(#4806) I am well beyond sick and tired of the putins of the world.

      While I have been alive there have been several dictators who have caused millions of deaths to innocent civilians. mao ze dung and pol pot come to mind. But now we have putin running amok in Ukraine. Through the years there have been some lesser mass murderers like brezhnev, kambanda and hussein. Though they were no less brutal, and despite their death attributions being less than a million for each, it is still unimaginable. These are the notoriously infamous figures in my lifetime who had wrought suffering and pain onto others for far too long.
     Such is the case with putin today. He has a long history of spilling blood of others while living high off the spoils he acquires. He gets away with it because he surrounds himself, like all psychopaths do, with cowards who cannot find the courage to be decent and honorable. I had not been born yet when hitler ate a bullet from his own hand but he like putin are of the same ilk. They want what belongs to all of us and are willing to kill all of us to get it. So I have no empathy toward putin like I have none toward hitler. Each has/had a reckoning coming that may also be similar. Although I doubt putin will pull the trigger on himself.
     “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”-generally attributed to Edmund Burke. This simple statement is profound and is also evidence that cowards abound in our society. Because where cowardice resides murderers flourish. Such it is with putin. He is capable of much worse murder and has even threatened nuclear war if he isn't allowed to keep committing murder. Well I for one wouldn't hesitate to space putin given an opportunity. But I can't so it will have to be a betrayal of the murderer from one of his own. Stopping a murderer from murdering is an honorable endeavor and I hope there is some honor left in Russia and it shows itself soon.

(#4805) The Ukrainian push to take back Mariupol

      As Russian forces are being pushed out of cities they had previously invaded the task that is coming is the liberation of the city of Mariupol. Currently Mariupol is being surrounded by Russian forces while putin continues to bomb the city. Estimates are that once Ukraine consolidates its forces from current smaller city liberations the battle plan will be to engage the Russians and liberate Mariupol. There have been ongoing peace talks, with Ukraine the only serious partner so anything that may be floated as a cessation of fighting is just wishful thinking. What must happen instead is the continuing push by Ukrainian troops toward the eastern part of the country and the retaking of the entire eastern half of Ukraine.
     With the will to do it and the munitions being provided by the west the inevitability of success for Ukraine to reunite its sovereign territory away from putin is the final goal. I have little doubt now that in any conventional war the Ukrainians are mastering the Russians. With low to no morale for fighting this war the Russian troops are doomed to die or being captured. Even some of the captured Russian troops are now fighting against their previous comrades. This reckless putin invasion was based upon a lie and the captured Russian troops are deciding that putin is wrong and he is the real enemy. With courage in the eyes of Ukrainian fighters against the fear in the eyes of the Russian cannon fodder, this invasion is about to become a slaughter field of putin's own inept design.
     Soon, even as soon as within a week the Ukrainian forces should be consolidation and making their push to shove the Russian army back into Russian territory and beyond. What putin has done is reawaken a fighting spirit in the Ukrainian people that he condescended to initially. Now it will be putin who is under the thumb of Ukraine and little do I expect him to remove himself from under it. The days of putin are coming to an end and for that we can all take some relief. What becomes of Russia post putin is unknown at the moment but I suspect that Russia will look more like a democracy. Here is wishing the Ukrainian people nothing but success and they have al my admiration.
     

(#4804) Stop ignoring putin murdering Ukrainians!

      Do we even know what it is to be human? Are we now so detached from our instincts to care about life? Why do we need to be away from reality so much? Don't we know that we can make our world anything we want it to be if we would just pay attention to that goal? Instead we turn away because we cannot handle the pain and suffering. If we just ignore it then it is like it never happened. We tell ourselves that the bad guys win and there is nothing we can do about it. How easy it is to do that instead of putting ourselves out there as defenders of the good guys who should win every time!
     I have never been more sure of what I just said. I watched for the last two days all the attention on a slap in an awards show when every minute some Ukrainian person is being killed or harmed in an awful way. There are still a lot of folks who know that the killing going on in Ukraine is the highest priority to end, yet way too many are more concerned about ignoring it. It is as if our United States society wants all the benefits of a free nation without doing any work to maintain it. A slothful approach to entitlement. The old I deserve my rights but I won't display the courage to defend them.
     But it doesn't matter much what I say here because when it comes to any kind of sacrifice our society is not interested. We are much more concerned about what new gadget we can get or how much we can impress those around us with our wealth and false sense of intelligence. I am sure that we are not going to last long as a democracy under the current "I don't give a shit" attitude too many of us hold. If the world doesn't destroy us we will let ourselves rot from within through the republican party and the autocrats that run it. Either way it doesn't look good for us when the insurrection republican party is leading in the next round of elections polls. But what the fuck do I know!

(#4803) Ukrainians are my kind of people!

      I look out over the world and for the first time in my life I see a people united to protect their right to not only exist but to exist in a democracy. I live in a democracy here in the US but the desire to fight for it is not as overwhelmingly being displayed like it is in Ukraine. Previous to the Ukraine invasion, the vaunted Russian army had amassed what looked like a massive force that would be capable of over running Ukraine and bringing the nation to its knees in just hours if not a few days. Well what has transpired is instead a fierce defense by Ukrainians with the will to die for their country en masse.
     An amazing reversal of the most likely outcome has become the brightest light for democracy the world has seen in generations. The Statue of Liberty should be shipped over to Snake Island where the Ukrainian defenders flipped off the mighty Russian warship. Ukraine is now a living legend that has not given up at all and is now in a position to drive out the Russian horde from it's borders. There is much to do and nothing is a given but to bet against Ukraine right now is to be undeniably close minded. The fighting spirit plus the determination to withstand devastation and death is the heroic stuff that legends are built upon.
     Like the story of the Greeks at Thermopylae, the outmanned force under King Leonidas, a similar event is happening now in real time in Ukraine. Simply put, the Ukrainian people are as noble a determined force as has ever existed in the annals of our human history. What the Ukrainian defenders are doing to the mighty Russian army is implausible yet inescapable and although putin is working hard to hide the facts of his continuing losses, the word is getting out. For me, those who are willing to die for their way of life are my kind of people. Everyone else is just living off of the courage of others. Those I can do without in my life because honor, and courage, is where real living is.

(#4802) The media is having a hard time understanding the necessity of democracy

      The media exists because democracy exists. Otherwise it would be known as propaganda, not the media. So why is it so hard for the media to defend the very platform that allows it to exist? I don't have the answer except to point out that with autocracies as the ruling form of government the media will have no will to use its own mind. So maybe being a servant is more attractive to too many than the idea of having free will to report reality. So is it that the media now is just lazy and wants to just be paid for work instead of help decide the fate of billions of people? Is that what the vaunted fourth estate has become?
     Our democracy here in the United States of America guarantees protection of speech when it is not being used to directly inflict grave harm like yelling fire in a crowded theater. Yet there are some gray areas yet to be defined as television entertainment channel "fox news" continues to give disinformation about the pandemic and reality in general. So many of us see the problem and can envision a solution but as long as the wealthy disinformation junkies continue to have protection from the republican party the fact that positive change to strengthen our rules for truthful information spread is doubtful as we are stuck in the mud as it were, going nowhere with media that has lost it's purpose.
     Power and money are a byproduct of capitalism when that capitalism is not checked. We have too much unchecked capitalism in our society and we cannot seem to shake from our government the protectors who are also protected republicans. The media helped shape this current dynamic and our citizenry is still too gullible to recognize it. So will democracy survive with what is left of honest media? I don't know but I don't think we can keep fighting uphill to save it without some kind of paradigm that awakens the understanding within the media and by extension the citizens of the US.

(#4801) The Russian people must make putin pay!

      The devastation putin has unleashed on Ukraine is unfathomable to a civilized mind. No one in their right mind would subject horrors like we are seeing brought down on the heads of innocents. The Russian people, like the Germans of World War II are being lied to about what their leader putin is doing. But there will come a time when they will begin to see the ravages putin has wrought on Ukrainians and the deceptions he has laid upon the Russian people. Making the Russian people conspirators in his merciless gambit. If anyone has the right outside the Ukrainian people to stop putin it is his own citizenry.
     He has denied them the truth of his using Russian soldiers as cannon fodder to try to accomplish his goal of world domination and the end of democracy. The Russian people deserve the truth and also deserve democracy instead of this insane autocracy that putin is trying to shove down the worlds throat. This one person who thinks he is a hybrid hitler/bonaparte is delusional and dangerous. For the sake of humanity he needs to be taken off the planet and spaced into the sun. There is no room on our planet for power hungry psychopaths who are willing to kill without remorse. A genetic link is missing in his DNA and for us to allow him to continue is to allow our own honorable existence to mutate like his.
     I do not call lightly for the end of another human being but my patience for murders is thin. Mass murderers are even worse so the idea that putin should be spared the death he richly deserves for the mass murders he has committed will get no sympathy from me. Never again can a murderer be allowed the sanctuary of civilized compassion. Their fear of dying while having no fear for the murders they commit is incongruent and a disconnect with logic and honorable behavior. They must be made to pay a price that is grave and just. The best that can make that happen is for the Russian people to take the matters into their own hands and do what needs to be done in order to salvage their dignity and set our species back on an evolved principled path.

(#4800) As Ukraine mounts its counter attacks on Russian advancements

      The shock to putin must sting! I doubt he never imagined that his troops would be forced back toward their own borders. They are being shoved backwards by a Ukrainian force of will. With the help of the western munitions the Ukrainian people are putting on quite a display of ferocity and determination. Not only are the Russian troops being forced back but they are being demoralized at the same time. Never in their minds did they think they would be fighting hard against their own extended family under the lie that putin has told them.
     I do pity the Russian troops who are really only following orders but at some point they have to decide if they will continue to follow the madman putin to their own deaths or disgrace. Just following orders when knowing those orders are against honor and principle leaves the Russian troops as culpable as their leaders. I have heard of many Russian troops running from the battlefield to hide out instead of being part of putins murderous plot. Good for them at least in that by not taking part they are choosing the side of humanity over brutal extermination. Leaving their tanks and other battlefield armaments to the Ukrainian troops to recover as well.
     How far the Ukrainian forces can push Russia backwards has yet to be determined but that the Russian armies are now going backwards is a good sign. Either going backwards or digging in to hold what is left of their advances is the current state of affairs in Ukraine. With the troubles for the Russian army so blatant the idea the putin will survive much longer is a growing ray of hope for the Russian military that wants nothing to do with this egregious, unwarranted endeavor. The sheer steely eyed will of the Ukrainian people is a marvel that all the world must pay homage. The freedom loving Ukrainian people have stood up to the regional bully and punched him square in the nose and knocked him on his ass!

(#4799) The only final solution!

      I have said it before and will again here, putin must be ended. When it happens is critical for how many lives will be lost in the meantime. the pressures are mounting on putin as the west leaders are meeting in Brussels Belgium to determine more sanctions and defensive moves they need to make as member states of NATO. As well they are moving more defensive military pieces to Ukraine to help them bolster their own fight to remain a sovereign state. As the Russian invasion has stalled out due to resupply issues and less than efficient military strategy, plus very low morale, the Ukrainian people are defending and actually moving Russian forces back toward their own border.
     The will of the Ukrainian people has so far won the day as to the failed plans of putin to recapture Ukraine and absorb it into its alliance. The old Soviet Union dreams of putin are turning into nightmares as his plan to reunite Russia with its past is being destroyed by the reality of the heroic Ukrainian effort. The moment putin decided he could move into Ukraine and take them as his own was the moment that putin began to end his own reign and most likely his own life. This amazing outcome that Ukraine has thrust upon the leader of one of the most despicably oppressive nation states is world shaping for all of us and the better for all our futures.
     I cannot say this in a more sincere way. The Ukrainian people are shaping the future of our planet by standing firm in their courage. Courage is leading the way in how we human beings evolve into the species we would most like to become. We are not there yet as demonstrated by our recent past behavior but now the Ukrainian people are showing us the way to our better selves. We need to stand firm against aggression when that aggression would deprive any of us of the right to exist. This isn't some Hollywood movie, this is real life in real time. As amazing as was the outcome of World War II, this aggression by Russia is just as alarming for all fellow Earthlings to acknowledge and then stand tall against it ever becoming victorious.
     

(#4798) When putin is gone the world gets better.

      It is really this simple. Like when hitler ended himself, the world got better. The same here. Plus we will be able to change how Russia is allowed back into the good company of the rest of the world. We still have the China problem but one step at a time here. Ending the madness that Russia is currently under the spell of is priority number one. We have our own problems here in the States but what the Ukrainian problem is showing is that the republican party is beginning to evolve back toward something less disgusting. Not nearly there yet but at least not getting worse.
     However putin goes either through expiration or locked in a cage, one or the other must be accomplished so that cooler and more democratic heads can take over. Russia will not be able to install another tyrant into leadership as the rest of the world won't let them back into civilized society. So a transition to a more democratic form of government will follow once the end of putin is in place. I still expect this to happen within days not weeks anymore. Because the Russian people are slowly finding out that putin has been using them to mask his lust for murdering for power and wealth.
     It is satisfying that I am not so much worried about the survivability of Zelensky as I am looking forward to the end of rule by putin. When I wake up in the morning I look to see if putin has been taken out first then I check on the rest of the news for successes of Ukrainian defenses against the putin aggression into Ukraine. What is happening in Ukraine through the murder of Ukrainian civilians is abominable and that putin will ever escape from his crimes against humanity is not possible. His only way out is as a caged criminal for the rest of his life or his own demise. Either way it will be soon and for that I am grateful.

(#4797) The end of putin is nearing

      The fact that putin is less the fearful figure in his own state politics is becoming a reality. Not only is he diminished as a state figure but he is hated now by a vast majority of foreign countries. He has alienated his own people from any influence in his decisions concerning their lives and with the deaths of Russian troops piling up he is only making his presence there is Russia more tenuous. There is no one putin can turn to outside his own country and those he can turn to in his country are not close friends of his. That putin is isolated now is indisputable and the only outcome that can come from his murderous folly into Ukraine is the same back on his head.
     The Russian military is being decimated by the Ukrainian heroes who will not relent to putin and his murderous bullying tactics. The military itself is seeing its head cut off by Ukrainian command and control and how much longer they will goose step to putin is not known. An unknown if you will. Plus the damage to the military equipment, tanks, artillery, troop and bridging vehicles and the such is ongoing and unsustainable. Russia cannot even resupply their tanks because they don't have the necessary parts to build new ones. The sanctions by the west are having a profound effect on the military strategy putin had relied upon.
     For me it is a case of hearing the death rattle from putin as he tries to salvage his tough guy image. It won't be for much longer as his bravado is not enough to change what is increasingly becoming known by the Russian people. They are murdering innocents in Ukraine and their sons are being killed by the thousands for nothing more than the deranged ego of putin. A change is coming to Russia, whether by the wealthy, military brass, or an uprising of the people. Either way it is not good for putin as he will become the culprit for his murderous invasion. The intelligence left in Russia must know that for things to become better for Russia in the future the only choice is to end the reign of putin now!

(#4796) Cuban missile crisis part 2!

      The Russian people have no one to blame but themselves for not standing up for democracy and individual rights. Sure putin has consolidated his power within Russia now but before that the people didn't care enough that he did. What they are getting now with the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign neighboring country and the war crimes being committed is on the Russian people. Like the Germans after World War II, the Russian people have to accept their culpability with remorse and a will to stop it now. If they don't then the rest of the world will find a way to stop the madman from Moscow!
     If it takes the threat of nuclear war then so be it. Not unlike with Khrushchev back in 1962, it was President Kennedy who stared down the Russian opportunist and got the nukes out of Cuba. So it will be with President Biden although there is no removal quotient, nonetheless there is the threat by putin to use nukes that must be backed down. If putin is not met with a steely eyed determination to defend democracy then putin will not stop until he dominates the world. So now is the moment to make putin put up or shut up. It is what President Biden must do in order to stop putin now.
     The rest of the world will back the west if putin again threatens nuclear war because if putin succeeds in backing us down the world will be his to take along with his newly inspired cohorts of autocracies. But if we stop him and force him to back down then he will have failed and with him his demented desire to rule the world. Making him choose to start a nuclear war given the reprisals that would be aimed down his throat I have no doubt he will back down. The Russian people need to stop him before it comes to that but if not then be prepared for any alternative, yes, even nuclear war. I am rooting for the Russian people to stop this madness, but if not then come what may!

(#4795) The traitors in the republican party!

      When the republican talking heads and congress people are featured on putin's propaganda television then you know that the republican party is akin to traitors. It used to be that Americans were united once the debate crossed over our boundaries when it came to attacks on democracy. No more! The republican party is so invested in authoritarianism that the idea of protecting democracy is becoming more foreign to them. Instead of being patriots in the mold of our forefathers/mothers, the republican party is more like those who are in a never ending battle to undermine and destroy democracy.
     For those who are still naive enough to vote for republicans then there may be hope that they realize their position and then adjust away from helping republicans to commit treasonous acts. For those who know and still vote for republicans then you are an enemy of mine and should consider yourself persona non grata in my presence at the minimum. I will never tolerate traitors to democracy neither foreign nor domestic. If you are a naturally born citizen of America then that oath you take and took to defend the constitution of America is a lie. If you were an immigrant and now a republican voting American citizen, the oath you took upon citizenship is also now a lie coming from your mouth.
     I will not abide those who lie about defending our national constitution. Those who do need to feel the wrath of we who protect democracy in every form. There is no playing politics here. If you vote for the republican party then you are a shit stain on our way of life and a person to be scourged and denounced at every turn. Either you fight to preserve democracy or be prepared to feel the pain of not doing so. The greed and power that the republican party stands for is not comparable to the honor and respect that democrats put above personal advancement. Choose your side and then be prepared to accept the consequences of that choice. Great if you choose democracy and fuck you if you don't!

(#4794) I get to mow my lawn today

      What a privilege it is for me to go to the gas station and get several gallons of gas for my lawn mowers and trimmers. I am not being facetious here. There is no flippancy in my comment. I truly am privileged to do the chores I chose to accomplish without bombs exploding or soldiers shooting at me. I am privileged in so many ways this morning. Unlike those who are currently in aggressive war zones that are nothing more than ego maniacs flexing their murderous power. I got to wake up this morning at my own leisure without the fear that I was lucky to survive the night.
     So as I am mowing my lawn this morning I won't be angry or frustrated that I could be doing something more leisurely instead. Chores are usually not really enjoyable activities but today they almost seem like it for me. I get to do them instead of being denied the right to my choice of activity. I am humbled at my privilege in this nation of ours since the trumps and putins of the world would rather tell me what I can chose and when I can do it. Let there be no doubt today as to how lucky we are that some democracies are able to defend themselves from within and without. The despicable putin attack on Ukraine especially brings this point home.
     I have a large yard so the activity of trimming it every so often is a struggle for me. I am not as physically healthy as I would like to think I am so often I push myself harder than I should and then I pay for it several days afterward. But today, I will just cruise through my work so that I am well rested and not struggling with my aches and pains. Because I have the choice to take the job easy and do it at my pace instead of knowing that I won't be mowing or living or much more of anything I normally would do. Those Ukrainians who have no choice to mow their lawns this morning or do whatever other activities they would normally do on the weekend are in my thoughts. At least 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced with the only choice they have is to how to survive another day.

(#4793) Another day closer to putin being gone

      This reminds me of when in 2020 we were counting the days until the general election. Of course the putin invasion of Ukraine is much more dire than the general election of 2020, yet wasn't any less important. The parallel is similar to me because of the anxiety and frustration of needing a solution in the worst of ways. We got our solution in the 2020 election and now we need the solution for the Ukrainian people. As the putin illegal invasion is stymied for another day we know that putin is becoming more and more vulnerable. His lies and deceits won't hold out much longer when the people of Russia are slowly being informed as to his deceptions.
     Getting the real news to the Russian people has been most difficult given that putin has shut down all objective news reporting. However, we are in the digital age where smart technology rules and even old technology is still available. So as we in the west continue to crack the wall of disinformation in Russia we will see a different mood in the Russian people. Especially when they find out that about 10,000 of their sons are no more. The Ukrainian people have been the most courageous in this putin invasion and it is showing by the lack of morale in the Russian forces to conquer a nation with so many ties to their own.
     I do believe this is day 23 of putin's murderous march through the sovereign nation of Ukraine. He was supposed to complete his unprovoked conquest of Ukraine in under a week. So it is not going well for the invaders who are being picked off by the 1000's in varying ways. The Russian convoys are being demolished in all parts of Ukraine given the fighting Ukrainian spirit and the west supplied weapons. The Ukrainian people have shown what fighting for their rights look like and all they ask of us is to give them the weapons to defend themselves from an ego maniac like putin. So far the fight by Ukraine is working to keep the Russians from conquering them and as each day goes by the odds that Ukraine will survive this illegal and immoral invasion by putin increases steadily.

(#4792) putin's lie is unraveling

      Like trump, who lies more than he tells the truth, putin is finding out what most of us learned as children. That lies are too complicated to carry forward into the present and future. So most of us learn that lesson early and then commit ourselves to telling the truth. Which by the way helps shape our thinking and behavior in the best of ways. But those like trump and putin did not figure out that lesson and instead carried forward into their lives complicated webs of deceit and dishonesty. It is like they are so far into their deceptions that the idea of turning them around is too difficult to even imagine.
     So as the Russian people keep getting clues that putin and his cabal have been lying to them and they are the last ones to find out, the anger will be palpable. The duped have two ways to go, like here in America with the trump lies, they can either be pissed and turn on putin or they can continue to believe his lies despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The cognitive dissonance we here in America have basically patented. I hope the Russian people are smarter than less than half the American population and use logic and common sense to guide their calculus. I expect that with the sanctions beginning to screw with their everyday lives they will not tolerate the abject disgust they should feel toward the lying murdering putin.
     Just an observation here about the Ukrainian people; they have ignited a sense of decency and respect for the rule of law and for democracy world wide. Who knew it would be the Ukrainian people who would expose the liars of the world and bring to heel their attack dogs. This has been a real political awakening as a silver lining in the face of the atrocities putin is committing in Ukraine. The psychopaths of the right wing political spectrum are being exposed for their deranged behaviors and a new awakening to protecting democratic ideals is emerging. Thank you Ukraine for reminding the world just what courage and honor look like in the face of right wing thuggery and murder!

(#4791) The Zelensky speech to Congress

      The death rattle speech was hard to watch. Because we as a nation and the western world have not done enough to keep innocent citizens of Ukraine from harm. We fall back on our protocols in civilized understandings and that is fine if all are keeping to that framework. But when an aggressor like putin throws out the civilized playbook and wars outside the parameters of peace, we the west have to also move beyond civilized protocols and face the aggression with like aggression to defend. Our moral duty as the leading democracy in the world is to flex our strength in ways that move beyond being nice and civilized.
     The images of the destruction in Ukraine by the putin cabal in Moscow hit home directly with me as it invoked my taught memories of Pearl Harbor and my television watching of the planes flying into the world Trade Center buildings. The no fly zone has been dismissed as too volatile a step to take but I am still of the mindset of establishing one despite the rhetoric from the not strongman putin. I am no pushover by any bully so for putin to threaten us with nuclear war only pisses me off further and reinvigorates my desire to see him spaced. He does not deserve to be on our planet any longer.
     How the Zelensky speech is received by enough members of Congress to do something more beyond what has already been done is the question. The answer will be indicative of how much we really want democracy to succeed. I am not going to be here in this existence much longer than a decade or two so how democracy is too survive is beyond me. My hope is that it will be defended and that defending democracy does not become an errand of fools and cowards. The Zelensky speech was powerful and to the point. How we as a nation of United States reacts is what the history books will declare either as honorable or less than honorable.

(#4790) How much longer do we have to watch Ukrainians die?

      It is the daily watching of brave Ukrainians dying that is taking its psychological toll on me and surely many others. I am not one who plays a long game when it comes to murder. I want to stop it yesterday. So it is difficult for me to not go crazy with anger at our nation's stance of allowing putin to kill without us stepping in and stopping it. Much like being on the street watching a punk kill randomly and me having the ability to stop him and not stopping him because of protocols. How do we measure protocols against human life? This is the dilemma we are facing now. I find it irrational and beneath human dignity!
     Yet I understand what the argument is concerning provoking a nuclear war would have in case putin gets super desperate. Well he may well get super desperate without us intervening in his murdering so balancing the prospect of irritating a murderer and stopping murder, I fall on the side of stopping a murderer. I understand the risks but in any grave situation there is always the chance of annihilation when the perpetrators involved have weapons of mass destruction. We cannot escape our fate here as people who have to live under a nuclear threat. We either eliminate the threat of a nuclear war and become less than human or we risk nuclear war and actually improve the human condition.
     For the most part it is fear that is driving our choice here and that is another thing that bothers me greatly. I do not decide my actions nor my fate upon fear. I decide my actions and fate upon boldness and courage. I will not be foolish in how I implement my choices but never doubt that they are based upon courage. That putin is using our fears of a devastating nuclear war to maintain his murderous march is evident and if it were up to me I would face him down with a fuck you and stop him in his tracks. He is a bully who is using all his tricks to keep bullying and what I would do is take all his tricks away. But that is just me so in the meantime I am frustratingly unsettled at all the death he is currently causing.

(#4789) Tick Tock putin!

      I know it won't be long now before the time when we all find out that putin is no more. He has already proven himself a war criminal so his fate really is sealed. The only question will be when and how he meets his fate and gets his deserves. I would hope that it happens as I am typing this blog post because the sooner putin is no more a member of our human race the better it will be for those who will die in the coming moments because of him. The sooner the best actually. I am not a mean person by nature and I even do not like the death penalty because it has been abused to the advantage of liars and cheaters. Yet with putin the death penalty would be a just result.
     As with his actions there is absolutely not a scintilla of doubt as to his guilt. He is a monster who will not stop murdering until he is no more. So the death penalty for him is a no brainer for me. I know some folks will argue this question; where do you draw the line? And that is a valid question to ask. I suppose I don't draw lines well so I would just say that anyone who is in the category of a hitler and now putin would be a good place to begin. I will leave the line to some others who have time to establish a protocol for who should be eligible for death. Being a mass murdering tyrant who is unapologetic for his actions absolutely qualifies in my mind.
     Everyone deserves the right to exist as long as they do as John Stuart Mill had simply stated; "Do no harm". For those who do so much grave harm that the doubt as to their guilt is impossible to dispute, then they have lost the right to exist. That is where we are with putin at this moment in time. It isn't as if putin has not done similar murderous acts in the past so doubly his guilt is absolute. It is now all about the process for ending the reign of putin and making him pay for his actions. Whether by coup or battlefield the end time for putin cannot come soon enough. Those who enabled him as well need to be brought to justice and then we will see where the line is for ending the existence or not for them.

(#4788) The end of putin is in sight

      It won't be much longer, maybe a week or two, or even less, before putin is taken out by his own government in order to save what is left of the Russian civilization and current geographic control. Unless the Kremlin wants to become a pariah unknown in today's world, they will do what needs to be done and eliminate putin from power. Because the saving grace for them is that this whole horrible Ukrainian event can be laid at the feet of putin and thereby leaves them absolved of the worst of the actions. That will have to be their calculus, whether they can pull that off will depend on the resolve of the west to get to the bottom of the invasion and the actors who should be blamed.
     Regardless of the aftermath effects, the ending of putin will be celebrated worldwide by peoples all over the world. The era of the ruthless and cruel as leaders must be ended now and an example of what happens to those who commit lethal crimes against humanity must be harsh and swift. A deterrence that is blunt, forceful, and unforgivable must be known to all who would try in the future. The Ukrainian people are the heroes in this era ending paradigm and rightly so against desperate odds they did not fold and instead stood up tall and accepted the challenge with courage and resolve.
     With each day passing and the quagmire continuing in Ukraine, with the struggles Russians are now feeling at home the time for putin to reverse all this is slipping away. One thing we the world have learned is that putin has no end game except to keep going on with conquering. Once it becomes clear to the Kremlin that there will be no conquering, the behind the scenes plans for ending putin will go into effect. He, putin, will not survive this as his ego will not let himself be humiliated. Instead he will try to consolidate all power in Russia so as not to be deposed from within. Yet he is only one man while the Kremlin is a brutal institution so the idea that the Kremlin isn't already planning putin's demise is naive.

(#4787) putin will draw NATO into his violence.

      It is just a matter of time before the putin aggression in Ukraine spills over into a NATO allied country. I say this because putin is an arrogant piece of shit and all these putdowns by the west have to be irking his ego. He is itching to try his luck in backing down NATO with some violation that will prove to him that NATO is just a toothless tiger. Now this is speculation by me but he has to be getting tired of the defense Ukrainians are putting up with weapons form the west. It is just a matter of time before putin decides to let his forces attack a NATO country and then see what the response is.
     So far putin has not taken the west seriously enough to stop fighting in Ukraine so if that is putin's strategy then I expect he will double down and force a confrontation with NATO. Because he is in his backyard where he has to feel safe from any enemy attack. As well he is truly an egomaniac who has no empathy for troop or civilian loss on either side of the battle. Recognizing that putin will try something to gauge our response, it would behoove us to have an attack plan that is more than equivalent. Ending putin would be the ideal scenario but short of that pushing Russia out of Ukraine is the best response. If putin wants to invoke a violation then make it a painful response.
     I know the less fierce in our ranks will quibble about worries over putin's threat to use nukes, however we have to do what has to be done in order to keep putin from threatening his way to becoming the new world leader over the whole of the planet. Staring down putin on nuclear threats has to be our response but in the meantime heavily punishing him for any violation of a NATO country is also our response. Meeting might with might when a fight is being initiated is natural to our species despite it being the worst of what civilized behavior should be. Clearly we as a species have not evolved yet into intellectualism devoid of physical altercations. So in the meantime, unfortunately, those of us who are defending civilized evolution must still crush those who would take us back into enslavement.

(#4786) I have no doubt that Ukraine will kick putin's ass in the urban fighting

      Better to act and ask for forgiveness than to wait for permission to act. I say this in cases where moral and/or ethical obligations are at stake. I wanted to make that point perfectly clear before I begin with the battle on the ground for Ukraine. That first sentence is aimed at the west for what is happening currently. As to the fighting in Ukraine, putin has entered Ukraine with nearly 100% of his earlier amassed military forces, approximately 200 thousand soldiers and armaments. Yet the resolve of the Ukrainian army and it's in country allies has been surprisingly breathtaking.
     From constant updates on putin losses and deaths inflicted on his subservient military it is clear that the generals who are running the putin operation are not up to the task of killing those who are culturally and socially linked to themselves. I will say that they are doing an amount of damage to Ukraine and it's infrastructure but they are not destroying the morale of the people fighting back. In fact they are making Ukrainians more resolute in their quest to defend every inch of their homeland. So the flawed idea that putin may think he can go city to city and defeat the Ukrainians with his morally compromised army is becoming clear to all who are paying attention.
     Eventually with the help from the west, the Ukrainian people will hold putin to no gains as to his overall strategy. Ukraine will not fall into putin's hands. Instead a protracted, deadly and costly outcome for putin is more likely than not. What that does to putin's ability to survive within his power structure can only be viewed as becoming more tenuous. The sanctions on the Russian people will eventually cause them to readjust how they are thinking given the putin propaganda. Because the putin propaganda will not align with reality. That putin will not quit can only make me surmise that putin is in this to the end and the end may well be that of putin!

(#4785) It is difficult to see a world with putin in it

      Whatever the outcome on the putin attack of Ukraine the idea that putin will somehow resume his station in life going forward is ludicrous. He is a pariah for what he has already done and nothing he does going forward will erase that. He has sanctioned the murder of innocent civilians so that he can satisfy his own lust for land and power. There will be so safe harbor for him anywhere, and that includes Russia. If putin does survive and lives on this planet in the future it will likely be in a prison. There will be nowhere he can go to keep his freedom after what he has done not only to Ukraine but to other past atrocities that are now out in the open.
     So our goal in all of this is to neutralize the power that putin has and begin to rebuild Ukraine and Russia with full expediency. However it happens that putin is removed from power at this point is moot with me. Whether it is a coup or something as effective, putin must be stopped now before we get to a point where we are not only just talking about thousands of deaths. I liken putin now to a wounded animal who is infected with a rabies like mentality. The idea of logical understanding to stop is not in his current strategy. Nor I suspect his long term strategy. Unless we in the world are prepared to face an inevitable extinction level event we have to find a way to force putin from power.
     I know that negotiations are ongoing by several well meaning agents yet the reality of putin being civilized about an end game for his murderous invasion is wishful thinking. In ordinary times a chaotic ruler would find logic to undo his worst. But putin is not a fan of logic, he is a fan of himself and his own personal drive to accomplish without safeguards to his attempt. Which means that as he scrambles about in this latest boxed canyon he has tripped into all desperate options for leaving the boxed canyon are at his disposal. I don't know the protocols for putin's ability to launch an all out nuclear attack but I suspect that he has that power. I hope I am wrong and that he would have to convince other high ranking Russians to join him in starting the worst human catastrophe our planet has ever experienced.

(#4784) putin has already lost no matter what he does going forward

      The good news is that putin is not going to rule the world. The bad news is that he still thinks he can. Thus the disconnect between how we can end this madness of his and move forward. The likelihood that putin will be deposed if he doesn't keep murdering in his invasion is greater than if he keeps murdering as a strategy. Go figure the Russian hierarchy! The whole head of the Russian hierarchy needs to be lopped off and a new government, hopefully headed by Alexei Navalny, should replace it. Bringing the Russian people into the world of nations as a democratic institution would be a triumph of immeasurable civilized modernization.
     It would leave China isolated as the last major authoritarian run government on the planet. Which to me would make it easier for the rest of us to move China toward democracy over time. But for now ending the unprovoked Ukrainian onslaught by putin is the highest priority. Lives are being destroyed and irreparably harmed without an immediate end in sight. The Ukrainian people are giving the whole world a lesson in courage beyond anything putin expected and because of that he will be weighed and measured and found wanting. The days of putin are on the decline toward irrelevance but how long that takes is the question that all the west and Ukraine itself is pondering.
     As the pressures mount on putin, both from inside and outside Russia, the desperation he is feeling is showing. There is no end game now for putin when it comes to Ukraine and there is not any quickly rebuilding the internal damage he has done to the Russian people through heavy sanctions by the west. How much longer the oligarchs and the military cabal in Russia will allow putin to destroy everything they have gained over the last 30 years is the question of the moment. Will Russia continue to back its confused leader or will they say enough of this shit? Because no good can come from anything putin does from here on out and now for me anyway, it is a waiting game to see how long the power structure in Russia will continue to support its failed leader.

(#4783) No cakewalk in Ukraine for putin

      Amid all the bluster about how putin had an overwhelming force perched on the Ukrainian border and was going to breeze through Ukraine to satisfy his lust for conquering, a not funny thing happened. An ex comedian turned president, decided that it didn't matter how many troops and armaments putin had before invading his country, he was going to fight to the death. A real life story of an underdog sticking his middle finger in the air to the brute and telling him to fuck off! Well the brute didn't take kindly to that and then attacked Ukraine. What was supposed to be a couple days of conquering and occupying a compliant citizenry, has turned into a quagmire 13 days later with heavy losses by the brute and growing patriotism by the Ukrainians.
     Looking at the battlefield that Ukraine has become it is clear now that the Ukrainians have reduced putin and his attacking army to a level where the Ukrainians are now able to defend against this attack. The inspiration came almost immediately when Snake Island, a military outpost, manned by a handful of Ukrainian soldiers, was accosted by a Russian warship and told to surrender, but in true defiant Ukrainian will they told the Russian warship to go Fuck themselves. Well the warship proceeded to blast away and initially the cost to the Ukrainians was complete destruction. Days later however the 13 assumed dead soldiers had survived. A metaphor for how the Ukrainian people feel about defending their home. You may think you defeated them but they will not stop fighting!
     As the world has rallied around helping the Ukrainian people defend against the unprovoked putin attack, the Ukrainians are not only surviving the attacks on them but they are destroying the Russian army as it advances toward them. It is not lost on me how putin thought he could bully his much smaller neighbor and take their home from them only to find out that his army and the will it takes to fight and win was not part of his arsenal. He also found out that the will on the side of the Ukrainian people was much greater than he ever imagined. Now putin's army is in tatters flailing around trying to survive while the Ukrainian people are demonstrating what it is to be proud and determined in repulsing putin the bully from Moscow!
     

(#4782) Who will blink first, putin or the west?

      First off there will be a blink. Because without one most of us won't exist afterwards. There is on one side some madmen fronted by putin who think they are the leaders of our planet. On the other side are rational leaders who think that freedom to choose one's own destiny is greater than a form of slavery. So a cabal of blood thirsty savages who wear suits and pretend to be enlightened against actual enlightened souls who are not afraid to stand up for humanity. My guess is that the depth of this current crisis will reach a plateau where some on the putin side will decide that enough is enough. A coup within the putin cabal will occur and that will be the first and final blink.
     As to the west blinking it is not in the strategy. The west has tried to honor laws and conventions despite the putin cabal disregarding the laws and conventions. But it has all been restricted to the boundaries of Ukraine. Knowing how putin's cabal is structured and playing out in real time, it is most likely that the boundaries of Ukraine will not stop the putin ambition. But even before a legal reason is given for the west to step in full fledged in the invasion of Ukraine, the putin cabal will try to do something that will violate the current status of restraint by the west. At that point the reasons for not instituting a no fly zone and bringing NATO forces to bear on putin will be moot.
     So here we will be with the threat that putin and his cabal has laid bare about nuclear weapons being activated. That is where the first or last blink will come about. Because we cannot stop putin and his cabal from doing what they are going to do, what we must do is counteract any effort by putin to deploy the nuclear option. We must stare down putin with our nukes aimed at him in response if he fires on us first. He has to feel the heat of any decision he makes if it is pushing that red button. He will blink because at his heart putin is a coward and nothing in the portfolio of a coward is brave. He will blink if not at that moment or before when members of his cabal decide to end putin and give up for surrender.

(#4781) It was always going to boil down to this with putin!

      If you think giving putin Ukraine and that he will stop his onslaught across Europe you are not paying attention. putin wants to rebuild and expand the old soviet union and Ukraine is the first step toward that goal. As long as we stay shaking behind our grandma's knees because of nuclear threats by putin then the greater the emboldenment of putin will grow. Bullies need to be confronted and although they may have the weapons to destroy most of Earth they cannot be allowed to exist under that threat. Instead they need to know that if they play out a nuclear strategy they will be met with a nuclear threat themselves. They must face the realization that if they want to become the destroyer of the world we will blow them into smithereens!
     There will be no Russia left for putin to exist in and if half or more of the planet pays the price for his decision to fire nuclear weapons then that is on him. Many of us will not survive and that is the existence we live in. This scenario has been with me my whole life so I have always known that it could happen at any time so this is not new to me. I expect that if putin wants to take what he wants and is not allowed to do so he may well decide that living on Earth is not worth it and take the many of us with him. However, will the military strategists that back him allow him to fire nuclear weapons? I doubt it since they are not being rewarded by being obliterated.
     The only way to deal with a bully like putin is to give him a steely eyed glare and tell him to do his worst and communicate to him that everything we and our allies have will come down on his head to end him and his nation as a livable place. Most likely more than half of the civilized world will be destroyed but there will be nothing left of Russia that can be inhabited. A mutually assured destruction where we in the west will at least have some habitable areas to continue life but Russia will be nothing but a bad memory. Once putin realizes that we will return the nuclear option with a ferocity upon him he will blink first and then back down on that threat. Otherwise bring it on motherfucker!

(#4780) We cannot let putin dictate terms because we are afraid!

      It makes me sick to my stomach that we in the west are cowering to the nuclear threats from putin. Fuck putin and his threats. If we do not push past his threats then we are allowing ourselves to be taken hostage by any madman who threatens nuclear war. We must not accept threats, we must disregard them and do the right thing no matter what. I highly doubt putin would allow himself to be destroyed in a nuclear war just so we don't let planes fly over Ukraine. The madness of cowering to a bully is beyond anything resembling courage. I am ashamed at the west being so fearful of what likely won't happen despite the putin threats and instead sit back and do little to stop the murder of the Ukrainian people.
     I would rather be dead burnt to a crisp by a nuclear bomb than to be a coward who licks his wounds and lives in shame. It is beyond me to think that the patriots of the world are less than that when threatened. If I were Biden I would be pushing for a no fly zone neutrality and if Russia violates it then they pay that price. If they threaten nuclear war over it then tell them that the west will position all of it's nuclear capabilities to respond if Russia actually does fire a nuke. Not only that the Chinese will weigh in and tell putin to back down from the nuclear threat as they too will become part of a nuclear disaster as will the rest of the world.
     We cannot allow putin to get away with threats that make us stop from doing what is right. We are not their subjects to be dictated to about this. If they threaten us with nuclear weapons then we need to tell them to do what they must do but we will more than reciprocate in readiness to do what we must do. We will see who can play this game of chicken, those of us on the right side of history or those who are on the wrong side of history. As well if putin thinks he can start a nuclear war without the consent of his strategic military command he is not right in the head. Because saner heads in the Russian military will not let putin start a nuclear war because we won't let him murder the Ukrainian people.

(#4779) This is our moment!

      The time is now and the need is critical. There is a hysteria within some who have power to create chaos in order to rule. They have that hitler complex whereas they follow their egos and not the will of our species. It is a psychopathic/sociopathic drive that allows them to harm indiscriminately. Where only they believe that they are the answer to all of time and space for all others. You can see the god complex regardless of their rhetoric. First off they lie at every turn because they don't want anyone to influence the decisions they have already made. They alone know what existence needs and they alone are prepared to deliver it.
     Which is why we cannot be cowards in this moment. We have to be stronger than our fears. We all have fears for our lives and fears of an existence that is poisoned and uninhabitable. Yet to be a slave to a murderer is no life to live and even less a hope for the weak and infirmed. This moment in time and space is the one moment we have to stop a trajectory that can only end in one place if we don't find a way to stop it. If putin does not get his way to dominate Europe and beyond then know this, he will do what all cowards do and leave this planet taking as many of us with him through a nuclear war unleashed to end life on Earth. That is the endgame for putin if he is not stopped in his murderous campaign.
     The threats of nuclear war have already come from him so there is no need to guess what he will do if he is not given his agenda. We on the other hand are about to find out just how fearful his threats are to be if we don't nuster our own courage and find a way to end his reign in as quick a method as possible. I hear talking heads give the narratives of the daily advancements of putin in Ukraine yet they rarely focus on the sand in the timepiece that is running out. I could care less about appeasing putin while he murderers. What I care about is using every possible pathway to end his life or remove him from power immediately. Recounting the end of our species while we watch on television is not the present we need right now. What we need is to find a way to end the time of rule of putin right now!

(#4778) Another day putin is not stopped

     It is clear that the putin invasion on Ukraine and any other invasion plans he has going forward can only be stopped by stopping putin. There is no chance to negotiate with a man who has set his sights on his murderous route and will not be persuaded to stop. His army is not able to thwart him from his determined strategy of killing for the sake of his ego. It is sad that his people are not able to control him and force him to stop murdering. I am a civilized man yet even I know that as long as putin is alive he will not stop from being a murderer. Our world is at a point where if we allow a murderer to murder at will because we are held back because of civilized protocols then we are fools who are awaiting our own murders.
     So if we cannot logically stop the madman from the north then we have to use measures in its most extreme forms. We know what must be done but it is all about the how now. I cannot speak about it because the filters that guide our thoughts are always present but when a murderer is loose murdering it is incumbent upon all of us to stop him if ever given the chance. For the sake of civilized living we have to break the cycle of murderers being able to murder with impunity. To negotiate an end to the murdering is always the first option when trying to stop murder. Yet to be a murderer you would have to be outside the normal considerations necessary to be logical. So logic alone is not enough.
     So given that putin will not negotiate in good faith to end his murdering then forcing him to stop is the next step. I say this because despite protocols for negotiating, the murdering has to stop. Doing the right thing and stopping the murdering has to be our number one moral consideration. Even if a sacrifice to get the job done is required. Only then will the future murderers know that there will never be an impunity for murdering. Plus the murdering will stop when one or more of us can do what needs to be done and potential innocent murdered persons will not be murdered. I used the term murder many times here because let there be no doubt that putin is a mass murderer and needs to be stopped now, not tomorrow.

(#4777) putin needs to be spaced from Earth

      I know, strange title, yet it came out of my head that way so that is what I am going with. Any person who kills other people with impunity doesn't need to be part of our world. It is that simple. We have laws that protect life and punishments when convicted that can be mortal. So the idea that when a murderer murders in live time in front of the world cannot be thrown off the planet is ridiculous. Now I know we don't space people for being murderers but the idea of it is at least debatable. Murderers cannot be given a pass and not be punished for their actions. Because of their murdering, the murdered do not get to be on the planet alive anymore so the punishment, at least, has to fit the crime.
     I know we have to be careful with murderers because as is often the case too many charged with murder are found to be innocent later in time. So spacing someone who has murdered must be as rock hard fool proof as being witnessed by the world in real time. Sure even that can be tricky but in the case of putin it is not tricky at all. So the best thing the world can do right now is to gather putin up and put him on a rocket to the sun where he will get his due. He seems to want to be the center of our attentions so one last time for him as he is blasted off to oblivion.
     There is only one way for the carnage in Ukraine to end and that is to end putin or at least stop him through force. The Russian people who are close enough to putin must make a moral decision that either makes them a hero to the world or a pariah who were a willing accomplice to the murdering putin. Fate has put them into putin's sphere so they are the ones who have to decide their own destiny and the destiny of thousands of innocent victims. My personal choice is for one of the inner circle Russian citizens to stop this madness of putin and put him out of commission one way or another.

(#4776) Enact a no fly zone over Ukraine

      I will not let my fear of what putin will do if we enact a no fly zone. What I will do though is stand by my choice to enact one because putin will bomb the civilian population at will without one. I know the consequences of my choice but it is down to putin and those around him to decide how far they are going to take this. The right thing to do is to protect the civilians and if it means doing something outside the normal protocols then so be it. It isn't as if we are doing this proactively, we are doing it defensively in the face of horror and tragedy. The United States cannot let a protocol stop us from doing the correct thing!
     For those of us who think that enacting a no fly zone over a country Russia is illegally attacking will lead to a nuclear war I say this, putin has already threatened nuclear war so if he wants to start a nuclear war it is he who will do it not us. He doesn't need a reason now since he has already threatened it. So tip toeing around him while he commits genocide is too cautious by way too much. I say tell him to go fuck himself and let him stew in his own threats while we blockade his offensive against Ukraine to a more controlled way. The fulcrum, tipping point, is now and how we as a species react to how we treat each other is left to our fears then we devolve as a species but if we stand up to the bully then we mature as a species.
     Those around putin will have to decide how to rein him in if he goes to a human being annihilation strategy. In my mind it will never get that far because there is no one on the planet except maybe the crazy who would initiate nuclear war. So institute the no fly zone over Ukraine and do what needs to be done to protect it. We as a people have to stand for our rights as humans and confronting threats is the proper way to advance, not hiding because of said threats. Our world is watching and our democracy is being tested. As to following the rules many of us already now this. Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness for breaking a rule than it is to ask permission to do so. Protecting the innocent from a madman is one of those asking for forgiveness moments.