Month: February 2025

Rise up, America!

by

BACKGROUND

1)”U.S. votes against U.N. resolution condemning Russia for Ukraine war; Washington’s shift on the conflict marks a major break with Europe and coincides with the Trump administration’s bid to repair relations with Moscow.,” Washington Post, February 24, 2024, ( 2:46 p.m. EST);

2)David Frum, “At Least Now We Know the Truth; It’s ugly, but necessary to face,” The Atlantic, February 28, 2028;

3)”Garry Kasparov, The Putinization of America; Trump’s deference to the Russian dictator has become full-blown imitation, The Atlantic, February 28, 2025 (7:00 a.m.ET);

4)Thomas L. Friedman, “This Never Happened With an American President Before,” New York Times, Februaty 28, 2025;

What will it take to remove a lawless pro-Russian president hell-bent on tearing down the rule of law and our democratic institutions, and programs enacted by Congress through our democratically-elected Congressmen and Senators?

What will it take?

The questiin assumes, of course, that the near comatose democratic body politic of American can becwoken up.

It assumes tgat fascism ant tyranny in America can becreversed.

But what swaits us if tgey cab’t be reversed, at least in our lifetimes.

As in Germany in tge 1930’s, things may roll along for a number of years rithout life changing fir most people in significantvways.

Of course, some people were affected. Hews and gypsies, forvexample.

Some political and military leaderscwere killed, but that didn’t affect most peopke.

Is tgere a road back to democracy and tge rule of law?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Today the United States u der Trump voted against a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia for its invadpsiin of Ukraine three years ago, on February 24, 2022.

The vote was ________?

***

The General Assembly then voted to adopt three amendments by European countries, adding language to the U.S. resolution that called out Russia as the invading aggressor, and reiterated the U.N. commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and prewar international borders under a “just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”

The Assembly then approved the amended resolution by a vote of 93 to 8, with 73 abstentions. The United States abstained on the amended version of its own resolution.

Voting against were Ryssua, Belarus, NotyjKLorea, Venezuela abd Cuba.
…
In addition to Haiti, countries voting against Ukraine’s resolution included Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Hungary, Israel, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Niger and Sudan.
…
Sixty-five countries abstained, including China, the Persian Gulf nations, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Yemen, Vietnam and much of Africa.

A Traitor in the White House?

by

We are fighting a gydra-headed fascist monster.

Stop hacking at the arms.

strike at the directing brain. Destroy tge minster at its core.

Impeach Trump now.

We know, or should know, things are no going to get get so long as Trump us President.

House Democrats should immediately table a bill of impeachment.

They should then add particulars, in tge operative form of a motion that can be voted on.

What are they aiting for?

Are they waiting for a mikitary coup to actually take place, after Trump has replaced all our mikitary leaders with hus lackeys?

By then it may be too late.

What are we waiting for America?

Do you not yet understand what us going down?

Trump and the fascistscare building a totalitarian government, and tgey intend to seize power through unconstitutional means.

Wake up, America!

Call and write your Congressman, and demand tgat a biklof impeachment be tabled now

Trump’s surrender of Ukraine to Putin

by

BACKGROUND

1)Fareed Zakaria, “Trump is surrendering much more than Ukraine to Putin; A hasty peace deal will see the U.S. forfeit principles and norms built over decades); Wasshington Post,
February 21, 2025 (6:00 a.m. EST);

2) Philip F. Rubio, “Save the Postal Service; Trump’s personal hostility has merged with long-standing conservative antipathy to endanger a vital civic institution,” The Atlantic, April 24,2020

Donald Trump, Russian stooge, channels Putin in the White House, attacks Zelensky; When will Republicans defend the country?

by

BACKGROUND

1) Andrew E. KramerConstant Méheut and Anton Troianovski, “Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks; President Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” after the Ukrainian president took issue with his statements on the war with Russia,” New York Times, February 19, 2925 (2:04 p.m. ET);

2) Pjotr Sauer and Luke Harding, “Trump calls Zelenskyy a dictator amid fears of irreconcilable rift; Remark follows Ukrainian leader’s claim US president living in a Russian ‘disinformation bubble’,” The Guardian, February 19, 2025 (13.38 GMT):

3) Robert Jimison, “As Trump Turns Toward Russia and Against Ukraine, Republicans Are Mum; Congressional Republicans have mostly tempered their criticism or deferred to the president as he topples what were once their party’s core foreign policy principles,” New York Times, February 19, 2025;

4) Paul Sonne, “Trump Elevates Kremlin Talking Points, a Familiar Pattern From His First Term; President Trump’s description of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as a “Dictator without Elections” echoes the Kremlin’s messaging,” New York Times, February 20, 2025 (1:03 p.m. ET);

5) David E. Sanger, “Europe’s New Reality: Trump May Not Quit NATO, but He’s Already Undercutting It; European officials knew the president’s win would threaten the fundamental precepts of the post-World War II order. But the speed at which it is unraveling has created a crisis of enormous proportions,” New York Times, February 20, 2025 (12:48 p.m. ET);

6) Nicholas Kristoff, “With Trump’s Prostration to Putin, Expect a More Dangerous World,” New York Times, February 19, 2025;

7) Craig Unger, “Donald Trump Was Everything Vladimir Putin Could Have Wished For; From the days when the KGB sought to cultivate him 40 years ago to his term as president, Trump was a useful stooge. And if he gets another term, he still can be, New Republic, March 2, 2022;

Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister in a Conservative government in Britain from 1940-1945. No elections were held for 10 years while Britain was fighting World War II.

Donald Trump is crazy to criticize Zelensky for not holding elections when Putin has not held free elections for decades, if ever.

What can we expect from a crazy President whomis reportedly a Russian asset and who seems to be channeling Russian propaganda and Putin from the White House.

Congress must remove Trump at the earliest opportunity.

Trump says Ukraine started tge war.

Really?

SURPRISE: Trump, “a Russian asset”, capitulates to Putin; Republican legislators refuse to defend U.S. National Security

by

BACKGROUND

1) Anton Troianovski and Ismaeel Naar (Reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), “U.S. and Russia Pursue Partnership in a Head-Spinning Shift in Relations; The two sides met in Saudi Arabia for their most extensive discussions in years. In addition to Ukraine, business ties were on the table,” New York Times, February 18, 2025 (1:47 pm ET);

Trump begins sell-out of Ukraine, following Putin’s script

by

BACKGROUND

1) Stefanie Bolzen, Alfred Hackensberger, und Dominik Kalus, “UKRAINE-KRIEG: ‘Er hat sogar mein Wahlkampfmotto gebraucht’, freut sich Trump nach dem Telefonat mit Putin,” Die Welt, den 13. Februar 2924 (03:31);

2) Stefanie Bolzen, Alfred Hackensberger, and Dominik Kalus, “UKRAINE WAR: ‘He even needed my campaign motto,’ Trump rejoices after the phone call with Putin,” Die Welt, February 13, 2025 (3:31 a.m.);

The echoes of Munich in September 1938 were deafening, as Donald Trump began selling out Ukraine to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on February 12, 2025.

At Munich, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Ėdouard Daladier agreed with Italy and Germany to cede the German-speaking Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, to Germany and Adolf Hitler who threatened a large-scale invasion to seize the territory. This agreement was negotiated over heads of the Czechs who were not allowed to participate in negotiations over the future of their own country.

This was the culminating act of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement of Germany. The policy did not work, as hit violated the agreement iwhen he invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia (so-called “rump Czechoslovakia”) in March 1939, and Poland on September 1, 1939.

Donald Trump is reportedly a “Russian sset”, and he has lost no time in setting out to do Putin’s work.

Paul Hegseth, the former Fox news commentator and now U.S. Defense Secretary gave away Trump’s position at the Munich Security Conference, stating that 1) NATO membership for Ukraine was out of the question, and 2) that it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect to return to its (internationally-recognized) borders before jthe Russian invasions in) 2014.

Look for more pro-Russian actions from Donald Trump, the American president who is reliably reported to ba a “Russian asset”.

Donald Trump is a brilliant politician and manipulatorr of popular opinion.

When it comes ton substantive foreign policy, he is a profoundly ignorant and stupid man, as suggested by his statements tgat tge U.S. would “take” and own Gaza and take back the Panama Canal.

He is a the zenith of his grandiosity at the moment. zhe is about to learn that the realities of international politics are more intractible than he might have imagined.

While he disdains all law, he is also about to learn tgat international law has teeth and cannot be ignored at his whim.

Any agreement recognizing Russian territorial gains achieved by military conquest would be void under peremptory norms of international law (jus cogens) from which there can be no derogation, not even by agreement between the parties.

Even if Trump and Putin reached agreement recognizing its territorial gains acquitted by military conquest, and coerced Ukraine into accepting it, the agreement would be void under international law.

This Trump will have to learn the hard way when other countries refuse to recognize or support any such agreement.

The United States is looking at four years of foreign policy led by an incredibly ignorant and stupid president.

American Bar Association president criticizes Trump for not following the Rule of Law

by

BACKGROUND

1) William R. Bay,”ABA: Trump team’s ‘wide-scale affronts to the rule of law’ weaken America,” Erie Times News/MSN,February 11, 2025;

2) Sara Boboltz “American Bar Association Says Trump Is Not Following The Rule Of Law; “No American can be proud of a government that carries out change in this way,” the group’s president wrote in a searing statement, HUFF POST, Febuary 11, 2025 (12:42 PM EST);

As of 9:00 p.m. on February 11, neither the Washington Post nor the New York Times had posted a story about the ABA president’s statement.

Do the editors at the Washington Post even know what the American Bar Association is?

Or do they have instructions to limit the articles critical of Trump that they print? Since Jeff Bezos’s interference in the editorial process at the Post, one must always suspect the paper is pulling its punches when it comes to Trump.

See Jennifer Rubin, “I Have Resigned from The Washington Post, effective today; Why I left to help launch a vibrant, new, independent media outlet, The Contrarian, January 13, 2025.

Do the editors at the New York Times even know what the American Bar Association is?

Are they also pulling their punches?

See Paul Krugman, “Leaving the New York Times; The full story,” Paul Krugman (Substack), January 28, 2025.

Our leading newspapers appear to pulling their punches when it comes to Trump. This is manifested in stories they don’t cover, the calm way in which they report outrageous developments in an ongoing coup d’état, or autogolpe (self coup), and in the lack of investigative journalism that explains what us going on in Trump’s and Musk’s ongoing efforts to overthrow the Constitutional order and the rule of law.

In an earlier time, they would have been all over a statement by the president of the American Bar Association that the President was not following the Rule of Law.

As lamentable as this is to a longtime reader and fan of the Times since Vietnam days and Watergate, we must now look also to alternative news sources such as The Contrarian to get the full range of news, analysis, and opinion we need in order to defend and sustain our democracy.

Trump advisers consider not complying with court orders

by

BACKGROUND

1) “Trump allies suggest defying court orders after stinging legal rebukes; A judge in Rhode Island warned Monday that the Trump administration could be violating an order to halt a spending freeze, Washington Post,February 10, 2025 (updatedat 8:30 p.m. EST)

Go ahead, Mr. President. You have been defying the Constitution and tge lawbforva long time.Why notvdefynthe courts.

Go ahead. It will make impeachment and removingbyou from office all the easier, and more likely to happen soon.

Trump tries to pressure Ukraine in negotiations. He wants access ton rare minerals in exchange for aid. As pressure tactics, he says Ukraine could bevRussian somevday, or noy

by

BACKGROUND

1)”En direct, guerre en Ukraine : Donald Trump suggère que l’Ukraine ‘pourrait être russe un jour’n Le président américain a aussi répété vouloir un accès pour les Etats-Unis aux terres rares ukrainiennes en échange de l’aide américaine à Kiev face à la Russie,” Le Monde, le 10 janvier 2025;

05:49

Donald Trump suggère que l’Ukraine « pourrait être russe un jour »

Donald Trump a évoqué lundi la possibilité que l’Ukraine devienne « russe un jour », répétant vouloir un accès pour les Etats-Unis aux terres rares ukrainiennes en échange de l’aide américaine à Kiev face à la Russie.

« Je veux que notre argent soit sécurisé parce que nous dépensons des centaines de milliards de dollars. Ils pourraient arriver à un accord, ils pourraient ne pas arriver à un accord. Ils pourraient être russes un jour, comme ils pourraient ne pas être russes un jour », a déclaré le président américain dans un entretien à la chaîne Fox News, ajoutant avoir réclamé à Kiev l’équivalent de 500 milliards de dollars de terres rares, des métaux notamment utilisés dans l’électronique.