47 thoughts on “Hang In There”

  1. Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
    We are not now that strength which in old days
    Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
    One equal temper of heroic hearts,
    Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
    To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

     

    [from “Ulysses” by Tennyson]

  2. also applicable with tongue in cheek are the lines of ole rudyard the kip:

    If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,..

    then you’re Ukraine, my son, and they are Putin.

  3. YouTube thumbnail

    Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky released a new video on the morning of March 8, showing him outside in Kyiv as spring arrives.

  4. the guardian at 5:41 a.m.

    Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said that Vladimir Putin would not refuse a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss “specific” issues, reports Reuters.

    just don’t shake his hand or drink the tea, Volodymyr, and don’t stand anywhere near a window.

  5. House passes bill banning Russian oil imports, authorizing sanctions | TheHill

    The House passed legislation on Wednesday to ban imports of Russian oil and authorize further sanctions, following a similar executive order from President Biden

    Lawmakers passed the bill on a bipartisan basis, 414-17. Only 15 Republicans and two Democrats voted against the bill.
    The vote now puts members of both parties on record backing an action that is likely to further increase gas prices, which are already reaching record levels in the U.S. due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 
    [continues]

    Wapo’s coverage on it:

    House lawmakers approved a sweeping, roughly $1.5 trillion spending package on Wednesday that would fund the U.S. government and stave off a potential shutdown, while provisioning a slew of new humanitarian, economic and military assistance to Ukraine.
    The bipartisan outcome capped off a tumultuous day on Capitol Hill that nearly imperiled a long-sought, hard-fought compromise only days before a critical fiscal deadline. Alongside it, Democrats and Republicans adopted a separate yet related measure to levy economic punishments against Russia for its invasion, including limits on its oil exports, much as President Biden had announced this week.
    Both bills still require a vote in the Senate, which must act on the spending package before midnight Friday otherwise Washington will grind to a halt.
    […]
    For now, the spending deal approved by the House is vast in scope, replacing the series of patchwork agreements that had essentially kept funding levels in Washington static for the entirety of President Biden’s first year in office. It proffers massive increases in federal health-care, education, science and defense programs for the remainder of the fiscal year, which concludes at the end of September.
    In total, it sets federal domestic spending at a level of $730 billion, an amount that covers significant boosts at agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor and the Department of Education. It injects new funds at the Internal Revenue Service, meanwhile, hoping to cut down on its backlog of tax returns. And it empowers the Food and Drug Administration to regulate electronic cigarettes for the first time.
    […]
    With it, lawmakers agreed to deliver greater sums to the Defense Department, with funding levels slated to rise to $742 billion under the House-passed proposal. The new money arrived after Republicans fought vigorously to bolster national security in recent months, defying calls from some Democrats, who had hoped to use their narrow yet powerful majorities in Congress pursue long-sought cuts at the Pentagon.
    The bipartisan deal also served as a conduit for lawmakers to advance roughly $14 billion in new aid to Ukraine, a widely sought tranche of money that aims to deliver military support, respond to the emerging refugee crisis, bolster NATO allies and enforce sanctions against Russia and its political elite. 

    [continues]

  6. Something tells me….it might be a little bird or something, not sure…..there are cool heads behind the scene who are using this time for ramping up and getting it together for what they see as the inevitable wider war between Putin and the world.   This frog’s gonna jump and it might not be that far off, ladies and germans.

  7. Sturgeone – I have not asked around to people I know in the military about status right now.  I do know that when I was in and something burped in the Soviet Union we would be told to stay around and not take leave.  When it got tense we got orders to do that.
     
    A constant that demonstrates how stupid the greedy old perverts are is the gqp opposition to legalizing marijuana in D.C.  The bias goes back decades to when the District was known as Chocolate City.  It is quite gentrified now and is a lot white.  So the prejudice of keeping weed illegal is to keep Black people in jail.  At least D.C. does have some mj allowed, but not like the states such as Colorado.  D.C. has a higher population count than Wyoming, time to make D.C. a state, State of Maui Waui sounds okay.

  8. warning: before you click on it be aware this link is from world socialist website 

    WSWS:

    On the sidelines of China’s annual National People’s Congress, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a lengthy press conference on Monday urging a negotiated end to the war in the Ukraine while reaffirming the “iron clad” friendship between China and Russia. His comments come amid mounting pressure from the US and its allies demanding that Beijing condemn the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
    Wang suggested that China could mediate peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, saying: “China is prepared to continue playing a constructive role to facilitate dialogue for peace and work alongside the international community when needed to carry out necessary mediation.”
    The foreign minister also outlined a six-point plan to address the humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine as fighting continues and intensifies. No doubt reacting to the deluge of Western media propaganda seizing on the plight of Ukrainian civilians, he said that the provision of aid should “abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and avoid politicising humanitarian issues.” He called for the United Nations to be in charge of coordinating relief efforts.
    Wang said the Red Cross Society of China would provide the Ukraine “with a tranche of emergency humanitarian supplies as soon as possible.” The Chinese foreign ministry announced on Wednesday that China would supply a batch of nearly $800,000 worth of aid, including food and daily necessities. The first shipments had already been sent.
    […]
    China is engaged in a precarious balancing act in the Ukraine crisis. It has refused to line up with the US–NATO war drive by condemning or imposing sanctions on Russia but neither has it fully endorsed Moscow’s actions. Beijing has not supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree last month recognising the independence of two regions in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. It fears that Putin’s move sets a dangerous precedent for US intervention to break up China.
    At the same time, Beijing has blamed the conflict on the encroachment of the US and NATO into eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, and their refusal to acknowledge Russian national security concerns or guarantee that the Ukraine will not become part of NATO. It has called for the international recognition of the national security concerns of all parties—both Russia and the Ukraine.
    […]
    In an interview on Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said China had to be the one to mediate, but acknowledged that the EU had yet to ask Beijing to do so. “There is no alternative… it must be China, I am sure of that,” he said.
    On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in which he declared he was “pained to see the flames of war reignited in Europe” and called for “maximum restraint” in the Ukraine crisis.
    While a statement released after the meeting declared that all three leaders supported “negotiations aimed at a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” it announced no concrete proposal for talks or any agreement for a solution. 
    [continues]

  9. announced today

    Ukraine: We have agreed joint peace efforts with Wang says Di Maio – English – ANSA.it

    (ANSA) – ROME, MAR 10 – Italy and China have agreed joint peace efforts on the Russian war in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said after a videocall with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday.
        “With my colleague Wang Yi we agreed on joint efforts for a peace process,” Di Maio tweeted.
        “(We) reiterated that coordination of the international community is the only way to reach a diplomatic solution.
        “I expressed firm condemnation for Russian aggression and reaffirmed support for the Ukrainian people”. (ANSA).

  10. For those not caring what a bunch of fools are doing trying to mess up traffic on the Beltway, which should be you, Cancun Cruz is going to be in the lead of the “convoy”.  So far the score is Beltway 4 convoy 0.  With stupid leading the parade I can see them ending up on I66 heading to West Virginia this afternoon. 
     
    A funny is that one “trucker” said he is was not going to drive because three girls in a Hyundai flipped him off.  Ah, poor baby.  I have seen D.C. motorcycle cops flip off drivers on I395 while driving seventy miles an hour going past them.  Yeah, tell me about the snow flakes who are supposed to be tough. The Beltway and the rest of the numbered interstates of D.C. are no place for the weak.  And, if those truckers ever get off the Beltway and head into D.C. – good luck trying to hitchhike out.

  11. I wondered whether those idiots were still trying to get some attention.  I haven’t seen a minute of coverage of them this week.

  12. the tucker is at it again.  must be ratings week for his show in moscow

    Tucker Carlson accuses America of “mounting a disinformation campaign” against Russia | Media Matters for America

    Tucker Carlson Claims Actually, America is Attacking Russia With ‘Disinformation’ (Video) (thewrap.com)

    and at wonkette yesterday

    Tucker’s Lie About Biden Making Russia Invade Ukraine Really Getting Its Wings Now – Wonkette

    We were just discussing some truly shocking polls that suggest the American people, at least for right now, seem OK with at least some bit of personal sacrifice (“pain at the pump,” like the kids call it), if it means we can destroy Vladimir Putin’s economy enough to get him to pull his murder brigades out of Ukraine. President Joe Biden told America yesterday that banning Russian oil won’t necessarily be pleasant for American consumers, but pledged he’d do everything in his power to mitigate that.
    But wait, why should Americans sacrifice for the greater good? And why aren’t Americans rooting for the white nationalist murderer with Little Man Syndrome? Tucker Carlson is rooting for that guy, he’s been saying so for several years now.
    What gives? And what can we do to turn America against the innocents?
    If Tucker Carlson isn’t considering those exact questions, you coulda fooled us. Last night, Tucker moved into a new phase with his new conspiracy theory about how the Biden administration caused Russia to invade Ukraine — the phase where he just asserts things as truths everybody accepts, because he says so.
    […]
    Tucker did this same thing just before Putin started his war, as he was trying to turn people against Ukraine and in Putin’s direction. He introduced a conspiracy theory for which he provided scant evidence — that Ukraine isn’t a real democracy — and he just repeated it each night until it became a throwaway line in his monologues. Obviously Ukraine isn’t a democracy. Obviously the Biden administration started this war against Ukraine. Obviously.
    And if you accept those premises, then Tucker and Putin win. Why indeed should we care about Ukraine? Why should we be OK with higher gas prices, to punish a guy who’s not so bad after all and who only invaded Ukraine because Kamala Harris put him in a headlock with her scary sorceress powers and made him do that? WHY?
    If you watch Tucker’s full babbling monologue above, you’ll see he frames the issue as one of class, because Frozen Dinner Fauntleroy is such a man of the people. He sounds super mad people are willing to deal with higher gas prices if it squeezes Russia’s economy to the point that it forces Putin to stop murdering Ukrainian babies in children’s hospitals.
    Huffing and squeaking ever louder, Tucker read the results of a bullshit question from bullshit pollster Rasmussen, which asked if the US military should be involved if a wider war breaks out in Europe, and broke down the responses by income. Turns out people who make less are less for it than those who make more. We’d engage with that result if it wasn’t such a bullshit question.
    Unless Putin starts invading NATO countries, nobody is suggesting war in Europe, despite Tucker’s nightly fearmongering. Everybody is trying to avoid it. And if Putin invades NATO countries, then America will have to deal with that, just like America (eventually) helped deal with Hitler. We’d love to hear whether Tucker truly in his heart thinks that was a good decision.
    It was pretty funny when Tucker said that the people who are for war in Europe are people with “fake jobs and inherited money,” though. We laughed at that.
    [continues]

  13. a member of tuck’s club. his donors paying him in rubles now or wooden bitcoin?

    Cawthorn calls Zelensky a ‘thug,’ Ukrainian government ‘evil’ in video | TheHill

    Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and the Ukrainian government “evil” in a video obtained and published by North Carolina affiliate WRAL amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
    “Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug,” Cawthorn said in the recording. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
    In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove says Cawthorn’s remarks were made at a town hall in Ashe­ville, N.C., and that they “don’t re­flect Re­pub­li­can opin­ion.” The article was published Wednesday, and Rove said the event happened “last Saturday.”
    […]
    Cawthorn’s tweet contains a link to an article called “World War Reddit ” with the caption “Propaganda is being used to entice America into another war. I do not want Americans dying because emotions pushed us into a conflict.”
    The linked article focused on multiple stories that have been written about the war that have turned out to be false after further examination. 
    […]
    On Wednesday, Cawthorn was one of only 17 representatives who voted against banning Russian oil as further punishment for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been forcefully condemned by both Republicans and Democrats.
    [continues]
    [continues]

  14. Now ships in the Black Sea are shelling Odessa.  NATO or not that is decidedly an act of war from an area considered international waters.  Someone needs to put a well-placed torpedo where it will do Ukraine the most good.

     

  15. Eastman, who advised former President Trump on efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been fighting to prevent the committee from seeing more than 100 emails involving him.
    The judge ruled against Eastman for now, saying the court would review the documents to determine which can be turned over to the panel.
    Eastman has emerged as a central figure in thecommittee’s investigationinto Trump’s efforts to subvert the election results.

     
    https://news.yahoo.com/judge-rules-against-trump-lawyer-000049867.html

  16. (CNN —  
    The West is far from the only region experiencing remarkably dry weather so far this year. According to Thursday’s report from the US Drought Monitor, more than 61% of the contiguous US is in some classification of drought.
    It is the largest portion of the country in a state of drought since 2012, the year when the continental US saw an all-time record of 65% during September.
    And in recent weeks, drought has increased significantly. In the last month alone, the percentage of the continental US in drought has jumped from 55% to more than 61%, an increase of nearly 170,000 square miles; an area larger than the size of California.
     
    https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/us/drought-west-california-us-climate/index.html

  17. The Russians  are now saying a pregnant woman seen in that hospital bombing video was an actor . They dug up a woman who looks like  her, did a split screen the whole nine yards of doubt. 
    I then thought of Alex Jones , claiming that “Sandy Hook” was all staged by actors. 
     
    What is wrong with these people ?  
     

  18. Russian tanks are now flying the old Hammer & Sickle  flag.  They have turned that “Z”  painted on their vehicles into a symbol of a “Greater Russia”.
    MRGA ……………… Make Russia Great Again 
    It is pretty amazing to see how much propaganda is flowing back and forth between our wingnuts , and their wingnuts. 
     

  19. Watch for our wingnuts to go after judges ,  it turns out that the wisdom of the founders  has been our bulwark so far in saving our democracy. 
    Yet another case  about the “BIG LIE”  is grinding out in the courts .
    And Fox News has it’s butt in a sling . 
    Tucker Carlson’s Rejection of MAGA ‘Kraken’ Lawyer Actually Backfires on Fox News
     
    A rare display of journalistic prudence by Tucker may have just undercut Fox’s efforts to dismiss Smartmatic’s multibillion-dollar defamation suit.
     
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlsons-rejection-of-kraken-lawyer-sidney-powell-actually-backfires-on-fox-news
     

  20. So, fwiw, because i have a distaste for American TV news-media, i’ve been watching international media (French German, British, Indian), exclusively, and all of those outlets also show Putin’s army murdering women, murdering children, murdering pregnant mothers, the Russian army bombing evacuees, the Russian army destroying occupied residential buildings and hospitals, and both young people and the elderly sacrificing everything they have to flee the horror with whatever they can fit into a single bag.  
     
    To deny those realities or to claim there is American media manipulation of those facts is to be completely ignorant or a willing pawn of Putin the child-killer
     
    (but you people knew that already)
     

  21. Blink –
    Thanks so much for that .  I lay down from the torrents of news these days . 
    I hit a wall with my dome connector system , to old and too poor .
    But your post gave me an idea  , I’ll ask if they want it. 

  22. i was genuinely terrified to hear Sergei Lavrov lie so effortlessly and shamelessly in Turkey, today, and because American intelligence disclosed information about potential Russian chemical weapons attacks, Lavrov claimed it was Americans and Ukrainians making chemical weapons in Ukraine, so that when Russia uses them, they can blame the U.S.
     
    Lavrov insulted the intelligence of everybody at that press conference, and everybody watching and listening online, but apparently not of dumb Madison Cawthorn or willing stooge Tucker Carlson, who must be in favor of child-murder

  23. Yup, Shelterbox is still at it, BBC World Service devoted a few minutes of valuable air-time to interviewing an administrator of their American division (apparently Shelterbox is based in Cornwall, England)

  24. Blink –
    Remember that little girl running down a road with her clothes blown – off , and her skin hanging hanging from her arms ?
    There’s your point  when the TV news changed. 
    Show what war is , and fuck the idea that the viewers  should be shielded  from it is.  
     

  25. Yeah, i’m legitimately traumatized from all the war coverage i’ve watched, and i know millions of others around the world are, also.
     
    Yes, it’s true that Zelenskyy is making emotional appeals, because everyone he knows and everything around him is being indiscriminately destroyed by Putin’s army. Maybe we just have to watch helplessly to avert a wider war, but it’s absolutely disgusting, regardless
     
    i’m only stating the obvious to refute the kind of American right-wing distortions linked in this thread
     
    slava Ukraine✌️

  26. Blink –
    Welcome  to a time  of guts, and grit .
    The Mexicans have a saying , “That which cannot be remedied , must be indured “.
     

  27. Gas Prices . Gas Prices , Gas Prices !!!!!!
    Watch grain prices.  Next 
    Hidden in all this mess is the under laying fact we have overrun our limits.  A  ton of nickel  is at  $100,000. 
    Slowly it is dawning  on people we are there.  Even if they don’t believe it. 

  28. All the stalling  to defend the past  has given us this  –
    A collapse of the future. 
    You will not be getting a jet pack to fly around Mars. 
     

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