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(1) We are in the middle of a critical, and vulnerable, moment of crisis and urgency in US history. Do we allow the social relics to renew our nation’s contract with racist sexist society for the umpteenth time. Or do we shut it down and finally establish, once and for all, the new contract that is imo the true destiny of this nation.

The Washington Post has this motto, “Democracy dies in darkness.” I prefer the corollary, “Democracy is refreshed and revitalized in the light,“ but hey, their marketing people didn’t consult me on that choice of slogan.

McConnell is dirty. Our dear Dr. Heather spelled it out as beautifully and simply as I have ever seen: favors exchanged with Deripaska, meaning with Putin. Quid pro quo.

Keep in mind, many many of the Republicans in power are playing for somebody else, not their constituents. They are not supporting democracy, they are lining their own pockets and feathering their own nests, because they are in power and they can. The Democratic Party is about public service. The Republican Party is about self service.

Call me naïve, call me Pollyanna, call me a clueless idealist, but I am firmly convinced that democracy will prevail over corruption in this country. In other countries as well, but man it’s gonna take a lot longer for some of them.

(2) Deripaska’s money-laundering property purchases, acquired with money stolen from the Russian people, getting close attention from the FBI is my favorite news of the day.

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Yes. This info on McConnell’s “Russian aluminum “deal” is news to me. How many other deals were cut that wedon’t know???

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look at Elaine also, a pair cut from the same cloth.

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Is it that time again ? ... to quote Elizabeth Powells's witty question supposedly posed to Ben Franklin circa 1787? "Well Doctor, what have we got - a republic or a monarchy?" Ben's retort: "A republic if you can keep it."

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Trojan Horses don't bode well for our survival

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Welcome back Roland!

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Hi Linda!

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Thank you for this article. Interesting how the “company” keeps changing ceo’s (vampires) - each sucking as much out of it as they can before being replaced. Even more interesting are the R’s threatening to hold the “company” responsible. Somebody must be up for re-election.

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To paraphrase a past french president, "politician's promises only count for those that hear them"

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And Rupert has omitted as much as he has made up. Bet they never showed a shot of trump’s gaffs, word salad, and only the Fox approved slander.

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Thanks for this, Judy. Perhaps if the KY voters are educated by the FBI about the genesis of this "deal," they'll consider ending their contract with McCrook and his lovely grifter spouse. We can hope.

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Sadly it is the poor rural & coal mining areas that he has conned. Unfortunately that is most of the state. The 3 metro areas (Louisville, Lexington & Bowling Green) can’t tip the scales blue. 😫

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McConnell's country.

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A sham (on a scam) to begin with?

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Thx fir the info/article

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Is this the Russian deal or another one?

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Not clear that all the money from Rusal fell through. According to an Aug 2020 article* in the Courier-Journal, an SEC filing shows that Rusal has already contributed $75M to the Kentucky company/project (then called Braidy but now called Unity). It's clear that people interviewed in the kentucky.com article cited above want to suggest that Rusal is no longer involved in the project, but even their comments could be read to suggest that Rusal is not contributing _more_ money to the project than it already has and that it might not (in the future) have a stake in the project (if, big if, that project ever gets off the ground). But how much can we know about what Rusal's role is anyway? Haney, the Unity spokesperson cited in the kentucky.com article, is said to have testified that the company had to keep parts of its financing private.

*"US Senate report says Russian investor in Braidy Industries' mill is a proxy for the Kremlin"

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Thanks for this elaboration. Really Manchurian candidate, in retrospect, showed a LACK of imagination. The taleovers don’t have to be with actual hyptnotism. Just plain old seduction and $$$$& seems to do the trick.

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Thx for the info!

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The Russian deal. It seems to be the same as the Chinese deal. Big talk and dollars thrown around but nothing gets done and the local government is out millions.

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Yes, and.McConnell and Rand Paul voted to end sanctions against Rusal. A few months after sanctions were lifted, Rusal's money poured into Braidy (now Unity). Interestingly enough, also in 2019, 2 members of McConnell's staff lobbied the fed govt on Braidy's behalf.

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Superbly composed and expressed. Well done!

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This:

“ The Democratic Party is about public service. The Republican Party is about self service.”

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The biggest problem is the people that are supporting and voting for the corrupt Republicans just don’t care how dirty they are. Remember when we all feared Russian ideologies taking over the United States and we’d lose all our freedoms? Now the Republican Party is embracing this lifestyle while accusing Democrats of being communist.

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The Republicans know their constituents well and how to advertise to them.

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Yes 👏 👏

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Speaking of knowing their constituents, here’s something ominous from Twitter. https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1451212018543902725?s=21

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Welcome back, Roland!

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Thank you Rose!

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Good morning Roland. Thanks for your hopeful words today.

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Hello Diane. It’s a pleasure to see your name again. 🥰

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Sehr gut, Herr Roland. Danke.

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It’s always good to have friends in far away places.

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Wie geht’s wie steht’s Herr Koch. Always enjoy reading your messages my good sir.

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Roland, from your lips to God's ear. Thank you!

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I truly hope you’re right. I just think it’s not possible because the entire foundation and framework has been corrupted by greedy, selfish people. I think the masses are mostly being humored because the moneymakers don’t want to lose on their investments and not working or buying along with destroying will be a problem for them. Dangle some hope and we’ll trail after it and do what they want us to do for the most part. The people in power over our government, over us, aren’t going to relinquish it or their money.

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Lisa I have been reading your posts with interest, because you represent (if I am correct) what I consider my target audience for my story project. You also are similar to the former version of me, the Eagle Scout engineering graduate college educated intelligent and informed observer who is overwhelmed by the sheer titanic size of the Dark Side of the Force.

Your assessment of the capitalist system, and the government powermongers and officials that support it and parasitically live off of it, is of course right on target. The question is not about the problem, we all agree on the problem, the question is about the solution.

The solution is a function of inspiration, of hope, of joy. Inspiration, hope, joy, active life energy & life force of any type and referenced by any word label, that’s what will overpower the corrupt ones and result in the clean-up of the corruption in the system.

It’s not the system that’s corrupt. At least not in this country, at least before the voting suppression laws that are flooding into the territories with a lingering history of racism and sexism. The system of democracy in the US was specifically intended to counteract and neutralize corruption. People all over the world contributed to creating that structure.

Think of a human body or animal body or plant body that has antibodies, white blood cells, and other actuents (I just made up that word) to fight intrusive and invasive bacteria, viruses, etc. Your body, my body, automatically fights anything that interferes with harmonious and healthy operation. That’s kind of like the structure of the US democracy. Its job, its ongoing and continuous job, is to fight those corrupting forces influences and people.

Fighting corruption is an active process, conducted by people like you and me and the others on this channel. It takes energy. It takes hope, inspiration, joy, love, life force for us to do the work that we are doing. My job in the world is reminding us that we are doing the right thing, and that it isn’t working.

It doesn’t always look like it’s working. And that is the problem. Morale. My job is boosting morale.

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“My job in the world is reminding us that we are doing the right thing, and that it IS working.“

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Thank you. I wish you success in your work and morale-boosting efforts. I hope we can heal America’s Democracy Cancer.

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YES YES and YEAH BABY‼️

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So well said!

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Amen, Brother Roland!

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