“We are very pleased, dear President, dear Joe, to welcome you again in Brussels,” European Council president Charles Michel of Belgium told President Joe Biden today. “Your presence here and your participation in this European Council meeting is a very strong signal.”
The coordination of the Putin-Fox propaganda becomes more and more overt. I don't call it "Russian" propaganda any more than I'd call what Fox is emitting "American" propaganda. There's no longer any reason to wonder how on earth America could put a Donald Trump in the White House - America didn't.
We listened to President Biden’s press conference earlier today/Thu. To hear him articulate what’s what did us and US proud.
By comparison, Clarence and Ginny Thomas, tfg, tucker carlson… I’ve not yet given up hope that justice will be served, though I’m growing ever more frustrated and impatient. May these despicable people pay dearly for their treacheries.
Some years ago, the late N.Y. Representative, Louis Slaughter introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act, because (to my surprise) the Court isn't bound by an ethics code like the lower courts.
I believe the late Representative tried on several occasions to get the bill signed into law, but it never happened.
After reading the news today, as well as your newsletter, it's quite obvious that the Thomas's feel no obligation to support and uphold democracy in this country.
Someone should reintroduce the late Representative Slaughter's bill again.
As for Trump, the greater his legal jeopardy, the more outrageous his malignant carnival act will become.
1) Yesterday (Thursday) I spent the bulk of the day watching 11 of Senator Whitehouse's 13 YouTube videos about Dark Money and the Republican capture of the Supreme Court. Though I could not find the clips in numerical order this link provides the bulk of them. https://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorWhitehouse/videos
My overall takeaway: Rhode Island chose wisely when they elected this man to serve their state!
3) Waiting for the right moment to post this delightful story of one man's journey from drug dealer to master falconer. Since there doesn't seem to be a right moment, I'm posting it anyway:
Good morning everyone. Feeling fragile lately. Need to focus on personal things now, but wanted to say how much you all mean to me. I'm so proud of President Biden and so grateful for HCR and all of you.
Suing Hilary and Steele? Uh… good luck. Wouldn’t tfg have to SHOW his books if subpoenaed? Wouldn’t that demonstrate what we all know is true? …all that capital Don JR bragged they were getting from Russian “investors”, actually just funneled From Oligarchs from Putins exported billions? Hmmmm, maybe that’s why Manafort tried to hop a jet to Dubai? Paul’s thinking “oh uh…even I need to get distance from tfg!”
Thomas should be impeached for this! You can’t have that kind of cross pollination ‘tween the executive branch and judiciary. That is collusion to overthrow the federal government!!!!
And what kind of infection puts someone in the hospital? Was it a bacterial infection? A kidney infection? A viral infection? Why not be more specific? Timing and disclosure smell fishy to me. Seems more like a fascist infection to me. The whole thing reeks.
Trevor Noah has posted a montage of the knit brow variations etched from a lifetime of dealing with the jackassery of the "extraordinarily vicious attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson:"
The former president appears to be using lawsuits by the dozens as means to feed the press a never-ending steady diet of allegations that will, in turn, feed his supporters with fodder for their anger-based political support. There has to be a means for courts to resist being used for purposes other than to litigate actual offenses. Can they not simply refuse to hear a case if it's claims are too outrageous, unsupported by at least a shred of evidence? Can they disbar the suits that clog up the dockets with garbage claims? Where will we finally find the means to muzzle this uber-brat? Perhaps we need the kind of medieval justice that chops off the body part that commits the crime? A hand, a tongue, other "parts" that cooperate in the commitment of criminal behavior? Yeah, I know...we'd be stooping to his level. I just wish I could rid myself of this infernal ringing in my ears that amplifies everytime someone refers to him or his evil spawn.
Heather's letter only came out an hour ago. I was awake after a fitful sleep. Heather's letter hadn't been posted at 1:30 AM. Many of us are losing sleep over this domestic chaos at a time of international violence agression.
I am not sure my parents lost as much sleep during WWII. I suspect the difference were several. They had a good leader, FDR through many years of challenges, followed by Truman and Eisenhower, not occasional fair leaders facing off against bomb throwers and demagogues in the Whitehouse and Congress. They had a clear plan, a single objective, and a common well defined enemy who had struck first as Putin's Russia has done. They had no home grown domestic terrorists and corrupted political party participating with the enemy, Putin's Russia, to overthrow our democracy. They had clear, direct, hard work and sacrifice which they undertook with unity and resolve. They certainly did not have the equivalent of Russia's state owned media in FOX spreading misinformation and propaganda to bring all government effectiveness to a halt. Had they had any part of this, we would all be speaking German and saluting Heil Hitler, Putin or Trump with only one media source FOX in the American hen house.
This involvement by Ginni Thomas is crazy. If she was not married to a Supreme Court Justice, she'd be just another Q-Anon conspiracist with few facts on her side. But she actually has roped in Justice Thomas. There is no way, in an ethical world, that he wouldn't recuse himself from any related decisions or resign entirely.
Gratitude to you, Heather, for organizing the news for us. It’s an overload of facts, tragedies and stories of courage and inspiration. And more Gratitude. I’m grateful President Biden is working with other leaders and countries for possible solutions to the devastating humanitarian crisis, the war in Ukraine continuing, after war crimes by Russia and Putin continue to turn the world upside down, especially for the millions of Ukrainian people. And I’m grateful Biden is our president and grateful I’m a Democrat. Especially after the days of hearings for the supremely qualified Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her poise and patience and courage during the interviews by senators is amazing. Shout outs to the many many Democrats who have been respectful and positive in their questions and praise, in conversations with Judge Brown Jackson. How hard is it to be respectful? Evidently it’s more than challenging if you are a repub and your purpose is to humiliate and embarrass, proudly demonstrating your racism and rudeness. Their base and failed leader would be proud. And again I’m grateful for the few repubs who acted like humans, carrying out their jobs of elected U.S. Senators. For good press, video and more positive stories of the hearings check out these links. Good to end on a positive note. “Senator Booker Moves Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Tears with Tribute” https://www.c-span.org/amp/video/?c5007679 and
“Robert Reich Office hours: Will Republicans pay any price for how they've treated Judge Jackson?
As always Professor Cox-Richardson, thank you for your constant work to inform and enlighten those who have ears to hear ... I do wonder ... is there a more suitable term than "personality" to use when referring to Fox propagandists ... maybe "commentators", "mouthpieces", "personas", or maybe just "persons" ...? Personality implies character or charisma ... somehow, it doesn't seem like such a good fit to me ....
Some us may think we know by family experience, readings or instinct what associations older Ukrainian citizens are making with what they are now experiencing. Unlike Putin's other wars in Grozny (Chechnya, Russia) or Aleppo (Syria) which were not covered as Ukraine is -- that's another story -- we are becoming familiar with the people. As for the associations and memories of older Ukrainians, nothing can replace their own accounts.
‘A Frightening Repeat’: Ukrainian World War II Survivors Face Conflict Again'
Borys Zabarko was 6 years old when the Nazis invaded what is now Ukraine in 1941 and his hometown, Sharhorod, became a Jewish ghetto. Women, children and old men slept in packed rooms with no bathrooms or water, he said. As typhus epidemics raged, the ground was too cold to dig graves, and bodies were thrown on top of each other. Mr. Zabarko’s father and uncle, who fought with the Soviet army, died in combat.'
'After the liberation, Mr. Zabarko said he became convinced that nothing like that would ever happen again.'
'Now 86, he spent a recent night in the freezing train station in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, standing on a crowded platform, as he tried to get on a train to escape another war.
'Most Ukrainians watched in shock in recent weeks as their country was hit by violence and destruction on a scale they had never seen before, with children killed, mass graves, and bombing of homes and hospitals.'
'For some older Ukrainians, Russia’s invasion has revived painful memories of World War II, in which more than five million people were killed in Ukraine, even if the toll and scale of the current conflict is incomparable.'
Echoes of the world war have been omnipresent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
'Dumskaya.net, a news website in Odessa, ended articles with a sentence adapted from one that local newspapers used during World War II. Instead of “Death to the German occupiers,” it now read “Death to the Russian occupiers.”
'For Ukrainians, “World War II is the single most unifying emotional touchstone,” said Markian Dobczansky, a historian at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. While the Ukrainian state is evoking those memories, the Ukrainian people also “make that connection on their own,” he said.'
'When Mr. Zabarko heard air-raid sirens on a recent morning, he ran for an underground garage. There, he found people who had slept the night, hiding from the missiles and bombs dropping on the city, including mothers with children in strollers who were afraid to leave. His mind immediately went back to 1941'
“The feelings are the same,” he said, “it’s death that flies above you.”
'After spending days sheltering in his apartment, his granddaughter was suffering from unbearable anxiety, he said, and his daughter begged him to take her out of Ukraine. They both got sick with Covid, after traveling by train in overcrowded carriages.'
“We believed that we and our children and our grandchildren would live a peaceful life,” he said, “and now there is another war with people dying, blood spilling.”
'After Germany invaded what is now Ukraine, it ceded the region of Transnistria to its ally in Romania, which deported thousands of Jews to Sharhorod, confining them there.'
'After the war, Mr. Zabarko became a historian, wrote books about the Holocaust and headed an association of survivors. Now, he feels as if his life’s work had fallen on deaf ears.'
“This is my personal tragedy,” he said, “If we had learned those lessons, we wouldn’t have war in Ukraine, we wouldn’t have any war.” (NYTimes) The link below is gifted. It very long and it also works.
Just want to bear witness that Tucker Carlson is a traitor to democracy and an enemy of the European Union. As a dual citizen of the US and the EU I condemn him in the strongest possible terms.
"Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson continues to promote pro-Russian, anti-Biden propaganda. Today the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Biden’s son Hunter’s foundation had financed biological labs in Ukraine (which earlier propaganda said were developing biological weapons); less than 12 hours later, Carlson made the same claim."
Here is a NY Times Gift link anyone can read completely debunking the Bioweapons lab lies from Tucker Carlson
One observation: Biden DID make a mistake trying to help out his floundering son Hunter by getting him some cushy job in Ukraine which paid him too much for what was likely no work.
That is not illegal. Helping one's kids is sort of normal and Trump installed his entire family in the White House so they could profit from the experience and the contacts. In fact, it is likely that White House visitors had to first stop at Jared's office and deposit money in his lap before seeing Trump (although I don't have a public link to that activity since IF they did that activity they would not have published a link noting that fact for me to post here).
:-)
BUT, it is a mistake to involve one's children if one is President in both cases above where long term consequences are relevant.
Hunter left Biden exposed to the right's propaganda continuously.
Similarly, having Jared ram around the Middle East collecting money leaves all of us exposed to the risks of compromise that Jared will have in a second term of Trump.
Regarding Trump's SLAPP suit, it was pointed out by legal observers today that all the defendants will have to do on their first appearance in court is refer to the bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee released in 2019, which documents Trump's collusion with Russia, and the result will be the sanctioning of the two legal jeanieusses who filed the suit for bringing a "frivolous lawsuit."
The coordination of the Putin-Fox propaganda becomes more and more overt. I don't call it "Russian" propaganda any more than I'd call what Fox is emitting "American" propaganda. There's no longer any reason to wonder how on earth America could put a Donald Trump in the White House - America didn't.
Thank you Heather.
We listened to President Biden’s press conference earlier today/Thu. To hear him articulate what’s what did us and US proud.
By comparison, Clarence and Ginny Thomas, tfg, tucker carlson… I’ve not yet given up hope that justice will be served, though I’m growing ever more frustrated and impatient. May these despicable people pay dearly for their treacheries.
Some years ago, the late N.Y. Representative, Louis Slaughter introduced the Supreme Court Ethics Act, because (to my surprise) the Court isn't bound by an ethics code like the lower courts.
I believe the late Representative tried on several occasions to get the bill signed into law, but it never happened.
After reading the news today, as well as your newsletter, it's quite obvious that the Thomas's feel no obligation to support and uphold democracy in this country.
Someone should reintroduce the late Representative Slaughter's bill again.
As for Trump, the greater his legal jeopardy, the more outrageous his malignant carnival act will become.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!!
1) Yesterday (Thursday) I spent the bulk of the day watching 11 of Senator Whitehouse's 13 YouTube videos about Dark Money and the Republican capture of the Supreme Court. Though I could not find the clips in numerical order this link provides the bulk of them. https://www.youtube.com/user/SenatorWhitehouse/videos
My overall takeaway: Rhode Island chose wisely when they elected this man to serve their state!
2) At first I thought this 15-minute clip was a comedy skit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyYp9xPLa8s but I found it imbedded in a NYT article about the crew of a "superyacht" - drydocked in Italy - having "left their jobs." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/world/europe/russia-superyacht-crew-putin.html
If nothing else, I found it quite entertaining.
3) Waiting for the right moment to post this delightful story of one man's journey from drug dealer to master falconer. Since there doesn't seem to be a right moment, I'm posting it anyway:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-a-drug-dealer-turned-his-life-around-to-become-one-of-few-black-master-falconers-in-us/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab4f&eid=0883f646f6a26e54156a44178b8edd7e02ad8e2b
Good morning everyone. Feeling fragile lately. Need to focus on personal things now, but wanted to say how much you all mean to me. I'm so proud of President Biden and so grateful for HCR and all of you.
Suing Hilary and Steele? Uh… good luck. Wouldn’t tfg have to SHOW his books if subpoenaed? Wouldn’t that demonstrate what we all know is true? …all that capital Don JR bragged they were getting from Russian “investors”, actually just funneled From Oligarchs from Putins exported billions? Hmmmm, maybe that’s why Manafort tried to hop a jet to Dubai? Paul’s thinking “oh uh…even I need to get distance from tfg!”
Thomas should be impeached for this! You can’t have that kind of cross pollination ‘tween the executive branch and judiciary. That is collusion to overthrow the federal government!!!!
And what kind of infection puts someone in the hospital? Was it a bacterial infection? A kidney infection? A viral infection? Why not be more specific? Timing and disclosure smell fishy to me. Seems more like a fascist infection to me. The whole thing reeks.
Trevor Noah has posted a montage of the knit brow variations etched from a lifetime of dealing with the jackassery of the "extraordinarily vicious attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson:"
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cba-6SxlJwL/
The former president appears to be using lawsuits by the dozens as means to feed the press a never-ending steady diet of allegations that will, in turn, feed his supporters with fodder for their anger-based political support. There has to be a means for courts to resist being used for purposes other than to litigate actual offenses. Can they not simply refuse to hear a case if it's claims are too outrageous, unsupported by at least a shred of evidence? Can they disbar the suits that clog up the dockets with garbage claims? Where will we finally find the means to muzzle this uber-brat? Perhaps we need the kind of medieval justice that chops off the body part that commits the crime? A hand, a tongue, other "parts" that cooperate in the commitment of criminal behavior? Yeah, I know...we'd be stooping to his level. I just wish I could rid myself of this infernal ringing in my ears that amplifies everytime someone refers to him or his evil spawn.
Heather's letter only came out an hour ago. I was awake after a fitful sleep. Heather's letter hadn't been posted at 1:30 AM. Many of us are losing sleep over this domestic chaos at a time of international violence agression.
I am not sure my parents lost as much sleep during WWII. I suspect the difference were several. They had a good leader, FDR through many years of challenges, followed by Truman and Eisenhower, not occasional fair leaders facing off against bomb throwers and demagogues in the Whitehouse and Congress. They had a clear plan, a single objective, and a common well defined enemy who had struck first as Putin's Russia has done. They had no home grown domestic terrorists and corrupted political party participating with the enemy, Putin's Russia, to overthrow our democracy. They had clear, direct, hard work and sacrifice which they undertook with unity and resolve. They certainly did not have the equivalent of Russia's state owned media in FOX spreading misinformation and propaganda to bring all government effectiveness to a halt. Had they had any part of this, we would all be speaking German and saluting Heil Hitler, Putin or Trump with only one media source FOX in the American hen house.
This involvement by Ginni Thomas is crazy. If she was not married to a Supreme Court Justice, she'd be just another Q-Anon conspiracist with few facts on her side. But she actually has roped in Justice Thomas. There is no way, in an ethical world, that he wouldn't recuse himself from any related decisions or resign entirely.
Gratitude to you, Heather, for organizing the news for us. It’s an overload of facts, tragedies and stories of courage and inspiration. And more Gratitude. I’m grateful President Biden is working with other leaders and countries for possible solutions to the devastating humanitarian crisis, the war in Ukraine continuing, after war crimes by Russia and Putin continue to turn the world upside down, especially for the millions of Ukrainian people. And I’m grateful Biden is our president and grateful I’m a Democrat. Especially after the days of hearings for the supremely qualified Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her poise and patience and courage during the interviews by senators is amazing. Shout outs to the many many Democrats who have been respectful and positive in their questions and praise, in conversations with Judge Brown Jackson. How hard is it to be respectful? Evidently it’s more than challenging if you are a repub and your purpose is to humiliate and embarrass, proudly demonstrating your racism and rudeness. Their base and failed leader would be proud. And again I’m grateful for the few repubs who acted like humans, carrying out their jobs of elected U.S. Senators. For good press, video and more positive stories of the hearings check out these links. Good to end on a positive note. “Senator Booker Moves Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Tears with Tribute” https://www.c-span.org/amp/video/?c5007679 and
“Robert Reich Office hours: Will Republicans pay any price for how they've treated Judge Jackson?
Why Josh Hawley is below contempt” https://robertreich.substack.com/p/office-hours-will-judge-jackson-be-2?s=r
Onward!
As always Professor Cox-Richardson, thank you for your constant work to inform and enlighten those who have ears to hear ... I do wonder ... is there a more suitable term than "personality" to use when referring to Fox propagandists ... maybe "commentators", "mouthpieces", "personas", or maybe just "persons" ...? Personality implies character or charisma ... somehow, it doesn't seem like such a good fit to me ....
Some us may think we know by family experience, readings or instinct what associations older Ukrainian citizens are making with what they are now experiencing. Unlike Putin's other wars in Grozny (Chechnya, Russia) or Aleppo (Syria) which were not covered as Ukraine is -- that's another story -- we are becoming familiar with the people. As for the associations and memories of older Ukrainians, nothing can replace their own accounts.
‘A Frightening Repeat’: Ukrainian World War II Survivors Face Conflict Again'
Borys Zabarko was 6 years old when the Nazis invaded what is now Ukraine in 1941 and his hometown, Sharhorod, became a Jewish ghetto. Women, children and old men slept in packed rooms with no bathrooms or water, he said. As typhus epidemics raged, the ground was too cold to dig graves, and bodies were thrown on top of each other. Mr. Zabarko’s father and uncle, who fought with the Soviet army, died in combat.'
'After the liberation, Mr. Zabarko said he became convinced that nothing like that would ever happen again.'
'Now 86, he spent a recent night in the freezing train station in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, standing on a crowded platform, as he tried to get on a train to escape another war.
'Most Ukrainians watched in shock in recent weeks as their country was hit by violence and destruction on a scale they had never seen before, with children killed, mass graves, and bombing of homes and hospitals.'
'For some older Ukrainians, Russia’s invasion has revived painful memories of World War II, in which more than five million people were killed in Ukraine, even if the toll and scale of the current conflict is incomparable.'
Echoes of the world war have been omnipresent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
'Dumskaya.net, a news website in Odessa, ended articles with a sentence adapted from one that local newspapers used during World War II. Instead of “Death to the German occupiers,” it now read “Death to the Russian occupiers.”
'For Ukrainians, “World War II is the single most unifying emotional touchstone,” said Markian Dobczansky, a historian at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. While the Ukrainian state is evoking those memories, the Ukrainian people also “make that connection on their own,” he said.'
'When Mr. Zabarko heard air-raid sirens on a recent morning, he ran for an underground garage. There, he found people who had slept the night, hiding from the missiles and bombs dropping on the city, including mothers with children in strollers who were afraid to leave. His mind immediately went back to 1941'
“The feelings are the same,” he said, “it’s death that flies above you.”
'After spending days sheltering in his apartment, his granddaughter was suffering from unbearable anxiety, he said, and his daughter begged him to take her out of Ukraine. They both got sick with Covid, after traveling by train in overcrowded carriages.'
“We believed that we and our children and our grandchildren would live a peaceful life,” he said, “and now there is another war with people dying, blood spilling.”
'After Germany invaded what is now Ukraine, it ceded the region of Transnistria to its ally in Romania, which deported thousands of Jews to Sharhorod, confining them there.'
'After the war, Mr. Zabarko became a historian, wrote books about the Holocaust and headed an association of survivors. Now, he feels as if his life’s work had fallen on deaf ears.'
“This is my personal tragedy,” he said, “If we had learned those lessons, we wouldn’t have war in Ukraine, we wouldn’t have any war.” (NYTimes) The link below is gifted. It very long and it also works.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/world/ukranian-ww2-survivors.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODmweiPsSGYyMvFrOf6NlZtI1miuEHppaLaUxReJ11PQZP1BoT0PghKq4r6k_And_r5OvDCRx1ojRXLs8_HjgNmTlI-olz_i0tEOIdWW5WqPAgXcmcRI0p5VgJVqhinRfkq7VA6UijIkFqPQhD599QDgBYjDb_KW7TkUjZ6jVK03U-QI0WOpGWDvMntL66rwIdARaCl6uX2ooqC9nq4saYIVLSf65ex0we8P-gqETD3hoKeqrAZ42TovUk9Z6oOLRa_zokuxks6316XCwAfg&smid=url-share
Just want to bear witness that Tucker Carlson is a traitor to democracy and an enemy of the European Union. As a dual citizen of the US and the EU I condemn him in the strongest possible terms.
Dr. Richardson,
Regarding:
"Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson continues to promote pro-Russian, anti-Biden propaganda. Today the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Biden’s son Hunter’s foundation had financed biological labs in Ukraine (which earlier propaganda said were developing biological weapons); less than 12 hours later, Carlson made the same claim."
Here is a NY Times Gift link anyone can read completely debunking the Bioweapons lab lies from Tucker Carlson
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/politics/us-bioweapons-ukraine-misinformation.html
One observation: Biden DID make a mistake trying to help out his floundering son Hunter by getting him some cushy job in Ukraine which paid him too much for what was likely no work.
That is not illegal. Helping one's kids is sort of normal and Trump installed his entire family in the White House so they could profit from the experience and the contacts. In fact, it is likely that White House visitors had to first stop at Jared's office and deposit money in his lap before seeing Trump (although I don't have a public link to that activity since IF they did that activity they would not have published a link noting that fact for me to post here).
:-)
BUT, it is a mistake to involve one's children if one is President in both cases above where long term consequences are relevant.
Hunter left Biden exposed to the right's propaganda continuously.
Similarly, having Jared ram around the Middle East collecting money leaves all of us exposed to the risks of compromise that Jared will have in a second term of Trump.
Regarding Trump's SLAPP suit, it was pointed out by legal observers today that all the defendants will have to do on their first appearance in court is refer to the bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee released in 2019, which documents Trump's collusion with Russia, and the result will be the sanctioning of the two legal jeanieusses who filed the suit for bringing a "frivolous lawsuit."