Would Putin be replaced by someone worse?

 Yevgeniy Prigozhin is warning of a Russian revolution if Putin doesn't get the entire nation fully committed to the obliteration of Ukraine.  Does that mean nukes?

“We must introduce martial law. We unfortunately … must announce new waves of mobilization; we must put everyone who is capable to work on increasing the production of ammunition,” he said. “Russia needs to live like North Korea for a few years, so to say, close the borders … and work hard.”...“This division might end as in 1917, with a revolution — when first the soldiers rise up, and then their loved ones follow.”

I am hoping Putin is overthrown by forces that want to stop the war, but he could be overthrown by forces that want to escalate the war.  Russia has a very long history of dictatorship oppression.  

Extortion is not negotiation

 The "negotiating" advice that the deeply corrupt, lifelong criminal Former Guy is demanding of the Republican Party is not actual negotiating, it is extortion, it is  blackmail. It is how this cheat has cheated in business all of his adult life.  He signs contracts and breaks them and has done so all of his life. He refuses to pay vendors and has done so all of his life.  

He is a man of zero character.  His word is not his bond; his word is his promise that whatever he does it will not be what he says he will do, and will not be according to the contracts he signs.  It will be a promise to break his make believe promise and blackmail and extort and cheat and steal.  

That is who he is, and that is who the MAGA Cult party is becoming.  Because they admire and copy him.  Character is the biggest predictor of behavior and we see his character, and the character (lack of it) in his slavish MAGA Cult.

I deeply hope that the Republican House does not stick to its extortion, and ends up with a negotiation and continues to pay the country's bills and funds the government.  That they say no to the Former Guy and his cult following.

Trump's enemies are Putin's enemies

In case you were wondering if Putin helped Trump win in 2016, and wonder if Putin's Russia is helping/will help the traitorous Former Guy in the 2024 presidential election, here is your proof.

Putin has published a list of enemies of Putin, and surprise! surprise!  they include "enemies" of the Former Guy:

"Among the 500 people singled out for travel and financial restrictions on Friday were Americans seen as adversaries by Mr. Trump, including Letitia James, the state attorney general of New York who has sued him for alleged fraud, and Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia who rebuffed Mr. Trump’s pressure to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome of the election, also made the list. So did Lt. Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police officer who shot the pro-Trump rioter Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021."

Enemies of Putin inside Russia get poisoned or pushed out of windows - dozens of them.  

It is blindingly obvious that Putin wants the dimwitted Former Guy to be president because he is so easily manipulated/bribed/blackmailed/fooled that Putin gets exactly what he wants from this embarrassing excuse of an American.

Clarity, in case any were unclear.

The Right Wing Extremist violators

 Right wing extremists displayed themselves in their full, foul plumage during the CNN Trump "Town Hall" where The Former Guy spewed his fire hose of lies, vitriol, and threats to the applause, laughter, and amusement of the adoring MAGA cult "audience". 

What has happened to the Republican Party that I was once part of?  

• They violate the Constitution by claiming to defend the Constitution - for example:
• This was the only presidency that tried to violently overthrow a presidential election
• The Former Guy stole classified military and espionage secrets with a likely aim of selling them to hostile foreign powers
• They do all they can to limit the voting of blacks, browns, reds, yellows, the young

• They violate Christ's teachings and life by claiming to be Christians - for example:
• They openly and proudly proclaim their bigotries:
• against blacks, browns, yellows, and reds
• against gays and transgenders
• against women's right to empower their own lives with reproductive choices
• By choosing threats, guns, and violence in total repudiation of The Sermon on the Mount

• They violate the law and celebrate the lawless while claiming to be the "Law and Order Party"
• They assaulted the police on January 6, 2020 and praise those violent thugs sent to prison
• They worship the Former Guy and his multiple financial corruptions 
• They worship the Former Guy and his multiple sexual assaults on women
• They send armed, threatening MAGA cultists to voting locations to intimidate liberal voters

• They violate the environment and the balance and health of nature, for example:
• Are dedicated to reducing environmental regulations on manufacturing and mining discharges
• Are dedicated to reducing environmental regulations on air pollution
• Are dedicated to reducing environmental regulations protecting species extinctions
• Are dedicated to promoting fossil fuels and impeding green energies
• Are dedicated to promoting giant chemical farming practices which, when abused, despoil the soil and reduce nutrition and sustainability

• They violate democracy claiming democracy isn't as important as forcing the country to do what they demand.  For example:
• The Former Guy tried to violently overthrow a presidential election
• An Arizona governor candidate still refuses to concede her loss
• Election deniers after election deniers are nominated and sometimes elected by them
• They do all they can to limit the votes of blacks, browns, reds, yellows, and the young

• The violate personal freedoms and claim to be the Party of Freedom
• No freedom for women and couples to control their reproductive lives
• No freedom to live a harassment free life if you are gay
• No freedom to live a harassment free life if you are transexual
• No freedom to read books that the extremist fanatics disapprove of
• No freedom to teach about the history and presence of racism in America
• No freedom to teach about gays
• No freedom to teach about the atrocities of slavery
• No freedom to teach about the atrocities of Jim Crow 
• No freedom to ---- more to come I am sure, just give them more time.

This is just a half hour top of the head listing of the violations of the Right Wing Extremists.

You could say they are hypocritical, but that is too kind.  I think they are just corrupt and righteous tyrants with a good enough propaganda system that they fool enough people so that they can get away with it.  For a short time, anyhow.  

Their time will be over, and goodness truth and beauty will prevail.

This is America, not the Confederacy, not Russia.

The jurors have to hide from MAGA Trump

Trump was tried and found guilty for his sexual assault, and disturbingly, the judge felt he had to warn the jurors to hide from Trump’s violence.  In America.  

“…U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan advised the jurors not to identify themselves—“not now and not for a long time”—out of concerns for their safety. National security analyst Juliette Kayyem reported the judge’s warning and noted that “Trump’s strongest legacy will always be violence…”

The threat of violence from The Former Guy is very real.  He threatens harm overtly and consistently.  

And 74 million Republicans voted for this violent person. What has happened to America?

$5,000,000 … sexual abuse … guilty

 The Former Guy was found guilty … “ Donald Trump must pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her by branding her a liar, a jury decided on Tuesday.”

This excuse of a man has a life long history of multiple crimes, and sexual assault is one of them. And a jury convicted him. Today. 

There are two paths forward for America - rule of law or rule of autocrat.  Democrats stand for the rule of law, the MAGA Cult is trying to enforce rule of autocrat. 

Today the rule of law won.

A good day for America.