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He thanked British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for his support to increase assistance for Kyiv, as well as the leadership of American partners including his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin. Ukraine’s goal is to “restore our sovereignty and territorial integrity within the internationally recognised borders”, he said. Reznikov added that he was “focusing on the need to provide for one million people who will be facing the enemy”. He warned that “extremely tough weeks are ahead” and that Ukraine needed “unity, cohesion, will and patience” during this extremely difficult period. Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy ‘ready to speak to Putin’; Russia to cut electricity supply to Finland after Nato decision – live (theguardian.com)

Putin isn't really acting like someone suffering from dementia or mental illness. In the Russian world, trying to rebuild their former glory seemed like a rational and desirable thing. They've been like that for centuries. I'm sure Putin's advisors are also telling him what he wants to hear. With its weakness exposed, it's hard to see how Russia would handle firing off nukes and then rolling over Europe with its crappy military. Not only would it be hit by nukes itself, but western troops would roll over Russian troops in what's likely a matter of days before entering Moscow. For Putin, a loss in Ukraine might be bad, but being the guy who caused Russia's demise would be worse. Unfortunately, Russia is probably going to aspire to regain its former empire after Putin is gone. Your everyday Russian seems to think that all their former Republics belong to them.

Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy ‘ready to speak to Putin’; Russia to cut electricity supply to Finland after Nato decision – live (theguardian.com)

Being in Arkansas, I'm not totally surprised. I saw us transition from Democrats like this to a bunch of GOP bots that went from spouting Fox News talking points to full-on trying to out sycophant each other for Trump's attention. Now we're pretty much the lowest voting state with a bunch of people without any political or managerial skills who seem to have just run to have "office holder" on their resume holding most of the local offices. This year it seems the theme is to see who can out-crazy the competition, I'm kind of scared what next year is going to be because I'm not sure what can be lower aside from "look at me, I can drink anti-freeze and it won't do shit to me" vs. "fuck you, I can down Draino and not even get the shits!"

Kherson’s military administrators to call for Russian annexation | Ukraine | The Guardian When this is over, the Ukraine is going to be stuck with a lot of Russian collaborators, both among politicians and private citizens who supported them.

Judge strikes down Florida governor’s ‘unconstitutional’ election map | Florida | The Guardian I'm pretty sure DeSantis is going to be the Republican candidate for President in 2024. He's pretty symbolic of what the GOP is all about now, which is power for power's sake without much regard for how it's gotten. The party doesn't have a platform and it's leaders are it's entertainment wing (Fox News, Steve Bannon, etc.) and the base that turns out for the primary (i.e. lunatics, idiots and assholes). DeSantis, like Trump, isn't a leader as much of a follower of what's hot for the real powers of the party. DeSantis is like Trump, except he's less likely to just ramble off on what pops into his head and is more deliberate when it comes to long-range planning and himself. I don't think Trump is going to run because he's selling his D.C. hotel, dropped that little tidbit about "health" concerns could prevent a run and he seems to be content holding his king's court in Florida.

Here's a bit more to make it more rounded: Forgotten Founders: Gouverneur Morris | The National Constitution Center Apparently, the dude wasn't fond of slavery.

There was a pretty mundane reason he did it. He was trying to clear urinary blockage and back in those days, sticking bones in your peehole to serve as catheters was one of the methods. People were making catheters since at least 3000 B.C. with them being made out of stuff like straw, rolled up palm leaves, hollow tops of onions, as well as, gold, silver, copper, brass, and lead. None of them sound too pleasant as far as peehole insertion.

I'm of the school of thought a new constitution is needed at this point. The current one left us a system of government that's on the verge of non-functional in the current age and not at all very representative. Look at the Senate, electoral college and the supreme court as things that do not hold up very well when it comes to representative democracy.

Biden and the Democrats made an unforced error with BBB. They overpromised and underdelivered, acting as though they had a mega-majority instead of the razor-thin one they had. Plus, you can't give people the gist of it on a bumper sticker. When it was clear that BBB wasn't going to happen, which was Nov. 2020, Dems should've just looked at the most popular parts and focused on those. Sure, they got the infrastructure bill, which is great, but it's not going to cause people to turn out in November. Plus, Democratic leadership in the House, Senate and Executive don't seem to care much about keeping voters or helping incumbents in swing states that lean moderate-to-center-right that barely went Democratic in 2022. Schumer has been horrible as majority leader, Pelosi might be able to wrangle votes but her priorities don't resonate outside Democrat +25 districts and Biden seems unable to give up the dream of being the next FDR ... not a winning combo for the party, which I much prefer over the very dangerous alternative. They just need to be pragmatic and really examine the spot they're in and that's just not happening.

Not much is in Biden or the Democrats' control. Two-thirds sounds like they should have win after win, but the reality is that if you don't have 60-plus senators, you're at the mercy of the minority if they decide to filibuster. Democrats only have a thin majority in the House, which is still at the mercy of the senate when it comes to actually passing laws. There's not a lot Biden can do about the court unless two justices die over the next three years. The constitution is largely to blame. At the time of its creation, it had a deliberately slow process because there was not really a general American identity at that point and the fear of states separating and creating an opening for a Eruopean imperial power was still pretty real. Not so much anymore, but we're kind of stuck with it until you can get three-fifths of states to agree to amendments or people finally decide it's time for a new one.

I wouldn't insult intellectually disabled people like that. For them, it's not a choice and usually, they are better company than probably 50% of people because the whole theater of being "good" is not a thing to them. Most of them just are. Stupidity on the other hand can be interpreted a moral failing that is from intentional decisions, often from wanting to fit into a certain crowd or a warped vision of what a person thinks they should be. Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity - YouTube

The "ignore" feature helps when it comes to those who continuously post in bad faith and barf up strawmen. It's kind of like removing the obnoxious billboards so you can see the scenery when you go on a drive. It's not about "oh, they have opinions that offend me" it's more like "their posts don't add anything to the conversation hand," if there is one, of course.

So, Russia is eyeing a third region. Putin is pretty much do-or-die on this, I doubt he's going to let up until he's made Ukraine totally landlocked and controls half of Moldova. He's pretty traditional about the use of the Russian military, pretty much seeing them as cannon fodder whose lives aren't really worth much in the name of "greatness." “This is straight out of the Kremlin’s playbook,” he added. Carpenter said that the United States also believed Russia was considering a similar plan in a third region, Kherson, where Moscow has recently solidified its control and imposed use of its ruble currency. Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow plans to annex Donetsk and Luhansk, US says; European Union preparing sanctions on Russia oil - live (theguardian.com)

Well, hope the people who voted for Jill Stein in 2016 feel like shit. You purist dumbfucks and shit swallowing fuckheads who thought you were going to send a message to the Democrats by shoving your thumbs into your own peeholes. Draft ruling shows Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade: report | The Hill

Pelosi endorses strategy to combine Ukraine, COVID aid | The Hill Well, Democrats are missing the strategy of "let the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot" and pointing a gun at their foot too by forcing something totally unrelated in a desperately-needed foreign aid bill.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/apr/29/russia-ukraine-war-ukraine-decries-barbaric-missile-strikes-on-kyiv-russian-gains-in-donbas-come-at-significant-cost-says-uk-live?page=with:block-626b96a58f089c79bcffa0cf#block-626b96a58f089c79bcffa0cf The last time I checked, it was the CCP that was stirring up potential conflicts in Asia-Pacific, particularly around the South China Sea. Like Putin, Xi has been pretty successful at making his country rather unpopular with its neighbors.

Maybe not, but he seems to believe it's "now or never" and doesn't think anyone else can do it. Russia wasn't exactly "desperate," they were in a great position globally with their natural resources and their still powerful influence, plus Putin was more secure than he had ever been despite all the corruption that's weakened their military and the country's internal safety. There was no reason to launch the war aside from this whole recreation of the Russian empire that he's been vocal about for the last decade.

It's all speculative. He could very well just realizing his mortality, which is about the same thing. It's hard to really know, but it doesn't seem like it's coming from someone who trusts his potential successors to fulfill his vision.

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1517222529311588352

Utah Democrats back independent Evan McMullin in his race against GOP Sen. Mike Lee - The Washington Post There was no way a Democrat was going to win in Utah. It's a pragmatic move, which I'm sure people will take not of if it's successful, particularly in places where the "D" by your name = "Death" at the ballot box.

Russia-Ukraine war: British man killed and another missing; Moscow warns west over support for Ukraine – live (theguardian.com) Sounds like it's almost certain that Russia is going to make a move for eastern Moldova. That increases the chances of a direct attack on a NATO country, with Moldova essentially being Eastern Romania, which will lead to Romania giving more direct assistance to Moldova than we've seen delivered to Ukraine. Something is wrong with Putin, like he knows his days on earth are numbered. It's like he's trying to recreate the Russian empire before time runs out, no matter if it's a suicide mission. If you've seen how Russia operates its military historically, they don't have a problem treating their soldiers like cannon fodder. Whereas western military tradition does its best to curb losses, Russia just throws body upon body at the enemy. It may have worked in WWII, but in modern warfare, it's a strategy that makes them weaker faster.

Poor commie dolphins. Russia-Ukraine war: Putin warns of ‘lightning fast’ retaliation if west intervenes; White House accuses Russia of ‘weaponising energy supplies’ - live (theguardian.com)

Well, Trump did make that sort of thing less taboo. After all, it was his favorite thing when it came to his foreign policy trips.

Wonder how many Russian soldiers would conveniently ditch their tanks if they knew about that?