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Chris Smith

@ledredman.bsky.social

3K followers 1.7K following 10K posts

Retired Engineer #FBPE Life long anti Tory and Anti fascist Tactical voter

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · Feb 12

The USA is no longer a reliable ally for Europe. We must build a European defence capability which is totally independent of the Americans. It will cost European taxpayers to do so, but we must stop fooling ourselves that Trump would ever honour the NATO article 5 commitment.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Feb 12

Hegseth: "We must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective ... the US does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement."

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Steve Griffiths 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @cymry.bsky.social · 3h

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Mad_as_hell (Maddie) @maddie-says.bsky.social · 1h

Who knew that military families in long food pantry lines and calling into CSPAN complaining about not being able to afford their children's medication would not be a good look for Republicans? 🙋🏽‍♀️

#DemVoice1 #ProudBlue #Pinks

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 1h

BREAKING: President Trump directs the Pentagon to use "all available funds" to ensure U.S. troops are paid on Wednesday despite the government shutdown.

Trump directs the Pentagon to use 'all available funds' to ensure troops are paid despite shutdown

President Donald Trump says he's directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure that U.S. troops are paid on Wednesday despite the government shutdown.

bit.ly

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dj05453.bsky.social @dj05453.bsky.social · 41m

when it eventually comes out that farage took the dirty Russian money too it still wont be reported.

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 6m

They have dreamed up a number and will not be held to account at all. We know how this bullshit game works. We have seen the oligarch media play it since time immemorial.

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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 2h

The Conservatives have "identified" £47 billion in savings rather like I have "identified" the size of the National Lottery jackpot for a given evening, here's a number than in theory could be mine.

Shoddy journalism.

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 8m

We know that the media are heavily biased in favour of right wing figures. Farage will not be investigated. Only a smoking gun would force them to address it.

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Brian Moore @briantrumpet.bsky.social · 31m

Everything he's reported to have said in this BBC piece sounds like he's desperately trying to distance himself, knowing that the connection is real and toxic. If the press were investigating Farage with the same enthusiasm they went for Rayner, he'd be done for.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nigel Farage 'stunned' ex-Wales Reform leader Nathan Gill took bribes

Nathan Gill has admitted taking money for pro-Russian statements as a European Parliament member.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Larry_in_WI @larry1504.bsky.social · 5h

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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 7h

Either Zia Yusuf has been lying to the British public or he's been used as a patsy to cover for the Reform UK leaders who absolutely know who Nathan Gill is.

"I've never spoken to him, most people in the senior leadership team have never really heard of the guy." 😬

(h/t @jim_nauseum2 on X-Twitter)

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 50m

The thing I'm "stunned" about is why this isn't the biggest domestic news item on every flipping platform

bylinetimes.com/2025/10/11/s...

'Stunned?' Farage's Admission He Knew Nathan Gill but Not His Kremlin Associates Does Not Stand Up to Scrutiny

Insiders have told Byline Times it is 'inconceivable' the Reform Leader did not know about his close aide's pro Russian statements

bylinetimes.com

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Vincent Zimmerman @zimmermanv66.bsky.social · 21m

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 23m

I suspect these arrogant twats are riding for a very big fall.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 17h

“.. Inside the White House, top advisers joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist,” according to people who have heard the comments. Steve Bannon, the influential Trump ally, likened Congress to the Duma, the Russian assembly that is largely ceremonial.”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 17h

“Largely ceremonial” does feel like the most honest way to talk about the U.S. Congress in 2025

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 17h

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Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 7h

❗️Russia canceled its first Russia-Arab summit because most of Arab leaders would not attend it.

The summit was supposed to take place on October 15, but a week earlier, it turned out that only acting president of Syria and Prime Minister of Iraq confirmed their participation.

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David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 1d

Oh hey did DOJ lie to us, I am stupefied

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Report on Soros Cited by Justice Dept. Does Not Show Funding for Terrorism

www.nytimes.com

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 30m

Trump has murdered a number of people in recent months. I hope he eventually is subject to the same regime.

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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 16h

“While the president’s authority to grant clemency for federal crimes is virtually unfettered, the power to impose vengeance via prison assignments isn’t clear.”

Actually, the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It’s in the Bill of Rights. It’s pretty clear.

The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 16h

“I’ve got no problem with gruel.” Under orders from Trump, officials seek to make the life sentences of 37 convicted killers more like a living hell. The men were spared the death penalty by Biden.

Biden Spared 37 Killers From Execution. Trump Ordered Up a Lifetime of Torment.

Even America’s harshest federal prison, where inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, was too good, one official said. “I’ve got no problem with gruel.”

on.wsj.com

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Fionna O’Leary @fascinatorfun.bsky.social · 1h

What a tangled web 🇷🇺 oligarchs weave attempting to slither out of sanctions & regain superyachts

“Why would a UAE company owned by an Indonesian citizen pay millions of dollars to American lawyers to help sanctioned executives of a Russian arms conglomerate”

kyivindependent.com/investigatio...

Investigation: Top Russian defense industry boss tries to lift sanctions, spills own secrets instead

Key findings: * Two years ago, lawyers representing an offshore company went to court to unblock a superyacht that had been detained in a Spanish port due to its links to Sergei Chemezov, an associa...

kyivindependent.com

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John Collins @logicallyjc.bsky.social · 5h

They must be exhausted.

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1h

Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?

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Pete Fraser @petefrasermusic.bsky.social · 2h

A Nobel story just popped up on one of my memories feed things. Still makes me laugh.

"They're like, 'Sir, there's something in your bag.'
I said, 'Yes, I think it's this box.' They said, 'What's in the box?' I said, 'a large gold medal, as one does.
So they opened it up and they said, 'What's it made out of?' I said, 'gold.'
And they're like, 'Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?'
"The King of Sweden.'
"Why did he give this to you?'
Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating.'

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Jo Kershaw @mthrjo.bsky.social · 1d

Ok, did not expect “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe” to feel quite so relevant to this moment.

Here’s Edmund, deciding to side with the leader who he’s been told disappears people.

He did want Turkish Delight and to be a prince (and later a king) and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast. As for what the Witch would do with the others, he didn't want her to be particularly nice to them - certainly not to put them on the same level as himself; but he managed to believe, or to pretend he believed, that she wouldn't do anything very bad to them, 'Because,' he said to himself, 'all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn't true. She was jolly nice to me, anyway, much nicer than they are. I expect she is the rightful Queen really. Anyway, she'll be better than that awful Aslan!' At least, that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing. It wasn't a very good excuse, however, for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel.

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 3h

Stay strong, stay beautiful, Chicago. c

Tweet from Fred Wellman: “Weird. I was told it’s a war zone.”
Below is a Time Out Chicago post showing a scenic city skyline at sunset with the text: “Chicago has been voted the Best Big City in the U.S. for the ninth consecutive year.”

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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 2h

Cartoon by John Deering.

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Chris Smith @ledredman.bsky.social · 1h

The really annoying thing is these Labour loyalists haven't helped the Labour Party at all. Quite the reverse. They are stitched up with stupid red lines which are killing them.

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