Month: February 2022

Ukrainians Know How to Fight for Their Democracy and They Put Most Americans to Shame.

/ Stephen Sovie
The Kit – Pixabay

I’ve had nothing but hope and admiration for the people and President of Ukraine, since Russia’s horrific invasion of the country, for no reason other than to destroy the young democracy and fulfill Vladimir Putin’s desire to bring back the Soviet Union. Ukraine has never been a threat to Putin’s Russia, but its successful fledgling democracy and the accompanying freedoms are.

After weeks of failed diplomacy, Putin invaded Ukraine with the full might of 2/3 of the Russian military forces. But Ukrainian President Zelinsky and the Ukrainian people would have nothing to do with Putin’s attack on the peace-loving nation. The Ukrainian people, women, and children of all ages rallied behind their duly elected leader and their military to defy the Russian troops at every step of the way. Putin miscalculated the Ukrainian people’s strong will to defend their freedoms and their country. The capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, was supposed to be Putin’s prize for the taking, but after 3 days the Ukrainians still hold the capital.

We have seen photos and newsreels showing Ukrainian women making Molotov cocktails and brandishing weapons in defense of their homes. We have seen old men volunteering to join the military to defend their homeland. We have also seen President Zelinsky, in full military gear ready to die for his country, along with his fellow countrymen. We have heard him refuse to be evacuated to safety, choosing to fight rather than seek his own personal protection.

I am amazed at the unity of the international community in standing up to Putin. Almost the entire airspace over Europe has been closed to Russia and the rest of the world, except for China and North Korea, have imposed economically crippling sanctions that will bring down Russia’s currency and hit Putin’s oligarch friends in their pocketbooks.

Tyler Merbler – Wikimedia Commons

And then we look at what’s happening at home. As the world rallies around Ukraine, Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress are rallying around Putin. Remember it was Donald Trump who was impeached for attempting to extort Zelensky by threatening to withhold military aid unless he fabricated lies to help Trump’s re-election campaign. From the first day of the Trump administration, Trump tried to eliminate Russian sanctions imposed on Putin for his earlier incursion into Crimea. All during his term, Trump bent over backward to weaken NATO and curry favor with Putin. Trump tried to destabilize NATO, Europe and divide the American people to pave the way for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

When I see the brave patriots of Ukraine fighting for their lives, their freedom, and their country I can’t help but think of Trump and his cult of ragtag supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol because their cult leader lost the election. I remember Trump firing up his followers saying “follow me to the Capitol” and then running back to the White House to hide ( I guess those bone spurs were acting up) and letting his supporters face the dangers in the midst of the violent attack.

Then I see his supporters attacking healthcare workers, government officials, and even school children for trying to take away their freedoms, by having to wear a piece of cloth to help protect themselves and other people from dying of COVID-19. These brave patriots are willing to attack the Capitol, but they’re too damn afraid to get a simple vaccination, to protect themselves from a severe illness. Now they want to form a convoy of trucks to disrupt the flow of food and goods to their fellow citizens, goaded on by Fox News and reprobates like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, because of non-existent mask mandates.

These pathetic excuses for Americans would drop dead of fear if they had to face the real losses of freedom that Ukrainians have been facing since the invasion. The Ukrainians stand to lose their government, their country, their homes, their businesses, and their lives. The so-called American patriots are a disgrace to America and every freedom-loving democracy in the world. They have brought shame to every veteran who put on a uniform to fight for America’s freedom far from home.

Remember the people of Ukraine in your prayers and thank God for people like them. If only all Americans valued our democracy as much as they do. They are a model to freedom-loving people all over the world.

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Is Ukraine Only the First Part of Putin’s Plan?

/ Stephen Sovie
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

As Putin commenced the Russian invasion of Ukraine the world was wondering why? He says it is to assure the security of Russia and to prevent the alliance of Ukraine with NATO. But we all know that Putin is not noted for his truthfulness. So what are the real reasons for Putin’s invasion? I have my own thoughts on the Russian dictator’s behavior. Remember the ancient phrase, attributed I believe, to Julius Caesar, “divide and conquer”? I believe this may be part of Putin’s long-range plan.

Putin rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the KGB, during the time of the Cold War and the Soviet Union’s stranglehold over those countries of eastern Europe that were swallowed into the Soviet Bloc. The KGB was notorious for its savage and brutal behavior towards anyone opposed to the Communist party’s rule, undoubtedly something Putin misses after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Since Putin entered politics he has held the positions of Prime Minister and now President, an office he can hold for life, after he maneuvered legislation to extend the numbers of times he can run for office. Amazingly throughout his political career, his opponents have somehow managed to show up dead, a result of poisoning or “suicide”. Dissent of any kind is not allowed.

One barrier to Putin’s dream of rebuilding the Soviet empire, with him at the helm, has been NATO. He is fearful that former Soviet bloc countries, like Ukraine may adopt a democratic form of government and join NATO. Ukraine has already formed a democracy but has not joined Nato. And this is Putin’s greatest fear. For Putin to make his dream become a reality, he must weaken NATO and divide the electorates of Western Europe and the United States.

He has already meddled in elections in Europe and also the United States, where he most likely installed Trump as his puppet in the 2016 election, using massive misinformation campaigns on Facebook and other social media. After being elected Trump denigrated NATO and our European allies and fought to get rid of sanctions placed on Russia for their annexation of Crimea in 2014. Trump catered to Putin and defended his every move to destabilize the European continent. The Republican Party, during and after the Trump administration, was constantly in march step behind Putin loving Trump. Luckily in the 2020 election, the American people overwhelmingly defeated Trump, despite Russia’s efforts to interfere once again. But thanks to Trump and his sycophants in the Republican Party America is sorely divided. Even as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, Republicans, Fox News, and of course Trump steadfastly support Putin, over the United States.

With Putin believing that NATO and the resolve of the European alliance were weakened, thanks to the Trump presidency and the continued Republican attack on our democracy, he ascertained that this was the right time to attack Ukraine. Luckily NATO and the European allies have so far stood together in defiance of Russian aggression. Unlike Trump, Biden has met Putin with strong condemnation and sanctions designed to hurt Putin and his team of corrupt oligarchs. Even with Republican inaction and lack of support for America during these dangerous times, Putin may realize that he has underestimated Biden, America, and Europe.

If nothing is done to confront and punish Putin there is nothing in his way to re-annex all of the former countries of the Soviet Union, regardless of their independence and democratically elected governments. What is very scary is that Putin, according to the Mirror, said “the ‘consequences” of any attempt to strike back following the country’s invasion of Ukraine would provoke a response ‘never seen in history.” Obviously, a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons.

If he is successful in taking over Ukraine, then China will be emboldened to invade Taiwan. And don’t forget Alaska was once a part of Russia! We quite possibly are on the brink of WWIII or even worldwide nuclear annihilation. This is no time for partisan politics fueled by a narcissistic, pathological liar and the anti-democratic grifters who have formed a pathetic cult worshipping his every non-sensical babblings. These are serious and dangerous times and we must return to the shared democratic values we have always been known for.

We must stand by Ukraine.

I Can’t Believe How Stupid Some People Are!

/ Stephen Sovie
Wikimedia Commons

I’m old enough to know better, but sometimes I can’t believe how stupid and gullible people can be. But it seems like every day I am reminded that stupidity is alive and well today, thanks to the Republican party.

I have an app on my phone called “Next Door” which is supposed to notify those on the app about things of interest to people who live in the neighborhood. I hadn’t checked it in a long time, but for some reason, I decided to see what was happening, or not, in my neighborhood. I saw the usual “welcome to the neighborhood” posts, ads for home services, and occasional minor incidents such as car break-ins. I then noticed a thread of posts about the varying costs of gas around town. Most were informing people where the cheapest prices could be found. Then I noticed that the village idiots had found the thread.

Yup, the dropouts from the internet school of economics were spewing their idiocy in the majority of the comments. “If Trump were still President we would be paying much less”, “Biden raised the prices to give money to illegal immigrants”, “Biden stole the election and now he’s stealing our money”, and ” Biden invented Covid to be able to raise prices”! The best comment was about how Biden won the election because the Democrats let millions of dead people vote!

These are the people who proudly hang banners from their dilapidated barns saying “Trump won and everybody knows it”. I guess the 81 million people who voted for Biden don’t count. These are the people who have made it so difficult to defeat Covid because they’re too stupid to realize wearing masks protect them and others. They’re the ones who believe the vaccines embed microchips into the recipients and more people are dying as a result of the vaccines than the disease itself. Instead, they take horse dewormers and drink their own urine!

I thought I had seen it all until Russia invaded Ukraine. Led by Fox News’ influence undoubtedly, I am seeing posts on social media supporting Russia and Putin, over the United States. They blame Biden! Most of them are not old enough to remember crouching under their school desk as practice in case of a Russian nuclear attack. Russia is not now, nor has she ever been our friend. Russia has numerous times in the past vowed to destroy us and our democracy. Yet these morons support Putin because he was Trump’s puppet master.

On an almost daily basis, we learn about how deeply involved in the January 6th insurrection Trump was. And now we have learned that Trump stole classified top secret documents and moved them to Mar a Lago. I am sure he intended to sell them for financial gain, but our village idiots don’t say a thing. Most likely because they either don’t know about it or if they did, they don’t care, because Fox doesn’t report it. It has come to light that Trump has committed numerous crimes, which could or should result in jail time. He could provide enough episodes for “Law and Order” to air for the next 30 years! Yet our village idiots remain with their heads up their collectives asses, completely aware of the real world!

Stupidity is all around us and it can be extremely dangerous to our democracy. These people vote! Remember this in November.

You might be interested in this post on another of my blogs:

What About My Freedoms?

What in Hell is Merrick Garland and His DOJ Doing While the Leaders of the Insurrection Run Free?

/ Stephen Sovie
Wikimedia Commons

It’s been 13 months since the January 6th insurrection when we came very close to losing our democracy. I, like many in this country, have been following activities of the House Jan.6th Committee investigating the attempt to overthrow the government and the continuing coverup. On an almost daily basis, we learn from the committee and the media, just how deeply Trump was involved in the planning, execution, orchestration, and coverup of the attempted coup.

We have learned of the myriad of ways Trump and his minions have committed crimes against our government and the Constitution. We have also learned that high-ranking members of Trump’s administration and even sitting members of the Senate and House of Representatives were deeply involved in the insurrection and in the continuing coverup.

We have learned about the Trump team faking documents sent to the National Archives in an attempt to certify fake Electoral College electors to falsely certify Trump as the winner in 5 swing states instead of Biden. We have recently learned that Trump had illegally removed documents, as well as furniture, from the White House and moved the items to Mar-a- Lago, in clear violation of the Presidential Records Act. We have also learned that Trump had even ripped up and burned some of the documents before they could be turned over to the National Archives.

We have seen a steady stream of low-level footsoldiers involved in the attack on the Capitol indicted, arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for their actions on January 6th. Unfortunately, some of the traitors received nothing but a slap on the wrist, but at least they were held somewhat accountable.

We have seen the Committee issue many subpoenas to high-level Trump administration officials, including White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. But we have also seen those subpoenas ignored in blatant contempt of Congress. We have only seen two of the subpoena recipients referred to the Justice Department for criminal actions. With only one of these people, Steve Bannon, arrested and scheduled for trial months into the future. It’s been 2 months since Meadows was referred to the DOJ for contempt of Congress. There has been nothing but silence from the DOJ.

We have seen Trump continue to push the “big lie” at his hate rallies and threaten violence if he is ever indicted for what he has done. He has tried to intimidate those prosecutors investigating him and has promised pardons to anyone convicted of crimes related to the insurrection, in an attempt to stop anyone on his team from testifying in front of the committee.

We have heard pundit after pundit, former DOJ officials, and prosecutors alike explain how Trump has broken the law and how much trouble he is in. We’ve been hearing this ad nauseam for months. Trump continues to spread his lies, hate, and threats with impunity.

What we haven’t heard or seen is anything from Merrick Garland! Why?

Could it be he’s being very secretive and is ready to announce numerous indictments for Trump and the rest of the organizers? Is he waiting for more evidence to cast a wider net? Is he afraid to make a decision, one way or the other, because he fears the consequences from the right or the left? Or is he just afraid of Donald Trump and doesn’t want to offend him?

In my opinion, Garland is afraid of appearing partisan. He is afraid of becoming the first AG to indict a former President. So instead of appearing to be a real patriot, he will do nothing in hopes that people will forget the whole situation and another insurrection will not take place. I hope I’m wrong, but I have seen nothing to convince me otherwise. I have lost complete confidence in Garland. Please AG Garland, prove me wrong!

You may want to read “Time is Running Out on Our Democracy”https://stevesothinks.com/2022/01/06/time-is-running-out-on-our-democracy/“