meni duzhe shkoda

We have elected an autocrat-fawning, autocrat-wannabe to the Presidency. We have not been, are not now, and likely will not be, an ally equal to Ukraine's example, Ukraine's sacrifice. Boh z vamy.

About Time

The Republican House of Representatives, the chief engine of misgovernment and Russian sympathy in the United States, has finally passed a hefty aid bill, $60 billion, for Ukraine, with the bulk of its support coming from the Democratic Party. Whether it is too late—the sum is no little—remains to be seen, but it is late in coming. The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson had this to say about the aid bill, “Providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. . . . I really do believe the intel in the briefings that we’ve gotten. I believe Xi (Jinping) and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. I think they’re in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed.” To any thinking person paying attention, this was true months ago, as it was two years ago when Putin invaded Ukraine, so Speaker Johnson’s words ring disingenuously in my ears, but I am happy to learn that Americans can do the right thing, eventually, even when dragged kicking and screaming to do it.

Farewell, Blue Helmet

My government continues to fiddle while Kyiv burns, again. Shameful. We have become shameless in our cowardice and sycophancy, and by we, of course, I mean the Republican Party. While I have always gravitated toward the term and concept of republicanism, small r—someone concerned for the common good of one’s public, one’s people—the current party of that name is republican in name only, even a contradiction in terms, and seems to exist now merely for the interest and ego-stroking of its mango-faced demagogue and for the bad of virtually everyone else—except Putin. It is terrible that the fate of the courageous people of Ukraine may depend upon the likes of a people that we are become, feckless as the nights are long and cold in winter.