Today, President Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine.
The press keeps saying DT/Vance humiliated President Zelinskiy. They TRIED to humiliate him. They SUCCEEDED in humiliating themselves by their disgraceful bullying of a foreign head of state and an invited guest.
I was SHOCKED and ASHAMED at how our ALLY was treated at the White House Friday. No lunch was offered. His attire criticized. REALLY?!!
President Zelensky should be chastising Trump! In 1994, the “Budapest Memorandum” was created and agreed to by the United States, the UK, N. Ireland & Russia. In exchange for Ukraine giving their huge stockpile of nuclear warheads, Russia agreed to recognize & respect Ukraine as a sovereign country promising NOT to take any of its territory. The U.S., UK & N. Ireland agreed to help defend and come to Ukraine’s aide if their country was invaded.
We Are COMMITTED To Aiding & Defending Ukraine! If we don’t who will ever trust our word again? And maybe Russia should return the nuclear warheads.
The United States has not held up their side of the bargain.
So YOUR husband needs to APOLOGIZE to President Zelensky. JD Vance is not well liked. Maybe if he reminded Trump about the agreement, defended Ukraine and TOOK UKRAINE’s side, our DEMOCRATIC ALLY, instead of our ENEMY, DICTATOR Putin, maybe they would think more favorably. If not, he WILL be voted out of office. Please talk to him, won’t you?
Also, Trump only won the election because the Republicans purged over 5 million LEGAL votes. The people wanted Harris, NOT Trump. Trump lied to the American people.
Remember your husband once said Trump was “America’s Hitler.” Well with all the haphazard cuts made, NO fraud, very little savings, firing 4 star generals, firing inspector generals who investigate corruption, having to call back people, he is acting like Hitler. it’s like an animal house.
Do you feel safe knowing we are no longer arresting diseases in other countries so they won’t come to our country? Like the current hemorrhagic fever QUICKLY KILLING many in the Congo. The Ebola virus. HIV. The list is long.
Trump wants to give a $4.5 TRILLION tax cuts to his rich friends WHO DON’T NEED THE MONEY! He wants to slash Medicaid. That won’t make a dent but will hurt the elderly, the disabled, the poor. What’s going to happen to the elderly? You going to throw them out in the street? The American people didn’t vote for this.
Your husband should be more compassionate as he was dirt poor. Trump could do so much good. Instead he is alienating our friends, our allies. Who will come to our aide if we were attacked?
Please start with the aide to Ukraine. Help them win the war. Put boots on the ground and get it over with. Get UK & Ireland to help.
You see how good , honest & hardworking Pres. Zelensky is. He is our friend. He has SUFFERED DEATH & DESTRUCTION. Trump and your husband came off as BULLIIES. I was ASHAMED and so was America.
You picked my brain Ted!!! Thanks for putting that up......Go back and look up Laura Benanti`s amazing take on that.......For sure you remember Laura on The Tonight Show..........OMG.......will she be coming back on for Disaster #2??
She was wearing high heels through the disaster zone....right??
Kkkk-Blammmm - I really don't care. And she put it in print. Did we actually need to be told? So sad, we've succumbed to this. A Christian nation.., Yo!!! Christians.., where'd ya'll go? Lemme help, to hell in a hand basket, according to that 'rule-book'..., no? Rulebook?? Yeah, the one DT had printed in China. That one will do, ughh.
Why are we wasting any energy talking about the potus and vp wives? Focus! (Spoken in a substitute teacher voice!) There is plenty of material to go after in those voted into office!!!!
Eileen, the train-wreck is still in motion, the freight cars are just now coming off the track into the countryside> Gov Janet Mills trigger'd the first one, Zelensky just knocked the next one off, so the Night Train Express (I'll call it.., also a cheap wine) is de-railing. Give it a little time, it's a heavy load. Once all the cars are piled up, then the "Clean Up" can begin. Hopefully James Carville gets this one right.
Bill, venting & curse words are not what is required now.
Check out Barbara Mullen's practical application of 'PRAXIS'. That's practice as distinguished from theory or just cursing. Barbara had a useful take on "what to do".
I attempt to eliminate any gap in my between my posts & the real world. Otherwise a person becomes frozen by human galvanic skin responses, you know, our neurological wiring.
Cursing 'feels good" but, is a form of human 'do-nothing'.
Anyway, Zelenskyy flew to London last night 1 day ahead of a EURO meeting on Putin's War & 'what to do' about the on-going murderous attack on Ukraine.
That is an unfair judgement; we can not possibly know what Second-lady Vance thinks any more than we can understand what First-lady Trump thinks. The actions of each does not indicate, at least to me, unqualified support of her husband.
Oh come on buddy. By giving second and First Ladies the benefit of doubt you take away from the women who do stand up to their badly behaving and dangerous husbands. And “ doubt”?To me there is plenty of evidence that these women are as despicable as their fellas
Don’t you remember the coat, I do. I can infer support since both stand with evil and smile like Cheshire cats as the vipers bully and trash any perceived enemy.
I am going to give Usha the benefits of the doubt. Nevertheless, she comes from a culture where traditional gender roles often place women in a more subordinate position to their husbands. I hope to becproven wrong by her, if she decides to speak up. I seriously doubt even that she will see the letter.
Isn’t it surreal, while taking about different societies, that while the U.S government is actively disenfranchising the LGBTQ + community, India-a society often considered more conservative-is moving toward greater acceptance?
If Usha ever got dumped for a young Trump Barbie......she would be in line for a job at FOX NEWS........as long she agreed to hair extensions...mini-skirts...high heels and tons of makeup.
Well, the inaction and the silence certainly does.
These were not good men BEFORE they were elected. So it only stands to reason, they are the same.
JD Vance advanced a lie, knowing it was a lie about Haitian immigrants eating family pets in Springfield, OH. They had been actually asked to come there to work, we’re here LEGALLY and he did it to advance his career and throw out race bait to his supporters. When asked he said he didn’t care if it was a lie.
The people in that town felt terrorized and afraid. Not just the Black Haitians, but the white community who also felt unsafe bevause Vance didn’t care if his supporters showed up and committed violence like they did 1/6 and at the Comet Pizza Ping Ping place.
And who was the SENATOR of Ohio representing. Supposedly all Ohioans? That would be JD Vance. And who was his wife at the time of this terror? Well, that would be Usha.
Jeff Bezos paid Melania 40 million for a docuseries. That was because of her winning personality? How about her Melania crypto coin MAKING MONEY OFF AMERICA AGAIN.
Just because they are good looking females who don’t say much doesn’t mean they are good people. They are the female versions of their husbands.
Well, I still hesitate to judge either woman without knowing her. As to good looking, I do not find Mrs Trump to be attractive, though I do think Mrs Vance looks refined. Their silence, however, hardly commends them.
Exactly right, Ned. Playing the role of supportive spouse in public is no indication of what they think or what may or may not occur in their private life. But at least they keep it PRIVATE.
Accurate description. It looks warm for the first five minutes. Right through the Inauguration, yes, but not the Bishop's homily. She listened to that intently, in spite of her husband's repeated attempts to catch her eye.
'Warm' in an eerily Stepford Wives/ uncanny valley kind of way. The whole Trump clan were shifting uneasily on their pews while Bishop Budde was making her appeal.
Big Deal. The Bishop was pleading to a small man to possibly stop terrorizing the very people he was beholdened to serve and protect.
What was she supposed to do? Yuk it up? Roll her eyes? Go to the ladies room? She isn’t an idiot. She somehow is elevated to a better human than her vile husband because she held her composure for a few minutes?
They’re all alike in this administration. No moral compass. Self serving. If looking like a human is what she needed to do during a speech, she can did it.
If you will say anything to get ahead, you will do anything to get ahead. And if you lie down with dogs, get up with fleas and then marry the dog, you clearly like fleas.
I’m not trying to pick on any one commenter. I’m picking on every commenter and reader.
If you people are trying to convince me that you care about what’s happening, it’s not working. Maybe you’ve convinced yourselves, but your actions are speaking louder to me than your words. We all know what to do, and only a tiny handful of people are doing it. But I’m not giving up on you. I’ll give you another reminder of what everyone already knows. Pay special attention to the difference between—and need for—a real conversation.
We. The. People got hornswoggled..slowly . This week was not the end but the beginning of the proverbial curtain going down. The long sought America Dream was sold by an incessant liar wanna-be strongman, insolent bully, whose only pleasures are 1) adulation and 2) getting even with anyone who ‘upstages’ him ( originally his parents) .
In part WE became complacent recognized a hard won big brother status while yet ignoring our own mistakes, but the world had relative peace.
Too many outgrew their pants and became stuffed shirts, electing a boisterous bully and applauding whilst behind the scene gears worked to destroy the image of a nation built on pride become the laughing stock of the world at first and now a cryin’ shame.
It culminated this month in an earth shaking UN vote , slapping EVERY ONE of our allies in the face, and throwing a world wide hero under the BUS . Another setup display , panning to the camera DEBACLE, just like DOGE.
The press has been dismantle ( except for Substack and a few others ). Loyalty replaced the Constitution . Chaos reigns supreme. Money and Ego run to gather lost souls.
Tell me a better way to get people's attention, but this seems to have worked when nothing else has. What matters is my intent. I'm trying to get people to recognize that we have the power to stop MAGA and we're not using it. Where else is that conversation happening?
That has always been a trigger for me to stop listening to what the person is going to spew. I can't recall a single time that anything of value came after those two words, and as I said, eventually when someone says that, I mentally turn them off.
Good shot Dolores, but give James some slack. I think i often come across way differently than I intend to.., and suffer others (rightly) taking strong issue with what I've put in print. Sorry.., just crying :)).
The top priority of an authoritarian state is to convince everyone that resistance is futile. Why? Because they know that if they fail at that objective, they fail, and they otherwise succeed.
I don't charge a subscription fee. Trolls act like trolls. I don't act like a troll. Do you know the meaning of the "ad hominem" phrase? I do, it describes your comment, and it's one of Trump's favorite tactics.
As a reminder, one can go to the 3 little faint dots to the right of someone's name and "collapse" and report their comment. At least then you don't have to look at their comment.
"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children." —Matthew 11:25.
I'm just suggesting we remind ourselves of that knowledge.
Or I'm telling you something you need—but don't want—to hear. As Bob Dylan told us in 1964, "Don't criticize what you can't understand." If we'd have followed that advice in 1965, the times they would already been a-changed. The best time to make the world a better place is 1965. The second best time is 2025.
Can we please stop pretending women like Usha and Melania are just as bad morally, just as bad opportunistically and also “Really Don’t Care”.
These women aren’t their daughters, for goodness sake. Daughters have absolutely no choice who their parents are. These women are grown ups, Mrs. Vance is a corporate lawyer and clerked for SCOTUS. Melania weaseled her way into the upper echelons of society on Jeffrey Epstein’s payroll. They CHOSE these men bevause they also want to be at the top, have gobs of money and power. They are equally despicable as their husbands.
He'll fight her for the kids. She trapped herself by marrying him. In 20-30 years when they're grown, she'll leave him and write an expose but it'll be far, far too late for us.
she believes what he believes. she hears and sees how her husbands speaks of people of color. she sees it and she is complicit. she herself is a birth right citizen. she knows what is happening and is behind him
Right I just noticed. Y’all are catty women. Leave her out of it and deal with the subject. I can’t publish the blog I wrote last evening here because it’s full of curse words. But you are welcome to read. I have no pay wall.
Usha and Melania could do great girl on girl porn for the fundamentalist Christian men like Moses Mike and his son. They are souless heatless Trump Barbies that do the FOX NEWS crackwhore/escort look, going to their kness whenever summoned.
Maybe Putin’s like the tapes of them too. He definitely has some gay porn of Lyndsay Graham. They Lyndsay jumped fwd like that, too fast prepared. It was pre planned to go down. You have to study to be that stupid.
I have been trying to reply to Marlo, unsuccesfully.
Maybe the algorithms? This has never happened before.
Beautifully and politely stated. However, Mrs. Vance comes from a culture where traditional gender roles often place women in a more subordinate position to their husbands. I hope she proves me wrong and speaks up.
On another note, isn’t it surreal that while the U.S. government is actively disenfranchising the LGBTQ+ community, India—a society often considered more conservative—is moving toward greater acceptance.
Her mother is a provost at UCSD. They paid for her education and many of the Indian people I know respect intelligent woman.
JD is an inexcusable, tantrum throwing child. He was put in that meeting yesterday to make sure Trump became belligerent and insulting because we all know Trump is incapable of negotiating a peace deal and the way around it is to blame everything on Zelensky. JD was sent to trigger Trumps need to demand Zelensky bow down and kiss his feet. Putin sent his lackey in because Musk couldn’t always do Trumps job. The man is as insane as a loon.
They both sounded like prepubescent bullies and it was embarrassing for our country on the world stage. Not one ounce of diplomacy.
I think the most damnable thing about Vance is that he 'knows' that he's lying before he even opens his mouth. I also think he knows that he is soon to replace cfg (current effing guy ). During the campaign he (cfg ) was making very little sense and often wandered off into delusions.
Nicely said, good and faithful savant. 🤝Only we can prevent forest fires. 🛑 We failed signally on 05nov24 to do that. 😢 My erstwhile Party has lost its mind; forfeited its soul; and, tragically, snapped its spine. 💔 Frankly, I am surprised that Second-lady Vance has not walked out on liar-liar-Vance-on-fire. 🤫 I used to watch the 'Game of the Week' as a kid; now I am watching the 'Name of the Weak'. 😉
Thank you Ted. Yes, Usha did not see. Millions of other did see. The mild-mannered, 91 year old, former British actor, Sir MICHAEL CAINE did see & posted "Trump Calm Down" to 14 Millions viral "likes" yesterday Friday.
Sir Michael followed that 2 minutes later with simply "Calm Down" to another viral response.
Wow. True resistance poetry. Someone should turn that into a song. Or not. It stands on its own quite well. On a side note, I do wonder what Usha thinks. I saw the look on her face when the trump family heard a church sermon plea. Everyone in the group looked like they were plotting revenge except for Usha. She was hearing the words and seemed to be more understanding of their intent. (edited - spell check wanted to change her name to Aisha)
Usha, Eva, Clara, Melania, Kimberly, every woman hanging out at Mar a Lago. They are all just like these horrible men, but this is the closest patriarchy will allow them to power. They are not passive ignorant bystanders. Magda Goebbels fed her 6 children cyanide at the end.
It appears that the US government is transforming the United States into Russia, so you are correct - they will live in Russia, unless you take back your democracy.
Keep the eye on the ball Sophie, who cares what the wife of the Manchurian Candidate thinks or does. The most likely successor of the scumbag president is the one we should stay focused on.
She knew exactly what she was signing up for when her husband agreed to be Trump’s running mate after Trump tried to have his last VP killed by an angry mob.
Yes, unless her husband is the kind of patriarchal oaf who makes major career decisions without talking them over with his wife.
In any case, he was already a GOP senator, so it's not as though she didn't know his political temperament.
I don't see how appealing to her is in any way helpful or relevant, but I understand why Americans are desperate for anything that might cut through. What's happening is a disaster for you, as it is for us (Europeans).
JD Vance is a patriarchal oaf in every respect. He has advocated among other things, that women should not be able to leave their husbands if they beat them, through divorce. Every time he opens his big mouth, he puts his foot right in it. He is completely uncouth and has no manners or dignity, despite his education. His supposed great book was shameful. He won election to the Senate through Republican right wing money, but he only served a few months in the Senate and did not vote on one single bill, because he did not want his opinions known. Because he was aiming at the Presidency, and so Trump picked him for Vice President, because he had no record of any kind, and he agreed to be completely complicit with Trump. Trump is a very evil man and so is Vance. Our democracy is under serious assault here, which they have been planning since Trump’s last term. It’s disgraceful that our allies can no longer trust us. We are going to be fighting here in the US against this attempt at dictatorship very hard. We have to.
One of my best friends from Washington and Lee grew up in Appalachia and detests Vance for conflating NON-impoverished existence with all of Appalachia and for playing on the hillbilly stereotype to sell his book. 🤬
Sarah, I found 'Hillbilly Elegy' to very well written and quite intelligent, but it was all about J.D. His is a remarkable story, but so were those of Alcibiades, Aaron Burr, and Napoleon. 😱
Unfortunately, Vance did make at least one speech -- the only reasonable argument against aid for Ukraine I encountered. What is hard, really hard, for me to do is NOT to confuse intellect with character, 🤔
Vance is absolutely despicable. However he has not gained a cult following like his master. I expect Trump to replace him with Don Jr. at some point. G-d help us.
With all due respect to all, what does Vance's wife have to do with any of this? That she sits quietly by? We have bigger issues to worry about -- Congress is who should be making noise.
Marlo, maybe you have it all wrong, and he's the one with the “womanly wiles” (it makes me queasy to use those 2 words, or mine which follow, but I'm going with your prompt): he flutters his enhanced eyelashes and eyelids and she swoons.
Now let's talk about Congresses’ abdication of its Article 1 powers and duties.
You have seen in the optics' of her response all that will be seen--for the MAGAs will swarm her with controlling criticism. But still, chuck one up, because her response counts. Good gain for the good side.
As for her kindness... I'm sure she's kind to her family and friends. That won't make her reject fascism. Historical Nazis and Fascists could be good spouses, parents and friends, all the while carrying out unspeakable crimes.
That is inaccurate. Treason can be committed ANY time. We are AIDING Russia by siding with Russia. Removing sanctions. Allowing them to keep territories in Ukraine though they attacked a sovereign country and broke the Budapest Memorandum they signed. They are our ENEMY.
“Federal Crime of Treason
Treason is the only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution. According to Article III, Section 3:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
"Also, Trump only won the election because the Republicans purged over 5 million LEGAL votes." What's your source for this statement? Why is no one investigating this? I believe it is true, but why is there no action on it??
It’s true. And they are still doing it in the North Carolina Supreme Court election. This is a pattern.
“Conservatives fearing a loss of their majority, invite the fascist into their tent, thinking they can control them .” The road to Unfreedom Tim Snyder
I’ve seen a video recorded by a professor of statistics who said he had been studying where the challenged and rejected ballots came from (Zip codes), and the voter profile of the population. He is convinced, he says, that if those ballots had all been cured and counted, that the Harris-Walz ticket would have won. He didn’t sound at all like a conspiracy theorist. His demeanor in discussing his opinion was quite calm.
Wish I had saved the link or written down the man’s name.
Take a look at the Mark Thompson show with Nathan Taylor from Election Truth Alliance. It is new to me but does sound like the type investigation I would like (seeing why the swing state votes managed to all just get over the thresholds that trigger audits). Trump's claims to have more votes than he needed before the election, and thanking Musk for his help (not, apparently for the donations ), made we wish for more in depth post election verification, especially of the tabulations being transmitted.
I follow Tim Snyder. He has been warning us since 2016 about Trump. He has met with Zelinskyy many times and has gained his trust. Everyone should be giving money to Ukraine and not to our “leaders”!
Right on, Marlene. I lived in N.Y.C. for fifteen years. Trump was a jerk, likely laundering dirty money looted from the form U.S.S.R. He was a jackal then; this proposed minerals 'deal' is the behavior of a jackal now. 🤬
That was his first ever substack video. It seems a great new way for more substack though I always want good transcripts, too (like his video with its very good time stamped transcript).
His series on the Making of Modern Ukraine has what must be some of the best cleaned up transcripts, too (most others' are raw auto transcripts).
Reading them should help understand the material in the 23 Classes in the series.
The substack videos are new, I saw his first one yesterday, and I assume will become the preferred way. The easiest way I found to refer to his or any ones YouTube videos would be to copy the link that looks like the second link near the end.
My computer has been switched to Yahoo as the default and I haven't had friends show me how to switch it back to Google default yet. That means I copy the title of video and go to google to search for it.
It still shows up with a ridiculously long link name,
P.S. I actually prefer text without videos for being able to review and make better notes. Second choice is audio (with accurate transcripts, or the best auto generated approximations). Third would be videos that I can replay at anywhere from 0.25 to 2 times normal speed.
I like your letter but I don't like that you addressed it to his wife. He's a grown ass man. Why do we continue to put the burden on women to rein in the men in their lives? I understand you hope she has some influence over him but I think today's debacle was proof no sane person, man or woman, has influence over him. Certainly his so called savior, Jesus Christ, has no sway over him. That was the most un-Christian like behavior I've seen yet.
Thank you, Beth. This is my question too. J.D. Vance is responsible for his own behavior. He needs to be held to account. His wife appears to enable him and that is a cause for concern but the onus of responsibility for what happened yesterday in the Oval Office rests entirely on Vance's shoulders (as well as Trump's).
Exactly. Look at all the space taken up here today on "the wife". I was looking for some other important info, such as: Churchill did not wear a suit when London was bombed, did he?
Trump’s and Vance’s treatment of President Zelenskyy was abusive. Full stop. And like so many abusers do, they blamed their victim for the abuse. It’s way past time to hold Trump and Vance accountable for their despicable behavior. Not their wives, them. Enough.
I still wonder... To me, it seems that Putin advised Rump to take Vance as vice president. Rump has been bought by Putin: Vlad got him reelected, now his orange puppet has to pay up, that much is clear. But how, and why, did _Vance_ become such an avid Putin supporter?? Has Vlad got some 'dirt' on him? Did he promise him power and riches? Or is Vance just a sycophant who likes to suck up to 'big, strong men'? I don't get it...
Dutch Mike, I think you would find clearer lines of influence over the emergence of J D if you looked at his association with Peter Thiele following law school in his foray into venture capital which then morphed into Thiele supporting his run for the senate from Ohio (the most expensive senatorial race in history at that time). His subsequent elevation to vice presidential candidate a scant two years into his relatively vacuous senate career again came through his support from Thiele and other like-minded capitalists with no particular pleasure or familiarity on tRump’s (or Putin’s) part. JD was subsequently crept into office on tRump’s coattails. JD has become a professional opportunist with no discernible principles, certainly no patriotism guiding him beyond whatever he imagines will further advance (?) his career.
Vance owes his political “success” to rich Libertarian Peter Thiel for whom he once worked. The rich guys, whom tfg needs and adores, wanted Vance for VP.
Dutch-They have a vision of what they want the world to be including who’s on top and who has the power to control everything. Now they are just carrying out their plans to take over/over take the present world order.
Conquering the U. S. is the key. Musk told us in one sentence that they’re pursuing a “new world order”. They are telling us lots of lies but I think we can believe them about their fantasy of a new world order where they have total control. Putin is definitely part of the gang. They’ve worked hard over many years to install DJT.
They are not just dreaming about it or talking about it-they’re taking action every day to make their vision a reality. They’ve also acknowledged that this is their last chance to make it happen so their pulling out all the stops-and it “makes good TV”.
♥♥♥ for that, Marlo. Ukraine was betrayed by the guarantors of Ukraine when it agreed to have its entire nuclear weaponry decommissioned and destroyed . Note, the Russians held on to their own stockpiles.
Thank you. I have said this through the years the biggest mistake was giving up those bombs. They wouldn’t have been invaded today if they had retained them for defense.
This is such a good letter but I don’t think it will move her to do anything. Just like FLOTUS didn’t care in the traitor’s first term, neither of them will care now. They are all rotten to the core.
The 'we' in the WEst will have to run that risk sooner or later. The irony: the more we dither about, or disdain, Ukraine, the more likely Putin will go nuclear because he is 'so close'. Russian doctrine allows for the use of nukes to reverse a battle-field catastrophe.
Marlo, keep it up. I believe we all need to be like dripping faucets. As you know water is most effective at destroying rigid structures; there are plumbers ie maggots & their press but not enough as we become a stream then a torrent. I admire your effort because it takes that as well as courage. Thank you for letting us know.
I want to know every detail of how and why Russian TASS was allowed in the room, when the AP and Reuters were not. Who was behind the arrangements? Who approved this method of "Negotiations?" Those details will mean a lot.
True. Great Russian tv provided by trump Vance. Perhaps they should live in Russia where they can be heroes. They are Villains in the former United States of America
It was truly an embarrassing episode…and we’re only a few days and weeks into this idiot’s second - can you believe it - second 4-year term; talk about a test of and on our hope and optimism…
Clearly, JD Vance has been hired as nothing more than an attack dog for the highchair tyrant. When all else fails it's 'Release the Hounds'. What a pair of losers.
He's not even good for that purpose. A few weeks ago he contradicted Trump by saying that nothing was off the table in getting a peace deal, even putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine. He and his boss, Peter Thiel, have been well and truly sidelined by Musk.
U could be right. That is something Margaret Atwood projected about Trump 2.0. A student of fascism, she points out how these regimes canabalize each other. Purging their own ranks. Ramaswamy was the first to go.
The minerals deal was a counter offer. That was a good deal for Silicon Valley and for technology industries. So was it pre-plan to sabotage the deal? Musk and Theil ( both raised in Apartied South Africa with Sachs too btw). Musk and Teal’s interest should be aligned with that mineral deal so is the sabotage. We’re seeing a split from Trump vs Musk and Theil? That would imply that JD Vance was the saboteur of the deal by triggering Trump.
Theil owns Palantir and is making money with his battlefield surveillance technology services. Peter Theil benefits from the war continuing and JD Vance sabotaged the deal for him and Ukraine wins because they don’t have to give up their minerals to Trump and they don’t have to give up their land to Russia. It’s enough to make us all old.
My own opinion is that what was planned was a photo-op, with Zelensky only having to sit quietly and say 'thank you' while Trump trumpeted another diplomatic success on his way to a Nobel Peace Prize. There are some commentators today who are saying that it would have been better for Ukraine had Zelensky kept schtum even as Trump and Vance spouted their lies. I profoundly disagree. Zelensky was genuinely nonplussed by the appalling behaviour of those two jackasses and wanted no part of that publicity stunt masquerading as diplomacy. He's seen his people suffer under Russian bombing and he was in no mood to play along. He has the world's sympathy while Trump and Vance can share the obloquy. As for Peter Thiel, he'll have to be satisifed with his tax cut because he and his creature Vance have been outflanked by Elon Musk.
It seems the market understands all that too, as Palantir stock is dropping like a rock. That stock's ownership organization is troublesome in the first place as well.
I love this, Ted! I've read it 3 times. I have never liked Theil.
I love the idea of implosion. The Cannibal image is better than implosion! "It's enough to make us all old." Haha - good. Except I actually feel young. (I'm not young.) I'm getting very good at calling my rep's. I'm enjoying it. My husband is worried about me, but I just smile at that and love him for that. I know how to take care of myself. I take a good walk every day and I have good friends.
Yes! let's don't forget Sachs who has been given 'Crypto Tsar' status by Trump and that he's poised to do more harm to this country than probably anyone. Or at least equal to Musk; how about taking a chainsaw to our currency? Well I guess as has been surmised by experts: USAID helped make ours the world currency - dismantling it allows those who step in to strategically take our place will help their own to become the 'world currency'. Foreign borns who care less about our nation except to exploit our large population of low information/low intellect population including our elected officials.
Yes! And… the reason, or one reason we can run a deficit, is because the dollars status as the reserve currency. If anything happens to the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency has grave economic consequences, inflation tools, deficit spending, stagflation tools, global energy costs.
It is like the combination of three powers ( oil/energy, tech/soc media/ data mining /data trading/influence markets, banking/finance/crypto see some new advantage that is blind to us regular citizens. Together they see an advantage to hydro carbon kleptocracy authoritarianism. Greed really is their worldview. These three pillars want more $, no taxes, won’t have to spend so much to launder their money around the world ( local politicians take their cut in laundering g operation). Influence of social media can keep their populations in control, so they won’t have to spend so much on domestic police (gestapo style… small force with intimidation by not enforcing the law upon the violent militia’s that do most of the counter protesting by an angry populace).
And they truly believe this strategy of theirs will succeed.
…and might we add, Russell, that he also went cross-wise in his efforts to read or even communicate with his boss when he opposed the pardons for violent offenders from January 6th? A lot of folks went cross-wise with tRump on that one!
That's going to happen when you're being kept out of the loop. There are all too many Republicans far more talented at brown-nosing the orange fartmeister. As Michael Cohen pointed out some time ago, Trump likes cronies who anticipate his whims and don't need to wait for specific instructions.
He's the heir apparent who believes in a few strong leaders to impose their will on the majority. Dumpf is in it for the money.
From H.C.R. "Vance in the Wings 10/15/24" Trump’s issues make it likely that a second Trump presidency would really mean a J.D. Vance presidency, even if Trump nominally remains in office."
Personally, I think the Republicans have been threatened with violence and certainly massive amounts of $$$ against them in the next election via Musk & Thiel etc.. This is chump change to these S.O.B.s
The saddest reality is that WE the People are the losers. We’d better grow up fast .
All the magnifying of that sleazy moment will do nothing but alert more sleazy mobsters to try and rule us over our Constitutional right to Impeach… impeach…. Impeach… impeach!!!! Is your hearing aid turned up America??????
The power of social media over enough of the population, to put this orange imbecile back in office, and that they can’t recognize demagoguery, believing instead that its leadership, is certainly a sign of oligarchical decay.
And we keep going. Most people don't care about foreign policy. They will care when the tariffs make inflation worse and when they see Medicaid reduction. Also, the business community knows that, on many fronts, the economy is not going to flourish here. And when terrorism returns because we have Patel at the FBI.
I don’t think hope and optimism is going to get us through this assault on our democracy. We are going to have to fight this administration every single way that we can.
Anne Applebaum is also worth listening to. She is a different communicator than Snyder but she has the receipts in regard to Ukraine. I turn to them both.
At the end of Snyders excellent video of the five failures, he asks us why this happened. I'll answer. Trump/Vance/Musk like Putin. They like how he gets things done. They are now CLEARLY allies of Putin. A mass murdering tyrant is now to be our buddy.
There is one word for what these fascists are doing. Say it loud.
Here is a different discussion about Trump and Ukraine and Europe and Russia, and I must say that this video was intriguing, it is a conversation about the behavior of Trump interpreted in historical context by Stephen Wertheim a Carnegie Endowment for Peace Follow.
Do more. Trump & Vance should be BOTH be IMPEACHED for TREASON (aiding and abetting our enemy - Russia) and reneging on the signed Budapest Memorandum of 1994.
Call the House Representatives: 202) 225-3121
We signed a commitment.- the “Budapest Memorandum” along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia! In 1994 Ukraine handed over nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.'
Russia did NOT keep the commitment but the United States must. Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment.
Brainwashed. I lost another once was moderate friend this week to maga, Fox, Facebook newsfeed. The vulnerable are a known population thanks to data mining. Tech oligarchy has a AI generated psychological profile of every American stored in their servers. Influence and conversion commercial algorithms now have military grade psychological manipulation capabilities. And they scaled it up this past summer and fall. Ours is going to be a long hard haul.
"an INVITED guest." This was all a set-up with Trump playing his you're fired role. Trump and Vance looked like hired goons. I am so ashamed to be an American!! I pray someone will do to him as he does to others.
They sounded like mobsters. Zelenskyy never lost his self control, or his focus. It's been a very interesting thing to watch. This week we've seen Macron try the old-friends approach, which enabled him to correct a Trump lie in such a way that he had to admit it. Starmer was next, using Macron as a model (even to the friendly pat on the arm), but with the added piece of candy in the shape of a letter from King Charles inviting Trump (alone??) for another State visit. (The poor King has already more than he can reasonably endure this year just staying alive). One commentator this week observed that the only way to communicate with Trump is by flattery. He's very far gone.
The 'visit' is not going to be happening now-the pre-visit confab to set up time and date for same will wither away. Starmer/UK gov't. were looking for a security agreement for Ukraine.
He didn’t even get lunch after struggling to get there from a war zone. And immediately criticized for what he was wearing. Look at Musk who wears a t-shirt and brings his 3 year old son to the Oval Office picking the buggars out of his nose & putting them on the Lincoln desk.
They headlined it as a "shouting match". The only raised voices were Trump and Vance. Zelensky didn't once raise his voice or lose his train of thought.
Can’t the United States be held accountable for reneging on the Budapest Memorandum?
WHY aren’t they reminding Trump about this?
We signed a commitment.- the “Budapest Memorandum” along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia!
In 1996 Ukraine handed over nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.'
Russia did NOT keep the commitment but the United States must. Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment.
“This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature.
Signed in four copies having equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.”
He doesn't even remember agreements that he himself signed, calling them 'stupid', must less agreements signed before his time. And as for reading - he would have to have a trusted 'slave' to read anything to him, and then the listening part. He seems to have AAADD - Age-activated attention deficit disorder.
I don’t think his mind was EVER activated. His professor said he was the most IGNORANT student he ever had. Probably why he said he would sue if they released his grades.
According to Frank DiPrima, Prof Kelly (U Penn) said many times that Trump was the “dumbest goddamn student” Kelly ever had. “Most ignorant” is sometimes fixable. “Dumbest” isn’t.
He would honor an agreement about as much as he did when he stiffed his workmen. He is turning the U.S, government into a mirror image of himself - an untrustworthy liar.
Like Zelensky tried to point out, you can’t trust Putin at his word. That is not diplomacy. Europe is meeting today and this week to create a new order without the USA.
Mario, one fears this puts on display the results of changes in leadership when subsequent leaders don’t particularly care about the law or legal agreements and treaties among and between nations.
Any self-respecting person would feel ashamed and embarrassed by that disgraceful spectacle—broadcast live for the world to see. A Russian asset openly bullying the president of a nation fighting for its very survival, all at the hands of an unfit TV celebrity who masquerades as a tough guy while possessing a fragile ego and thin skin. A historic moment unfolded in real time.
Zelensky, an honorable man devoted to his people and country, was a visual contrast to a raving, traitorous Trump. I hope long clips make EVERY station for days.
No! Only Trump, Just Dumb Vance and a few "others" back Russia. America does not back Russia. More importantly MOST Americans do not back Trump and his kind! Americans are taking action to stop Trump, I hope the rest of the world is taking notice that "We the People" are not supporting tRump, Muskrat, or the Idiot Vance.
Totally agree!!! The only statesman in that room was Volodomyr Zelenskyy. And what was the erstwhile secretary of state doing, shrinking down into his chair? He ought to have been thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed but he came through for PINO in the end, blaming Zelenskyy for everything.
They humiliated the millions of Americans who support NATO and Ukraine. They laid bare the fact that they are nothing more than vassals to Vladimir Putin. Once again, Trump disgraced the Office of the President.
Thank you, Annabel, and thank you Dr Richardson: "Zelensky maintained his composure and did not rise to the bait, but he did not accept their pro-Russian version of the war." ✍️
Many reporters last evening placed blame on President Zelenskyy for taking the bait as well as on the trumper-tantrum and the Emily Post of HILLBULLY etiquette. 🤢
(Apologies to the great majority of Appalachians who are, at any socio-economic level, decent citizens.) 🤝
¿What was President Zelenskyy supposed to do in the face of two bullies ganging up on him? He did not take any bait; he stood stoutly by his country and her justice. 🤬
I felt Trump was afraid of Zelenskyy. He had to take over, likely with the pre-planned Vance attack, quickly, so that Zelensky’s voice was overshadowed. That shadow falls on our country and it is dark indeed!
Totally agreed. Everything i've read or contributed to online comports the same! Just when you think T 2.0 has hit a new low, another drop follows! EU leaders have come solidly around Zelinsky and Ukraine's right to self-determination, something even Russia signed off in 1991, aligned with a referendum in Ukraine coming in at 92%.
I worked for 21 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State at our embassies overseas. I worked under Presidents and Secretaries of State with whom I disagreed, but I have NEVER been as ashamed of my country as I am today.
Kamala Harris said the Trump's solution was capitulation to Putin. She was right. We had an opportunity at a true leader who represented our values and instead Americans fractured their vote and gave a slim majority to a lying salesman named Trump. Now there is no Constitutional path to clean our government of the Putin complicit members. Will there even be a vote in 2026? Our oceans won't protect us from this infection anymore than it did from COVID.
Harris had extensive experience prosecuting criminals. She was familiar with their lies, dodges, distortions--and she duly noted all of that in Trump's past and present behavior. Imagine if she had won how different our current relationships would be with NATO, Ukraine, and Putin.
Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, we would have had less trauma and death from covid if she’d been president. But did some voters learn any lesson from just squeaking by under tfg 1.0? No. We’d be in a very different place with Kamala as president. Today’s Rs will meekly go along with tfg’s sellout to Putin. (And I found his impassioned, almost teary-eyed, defense of “my friend Vlad—we’ve been through so much together” just plain creepy.)
There is a Constitutional path. With great respect of my fellow citizens…. Start to educate oneself before throwing useless points. Our Constitution is very clear. Read Jerry Weiss “Feathers of Hope” he not only points out this reality, he gives phone numbers to call republicans who may help get this impeachment rolling.
This isn’t something to leave until tomorrow…. This illegal group is worse than Russian blather….. it is hiding under the bed sheets to suffocate Democracy.
The same constitutional path that we tried during his last presidency? Only now, both houses of Congress are held by the capitulating party. Are you referring to the 25th Amendment? That is a frying pan into the fire situation and a one-way ticket to Project 2025.
We would have to impeach both the President and the Vice President, followed by the Speaker of the House, then every member of the Cabinet. Need I say more? What odds do you give me on the bet that cleans up this mess either through Impeachment or the 25th Amendment. We've already tried the 14th. We even tried the American election system.
You do know that Senators and Representatives only accept phone calls from their constituents? That they react based on the volume of calls on an issue and they count based on how many calls for and against. If the call volume is overwhelming, they just turn on their answering machine. And the Speaker of the House decides whether the House is going to consider a call for Impeachment? Remember Trump's original Impeachment? Nancy wasn't sure it was the right move. BTW, that's a Democrat impeaching a Republican.
I am very doubtful that there will be an election in 2026. Trump will manufacture whatever he needs to cancel it, and there is no power center left to stop him.
I hope I am wrong, but every day I wake up with a sense of dread.
I'm shocked and very disappointed concerning President Trump's screaming match in a meeting with President Zelinsky of Ukraine. This embarrassing displays a childish impatience and a boorish lack of self-control. Any of our Foreign Ambassadors that publicly shamed a foreign President would be immediately withdrawn from that country and fired!
I am still not convinced that Trump won. With so much money in play and the technological skill to hack without leaving a trace, it is hard for me to understand why we have not investigated the possibility of fraud as we did so diligently in 2020.
Yes, and what's worse is how many things he says come true! I continue to maintain optimism, as the behaviors we see daily reveal truths about character. I loved when Zelensky said last week, "I'd like to have more truth from the Trump team." The world got that yesterday.
Unfortunately, the felon-in-chief’s lack of character is a plus with magats. That’s the scary part: 77 million Americans are profoundly deficient in the “character” department.
December 7 1941 , a date which will live in infamy said President Roosevelt blaming Japan for the attack on Hawaii.
Every day since inauguration I thought that every single one of those were dates that also will live in infamy, this time on behalf of the US. But today's was the most infamous, treacherous in the short live of this administration by ambushing an ally in desperate need of help and reassurance. Shame on the Manchurian Candidate and the so called President Trump. If this was not doing the work for Putin, I don't know what it is.
One of my sisters has a J6 birthday. She said it's forever tainted. The second one has a Feb 28th. It's now tainted. Mine is today. What could be worse? Start of WW3? It's going to be a long day.
He was also going to bring down prices on Day One. Perhaps he was speaking in a biblical sense and Day One has still not ended (and perhaps may never end!). One does lose one's sense of time trying to keep up with the whirligig of inanities produced by this administration.
Not only did I have 21 years, 11 months, and 17 days in the Foreign Service, but I worked in our embassy in Moscow when he first came to power. Yeltsin was a mess, and the oligarchs were out of control, but Putin was, to my mind, a xenophobic KGB hardliner completely uninterested in continuing to engage in any cooperation with the west. That would have been okay, but he was not content to stop there. He apparently has always wanted to restore great Russia, world power....
It’s been clear (to me, at least) that Putin’s goal is to restore the former Russian Empire. So, not only Ukraine, but the Baltic Republics and Poland. Poland is a member of NATO. That’s why Putin must be stopped in Ukraine. It will definitely be WWIII if he is not.
Marla ,the three Baltic republics are part of NATO too. In any case, appeasement will not prevent wwlll, by the contrary, it would bee too tempting for Putin, to risk expanding on his dreams of returning to the old Russia's imperial borders. That's too clear to most people but not for trump the most ignorant of all the presidents ever.
Yep: Marla that seems to be his plan because the former "stan" countries that had been part of the Ottoman Empire are no longer interesting to him, even though they were an essential component to the USSR. He wants a return to the empire of Tsar Nicholas I.
What is power ? What is power derived from ? Men willing to die ? Men willing to kill ? Wives telling them to do so ? Popular adulation ? A secret security apparatus that works ? Makarov pistols ? Proselytizing ? A movement within society with a determined belief in something ? Leadership within such a movement. Or does it take all of the above to be maintained ? And more ?
Where the people lead, the leaders will follow. But what if people are lost and have no idea what to do or where to go ? What if they have been brutally suppressed for hundreds of years, beaten in to submission, and know nothing about what freedom is or how to live in it ? What on the other hand if that is all they know but have become drunk on it think they are all powerful themselves, are free to do anything, and can not be restrained ? Then they will need a leader who caters to them.
In 1971 when I was about to enter my sophomore year I went to Russia to sing in Russian with my college singing group. Our greatest success was at the Moscow Conservatory where we performed before a packed hall that loved us. We sang a varied repertoire. Folk, Military, and Sacred Liturgical. Svetiy Tixi. O, Gladsome Light. It also included folk songs in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatisn-Macedonian, and Latvian. The Latvian piece was that old well known lament, Kas tie tadi ? Who are those that cry at sunset ?
Who are those who cry at sunset ?
They are children, servants of a cruel master.
That was all well received. But by far the most favorite of our selections were the upbeat versions of American Spirituals that we sang as encores. Songs like "Joshua fit the Battle at Jericho". They could not get enough. So we sang more. Songs with the recurring theme of a longing for freedom. From oppression. From suffering. From life. And for a better one.
The Russia of the late Soviet Union was a better one than that of today. It had started to get better immediately upon Stalin's death when, after a brief succession struggle with his underling, Khrushchev denounced his predecessor . Now little Putin, who never rose to any position of power in the Soviet Union, has rehabilitated Stalin and whitewashed the history of the Soviet Union, turning its dissolution in to the most lamentable tragedy of the later 20th Century.
Later day Soviet leaders were authoritarians who like Khrushchev had been revulsed by the horrors of war and by Stalin's Reign of Terror of which they knew full well. The communist social experiment, a marriage of hypocrisy between ideals and brutal limitless authoritarianism, had failed and they one after another. became cynically disillusioned with it until they threw in the towel. But they were all better men than Vladimir V. Putin, who is a deranged KGB college grad who believes that Lenin's mistake was to embrace Marx and Engels. He fancies himself better than all. Lenin Lite. A leader unencumbered by the baggage of communist ideology concerning the brotherhood of all men and nations. A true imperator, believing in nothing but the reconstruction of something that can not be put back together: Catherine's Russian Empire, for empire's sake.
And now look at what he has done to Russia and forces men to do. And Ukraine. Source of Russia's power and greatness for centuries. And identity. And as now we see, a man who can find no admirer or kindred spirit other than in the likes of Victor Orban and Donald Trump. Men who can not do any good or make anything right. Who lust for power and are bent on destruction and revenge for being denied it, and who admire him. Men who Lenin would have a simple name for and condemn.
There can be no secret about it now. Trump made his pact with Putin a long time ago. Around the time of his Miss Universe contest. It kept his failing business empire from collapsing. And they are headed the same way in partnership.
Back then though, didn’t we have them boxed in somewhat? I mean to say, economically, they wanted in our game? Why couldn’t we have insisted on democratic reforms, and institutional building, in exchange for admission? I have a few theories on that, but perhaps my premise is all wrong, I’d appreciate your perspective, since you were there.
We tried, though perhaps not effectively. I know we had Peace Corps, and a ton of NGOs working with counterparts on all kinds of joint projects. We had Gore-Chernomyrdin - the 2 vice presidents - talking and trying to find ways to address joint environmental concerns. And nuclear safety. We had the joint space programs. We had U.S. experts across many fields working and advising in their various specialties. I had the opportunity to visit places where foreigners had never been permitted before, including a naval base in Kamchatka (that wasn't in the years I was in Moscow, but about 6 or 7 years earlier). I ate fresh fish and drank water straight out of Lake Baikal. I though Russia was glorious!
But as another commenter pointed out, they didn't have any real experience with democratic governance, and that made a huge difference. Even there, we had programs for Russian civil servants to travel to the U.S., and we sponsored both GOP and DNC politicians, staffers, and educators traveled to Russia.
It all ended when Putin came to power. First the NGOs, then the bilateral scientific exchanges, then the Peace Corps, then everything just faded out.
And here we are. Putin's dream Russia is everyone's nightmare.
Back in the early 90’s my then-husband hosted a fellow from Russia for a month to learn, I guess, “capitalist ways”—I’m not sure what the “exchange program” was, but it was arranged. Both were in the same line of business…outdoor recreation, specifically mountaineering, backcountry skiing, trekking, climbing, etc. He shadowed my ex at work, including scheduled “trip adventures”,and spent “off hours” with us at home. He was just the nicest fellow. I gather it was custom in his country to bring gifts to folks hosting, because he had a big duffle from which emerged the most amazing gifts, some cultural, one beautiful piece of marquetry(inlaid wood) made by his father…it still hangs on my wall. We took him all around with us & he was utterly gobsmacked at the markets with burgeoning shelves of goods. I took him to the Univ where I was on staff & he saw a posting of what a year’s cost of attendance was…it was the first time I ever saw the color drain from someone’s face, mouth agape. He explained how advanced education worked in Russia & how, if a student did well and passed the testing, college was heavily subsidized. I wonder, every now ‘n then, how he is doing….
Thanks for your service! I don't know how to fight, other than share the ugly facts with family and try to convince them first. Even those who voted for Trump because they are Fox brainwashed.
Agreed. This is a list of treasonous co-conspirators. I can't see even ONE of them with the spine to speak out. Maybe Mitch, as he fades into oblivion, but none of the others.
It was embarrassing enough when the largest voting - ‘cuse me, non-voting block in our country - continually lets us down…what is it going to take to educate and motivate larger segments of citizens, our society, our free and democratic society to realize that all of what we’re fortunate enough to have been born into or have immigrated into can so very easily be lost, taken away…given up! In August 2023, my world became smaller with the death of an old friend who had been a foreign service officer from the early 1970’s to about 1993 when he retired. He and his wife had assignments in Iran, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Washington, DC. I miss his annual letters of his biking adventures during those years and our periodic meetings when he an his would return to South Florida for a visit. I feel the pain, the sadness and the embarrassment that both they (he and his wife) and I would feel for the continued disappointment that our country’s leaders - especially those from the wrong side of the political divide or aisle - who seem to inevitably not fail at bringing upon us!
Not all nonvoters deliberately failed to vote. There has been strategic voter disenfranchisement in many states. Republicans know well they can only win if they keep turnout low.
Kathy, I hope the Dems win back the House & Senate in 2026 and, at last, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. I don’t care what party affiliation you are, if you are a citizen and eligible to vote, you should be unimpeded and encouraged in doing so. Basic democracy stuff IMHO. 🗽🇺🇸
In addition to more conventional lies (Ukraine started the war against Russia, Zelenskyy is a dictator who has little support among his people, etc.) Trump is a classic, impulsive projector onto his opponents the weaknesses and shortcomings that he himself is guilty of. Biden may have been a number of things, but Trump is the idiot and the terrible president. A classic con man, and how easily he grifted hundreds of our neighbors.
In Australia, everyone eligible to vote is required by law to do so. The woman who told me about this thought it was perfectly natural and worked to stay on top of the issues so she could vote intelligently. Voter turnout, unsurprisingly is quite high in that country. Why isn’t voting a legal requirement in this country????!!!!
Freedom to choose. Our system is set up to allow people to vote or not. The predators have now decided that working to prevent eligible voters from voting if they do not support their agenda or at least reducing their numbers or diluting their ability have representation (gerrymandering).
But is freedom of choice really the answer? If we live in a representational government shouldn’t it really be an obligation and not a choice whether to participate? There are so many things we don’t have a choice about anymore. Women’s healthcare rights pops into mind. Why keep voting as a choice when it is so fundamental to democracy?
I agree we should do something about the gerrymandering and the voter suppression. Voting should be easy to do! And representational of the population. And don’t get me started about the Electoral College. Clearly our Founding Fathers had an innate distrust of the Common Man.
I wrote the White House and said the same. After I hit send I wondered if I had just raised my head out of the foxhole. But the DOGE invaders already have access to all our public comments (as well as everything that's supposed to be private). My real name is on everything I've said in public. Well, here we are. Our own government won't need to come for us with guns, they will kill us with codes and algorithms.
Yeah, Celia, “they”* know who we are and where we are if they so choose to pursue. A couple of years ago, on a whim, I did an internet search on myself. OMG, I was shocked how much was out there. The next day I was speaking to my neighbor & mentioned that…he got his smartphone and entered his name in a search and I watched as his eyes bugged-out and his jaw dropped…it is very disconcerting.
*so much data is collected about us, particularly with so much being online now & the data that is Hoovered-up by the online companies/providers. Big brother, indeed.
Pamela, Kirkits, J.L. et al., I salute your service to my country. Pardon me, s.v.p., while l step out and grieve again. ln the call-in 'Washington Journal' on C-span this a.m., the great majority of participants sided with Ukraine and shared your shame. https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/open-forum-part-1/656430
The cretins in the White House showed it them who have no cards left to play. They looked desperate and unhinged. Despicable display for a so called leader. Pres Zelenskyy was the only true leader in the room
There’s a collective fear no one is mentioning. Witness to impulsive obsession, during a cruel and selfish exchange. Unhinged. Then mentioning nuclear war, “You are risking Nuclear War!” To a President of a country housing The melted cores of Chernobyl. ( that Putin struck with a missile earlier this week). But this ain’t reality tv.
My God, we are in so much danger. This orange imbecile mf’er!
The loss of security. Something Americans haven’t felt very often, not very much at all. The entire world feels it tonight. It might be new for many of us, but for much of the world, they live with insecurity every night. Maybe that is the connectivity Americans need to feel for Ukraine and the world in general. “No man is an island left unto himself”
“You have oceans to protect you ( physically).”
“But you will feel influenced” ( by the Russians)
That was the trigger. That was what sent Donnie spiraling out of control. Did you notice it? Zelensky was attempting a genuine warning.
Why did it trigger Donnie so intensely?
Because that’s exactly what is happening. Putin’s influence has shaped Donnie’s worldview/identity over decades of development. A useful idiot became an asset, became a fellow traveler.
Read Craig Unger, Masha Gessen, Gary Kasparov, Mikial Zyger
Listen to expat kgb agents living in the United States, they have been warning for decade now.
Understand why Putin kills those guys for speaking out in England, Germany, And France.
That is very perceptive, Ted. I didn't pick up on that, but I think you're right. It was that "But you will feel influenced" comment -- the subtle implication that Donnie was not the one controlling the entire situation, that Donnie was being played by Putin and didn't himself realize it -- that really set Donnie off. I think Trump realized at that moment that the world sees right through him, and nothing infuriates him more than the suggestion that he is not the one ultimately calling the shots, that perhaps there is someone more intelligent, more clever, more politically savvy than he is, and he realizes that he really is the fool. And his childish reaction? To lash out.
And, English being not even his 3rd language was at a linguistic disadvantage. This is why foreign relations should always be behind closed doors with translators. Time to process and understand meanings that can be minute, but cause big understandings. For example “costume” is Russian for “suit”.
Zelensky speaks many languages and is a worldly educated man. An actor who studied Shakespeare. Vance is hillbilly, ( 44% of Americans have never left their county, and less than 3% have been to Europe or Asia), and JD like Donnie had a traumatic childhood without caring mother, and an abusive or absent father.
Note that Putin’s father survived a clandestine suicide mission vs Nazis during WW2. And Putin’s mother was almost killed when Nazi bombs took down their apartment building, she was pulled from the ruble.
Triggers are very personal, unique, and have consequences. It’s not good that the world leaders now know Trumps. How to avoid to get what they want, and how to incentivize him to compulsive anger too. Every government intelligence service is studying yesterday, both allies and enemies.
This is the most unsafe time since the Cuban missile crisis and WW2. I can feel the well of despair rising.
Great post Ted. The risk of WW3 has nothing to do with Ukraine continuing to defend their country. Trump wants to get the US out of NATO and probably remove our nuclear weapons from Europe.
Agree, Lee. I had to pause the TV watching this unfold in real time as I was becoming increasingly angry at the behavior of our “leaders”. How humiliating and embarrassing for the USA to see them bully Zelensky in what seems to be a “set up” scenario (I was surprised Musk wasn’t there!). Mr. T seems not to be able to control himself, he really acts like a thwarted toddler, nor do much but lie and pontificate about his imagined woes/persecution & Mr. V finally has a mouthful hot-toxic garbage to spew as well. Beyond sad for our country—they are not bending over backward for Putin, they are bending over forward! Because this crashed the impending “deal” about to be struck for the rare earth minerals lithium, etc., I wonder if Zelensky might be able to make a more honorable deal with some other appropriate and interested country (I certainly don’t have the knowledge to speculate further), but I fervently hope that other countries step in where the USA falters. Sigh, wish the USA had a leader the caliber of Zelensky….oh wait, we did have a chance to and blew it.
“I was surprised Musk wasn’t there.” Brava! He’s a direct line to Putin and Trump Tower Moscow. But he was “home” further weakening the US government so the Putin takeover can be quickly completed. Trump is too smitten and stupid to realize that he is the epitome “useful idiot.”
Yours is one of the most insightful comments i’ve read or heard. Thank you.
Don't forget they dressed down President Zelensky for disrespecting them by not wearing a suit. Musk ran the Cabinet meeting in his usual t-shirt, jeans, and black MAGA cap.
It appears that the comment about Mr. Zelenskiy not wearing a suit came from MTG's boyfriend/reporter - another set up. Is anybody surprised? Surely he would not ask elon when the latter appears in the same t-shirt in the Oval Office.
But didn't someone say recently that Zelenskyy had only been a modestly successful TV comic? Oh, I know who said it - someone who had only been a modestly successful reality TV "actor".
Since Zelensky came to prominence, I’ve thought we need more intelligent comedians, satirists really, in prominent positions…smart, fast on their feet, can laugh at themselves, etc. Just a thought.
I had to pause it real time too! I wonder how many others felt this way? It’s like my brain ( and heart and soul) saying “NO!” This can not be happening. It was world breaking in real time. I just didn’t want it to be true, that our President could be so cruel.
Not that anyone commenting here watched Fox News, but how is this fiasco playing on Fox and the other far-right media outlets. Trump has either nominated or brought in over 20 former and current Fox deviants.
By now they all know they are auditioning for Trump's fasicst regime.
I can’t say how it’s playing on Faux Snooze, but I can say that the MAGAts think that ffpotus and the veep were “strong, and stuck up for us”. I kid you not.
Oh, Ally, for a moment there reading “stuck up for us” I had such a satisfying fleeting image of both their tongues “stuck” to a frozen flag pole. If only….
Thank you for that link. I am amazed that Faux News has anyone like Ms. Tarlo because I studiously avoid it - my mother used to watch, and voted for T****. She's been gone five years now, and I still have not been able to forgive her. She voted against my grandchildren.
I watched an hour of fox yesterday afternoon while MSNBC was blowing up with the horror. I wanted to understand why my neighbors think the way they do. The shameful demonstration of our country's fall was not mentioned at all.
I imagine Fox is saying what the WSJ and the rest of the mainstream media is saying: that Trump and Vance humiliated Zelensky and Trump threw him out of the White House.
It reminded me of a WWE shouting match, bullies on the playground double teaming the "little guy." (They underestimated the courageous Zelensky.) I wondered why they chose JD Vance for VP; it's because he is an attack dog, as viscious as his master.
Trump claimed Ukraine doesn’t hold any cards and Zelensky showed that he was a true leader when he responded by saying “I’m not playing cards”. Instead he’s focused on matters pertaining to life and death, democracy and fascism.
I thought, yet another display that is bringing Europeans together at our expense. All the more reasons for them to hate Americans. I hope the many who read HCR's letter and comments can spread the word that we're not all stupid!
Sops suck up to world-class bullies and mob bosses.
Extortionists try to extort criminal favors from democracies under attack from one mob boss in the Kremlin.
Business fools and incompetents go bankrupt even in the casino trade.
Rapists such as the fat orange one with insolence rape women. Pal around with such as Jeffrey Epstein to target women as pieces to take. Brag about grabbing pussy.
Criminals pursue criminality and brazenly lie about it. Commit tax fraud, bank fraud.
Insurrectionists lead insurrections against U.S. elections, democratic institutions, the Constitution and the rule of law.
Traitors spurn and betray allies to align with foreign autocrats, murderers, dictators, genocidalists.
Or, as David Brooks put it today, the convicted criminal in the White House “and Vladimir Putin are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters.”
When I first heard Trump ranting at Zelenskyy, my first thought was "what a petulant child."
Last night Michael Steele called Trump a "petulant child" as well. It was amazing to hear so many former Republicans trash Trump and Vance after this debacle.
If only about a dozen Republican Senators and an equal number of house members would realize that there is no longer a Republican Party, and they had the courage to form a new third party. Then they could actually check Trump's fascist takeover of the federal government.
The United States is a place that is safe for gangsters. McConnell, the GOP, Garland and others have made it clear. Worst of all 74 million voters approved this madness. Where will this lead us in the months ahead?
I would expect and hope for civil unrest, as for the rest of the planet, we have to reformulate strategies as an ally has abandoned us against their word-agreements-treaties, etc., in favour of its own supposedly mortal enemy. The current administration is traitorous and should be dealt with accordingly by at least the EU and other likeminded blocs and countries. As kim jong is to Xi, so is trump to putin.
Over 5 million legal votes were PURGED! Those votes would have gone to Harris. Harris would have won.
Please see Greg Palast’s film, Vigilantes Inc., about vote suppression. The numbers are shocking re: high numbers of African-American votes and youth votes not counted.
They will do the same for the 2026 elections. One woman challenged over 30,000 voter registrations! She didn’t know those people. We have to stop that!
Also the election data in the swing states is not compatible with reality. SmartElections.US
Stop blaming Garland for not working as quickly as you want. It is extremely lengthy process to put together criminal cases against a president. You are bullying Garland, the same way that Trump bullied Fauci and Zelenskyy. Shame.
Nonsense. Garland was a disaster and an utter failure in protecting democracy from a traitorous insurrectionist. Please stop defending him. He does not deserve it. He will go down in history as the Attorney General who let a notorious and dangerous criminal not only walk free, but seize control of our government again.
Don't blame Garland. Blame McConnell, who had not one, but two chances to convict T**** in the Senate, which would have made him ineligible to run again. Moscow Mitch is the real culprit: he failed in his duty to the country.
"Why does our president condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials? Has 'oderint dum metuant' really become our motto?" So reads the resignation letter of John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat who recently left the Foreign Service in protest against Bush administration policy.
'Oderint dum metuant' translates, roughly, as 'let them hate as long as they fear.' It was a favorite saying of the emperor Caligula, and may seem over the top as a description of current U.S. policy. But this week's crisis in U.S.-Mexican relations — a crisis that has been almost ignored north of the border — suggests that it is a perfect description of George Bush's attitude toward the world."
“The enemy is within”, said the OPP (Orange Putin Puppet).That wasn’t a warning, it was a confession. I’m giving it four weeks, tops: then, all media reporting critically about Rump, Muskolini and Putin will be forbidden. Americans will then only hear glorious stories about the glorious efforts of their glorious leaders…
Can't find any official list, but letting Tass into the Oval Office wasn't a 'mistake' - it was obviously done so that later they could make a show out of escorting him out. Purely misleading.
LOL…Phil, he certainly has only “the very best, really the bilgiest best qualities ever known to man”….sigh, just really makes you want to take him home to meet the folks, doncha think?
The sycophants speak! Somehow, the White House thinks that mindless blurbs from 53 suck-ups and Putin worshippers from Congress and the cabinet make Trump look strong. It’s pathetic.
Zelenskyy was courageous and steadfast in the face of the Trump/Vance ambush. All Vance and Trump did was screech Russian talking points at him. That shows their weakness—they were so clearly acting as Putin’s puppets. As were many of the 53 former Russia hawks, now turned into Trump toadies.
As Zelenskyy pointedly asked, had Vance (and, by implication, Trump) been to Ukraine to see what Putin has wrought? Joe Biden went on February 20, 2023. Most of the leaders of the NATO countries have gone to show support despite the danger. They showed physical courage. Trump and Vance have not. Vance said he saw the pictures.
Zelenskyy and the rest of NATO (minus Orban/Hungary) understand that there can be no peace unless there are security guarantees for Ukraine and, ultimately, for the rest of Europe. Otherwise, Putin will use any pause to re-arm and will attack when he is resupplied. Putin’s forces are depleted now, so Trump is throwing him a lifeline so he can regroup and replenish and get sanctions lifted on his court of oligarchs. A lasting peace can only be achieved if the Russian economy is sufficiently bled out by Putin’s war effort that there is a backlash from the oligarchs.
Today’s America First rhetoric from Trump and Vance and abandonment of Ukraine broke the NATO alliance. It is not strength. It is cowardice.
"Putin’s forces are depleted now, so Trump is throwing him a lifeline so he can regroup and replenish and get sanctions lifted on his court of oligarchs."
Russia keeps sending in drones which rarely make it to their civilian targets, but sometimes they do. When a rare Ukrainian drone or missile hits a civilian Russian target, the corporate media makes Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians out to be war criminals. Russia hits mostly civilian targets which has normalized the hits, like Trump's lying is normalized. It's time for the Ukrainians to start targeting apartment buildings of the richest Russians. Make them feel fear and we'll see how they react.
Almost every day Ukraine is hitting Russian refineries, oil depots and pipelines. The Russians have lost so much equipment that they are using pick-up trucks and even cars just like ISIS. And what are the half a million wounded soldiers telling their friends and family when they return home from the front.
Ukraine must not let up and all of Europe needs to continue sabotaging Russian targets.
Yes, Vance was caught off balance by "Have you been there?" His stammered reply was not a good save.
Tell you what, the Oval Office (the "cherished" Oval Office!) has become unrecognisable. And sitting one each side of an unlit fireplace just looks like misery. Fireplace chats to replace fireside chats? He hasn't actually insulted FDR yet, has he?
I usually make a point to never listen to Trump’s voice or even look at him on TV or social media clips. I decided today to catch a clip of the meeting with Zelenskyy and Vance and him.
I was appalled. I was ashamed for America. I haven’t said that since all that has gone on with Trump and even when he was in before, I never said I was ashamed or embarrassed to be an American -but today I was. It was an ambush as the Atlantic said. I was surprised to even see Vance there, and then open his disgusting mouth and what he had to say to Zelenskyy -neither one of them are half the man he is. What is Ukraine going to do?!?
Sorry to rant, but I was really upset today. Thank you for all you do-your letters mean a lot to all of us, Dianne from Illinois.
Dianne, though a Virginian, I am in Illinois and would like to put in a good word for our governor who has been vigorously standing up for US at our best. Indivisible Chicago has a rally in support of Ukraine today, starting at Water Tower Place and marching to the Bean. Ninety, I won’t make it but shall offer as many signs as I have sticks and paper for.
Like you, I felt compelled to listen and look today. As Ned Price (formerly in Obama’s White House) said: “I was queasy.”
I am wide awake in despair, watching these cretins destroy what's left of our country. But Putin is also wide awake, popping his champagne cork. Hideous. Nauseating. Disgraceful. Obnoxious. Ambush. And my reps had the nerve to call *Zelinsky* disrespectful. Another low hit today.
Kathy, I didn't see that, but last evening L.Graham's people sent a slick text message to anyone who had ever voted Republican here in SC - pure propaganda about what a great job T had done and how finally we have a president who is "putting America first." It was awful. 🤮
Lindsey Graham makes my stomach turn! He’s another one who criticized Trump, but now follows and defends him at all costs! It’s nauseating, infuriating, and frightening, really.
He went from praising Zelenskyy in the morning to castigating him after the Oval Office meeting. I had to wonder which meeting he was talking about, since his description was so at odds with what I'd seen on TV. I'm beginning to question Graham's grasp of reality. Is he, too, suffering from dementia?
Agree. I think Europe is selling their stakes in the US financial system. This is Backdoor pressure. Institutional investors and state banks. This could be why the market is falling. Regional Fed’s are downgrading their economic forecasts to negative. (Was +4% a month ago, now -1.5%). Voters are consumers and with all the civil service purges… that grows uncertainty, so we all buy less. This is going to snowball in multiple directions.
Worth mentioning that the chair of the Senate Committee that found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election was none other than the current Secretary of State. He sat next to Vance looking like a kid in his dad's suit exuding discomfort. Can't imagine Mrs Clinton or Mrs Albright being so obviously cowed.
Why use "Mrs"? That belittles them by attaching them to men. Call them by their true names: Secretary Rodham Clinton and, if you don't like "Secretary" then Dr. Albright.
Yup. With Clinton, you do have to specify which politician it is. With Albright, either Doctor or Secretary works. Regardless THEY ARE THEIR OWN PERSON AND NOT THEIR HUSBAND'S PROPERTY.
I was most struck with Trump's assertion that Zelenskyy was holding a weak hand of 'cards.' Zelenskyy said they were not playing cards. Trump said they were. This was a sick attempt to extort Ukraine's wealth (it's a poor country) from a person in a position of weakness... to take advantage of his dire position rather than help. (Same with Gaza plans.) There's no greater, no lower form of evil. We saw it on TV, in real time and space. Zelenskyy now belongs up there in the Hall of Fame of his religion, with Abraham, Moses, Einstein, Sandy Koufax, Spinoza, Chagall, Bob Dylan... I'm so proud of him.
Agreed. This gauche theatre had a ring to it of the school yard bullies being beaten by the smallest victim by virtue of prevailing first class class. I see this as a pony in the horse shit. Note the reactions that are engaging, unifying, inspirational.
Trump claims to have cards, but he's not playing with a full deck. Zelensky called his bluff. Meanwhile soul-less Lindsey Graham said he was never more proud of Trump than his is tonight. It's madness. Has it not dawned on fawning CEOs, never mind red state families, that Republicans are goring their oxen as well??
Zelensky, a war hero was NOT humiliated! Trump and Vance brought humiliation and shame on our country with their attempt to denigrate Zelensky. Heartbreaking to see this...
If Donald Trump was a dog he would have been euthanized years ago. He is stark raving mad and a threat to the world order. His fiends Vance and Musk are also low quality humans, completely amoral vessels.
Trump and Musk have classic features of antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders, and neither of them are desirable features in leadership. They make these “leaders” dangerous and uninterested in the national interest, but only interested in themselves and what they want.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House with the clear knowledge of who his friends are, and who they aren’t, having also demonstrated his profound courage, again, by standing up to two weak, snarling bullies.
The American people similarly now have a crystal clear picture of where “our” government stands vis-a-vis promoting freedom and democracy around the world. The same for our former friends and allies in Western Europe.
This morning Vladimir Putin has a Cheshire Cat smile on his face. Success!
I feel a huge Ukrainian march coming on. I hope so when I return to NYC. Up here in Vermont, I need to put the pride flag away for the time being and find my Ukrainian flag.
Can’t wait for the polls!
And I refuse to fly an American flag upside down. We are not in distress, it’s the Republicans.
Ironically, I posted the following on my facebook on the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine:
“It was three years ago that Russian tanks invaded this peaceful country called the Ukraine. I worked every day with software developers in Kharkiv at the time of the invasion. “Teams” calls everyday working through very difficult RF programs. Smart people, good people.
That day, our company, Jabil, told them to scatter and return to their home towns. They would continue to try and work through an environment of sabotaged power outages and disrupted communication channels.
When they dropped from a teams call, my heart also dropped.
I told the lead female supervisor, one on one, that America is behind Ukraine. She wept.
I can’t say that today.
Hang in there Ukraine! You are a huge inspiration for me, and others.”
[edited to remove reference to Andy]
And for those smart caring WE THE PEOPLE that are anxious this morning:
Netflix Rosebud Taylor
Or
This is Love Podcast “On the Way to Dinner”
And remember WE THE PEOPLE have been through way much worse!
Special Elections this year! Vote Florida about how anxious you are are about Medicare, Medicaid, your Social Security, the Stock Market, your 401k. Show Ukraine and Europe we are behind them. WE THE PEOPLE.
I refuse to do it. My late father would roll over in the grave and we are now behaving like MAGA. Like the guy across from my house with one for 4 months with a flag upside down after the PA results.
With a “Fuck Biden” flag my neighbor ask for him to take it down. And he did, but not that flag.
Are you going to also add a “Fuck Trump” also? For children walking by to see?
It is the Republican Party that is in distress. Not us. We will march, we will have concerts, we will organize.
I don’t think the Dems should do it. It is so MAGA. And disrespectful for all those that died in our wars for our democracy.
I wouldn’t place a Trump flag with an offensive but well deserved logo, but I have mixed emotions about the upside-down flag because I do think our nation is in distress and danger from Trump and his toadies.
It is a SYMBOL of distress. The MAGA do not own the symbol. Using the symbol does not make the user a MAGA.
This is the same trap many fell into regarding the rigged 2024 election--the MAGA who questioned the results were not wrong to QUESTION. They went wrong when they refused to accept the results of MULTIPLE recounts. We did not even get ONE recount because of the fear of "being like them". It was a misapprehension of what "being like them" consists of.
You know that they call Democrats "fascist" and "Nazi"? Should we stop using those words too, because "they" misuse them?
The press keeps saying DT/Vance humiliated President Zelinskiy. They TRIED to humiliate him. They SUCCEEDED in humiliating themselves by their disgraceful bullying of a foreign head of state and an invited guest.
I wrote Usha Vance:
I wrote this letter to Usha Vance, JD’s wife.
Dear Madam Vance,
I was SHOCKED and ASHAMED at how our ALLY was treated at the White House Friday. No lunch was offered. His attire criticized. REALLY?!!
President Zelensky should be chastising Trump! In 1994, the “Budapest Memorandum” was created and agreed to by the United States, the UK, N. Ireland & Russia. In exchange for Ukraine giving their huge stockpile of nuclear warheads, Russia agreed to recognize & respect Ukraine as a sovereign country promising NOT to take any of its territory. The U.S., UK & N. Ireland agreed to help defend and come to Ukraine’s aide if their country was invaded.
We Are COMMITTED To Aiding & Defending Ukraine! If we don’t who will ever trust our word again? And maybe Russia should return the nuclear warheads.
The United States has not held up their side of the bargain.
So YOUR husband needs to APOLOGIZE to President Zelensky. JD Vance is not well liked. Maybe if he reminded Trump about the agreement, defended Ukraine and TOOK UKRAINE’s side, our DEMOCRATIC ALLY, instead of our ENEMY, DICTATOR Putin, maybe they would think more favorably. If not, he WILL be voted out of office. Please talk to him, won’t you?
Also, Trump only won the election because the Republicans purged over 5 million LEGAL votes. The people wanted Harris, NOT Trump. Trump lied to the American people.
Remember your husband once said Trump was “America’s Hitler.” Well with all the haphazard cuts made, NO fraud, very little savings, firing 4 star generals, firing inspector generals who investigate corruption, having to call back people, he is acting like Hitler. it’s like an animal house.
Do you feel safe knowing we are no longer arresting diseases in other countries so they won’t come to our country? Like the current hemorrhagic fever QUICKLY KILLING many in the Congo. The Ebola virus. HIV. The list is long.
Trump wants to give a $4.5 TRILLION tax cuts to his rich friends WHO DON’T NEED THE MONEY! He wants to slash Medicaid. That won’t make a dent but will hurt the elderly, the disabled, the poor. What’s going to happen to the elderly? You going to throw them out in the street? The American people didn’t vote for this.
Your husband should be more compassionate as he was dirt poor. Trump could do so much good. Instead he is alienating our friends, our allies. Who will come to our aide if we were attacked?
Please start with the aide to Ukraine. Help them win the war. Put boots on the ground and get it over with. Get UK & Ireland to help.
You see how good , honest & hardworking Pres. Zelensky is. He is our friend. He has SUFFERED DEATH & DESTRUCTION. Trump and your husband came off as BULLIIES. I was ASHAMED and so was America.
_________________________
END
I sent letter to (many asked):
https://sengov.com/whitehouse/usha-vance/
👉 We need to call our Representatives and implore them to start IMPEACHMENT proceedings on Trump and
JD Vance for TREASON!
(202) 225-3121
I did. Now is the time to do it!
How does he look into his wife’s eyes tonight after committing such evil treachery?
What does Usha lose for not speaking up?
Her soul I think.
she agrees with her husband didn’t you see how she looked at him while he was getting shown in. I do not think she is a good person
Usha and JD are both trash!
The entire top of our government is trash and a complete embarrassment.
Melania and Usha are one in the same
Remember that green jacket she wore after that hurricane, on an aid mission? “ I really don’t care” Do u” that’s how u read it,
Can never forget our "FIRST LADY" emblazoned with such trashy disdain and heartlessness.
I feel sorry for their ignorance!
You picked my brain Ted!!! Thanks for putting that up......Go back and look up Laura Benanti`s amazing take on that.......For sure you remember Laura on The Tonight Show..........OMG.......will she be coming back on for Disaster #2??
She was wearing high heels through the disaster zone....right??
Kkkk-Blammmm - I really don't care. And she put it in print. Did we actually need to be told? So sad, we've succumbed to this. A Christian nation.., Yo!!! Christians.., where'd ya'll go? Lemme help, to hell in a hand basket, according to that 'rule-book'..., no? Rulebook?? Yeah, the one DT had printed in China. That one will do, ughh.
What a pity but they chose who they married. Their bed, they have to sleep in it.
Melania, apparently has her own personal "secret servicing" man...a real man on the side...........Usha probably has one by now, .....
Why are we wasting any energy talking about the potus and vp wives? Focus! (Spoken in a substitute teacher voice!) There is plenty of material to go after in those voted into office!!!!
Get what you are saying - but those posts were funny. We need to laugh a little.
Eileen, the train-wreck is still in motion, the freight cars are just now coming off the track into the countryside> Gov Janet Mills trigger'd the first one, Zelensky just knocked the next one off, so the Night Train Express (I'll call it.., also a cheap wine) is de-railing. Give it a little time, it's a heavy load. Once all the cars are piled up, then the "Clean Up" can begin. Hopefully James Carville gets this one right.
I agree, 100%.
My own blog response is full of curse words and as such,I can’t publish here but you are welcome to open my blog to read my scathing exercise.
I've used more F* words these past few months than I have in my 64 years! AND angry emojis!
Bill, venting & curse words are not what is required now.
Check out Barbara Mullen's practical application of 'PRAXIS'. That's practice as distinguished from theory or just cursing. Barbara had a useful take on "what to do".
I attempt to eliminate any gap in my between my posts & the real world. Otherwise a person becomes frozen by human galvanic skin responses, you know, our neurological wiring.
Cursing 'feels good" but, is a form of human 'do-nothing'.
Anyway, Zelenskyy flew to London last night 1 day ahead of a EURO meeting on Putin's War & 'what to do' about the on-going murderous attack on Ukraine.
Great post Bill! And never offended-I've been cussing a storm for 64 of my 74 years. Eff'em.
G R E E D
That is an unfair judgement; we can not possibly know what Second-lady Vance thinks any more than we can understand what First-lady Trump thinks. The actions of each does not indicate, at least to me, unqualified support of her husband.
Oh come on buddy. By giving second and First Ladies the benefit of doubt you take away from the women who do stand up to their badly behaving and dangerous husbands. And “ doubt”?To me there is plenty of evidence that these women are as despicable as their fellas
Don’t you remember the coat, I do. I can infer support since both stand with evil and smile like Cheshire cats as the vipers bully and trash any perceived enemy.
I am going to give Usha the benefits of the doubt. Nevertheless, she comes from a culture where traditional gender roles often place women in a more subordinate position to their husbands. I hope to becproven wrong by her, if she decides to speak up. I seriously doubt even that she will see the letter.
Isn’t it surreal, while taking about different societies, that while the U.S government is actively disenfranchising the LGBTQ + community, India-a society often considered more conservative-is moving toward greater acceptance?
If Usha ever got dumped for a young Trump Barbie......she would be in line for a job at FOX NEWS........as long she agreed to hair extensions...mini-skirts...high heels and tons of makeup.
You and I share the same hope. Time will answer our shared concern, Veronica.
Well, the inaction and the silence certainly does.
These were not good men BEFORE they were elected. So it only stands to reason, they are the same.
JD Vance advanced a lie, knowing it was a lie about Haitian immigrants eating family pets in Springfield, OH. They had been actually asked to come there to work, we’re here LEGALLY and he did it to advance his career and throw out race bait to his supporters. When asked he said he didn’t care if it was a lie.
The people in that town felt terrorized and afraid. Not just the Black Haitians, but the white community who also felt unsafe bevause Vance didn’t care if his supporters showed up and committed violence like they did 1/6 and at the Comet Pizza Ping Ping place.
And who was the SENATOR of Ohio representing. Supposedly all Ohioans? That would be JD Vance. And who was his wife at the time of this terror? Well, that would be Usha.
Jeff Bezos paid Melania 40 million for a docuseries. That was because of her winning personality? How about her Melania crypto coin MAKING MONEY OFF AMERICA AGAIN.
Just because they are good looking females who don’t say much doesn’t mean they are good people. They are the female versions of their husbands.
AND he had a fit at the debate when the moderator fact-checked him on his lie!
Well, I still hesitate to judge either woman without knowing her. As to good looking, I do not find Mrs Trump to be attractive, though I do think Mrs Vance looks refined. Their silence, however, hardly commends them.
And then there is reality.
Good for you, absolutely, Ned…..
Exactly right, Ned. Playing the role of supportive spouse in public is no indication of what they think or what may or may not occur in their private life. But at least they keep it PRIVATE.
Welp.., Ned, I guess she's gonna be known by the company she keeps. Too bad. Hope she protects her kids from obscure thinking.
Proecting their kids is, I would surmise, job-1 for both these women.
You are who you associate with therefore we can cast judgment on dumb and dumber… or rather scum and scummier.
But she's got that rictus smile which somehow she maintained right through the whole inauguration.
Accurate description. It looks warm for the first five minutes. Right through the Inauguration, yes, but not the Bishop's homily. She listened to that intently, in spite of her husband's repeated attempts to catch her eye.
'Warm' in an eerily Stepford Wives/ uncanny valley kind of way. The whole Trump clan were shifting uneasily on their pews while Bishop Budde was making her appeal.
Big Deal. The Bishop was pleading to a small man to possibly stop terrorizing the very people he was beholdened to serve and protect.
What was she supposed to do? Yuk it up? Roll her eyes? Go to the ladies room? She isn’t an idiot. She somehow is elevated to a better human than her vile husband because she held her composure for a few minutes?
They’re all alike in this administration. No moral compass. Self serving. If looking like a human is what she needed to do during a speech, she can did it.
If you will say anything to get ahead, you will do anything to get ahead. And if you lie down with dogs, get up with fleas and then marry the dog, you clearly like fleas.
Ah, so you noticed that too!
A perfect description of Usha's demeanor!
Melania and Usha sold their souls to Satanl
I'm sure she's a nice person and that whole day was weird.
Hahaha
Thanks for the new word for my limited vocab., Russell!
I’m not trying to pick on any one commenter. I’m picking on every commenter and reader.
If you people are trying to convince me that you care about what’s happening, it’s not working. Maybe you’ve convinced yourselves, but your actions are speaking louder to me than your words. We all know what to do, and only a tiny handful of people are doing it. But I’m not giving up on you. I’ll give you another reminder of what everyone already knows. Pay special attention to the difference between—and need for—a real conversation.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-158060197
Honestly, you lost me at *You People*.
We. The. People got hornswoggled..slowly . This week was not the end but the beginning of the proverbial curtain going down. The long sought America Dream was sold by an incessant liar wanna-be strongman, insolent bully, whose only pleasures are 1) adulation and 2) getting even with anyone who ‘upstages’ him ( originally his parents) .
In part WE became complacent recognized a hard won big brother status while yet ignoring our own mistakes, but the world had relative peace.
Too many outgrew their pants and became stuffed shirts, electing a boisterous bully and applauding whilst behind the scene gears worked to destroy the image of a nation built on pride become the laughing stock of the world at first and now a cryin’ shame.
It culminated this month in an earth shaking UN vote , slapping EVERY ONE of our allies in the face, and throwing a world wide hero under the BUS . Another setup display , panning to the camera DEBACLE, just like DOGE.
The press has been dismantle ( except for Substack and a few others ). Loyalty replaced the Constitution . Chaos reigns supreme. Money and Ego run to gather lost souls.
It’ll get worse .
Tell me a better way to get people's attention, but this seems to have worked when nothing else has. What matters is my intent. I'm trying to get people to recognize that we have the power to stop MAGA and we're not using it. Where else is that conversation happening?
That has always been a trigger for me to stop listening to what the person is going to spew. I can't recall a single time that anything of value came after those two words, and as I said, eventually when someone says that, I mentally turn them off.
Good shot Dolores, but give James some slack. I think i often come across way differently than I intend to.., and suffer others (rightly) taking strong issue with what I've put in print. Sorry.., just crying :)).
The transformation of American news reporters and reporting to "corporate whores" is complete.
The top priority of an authoritarian state is to convince everyone that resistance is futile. Why? Because they know that if they fail at that objective, they fail, and they otherwise succeed.
James, you lost me in your substack post well before you repeated E07 for the 3rd or 4th time. See you around.
I'm sorry it's hard to understand my essay. Trust me ... it's harder to live under an authoritarian autocracy.
He’s on weed.
I get it: You are trying to get more readers for your substack. Either that or you are just a troll. Whichever it is, begone!
I don't charge a subscription fee. Trolls act like trolls. I don't act like a troll. Do you know the meaning of the "ad hominem" phrase? I do, it describes your comment, and it's one of Trump's favorite tactics.
Nice plug!
For the record, I don't charge a subscription fee. Working together to make the world a better place is payment enough for me.
As a reminder, one can go to the 3 little faint dots to the right of someone's name and "collapse" and report their comment. At least then you don't have to look at their comment.
Janet, what you are describing is what Donald Trump does to people who say things to him that he doesn't want to hear.
Really? We all know what to do?
"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children." —Matthew 11:25.
I'm just suggesting we remind ourselves of that knowledge.
I’m sorry to say but you are one big joke and off topic. Or a troll trolling for readers.
Or I'm telling you something you need—but don't want—to hear. As Bob Dylan told us in 1964, "Don't criticize what you can't understand." If we'd have followed that advice in 1965, the times they would already been a-changed. The best time to make the world a better place is 1965. The second best time is 2025.
She married him knowing who he is. Says it all.
Why are you all bothering with the wife. Leave her out of it. Will you be next hammering away at the blended kids? Cheeses creepers.
He had some round-faced boyish appeal before that beard.
No, not a trace of humanity. He sent me a begging email. With a threatening tone. Younger viper and ugly as chump
Alcibiades, Aaron Burr, Napoleon hidden by a polished, educated manner.
Catty
Can we please stop pretending women like Usha and Melania are just as bad morally, just as bad opportunistically and also “Really Don’t Care”.
These women aren’t their daughters, for goodness sake. Daughters have absolutely no choice who their parents are. These women are grown ups, Mrs. Vance is a corporate lawyer and clerked for SCOTUS. Melania weaseled her way into the upper echelons of society on Jeffrey Epstein’s payroll. They CHOSE these men bevause they also want to be at the top, have gobs of money and power. They are equally despicable as their husbands.
The question is, how does SHE even look at HIM? I would be filing for immediate divorce. JD is beyond shameful!
He'll fight her for the kids. She trapped herself by marrying him. In 20-30 years when they're grown, she'll leave him and write an expose but it'll be far, far too late for us.
she believes what he believes. she hears and sees how her husbands speaks of people of color. she sees it and she is complicit. she herself is a birth right citizen. she knows what is happening and is behind him
Also, Vance himself has stated a number of times what he thinks women’s role is so that’s enough for me
Like an ex friend of mine, she was not allowed her opinion. She was smarter but who knew….
She should publicly denounce him and divorce him.
Usha Vance is just another transactional husk of a human being. I doubt sincerely doubt that anything other than wealth and power matter to her.
She's no better than the faux poor asshile she married. Vance was NEVER dirt poor. Much of his faux memoir is exaggerated or outright lies.
He will just put on more eyeliner.
Right I just noticed. Y’all are catty women. Leave her out of it and deal with the subject. I can’t publish the blog I wrote last evening here because it’s full of curse words. But you are welcome to read. I have no pay wall.
Usha and Melania could do great girl on girl porn for the fundamentalist Christian men like Moses Mike and his son. They are souless heatless Trump Barbies that do the FOX NEWS crackwhore/escort look, going to their kness whenever summoned.
Maybe Putin’s like the tapes of them too. He definitely has some gay porn of Lyndsay Graham. They Lyndsay jumped fwd like that, too fast prepared. It was pre planned to go down. You have to study to be that stupid.
The whole lot has not soul - like Russia ... killing is necessary and normal - watch out for windows !
I have been trying to reply to Marlo, unsuccesfully.
Maybe the algorithms? This has never happened before.
Beautifully and politely stated. However, Mrs. Vance comes from a culture where traditional gender roles often place women in a more subordinate position to their husbands. I hope she proves me wrong and speaks up.
On another note, isn’t it surreal that while the U.S. government is actively disenfranchising the LGBTQ+ community, India—a society often considered more conservative—is moving toward greater acceptance.
Her mother is a provost at UCSD. They paid for her education and many of the Indian people I know respect intelligent woman.
JD is an inexcusable, tantrum throwing child. He was put in that meeting yesterday to make sure Trump became belligerent and insulting because we all know Trump is incapable of negotiating a peace deal and the way around it is to blame everything on Zelensky. JD was sent to trigger Trumps need to demand Zelensky bow down and kiss his feet. Putin sent his lackey in because Musk couldn’t always do Trumps job. The man is as insane as a loon.
They both sounded like prepubescent bullies and it was embarrassing for our country on the world stage. Not one ounce of diplomacy.
I think the most damnable thing about Vance is that he 'knows' that he's lying before he even opens his mouth. I also think he knows that he is soon to replace cfg (current effing guy ). During the campaign he (cfg ) was making very little sense and often wandered off into delusions.
Nicely said, good and faithful savant. 🤝Only we can prevent forest fires. 🛑 We failed signally on 05nov24 to do that. 😢 My erstwhile Party has lost its mind; forfeited its soul; and, tragically, snapped its spine. 💔 Frankly, I am surprised that Second-lady Vance has not walked out on liar-liar-Vance-on-fire. 🤫 I used to watch the 'Game of the Week' as a kid; now I am watching the 'Name of the Weak'. 😉
Usha is complicit in her own oppression.
She obviously has no soul if she breeds with him.
is she like him? she married him .
Did she not know, did she not see,
How power warps, how men break free
Of truth, of oaths, of honor’s claim,
And stain the soil with blood and shame?
Did Eva not whisper, in darkened halls,
That ruin comes before it calls?
Did Clara not cry when Il Duce fell,
Hung like a beast, left cold in Hell?
Does history not press its mark,
On wives who smiled while tyrants stark
Carved their names on broken bones
And feasted high on shattered thrones?
O Lady Vance, must you stand by,
As nations weep, as widows cry?
Your husband kneels to butcher’s hands,
And laughs while war consumes the land.
This ain’t a stage, no flashing light,
No script to twist, no game for spite.
It’s death, it’s ruin, it’s tears untold
A fate once warned, a tale once told.
So pull him back, or let him burn,
Please don’t just stand there,
letting his evil wheels turn.
Thank you Ted. Yes, Usha did not see. Millions of other did see. The mild-mannered, 91 year old, former British actor, Sir MICHAEL CAINE did see & posted "Trump Calm Down" to 14 Millions viral "likes" yesterday Friday.
Sir Michael followed that 2 minutes later with simply "Calm Down" to another viral response.
Wow. True resistance poetry. Someone should turn that into a song. Or not. It stands on its own quite well. On a side note, I do wonder what Usha thinks. I saw the look on her face when the trump family heard a church sermon plea. Everyone in the group looked like they were plotting revenge except for Usha. She was hearing the words and seemed to be more understanding of their intent. (edited - spell check wanted to change her name to Aisha)
🎶 Aimee Mann? I will send the text to Aimee & her husband Michael Penn who also a singer/ musician. Michael is the older brother of Sean Penn.
Usha, Eva, Clara, Melania, Kimberly, every woman hanging out at Mar a Lago. They are all just like these horrible men, but this is the closest patriarchy will allow them to power. They are not passive ignorant bystanders. Magda Goebbels fed her 6 children cyanide at the end.
WOW! Your poem should be posted EVERYWHERE!
Hear, here! I second that commotion!
Seems the coming resistence has gained its laureate.
Agreed 111%, Gerald.
WOW! Inspiring!
Great except the last line is weak and should be reworked.
You're assuming she doesn't agree with her husband.
She may think about her children who might have to grow up in Russia.
It appears that the US government is transforming the United States into Russia, so you are correct - they will live in Russia, unless you take back your democracy.
Besides she's now been given a cushy number on the board of the Kennedy Center - what's not to like?
Keep the eye on the ball Sophie, who cares what the wife of the Manchurian Candidate thinks or does. The most likely successor of the scumbag president is the one we should stay focused on.
She knew exactly what she was signing up for when her husband agreed to be Trump’s running mate after Trump tried to have his last VP killed by an angry mob.
Yes, unless her husband is the kind of patriarchal oaf who makes major career decisions without talking them over with his wife.
In any case, he was already a GOP senator, so it's not as though she didn't know his political temperament.
I don't see how appealing to her is in any way helpful or relevant, but I understand why Americans are desperate for anything that might cut through. What's happening is a disaster for you, as it is for us (Europeans).
JD Vance is a patriarchal oaf in every respect. He has advocated among other things, that women should not be able to leave their husbands if they beat them, through divorce. Every time he opens his big mouth, he puts his foot right in it. He is completely uncouth and has no manners or dignity, despite his education. His supposed great book was shameful. He won election to the Senate through Republican right wing money, but he only served a few months in the Senate and did not vote on one single bill, because he did not want his opinions known. Because he was aiming at the Presidency, and so Trump picked him for Vice President, because he had no record of any kind, and he agreed to be completely complicit with Trump. Trump is a very evil man and so is Vance. Our democracy is under serious assault here, which they have been planning since Trump’s last term. It’s disgraceful that our allies can no longer trust us. We are going to be fighting here in the US against this attempt at dictatorship very hard. We have to.
One of my best friends from Washington and Lee grew up in Appalachia and detests Vance for conflating NON-impoverished existence with all of Appalachia and for playing on the hillbilly stereotype to sell his book. 🤬
Sarah, I found 'Hillbilly Elegy' to very well written and quite intelligent, but it was all about J.D. His is a remarkable story, but so were those of Alcibiades, Aaron Burr, and Napoleon. 😱
Unfortunately, Vance did make at least one speech -- the only reasonable argument against aid for Ukraine I encountered. What is hard, really hard, for me to do is NOT to confuse intellect with character, 🤔
https://www.c-span.org/clip/us-senate/user-clip-senator-vance-opposes-aid-to-ukraine-34minvid/5114872
Vance is absolutely despicable. However he has not gained a cult following like his master. I expect Trump to replace him with Don Jr. at some point. G-d help us.
I think we're hoping she doesn't agree with her husband, Sophie.
With all due respect to all, what does Vance's wife have to do with any of this? That she sits quietly by? We have bigger issues to worry about -- Congress is who should be making noise.
I was hoping she could use her “womanly wiles” on him.
Marlo, maybe you have it all wrong, and he's the one with the “womanly wiles” (it makes me queasy to use those 2 words, or mine which follow, but I'm going with your prompt): he flutters his enhanced eyelashes and eyelids and she swoons.
Now let's talk about Congresses’ abdication of its Article 1 powers and duties.
You have seen in the optics' of her response all that will be seen--for the MAGAs will swarm her with controlling criticism. But still, chuck one up, because her response counts. Good gain for the good side.
She was a Democrat at one point.
So was Trump.
But she is:
1. An immigrant
2. Has brown skin
3. Is kind
I think she is still a Democrat but doesn’t say.
She's the daughter of immigrants.
As for her kindness... I'm sure she's kind to her family and friends. That won't make her reject fascism. Historical Nazis and Fascists could be good spouses, parents and friends, all the while carrying out unspeakable crimes.
I'm trying very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt. I find it gets more and more difficult.
She could very well end up as our First Lady.
Not if they both get impeached for TREASON!
Treason is a war time crime
That is inaccurate. Treason can be committed ANY time. We are AIDING Russia by siding with Russia. Removing sanctions. Allowing them to keep territories in Ukraine though they attacked a sovereign country and broke the Budapest Memorandum they signed. They are our ENEMY.
“Federal Crime of Treason
Treason is the only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution. According to Article III, Section 3:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
Well. We are at war. For the soul of our nation.
"Also, Trump only won the election because the Republicans purged over 5 million LEGAL votes." What's your source for this statement? Why is no one investigating this? I believe it is true, but why is there no action on it??
It’s true. And they are still doing it in the North Carolina Supreme Court election. This is a pattern.
“Conservatives fearing a loss of their majority, invite the fascist into their tent, thinking they can control them .” The road to Unfreedom Tim Snyder
Tim Snyder gave an excellent interview on PBS News on Friday night.
It is a good one!
I’ve seen a video recorded by a professor of statistics who said he had been studying where the challenged and rejected ballots came from (Zip codes), and the voter profile of the population. He is convinced, he says, that if those ballots had all been cured and counted, that the Harris-Walz ticket would have won. He didn’t sound at all like a conspiracy theorist. His demeanor in discussing his opinion was quite calm.
Wish I had saved the link or written down the man’s name.
Take a look at the Mark Thompson show with Nathan Taylor from Election Truth Alliance. It is new to me but does sound like the type investigation I would like (seeing why the swing state votes managed to all just get over the thresholds that trigger audits). Trump's claims to have more votes than he needed before the election, and thanking Musk for his help (not, apparently for the donations ), made we wish for more in depth post election verification, especially of the tabulations being transmitted.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWSWqn7UHYM
See - Greg palace.com
Bob, It's Greg Palast
Thom Hartmann interview with Greg Palast.
I’m sorry, I tried to attach the YouTube video but I’m not sure how to do it 😳😬
Thom also has a Substack article on it, which I’m not sure how to embed
Here you go: Dr Snyder's direct six-minute vid. https://snyder.substack.com/p/five-failures-in-the-oval-office
I follow Tim Snyder. He has been warning us since 2016 about Trump. He has met with Zelinskyy many times and has gained his trust. Everyone should be giving money to Ukraine and not to our “leaders”!
Right on, Marlene. I lived in N.Y.C. for fifteen years. Trump was a jerk, likely laundering dirty money looted from the form U.S.S.R. He was a jackal then; this proposed minerals 'deal' is the behavior of a jackal now. 🤬
Well, at least, Dr Snyder and I have a similar view, if not depth of knowledge. A warning from me to me in May 2016. 😱https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/05/letter-116-b-getting-historical.html
That was his first ever substack video. It seems a great new way for more substack though I always want good transcripts, too (like his video with its very good time stamped transcript).
His series on the Making of Modern Ukraine has what must be some of the best cleaned up transcripts, too (most others' are raw auto transcripts).
Reading them should help understand the material in the 23 Classes in the series.
The substack videos are new, I saw his first one yesterday, and I assume will become the preferred way. The easiest way I found to refer to his or any ones YouTube videos would be to copy the link that looks like the second link near the end.
My computer has been switched to Yahoo as the default and I haven't had friends show me how to switch it back to Google default yet. That means I copy the title of video and go to google to search for it.
It still shows up with a ridiculously long link name,
(like https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-trp-018&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-018&hspart=trp&p=Timothy+Snyder%3A+The+Making+of+Modern+Ukraine.+Class+1%3A+Ukrainian+Questions+Posed+by+Russian+Invasion&type=Y143_F163_225899_111424#id=1&vid=a0774e05d13fa182b5fac42d41bf831e&action=click),
but clicking on that usually brings up the video with option in the lower right corner to get it through YouTube which came up as:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJczLlwp-d8
P.S. I actually prefer text without videos for being able to review and make better notes. Second choice is audio (with accurate transcripts, or the best auto generated approximations). Third would be videos that I can replay at anywhere from 0.25 to 2 times normal speed.
Thank you for sharing this!! Appreciate the help 😊
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
I like your letter but I don't like that you addressed it to his wife. He's a grown ass man. Why do we continue to put the burden on women to rein in the men in their lives? I understand you hope she has some influence over him but I think today's debacle was proof no sane person, man or woman, has influence over him. Certainly his so called savior, Jesus Christ, has no sway over him. That was the most un-Christian like behavior I've seen yet.
Thank you, Beth. This is my question too. J.D. Vance is responsible for his own behavior. He needs to be held to account. His wife appears to enable him and that is a cause for concern but the onus of responsibility for what happened yesterday in the Oval Office rests entirely on Vance's shoulders (as well as Trump's).
Exactly. Look at all the space taken up here today on "the wife". I was looking for some other important info, such as: Churchill did not wear a suit when London was bombed, did he?
Totes Beth--but as usual men want to blame women for the shit men do.
Trump’s and Vance’s treatment of President Zelenskyy was abusive. Full stop. And like so many abusers do, they blamed their victim for the abuse. It’s way past time to hold Trump and Vance accountable for their despicable behavior. Not their wives, them. Enough.
https://mocoshow.com/2025/02/27/congressman-jamie-raskin-releases-statement-in-response-to-elon-musks-social-media-post-about-him/
Please read this brilliant letter to Musk from Jamie Raskin!!!!
💯 👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆🔥
Thanks for the link, Stephanie. It is absolute 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
These days in MAGA circles when someone is compared to Hitler it's not actually seen as an insult but rather as a compliment.
I still wonder... To me, it seems that Putin advised Rump to take Vance as vice president. Rump has been bought by Putin: Vlad got him reelected, now his orange puppet has to pay up, that much is clear. But how, and why, did _Vance_ become such an avid Putin supporter?? Has Vlad got some 'dirt' on him? Did he promise him power and riches? Or is Vance just a sycophant who likes to suck up to 'big, strong men'? I don't get it...
Dutch Mike, I think you would find clearer lines of influence over the emergence of J D if you looked at his association with Peter Thiele following law school in his foray into venture capital which then morphed into Thiele supporting his run for the senate from Ohio (the most expensive senatorial race in history at that time). His subsequent elevation to vice presidential candidate a scant two years into his relatively vacuous senate career again came through his support from Thiele and other like-minded capitalists with no particular pleasure or familiarity on tRump’s (or Putin’s) part. JD was subsequently crept into office on tRump’s coattails. JD has become a professional opportunist with no discernible principles, certainly no patriotism guiding him beyond whatever he imagines will further advance (?) his career.
Exactly as I see it John; However with other aid from the Heritage Foundation weirdo's.
Vance owes his political “success” to rich Libertarian Peter Thiel for whom he once worked. The rich guys, whom tfg needs and adores, wanted Vance for VP.
I think it’s because he is easy to manipulate and is so full of himself he is willing to insult anyone.
Dutch-They have a vision of what they want the world to be including who’s on top and who has the power to control everything. Now they are just carrying out their plans to take over/over take the present world order.
Conquering the U. S. is the key. Musk told us in one sentence that they’re pursuing a “new world order”. They are telling us lots of lies but I think we can believe them about their fantasy of a new world order where they have total control. Putin is definitely part of the gang. They’ve worked hard over many years to install DJT.
They are not just dreaming about it or talking about it-they’re taking action every day to make their vision a reality. They’ve also acknowledged that this is their last chance to make it happen so their pulling out all the stops-and it “makes good TV”.
One more thing-they’re actually not “strong” men.
No Mike; Vance was advanced by the Heritage Foundation all the way and war bucks from Theil.
♥♥♥ for that, Marlo. Ukraine was betrayed by the guarantors of Ukraine when it agreed to have its entire nuclear weaponry decommissioned and destroyed . Note, the Russians held on to their own stockpiles.
Thank you. I have said this through the years the biggest mistake was giving up those bombs. They wouldn’t have been invaded today if they had retained them for defense.
Yes. And the world, unlike Trump, knows history. Another nuclear arms race ahead.
This is such a good letter but I don’t think it will move her to do anything. Just like FLOTUS didn’t care in the traitor’s first term, neither of them will care now. They are all rotten to the core.
I do believe your heart is black and rotten to have married one of these despicable beings.
Why are there not troops from the U.S., The UK, and N.Ireland not expelling Russia from every inch of Ukraine’s 1994 borders?
Because that would be WW3.
Because Ukraine has not asked
The 'we' in the WEst will have to run that risk sooner or later. The irony: the more we dither about, or disdain, Ukraine, the more likely Putin will go nuclear because he is 'so close'. Russian doctrine allows for the use of nukes to reverse a battle-field catastrophe.
Excellent question Jim!
Marlo, keep it up. I believe we all need to be like dripping faucets. As you know water is most effective at destroying rigid structures; there are plumbers ie maggots & their press but not enough as we become a stream then a torrent. I admire your effort because it takes that as well as courage. Thank you for letting us know.
I thank you for writing to Usha Vance. She may never read it but we have. She is married to a worm of a man and she probably knows it .
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
What is Usha's contact information? I may not be as eloquent, but one more message might be worth a try.
I am constantly uttering-- what must JD's wife be thinking? Surely she doesn't approve!
I hope she receives and reads your letter. Thank you.
I have heard that she has ambition. Nothing wrong with ambition - Lincoln had it. But he also had principles.
I wonder why she is fine with her small children growing up in the world her husband is helping create.
Magda Goebbels fed her 6 children cyanide at the end.
It was clearly a set-up.
It was all set up for Russian TV.
I want to know every detail of how and why Russian TASS was allowed in the room, when the AP and Reuters were not. Who was behind the arrangements? Who approved this method of "Negotiations?" Those details will mean a lot.
and MTG's boyfriend was in there asking about why Zelenskyy wasn't wearing a suit...
True. Great Russian tv provided by trump Vance. Perhaps they should live in Russia where they can be heroes. They are Villains in the former United States of America
A trumpanzee practicing hillBULLY etiquette.
It was truly an embarrassing episode…and we’re only a few days and weeks into this idiot’s second - can you believe it - second 4-year term; talk about a test of and on our hope and optimism…
Clearly, JD Vance has been hired as nothing more than an attack dog for the highchair tyrant. When all else fails it's 'Release the Hounds'. What a pair of losers.
He's not even good for that purpose. A few weeks ago he contradicted Trump by saying that nothing was off the table in getting a peace deal, even putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine. He and his boss, Peter Thiel, have been well and truly sidelined by Musk.
U could be right. That is something Margaret Atwood projected about Trump 2.0. A student of fascism, she points out how these regimes canabalize each other. Purging their own ranks. Ramaswamy was the first to go.
The minerals deal was a counter offer. That was a good deal for Silicon Valley and for technology industries. So was it pre-plan to sabotage the deal? Musk and Theil ( both raised in Apartied South Africa with Sachs too btw). Musk and Teal’s interest should be aligned with that mineral deal so is the sabotage. We’re seeing a split from Trump vs Musk and Theil? That would imply that JD Vance was the saboteur of the deal by triggering Trump.
Theil owns Palantir and is making money with his battlefield surveillance technology services. Peter Theil benefits from the war continuing and JD Vance sabotaged the deal for him and Ukraine wins because they don’t have to give up their minerals to Trump and they don’t have to give up their land to Russia. It’s enough to make us all old.
My own opinion is that what was planned was a photo-op, with Zelensky only having to sit quietly and say 'thank you' while Trump trumpeted another diplomatic success on his way to a Nobel Peace Prize. There are some commentators today who are saying that it would have been better for Ukraine had Zelensky kept schtum even as Trump and Vance spouted their lies. I profoundly disagree. Zelensky was genuinely nonplussed by the appalling behaviour of those two jackasses and wanted no part of that publicity stunt masquerading as diplomacy. He's seen his people suffer under Russian bombing and he was in no mood to play along. He has the world's sympathy while Trump and Vance can share the obloquy. As for Peter Thiel, he'll have to be satisifed with his tax cut because he and his creature Vance have been outflanked by Elon Musk.
Really powerful observations, there, Russell and Ted. Thank you.
YUP, especially when he ended it saying it would "make great television"
It seems the market understands all that too, as Palantir stock is dropping like a rock. That stock's ownership organization is troublesome in the first place as well.
I love this, Ted! I've read it 3 times. I have never liked Theil.
I love the idea of implosion. The Cannibal image is better than implosion! "It's enough to make us all old." Haha - good. Except I actually feel young. (I'm not young.) I'm getting very good at calling my rep's. I'm enjoying it. My husband is worried about me, but I just smile at that and love him for that. I know how to take care of myself. I take a good walk every day and I have good friends.
Yes! let's don't forget Sachs who has been given 'Crypto Tsar' status by Trump and that he's poised to do more harm to this country than probably anyone. Or at least equal to Musk; how about taking a chainsaw to our currency? Well I guess as has been surmised by experts: USAID helped make ours the world currency - dismantling it allows those who step in to strategically take our place will help their own to become the 'world currency'. Foreign borns who care less about our nation except to exploit our large population of low information/low intellect population including our elected officials.
Yes! And… the reason, or one reason we can run a deficit, is because the dollars status as the reserve currency. If anything happens to the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency has grave economic consequences, inflation tools, deficit spending, stagflation tools, global energy costs.
It is like the combination of three powers ( oil/energy, tech/soc media/ data mining /data trading/influence markets, banking/finance/crypto see some new advantage that is blind to us regular citizens. Together they see an advantage to hydro carbon kleptocracy authoritarianism. Greed really is their worldview. These three pillars want more $, no taxes, won’t have to spend so much to launder their money around the world ( local politicians take their cut in laundering g operation). Influence of social media can keep their populations in control, so they won’t have to spend so much on domestic police (gestapo style… small force with intimidation by not enforcing the law upon the violent militia’s that do most of the counter protesting by an angry populace).
And they truly believe this strategy of theirs will succeed.
…and might we add, Russell, that he also went cross-wise in his efforts to read or even communicate with his boss when he opposed the pardons for violent offenders from January 6th? A lot of folks went cross-wise with tRump on that one!
That's going to happen when you're being kept out of the loop. There are all too many Republicans far more talented at brown-nosing the orange fartmeister. As Michael Cohen pointed out some time ago, Trump likes cronies who anticipate his whims and don't need to wait for specific instructions.
For now. I see the 25th Amendment as their easiest pathway.
They are Russian agents. Something has to give.
Assuming they want it?
He's the heir apparent who believes in a few strong leaders to impose their will on the majority. Dumpf is in it for the money.
From H.C.R. "Vance in the Wings 10/15/24" Trump’s issues make it likely that a second Trump presidency would really mean a J.D. Vance presidency, even if Trump nominally remains in office."
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-15-2024
Personally, I think the Republicans have been threatened with violence and certainly massive amounts of $$$ against them in the next election via Musk & Thiel etc.. This is chump change to these S.O.B.s
JDs is to Trump, what Medlevdev is to Putin?
All four need to get back on their thorazine and lithium pronto.
The saddest reality is that WE the People are the losers. We’d better grow up fast .
All the magnifying of that sleazy moment will do nothing but alert more sleazy mobsters to try and rule us over our Constitutional right to Impeach… impeach…. Impeach… impeach!!!! Is your hearing aid turned up America??????
The power of social media over enough of the population, to put this orange imbecile back in office, and that they can’t recognize demagoguery, believing instead that its leadership, is certainly a sign of oligarchical decay.
Alpha whiskey tango foxtrot
And we keep going. Most people don't care about foreign policy. They will care when the tariffs make inflation worse and when they see Medicaid reduction. Also, the business community knows that, on many fronts, the economy is not going to flourish here. And when terrorism returns because we have Patel at the FBI.
I'd phrase that whiskey tango alpha foxtrot. Or, in copspeak, william tom adam frank.
I don’t think hope and optimism is going to get us through this assault on our democracy. We are going to have to fight this administration every single way that we can.
Professor Timothy Snyder made some astute comments and provided links for donating to Ukrainian organizations:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/five-failures-in-the-oval-office?r=6pp8t&triedRedirect=true
He was also quite eloquent on the PBS News Hour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11QBNJj_8gM
Yes, Snyder made Excellent comments and suggestions for donations.
Anne Applebaum is also worth listening to. She is a different communicator than Snyder but she has the receipts in regard to Ukraine. I turn to them both.
Very smart man! Much more presidential material than our ignorant Benedict Arnold.
At the end of Snyders excellent video of the five failures, he asks us why this happened. I'll answer. Trump/Vance/Musk like Putin. They like how he gets things done. They are now CLEARLY allies of Putin. A mass murdering tyrant is now to be our buddy.
There is one word for what these fascists are doing. Say it loud.
Here is a different discussion about Trump and Ukraine and Europe and Russia, and I must say that this video was intriguing, it is a conversation about the behavior of Trump interpreted in historical context by Stephen Wertheim a Carnegie Endowment for Peace Follow.
https://the.ink/p/live-america-and-the-world-with-stephen-wertheim?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Save that Putin is not "our buddy". Nor is trump. They are their own cabal although we will experience the effects for decades to come.
TRAITOR
But the AMERICAN PEOPLE did NOT vote for Putin! And don’t like Putin!
I watched his video and made a donation to United24
Do more. Trump & Vance should be BOTH be IMPEACHED for TREASON (aiding and abetting our enemy - Russia) and reneging on the signed Budapest Memorandum of 1994.
Call the House Representatives: 202) 225-3121
We signed a commitment.- the “Budapest Memorandum” along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia! In 1994 Ukraine handed over nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.'
Russia did NOT keep the commitment but the United States must. Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment.
“This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature. Signed in four copies having equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.” https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Ukraine._Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances
They both should be impeached for Treason. They are both Russian assets, it’s obvious
Zelenskyy walked out of there the hero he is and everyone seeing it, while Krasnov and his stooge are shown to be the traitors they have always been.
Call to impeach them both for TREASON!
(202) 225-3121
TC, my MAGAt cohort sees that event as ffpotus and ccf being "strong". None so blind.
Brainwashed. I lost another once was moderate friend this week to maga, Fox, Facebook newsfeed. The vulnerable are a known population thanks to data mining. Tech oligarchy has a AI generated psychological profile of every American stored in their servers. Influence and conversion commercial algorithms now have military grade psychological manipulation capabilities. And they scaled it up this past summer and fall. Ours is going to be a long hard haul.
Exactly so, Ted. They are lost, and it will be a long haul indeed.
"an INVITED guest." This was all a set-up with Trump playing his you're fired role. Trump and Vance looked like hired goons. I am so ashamed to be an American!! I pray someone will do to him as he does to others.
They sounded like mobsters. Zelenskyy never lost his self control, or his focus. It's been a very interesting thing to watch. This week we've seen Macron try the old-friends approach, which enabled him to correct a Trump lie in such a way that he had to admit it. Starmer was next, using Macron as a model (even to the friendly pat on the arm), but with the added piece of candy in the shape of a letter from King Charles inviting Trump (alone??) for another State visit. (The poor King has already more than he can reasonably endure this year just staying alive). One commentator this week observed that the only way to communicate with Trump is by flattery. He's very far gone.
The 'visit' is not going to be happening now-the pre-visit confab to set up time and date for same will wither away. Starmer/UK gov't. were looking for a security agreement for Ukraine.
Perhaps the King will Make an Offer the Drumpf Can't Refuse...like a Castle in Scotland...and with every Castle comes a Dungeon...
The King has also invited Hillary and guess what she does with the Key!?
He didn’t even get lunch after struggling to get there from a war zone. And immediately criticized for what he was wearing. Look at Musk who wears a t-shirt and brings his 3 year old son to the Oval Office picking the buggars out of his nose & putting them on the Lincoln desk.
Bingo!
They headlined it as a "shouting match". The only raised voices were Trump and Vance. Zelensky didn't once raise his voice or lose his train of thought.
Remarkable. He must have known walking in what was likely to happen.
Can’t the United States be held accountable for reneging on the Budapest Memorandum?
WHY aren’t they reminding Trump about this?
We signed a commitment.- the “Budapest Memorandum” along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia!
In 1996 Ukraine handed over nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.'
Russia did NOT keep the commitment but the United States must. Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment.
“This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature.
Signed in four copies having equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.”
https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Ukraine._Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances
Do you really think tfg would honor anything, even agreements he made?
He doesn't even remember agreements that he himself signed, calling them 'stupid', must less agreements signed before his time. And as for reading - he would have to have a trusted 'slave' to read anything to him, and then the listening part. He seems to have AAADD - Age-activated attention deficit disorder.
I don’t think his mind was EVER activated. His professor said he was the most IGNORANT student he ever had. Probably why he said he would sue if they released his grades.
According to Frank DiPrima, Prof Kelly (U Penn) said many times that Trump was the “dumbest goddamn student” Kelly ever had. “Most ignorant” is sometimes fixable. “Dumbest” isn’t.
He would honor an agreement about as much as he did when he stiffed his workmen. He is turning the U.S, government into a mirror image of himself - an untrustworthy liar.
Like Zelensky tried to point out, you can’t trust Putin at his word. That is not diplomacy. Europe is meeting today and this week to create a new order without the USA.
Exactly
Mario, one fears this puts on display the results of changes in leadership when subsequent leaders don’t particularly care about the law or legal agreements and treaties among and between nations.
Any self-respecting person would feel ashamed and embarrassed by that disgraceful spectacle—broadcast live for the world to see. A Russian asset openly bullying the president of a nation fighting for its very survival, all at the hands of an unfit TV celebrity who masquerades as a tough guy while possessing a fragile ego and thin skin. A historic moment unfolded in real time.
Zelensky, an honorable man devoted to his people and country, was a visual contrast to a raving, traitorous Trump. I hope long clips make EVERY station for days.
In July 1940, Churchill asked FDR for help to fight Hitler. FDR decided to back England instead of Germany.
In 2025, Zelensky asked Trump for help to fight Putin. Trump decided to back Russia instead of Ukraine. Trump, and America, is on the wrong side.
No! Only Trump, Just Dumb Vance and a few "others" back Russia. America does not back Russia. More importantly MOST Americans do not back Trump and his kind! Americans are taking action to stop Trump, I hope the rest of the world is taking notice that "We the People" are not supporting tRump, Muskrat, or the Idiot Vance.
I thought the congressional Republicans were lock-step with Trump/Vance/Putin. Look at Lindsey. Marco Rubio WTF?
Totally agree!!! The only statesman in that room was Volodomyr Zelenskyy. And what was the erstwhile secretary of state doing, shrinking down into his chair? He ought to have been thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed but he came through for PINO in the end, blaming Zelenskyy for everything.
They humiliated the millions of Americans who support NATO and Ukraine. They laid bare the fact that they are nothing more than vassals to Vladimir Putin. Once again, Trump disgraced the Office of the President.
Thank you, Annabel, and thank you Dr Richardson: "Zelensky maintained his composure and did not rise to the bait, but he did not accept their pro-Russian version of the war." ✍️
Many reporters last evening placed blame on President Zelenskyy for taking the bait as well as on the trumper-tantrum and the Emily Post of HILLBULLY etiquette. 🤢
(Apologies to the great majority of Appalachians who are, at any socio-economic level, decent citizens.) 🤝
¿What was President Zelenskyy supposed to do in the face of two bullies ganging up on him? He did not take any bait; he stood stoutly by his country and her justice. 🤬
I felt Trump was afraid of Zelenskyy. He had to take over, likely with the pre-planned Vance attack, quickly, so that Zelensky’s voice was overshadowed. That shadow falls on our country and it is dark indeed!
Totally agreed. Everything i've read or contributed to online comports the same! Just when you think T 2.0 has hit a new low, another drop follows! EU leaders have come solidly around Zelinsky and Ukraine's right to self-determination, something even Russia signed off in 1991, aligned with a referendum in Ukraine coming in at 92%.
I agree completely!!!
Yes a 'Mob Hit' & his Hillbilly Hit Punk from Yale Law School.
Punk is exactly what JD. A young punk without and experience nor wisdom, a talentless hack hillbilly in a nice suit.
I worked for 21 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State at our embassies overseas. I worked under Presidents and Secretaries of State with whom I disagreed, but I have NEVER been as ashamed of my country as I am today.
And embarrassed Pamela.
Didn't Trump say about 100 times that ending the war in Ukraine was going to be easy and that he would end it on day 1?
And who in that meeting was trying to start WWIII?
Kamala Harris said the Trump's solution was capitulation to Putin. She was right. We had an opportunity at a true leader who represented our values and instead Americans fractured their vote and gave a slim majority to a lying salesman named Trump. Now there is no Constitutional path to clean our government of the Putin complicit members. Will there even be a vote in 2026? Our oceans won't protect us from this infection anymore than it did from COVID.
Harris had extensive experience prosecuting criminals. She was familiar with their lies, dodges, distortions--and she duly noted all of that in Trump's past and present behavior. Imagine if she had won how different our current relationships would be with NATO, Ukraine, and Putin.
Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, we would have had less trauma and death from covid if she’d been president. But did some voters learn any lesson from just squeaking by under tfg 1.0? No. We’d be in a very different place with Kamala as president. Today’s Rs will meekly go along with tfg’s sellout to Putin. (And I found his impassioned, almost teary-eyed, defense of “my friend Vlad—we’ve been through so much together” just plain creepy.)
There is a Constitutional path. With great respect of my fellow citizens…. Start to educate oneself before throwing useless points. Our Constitution is very clear. Read Jerry Weiss “Feathers of Hope” he not only points out this reality, he gives phone numbers to call republicans who may help get this impeachment rolling.
This isn’t something to leave until tomorrow…. This illegal group is worse than Russian blather….. it is hiding under the bed sheets to suffocate Democracy.
The same constitutional path that we tried during his last presidency? Only now, both houses of Congress are held by the capitulating party. Are you referring to the 25th Amendment? That is a frying pan into the fire situation and a one-way ticket to Project 2025.
We would have to impeach both the President and the Vice President, followed by the Speaker of the House, then every member of the Cabinet. Need I say more? What odds do you give me on the bet that cleans up this mess either through Impeachment or the 25th Amendment. We've already tried the 14th. We even tried the American election system.
You do know that Senators and Representatives only accept phone calls from their constituents? That they react based on the volume of calls on an issue and they count based on how many calls for and against. If the call volume is overwhelming, they just turn on their answering machine. And the Speaker of the House decides whether the House is going to consider a call for Impeachment? Remember Trump's original Impeachment? Nancy wasn't sure it was the right move. BTW, that's a Democrat impeaching a Republican.
I am very doubtful that there will be an election in 2026. Trump will manufacture whatever he needs to cancel it, and there is no power center left to stop him.
I hope I am wrong, but every day I wake up with a sense of dread.
I'm shocked and very disappointed concerning President Trump's screaming match in a meeting with President Zelinsky of Ukraine. This embarrassing displays a childish impatience and a boorish lack of self-control. Any of our Foreign Ambassadors that publicly shamed a foreign President would be immediately withdrawn from that country and fired!
I am still not convinced that Trump won. With so much money in play and the technological skill to hack without leaving a trace, it is hard for me to understand why we have not investigated the possibility of fraud as we did so diligently in 2020.
We need to start learning to speak Chinese
Yup. Trump says a lot of things, virtually none of them true.
Yes, and what's worse is how many things he says come true! I continue to maintain optimism, as the behaviors we see daily reveal truths about character. I loved when Zelensky said last week, "I'd like to have more truth from the Trump team." The world got that yesterday.
Unfortunately, the felon-in-chief’s lack of character is a plus with magats. That’s the scary part: 77 million Americans are profoundly deficient in the “character” department.
December 7 1941 , a date which will live in infamy said President Roosevelt blaming Japan for the attack on Hawaii.
Every day since inauguration I thought that every single one of those were dates that also will live in infamy, this time on behalf of the US. But today's was the most infamous, treacherous in the short live of this administration by ambushing an ally in desperate need of help and reassurance. Shame on the Manchurian Candidate and the so called President Trump. If this was not doing the work for Putin, I don't know what it is.
To me it was the same as J6.
One of my sisters has a J6 birthday. She said it's forever tainted. The second one has a Feb 28th. It's now tainted. Mine is today. What could be worse? Start of WW3? It's going to be a long day.
Happy Birthday?
We'll see. May I make it to 73. Thx
Yes, Kathy, both events had and have terrible consequences.
He was also going to bring down prices on Day One. Perhaps he was speaking in a biblical sense and Day One has still not ended (and perhaps may never end!). One does lose one's sense of time trying to keep up with the whirligig of inanities produced by this administration.
Gary, ending the war in favor of Russia almost guaranteed a wwlll. Appeasement never worked.
...At the top of his voice, several times (invoking WWIII).
He’s doing this because he’s incapable of stopping Putin and he needs to blame it on Zelensky. Trump will always be a failure.
Past, present & future Sharon!!! Just wish he’d stayed a private failure instead of one in the highest public service office in our nation!!!!
Exactly Gary!! The use of that phrase was like a threat!!
Not only did I have 21 years, 11 months, and 17 days in the Foreign Service, but I worked in our embassy in Moscow when he first came to power. Yeltsin was a mess, and the oligarchs were out of control, but Putin was, to my mind, a xenophobic KGB hardliner completely uninterested in continuing to engage in any cooperation with the west. That would have been okay, but he was not content to stop there. He apparently has always wanted to restore great Russia, world power....
It’s been clear (to me, at least) that Putin’s goal is to restore the former Russian Empire. So, not only Ukraine, but the Baltic Republics and Poland. Poland is a member of NATO. That’s why Putin must be stopped in Ukraine. It will definitely be WWIII if he is not.
Marla ,the three Baltic republics are part of NATO too. In any case, appeasement will not prevent wwlll, by the contrary, it would bee too tempting for Putin, to risk expanding on his dreams of returning to the old Russia's imperial borders. That's too clear to most people but not for trump the most ignorant of all the presidents ever.
And don’t forget about half of Germany.
Or Georgia! Or Kazakhstan! Or Armenia! Or Azerbaijan! Others too.
Yep: Marla that seems to be his plan because the former "stan" countries that had been part of the Ottoman Empire are no longer interesting to him, even though they were an essential component to the USSR. He wants a return to the empire of Tsar Nicholas I.
What is power ? What is power derived from ? Men willing to die ? Men willing to kill ? Wives telling them to do so ? Popular adulation ? A secret security apparatus that works ? Makarov pistols ? Proselytizing ? A movement within society with a determined belief in something ? Leadership within such a movement. Or does it take all of the above to be maintained ? And more ?
Where the people lead, the leaders will follow. But what if people are lost and have no idea what to do or where to go ? What if they have been brutally suppressed for hundreds of years, beaten in to submission, and know nothing about what freedom is or how to live in it ? What on the other hand if that is all they know but have become drunk on it think they are all powerful themselves, are free to do anything, and can not be restrained ? Then they will need a leader who caters to them.
In 1971 when I was about to enter my sophomore year I went to Russia to sing in Russian with my college singing group. Our greatest success was at the Moscow Conservatory where we performed before a packed hall that loved us. We sang a varied repertoire. Folk, Military, and Sacred Liturgical. Svetiy Tixi. O, Gladsome Light. It also included folk songs in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatisn-Macedonian, and Latvian. The Latvian piece was that old well known lament, Kas tie tadi ? Who are those that cry at sunset ?
Who are those who cry at sunset ?
They are children, servants of a cruel master.
That was all well received. But by far the most favorite of our selections were the upbeat versions of American Spirituals that we sang as encores. Songs like "Joshua fit the Battle at Jericho". They could not get enough. So we sang more. Songs with the recurring theme of a longing for freedom. From oppression. From suffering. From life. And for a better one.
The Russia of the late Soviet Union was a better one than that of today. It had started to get better immediately upon Stalin's death when, after a brief succession struggle with his underling, Khrushchev denounced his predecessor . Now little Putin, who never rose to any position of power in the Soviet Union, has rehabilitated Stalin and whitewashed the history of the Soviet Union, turning its dissolution in to the most lamentable tragedy of the later 20th Century.
Later day Soviet leaders were authoritarians who like Khrushchev had been revulsed by the horrors of war and by Stalin's Reign of Terror of which they knew full well. The communist social experiment, a marriage of hypocrisy between ideals and brutal limitless authoritarianism, had failed and they one after another. became cynically disillusioned with it until they threw in the towel. But they were all better men than Vladimir V. Putin, who is a deranged KGB college grad who believes that Lenin's mistake was to embrace Marx and Engels. He fancies himself better than all. Lenin Lite. A leader unencumbered by the baggage of communist ideology concerning the brotherhood of all men and nations. A true imperator, believing in nothing but the reconstruction of something that can not be put back together: Catherine's Russian Empire, for empire's sake.
And now look at what he has done to Russia and forces men to do. And Ukraine. Source of Russia's power and greatness for centuries. And identity. And as now we see, a man who can find no admirer or kindred spirit other than in the likes of Victor Orban and Donald Trump. Men who can not do any good or make anything right. Who lust for power and are bent on destruction and revenge for being denied it, and who admire him. Men who Lenin would have a simple name for and condemn.
There can be no secret about it now. Trump made his pact with Putin a long time ago. Around the time of his Miss Universe contest. It kept his failing business empire from collapsing. And they are headed the same way in partnership.
The power of music. Thanks for posting this, Tyler!
Thank you for sharing your story! There was indeed culture, mysuxmc, art, interest, beautiful places, lovely people. I miss those things.
Back then though, didn’t we have them boxed in somewhat? I mean to say, economically, they wanted in our game? Why couldn’t we have insisted on democratic reforms, and institutional building, in exchange for admission? I have a few theories on that, but perhaps my premise is all wrong, I’d appreciate your perspective, since you were there.
We tried, though perhaps not effectively. I know we had Peace Corps, and a ton of NGOs working with counterparts on all kinds of joint projects. We had Gore-Chernomyrdin - the 2 vice presidents - talking and trying to find ways to address joint environmental concerns. And nuclear safety. We had the joint space programs. We had U.S. experts across many fields working and advising in their various specialties. I had the opportunity to visit places where foreigners had never been permitted before, including a naval base in Kamchatka (that wasn't in the years I was in Moscow, but about 6 or 7 years earlier). I ate fresh fish and drank water straight out of Lake Baikal. I though Russia was glorious!
But as another commenter pointed out, they didn't have any real experience with democratic governance, and that made a huge difference. Even there, we had programs for Russian civil servants to travel to the U.S., and we sponsored both GOP and DNC politicians, staffers, and educators traveled to Russia.
It all ended when Putin came to power. First the NGOs, then the bilateral scientific exchanges, then the Peace Corps, then everything just faded out.
And here we are. Putin's dream Russia is everyone's nightmare.
Back in the early 90’s my then-husband hosted a fellow from Russia for a month to learn, I guess, “capitalist ways”—I’m not sure what the “exchange program” was, but it was arranged. Both were in the same line of business…outdoor recreation, specifically mountaineering, backcountry skiing, trekking, climbing, etc. He shadowed my ex at work, including scheduled “trip adventures”,and spent “off hours” with us at home. He was just the nicest fellow. I gather it was custom in his country to bring gifts to folks hosting, because he had a big duffle from which emerged the most amazing gifts, some cultural, one beautiful piece of marquetry(inlaid wood) made by his father…it still hangs on my wall. We took him all around with us & he was utterly gobsmacked at the markets with burgeoning shelves of goods. I took him to the Univ where I was on staff & he saw a posting of what a year’s cost of attendance was…it was the first time I ever saw the color drain from someone’s face, mouth agape. He explained how advanced education worked in Russia & how, if a student did well and passed the testing, college was heavily subsidized. I wonder, every now ‘n then, how he is doing….
Thanks for your service! I don't know how to fight, other than share the ugly facts with family and try to convince them first. Even those who voted for Trump because they are Fox brainwashed.
How to fight. Pressure Congressional Republicans who support Ukraine.
Yes! Do you have a list?
22 senate Republicans voted to fund Ukraine. https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4464791-here-are-the-senate-republicans-who-voted-for-the-ukraine-package/
House caucus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Ukraine_Caucus
Jerry Weiss has been tracking Republicans who say they want toi support Ukraine. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Well, do you expect them all to remain on this list ? Or have they deleted their endorsements? Consider Collins, Grassley, Earnst, etc.
Don't forget the worst of term all, the weather vane from South Carolina.
Agreed. This is a list of treasonous co-conspirators. I can't see even ONE of them with the spine to speak out. Maybe Mitch, as he fades into oblivion, but none of the others.
About a dozen Senators signed a bipartisan resolution supporting Ukraine and criticizing Putin on February 24, 2025, the war’s 3rd anniversary.
If your Senator sponsored this Resolution, please phone them, thank them, and ask them to put Senate action to their words.
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/ranking-member-shaheen-senator-tillis-lead-bipartisan-resolution-supporting-ukraine-on-third-anniversary-of-russias-full-scale-invasion
Is it time to ask this group to start a bipartisan effort to impeach on grounds of treason????
But he’s immune from any prosecution thanks to the dirtbag John Roberts and his corrupted supreme court (capitalization intentionally omitted.
If they would just stand up and speak out it would be a start!
We have a list...those who spoke out last night...wait can we count the ones who deleted tweets supporting Zelenskyy?
Apply more pressure. Picket. Sit in. Write. Call.
It was embarrassing enough when the largest voting - ‘cuse me, non-voting block in our country - continually lets us down…what is it going to take to educate and motivate larger segments of citizens, our society, our free and democratic society to realize that all of what we’re fortunate enough to have been born into or have immigrated into can so very easily be lost, taken away…given up! In August 2023, my world became smaller with the death of an old friend who had been a foreign service officer from the early 1970’s to about 1993 when he retired. He and his wife had assignments in Iran, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and Washington, DC. I miss his annual letters of his biking adventures during those years and our periodic meetings when he an his would return to South Florida for a visit. I feel the pain, the sadness and the embarrassment that both they (he and his wife) and I would feel for the continued disappointment that our country’s leaders - especially those from the wrong side of the political divide or aisle - who seem to inevitably not fail at bringing upon us!
Not all nonvoters deliberately failed to vote. There has been strategic voter disenfranchisement in many states. Republicans know well they can only win if they keep turnout low.
Kathy, I hope the Dems win back the House & Senate in 2026 and, at last, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. I don’t care what party affiliation you are, if you are a citizen and eligible to vote, you should be unimpeded and encouraged in doing so. Basic democracy stuff IMHO. 🗽🇺🇸
These constant references to "we had a terrible president", and "Biden was an idiot" are making me wince. He is ignoble.
In addition to more conventional lies (Ukraine started the war against Russia, Zelenskyy is a dictator who has little support among his people, etc.) Trump is a classic, impulsive projector onto his opponents the weaknesses and shortcomings that he himself is guilty of. Biden may have been a number of things, but Trump is the idiot and the terrible president. A classic con man, and how easily he grifted hundreds of our neighbors.
And his emotional breakdown over his friend Vlad was a chilling, creepy spectacle.
and he, along with many of his appointees, have turned over the government to muskrat and his cronies. New York Times - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/musk-doge-timeline-takeaways.html?algo=editorial_importance_fy_email_news&block=4&campaign_id=142&emc=edit_fory_20250228&fellback=false&imp_id=526114065842151&instance_id=148765&nl=for-you&nlid=116228816&pool=fye-top-news-ls&rank=3®i_id=116228816&req_id=7573339985133003&segment_id=192227&surface=for-you-email-news&user_id=7da60caa6b4a53a31c16c5b000f32c35&variant=0_edimp_fye_news_dedupe
Kathy. Yes, this is a huge issue we must address more effectively!!
Agree
In Australia, everyone eligible to vote is required by law to do so. The woman who told me about this thought it was perfectly natural and worked to stay on top of the issues so she could vote intelligently. Voter turnout, unsurprisingly is quite high in that country. Why isn’t voting a legal requirement in this country????!!!!
And a 'reasonable' fine if one fails to do so. As a little 'palm in the middle of the back'. This should be a no-brainer; you're a citizen, you vote!
Freedom to choose. Our system is set up to allow people to vote or not. The predators have now decided that working to prevent eligible voters from voting if they do not support their agenda or at least reducing their numbers or diluting their ability have representation (gerrymandering).
But is freedom of choice really the answer? If we live in a representational government shouldn’t it really be an obligation and not a choice whether to participate? There are so many things we don’t have a choice about anymore. Women’s healthcare rights pops into mind. Why keep voting as a choice when it is so fundamental to democracy?
I agree we should do something about the gerrymandering and the voter suppression. Voting should be easy to do! And representational of the population. And don’t get me started about the Electoral College. Clearly our Founding Fathers had an innate distrust of the Common Man.
I wrote the White House and said the same. After I hit send I wondered if I had just raised my head out of the foxhole. But the DOGE invaders already have access to all our public comments (as well as everything that's supposed to be private). My real name is on everything I've said in public. Well, here we are. Our own government won't need to come for us with guns, they will kill us with codes and algorithms.
Yeah, Celia, “they”* know who we are and where we are if they so choose to pursue. A couple of years ago, on a whim, I did an internet search on myself. OMG, I was shocked how much was out there. The next day I was speaking to my neighbor & mentioned that…he got his smartphone and entered his name in a search and I watched as his eyes bugged-out and his jaw dropped…it is very disconcerting.
*so much data is collected about us, particularly with so much being online now & the data that is Hoovered-up by the online companies/providers. Big brother, indeed.
Pamela, Kirkits, J.L. et al., I salute your service to my country. Pardon me, s.v.p., while l step out and grieve again. ln the call-in 'Washington Journal' on C-span this a.m., the great majority of participants sided with Ukraine and shared your shame. https://www.c-span.org/program/washington-journal/open-forum-part-1/656430
And that is my overwhelming feeling this morning in the midst of sleeplessness, one of deep shame for the country I was once so proud of.
Me too.
YES…lived out of the country for 7 years…sooooo shameful!!!!
Pamela, this is the lowest point yet for these two bozos—tacky and tactless buffoons.
The cretins in the White House showed it them who have no cards left to play. They looked desperate and unhinged. Despicable display for a so called leader. Pres Zelenskyy was the only true leader in the room
There’s a collective fear no one is mentioning. Witness to impulsive obsession, during a cruel and selfish exchange. Unhinged. Then mentioning nuclear war, “You are risking Nuclear War!” To a President of a country housing The melted cores of Chernobyl. ( that Putin struck with a missile earlier this week). But this ain’t reality tv.
My God, we are in so much danger. This orange imbecile mf’er!
The loss of security. Something Americans haven’t felt very often, not very much at all. The entire world feels it tonight. It might be new for many of us, but for much of the world, they live with insecurity every night. Maybe that is the connectivity Americans need to feel for Ukraine and the world in general. “No man is an island left unto himself”
“You have oceans to protect you ( physically).”
“But you will feel influenced” ( by the Russians)
That was the trigger. That was what sent Donnie spiraling out of control. Did you notice it? Zelensky was attempting a genuine warning.
Why did it trigger Donnie so intensely?
Because that’s exactly what is happening. Putin’s influence has shaped Donnie’s worldview/identity over decades of development. A useful idiot became an asset, became a fellow traveler.
Read Craig Unger, Masha Gessen, Gary Kasparov, Mikial Zyger
Listen to expat kgb agents living in the United States, they have been warning for decade now.
Understand why Putin kills those guys for speaking out in England, Germany, And France.
You're right, Ted.
That is very perceptive, Ted. I didn't pick up on that, but I think you're right. It was that "But you will feel influenced" comment -- the subtle implication that Donnie was not the one controlling the entire situation, that Donnie was being played by Putin and didn't himself realize it -- that really set Donnie off. I think Trump realized at that moment that the world sees right through him, and nothing infuriates him more than the suggestion that he is not the one ultimately calling the shots, that perhaps there is someone more intelligent, more clever, more politically savvy than he is, and he realizes that he really is the fool. And his childish reaction? To lash out.
And, English being not even his 3rd language was at a linguistic disadvantage. This is why foreign relations should always be behind closed doors with translators. Time to process and understand meanings that can be minute, but cause big understandings. For example “costume” is Russian for “suit”.
Zelensky speaks many languages and is a worldly educated man. An actor who studied Shakespeare. Vance is hillbilly, ( 44% of Americans have never left their county, and less than 3% have been to Europe or Asia), and JD like Donnie had a traumatic childhood without caring mother, and an abusive or absent father.
Note that Putin’s father survived a clandestine suicide mission vs Nazis during WW2. And Putin’s mother was almost killed when Nazi bombs took down their apartment building, she was pulled from the ruble.
Triggers are very personal, unique, and have consequences. It’s not good that the world leaders now know Trumps. How to avoid to get what they want, and how to incentivize him to compulsive anger too. Every government intelligence service is studying yesterday, both allies and enemies.
This is the most unsafe time since the Cuban missile crisis and WW2. I can feel the well of despair rising.
Great post Ted. The risk of WW3 has nothing to do with Ukraine continuing to defend their country. Trump wants to get the US out of NATO and probably remove our nuclear weapons from Europe.
That's what Putin wants. Trump wants flattery and the trappings of power and to spend his time playing golf.
Agree, Lee. I had to pause the TV watching this unfold in real time as I was becoming increasingly angry at the behavior of our “leaders”. How humiliating and embarrassing for the USA to see them bully Zelensky in what seems to be a “set up” scenario (I was surprised Musk wasn’t there!). Mr. T seems not to be able to control himself, he really acts like a thwarted toddler, nor do much but lie and pontificate about his imagined woes/persecution & Mr. V finally has a mouthful hot-toxic garbage to spew as well. Beyond sad for our country—they are not bending over backward for Putin, they are bending over forward! Because this crashed the impending “deal” about to be struck for the rare earth minerals lithium, etc., I wonder if Zelensky might be able to make a more honorable deal with some other appropriate and interested country (I certainly don’t have the knowledge to speculate further), but I fervently hope that other countries step in where the USA falters. Sigh, wish the USA had a leader the caliber of Zelensky….oh wait, we did have a chance to and blew it.
“I was surprised Musk wasn’t there.” Brava! He’s a direct line to Putin and Trump Tower Moscow. But he was “home” further weakening the US government so the Putin takeover can be quickly completed. Trump is too smitten and stupid to realize that he is the epitome “useful idiot.”
Yours is one of the most insightful comments i’ve read or heard. Thank you.
Don't forget they dressed down President Zelensky for disrespecting them by not wearing a suit. Musk ran the Cabinet meeting in his usual t-shirt, jeans, and black MAGA cap.
It appears that the comment about Mr. Zelenskiy not wearing a suit came from MTG's boyfriend/reporter - another set up. Is anybody surprised? Surely he would not ask elon when the latter appears in the same t-shirt in the Oval Office.
My thought, too, Celia….kinda ironic, doncha think? (nod to Alanis)
VERY GOOD POINT, Celia!!!!
Trump’s never complained about musk not dressing appropriately for a meeting.
But didn't someone say recently that Zelenskyy had only been a modestly successful TV comic? Oh, I know who said it - someone who had only been a modestly successful reality TV "actor".
Brava! but not an "actor" - he was only a "host".
A "host" that keeps a whole nation "hostage"
🤣🤣🤣 First laugh of the day Have you seen “Servant of the People”? Sitcom Zelenskyy wrote. My first binge watch and well worth it.
Since Zelensky came to prominence, I’ve thought we need more intelligent comedians, satirists really, in prominent positions…smart, fast on their feet, can laugh at themselves, etc. Just a thought.
I thought I read something about a deal simmering with France for some months for rare earth minerals.
Kathy, I was cursing so loudly and profusely that it is a miracle that my neighbor did not call the cops for my disturbing the peace.
🤣
I had to pause it real time too! I wonder how many others felt this way? It’s like my brain ( and heart and soul) saying “NO!” This can not be happening. It was world breaking in real time. I just didn’t want it to be true, that our President could be so cruel.
And look at the consequences of blowing that golden opportunity up Barbara. So shameful 😞
Not that anyone commenting here watched Fox News, but how is this fiasco playing on Fox and the other far-right media outlets. Trump has either nominated or brought in over 20 former and current Fox deviants.
By now they all know they are auditioning for Trump's fasicst regime.
I can’t say how it’s playing on Faux Snooze, but I can say that the MAGAts think that ffpotus and the veep were “strong, and stuck up for us”. I kid you not.
Oh, Ally, for a moment there reading “stuck up for us” I had such a satisfying fleeting image of both their tongues “stuck” to a frozen flag pole. If only….
Barbara, thanks for that image! I needed a giggle today.
The Daryl’s of deviance
You have to love Jessica Tarlov.I’m surprised Jesse Watters wasn’t shouting over her more as he usually does….
https://x.com/DecodingFoxNews/status/1895607065776964071
Thank you for that link. I am amazed that Faux News has anyone like Ms. Tarlo because I studiously avoid it - my mother used to watch, and voted for T****. She's been gone five years now, and I still have not been able to forgive her. She voted against my grandchildren.
Just watched this clip Kathy. Is Jessica Tarkovsky always this brave to state the truth on Fox?
There is an app called All Sides that gives you a here is what the [left, center, right] said about news.
Ground News does this also.
I watched an hour of fox yesterday afternoon while MSNBC was blowing up with the horror. I wanted to understand why my neighbors think the way they do. The shameful demonstration of our country's fall was not mentioned at all.
I imagine Fox is saying what the WSJ and the rest of the mainstream media is saying: that Trump and Vance humiliated Zelensky and Trump threw him out of the White House.
It reminded me of a WWE shouting match, bullies on the playground double teaming the "little guy." (They underestimated the courageous Zelensky.) I wondered why they chose JD Vance for VP; it's because he is an attack dog, as viscious as his master.
Trump claimed Ukraine doesn’t hold any cards and Zelensky showed that he was a true leader when he responded by saying “I’m not playing cards”. Instead he’s focused on matters pertaining to life and death, democracy and fascism.
Love that line; " I'm not playing cards. "
Zelensky has a better command of English, his third language, than Trump does. He was able to hold his own against that barrage of bs.
When good men do nothing, that is the ingredient that is necessary for evil to be triumphant. -Senator Cory Booker
I thought, yet another display that is bringing Europeans together at our expense. All the more reasons for them to hate Americans. I hope the many who read HCR's letter and comments can spread the word that we're not all stupid!
Agreed 111%, Lee. Why do I get the impression that Trump, Vance, and their MUSKrat lover represent Putin's hail-mary pass in Ukraine?
Boors commit boorishness.
Sops suck up to world-class bullies and mob bosses.
Extortionists try to extort criminal favors from democracies under attack from one mob boss in the Kremlin.
Business fools and incompetents go bankrupt even in the casino trade.
Rapists such as the fat orange one with insolence rape women. Pal around with such as Jeffrey Epstein to target women as pieces to take. Brag about grabbing pussy.
Criminals pursue criminality and brazenly lie about it. Commit tax fraud, bank fraud.
Insurrectionists lead insurrections against U.S. elections, democratic institutions, the Constitution and the rule of law.
Traitors spurn and betray allies to align with foreign autocrats, murderers, dictators, genocidalists.
Or, as David Brooks put it today, the convicted criminal in the White House “and Vladimir Putin are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters.”
When I first heard Trump ranting at Zelenskyy, my first thought was "what a petulant child."
Last night Michael Steele called Trump a "petulant child" as well. It was amazing to hear so many former Republicans trash Trump and Vance after this debacle.
If only about a dozen Republican Senators and an equal number of house members would realize that there is no longer a Republican Party, and they had the courage to form a new third party. Then they could actually check Trump's fascist takeover of the federal government.
They need to publicly call them the Nazis that they are
The United States is a place that is safe for gangsters. McConnell, the GOP, Garland and others have made it clear. Worst of all 74 million voters approved this madness. Where will this lead us in the months ahead?
I would expect and hope for civil unrest, as for the rest of the planet, we have to reformulate strategies as an ally has abandoned us against their word-agreements-treaties, etc., in favour of its own supposedly mortal enemy. The current administration is traitorous and should be dealt with accordingly by at least the EU and other likeminded blocs and countries. As kim jong is to Xi, so is trump to putin.
Over 5 million legal votes were PURGED! Those votes would have gone to Harris. Harris would have won.
Please see Greg Palast’s film, Vigilantes Inc., about vote suppression. The numbers are shocking re: high numbers of African-American votes and youth votes not counted.
https://www.watchvigilantesinc.com/
They will do the same for the 2026 elections. One woman challenged over 30,000 voter registrations! She didn’t know those people. We have to stop that!
Also the election data in the swing states is not compatible with reality. SmartElections.US
Election Truth Alliance
There was a whole lot of cheating going on and some of it was not only unfair but legal. The whole system needs to be demonitized.
Stop blaming Garland for not working as quickly as you want. It is extremely lengthy process to put together criminal cases against a president. You are bullying Garland, the same way that Trump bullied Fauci and Zelenskyy. Shame.
Nonsense. Garland was a disaster and an utter failure in protecting democracy from a traitorous insurrectionist. Please stop defending him. He does not deserve it. He will go down in history as the Attorney General who let a notorious and dangerous criminal not only walk free, but seize control of our government again.
Don't blame Garland. Blame McConnell, who had not one, but two chances to convict T**** in the Senate, which would have made him ineligible to run again. Moscow Mitch is the real culprit: he failed in his duty to the country.
Didn't know it was a contest between Garland and McConnell. Do you watch perhaps too much surviver-type TV?
Agree x2000. I blame HIM for our current disaster.
You have NO clue what you are talking about.
All that Garland had to do was to appoint a special counsel but he waited 22 months to do that. Why?
https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
From Paul Kruman in 2003:
"Why does our president condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials? Has 'oderint dum metuant' really become our motto?" So reads the resignation letter of John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat who recently left the Foreign Service in protest against Bush administration policy.
'Oderint dum metuant' translates, roughly, as 'let them hate as long as they fear.' It was a favorite saying of the emperor Caligula, and may seem over the top as a description of current U.S. policy. But this week's crisis in U.S.-Mexican relations — a crisis that has been almost ignored north of the border — suggests that it is a perfect description of George Bush's attitude toward the world."
And I thought it was horrible then...
It was horrible then…This is intolerable!
“The enemy is within”, said the OPP (Orange Putin Puppet).That wasn’t a warning, it was a confession. I’m giving it four weeks, tops: then, all media reporting critically about Rump, Muskolini and Putin will be forbidden. Americans will then only hear glorious stories about the glorious efforts of their glorious leaders…
He always gives us the truth by what he accuses others of…
Psychology 101 classes across America have so many illustrations of "projection" if students are somehow confused about its meaning.
I read somewhere today that Tass has been removed from the White House press pool list. Confirmation, anyone?
Can't find any official list, but letting Tass into the Oval Office wasn't a 'mistake' - it was obviously done so that later they could make a show out of escorting him out. Purely misleading.
Par for the course. Oops, no golfing expressions: I meant "yes".
I can no longer use a bridge term, and now, golf terms are unavailable as well. Sheesh. <snark>
Donald is the quintessential boor. I am embarrassed, ashamed and frightened for our nation.
LOL…Phil, he certainly has only “the very best, really the bilgiest best qualities ever known to man”….sigh, just really makes you want to take him home to meet the folks, doncha think?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/02/support-pours-in-for-president-trump-vp-vances-america-first-strength/
The sycophants speak! Somehow, the White House thinks that mindless blurbs from 53 suck-ups and Putin worshippers from Congress and the cabinet make Trump look strong. It’s pathetic.
Zelenskyy was courageous and steadfast in the face of the Trump/Vance ambush. All Vance and Trump did was screech Russian talking points at him. That shows their weakness—they were so clearly acting as Putin’s puppets. As were many of the 53 former Russia hawks, now turned into Trump toadies.
As Zelenskyy pointedly asked, had Vance (and, by implication, Trump) been to Ukraine to see what Putin has wrought? Joe Biden went on February 20, 2023. Most of the leaders of the NATO countries have gone to show support despite the danger. They showed physical courage. Trump and Vance have not. Vance said he saw the pictures.
Zelenskyy and the rest of NATO (minus Orban/Hungary) understand that there can be no peace unless there are security guarantees for Ukraine and, ultimately, for the rest of Europe. Otherwise, Putin will use any pause to re-arm and will attack when he is resupplied. Putin’s forces are depleted now, so Trump is throwing him a lifeline so he can regroup and replenish and get sanctions lifted on his court of oligarchs. A lasting peace can only be achieved if the Russian economy is sufficiently bled out by Putin’s war effort that there is a backlash from the oligarchs.
Today’s America First rhetoric from Trump and Vance and abandonment of Ukraine broke the NATO alliance. It is not strength. It is cowardice.
And just like that, things changed.
Slava Ukraini
Слава Україні!
"Putin’s forces are depleted now, so Trump is throwing him a lifeline so he can regroup and replenish and get sanctions lifted on his court of oligarchs."
Russia keeps sending in drones which rarely make it to their civilian targets, but sometimes they do. When a rare Ukrainian drone or missile hits a civilian Russian target, the corporate media makes Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians out to be war criminals. Russia hits mostly civilian targets which has normalized the hits, like Trump's lying is normalized. It's time for the Ukrainians to start targeting apartment buildings of the richest Russians. Make them feel fear and we'll see how they react.
Almost every day Ukraine is hitting Russian refineries, oil depots and pipelines. The Russians have lost so much equipment that they are using pick-up trucks and even cars just like ISIS. And what are the half a million wounded soldiers telling their friends and family when they return home from the front.
Ukraine must not let up and all of Europe needs to continue sabotaging Russian targets.
Have you read "The Master and Margarita"?
No, I just looked it up and it looks really interesting. I put it on my list. Thanks.
Yes, Vance was caught off balance by "Have you been there?" His stammered reply was not a good save.
Tell you what, the Oval Office (the "cherished" Oval Office!) has become unrecognisable. And sitting one each side of an unlit fireplace just looks like misery. Fireplace chats to replace fireside chats? He hasn't actually insulted FDR yet, has he?
With the bust of Winston Churchill in the background.
Hear you, Georgia.
Please see mine, too, a bit below to one of Ted's.
May I copy this?
I usually make a point to never listen to Trump’s voice or even look at him on TV or social media clips. I decided today to catch a clip of the meeting with Zelenskyy and Vance and him.
I was appalled. I was ashamed for America. I haven’t said that since all that has gone on with Trump and even when he was in before, I never said I was ashamed or embarrassed to be an American -but today I was. It was an ambush as the Atlantic said. I was surprised to even see Vance there, and then open his disgusting mouth and what he had to say to Zelenskyy -neither one of them are half the man he is. What is Ukraine going to do?!?
Sorry to rant, but I was really upset today. Thank you for all you do-your letters mean a lot to all of us, Dianne from Illinois.
Ask not what Ukraine is going to do. Ask “What am I going to do?”
The time has arrived to show American strength. We are the solution and we have the power. We can end the madness.
It’s time to stand up and show your colors. Each and every one of us.
America strong!
When is it time to take to the street??? Now.
Dianne, though a Virginian, I am in Illinois and would like to put in a good word for our governor who has been vigorously standing up for US at our best. Indivisible Chicago has a rally in support of Ukraine today, starting at Water Tower Place and marching to the Bean. Ninety, I won’t make it but shall offer as many signs as I have sticks and paper for.
Like you, I felt compelled to listen and look today. As Ned Price (formerly in Obama’s White House) said: “I was queasy.”
CORRECTION: Ukraine rally is Sunday at noon, starting Water Tower Place.
I am wide awake in despair, watching these cretins destroy what's left of our country. But Putin is also wide awake, popping his champagne cork. Hideous. Nauseating. Disgraceful. Obnoxious. Ambush. And my reps had the nerve to call *Zelinsky* disrespectful. Another low hit today.
Lindsey Graham gave an embarrassing performance defending Trump and Vance and their boorish attack on President Zelenskyy.
Kathy, I didn't see that, but last evening L.Graham's people sent a slick text message to anyone who had ever voted Republican here in SC - pure propaganda about what a great job T had done and how finally we have a president who is "putting America first." It was awful. 🤮
Thank you for the alert. I have a sister in SC. Hope she’s taking it in.
I’m surprised, Kathy, that Congress does not have a “bust” of his, er, big ass that they can kiss in fealty as they pass by on the way to chambers. 🤮
Lindsey Graham makes my stomach turn! He’s another one who criticized Trump, but now follows and defends him at all costs! It’s nauseating, infuriating, and frightening, really.
He went from praising Zelenskyy in the morning to castigating him after the Oval Office meeting. I had to wonder which meeting he was talking about, since his description was so at odds with what I'd seen on TV. I'm beginning to question Graham's grasp of reality. Is he, too, suffering from dementia?
No he is suffering from terrified closeted gay man syndrome.
Puppets speaking on behalf of Puppets
You're not alone Laurie. Although misery loves company, it's likely only to get worse.
When the tyrant sat in his golden seat,
And summoned the brave to his court’s deceit,
He spoke with the tongue of the Russian Bear,
And bartered honor for wealth laid bare.
But the soldier stood with unshaken hand,
No king nor coward could shift his stand.
Though flattered, threatened, and pressed to kneel,
He held to his truth—an unbent steel.
How long must we wait through the tempest and tide,
While falsehood and folly still march side by side?
The banners of greed cast shadows so wide,
Yet truth, like the dawn, will not be denied.
A tyrant may thunder, may bluster and reign,
Yet storms must surrender to sunlight again.
The ripples are rising, the currents are strong—
The wave will come swiftly, it won’t be long.
They plotted their treachery plain to be seen,
With cameras as daggers and smiles cold and keen.
They spoke as the jackals who wait on the kill,
Feigning their honor while bending their will.
“A show for the ages!” the fat one declared,
As if war were a trifle, a jest to be aired.
The pawn stood alone, yet his eyes did not break—
For truth, once spoken, no tyrant can shake.
The craven stood grinning, their spines turned to dust,
Their tongues slick with flattery, rotten with rust.
One sang to his master, a dog at the chain,
Yelping of strength while he grovelled in vain.
The scribes took their orders, their pens drew the line,
Framing the tale as the strongman designed.
Was it whispered in boardrooms, decided in halls,
That justice must stumble when tyranny calls?
Yet winds shift in silence, and tides bide their time,
No throne stands forever, no peak holds its climb.
The ripples still gather, the breakers still grow—
The wave shall come crashing, and sweep out the show.
This was so well-written and on point. It needs to be shared everywhere. Well said!
This is beautiful. Thank you.
BRILLIANT!
Georgia (above) notes how “they . . . broke the NATO alliance.
But maybe, Ted, that MAGA vulgarity instead will stir defiance.
Our old allies in Europe have deep cultures,
So far from the craven U.S. billionaire vultures.
Most American schools are death zones now,
Suffocated by the standardized testing and how
U.S. dark money’s priorities for abstractions,
Units, and numbers all became distractions.
We’ve had such great novels, movies, songs
– yes, America, too, has antidote to the wrongs
U.S. vulgar elites have stewed in, practiced so long.
Yes, American culture may ally broader
With not just European but our greater world culture.
Agree. I think Europe is selling their stakes in the US financial system. This is Backdoor pressure. Institutional investors and state banks. This could be why the market is falling. Regional Fed’s are downgrading their economic forecasts to negative. (Was +4% a month ago, now -1.5%). Voters are consumers and with all the civil service purges… that grows uncertainty, so we all buy less. This is going to snowball in multiple directions.
And there is a real push to get rid of the FDIC. Be prepared.
The onous is on US
Who wrote that (and the next two posts)? It rings true.
Worth mentioning that the chair of the Senate Committee that found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election was none other than the current Secretary of State. He sat next to Vance looking like a kid in his dad's suit exuding discomfort. Can't imagine Mrs Clinton or Mrs Albright being so obviously cowed.
Why use "Mrs"? That belittles them by attaching them to men. Call them by their true names: Secretary Rodham Clinton and, if you don't like "Secretary" then Dr. Albright.
Yup. With Clinton, you do have to specify which politician it is. With Albright, either Doctor or Secretary works. Regardless THEY ARE THEIR OWN PERSON AND NOT THEIR HUSBAND'S PROPERTY.
Yep!
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/press/rubio-statement-senate-intel-release-volume-5-bipartisan-russia-report#:~:text=The%20Committee%20found%20that%20the,of%20the%202016%20presidential%20election.
I was most struck with Trump's assertion that Zelenskyy was holding a weak hand of 'cards.' Zelenskyy said they were not playing cards. Trump said they were. This was a sick attempt to extort Ukraine's wealth (it's a poor country) from a person in a position of weakness... to take advantage of his dire position rather than help. (Same with Gaza plans.) There's no greater, no lower form of evil. We saw it on TV, in real time and space. Zelenskyy now belongs up there in the Hall of Fame of his religion, with Abraham, Moses, Einstein, Sandy Koufax, Spinoza, Chagall, Bob Dylan... I'm so proud of him.
Agreed. This gauche theatre had a ring to it of the school yard bullies being beaten by the smallest victim by virtue of prevailing first class class. I see this as a pony in the horse shit. Note the reactions that are engaging, unifying, inspirational.
Trump claims to have cards, but he's not playing with a full deck. Zelensky called his bluff. Meanwhile soul-less Lindsey Graham said he was never more proud of Trump than his is tonight. It's madness. Has it not dawned on fawning CEOs, never mind red state families, that Republicans are goring their oxen as well??
When elections are suspended, all the legislators, red and blue, will be out of jobs.
They get paid regardless!
Graham has been less proud of President Trump a lot so his statement may be true. Wavering to the crowd as usual.
Like Magua, Graham's heart is twisted.
Zelensky, a war hero was NOT humiliated! Trump and Vance brought humiliation and shame on our country with their attempt to denigrate Zelensky. Heartbreaking to see this...
If Donald Trump was a dog he would have been euthanized years ago. He is stark raving mad and a threat to the world order. His fiends Vance and Musk are also low quality humans, completely amoral vessels.
Trump and Musk have classic features of antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders, and neither of them are desirable features in leadership. They make these “leaders” dangerous and uninterested in the national interest, but only interested in themselves and what they want.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the White House with the clear knowledge of who his friends are, and who they aren’t, having also demonstrated his profound courage, again, by standing up to two weak, snarling bullies.
The American people similarly now have a crystal clear picture of where “our” government stands vis-a-vis promoting freedom and democracy around the world. The same for our former friends and allies in Western Europe.
This morning Vladimir Putin has a Cheshire Cat smile on his face. Success!
for sure!
I feel a huge Ukrainian march coming on. I hope so when I return to NYC. Up here in Vermont, I need to put the pride flag away for the time being and find my Ukrainian flag.
Can’t wait for the polls!
And I refuse to fly an American flag upside down. We are not in distress, it’s the Republicans.
Ironically, I posted the following on my facebook on the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine:
“It was three years ago that Russian tanks invaded this peaceful country called the Ukraine. I worked every day with software developers in Kharkiv at the time of the invasion. “Teams” calls everyday working through very difficult RF programs. Smart people, good people.
That day, our company, Jabil, told them to scatter and return to their home towns. They would continue to try and work through an environment of sabotaged power outages and disrupted communication channels.
When they dropped from a teams call, my heart also dropped.
I told the lead female supervisor, one on one, that America is behind Ukraine. She wept.
I can’t say that today.
Hang in there Ukraine! You are a huge inspiration for me, and others.”
[edited to remove reference to Andy]
And for those smart caring WE THE PEOPLE that are anxious this morning:
Netflix Rosebud Taylor
Or
This is Love Podcast “On the Way to Dinner”
And remember WE THE PEOPLE have been through way much worse!
Special Elections this year! Vote Florida about how anxious you are are about Medicare, Medicaid, your Social Security, the Stock Market, your 401k. Show Ukraine and Europe we are behind them. WE THE PEOPLE.
Peace
Start putting up gop flags upside down around the neighbourhood maybe?
An upside-down flag is a legal sign of distress…we are DISTRESSED Americans.
I refuse to do it. My late father would roll over in the grave and we are now behaving like MAGA. Like the guy across from my house with one for 4 months with a flag upside down after the PA results.
With a “Fuck Biden” flag my neighbor ask for him to take it down. And he did, but not that flag.
Are you going to also add a “Fuck Trump” also? For children walking by to see?
It is the Republican Party that is in distress. Not us. We will march, we will have concerts, we will organize.
I don’t think the Dems should do it. It is so MAGA. And disrespectful for all those that died in our wars for our democracy.
I wouldn’t place a Trump flag with an offensive but well deserved logo, but I have mixed emotions about the upside-down flag because I do think our nation is in distress and danger from Trump and his toadies.
So do it. This is still America.
I’m going with the Ukraine flag. No confusion there.
Be safe Kathy.
It is a SYMBOL of distress. The MAGA do not own the symbol. Using the symbol does not make the user a MAGA.
This is the same trap many fell into regarding the rigged 2024 election--the MAGA who questioned the results were not wrong to QUESTION. They went wrong when they refused to accept the results of MULTIPLE recounts. We did not even get ONE recount because of the fear of "being like them". It was a misapprehension of what "being like them" consists of.
You know that they call Democrats "fascist" and "Nazi"? Should we stop using those words too, because "they" misuse them?
That is actually brilliant Kevin.
🥺😢
Where I’ve been I have always thought such corruption as this would be…TREASON.