Peace or Piece Talks

27 thoughts on “Peace or Piece Talks”

1. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-diplomacy-ceasefire-negotiations-adc1034f0eed21efcdbb35c9a68bde6c

   It was a weekend of diplomatic announcements on the war in Ukraine.

   First, European leaders assembled in Kyiv on Saturday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire. Then, after midnight, the Kremlin leader surfaced in Moscow to unveil a proposal for talks in Istanbul, Turkey.

   If both Putin and Zelenskyy sit down with each other, it would be a first in the 3-year-old war.

   Key events that have shaped efforts to end the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022:

   Feb. 28, 2022: Ukrainian and Russian delegations meet in neighboring Belarus for the first time after the invasion. Talks continue over the next two weeks, but no apparent agreements emerge other than a decision to set up humanitarian corridors for civilians.

   March 21, 2022: Zelenskyy calls for direct talks with Putin but is rebuffed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. A day later, Zelenskyy says he is prepared to discuss a commitment for Ukraine to not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.

   March 29, 2022: Talks begin in Istanbul, Turkey, with Moscow saying it’s willing to “fundamentally cut back” military activity near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, while Ukraine said it was open to discussing neutral status for Ukraine if its security is backed by other nations.

2. or piecemeal ?
   
   Seth Meyers does his monologue for Tuesday, May 13, before stepping away from the bleak and depressing news to share a news story about a man from Wisconsin who has been bitten by snakes 200 times on purpose.

3. 
   “There are people in Trump’s inner circle who realise that Russia isn’t very serious about this.”
   Trump hints he may come down harder on Russia as the US president reveals he is open to sell weapons to Ukraine, says Angela Stent, former US national intelligence officer for Russia.

4. Pogo, sorry new thread was so late. Microsoft decided to take their sweet time upgrading my connection this morning. here’s your early a.m. comment reposted:

   Looks like there may have been a small spinal bone graft in Congress.

   In rare move, Congress pushes back on Trump over Library of Congress

   Lawmakers are raising separation-of-powers concerns as the White House seeks to install a Justice Department official at the legislative-branch institution.

   In a rare bipartisan effort to defend its institutional authority, Congress is quietly resisting President Donald Trump’s attempt to assert control over the Library of Congress — a move that experts say threatens the separation of powers and the integrity of the legislative branch’s premier research body.
   Pushing back on Trump’s designation of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting librarian, lawmakers said Tuesday that control of the institution remains with its top career official, Robert R. Newlen. Newlen told staff at the library that he is the acting head, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.
   The president installed Blanche — a close Trump ally and his former defense attorney — as the acting head of the library just days after he abruptly fired Carla Hayden, the first woman and African American to serve as librarian of Congress, on Friday, nine years into her 10-year term.

   [Continues]

   WaPo

5. So congress fights back………for the Library……….

   How utterly fearless of them.

   Stur

6. No easier way to form meatballs…
   

7. Sturg, like I said a small spinal bone graft. We’ll see if it takes.

8. I can only hope that the orange pope of turdville (OPT) excommunicates some of them for not being good and complicit little choir boys.

   sturbridge

9. Too late for Republicans in this Congress. Dodo doesn’t give a whit of a schit what they think, he’ll continue doing whatever he wants.

10. While they still blow their noses using the word “republican” and still bandy it about in conversations,
    they are in no way republucabs any more; they’re now just The Insurrectionist Party.
    They are doomed to dwindle.

    They’ll be alright as long as they have their golden calf to worship, but the goldem calf is beginning to look a bit tattered, torn, and genereally fragile these days

    Sturtnagel

11. Jamie…

    I’m sticking with Sandman for the Preakness.

12. Is Tiztastic still available, Jamie? I’m sticking, if so. Still love that name.

13. Woke up this morning thinking about Basil..
    

14. https://www.alternet.org/news-politics/gop-babies-7-kids/

    GOP plan redefines dependent child as ‘under 7’ — but adds loophole for married couples

    Under the new proposed House definition for SNAP, once that child turns seven—usually someone in second grade—they could no longer be considered a dependent, with one exception.

    However, it removes the work requirement if the adult with the dependent child is married and lives with someone who already complies with the new regulations. Unmarried couples with a child would not qualify for the exemption.

    *Get married & stay married, even if it’s an abusive situation. One-parent household? No soup for you, seven-year old! SNAP-n@zis!

    The new House proposal also adds ten years to the time when the adult needs to continue working in order to receive SNAP benefits, from 54 to 64 years of age.

    *No soup for you, either, meemaw!

15. While Adolf and his n@zis are frittering away tax dollars on a military parade for a draft dodger, Dems should just…take over the government…lock the WH…contact the International Criminal Court…anything!

    I’d fully expect an attack on the US, cyber or physical, while Adolf and the Asshats are cosplaying patriotism.

16. Their next move will be to put the kids out to work, not just the parents and grandparents. From the people who brought us serfdom and chattel slavery. They still walk amongst us.

17. I asked for a bandaid at the doctor’s office yesterday. She told me DOGE had eliminated them.

18. Jamie,
    I’m riding American Promise for the Preakness even tho’ he disappointedly came in 16th at the Derby due to being cut off early on.

19. Goober Toober. Why do we have such a horrible throwback of a Senator? Oh wait, he’s not my Senator anymore. Thank God.

20. I find myself “explaining Alabama” to people I meet out here. I say it like this: it’s a place where you get to make a choice. You can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution.

21. Sadly, many have been miseducamated about both the problem and the solution.

22. Only a “possible” answer?

    BUT WHO CARES? Because all anyone is interested in now is the damn jet plane, which will be top of mind while Trump rubs shoulders with the very same Qatari royals planning to gift it to him. Even Trump himself can’t shut up about it. “You see Saudi Arabia, you see UAE and you see Qatar, they have these brand-new 747s mostly,” the billionaire U.S. president complained on Fox News, in one of his less-relatable moments. “You see ours next to it. This [Air Force One] is like a totally different plane. It’s much smaller and less impressive … My attitude is — why wouldn’t I accept a gift?” (One possible answer: The Constitution.)”
    – Politico

24. So tragic it was in fact a plane crash that took his life.

    The plaque marking the location of Denver’s plane crash in Pacific Grove, California
    Upon the announcement of Denver’s death, Colorado Governor Roy Romer ordered all state flags to be lowered to half-staff in his honor. Funeral services were held at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Colorado, on October 17, 1997, officiated by Pastor Les Felker, a retired Air Force chaplain, after which Denver’s remains were cremated and his ashes scattered in the Rocky Mountains.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Denver

25. https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-thanedar-7f5d4b2d7cfa07be98a5267915357d6e

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic lawmaker is launching a renegade effort to impeach President Donald Trump, pushing past party leaders on Wednesday with an attempt to force a procedural vote in the U.S. House that is expected to fail.
    Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan announced his intention to charge ahead, saying that as an immigrant he wants to do all he can to protect America’s Constitution and its institutions. His resolution contains seven articles of impeachment against the Republican president.
    “Donald J. Trump has been committing crimes since day one — bribery, corruption, taking power from Congress, creating an unlawful office in DOGE, violating First Amendment rights, ignoring due process,” the congressman said earlier from the House floor.
    It would be the historic third time Trump has faced impeachment efforts after being twice impeached during his first term as president — first in 2019 on charges related to withholding military aid to Ukraine as it confronted Russia and later on a charge of inciting insurrection over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Trump was acquitted both times by the Senate.
    Thanedar is not the only Democrat who has signaled impeachment efforts against Trump. But his decision to go it almost alone, without backing from party leadership, comes as he faces his own political challenges at home, with several primary opponents looking to unseat him in his Detroit-area congressional district.
    Democrats who streamed out of their weekly caucus meeting were critical of the impeachment effort. They said the focus should not be on impeachment but on Republican efforts to cut spending on important programs that Americans rely on, such as Medicaid and nutrition assistance.
    “There’s no support for an impeachment resolution. There have been no hearings on compiling a record for which impeachment can be based. And this is just a procedure that’s meaningless at this point,” said Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. ”The sponsor is out of sync with the mood and the trajectory of House Democrats.”
    [continues]

26. The sponsor is out of sync with the mood

    I’m totally in sync with it.

27. The “big, beautiful bill” is the SCREW AMERICANS bill.

    The Qatari plane is HAMAS FORCE ONE.

    The Republican Party is the Repugnant-N@zi Party.