Month: September 2022

All That Dark Money

It is election time and the American people will probably vote for one stupidity or another……and in reality they are voting for dark money from dark money donors…..in other words your vote is just a formality to justify the control.

Every year more and more dark money flows into the coffers of the corrupt politicians……

It is time for the dark money monster to be slain….and slain for good….

More than $2 billion dollars. That’s how much dark money eclipsed the 2020 elections, OpenSecrets estimates– an increase of over $1.8 billion from just ten years prior.

The 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision devastatingly altered U.S. campaigns and elections. By likening political spending groups to individual Americans entitled to First Amendment rights, Super PAC groups have flourished, offering a quick and easy way for donors to pour money into political advocacy while shielding their identities.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) first introduced the Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act twelve years ago – hoping to at least cast light on the people behind booming political spending. (Even Justice Antonin Scalia went on record stressing the value of transparency and disclosure: “For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously . . . hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.”)

The bill would require advocacy groups to publicly disclose the contributions they receive worth ten thousand dollars or more – and ban foreign participation in domestic political advocacy.

It’s Time to Do Away With Dark Money

Why cannot the American voter see just how corrupted our political system has become?

Plus this is just a silly bill….asking people taking the dark money to ride the system of dark money is but definition laughable.

Please pay attention….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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2022 Mid-Term Cheat Sheet

The Queen is buried and now we return the mundane crap of our upcoming mid-terms…..there seems to be very little interest in these elections….is that because everyone could care less who controls Congress and therefore our country?

About 33 days and time for you to vote…..maybe now would be a good time to start paying some damn attention….(just a thought)….

For those that are truly interested in the direction of this country I offer up the Vox cheat sheet…..

The 2022 midterm elections are fast approaching, and right now, they’re anything but straightforward.

While Republicans were once favored to win a large House majority and even retake the Senate, things are looking more promising for Democrats as voters across the country have been energized by the issue of abortion rights.

With less than two months to go, there’s a lot that’s still uncertain, from how much Democrats can buck historic trends to just how big a role inflation will continue to play. Here are nine questions — many submitted by readers — that look at the factors in each party’s favor, the policies voters are focused on, and the long-term consequences these elections could have. If you have midterms questions you’d like answered, please submit them in the form below.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/12/23344632/midterms-2022-elections-key-house-senate-races-control-congress

What will a GOP win actually mean?

With the midterm elections less than two months away, Republicans are strongly favored to win a majority of seats in the House. Democrats, for now, are expected to keep control of the Senate, though some of the contests — particularly Wisconsin, Georgia, and Nevada — could be particularly close.

With President Joe Biden’s veto power, the implications of Republicans reclaiming one or both chambers in Congress will have more to do with blunting a Democratic policy agenda than swiftly enacting conservative priorities.

But if they do win power, what do Republicans want to do with it? If you’ve had some trouble figuring that out, you’re not alone. It’s been confusing. Different factions within the party are competing for the agenda-setting mantle, and it’s been a long time since Republicans wrote a unified policy and governing platform. When they tried at their 2020 national convention, they ended up scrapping their plans. Instead, they kept their 2016 platform, and avoided an anticipated fight with Donald Trump over a new one.

Even the right-leaning magazine National Review observed recently that “Republicans are doing little to explain what they would have the government do differently if they took power.” There has been a mix of proposals introduced with varying degrees of specificity, and previews of the intraparty fights we might see over the next few years.

It’s always easier for a party to appear united when they’re in the minority, but if Republicans reclaim power, they will have the much harder task of needing to unite around a real agenda. That’s when they’ll have to make real decisions on issues like abortion bans, civil rights, rollbacks of environmental protections, and welfare subsidies.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/14/23347145/republicans-midterms-2023-gop-agenda

There is much to be concerned over with these elections….but sadly I look for many Americans to be on the sidelines because it is just too hard for them to actually care about the country and its people.

If you do not vote then keep your mouth shut…..because you were lazy the country slides further down the crap hole.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Civics, The Lost Knowledge

In the last few decades the American people have lost the knowledge of civics….and our elections and government illustrates what happens when this knowledge is lost.

I say this because of this type of report….

A recent survey found America may need to go back to civics class.

Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Civics Knowledge Survey found only 2 in 5 American adults – or 39 percent – could correctly name the three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. That figure was the highest in five years, up from 32 percent last year.

One in five adults couldn’t name any branch, the study showed.

“A quarter of U.S. adults can name only one of the three branches of government and more than a fifth can’t name any. The resilience of our system of government is best protected by an informed citizenry. And civics education and attention to news increase that likelihood.”

53% correctly said it takes a two-thirds majority of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto.

83% correctly said it was accurate to say that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that a citizen has a constitutional right to own a handgun.

63% correctly said it was inaccurate to say that the Constitution allows a judge to insist that a defendant testify at their own trial.

55% correctly said that Democrats control the House of Representatives and 61% correctly said that Republicans control the Senate.

(al.com)

Since schools seems to avoid teaching our students the knowledge of civics…..apparently that chore is delegated to us bloggers…..

Let us start with George Washington…..and carry on from there….

In his first inaugural address, George Washington put the fate of this country’s democracy in the care of its people. “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government,” Washington explained, “are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” 

Yet 233 years later, civic knowledge among Americans is at an appallingly low level. What’s more, a recent Quinnipiac Report finds 67 percent of Americans think our democracy is in danger of collapse. 

None of this is surprising to those of us who have devoted our lives to improving civic education in this country. Americans are finally starting to pay attention to the alarms raised. Thankfully, there are collective calls for improving civic education – not only during school years but as a lifelong endeavor for every person in our self-governing society.

The challenge for those of us in civic education is threefold: (1) there is less classroom time for civics in primary and secondary school; (2) the marketplace of ideas is crowded with misinformation coming from every direction; and (3) there are few resources designed to engage people of all ages.

https://www.realclearpublicaffairs.com/articles/2022/09/16/civic_education_must_innovate_to_deepen_constitutional_knowledge_and_strengthen_the_republic_854000.html

The study of civics is best when we start with the very document that made this country great, the Constitution…..

When we think of the United States Constitution, we probably consider the structure it gives to our national government. We may think of its presence at the center of political controversies past and present. Or we may think of ways in which the document has been neglected.

But as we mark the 235th anniversary of the Constitution’s signing on Sept. 17, 1787, it’s worth noting the positive ways in which our daily lives as individuals – and our shared lives as citizens – are profoundly shaped by that document.

First, the Constitution is a common reference point for American civic life. The Preamble tells us the Constitution’s purpose – one that “We the People” share together. It speaks of the need to maintain our “more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” This purpose is as relevant today as it was in 1787. The founding generation certainly bore a heavy responsibility in adhering to these purposes, but each generation must do its part in the ongoing work of self-government. And each individual citizen is a shareholder in the enterprise of democracy. 

https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2022/09/16/four_things_we_should_teach_children_about_the_constitution_110766.html

We need a more thorough program for teaching civics at every level of our educational system.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Does Propaganda Really Work?

Short answer is….yes it does!

Propaganda has been used extensively by governments and now the media and social media has joined in the brainwashing of the people.

Interesting article that looks at the way propaganda has successfully controlled the minds of the people….

In the 1970s, I met one of Hitler’s leading propagandists, Leni Riefenstahl, whose epic films glorified the Nazis. We happened to be staying at the same lodge in Kenya, where she was on a photography assignment, having escaped the fate of other friends of the Fuhrer. She told me that the ‘patriotic messages’ of her films were dependent not on ‘orders from above’ but on what she called the ‘submissive void’ of the German public.

Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie? I asked.  ‘Yes, especially them,’ she said.

I think of this as I look around at the propaganda now consuming Western societies.

Of course, we are very different from Germany in the 1930s. We live in information societies. We are globalists. We have never been more aware, more in touch, better connected.

Are we? Or do we live in a Media Society where brainwashing is insidious and relentless, and perception is filtered according to the needs and lies of state and corporate power?

The United States dominates the Western world’s media. All but one of the top ten media companies are based in North America. The internet and social media – Google, Twitter, Facebook – are mostly American owned and controlled.

In my lifetime, the United States has overthrown or attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, mostly democracies. It has interfered in democratic elections in 30 countries. It has dropped bombs on the people of 30 countries, most of them poor and defenceless. It has attempted to murder the leaders of 50 countries.  It has fought to suppress liberation movements in 20 countries.

The extent and scale of this carnage is largely unreported, unrecognized; and those responsible continue to dominate Anglo-American political life.

In the years before he died in 2008, the playwright Harold Pinter made two extraordinary speeches, which broke a silence.

Silencing the Lambs: How Propaganda Works 

I have written about this subject many times and still no one seems to care as long as they can find anything that will confirm that their thoughts are accurate.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–28Sep22

Since 06 January there have been many attempts to try and make sure that the insurrection could never happen again…..and at every turn the GOP has blocked all attempts…..

Recently…..The Presidential Election Reform Act, written by Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), seeks to prevent presidents from manipulating the Electoral Count Act like former President Donald Trump attempted to do as part of his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden.

The measure passed by a vote of 229-203, with every House Democrat present voting in favor. Only nine House Republicans joined them. All nine are leaving Congress after this term, either because they lost primary challenges or are retiring.

In addition to Cheney, they are Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Jamie Herrera Beutler (Wash.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), John Katko (N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Peter Meijer (Mich.), Tom Rice (S.C.), and Fred Upton (Mich.).

“To all those who oppose this legislation, I ask you, how could anyone vote against free and fair elections—the cornerstone of our constitution?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)—who leads a party that has repeatedly fought to keep more progressive challengers off ballots and out of debates across the country—said Wednesday on the House floor.

“How could anyone vote against our founders’ vision: placing power in the hands of the people?” she added. “How could anyone vote against their own constituents, allowing radical politicians to rip away their say in our democracy?”

In a swipe at Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rep. Marc Pocan (D-Wis.) tweeted that the newly passed bill “eliminates loopholes insurrectionists tried to exploit on January 6th—even for those who only spent ‘a couple seconds’ trying to overthrow democracy.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/21/siding-insurrectionists-203-house-republicans-vote-no-coup-prevention-bill

How many so-called “Leftists” have been jailed for a “few seconds” of dissension?

Can we really quantify the attempt to overthrow democracy?

I weep for this country and its representation.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Yet More Cash For Ukraine

Yes I know that I bitch about all taxpayer’s money being sent to Ukraine in their struggle….and guess what?

Even more money being funneled into Ukraine……

The US Congress is doing its part to piss away needed funds…..

Congressional negotiators agreed to include nearly $12 billion in new spending on the war in Ukraine in a stopgap spending bill that will likely be voted on this week, Reuters reported on Monday.

Sources told Reuters that the $12 billion will include $4.5 billion in funding for arms being sent to Ukraine and $2.7 billion for other military and intelligence support for Ukraine. The funding also includes $4.5 billion in direct budgetary aid for the Ukrainian government.

A source told The Associated Press that the stopgap bill is meant to fund the federal government through mid-December and could be brought to the Senate for a vote as soon as Tuesday evening.

The funds for Ukraine largely fall in line with a request made by President Biden. The White House asked Congress to authorize $11.7 billion in spending for Ukraine and for $2 billion for energy spending to offset the cost of the sanctions campaign against Moscow.

If the measure is passed, it will bring the total US expenditures for the war in Ukraine to about $65.6 billion. Including the $2 billion in energy spending to offset sanctions brings the total to $67.6 billion. To put the figure in perspective, Russia’s entire annual military budget for 2021 was $65.9 billion.

he Ukraine aid is not meant to last very long. When requesting the funds, the White House said it was needed for the first three months of the 2023 fiscal year, which starts on October 1 for the federal government. Ukraine is preparing to launch more counteroffensive next year and has asked the US to provide more advanced weaponry.

(antiwar.com)

You would think that the US has spent enough cash on this war….if so then you would be sadly mistaken….

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that the US committed an additional $457.5 million in “civilian security assistance” that will go toward the country’s law enforcement agencies.

Blinken said that the new aid brings the total funds for Ukrainian law enforcement committed by the US to $645 million since last December. He said that funding has gone to the National Police of Ukraine and Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service.

The aid includes personal protective equipment, medical supplies, and armored vehicles. Blinken said the new funding would also go toward investigating alleged Russian war crimes in areas of Ukraine.

Aid for Ukraine is still being pulled from the $40 billion bill President Biden signed back in May. But Congress has reportedly agreed to include $12 billion in new Ukraine aid in a government funding bill that will be voted on this week.

The plans for new aid come as Ukraine is asking the US for more advanced and longer-range weapons. Blinken said Sunday that conversations on what weapons to provide Ukraine next are “ongoing.” US support for Ukraine shows no sign of slowing down despite the risk of provoking Moscow and President Vladimir Putin’s recent warning regarding nuclear weapons.

(antiwar.com)

Is this truly money well spent?

If you think so then why?

Will the purse strings ever close on this situation?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–27Sep22

Move over Orban!

There is a new fascist leader in Europe…..and it is from a country that has a fascist past….Italy…..

The results aren’t official, but it’s a certainty that the far-right Brothers of Italy party has won the most votes in Italy’s election on Sunday, reports the AP. That means party leader Giorgia Meloni is now the favorite to become the next prime minister, which is notable on two fronts. She would be Italy’s first female prime minister, and she would lead the nation’s “farthest-right government” since Mussolini, per the Washington Post. It could be weeks before any new government takes over, however, and much political horse-trading will take place in the interim. Coverage:

  • About her: The BBC has a profile of the 45-year-old Meloni, who grew up in working-class Rome and was raised by a single mother. As a politician, her motto of “God, homeland, and family” speaks volumes. While women in Italy like the idea of a shattered glass ceiling, they also fear that Meloni’s conservative views on issues such as abortion will actually hurt women’s rights overall. She also opposes LGBT polices and is a staunch opponent of immigration. Her views are strongly nationalist.
  • Fascism: Her party “descended from the remnants of fascism,” writes Jason Horowitz in the New York Times. And the BBC story notes that Brothers of Italy, founded a decade ago, “has its political roots in the Italian Social Movement (MSI), which rose from the ashes of Mussolini’s fascism.” However, Meloni (who famously praised Mussolini as a politician years ago) today adamantly rejects the connection. “The Italian right has handed fascism over to history for decades now, unambiguously condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti-Jewish laws,” she said in a campaign video.
  • But that logo: Her party uses a tricolor logo of a flame, which the BBC notes is “often perceived as the fire burning on Mussolini’s tomb.” It’s the same one used by Giorgio Almirante, Mussolini’s last chief of staff, when he launched the above-mentioned MSI in 1946, per the AP. “You can make whatever you want out of a flame, but everybody understood that Almirante was making a deeply emotional appeal to keep the spirit of fascism alive,” says Rutgers University professor T. Corey Brennan.
  • Logo, II: Another political scientist, Gianluca Passarelli of Rome’s Sapienza University, tells the BBC that Meloni won’t drop the symbol because it’s too deeply connected to her own youth. But “her party is not fascist,” he says. “Fascism means to get power and destroy the system. She won’t do that and she couldn’t. But there are wings in the party linked to the neo-fascist movement. She has always played somehow in-between.”
  • Ukraine: Unlike leaders of other right-wing parties in Italy, Meloni has been a strong advocate of Ukraine and a critic of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Still, she might face internal pressure on the subject once in power, and a big concern in Europe is whether Italy might eventually become the “weak link” in the EU’s unified opposition to Russia, per the Times.
  • Governing: The Local looks at the specifics of what a Meloni government might actually do. Think slashed taxes, strong anti-immigrant policies, less support for LGBT policies, etc.

Is this a trend for coming elections in Europe?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trumpian Threats

We all know the saga of the documents confiscated at the ex-president’s Florida residence….and of course all the other investigations swirling around our Orange Man from Florida…..

Trump has issued a warning…..

Donald Trump is predicting big, if unspecified, trouble in the US if he is indicted over his handling of classified documents. “I think if it happened, I think you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before,” he said on conservative Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Thursday, per the Washington Post. “I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.’ Hewitt pressed him on what he meant by “problems,” but Trump didn’t specify. “I think they’d have big problems, big problems,” he said, per the transcript. “I just don’t think they’d stand for it. They will not, they will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes.”

When Hewitt told Trump the “legacy media” would accuse him of inciting violence, Trump responded: “That’s not inciting. I’m just saying what my opinion is. I don’t think the people of this country would stand for it.” Trump reiterated that he did nothing wrong, adding that an indictment would not bar him from running in the 2024 race, per the Hill. His comments on potential trouble echo those of ally Lindsey Graham, who recently warned of “riots in the streets” should the former president be indicted. The Trump interview came on the same day senators were briefed on the increase in threats to federal law enforcement officials since the Mar-a-Lago search, notes Politico.

Democratic judiciary panel chair Dick Durbin called the number of threats “stunning” afterward and criticized Trump for contributing to the problem. “Inviting a mob to return to the streets is exactly what happened here on Jan. 6, 2021,” said Durbin. “His careless, inflammatory rhetoric has its consequences.” But GOP Sen. Rick Scott said after the briefing that it demonstrated the need for more transparency about the reasons for the Mar-a-Lago search. “You have to give people good information so these rumors don’t continue,” he said. “I don’t know why they raided the former president’s house. … They know the conspiracy theories that are out there. So convince people that they’re not true.”

The big question these days is will he be indicted and will he be confined?

America’s democracy crisis will not end anytime soon. Donald Trump and his acolytes in the Republican-fascist party continue to incite acts of right-wing violence, including terrorism, on a nationwide scale as part of their plan to end American democracy and replace it with authoritarianism and one-party rule.

The Big Lie continues to spread across the United States. A majority of Republicans now subscribe to the repeatedly disproven theory that the 2020 Election was somehow illegitimate, that Trump is the “real” president and Joe Biden is a pretender and usurper. “MAGA” is American neofascism; it has fully conquered the Republican Party.

…

Will Donald Trump eventually be prosecuted, convicted and then imprisoned for his apparent high crimes, which may include violating the Espionage Act? Attorney and author Kenneth Foard McCallion believes that the answer is probably no.

https://www.salon.com/2022/09/19/former-prosecutor-a-day-of-reckoning-is-coming-for–but-hes-not-going-to-jail/

I believe this is correct….he will slip away from be held accountable in any form.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–26Sep22

I have written many times about the rate and the causes of the suicides by our veterans. It appears that the numbers are higher than have been reported in the past.

The number of US military veterans who have died by suicide could be far higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs has reported, a new study indicates. America’s Warrior Partnership, which works to eliminate veteran suicide, found that in eight states, the number of suicides was 1.37 times higher than reported for 2014 to 2018. If that rate holds throughout the nation, the number of veterans dying by suicide each day would be about 24; the VA’s reported average for that period was 17.7, per NBC News. “We’re not pointing fingers at anyone,” said Jim Lorraine, the nonprofit’s president. “We’re just saying it’s sobering to look at the numbers.”

The VA bases its count on information provided by the counties where the person died, per Stars and Stripes. The new study, which took four years, went further to gather details about the veterans, working with the Department of Defense and checking state records. Other states could not release relevant data because of confidentiality restrictions, the preliminary report says. The VA’s process, missed veterans about 18% of the time, the study said. The University of Alabama and Duke University worked with the nonprofit. “It’s not the VA’s fault, Lorraine said. “The issue is the counties.”

Veterans Affairs released a statement defending its process. “We take every step possible to make sure that our veteran suicide data is accurate, because the first step to solving this problem is understanding it,” said press secretary Terrence Hayes. Loraine said he hopes more states will take part in the next phase of the study. Broader collaboration would improve the accuracy of the data, as well as prevention methods, he said. The VA’s 2020 report said more than 46,000 US adults died in suicides in 2018, more than 6,000 of them veterans. Another organization has found that suicide has killed four times as many US veterans as combat so far this century.

This problem should be far more important to the government than it is….we asked these people to give their all and then we put band-aids on their wounds instead of giving them the help they deserve.

For a damn change do something besides giving our veterans platitudes in place of adequate health care.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Escalation Going To End Badly?

The Queen is at rest and now the world can take a good look at the events that could shape our years to come.

The Separatists of Eastern Ukraine will make things worse…..

It’s no secret that Ukraine’s military has been making big gains against Russian forces, gains that have Ukrainian officials talking about forcing the Russians out completely. Now, however, comes a potentially major wrinkle. Amid the Ukrainian military surge, four regions at least partially controlled by Russian troops plan to hold referendums in the coming days to formally join Russia. Coverage:

  • The regions: Pro-Moscow separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, Kherson in the south, and Zaporizhzhia (about 250 miles west of Luhansk) have announced the referendums, reports the AP. The “long-suffering people of the Donbas have earned the right to be part of the great country that they always considered their motherland,” says separatist leader Denis Pushilin in Donetsk. (That region and Luhansk make up the Donbas.) The votes begin Friday and will last a few days, though the logistics are very much up in the air, per Reuters.
  • Why now? The Washington Post sees the votes as “a sign of apparent panic that the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine in failing.” As in, these separatist leaders fear the Ukraine military push will accelerate and want to act now before it’s too late. Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky has a similar take, saying “the occupiers are clearly in a panic,” per Reuters.
  • In Moscow: Not surprisingly, the Kremlin is on board with the movement. “The current situation confirms that they want to be the masters of their future,” says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, per the New York Times. Russia would be expected to quickly acknowledge the results of the referendums and formally annex the regions.
  • The risk: Ukraine and the West aren’t expected to recognize any such referendums as valid. (The US warned in July of Russian “sham” votes like this.) Russia is an illegal occupier and thus “Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them, whatever Russia has to say,” is how Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba put it. But if Russia considers the regions part of its own country, any subsequent attacks by Ukraine would be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia.
  • Spelling it out: “Encroachment onto Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self-defense,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram in a statement perceived as a warning to the West, per the Moscow Times. “This is why these referendums are so feared in Kyiv and the West.” The Post quotes pro-war RT television exec Margarita Simonyan as warning that after Russia recognizes the regions, “strikes on the territory of Russia become a full-fledged war between Ukraine and NATO with Russia, untying Russia’s hands in all respects.”

Now the escalation that I mentioned earlier…..

Vladimir Putin is “not out of tricks,” writes the Globe and Mail editorial board, and he proved as much Wednesday by backing sham referendums on Russian accession in four occupied territories of Ukraine, calling up 300,000 reservists, and threatening every possible defense of Russian territory. Here are four reactions to Putin’s speech:

  • Weak attempt at justification: In “resorting to a Potemkin vote to annex territories from which its soldiers are in danger of being evicted,” Russia is distracting from that fact that Putin’s invasion “has been an error-ridden disaster that has weakened him domestically and internationally,” continues the Globe and Mail editorial board. He underestimated his opponents and the support they would receive while overestimating Russia’s military might. And now comes “a weak attempt at providing some sort of justification, in Russia’s favor, of a war” that has killed tens of thousands and “made refugees of more than six million others.”

No real help: The assumed annexations seek to contain Ukrainian advances, which threaten much of the territory captured by Russia, and could allow Russia to send conscripts into these areas, according to the Economist. But it would also “commit Mr. Putin to the financial and political upkeep of a war-torn region under perpetual risk of attack.” Meanwhile, “the spectre of the conscription of young men and the mobilization of reservists risks provoking widespread anger at Mr. Putin’s regime while offering little short-term help on the battlefield.” It notes training and equipping 300,000 reservists “would probably take more than a year.”

All this speaks to just how any armed conflict can quickly spin out of control…..

Russians are not handling the escalation without voicing a dissenting voice.

Protesters turned out across Russia on Wednesday, in spite of the threat of imprisonment, in response to the announcement that thousands of troops will be called up to join the fighting in Ukraine. Hundreds, at least, were arrested; OVD-Info, a Russian human rights group, put the number at more than 1,300 in 38 cities, France24 reports. Arrests were made in almost major city in Russia, per the Hill. The protests were the largest since the ones held right after the invasion of Ukraine began in February. “I am for peace, and I don’t want to have to shoot,” said Vasily Fedorov, a student in St Petersburg. “But coming out now is very dangerous, otherwise there would be many more people.”

The call had gone out for Russians to join the anti-mobilization protests, which was followed by a warning from the Moscow prosecutor’s office that demonstrators could be sentenced to 15 years in jail, per the BBC. Possible charges were said to be discrediting the armed forces, spreading “fake news” about the battle in Ukraine, and encouraging minors to protest. The antiwar organization Vesna said it had received 6,000 calls to its hotline since Tuesday morning from Russians asking about soldiers’ rights. Young men told the BBC they’re worried about being called up. “I shouldn’t be recruited during this step of mobilization,” said one in St. Petersburg, “but there are no guarantees that things won’t get worse.”

One-way plane tickets out of Russia were going fast and becoming more expensive, some changing every few minutes, per the AP, as fears grew that the nation’s borders would be closed. A one-way economy class fare from Moscow to Istanbul or Dubai topped $9,000. “Why are they deciding my future for me?” asked Oksana Sidorenko, a student protesting in St. Petersburg, told AFP. “I’m scared for myself, for my brother.” A 60-year-old man told a reporter: “I came out to the rally planning to participate, but it looks like they’ve already arrested everyone. This regime has condemned itself and is destroying its youth.”

Starting to sound like the tactics Iran used in its war with Iraq….it destroyed a whole generation of Iranians.

This will not help the conflict in any way.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”