February 28, 2022

I absolutely love it when somebody proves me wrong in a good way.

As some of you might already know, I am of Ukrainian descent, and I have numerous family members living in Ukraine at the moment.

When it comes to Ukrainian politics, I personally haven't gotten much of a dog in that fight--so long as the politician isn't like Viktor Yanukovych, who was stealing billions out of the Ukrainian treasury, cozy with Vladimir Putin and then engaging in a bloody crackdown on public protests in 2013 and 2014 before packing up and flying away to Russia.

But for the rest, I've tried to stay objective and let Ukrainians themselves decide who is best to lead them.

That being said, I did get a lot of input from my Ukrainian relatives and needless to say, when Volodymyr Zelensky was elected in 2019, a lot of them were highly skeptical of his leadership abilities.

He had no elected experience, was just an actor and comedian, didn't have as great a command of the local language as they liked, and his campaign platform seemed to be pursuing a dubious "Peace with honor" style plan where the separatist regions in the East would be given semi-autonomous status and thus could still very well be influenced by Russia even if Putin claims to have backed off. The fear was that because Zelensky was a complete novice, he could be easily manipulated or dominated by the Kremlin, even if that wasn't Zelensky's own intention.

I actually was able to watch the first season of Zelensky's now-prophetic "Servant of the People" show and while it was humorous and entertaining, I doubted fiction could easily be translated into real life.

So needless to say, their skepticism--which I found justified for reasons at the time--became my skepticism about Zelensky's ability to lead as well.

However, I am very happy to say that I have been proven wrong by Volodymyr Zelensky, in the very best of ways.

Zelensky has absolutely grown into his role as Ukrainian President flawlessly and not let anyone--most importantly Putin himself--push him or his people around.

He proved his mettle pretty early on when he resisted Donald Trump's efforts to shake him down for political and personal gain to the detriment of his country's defense.

That proved a good preparation for future tests to come.

Some people you know will be strong leaders from the get-go. Others catch you completely by surprise.

My doubts about Zelensky have turned out to be unfounded.

He has proven himself to my favorite kind of hero--the unexpected hero, the reluctant hero. The type of hero who does not seek out greatness but has greatness thrust upon him.

His unflinching dedication to his people and his country in this time of greatest trial have been phenomenal. And he has done so all while maintaining democratic and peaceful values.

So yes, I have been officially won over by Volodymyr Zelensky, and I couldn't be happier to say that all my initial doubts about him were completely wrong.

https://twitter.com/SaoSasha/status/1497311531041640450

February 24, 2022

An country with 44 million people and a centuries-old history and culture: "A great piece of land."

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-praise-putin-smart-war-ukraine-invasion-1682182

That is what that pestilent piece of fucking shit called Ukraine yesterday.

Said Putin was "smart" and took it, "a great piece of land."

Not a nation or a country. No words of support or solidarity to its people.

It was just "a great piece of land."

Like it was one of his shitty little golf courses.

They're bombing my grandparents' hometown today. I was there, three years ago. As corny as it sounds, I could really feel their presence there. It was a truly incredible moment where I felt such a connection with a place.

This is more than "a great piece of land." This is a beloved home for millions of people, and a place of ancestral pride for millions more such as myself.

And one day, Donald Trump will be sitting alongside Vladimir Putin, Josef Stalin and Adolph Hitler.

And it will be very, very, very hot.

February 18, 2022

We really do live in a stupid timeline, don't we?

First, we're told that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the invasion of the US Capitol by violent Trump supporters, disrupting the certification of the election of her fellow Democrat Joe Biden as President and shouting threats of harm against...Nancy Pelosi.

Now, we're being told that Ukraine is attempting to provoke its own invasion by Russia.

Disinformation really is a funny little creature, isn't it? Impervious to all logic.

February 14, 2022

Expect to be inundated with a lot of disinformation about the situation in Ukraine. Even here at DU.

You're probably going to hear a lot about appeals about a desire to supposedly be "anti-war" or "anti-imperialism." Expect to hear a lot about NATO expansion in Europe, about the US invasion in Iraq or prior CIA actions in places like Chile or Iran. Expect to hear about how the 2014 Maidan protests in Ukraine were actually a US sponsored coup, or how the current Ukrainian government is corrupted by fascist or neo-Nazi elements.

A lot of this might sound good on the surface, especially to persons--myself included--who fashion themselves pacifists or at least a fan of diplomacy over military action when it comes to foreign affairs.

However, a lot of it is either blatantly untrue, heavily distorted versions of the truth, or simply irrelevant to the current situation at hand.

Use proper discernment and consider the sources being used. Fact check using reliable sources of information. Don't just go on what might sound good on the surface.

This might seem obvious considering that is what we've had to deal with with persons on the right, but the left can--and has been--susceptible to agenda-driven disinformation efforts as well.

And this is not our first go-around here at DU. Perhaps some might remember back in 2014 and 2015 these same talking points making the rounds heavily on DU in light of the Maidan protests and then the Russian annexation of Crimea and their instigation and infusion of pro-Russian fighting in Eastern Ukraine.

There were a lot of posts that went unchallenged and were accepted as true because too many people thought what was being said sounded good. Even some long time DUers fell victim to these trappings.

Thankfully, we're better prepared these days. In 2014-15, the notion of disinformation and false news was still a great unknown, but the 2016 election and subsequent right-wing oriented disinformation efforts have served as a great wakeup call. And a lot of the DUers who participated in spreading the disinformation about Ukraine eight years ago left in the middle of 2016 because they didn't want to get behind the Democratic Party nominee.

But that doesn't mean we should let our guard down. I've already seen disinformation about the Ukrainian situation seeping its way back onto DU, and we can only expect more if matters take a turn for the worse in coming days.

All you have to realize throughout are some very simple truths:

1. Ukraine is a sovereign nation, and whether it desires to join NATO or the EU is its own decision, not anyone else's
2. Putin is the sole aggressor in this situation. Not Ukraine. Not NATO. Not the US.
3. The US has no plans to put boots on the ground in Ukraine, nor does Ukraine expect the US to put boots on the ground in Ukraine
4. Ukraine is a democracy--a flawed and fledging democracy, but a democracy nonetheless--and providing material support to a democracy in the face of unjustified aggression is not a bad thing
5. Being "anti-war" or "anti-imperialism" does not mean acquiescing to unchecked aggression by an autocratic regime against its democratic neighbor simply because you think that's "peace." That's not "peace" at all.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic liturgies that are prevalent throughout Ukraine, there is at one point in the mass where the celebrating priest--before reading the gospel--announces to the congregation, "Wisdom! Be attentive!"

Now, putting aside any discussion of religious belief or lack thereof, on a simply secular level, that's still very good advice to be had in any type of given situation.

Wisdom.

Be attentive.

January 27, 2022

A building so unspeakably evil, it should never have even been allowed to stand.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Buildings, in general, typically serve a positive purpose in life. They protect us from the elements. They give us shelter, afford us some sense of privacy, and sometimes even help shape our identity depending on its purpose. Houses in particular become "homes" when one gains a sense of familial and emotional attachment by virtue of living in it.

True, they are just brick and mortar (and various other materials), and some are far more utilitarian than others, but overall a building is at worst just a building and there is nothing intrinsically wrong with its own existence.

Whenever I've read or researched about the Holocaust, I'm always struck in particular by the pictures of the gas chambers and crematoriums at Auschwitz and some of the other death camps.

Just the buildings themselves, nothing more.

From first glance, they look--like a lot of things associated with the Nazi regime--extremely banal and unordinary. Brick buildings with a tall chimney. Nothing screaming evil. Without context, one might confuse it for a home, or a warehouse, or some other regular sort of building.

And yet, in context the evil these mere buildings invoke is palpable and utterly horrifying.

The fact that they were even there. The fact that they were built--built with the same ordinary building materials as any other building would use. But built with a sole purpose that was so unspeakably evil it defies words.

The fact that human beings built these wretched--yet from the outside seemingly unextraordinary--buildings. Human beings built these buildings to facilitate the mass murder of other human beings, all because of a perverse ideology run completely amok. People built these buildings so that other people would die.

It just seems so unnatural and bizarre that these buildings actually stood, if even for a day. If even for a second. The ground should have swallowed it up whole and sent it back to the fiery hell from whence it came. Buildings that evil should never have been built by human hands.

But they did. And we are forced to remember that they did, in the hopes that human hands will never, ever build them again.

**NOTE: My purpose in writing this is not to say that these buildings shouldn't be kept as memorials to the atrocities that were committed there. Rather, it's a mere reflection on the fact that some how, some way they were ever built in the very first place.

January 25, 2022

BREAKING NEWS: Fox News correspondent Doocy arrives at press briefing wearing cervical neck collar

A day after a hot mic caught President Joe Biden referring to him as a "stupid son of a bitch," Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy appeared in the White House Daily Briefing Room wearing a white cervical collar around his neck.

"I know, I know, my jarring physical appearance today might appear most upsetting to you, disturbing even," Doocy announced unprompted as several of his fellow journalists continued to jot down notes, unaffected. "But let it be known that I have voluntarily taken on these slings and arrows for all of you--all of us--my brothers and sisters in the vaunted Fourth Estate."

Several of Doocy's colleagues later questioned why he was wearing a medical neck brace given that he had merely been the subject of an off-hand verbal quip by the President, but were at a loss as to how to exactly breach the subject to the Fox correspondent at the time.

"No doubt, these harrowing events have been most difficult for me," Doocy continued. "They have been both emotionally and physically trying at times. Thankfully, my spirits remained buoyed by the people who have supported me throughout my career of journalistic excellence. My friends, my workmates, my wife--"

"Your father?" one of Doocy's colleagues added.

"Yes, my father, too," Doocy continued. "But merely as a means of moral support and moral support alone. My father has always been there to give the occasional 'Ay, attaboy,' or 'Go get 'em, Tiger,' but make no mistake about it, my position at this most prestigious media network is strictly a matter of my own hard work and achievement and nothing else."

Doocy went on to stress how his recent ordeal would not deter him as a "beacon of our cherished First Amendment press freedoms."

"You may be tempted to think I am alone in this situation," Doocy began. "That what has befallen me is something that is completely without precedent. But I tell you now, that is far from the truth! The scourge of persecution of journalists by tyrannical regimes is truly a worldwide conundrum! The free media declared as 'enemies of the people!' Reporters thrust into dank, dark prisons for attempting to reveal the truth! Journalists killed, either by means made to look as though an accident or straight out murder in broad daylight! Correspondents forced to endure barely audible mild profanities! Oh, how we have suffered--how we have all suffered so terribly, all one in the same!"

However, Doocy remained defiant throughout his impromptu briefing room address.

"I tell you now, though, we will never be silenced!" he proclaimed. "What I have so painfully endured I voluntarily accept in the name of the unvarnished truth for all to see and consume! For no matter what befalls us, they will never take our...Oh, by the way, has anyone else tried that new Thai place on G Street? They have this Dragon Roll that is just amaze-balls! Who else wants to come with when all this shit is done?"

DETAILS AT ELEVEN

January 23, 2022

The Packers had open receivers in the end zone all game yesterday

Unfortunately for them, Aaron Rodgers refused to take a shot…

January 20, 2022

BREAKING NEWS: Eric Trump remains open to legal liability after mistakenly pleading Third Amendment

Eric Trump, the son of former President Donald J. Trump and a key figure in his father's various business endeavors, accidently exposed himself to further potential legal liability when during a deposition in a case brought by the New York Attorney General's office against the Trump Organization, he repeated stated that he wished "to assert my Third Amendment privilege."

It is the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that permits a person to refuse to answer questions under oath due to fear of self-incrimination; on the other hand, the Third Amendment protects one from being forced to quarter military personnel on his or her property during times of peace.

"It happens," noted one legal expect. "I'm not saying it happens a lot, but I'm sure it happens. People get up to testify, they know they have to assert a privilege under an amendment, but they just can't remember which one. I'm sure Eric probably knew it was an odd numbered amendment, but unfortunately for him, he was two amendments off."

"You know what, now that I think about it, I actually don't think this has ever happened before," the legal expert ultimately was forced to admit. "Like, never."

Meanwhile, Trump's invocation of his Third Amendment rights created further unanticipated complications, as a unit of the Florida National Guard that had been taking up residence at Trump's Jupiter, Florida home was forced to quickly vacate the premises immediately upon Trump having raised his Constitutional privilege.

"Do I like the guy's dad?" asked one Guardsman. "No. Did I vote for his dad? Also, no. Do I even like Eric Trump? Again, no. Frankly, he's a bit of a simpleton, and I'm playing it nice saying it like that. But I have to admit, he has one majorly sick pad and I, for one, am going to miss it a lot."

The National Guard unit had been staying at Trump's house for a period of no less than six months, for reasons that the unit's commander described as "just because." During this time period, members of the unit enjoyed unfettered access to the five bedroom, seven bathroom mansion and amenities such as a fully stocked professional chef's kitchen, a backyard pool and spa, and home theater with a 96 inch television.

"Eric does not cheap out on streaming services," a Guardsman said. "Of course you're going to have Netflix, Hulu and Disney+. That's a given anywhere. But the guy also has streaming services you and I have never heard of before. Like Puppetta--that's a streaming service that offers films and shows exclusively featuring puppets. Puppets! How wild is that?"

"Also, Tubi," the Guardsman added. "People sleep on Tubi, calling it an inferior streaming service and complaining about being forced having to sit through commercials. But you get some real hidden gems on there that you might not find on Netflix. Like last night, I watched a really good Finnish drama called Veri ja Puuro set during that country's civil war in 1918. It was really good. You ought to check it out."

Meanwhile, back as it relates to Eric Trump's unforced legal error in his testimony, Trump's invocation of the wrong amendment means that various admissions he made during the course of his deposition may come back to haunt him down the road.

"I could see real problems when he admitted that he used the entire proceeds of a Trump Foundation charity ball to purchase a fleet of Rolls Royce manufactured golf carts for the Trump Westchester club," one legal expert explained. "And when he talked about that time where he, his dad and his brother and sister all discussed valuing their New York tower for tax purposes as one might value an abandoned mussel factory in Southern Alabama. I could see that biting him in the end."

"But at least he'll have some peace and quiet at home again," he noted.

DETAILS AT ELEVEN

December 15, 2021

OFFS--This is the shit that gets passed around social media these days.

1. No, the economy does not equal the stock market, nor does the stock market equal the economy.
2. That said, even with the loss the Dow closed nearly 5,000 points higher than it ever did during Trump's presidency.
3. Also, a 139 point swing is pretty normal at today's stock market volumes.
4. So yes, it is "Joe Biden's economy." You're welcome.

December 9, 2021

BREAKING NEWS: World renown singer-songwriter Billy Joel questioned about Fox News tree blaze

Authorities in New York City say that they briefly questioned award-winning musical superstar William Martin Joel about his potential involvement in a Wednesday morning blaze of the Christmas tree in front of Fox NewsCorp's headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.

Police say they questioned the 72 year old Joel--a five time Grammy winning singer-songwriter known for his iconic stadium shows--for approximately four minutes and forty-nine seconds on Wednesday afternoon before ultimately clearing him of involvement.

They remained tight-lipped about the exact contents of what Joel told police, only describing it as a "rather bizarre, rambling screed in which he named dropped a long laundry list of dozens of various newsworthy events and figures of the second half of the 20th Century."

"It was all quite strange," one detective said. "At one point, he's talking about serious items like the desegregation of schools in Little Rock, the JFK assassination and protests in Tiananmen Square, and the next moment, he shifts to far more light hearted topics like California baseball and the Coke and Pepsi 'cola wars.'"

Despite police finding Joel's statement completely baffling at times, they nonetheless described it as "extremely catchy," and noted that upon its conclusion, several detectives in the interview room stood up and cheered and requested an encore.

Ultimately, Joel was cleared of culpability when it was determined that at the time of the fire, Joel was uptown visiting a female companion and therefore couldn't have committed the arson. The exact name of the woman was not released, but it was said she was someone who was "living in her white bread world" and that she was seeking out a "downtown man."

DETAILS AT ELEVEN.