Will we abandon Ukraine, and thus empower Putin and Xi to start a third world war in Europe and Asia? Or will the American people speak out loudly against such disastrous folly?
Not just Ukraine. Russia attacks us.... In 2016 Russians tried to hack Dems. Lots of proof. Hacked Little Marco Rubio. This is deja vu all over again.
In reality, Russia should nor be a major power. Trump has been elevating their status. Like I said yesteerday, Mueller convicted national security advisor Michael Flynn and the chair of the Trump presidential campaign, Paul Manafort. The investigation resulted in charges against 34 individuals and 3 companies, 8 guilty pleas, and a conviction at trial.
Mueller did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice by Trump, citing a Justice Department guideline that prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president. That pisses me off. It's uo to a jury to determine whether there was complicity. I thought that Mueller was farblonget and Weissman, who MSNBC has elevated to expert, should, at least have preserved Trump's testimony,
Putin has very cleverly framed his own imperialistic colonialism as anti imperialism and anti colonialism thus sucking in many on the left, and the result is a horseshoe with the ideological scale of the extreme left meeting the extreme right.
An example is the poster who claims to be a Jewish ostepathic doctor, and dissembles in favor Putin
Using trigger words that cause a reaction in leftists like anti colonial and anti imperial, Mr Imperialist Colonialist Putin has managed to twist the ideological spectrum into a horseshoe
George Washington said in a speech to Congress in 1790, "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." In the context of a world full of autocrats that feel threatened by democracy's existence, continual vigilance is necessary, without and within.
Yes, and a response to all those enemies of democracy who do Putin's work by complaining about the military industrial complex, yes there is abuse, yes there is profiteering, but without it the U.S.A. would not be what it is today, nor would there be democracies in the world.
"Sometimes, as we learned in World War II, it’s necessary to go to war to stop dictatorial madmen whose wars and territorial conquest won’t be otherwise stopped."
I'm no fan of war, but confronting Putin in a language he understands - overwhelming force - is the only tool left in our bag. I fully support any and all efforts to do so.
Sometimes decent people are morally bound to do ugly work
Given that Trump is not going to lift a finger to aid Ukraine and probably not NATO either, I don’t understand why Europe is not sending actual troops to fight in Ukraine. Don’t they know Putin will never stop with Ukraine? Now that Putin has brought in another country, North Korea, it’s time for Europe to step up.
The problem Linda is that there has been almost 80 years of peace in Europe, All of the damage of WWII has been covered up by new structures. The generations that live, have not dealt with war as far as their memory can recall. I was born before WWII, but the only thing I know about the war is what I first read in Time Life books, in libraries, and because of one poor neighbor the kids called shocky, because he had a metal plate in his head (bastard kids, I got shit for defending him)
The peace dividend has been conversion of munitions and armament factories to making stoves, toys, clothes and fertilizers.
Even in America we are depleting our stores of munitions and weapons. What we really need is an armaments program like FDR initiated in the 1930's. Russia has the same problem, but Putin has a better handle on it, because he is in charge of essentially a command economy.
Gloria you might want to look at my response to Linda. Immediately above.
Be advised, I am not defending or advocating for a run a way, no hold barred MIC., but we are not in the position to defend our own shores from a serious incursion, especially through Canada. (Of that I know more than a little)
In response to several posts hinting at somehow preventing Trump's take over, can anyone say why Greg Palast is failing to be heard when he seems to have proof that Vigilante Inc prevented hundreds of thousands of votes by "challenging" the voters, especially blacks in swing states? In a U Tube interview he claims that mainstream media won't print the data he has. Can the Hartmann Report at least quiz the press about it?
It seems to me that we can get the most bang for our buck right now by declaring open war on the rich, the corporations and monopolies, and the right-wing fanaticism that is feeding the fascist tendencies and ideology. Opulent wealth and delusional images of superiority and capability are our worst and most aggressive enemies.
Our best bang would be a hand recount where there have been inconsistencies. In 2020 Trump alleged a "steal." In 2024, based on the circumstantial evidence, with Russian and Musk help, he executed one.
It looks like another stillbirth to me and that isn't bathwater. It has been clear all along that foreign influence and outrageous lies spread with the billionaire manure spreader, voter suppression, and gerrymandering were fixing the election. To show the proof is probably an exercise in futility. War has been declared on the people and they will bring out the real guns if the win is challenged. I'm not holding my breath.
If we can show we have the votes and they bring out real guns they will lose. There's more of us than them, we have them surrounded, and the military will defend the constitution.
In addition to building cases for war on mountains of lies, each one of the American leaders cited had a complicit press to thoughtlessly amplify their claims. We've already seen what kind of "reporting" the corporate press provided during the presidential election. Besides our own skepticism, it will take a lot of heavy lifting to awaken our fellow citizens, while battling all three branches of government and a rabidly cooperative press to convince them. It's not impossible but the task is daunting.
Mr. Hartmann, a point by point response to your words would be a waste of time because you seem to have swallowed the kool aid. The Federation of American Scientists listed 201 military actions by the US dating from the end of WWll, up until the beginning of the 21st century. This does not count all the military attacks by the Neoliberals and Neocons since then. And there have, we all know, been some duzies since then. You are mis-informed. The US, a democracy, has started countless wars, both large and small. Your theme simply does not pass the empirical test.
You have done an admirable job of mental backflips and summersaults in your attempt to support your claim. You point out that George W. lied to us about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as though that lie was somehow an exception that proves the rule. Gee, what else is new? The biggest lies national leaders tell is always to their own people. Is this a revelation? I squirm when I recall how Colin Powell destroyed himself on TV in public as he deliberately lied to the UN. He was lying to Americans.
Frankly, I am surprised at you. You want the US to continue to help Ukrainians die for a lost American cause. 600,000 dead at last count. How many seriously wounded? Never have I seen you talk about the unimaginable slaughter of human beings in Gaza. When the Russians put missiles on the Island of Cuba; JFK brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Putin's response to Nato trying to enter Ukraine is not surprising. Chicken Hawks in Washington from Wolfowitz and Brezezinski and leading up to Crazy Old Joe Biden have treated the extinction of the human species by our own hands as though it were a play in a football game.
Putin is not Charlemagne, not Napoleon, not Hitler, not Lenin, not Peter the Great.
Putin is doing what JFK did. What would be the response if Russia or China installed weapons in Mexico or Canada? Let's wake up and open our eyes.
Actually, it seems pretty easy for leaders of Democratic countries to lie their way into war. Not sure about Xi, but Putin does not necessarily have a free hand. He needs troops but dare not call for a general mobilization or his citizens will be very unhappy. If America brought back constription ie the draft, I think they would see much less military involvement but I may be wrong.
I guess it is inevitable that every good substack has a built in troll, in this case Tim Cantrell. I depend on William Farrar's wisdom.
A problem with lying politicians is that when the Democrats said Trump is a fascist, many thought it was just the usual mudslinging and stopped listening. And yes, I also depend on William Farrar's wisdom.
Thus, Bush and Cheney had to engage in industrial-scale lying to the American people to gin up support for a phony war that was really being fought as a reelection stunt in advance of their 2004 contest against John Kerry.
That was my immediate reaction when Dubya gave his triumphant MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech, standing in front of that banner. OMG, I thought, horrified. The mission he just accomplished was ensuring his reelection! Who cares if a couple hundred thousand Iraqis die in the process.
Truth be known Tony is that people really don't care, they really don't, about the pain and suffering of others, empathy has limits. But the pain and suffering of others is an excuse to advance an agenda.
People waste their time, energy, and emotions on people at a distance, when those people at a distance are also people who inflict harm and suffering on others.
Take,for example, Feminists and Queers for Palestine. The people behind the sign wouldn't last 24 hrs in Palestine, Gaza or any Muslim country.
No one is more oppressed that females in Afghanistan, but you don't hear any whining or kvetching about poor oppressed Afghan females do you.
And you don't see any popular movement about the millions of Sudanese that are being starved and ethnically cleansed by the Sudan government.
A hundred thousand dead Iraqi's are an excuse.
By the way I marched against the 1st gulf war, because I knew it was a specious fraud.
There is no difference between the Kuwaiti's and Saddam, six of one half a dozen of the other, that was an internecine quarrel, and we had no business interfering, in fact were it not for the 1st Gulf war, there would have been no 9/11, no Iraq War and all that followed
One thing has led to another, this time a real domino scenario..
Breaking news. As I predicted Gaetz has withdrawn his nomination as AG
It has been a ploy, Kabuki theater. Now he will be sworn into the 119th Congress since he won an election, Rhonda Santis has no intention of having an election to replace him and there is not enough time, the winner would be out on Jan 2nd anyway.
Trump will throw his weight behind him being the Speaker of the House, it was all gamed planned on that airplane ride.
Mike Johnson's only hope of retaining speakership in the 119th Congress is to realize the findings of the ethic committee, but he surely knows that is a forlorn hope, because sex crimes, rape, molestation and abuse are not a crime in the Trump administration, not when the president is a serial offender.
Mike Johnson won't release the results of the ethnics committee because he knows that Gaetz will replace him and is afraid of the wrath of Trump.
One already has been. I am not at all eager though. I just don't accept things at face value. There is such a thing as critical thinking. Trump selecting Gaetz as AG was obviously a ploy. Trump wants an AG of the caliber of Barr, who knows his way around the barn, how to groom and saddle a horse, who to milk a cow. Not some ignoramus podunk. Trump has an ambitiious agenda, with a lot of pitfalls and obstacles and he needs an AG that knows where the pitfalls and obstacles are and how to get around them.
There are many skilled, right wing, theocratic lawyers who will be of great help in shredding the constitution. Maybe one of the ones that were convicted and will be pardoned., Kenneth Cheseboro comes to mind, in any event there is a long line of them that are well established and practiced in the workings of DC. It will be a right wing constitutional lawyer.
From my perch on the wire, it seems almost a certainty that Trump will cut a deal with his buddy Putin that will stop the war, give Putin Crimea and exclusive reign over the Black Sea, rescind Ukraine's NATO invitation, disband their army, and return the country to being another Russian satellite. Trump will then beat his chest as America's Deal-maker and I-told-ya-so, peacemaker while mocking the Democrats a impotent war mangers. Nobody in the MSM is likely to point out what the US has already invested in Ukraine except to call it a waste of tax dollars.
Of course, Trump will surely start a war someplace during his 4th year in office so he can use it to "Bush"-whack any efforts to deny him a 3rd term in office. It's the MAGAlorian Way.
Don't bother, Manuel, wasting your time providing "proof" to Tim. That's just his standard response whenever he disagrees with something. Many legitimate news sources over many years have documented in excruciating detail that Trump is absolutely Putin's puppet, someone he publically admires as a great leader, whom he faithfully defends, even at the expense of America's strategic interests, and is unabashed in admitting so. If right-wingers refuse to take responsibility for alleviating their ignorance by consistently failing to investigate subject matter for themselves, taking advantage of reliable and objective sources, especially news that has been so widely reported on, then they certainly are not going to accept what someone says in a tiny comment section of a blog. But more power to you if you try.
Will we abandon Ukraine, and thus empower Putin and Xi to start a third world war in Europe and Asia? Or will the American people speak out loudly against such disastrous folly?
Not just Ukraine. Russia attacks us.... In 2016 Russians tried to hack Dems. Lots of proof. Hacked Little Marco Rubio. This is deja vu all over again.
DOJ identified the Russians early on. On September 4, 2024, the United States publicly accused Russia of interfering in the 2024 election and announced several steps to combat Russian influence including sanctions, indictments, and seizing of Doppelganger-linked web domains used to spread propaganda and disinformation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections#:~:text=On%20September%204%2C%202024%2C%20the%20United%20States%20publicly%20accused%20Russia,to%20spread%20propaganda%20and%20disinformation.
In reality, Russia should nor be a major power. Trump has been elevating their status. Like I said yesteerday, Mueller convicted national security advisor Michael Flynn and the chair of the Trump presidential campaign, Paul Manafort. The investigation resulted in charges against 34 individuals and 3 companies, 8 guilty pleas, and a conviction at trial.
Mueller did not reach a conclusion about possible obstruction of justice by Trump, citing a Justice Department guideline that prohibits the federal indictment of a sitting president. That pisses me off. It's uo to a jury to determine whether there was complicity. I thought that Mueller was farblonget and Weissman, who MSNBC has elevated to expert, should, at least have preserved Trump's testimony,
We continue to sanction Russia. https://www.state.gov/ukraine-and-russia-sanctions/ Putin, now in charge, will get relief as soon as Trump assumes the role.
Putin has very cleverly framed his own imperialistic colonialism as anti imperialism and anti colonialism thus sucking in many on the left, and the result is a horseshoe with the ideological scale of the extreme left meeting the extreme right.
An example is the poster who claims to be a Jewish ostepathic doctor, and dissembles in favor Putin
The Hasidic/Chabad Algemeiner has exposed him quite well https://www.algemeiner.com/2024/06/06/antisemitism-and-anti-zionism-thrive-in-russia-is-putin-on-a-collision-course-with-israel/
Using trigger words that cause a reaction in leftists like anti colonial and anti imperial, Mr Imperialist Colonialist Putin has managed to twist the ideological spectrum into a horseshoe
where extreme left meets extreme right.
Stop them, Harris must.
George Washington said in a speech to Congress in 1790, "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." In the context of a world full of autocrats that feel threatened by democracy's existence, continual vigilance is necessary, without and within.
Yes, and a response to all those enemies of democracy who do Putin's work by complaining about the military industrial complex, yes there is abuse, yes there is profiteering, but without it the U.S.A. would not be what it is today, nor would there be democracies in the world.
"Sometimes, as we learned in World War II, it’s necessary to go to war to stop dictatorial madmen whose wars and territorial conquest won’t be otherwise stopped."
I'm no fan of war, but confronting Putin in a language he understands - overwhelming force - is the only tool left in our bag. I fully support any and all efforts to do so.
Sometimes decent people are morally bound to do ugly work
Given that Trump is not going to lift a finger to aid Ukraine and probably not NATO either, I don’t understand why Europe is not sending actual troops to fight in Ukraine. Don’t they know Putin will never stop with Ukraine? Now that Putin has brought in another country, North Korea, it’s time for Europe to step up.
The problem Linda is that there has been almost 80 years of peace in Europe, All of the damage of WWII has been covered up by new structures. The generations that live, have not dealt with war as far as their memory can recall. I was born before WWII, but the only thing I know about the war is what I first read in Time Life books, in libraries, and because of one poor neighbor the kids called shocky, because he had a metal plate in his head (bastard kids, I got shit for defending him)
The peace dividend has been conversion of munitions and armament factories to making stoves, toys, clothes and fertilizers.
Even in America we are depleting our stores of munitions and weapons. What we really need is an armaments program like FDR initiated in the 1930's. Russia has the same problem, but Putin has a better handle on it, because he is in charge of essentially a command economy.
Linda, good question.
Gloria you might want to look at my response to Linda. Immediately above.
Be advised, I am not defending or advocating for a run a way, no hold barred MIC., but we are not in the position to defend our own shores from a serious incursion, especially through Canada. (Of that I know more than a little)
In response to several posts hinting at somehow preventing Trump's take over, can anyone say why Greg Palast is failing to be heard when he seems to have proof that Vigilante Inc prevented hundreds of thousands of votes by "challenging" the voters, especially blacks in swing states? In a U Tube interview he claims that mainstream media won't print the data he has. Can the Hartmann Report at least quiz the press about it?
It seems to me that we can get the most bang for our buck right now by declaring open war on the rich, the corporations and monopolies, and the right-wing fanaticism that is feeding the fascist tendencies and ideology. Opulent wealth and delusional images of superiority and capability are our worst and most aggressive enemies.
Oy. Baby with bathwater......
Our best bang would be a hand recount where there have been inconsistencies. In 2020 Trump alleged a "steal." In 2024, based on the circumstantial evidence, with Russian and Musk help, he executed one.
It looks like another stillbirth to me and that isn't bathwater. It has been clear all along that foreign influence and outrageous lies spread with the billionaire manure spreader, voter suppression, and gerrymandering were fixing the election. To show the proof is probably an exercise in futility. War has been declared on the people and they will bring out the real guns if the win is challenged. I'm not holding my breath.
If we can show we have the votes and they bring out real guns they will lose. There's more of us than them, we have them surrounded, and the military will defend the constitution.
War is already here withe Trump hostile takeover regardless of votes.
Dems just need to face it and get tough. Since Hastis in still i the WH she can deal with this.
We must keep Harris in power however done.
Did Putin warn Harris of Nukes if she takes power or finds out she actually won?
Call his bluff.
In addition to building cases for war on mountains of lies, each one of the American leaders cited had a complicit press to thoughtlessly amplify their claims. We've already seen what kind of "reporting" the corporate press provided during the presidential election. Besides our own skepticism, it will take a lot of heavy lifting to awaken our fellow citizens, while battling all three branches of government and a rabidly cooperative press to convince them. It's not impossible but the task is daunting.
Mr. Hartmann, a point by point response to your words would be a waste of time because you seem to have swallowed the kool aid. The Federation of American Scientists listed 201 military actions by the US dating from the end of WWll, up until the beginning of the 21st century. This does not count all the military attacks by the Neoliberals and Neocons since then. And there have, we all know, been some duzies since then. You are mis-informed. The US, a democracy, has started countless wars, both large and small. Your theme simply does not pass the empirical test.
You have done an admirable job of mental backflips and summersaults in your attempt to support your claim. You point out that George W. lied to us about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as though that lie was somehow an exception that proves the rule. Gee, what else is new? The biggest lies national leaders tell is always to their own people. Is this a revelation? I squirm when I recall how Colin Powell destroyed himself on TV in public as he deliberately lied to the UN. He was lying to Americans.
Frankly, I am surprised at you. You want the US to continue to help Ukrainians die for a lost American cause. 600,000 dead at last count. How many seriously wounded? Never have I seen you talk about the unimaginable slaughter of human beings in Gaza. When the Russians put missiles on the Island of Cuba; JFK brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Putin's response to Nato trying to enter Ukraine is not surprising. Chicken Hawks in Washington from Wolfowitz and Brezezinski and leading up to Crazy Old Joe Biden have treated the extinction of the human species by our own hands as though it were a play in a football game.
Putin is not Charlemagne, not Napoleon, not Hitler, not Lenin, not Peter the Great.
Putin is doing what JFK did. What would be the response if Russia or China installed weapons in Mexico or Canada? Let's wake up and open our eyes.
Actually, it seems pretty easy for leaders of Democratic countries to lie their way into war. Not sure about Xi, but Putin does not necessarily have a free hand. He needs troops but dare not call for a general mobilization or his citizens will be very unhappy. If America brought back constription ie the draft, I think they would see much less military involvement but I may be wrong.
I guess it is inevitable that every good substack has a built in troll, in this case Tim Cantrell. I depend on William Farrar's wisdom.
A problem with lying politicians is that when the Democrats said Trump is a fascist, many thought it was just the usual mudslinging and stopped listening. And yes, I also depend on William Farrar's wisdom.
These missiles are short range, not long range. Not a small point.
From this article:
Thus, Bush and Cheney had to engage in industrial-scale lying to the American people to gin up support for a phony war that was really being fought as a reelection stunt in advance of their 2004 contest against John Kerry.
That was my immediate reaction when Dubya gave his triumphant MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech, standing in front of that banner. OMG, I thought, horrified. The mission he just accomplished was ensuring his reelection! Who cares if a couple hundred thousand Iraqis die in the process.
Truth be known Tony is that people really don't care, they really don't, about the pain and suffering of others, empathy has limits. But the pain and suffering of others is an excuse to advance an agenda.
People waste their time, energy, and emotions on people at a distance, when those people at a distance are also people who inflict harm and suffering on others.
Take,for example, Feminists and Queers for Palestine. The people behind the sign wouldn't last 24 hrs in Palestine, Gaza or any Muslim country.
No one is more oppressed that females in Afghanistan, but you don't hear any whining or kvetching about poor oppressed Afghan females do you.
And you don't see any popular movement about the millions of Sudanese that are being starved and ethnically cleansed by the Sudan government.
A hundred thousand dead Iraqi's are an excuse.
By the way I marched against the 1st gulf war, because I knew it was a specious fraud.
There is no difference between the Kuwaiti's and Saddam, six of one half a dozen of the other, that was an internecine quarrel, and we had no business interfering, in fact were it not for the 1st Gulf war, there would have been no 9/11, no Iraq War and all that followed
One thing has led to another, this time a real domino scenario..
Just wipe Putin off the map and then be happy.
Breaking news. As I predicted Gaetz has withdrawn his nomination as AG
It has been a ploy, Kabuki theater. Now he will be sworn into the 119th Congress since he won an election, Rhonda Santis has no intention of having an election to replace him and there is not enough time, the winner would be out on Jan 2nd anyway.
Trump will throw his weight behind him being the Speaker of the House, it was all gamed planned on that airplane ride.
Mike Johnson's only hope of retaining speakership in the 119th Congress is to realize the findings of the ethic committee, but he surely knows that is a forlorn hope, because sex crimes, rape, molestation and abuse are not a crime in the Trump administration, not when the president is a serial offender.
Mike Johnson won't release the results of the ethnics committee because he knows that Gaetz will replace him and is afraid of the wrath of Trump.
I'm eager to see if your predictions will be realized.
One already has been. I am not at all eager though. I just don't accept things at face value. There is such a thing as critical thinking. Trump selecting Gaetz as AG was obviously a ploy. Trump wants an AG of the caliber of Barr, who knows his way around the barn, how to groom and saddle a horse, who to milk a cow. Not some ignoramus podunk. Trump has an ambitiious agenda, with a lot of pitfalls and obstacles and he needs an AG that knows where the pitfalls and obstacles are and how to get around them.
There are many skilled, right wing, theocratic lawyers who will be of great help in shredding the constitution. Maybe one of the ones that were convicted and will be pardoned., Kenneth Cheseboro comes to mind, in any event there is a long line of them that are well established and practiced in the workings of DC. It will be a right wing constitutional lawyer.
From my perch on the wire, it seems almost a certainty that Trump will cut a deal with his buddy Putin that will stop the war, give Putin Crimea and exclusive reign over the Black Sea, rescind Ukraine's NATO invitation, disband their army, and return the country to being another Russian satellite. Trump will then beat his chest as America's Deal-maker and I-told-ya-so, peacemaker while mocking the Democrats a impotent war mangers. Nobody in the MSM is likely to point out what the US has already invested in Ukraine except to call it a waste of tax dollars.
Of course, Trump will surely start a war someplace during his 4th year in office so he can use it to "Bush"-whack any efforts to deny him a 3rd term in office. It's the MAGAlorian Way.
Crimea doesn’t belong to Trump to give away .
I have not seen where Trump is "taking Russia's side." That is literally a "red line" for me -- "a point of no return!"
“Take russia’s side?” He has been Putin’s puppet going back to before he became president in 2016. Putin helped him take this election.
Don't bother, Manuel, wasting your time providing "proof" to Tim. That's just his standard response whenever he disagrees with something. Many legitimate news sources over many years have documented in excruciating detail that Trump is absolutely Putin's puppet, someone he publically admires as a great leader, whom he faithfully defends, even at the expense of America's strategic interests, and is unabashed in admitting so. If right-wingers refuse to take responsibility for alleviating their ignorance by consistently failing to investigate subject matter for themselves, taking advantage of reliable and objective sources, especially news that has been so widely reported on, then they certainly are not going to accept what someone says in a tiny comment section of a blog. But more power to you if you try.
I would like to see proof of that.