willing. Please support it at every level – in your parliaments, in your media, and through quiet diplomacy. Security must be guaranteed, and when it works for us, it will work for every country that needs protection.

Thank you.

Glory to Ukraine!

Georgia:

As protests in Georgia persist, Georgian Dream tightens the law:

Covering your face, blocking roads, or setting up protest structures can now mean 15–20 days in jail.
Repeat it within a year, and it’s a criminal offense — up to 1 year, or 2 years for multiple “offenses.”

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— Rusudan Djakeli (@rusudandjakeli.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM

A REPEATED “offense” of covering one’s face during a protest, or closing the road, will result in a CRIMINAL imprisonment of up to 1 year.

The first-time “offense” is administrative detention for 15-20 days.

Protesting without a face cover is a USD 1,800 fine each time. 1/2

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM

Can you imagine just how much the Georgian Dream is uncomfortable with protests?

#GeorgiaProtests #TerrorinGeorgia 2/2.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM

JUST IN: The Georgian Dream prepares legislation to enable the Constitutional Court to bar persons from registering political parties, being members of political parties, running in elections, and holding official positions. 1/2

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM

This is in addition to their plans to outright ban all democratic parties as entities.

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests 2/2.

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM

So, top propaganda media was off for 45 minutes and the State Security is investigating it under the “sabotage” clause.

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— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM

Ivanishvili is the most sophisticated Russian proxy dictatorship.

He said on April 29, 2024, that he was neither Shevardnadze (to step down over popular unrest), nor Yanukovych (to allow himself stupid mistakes that would get him toppled).

#TerrorinGeorgia #GeorgiaProtests

— Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 (@marikamikiashvili.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:35 PM

The EU:

We must learn from Ukraine. Ukraine air defences take down 80% of targets.

Ukrainian drones stopped Russian advance on land and in the Black Sea, and devastated the Russian strategic bomber fleet. Ukraine shows besides tech we need integrated command & a new warfare ecosystem.

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— Andrius Kubilius (@andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu) October 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM

The UK:

NEW: The British politician, his Russian intelligence handler & a Kremlin plot against the US & Ukraine.

My new piece about Nathan Gill and Nigel Farage for @thenerve_news in which we ask:

Why, even now, is no-one asking questions?

t.co/BUTtpK9C4S

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— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 7:29 AM

The man who bribed Gill – Oleh Voloshyn – is part of a much wider network of pro-Russian actors.

He worked with this guy, an FSB agent, who I’ve been fascinated by for years,

My investigation for @thenerve.news shows how Gill was a pawn in a Kremlin operation that spanned both Europe & US
2/

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— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 7:40 AM

From The Nerve:

Two weeks ago, Nathan Gill, an ex-MEP and former leader of Nigel Farage’s Reform party in Wales, pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery.

Gill has admitted to taking financial inducements to make speeches and statements that advanced Putin’s interests in Ukraine from Oleh Voloshyn, a man the US government describes as an “FSB pawn”. Gill will be sentenced in November.

On Friday, campaigning in Caerphilly, where Reform is hoping to win a seat in a Senedd (Welsh national assembly) byelection later this month, Farage was faced with an unusual scenario: uncomfortable questions. In response to BBC reporters, he said he was “shocked”. Gill was, as far as he knew, a “God-fearing Christian”.

The BBC’s report continues: “Asked if he knew about Gill making pro-Russian statements, Farage said: ‘I didn’t know anything about it.’”

To be fair to Farage, you can understand his confusion. Gill’s pro-Kremlin speeches are almost indistinguishable from those made by any number of other Ukip, Brexit party or now Reform politicians, including Nigel Farage. In the EU parliament in 2014, for example, Farage described Ukraine’s popular uprising against a pro-Russian government as “a coup d’etat”. And even after Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he was spouting off about the EU’s responsibility for “poking the Russian bear”.

There’s no suggestion that Farage has taken any money from Russian sources; the intention here is to point out that there has been a lack of journalistic curiosity about a longstanding ideological alignment between Reform / Ukip and Putin’s government. And this lack of media curiosity continues even now there is cold, hard evidence of a financial channel from the Kremlin to a British politician, Gill, all while the UK government has repeatedly refused to act on evidence of Russia’s years-long campaign to infiltrate and influence UK politics.

Even the most cursory review of the facts reveals that Gill was part of a much bigger network – one responsible for subverting and destabilising democracies on two continents. I came home late on the day that the news about the charges against Gill broke in February, and it was a matter of minutes’ online research at my kitchen table to see how intimately connected he was to Russian intelligence operations against the US government and across Europe.

At that point, Gill had been charged and reporting restrictions were in place. I posted one photo of Farage with Ukrainian politician Oleh Voloshyn’s wife online and left it at that.

Now, however, these facts can be reported. Facts about the man who was charged alongside Gill: Voloshyn, who Gill now admits paid him to make pro-Russian statements.

Voloshyn is not some small-time two-bit player. WhatsApp messages disclosed in court revealed Gill’s role in promoting a Ukraine “peace plan” advanced by one of Putin’s closest allies. Last week, Byline Times mapped these connections and Farage’s meetings with Voloshyn’s wife in the European parliament.

The Nerve can reveal that Voloshyn is also intimately connected to efforts to destabilise the US.

In 2022, the US government sanctioned Voloshyn. The charge sheet states that he “worked with Russian actors to undermine Ukrainian government officials and advocate on behalf of Russia”. But it then goes beyond that, stating: “Voloshyn also worked with … Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national with ties to Russian intelligence who was sanctioned for attempts to influence the US 2020 presidential election, to coordinate passing on information to influence US elections at the behest of Russia.”

Since 2016, when I began investigating Russia’s links to key political figures in the US and UK, I have carried an entire Marvel-like universe of interconnected characters in my head. Yet it’s amazing how often some of them keep popping back up. Konstantin Kilimnik is one of those.

After sanctioning Kilimnik in 2021, the US government offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. At that point he had returned to Moscow. And yet here he is again, in 2025. This time, two degrees of separation from my hometown, Cardiff, in Wales, in apparent ideological lockstep with the man now known to have bribed a British politician.

Because before he was an MEP, Nathan Gill was a member of the Senedd, the Welsh national assembly. In 2016, Ukip recorded an unexpected success in the elections, gaining seven seats. And I paid a visit to Cardiff to investigate how a political party rooted in English nationalism had made such dramatic inroads in Wales.

I tried to interview Gill, but he refused to talk to me. He ignored multiple emails. Just months later, I would embark on an investigation into Brexit, Trump and the data firm Cambridge Analytica. What I could never have predicted is that, nine years on, Gill and that story would crash directly into one other.

It’s hard to overstate Kilimnik’s importance in the various US investigations into Trump’s relationship to the Kremlin. This isn’t speculation: it’s all set down in a 2020 Senate Intelligence Committee report. That report details how the Trump campaign passed sensitive campaign polling data to a Russian intelligence agent: Konstantin Kilimnik. And the data? It came from Cambridge Analytica.

It was data that would have been a vital asset for any online influence campaign. In 2019, I took part in a panel talk in Los Angeles with Adam Schiff, the Democratic senator from California who was then chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He called the passing of data from the Trump campaign to Kilimnik the closest evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

More at the link.

Kilimnik was/is Paul Manafort’s handler.

The US:

NEWS: President Trump plans to welcome President Zelenskyy in Washington on Friday, three people familiar with the plans tell me. This comes after two phone calls between the presidents last weekend during which they discussed Tomahawk missile sales and how to end Russia’s war.

— Christopher Miller (@christopherjm.ft.com) October 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM

From The Financial Times:

US President Donald Trump will welcome his Ukrainian counterpart to Washington on Friday for talks about how they can force Russia’s Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, including through the possibility of supplying American-made Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv.

The meeting will be Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s third with the US president at the White House since Trump returned to office in January.

Trump and Zelenskyy held phone calls over the weekend, during which they discussed the possibility of Nato allies buying Tomahawk missiles for Kyiv — a long-range weapon that would extend Ukraine’s strike capability as far as Moscow and beyond — and how to bring an end to Russia’s full-scale war.

Tomahawk missiles have been atop Ukraine’s wish list of weapons since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Trump has said that he is considering selling an unspecified number of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine but that he needs to hear more about how Kyiv plans to use them, two people briefed on the president’s calls told the Financial Times.

Zelenskyy confirmed the upcoming meeting with Trump on Monday evening.

He said he shared with Trump a “vision” of how many Tomahawk missiles Ukraine would need.

A Ukrainian official said Kyiv believed Trump was closer than ever to supplying the missiles but cautioned that the US president was clear that he had not yet come to a decision.

Although Trump and Zelenskyy clashed badly in the Oval Office in February, relations between the two have improved markedly over the summer, as the US president has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin’s refusal to end the war in Ukraine.

People familiar with Trump’s discussions with Zelenskyy said that his about-face stems from growing frustration with Putin.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters the US might send Ukraine Tomahawk missiles if Putin did not come to a settlement.

“I might say: ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’,” Trump said, adding he wanted to speak to Putin before deciding.

“The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that.”

Putin has previously warned the US against providing Kyiv with Tomahawks, saying it would be a major escalation between Washington and Moscow.

If Trump decided to sell the weapons to Nato allies who would then give them to Ukraine, it would mark the most significant military support by the US president, and in stark contrast to his previous position.

More at the link.

I don’t expect anything to come out of this. The Trump administration hasn’t provided any military aid in months. Everything is either being purchased by EU member states and provided to Ukraine or being purchased by Ukraine for itself.

“We gave them nothing but we gave them respect”

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— Mira of Kyiv 🇺🇦 (@reshetz.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 11:44 PM

I miss announcements of new US aid packages to Ukraine.

— Dakota (@dakota.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 11:54 PM

Back to Ukraine.

Kharkiv:

Russia struck Kharkiv with 2 glide bombs a little earlier tonight. There are at least 3 injured people, a fire, and several areas of the city without electricity.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM

Tonight, russia struck Kharkiv with three aerial bombs, one of which hit the grounds of a hospital. Three districts of the city are partially without electricity.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM

Russia struck Kharkiv’s city hospital with a glide bomb

At least 4 people were injured by shards of glass

Many of the hospital’s patients are immobile. Police are helping with their evacuation. Imagine the terror of being bombed and unable to move, unable to protect yourself!

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM

Murderous bastards

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM

At least six people were injured by flying glass after Russia struck the grounds of a hospital in Kharkiv. Around 10 p.m., Russian forces launched three guided aerial bombs at the city. One hit an outbuilding near the medical facility.

Windows and doors were blown out in the hospital wings,

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

where over a hundred patients were being treated—many of them with diabetes. They were immediately moved from their wards to a shelter, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, who spoke from the scene.- Suspilne news reports.

— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM

This morning, russia attacked central Kharkiv with a drone, damaging a dormitory. The city’s Mayor says the drone’s type remains unidentified.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM

Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

A couple was killed in their car when a russian drone struck them as they drove through the Polohy district in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

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— Iryna Voichuk (@irynavoichuk.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:54 AM

Chernihiv Oblast:

Russia killed one person and injured another in a drone strike on Chernihiv region.

Their drone hit a local store, sparking a fire.

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:53 AM

Russian occupied Crimea:

Feodosiya this morning 🫠

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:13 AM

Feodosiya oil depot keeps burning after last night’s attack 🔥

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM

Occupied Feodosiya is very warm this time of the year 🔥

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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM

From Hromadske:

Drones struck an oil depot in Russian-occupied Feodosia overnight, igniting a massive blaze, Russian-installed occupation leader of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov reported.

Aksyonov said there were no casualties from the attack and that air defenses downed 20 drones over Crimea.

The monitoring project Crimean Wind also reported a fire at the depot.

More at the link.

A double rainbow and a still-burning Russian oil depot in Feodosia

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 9:01 AM

The Pokrovsk front, Donetsk Oblast:

❗️/1. After a long pause, the Russians continue to send heavy columns of armored vehicles to assault the front.

Oct 13 — Dobropillia (Ocheretyne axis):
Russians launched another mechanized assault with 16 heavy armored vehicles ( on positions in the area of responsibility of Azov

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

/2. Results of Ukraine’s defense:
• Destroyed/damaged: 9 IFVs, 4 APCs, 3 tanks, 3 motorcycles.
• Personnel losses: at least 78 Russians KIA.

Assaults moved toward Myrnohrad and Razine, main effort on Shakhove. Tactics: motorcycle groups in the first wave, then armor with infantry on board;

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

/3. Thanks to pre-laid minefields and coordinated actions by Ukrainian artillery, National Guard units and UAV crews, the assault was repelled.

— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM

Kherson Oblast:

Compilation of drone strikes on the Russian boats with infantry trying to cross Dnipro river, Kherson region.

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— 🦋Special Kherson Cat🐈🇺🇦 (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 6:23 AM

The Zaporizhzhia front:

The situation of Russian forces on the Zaporizhzhia front. The house occupied by the Russian troops is on fire, but even in such critical moments, they don’t forget to record video reports.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 11:53 AM

Sumy Oblast:

Frontline roads in Ukraine’s Sumy region. The burned-out cars are the result of FPV drone attacks on fiber-optic lines, against which electronic-warfare systems don’t work.

The only effective way to counter them is shotgun shooters who constantly watch the sky.

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— WarTranslated (Dmitri) (@wartranslated.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 5:46 AM

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron skeets or videos today. Here is some adjacent material.

Ukrainian dog and cat sharing a meal from the Hachiko team today. Displaced by war, but still so well behaved!

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— Nate Mook (@natemook.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 7:51 PM

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 1,327: Another Day Another War CrimePost + Comments (21)

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