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Pence Will Try To Break Up Trump And The GOP Via: The AP: In a speech Friday evening to the party’s top donors in New Orleans, Pence will take on those in his party who have failed to forcefully condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. “Where would Russian tanks be today if NATO had not expanded the borders of freedom? There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin,” Pence will say, according to excerpts from the speech. “There is only room for champions of freedom.” Pence thinks that he can pull evangelicals, activist conservatives, and establishment conservatives away from Trump. It is impossible to see evangelicals leaving Trump as many of them have convinced themselves that Trump comes before faith. Establishment conservatives are probably Pence’s best chance, but they are a small minority in Trump’s party. Trump supporters think that Mike Pence is the anti-Christ because he would not illegally overturn the election, so it is mindboggling that Pence would think that members of the same party that tried to hang him a year ago would stand with him to kick Trump out of the party. There is no chance of that happening, as Mike Pence is more likely to be kicked out of Trump’s GOP.

Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters Two commanders participating in Russia’s globally condemned invasion of Ukraine were killed Friday, according to Western officials cited by The Independent. Since the war began nine days ago, three senior officers in the Russian military have so far lost their lives to fierce resistance on the Ukrainian side. Yesterday, it was confirmed that Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central District, died in combat. Russian troops have reportedly been sticking with tactics that proved unsuccessful, rather than cutting their losses and trying something new. “In this campaign, it’s been remarkable that they have continued to reinforce failure,” an unidentified Western official told The Independent. “That lack of operational agility I find surprising.” Russians Are Tipping Off Ukraine To Putin’s Plots To Kill Zelensky Russian spies who oppose the invasion of Ukraine have tipped off the Ukrainians three times to plots to kill Zelensky. Russian double agents have stopped plots to kill Zelensky, “Ukrainian national security chief Oleksiy Danilov told a Ukrainian television network that double agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service or FSB warned them of the attempts. “I can say that we have received information from the FSB, who do not want to take part in this bloody war, and thanks to this, the Kadyrov elite group was destroyed, which came here to eliminate our president.” Zelensky’s status as a global cult hero has to be driving Putin crazy, which is why he is using one of his favorite tactics of assassinating his opposition. There are many Russians who don’t want the war with Ukraine, and Americans have seen similar lower-stakes situations play out during the Trump administration, as people within the government worked to stop Trump from within. Putin is not only fighting Ukraine. He is battling his own people. Internationally, President Biden has been making sure that Ukraine gets US intelligence within minutes, as there are people worldwide, including in Russia, who are working to stop Putin and his deadly invasion. Even Russians are fighting against Putin in Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian news, there are some 17,000 Ukrainian women fighting now, including the current Miss Ukraine. I seem to recall that the Diefenbaker government lost an election when they were poised to spend many millions of dollars of Canadian taxpayer money to build a pipeline to carry petroleum to the US.

Why? So we can subsidize and ship a valuable non-renewable resource to the US?

But the John Deere logo is outstanding in its field.

Assassination of foreign leaders has long been a policy of the US, among other countries. The US tried its damnedest to kill Castro and probably succeeded in killing Yasser Arafat.

The best answer may be in Venezuela, which has been suffering from US embargoes for years. The oil production has been cut back drastically but is capable of being upscaled quickly and is light crude. The US may see this as the lesser of evils, even though they would love to continue punishing Venezuela.

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The military materiel and humanitarian supplied to Ukraine has been of great help to them. Had it not been for this help, the invasion would have rolled over Ukraine already. The resistance has been much greater than Putin anticipated- over 4,000 Russian casualties, and two Russian generals dead. Even though Putin claims things are going according to plan, as of today contradicting government reports or criticizing Putin's war is is punishable by 20 years imprisonment, all independent media has been shut down and there are reports that Russian conscription of troops is imminent. None of this ensures Ukrainian victory but analysts have estimated that if Ukrainian resistance is not crushed in the next 7-10 days, Putin will be in trouble. Third Assassination Attempt on Zelensky Fails as Putin Sparks ‘Nuclear Terror’ An aide to the Ukrainian president credits “Russian spies” for tipping them off to at least three assassination attempts. Comic-turned-hero Volodymyr Zelensky has survived at least three precision assassination attempts by elite hit squads since Russia’s week old war began, according to Ukrainian officials who say his survival was all thanks to tip-offs from Russian spies. Both the the Kremlin-funded Wagner group mercenaries and Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov’s kill teams have allegedly tried to kill the Ukrainian president, who is hiding out in various bunkers deep below the capital Kyiv, according to the Washington Post. The Wagner mercenaries—run by Yevgeny Prigozhin A.K.A. “Putin’s chef” —reportedly have a kill list of 24 names, including Zelensky, but were waylaid by the stalled military convoy outside of Kyiv that made it difficult for Russian special forces to secure an escape route, according to the Times of London.

Yet he would be the one most likely to win a majority. Not loony enough to win the hearts and minds of the cretins.

I would imagine that the behind-the-scenes stuff will closely resemble the "Succession" TV series.

Kentucky Pol Apologizes for Sick Rant About Jewish Women’s Sex Lives A Kentucky state representative has apologized for bizarrely and offensively discussing the sex lives of Jewish women and the Holocaust while debating an anti-abortion bill. Republican Danny Bentley began his fallacious argument by claiming that a pill taken to induce abortions, RU-486, was developed by a Jew during WWII. He then bizarrely implied that the substance was used as a gas in death chambers. And while discussing whether or not Jewish women could be exempt from the proposed anti-abortion legislation, Bentley said, “Did you know that a Jewish woman has less cancer of the cervix than any other race in this country or this world?... And why is that? Because the Jewish women only have one sex partner… They don’t have multiple sex partners.” After Jewish leaders, including the only Jewish member of the state’s legislature, denounced the comments, Bentley—who happens to be a pharmacist—said, “I meant absolutely no harm in my comments today and sincerely apologize for any they caused...I clearly should have been more sensitive with my comments.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/kentucky-lawmaker-danny-bentley-apologizes-for-rant-on-jewish-womens-sex-lives-during-abortion-debate

The talks will go nowhere. Nothing short of complete capitulation will be acceptable to Putin. Meanwhile, a second Russian general has been killed on the battlefield: Top Russian General Killed in Combat -Getty An officers’ organization in southern Russia has confirmed that a Russian general was killed in combat this week in Ukraine. General Andrei Sukhovetsky led the Russian 7th Airborne Division and was a deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army. The organization did not confirm how Sukhovetsky died. Christo Grozev, executive director of investigative journalism website Bellingcat, wrote on Twitter that the death would be a “major demotivator” for the Russian army.

Faux News racist? Say it isn't so.

It would be very appropriate to have the protesters pay for the cleanup.

I believe this is the 600 million dollar yacht that was impounded in a French port yesterday. The intent is to sell the boat and donate the money for Ukrainian war effort and/or rebuilding.

A myth is an unmarried female moth.

He has also refused to divest the $300,000,000.00 Florida has invested in Russian companies.

About 120 of the dead in Ukraine so far are children. Being a Trump toadie means you never have to say sorry.

These anti-vax truckers resent Ukrainian victims of Russian invasion for receiving more media coverage Some of the silliest messaging from right-wing media in recent weeks is the assertion that the convoy of anti-vax truckers, who have been protesting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s vaccine/testing order, represent a profile in courage. A real profile in courage can be found in Ukraine, where everyone from President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ukrainian military to civilians have vowed to keep fighting the Russian troops that are invading their country. And according to Vice News reporters Mack Lamoureux and Tess Owen, some of the anti-vax truckers resent the fact that Ukrainians have overtaken them in media coverage. Lamoureux and Owen explain, “Even the ‘Truckers for Freedom’ Telegram channel, with its 96,000 subscribers, can’t decide if it’s more interested in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or their very own convoy puttering across the U.S. of A. As many involved in the so-called Trucker Convoys — the vast majority of vehicles taking part aren’t big rigs — enter the final stretch of their long haul, the group, aiming to end COVID-19 health measures, are disappointed by the lack of eyes on them, particularly after the Canadian version captured the attention of right-wing Americans for weeks.”

There was an agreement between Ukrainians resistance and the Nazis. During the first world war, the Germans offered Ukrainians separation from the Russian empire in exchange for intel and logistic support against the Tsarist Russian government, and for a few years, Ukraine was an independent country. Then Stalin came along and overran Ukraine again. The Ukrainians thought they had the same deal with the Nazis but as soon as the Russians were driven out of Ukraine, the Nazis turned on their Ukrainian allies and killed as many of them as they could find. When Russia re-took Ukraine, they took reprisals against anyone they thought might have aided the Germans. And yes, the Nazis saw Ukraine as a potential breadbasket for their empire. The plan was to use the "subhuman" Slavs as slave labour, working them to death and then occupying the then-vacant lands.

A note of caution here. As much as many would like to spit vitriol at the Russians, and even though they were responsible for the starvation deaths of 6-8 million Ukrainians, and the killing of many more, Ukrainians have their skeletons in their closets as well. During WW2, a right-wing faction of partisans took advantage of the chaos to undertake ethic cleansing of ethnic Poles living in the area close to the Polish border and forced out or killed some 50-60,000 of them. This was an area claimed by both Ukraine and Poland, but that does not minimize the horror of the killings.

One thing history teaches us is that international events are often completely unpredictable. Who would have thought that a German private pilot could have both flown right into the heart of Russia, evading all radar and then brining down the whole government? There are so many moving parts to this crisis that it is near impossible to predict the path and outcome of it.