When Putin's UN puppet claims that Ukraine has committed war crimes or is responsible for the genocidal acts in Bucha, I would like to see our Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stand up and scream - LIAR! I would like to see her take her shoe off and pound the table and scream - "You are the murderer!" I would like to hear her shout the Russian out of the room. Make some serious good trouble Linda!
Putin's outrages deserve some rage on the international stage. Maybe she could get as much publicity as Will Smith.
I think she would get a whole lot of attention! Krushchev (spelling?) took his shoe off and pounded on the table and screamed! However, I don’t think that is Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s style. She does say what she thinks and I am sure she will give a scathing rebuke to the Russians!
OMG… Today’s Edition doesn’t just occur magically? Loved Jills Behind the scenes at Today’s Edition; 5-1/2 hours for just one Edition! Thank you, both, for your dedication, integrity and most important, positivity. And your humor is infectious 🤗 Note to self: when having an especially negative day rewatch this video for a much needed virtual hug!
It is past time to ask the question, if not now, when. We should have acted two weeks ago. The horror on display in Bucha is just the beginning. It will get worse. I am sorry that I am in the minority of opinion. If not planes, why not anti- missile and anti-ship weapons. Are we playing for an ugly, protracted war of attrition?
You speak of the judgement of history in today’s letter. I believe that judgement should and will be harsh for the US and NATO.
The fear of nuclear annihilation will never recede if we fail to act. Is that the world we want for our children?
Hi, Neil. Your comment suggests that the US has done nothing to help Ukraine militarily. Here is the most recent catalog of what the US has done.
Washington has given Ukraine 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, 4,600 Javelin anti-tank missiles, five Mi-17 helicopters, three patrol boats, four counter-artillery and counter-drone tracking radars, nearly 40 million rounds of small-arms ammunition, 6,000 light anti-armor systems, and now 100 Switchblade loitering munitions.
I am sorry I gave that impression. I just believe that we can, and should do more. More sanctions, more advanced weapons, more help getting food and medicine in and people out. Jon (below) suggests the weapons are too complex to be useful. I do not buy that. People are available and willing to go today to operate those systems, even if 'mercenaries.'
Neither do I mean to suggest that we, Biden, have done little, as you so thoroughly outline. However, we are late to bring more to resolve this brutal invasion. Given the ubiquitous cadre of criminals Russia is sending, I believe we need to step up now.
It is my sense that in order to resolve this travesty, this threat to democracy, this 75+ year nuclear threat, disruption to supply chains, disruption of global alliances and trade, and guarantee continued improvement of relations with NATO, SE Asia, Japan, Australia, etc., we will sooner or later have to bring more conviction.
I respect your dissent from my view and acknowledge my path carries more risk. I just believe that risk is much smaller than you postulate. And, to follow the conservative approach only pushes resolution down the road. No matter the final decisions, the world has embarked on a dramatic next chapter. Finally, we can certainly be grateful that we have Biden and his administration and not TFG.
Robert, this war is going to continue for some time. The Ukrainian military must have more and more shipments sent so that they do not run out. They should have been fully weaponized before Putin started this war. I don’t want World War 3. I believe the best way to keep that from happening is to be fully prepared, and I mean our European friends as well as the U S.
In the widest terms, we risk nuclear annihilation, if not for us then for Ukraine and a large part of Europe if we push too far. I don’t know about you, but I recall living under the constant threat of nuclear war. I was a true child of the Atomic Age—I was born the day after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. That did not make me a pacifist, anything but, but it did give me some appreciation of what nuclear war could be. Horrible as what is happening to Ukraine is, a conflict with nuclear weapons employed would be a hundred or a thousand times worse.
On a more practical level, anti-missile and anti-ship missiles are very complicated and require lengthy training and complex supply chains, so they probably would do Ukraine little good. So we are left with rallying support for Ukraine to grind Russia down, and hoping that the victim nation can hold on until Russians tire of the struggle and demand that their troops come home.
Hi, Jon. One additional note to your comment: a "limited" nuclear war in Europe might result in small blast zones, but would likely generate huge clouds of dust that would shorten or eliminate the growing seasons globally for 3 to 5 years. Billions would starve. There is no such thing as a "limited" nuclear war (even though I use that term frequently).
Thanks. I had not realized that, although I suppose that "only" 5 or 10 battlefield-munitions (in the bloodless words of soldiers) might not have that effect. STILL we would be talking about tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed. Not to mention later effects like radiation systems. Too horrible to contemplate, as I know you realize.
I am a child of the nuclear age as well. I remember having to duck under my desk in drills and the constant emergency services drills over the tv. I was afraid that we would have a nuclear war.
We have nuclear weapons, so does Russia and several other countries. What has kept us from having a nuclear war is that they can push the button, but they know that we can, too.
It is also time to build up our military and our defense systems. Russia has always been our enemy and a threat and they always will. We must show strength so that they know that we mean business.
For some reason, I don't remember "duck and cover" drills where I grew up in Massachusetts. Maybe our school administrators decided that there was no way were going to survive, so why waste the time? I believe it is always wise to re-think our defense spending. Are aircraft carriers obsolete? I fear they are getting there. Are tanks still useful--has Ukraine proved that they, too, are old-fashioned, or are the Russians just doing a very, very poor job of using them (thank goodness). As for Russia, she does not have any democratic tradition, and it will require a great deal of work and time for her to develop one. You and I may not live to see it, but I would not give up on the idea.
I read your post and ask the same question that could be asked about our democracy in the U.S. - where have we been in the past 3 decades? Were we oblivious to the signs so evident in the discourse in the U.S. and Putin's crimes within his country as well as his brazen assault on Crimea? Or, his welcome interference with the U.S. national elections encouraged by he who shall not be named?
All this and Robert's comments being said, "Where does this end? How does civilization go from here on from here IF we cannot stop these atrocities? Where, concurrently, does the US go, if we cannot stop the outrageous lies and lawlessness of a former president and those who aided in an insurrection? Where and in what century will we ever see "Give peace a chance" as a reality rather than the inhumanity of 2022? PBS News Hour reported one evening last week that 25% of the world population is preoccupied with war. Seriously! It is, every day, more disgusting even as there is plenty of good in our world.
I agree with you. Yes to the Polish fighter jets. Tanks are being given to the Ukrainian military. They need body armor, more missles, more suicide drones, more ammunition, and more of everything else that we have. We should keep it going throughout the war.
Now Kosovo wants to be made a Nato member. Why not Ukraine? When this war is won by Ukraine, they should be given membership in NATO. President Zelinsky should not promise not to join NATO. All of the friendly countries should be made members. That would deter Russia from starting another war in Europe.
It’s often said that geography is destiny. As long as Russia is a nuclear power, Ukraine will not be able to join NATO, and NATO will not be able to accept Ukraine. In this way, Ukraine is like Finland, fated by its location to be a neutral. (Some weeks ago, there was apparently some interest in having Finland join the alliance, but that seems to have evaporated.)
I am wondering if the Ukrainians have enough soldiers to defeat the Russians. When would it be time to send in UN troops to help them? Or would the UN ever do that?
If we are to resist the temptation to send troops to Ukraine and still achieve an end to the invasion that is acceptable to the Ukrainians, Mr. Biden and his counterparts will have to come up with a strategy that clearly works and doesn't provoke a series of articles about how major parts of the Russian economy are outside the sanctions regime and major Russian players are still flitting around the world as though they were immune. The challenge goes beyond a temporary increase in gas and oil prices and may well involve American and European businesses not deriving record profits from the economic impact of the war. It's going to get more complicated, not less, as time goes on and the key will be ensuring a consistent approach over the next set of elections here and in Europe. There is a point at which Putin or other Russian string-pullers will conclude that the cost is higher than the potential profits even if they were to end up in possession of the Ukrainian oil reserves.
I agree, Dave. We may have to sacrifice the world economy to save Ukraine. I mean that in all sincerity. We must not be afraid to live without Russia oil, and the US must be willing to step into the breach to help the rest of the world to weather the storm.
I completely agree Robert or we give up any notions of being a leader in the fight against dictatorship in whatever form it takes. Mr. Biden has already taken some action under the Defense Production Act of 1950 for certain mineral resources; since the primary mineral resources at issue right now are natural gas and oil, it would be a major stroke for him to essentially nationalize production and direct output to where it's needed here and in Europe to enable a complete boycott of Russian supplies.
People who weren't around in the late 60s and early 70s tend to forget that there was a price paid for both the war and opposition to the war in Vietnam and that economic pain is survivable and substantially less permanent than death. If the Ukrainian people continue to be willing to stand up to the Russian invasion and war crimes, the least we can do is support them even if it means a cut in the bonuses that oil company executives give themselves.
As Russian soldiers retreat, they execute civilians; such was WWII Nazi policy. In 1944, as the invasion of Normandy pushed German troops east, Hitler ordered them to kill French civilians and burn French towns. In Oradour-sur-Glan, retreating German soldiers herded the town's men into barns and slaughtered them with machine gun fire. German soldiers then locked women and children into the church and torched it. After WWII, de Gaulle made a shrine of the town to remind the world of Hitler's authoritarian, fascist brutality. Today, Trump Republicans smile and admire Putin. (Written as a letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe, 4-4-2022.)
Fascist playbook includes the Soviets, and at the end of WW 2, civilians being "liberated" from the Nazi occupation by the Red Army got advanced warning of their routine alcohol-fueled plundering and rapes.
"The Katyn massacre[a] was a series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", the Soviet secret police) in April and May 1940. Though the killings also occurred in the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered by German forces."
This is a great call to action, Robert, “the democracy you save may be your own.” I loved Jill’s post about the newsletter. You are both such bright lights in a dark world.
"Hot sheets" is a reference to "Men in Black" when Tommy Lee Jones tells Will Smith that they should look at the "hot sheets" to see what the aliens are doing. So they go to a newsstand and buy a copy of The National Enquirer.
We have been here before-many times. FDR took his time, getting the U.S. involved in WWII, until the back and forth machinations between the United States and Japan ended with Pearl Harbor, and there was no longer any excuse for hemming and hawing. The world yawned at Pol Pot, until the Vietnamese decided enough was enough. Idi Amin? It was Julius Nyerere's Tanzania that stepped up. NATO got involved late in Bosnia, and the UN was largely as much a nuisance as a help, to the people of Rwanda.
So, Mohammed bin Salman and the Emirs of UAE are the new Italy and Japan? I hope Anonymous, and others, make life Hell for them. It was only a matter of time before Xi Jin-ping got involved, but I hope he remains smart enough to keep out of Taiwan.
Hi Ellie! Every morning, after Heather and Robert, I turn to Jill before getting on with my day. She always gives me a boost, sometimes a laugh, and I treasure her can-do, positive attitude toward life, her family, her garden. She finds and spreads joy.
When the National Park Service released this on April 1st I immediately realized it was an April Fools Day prank. Now after considering the Republican’s emergency session on the Ukraine crisis and the statements of some...? Perhaps it is actually Lincoln finally having enough of the current Republican party and finally turning his back on them? After all the statue does currently face east past the Washington Monument, along the National Mall and ultimately the U.S. Capitol where those fools sit when Congress is in session.
I'm asking for more work from you and Jill--could you give us a list of whom to prioritize in our calls and letters. There is strength in numbers. I'd be happy to help research phone numbers and addresses.
As a general guide pending any more specific response, David Pepper and Joe Trippi strongly recommend state races, especially in swing states, as well as attending to our local contests--assuring no Republican runs uncontested.
It is exhausting to be in a fight where one side is not constrained by truth. We learned that in the four years of the Trump mock-presidency. It's also exhausting to be in a fight where one side is ready to by-pass reasonable argument and go straight to vindictive screaming. I've experienced that from a woman I didn't know. I asked a question that I was innocuous. She told me she was going to a rally, and I asked her what kind of rally. Her face immediately twisted into rage and she snarled that it was a rally for Donald Trump. Zero to 60 in one second. I was shaken and had I not been sitting next to her, would have fled. So it's not just exhausting, it's terrifying to be in a fight where one side is ready to go "nuclear."
I’m reading “Strongmen” by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. It tells the stories of the major strongmen from Mussolini to the present. It is remarkable how what is happening today, especially in our country, mirrors the tactics used throughout history, especially the war on truth. I am distressed that so many people in this country who should know better, in particular our elected officials, are supporting this type of autocracy.
When Putin's UN puppet claims that Ukraine has committed war crimes or is responsible for the genocidal acts in Bucha, I would like to see our Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield stand up and scream - LIAR! I would like to see her take her shoe off and pound the table and scream - "You are the murderer!" I would like to hear her shout the Russian out of the room. Make some serious good trouble Linda!
Putin's outrages deserve some rage on the international stage. Maybe she could get as much publicity as Will Smith.
I think she would get a whole lot of attention! Krushchev (spelling?) took his shoe off and pounded on the table and screamed! However, I don’t think that is Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s style. She does say what she thinks and I am sure she will give a scathing rebuke to the Russians!
OMG… Today’s Edition doesn’t just occur magically? Loved Jills Behind the scenes at Today’s Edition; 5-1/2 hours for just one Edition! Thank you, both, for your dedication, integrity and most important, positivity. And your humor is infectious 🤗 Note to self: when having an especially negative day rewatch this video for a much needed virtual hug!
It is past time to ask the question, if not now, when. We should have acted two weeks ago. The horror on display in Bucha is just the beginning. It will get worse. I am sorry that I am in the minority of opinion. If not planes, why not anti- missile and anti-ship weapons. Are we playing for an ugly, protracted war of attrition?
You speak of the judgement of history in today’s letter. I believe that judgement should and will be harsh for the US and NATO.
The fear of nuclear annihilation will never recede if we fail to act. Is that the world we want for our children?
Hi, Neil. Your comment suggests that the US has done nothing to help Ukraine militarily. Here is the most recent catalog of what the US has done.
Washington has given Ukraine 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, 4,600 Javelin anti-tank missiles, five Mi-17 helicopters, three patrol boats, four counter-artillery and counter-drone tracking radars, nearly 40 million rounds of small-arms ammunition, 6,000 light anti-armor systems, and now 100 Switchblade loitering munitions.
Good Morning Robert,
I am sorry I gave that impression. I just believe that we can, and should do more. More sanctions, more advanced weapons, more help getting food and medicine in and people out. Jon (below) suggests the weapons are too complex to be useful. I do not buy that. People are available and willing to go today to operate those systems, even if 'mercenaries.'
Neither do I mean to suggest that we, Biden, have done little, as you so thoroughly outline. However, we are late to bring more to resolve this brutal invasion. Given the ubiquitous cadre of criminals Russia is sending, I believe we need to step up now.
It is my sense that in order to resolve this travesty, this threat to democracy, this 75+ year nuclear threat, disruption to supply chains, disruption of global alliances and trade, and guarantee continued improvement of relations with NATO, SE Asia, Japan, Australia, etc., we will sooner or later have to bring more conviction.
I respect your dissent from my view and acknowledge my path carries more risk. I just believe that risk is much smaller than you postulate. And, to follow the conservative approach only pushes resolution down the road. No matter the final decisions, the world has embarked on a dramatic next chapter. Finally, we can certainly be grateful that we have Biden and his administration and not TFG.
Robert, this war is going to continue for some time. The Ukrainian military must have more and more shipments sent so that they do not run out. They should have been fully weaponized before Putin started this war. I don’t want World War 3. I believe the best way to keep that from happening is to be fully prepared, and I mean our European friends as well as the U S.
In the widest terms, we risk nuclear annihilation, if not for us then for Ukraine and a large part of Europe if we push too far. I don’t know about you, but I recall living under the constant threat of nuclear war. I was a true child of the Atomic Age—I was born the day after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. That did not make me a pacifist, anything but, but it did give me some appreciation of what nuclear war could be. Horrible as what is happening to Ukraine is, a conflict with nuclear weapons employed would be a hundred or a thousand times worse.
On a more practical level, anti-missile and anti-ship missiles are very complicated and require lengthy training and complex supply chains, so they probably would do Ukraine little good. So we are left with rallying support for Ukraine to grind Russia down, and hoping that the victim nation can hold on until Russians tire of the struggle and demand that their troops come home.
Hi, Jon. One additional note to your comment: a "limited" nuclear war in Europe might result in small blast zones, but would likely generate huge clouds of dust that would shorten or eliminate the growing seasons globally for 3 to 5 years. Billions would starve. There is no such thing as a "limited" nuclear war (even though I use that term frequently).
Thanks. I had not realized that, although I suppose that "only" 5 or 10 battlefield-munitions (in the bloodless words of soldiers) might not have that effect. STILL we would be talking about tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed. Not to mention later effects like radiation systems. Too horrible to contemplate, as I know you realize.
I am a child of the nuclear age as well. I remember having to duck under my desk in drills and the constant emergency services drills over the tv. I was afraid that we would have a nuclear war.
We have nuclear weapons, so does Russia and several other countries. What has kept us from having a nuclear war is that they can push the button, but they know that we can, too.
It is also time to build up our military and our defense systems. Russia has always been our enemy and a threat and they always will. We must show strength so that they know that we mean business.
For some reason, I don't remember "duck and cover" drills where I grew up in Massachusetts. Maybe our school administrators decided that there was no way were going to survive, so why waste the time? I believe it is always wise to re-think our defense spending. Are aircraft carriers obsolete? I fear they are getting there. Are tanks still useful--has Ukraine proved that they, too, are old-fashioned, or are the Russians just doing a very, very poor job of using them (thank goodness). As for Russia, she does not have any democratic tradition, and it will require a great deal of work and time for her to develop one. You and I may not live to see it, but I would not give up on the idea.
I read your post and ask the same question that could be asked about our democracy in the U.S. - where have we been in the past 3 decades? Were we oblivious to the signs so evident in the discourse in the U.S. and Putin's crimes within his country as well as his brazen assault on Crimea? Or, his welcome interference with the U.S. national elections encouraged by he who shall not be named?
All this and Robert's comments being said, "Where does this end? How does civilization go from here on from here IF we cannot stop these atrocities? Where, concurrently, does the US go, if we cannot stop the outrageous lies and lawlessness of a former president and those who aided in an insurrection? Where and in what century will we ever see "Give peace a chance" as a reality rather than the inhumanity of 2022? PBS News Hour reported one evening last week that 25% of the world population is preoccupied with war. Seriously! It is, every day, more disgusting even as there is plenty of good in our world.
I agree with you. Yes to the Polish fighter jets. Tanks are being given to the Ukrainian military. They need body armor, more missles, more suicide drones, more ammunition, and more of everything else that we have. We should keep it going throughout the war.
Now Kosovo wants to be made a Nato member. Why not Ukraine? When this war is won by Ukraine, they should be given membership in NATO. President Zelinsky should not promise not to join NATO. All of the friendly countries should be made members. That would deter Russia from starting another war in Europe.
It’s often said that geography is destiny. As long as Russia is a nuclear power, Ukraine will not be able to join NATO, and NATO will not be able to accept Ukraine. In this way, Ukraine is like Finland, fated by its location to be a neutral. (Some weeks ago, there was apparently some interest in having Finland join the alliance, but that seems to have evaporated.)
I am wondering if the Ukrainians have enough soldiers to defeat the Russians. When would it be time to send in UN troops to help them? Or would the UN ever do that?
If we are to resist the temptation to send troops to Ukraine and still achieve an end to the invasion that is acceptable to the Ukrainians, Mr. Biden and his counterparts will have to come up with a strategy that clearly works and doesn't provoke a series of articles about how major parts of the Russian economy are outside the sanctions regime and major Russian players are still flitting around the world as though they were immune. The challenge goes beyond a temporary increase in gas and oil prices and may well involve American and European businesses not deriving record profits from the economic impact of the war. It's going to get more complicated, not less, as time goes on and the key will be ensuring a consistent approach over the next set of elections here and in Europe. There is a point at which Putin or other Russian string-pullers will conclude that the cost is higher than the potential profits even if they were to end up in possession of the Ukrainian oil reserves.
I agree, Dave. We may have to sacrifice the world economy to save Ukraine. I mean that in all sincerity. We must not be afraid to live without Russia oil, and the US must be willing to step into the breach to help the rest of the world to weather the storm.
I completely agree Robert or we give up any notions of being a leader in the fight against dictatorship in whatever form it takes. Mr. Biden has already taken some action under the Defense Production Act of 1950 for certain mineral resources; since the primary mineral resources at issue right now are natural gas and oil, it would be a major stroke for him to essentially nationalize production and direct output to where it's needed here and in Europe to enable a complete boycott of Russian supplies.
People who weren't around in the late 60s and early 70s tend to forget that there was a price paid for both the war and opposition to the war in Vietnam and that economic pain is survivable and substantially less permanent than death. If the Ukrainian people continue to be willing to stand up to the Russian invasion and war crimes, the least we can do is support them even if it means a cut in the bonuses that oil company executives give themselves.
And Robert, will the citizens of the US be willing and prepared to make those sacrifices?
As Russian soldiers retreat, they execute civilians; such was WWII Nazi policy. In 1944, as the invasion of Normandy pushed German troops east, Hitler ordered them to kill French civilians and burn French towns. In Oradour-sur-Glan, retreating German soldiers herded the town's men into barns and slaughtered them with machine gun fire. German soldiers then locked women and children into the church and torched it. After WWII, de Gaulle made a shrine of the town to remind the world of Hitler's authoritarian, fascist brutality. Today, Trump Republicans smile and admire Putin. (Written as a letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe, 4-4-2022.)
Hugh, thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work!
Robert, thanks for finding time to read comments. Keep doing your good work, too!
Fascist playbook includes the Soviets, and at the end of WW 2, civilians being "liberated" from the Nazi occupation by the Red Army got advanced warning of their routine alcohol-fueled plundering and rapes.
"The Katyn massacre[a] was a series of mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish military officers and intelligentsia carried out by the Soviet Union, specifically the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", the Soviet secret police) in April and May 1940. Though the killings also occurred in the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons and elsewhere, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered by German forces."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre
This is a great call to action, Robert, “the democracy you save may be your own.” I loved Jill’s post about the newsletter. You are both such bright lights in a dark world.
Never a truer statement. “ The Democracy we save may be our own.” and There is more of us Thant there is of them. It’s turnout damn it.
Agree with Jill (not an easy grader): A+
Ukraine is tragic. So is voter suppression in FL.
I watched Jill’s video about writing the newsletter. So much work! I am glad you see it as a labor of love and devotion.
I nominate Jill for Best Behind The Scenes Video !
“hot sheet” Is that a thing ??
"Hot sheets" is a reference to "Men in Black" when Tommy Lee Jones tells Will Smith that they should look at the "hot sheets" to see what the aliens are doing. So they go to a newsstand and buy a copy of The National Enquirer.
😂 Thought maybe you had some “hot” back channel access.❤️ your, and Jill’s, humor!
We have been here before-many times. FDR took his time, getting the U.S. involved in WWII, until the back and forth machinations between the United States and Japan ended with Pearl Harbor, and there was no longer any excuse for hemming and hawing. The world yawned at Pol Pot, until the Vietnamese decided enough was enough. Idi Amin? It was Julius Nyerere's Tanzania that stepped up. NATO got involved late in Bosnia, and the UN was largely as much a nuisance as a help, to the people of Rwanda.
So, Mohammed bin Salman and the Emirs of UAE are the new Italy and Japan? I hope Anonymous, and others, make life Hell for them. It was only a matter of time before Xi Jin-ping got involved, but I hope he remains smart enough to keep out of Taiwan.
Patience is the key, but anxiety is the stumbling block. Yes! Times may be on our side. Let's hope so and stay active.
Love your genial Managing Editor's "Behind the Scenes" video--fascinating!
Hi Ellie! Every morning, after Heather and Robert, I turn to Jill before getting on with my day. She always gives me a boost, sometimes a laugh, and I treasure her can-do, positive attitude toward life, her family, her garden. She finds and spreads joy.
When the National Park Service released this on April 1st I immediately realized it was an April Fools Day prank. Now after considering the Republican’s emergency session on the Ukraine crisis and the statements of some...? Perhaps it is actually Lincoln finally having enough of the current Republican party and finally turning his back on them? After all the statue does currently face east past the Washington Monument, along the National Mall and ultimately the U.S. Capitol where those fools sit when Congress is in session.
https://www.nps.gov/nama/linc01.htm
I'm asking for more work from you and Jill--could you give us a list of whom to prioritize in our calls and letters. There is strength in numbers. I'd be happy to help research phone numbers and addresses.
As a general guide pending any more specific response, David Pepper and Joe Trippi strongly recommend state races, especially in swing states, as well as attending to our local contests--assuring no Republican runs uncontested.
https://sisterdistrict.com/about-us/
https://runforsomething.net/
I had added Jessica Cravens, but yay, you're already connected to her "Chop Wood, Carry Water!"
It is exhausting to be in a fight where one side is not constrained by truth. We learned that in the four years of the Trump mock-presidency. It's also exhausting to be in a fight where one side is ready to by-pass reasonable argument and go straight to vindictive screaming. I've experienced that from a woman I didn't know. I asked a question that I was innocuous. She told me she was going to a rally, and I asked her what kind of rally. Her face immediately twisted into rage and she snarled that it was a rally for Donald Trump. Zero to 60 in one second. I was shaken and had I not been sitting next to her, would have fled. So it's not just exhausting, it's terrifying to be in a fight where one side is ready to go "nuclear."
I’m reading “Strongmen” by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. It tells the stories of the major strongmen from Mussolini to the present. It is remarkable how what is happening today, especially in our country, mirrors the tactics used throughout history, especially the war on truth. I am distressed that so many people in this country who should know better, in particular our elected officials, are supporting this type of autocracy.