Zelenskyy Pulls a George Costanza, Claims He Was Just Kidding When He Quit the Peace Talks

The headline is a reference to this Seinfeld episode.

What? That? I'm a joker, you know that. I kid!

Zelensky reaches out to Trump after "regrettable" meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has extended an olive branch to President Donald Trump following what he called a "regrettable" meeting in Washington. Zelensky thanked Trump for past U.S. support and reiterated Ukraine's willingness to sign a mineral agreement "any time and in any convenient format." His remarks come as the U.S. has paused military aid to Ukraine, and Trump has signaled a preference for peace negotiations.

Key Details:

Zelensky acknowledged that the Friday meeting at the White House did not go as planned and expressed a desire for "constructive" future cooperation.

He highlighted Trump's past support for Ukraine, particularly his decision to provide Javelin missiles, as a pivotal moment.

The U.S. paused all military aid to Ukraine on Monday, with Trump telling Zelensky to return "when he was ready for peace."

Here's the statement this stupid actor posted on X:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський
@ZelenskyyUa

I would like to reiterate Ukraine's commitment to peace.

None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.

LOL. Please.

We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky -- ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure -- and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.

We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this.

Sure, sure, sure. Now you're grateful. Two days ago you were sanctimonious and entitled and petulant, but now you're truly grateful.

Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.

Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively.

Zelenskyy needs the US. We don't need him. He's a side-show and an irritant. And yet he acts like he's doing us a favor in taking billions from us (and squirreling away millions for himself and his cronies).

Same with Europe.

Emily Jashinsky put out a video noting that America was tired of Zelenskyy's and Europe's never-ending moral blackmail. Certainly. And I'd add that every US citizens has faced never-ending moral blackmail from the unreasonable left for more than ten years -- going back to 2007, when it was demanded of us that we praise an unaccomplished "community organizer" communist as New Black Jesus.

We are tired of the moral blackmail, and it no longer works. It now provokes us and angers us.

Hans Mahncke
@HansMahncke

The endless theories about Zelensky's meltdown--Trump set him up, communication issues, Slavic mentality--are exhausting. There’s exactly one reason this happened: Zelensky himself. He's a petulant, arrogant, entitled fraud who lacks even a shred of statesmanship. He got away with his act for far too long because Western elites indulged him. That ended yesterday. The world saw the real Zelensky, not the manufactured caricature. No further analysis is needed. One man's character flaws caused this. That's it.

Slava America, bitch.

Europe is pretending that maybe they'll send their tiny armies to stand down Russia.

Via David Strom, Italy's Giorgia Miloni says "Not with Italian troops you won't."

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (588) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Not an Op: 22 Democrat Senators Blitz X With 22 Near-Identical Messages
Now It's 23

Do they not understand that this is creepy AF?

Libs of TikTok
@libsoftiktok

These 23 Senators all posted the same word for word script.

- Alsobrooks
- Baldwin
- Blumenthal
- Booker
- Cantwell
- Coons
- Duckworth
- Durbin
- Gillibrand
- Hirono
- Kaine
- Kelly
- Kim
- Lujan
- Markey
- Merkley
- Padilla
- Peters
- Schatz
- Schumer
- Van Hollen
- Warner
- Warren
- Whitehouse

Who's directing them to post this and who wrote the script?

Posted by: Ace at 12:05 PM | Comments (559) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

In just a few generations, Hollywood has descended into a self-referential malaise that treats itself as the arbiter of all things, and has contempt for the people who actually fund their activities. You know... the shrinking population of Americans who go to the movies. They insist upon making movies that do not engage their former customers, preferring to make us uncomfortable with an unending litany of leftist talking points. Gay is wonderful! Transexualism is even better! America sucks. White men are evil. Women are better at everything, and black and Hispanic women trump them all!

And that's just a short list. Gone are the days of even grudging respect for traditional American values...family, church, country are punch lines now. And with an entire industry untethered from its customers, and desperately pushing the most caustic, antisocial, anti-traditional themes possible, is it any wonder that we have the best actress award winner enthusiastic about....hookers?

Mikey Madison wins best actress for 'Anora'

"I also just want to, again, recognize and honor the sex worker community," she said. "I will continue to support and be an ally. All of the incredible people, the women, that I've had the privilege of meeting from that community have been one of the highlights of this entire incredible experience."

And not just enthusiastic. Supportive! Because being a "sex worker" (what a vile euphemism) in Hollywood's warped and twisted worldview is pretty much just like going to school and becoming a physician, or accountant, or doing the most important work on earth bearing and raising children.

We should honor them? How? Give awards for best alleyway BJ? Or maybe there should be two awards...one for quality and one for quantity. And maybe there should be a category for bestiality? Pulling trains? All the stuff that is most valued in women by Hollywood.

In a sane world in which women are actually respected, rather than considered only according to their genitalia and what they do with them, prostitution would be seen as a terrible consequence of lives gone wrong. Our culture would work to make prostitution -- an incredibly debasing life -- something to be shunned, and a life out of which we should help people.

Instead, Hollywood rejects objective morality and simple decency and revels in the degradation of our humanity. How else to continue their and their masters' work at the destruction of traditional American culture? But concurrent with that almost total detachment from their audience and their revenue stream is the increasing disinterest in their product. Most Americans don't much care about the politics of a bunch of rich, under-educated mimics who seem to think that because they are good at memorizing dialogue, their nasty opinions about the President and fascism and transgender lunacy are important -- and should be shoved down our throats at every opportunity. And don't forget Ukraine! The darling of every ignorant fool to walk that red carpet, unless they like Hamas more!

The movie industry is barrelling toward collapse, and they are too stupid to see it. Revenue has been down since 2019, and when corrected for inflation the numbers are even worse. Hopefully some of the slack will be taken up by small independent studios that will respond with a product that Americans actually want to see. But they will need to recognize the change that is in the air!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X]

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM | Comments (389) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Bathers (Summer Scene)
Frédéric Bazille

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (419) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 3/ 4 /25

Good morning kids. First, late yesterday the Senate confirmed Linda McMahon to head up the Department of Education. All things considered, I hope her mission is the complete dismantling of this bureaucracy that has done nothing to advance the actual education of America's children since its inception a little more than 45 years ago. President Trump himself within the last few weeks has stated that this is something he was seeking to do. In purely bureaucratic and governmental terms, given that each state and locality have their own Education departments and boards of education, I repeat, what is the actual function of a Federal level DoE and how does it differ from all of the others. Ditto every other bureau, department and agency with state and local counterparts. Ultimately, it is emblematic and symptomatic of the anti-American revolution vis a vis the consolidation and centralization of power in a geographic and governmental location running completely antithetical to the philosophical and structural underpinnings of how and why this nation was founded. The anti-DOGE reaction is not merely personal against Trump and now Musk. The most efficient and accountable government is one that is as decentralized as possible since it is or should be as close to the level of the citizen as practicable. GIven human nature, that does not 100% preclude corruption, waste, fraud or abuse, but it makes it that much more difficult and politically unprofitable to be a crook. Also, it's not merely the waste and the fraud, but it's what the money is being spent on in the first place. It is our own destruction and/or enslavement at the hands of tyrants with their go-along-to-get-along confederates who are happy to wet their beaks at the public trough, regardless of the consequences. Hello, GOP.

With all that said, you have to wonder what the heck Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are thinking in how they have handled the release of the Epstein files. With another huge cache of files supposedly set to be released either today or tomorrow, again, you have to wonder.

As I write this, Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Patel seem to be hostage to rogue FBI leadership at the Bureau’s New York Field Office in a standoff over the Jeffrey Epstein files. If Bondi and Patel aren’t provided, and subsequently release to the public, these files immediately, they risk collapsing their own credibility and that of President Trump. They are playing a very dangerous game. . .
. . . So, now, we are told, AG Bondi and her underling, FBI Director Kash Patel, in whom we have all held such high hopes, are being thwarted by dastardly recalcitrant FBI leaders in New York. Seriously? Here’s a tip to AG Bondi and Director Patel: You are not doing your boss, President Trump, proud. In fact, if you don’t change your ways fast, you might represent for him the best opportunity to impress the rest of the populace with a post on Truth Social directed to you both that reads: “You’re fired!” Harsh? Maybe. But how about you stop making public pronouncements about your displeasure with FBINY, send five FBI SWAT teams up to the New York office, seize all FBI files related to Epstein, and if a single Bureau employee so much as raises a tiny whisper of protest, sack him/her on the spot? Sounds like a plan to me.

On a different front and on a more positive note, someone that most of us had trepidations about is Tulsi Gabbard. But here, and on something that is crucial, she gets it 100% right:

In a sane political environment, this would have passed as a decidedly unremarkable, albeit not quite one-hundred-percent accurate, observation. The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, recently warned that “radical Islamist terrorism” is the biggest national security threat the nation faces today.

Gabbard said: “We look at the past four years of open borders, where we had tens of millions of people coming across our borders, many of whom we don’t know who they are or what their intentions are, very specifically the threat of radical Islamist terrorism here within our country is higher than it’s ever been before, not only because of Biden’s open borders, but because of his and his administration’s fear of being called Islamophobes.”

For Gabbard to speak of “radical Islamist terrorism” was not quite accurate, as there is nothing “radical” about Islamic jihad violence. It is mainstream and deeply rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah. And “Islamist” is a phony word that corresponds to nothing in Islamic theology. It is just an attempt to distance Islam from the crimes done in its name and in accord with its teachings.

Nevertheless, her statement was a tremendous improvement over the Biden regime. FBI director Christopher Wray testified before members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2021, saying: “The top threat we face from [domestic violent extremists] continues to be those we identify as Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (RMVEs), specifically those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.”

Indeed, as Robert Spencer alludes, "Radical Islamist Terrorism" is a triple redundancy given the nature of Islam as it has been for over 1,500 years. Of course the only reason to absolve by completely ignoring the bloodbath unleashed on this nation alone by the adherents of Islam and claim some mythological white supremacist movement exists as an ever-rpesent threat to the survival of this nation is for Islam's temporary allies of convenience in the Democrat Left to slime and smear those who oppose the multi-generational Leftist enterprise of anti-American counter revolution in the name of gaining absolute power. That is until whoever God-forbid becomes the mullah of and Islamic Republic of America gets around to using the rusty hacksaw on the necks of the Democrats. They'll be first to go since their ranks are chock full of Jews, homosexuals and other Haram infidels/apostates or whatever that will be given their one free Islamic flying lesson from off the top of the Capitol Dome during the renaming of Washington as Wahabbington DC.

In any case, we can certainly blame Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants, Obama and the Clintons for literally whitewashing Islam. But really, with the ruins of the World Trade Center and Pentagon still smoldering just after 9/11/01, when George W. Bush unilaterally declared we were not at war with Islam despite the orgasmic ululations of glee and the passing out of candy and wild celebrations in every Mosque around the world and every Muslim neighborhood here and abroad, you knew we were in trouble.

Also, as a bit of a teaser, Robert Spencer will be our special guest on the next edition of the podcast which should be posting sometime this Friday afternoon so be on the lookout for that.

Perhaps as crucial as Tulsi Gabbard's declaration is Mike Johnson will have a freed Israeli hostage as his guest for President Trump's national address tonight:

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has unveiled his full guest list for President Trump’s first address to Congress this term — including key border officials, conservative media figures and a former Israeli hostage.

Johnson, 52, is bringing Noa Argamani, who endured 246 days in Hamas captivity, to observe Trump’s speech to a joint session of both chambers Tuesday.

“I am honored that Noa Argamani will be joining us at President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress,” Johnson told The Post. “Despite experiencing the unimaginable in the hands of Hamas, Noa has demonstrated incredible strength and courage.” “Her return gives us hope for the safe return of all Hamas hostages,” he added. “We must continue to work to bring each of them home and stand firm against those who commit such atrocities.”

In a bit of positive news, a Yemeni journalist actually blasted the United Nations for the targeting of Israel.

Well, a tiny flame in a sea of darkness. It's something, I guess. Yes, high time got the hell out of the UN and NATO.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• Robert Spencer: Now comes the tough part.
  Gabbard: ‘Radical Islamist Terrorism’ is Biggest National Security Threat
  
• AG Bondi and FBI Director Patel’s handling of the Epstein files reeks of weak-kneed bureaucracy—Trump may need to remind them how to "get 'er done" or show them the door.
  Trump’s People Are Playing a Dangerous Game
  

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:35 AM | Comments (437) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 4 March 2025

Top Story

• The secret weapon of AMD's 9070 XT graphics card: It exists. (Twitter)
  
  Retailers report they have received more stock so far of the 9070 XT than of all the new Nvidia cards combined, including the unreleased RTX 5070.
  
  
  
• Meanwhile Nvidia says that it definitely didn't pay for the obviously paid pathetic puff-pieces posing as previews for the RTX 5070. (Twitter)
  
  The 5070, which launches this week, is not headed for favourable reviews. It increased the number of shaders over the older RTX 4070 slightly - 6144 over 5888 - but is down significantly over last year's 4070 Super with its 7168 shaders.
  
  And there hasn't been much improvement at all on shader performance or clock speed, so... Eh.
  
  It will probably still sell out, but that seems to be more a function of supply than demand.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (153) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Monday Overnight Open Thread - March 3, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings! Thanks for stopping by tonight's ONT. You could have chosen anywhere to spend the end of your Monday. Since you're here, you must have run out of better options. Kick back and enjoy a low key, easy going time. Join us - if you dare!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (430) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Stealth Stalker Cafe

by Paul Wilson Image

ICYMI: The Milky Way with shooting stars and visible satellites.

Premium chicken.

Cat gains the trust of an abused rescue kitten.

Leggy fish.

ICYMI: Dogs run free in the carpet store.

Otters taking a siesta.

Playing ball with a bull. And horses love big balls too. They're fans of DOGE.

Synchronized bounding.

Orphaned baby kangaroo wants to go in his caretakers pouch.

Poor old dog has an annoyingly zoomy little sister. This poor old feller too.

Another case of zoomies.

The Rescue.

The Vandals.

This is why any money spent on "cat toys" is wasted.

Terrific surfing from a Strong Empowered Female Athlete. No notes!

Posted by: Ace at 08:00 PM | Comments (162) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Trump Pauses All Aid to Ukraine Until Zelenskyy Commits to Good-Faith Negotiations and Stops Dressing Like a Hackysack Hobo

Lucas Tomlinson

@LucasFoxNews

BREAKING: The United States is pausing all U.S. military aid to Ukraine until President Trump determines the Ukrainians show a commitment to good faith peace negotiations, a senior Trump administration official tells Fox News.

"This is not permanent termination of aid, it's a pause," the official emphasized. "The orders are going out right now."

The official said this is in response to Ukrainian President Zelensky's conduct over the last week.

Posted by: Ace at 07:17 PM | Comments (184) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Speaker Johnson "Prefers" To Keep Feeding The Beast, Instead Of Following The Will Of The People

Because of course he does! There is always a reason to kick the can down the road, even though DOGE has identified a huge amount of wasteful spending that can simply be cut. No questions asked. JUST CUT IT.

But his masters need that sweet, sweet cash, and if it drives America farther into the abyss of out-of-control budgets and interest payments, well, that's a penalty he is willing for us to suffer.

Johnson Backs Temporary Spending Bill, Says Congress Should Codify DOGE-Proposed Cuts Later

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on March 2 that he prefers passing a clean government funding extension to prevent a government shutdown through September before working towards including cuts recommended by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in fiscal year 2026 legislation.

Johnson’s plan may help reduce the chance of a government shutdown looming ahead of a March 14 funding deadline. Republicans previously sought to incorporate the DOGE cuts immediately in an appropriations bill, which likely would have been opposed by Democrats.

“We’re looking to pass a clean [continuing resolution] to freeze funding at current levels to make sure that the government can stay open while we begin to incorporate all these savings that we’re finding through the DOGE effort and these other sources of revenue,” Johnson during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

“And then for FY26, for the next fiscal year, you’re going to see a very different process and a lot more efficient and effective spending for the people.” [bolding mine]

It's always f*cking next year...next budget...next term...next whatever.

One of the great things about President Trump is his ability to bypass, or simply ignore, the meandering, maddening, insane, delay-filled process of getting things done in Washington. It is so obviously part of the grift that it is internalized in every federal worker, from the guy who swabs the toilets to the Speaker of The House.

Speaker Johnson needs to get on board with cutting, and if he doesn't, and I don't expect him to, it is my most fervent desire that President Trump goes after him hammer and tongs. The American people have spoken, and they like the idea of DOGE leading the way to a halfway sane budget that reflects their wants and desires for America.

And not in seven years...Now!

Posted by: CBD at 06:20 PM | Comments (284) | Trackbacks (Suck)

#OscarsSoLame: Hollywood Appeals to Middle-American Normies with a Land Acknowledgment

Toronto of the West.

The Academy Awards featured a brief land acknowledgment during the ceremony Sunday night that drew scorn on social media.

Actress Julianne Hough gave recognition to three Native American tribes in a 15-second segment during the 97th annual Oscars ceremony.

"We gather in celebration of the Oscars on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and Chumash peoples, the traditional caretakers of this water and land. We honor and pay our respects to indigenous communities here and around the world," Hough said early in the Hollywood awards show.

The short clip was roasted across social media platform X shortly after it aired.

"Performative nonsense. Give the land back if you're so woke," Sen. Josh Hawley's communications director, Abigail Jackson, wrote.

Washington Examiner contributor Brad Polumbo exclaimed, "i repeat: give it back or shut the f--- up!"

"Do the named indigenous groups ever have to acknowledge who they took the land from?" Libertas Institute President Connor Boyack asked.

"WHHHYYY" former Democratic campaign strategist Evan Barker wrote.

Marine Corps veteran Rick Swift remarked, "Will she be giving up her home?"

Posted by: Ace at 05:10 PM | Comments (356) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Boston's Woke Mayor Offers Condolences to Family of Man Shot by Police;
The Criminal Was Stopped While Chasing Someone with a Knife, Trying to Murder Him

We need an Escape from New York style plan for the blue cities. Wall 'em up, leave them to their fates.

An off-duty Boston cop fatally shot a lunatic who was trying to stab people at a Chick-fil-A over the weekend, prompting city officials to fall over themselves to offer heartfelt condolences -- to the perp's family.

The officer was in the right place at the right time in Boston's wealthy Back Bay neighborhood Saturday evening when two people being chased by the knife-wielding man fled into the restaurant fearing for their lives.

The cop identified himself and ordered the suspect to drop his knife. When the armed maniac didn't comply, the officer shot him. The suspect was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, NBC10 Boston reported. There were no additional reported injuries.

At a press conference after the incident, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu -- who has been repeatedly mocked for a cavalcade of harebrained "woke" schemes during her brief time in office -- somberly expressed sorrow over the demise of the would-be stabber.

"My condolences and all of our thoughts are with the family of the individual whose life has been lost," Wu told reporters.

Other lefty Beantown officials fell in line to grieve the loss of the attacker, with Suffolk County, Mass., District Attorney Kevin Hayden, whose office is leading the post-shooting investigation, offering "thoughts and prayers" to the unidentified assailant's family and friends.

Wu, 40, was lambasted over the summer when she proposed a plan that would give illegal migrants and children as young as 11 voting rights in determining how millions of dollars in public funds are doled out in the city, a move ripped by critics as "tone-deaf" and "unserious."

She also raised eyebrows in December 2023 for hosting a secret "electeds [sic] of color" holiday party -- which white officials were expressly barred from attending.

She refused comment to the NY Post.

Woke aristocrats owe no answers to the peasants they reign over.

Posted by: Ace at 03:57 PM | Comments (389) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Tim Walz: Why Sure I'd Consider Running for President in 2028

Walz is answering Frequently Non-Asked Questions, for some reason.

Everyone is saying the same thing after Tim Walz says he's ready to run for president in 2028

The American people laughed off the idea of failed Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz taking over the Oval Office after he suggested he might run for president in 2028.

The 60-year-old Minnesota governor did not rule out the idea of taking on Republicans in the next presidential election when pressed by the New Yorker.

'Look I never had an ambition to be President or Vice President. I was honored to be asked,' he said.

'If I feel like I can serve, I will. And if nationally, people are like, "Dude we tried you and look how that worked out," I'm good with that.'

When the politician was then asked point-blank whether he would ever run for president, he replied: 'Well I had a friend tell me, "Never turn down a job you haven't been offered."

'If I think I could offer something... I would certainly consider that. I'm also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there's a lot of people that can do this.'

He then explained that if the circumstances are right in 2028 and he has the right 'skill set' for the moment, 'I'll do it.'

'I'll do whatever it takes. I certainly wouldn't be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.

'I've always said this: I didn't prepare my life to be in these jobs, but my life prepared me well.

'And if this experience I've had and what we're going through right now prepares me for that, then I would.

Walz-Kaine 2028!!!

This seems preposterous, but who do the Democrats have as an alternative?

Everyone imagines that Gavin Newsom is the front-runner, but he presides over a failed state that he reduced to third-world status. Can you imagine Newsom running on spending tens of billions on free health care for illegals, race reparations, and the government's right to trans your children behind your back?

Although he's smoother than the ding-dong Kamala Harris, he speaks in the same gaseous riddles that Kamala does -- Adam Carolla says she's imitating Newsom -- and he's got the exact same losing issue profile that she has.

Posted by: Ace at 02:42 PM | Comments (503) | Trackbacks (Suck)

VDH: Zelenskyy Still Seems to Believe That the Globalists Are Still in Power in the US

Ten takeaways from Cruelty Appreciator Victor Davis Hanson:

Victor Davis Hanson
@VDHanson

Ten bad takeaways from the Zelenskyy blow-up

1. Zelenskyy does not grasp--or deliberately ignores--the bitter truth: those with whom he feels most affinity (Western globalists, the American Left, the Europeans) have little power in 2025 to help him. And those with whom he obviously does not like or seeks to embarrass (cf. his Scranton, Penn. campaign-like visit in September 2024) alone have the power to save him. For his own sake, I hope he is not being "briefed" by the Obama-Clinton-Biden gang to confront Trump, given their interests are not really Ukraine's as they feign.

2. Zelenskyy acts as if his agendas and ours are identical. So, he keeps insisting that he is fighting for us despite our two-ocean-distance that he mocks. We do have many shared interests with Ukraine, but not all by any means: Trump wants to "reset" with Russia and triangulate it against China. He seeks to avoid a 1962 DEFCON 2-like crisis over a proxy showdown in proximity to a nuclear rival. And he sincerely wants to end the deadlocked Stalingrad slaughterhouse for everyone's sake.

3. The Europeans (and Canada) are now talking loudly of a new muscular antithesis, independent of the U.S. Promises, promises--given that would require Europeans to prune back their social welfare state, frack, use nuclear, stop the green obsessions, and spend 3-5 percent of their GDP on defense. The U.S. does not just pay 16 percent of NATO's budget but also puts up with asymmetrical tariffs that result in a European Union trade surplus of $160 billion, plays the world cop patrolling sea-lanes and deterring terrorists and rogues states that otherwise might interrupt Europe's commercial networks abroad, as well as de facto including Europe under a nuclear umbrella of 6,500 nukes.

4. Zelenskyy must know that all of the once deal-stopping issues to peace have been de facto settled: Ukraine is now better armed than most NATO nations, but will not be in NATO; and no president has or will ever supply Ukraine with the armed wherewithal to take back the Donbass and Crimea. So, the only two issues are a) how far will Putin be willing to withdraw to his 2022 borders and b) how will he be deterred? The first is answered by a commercial sector/tripwire, joint Ukrainian-US-Europe resource development corridor in Eastern Ukraine, coupled with a Korea-like DMZ; the second by the fact that Putin unlike his 2008 and 2014 invasions has now lost a million dead and wounded to a Ukraine that will remain thusly armed.

5. What are Zelenskyy's alternatives without much U.S. help--wait for a return of the Democrats to the White House in four years? Hope for a rearmed Europe? Pray for a Democratic House and a 3rd Vindman-like engineered Trump impeachment? Or swallow his pride, return to the White House, sign the rare-earth minerals deal, invite in the Euros (are they seriously willing to patrol a DMZ?), and hope Trump can warn Putin, as he did successfully between 2017-21, not to dare try it again?

6. If there is a cease fire, a commercial deal, a Euro ground presence, and influx of Western companies into Ukraine, would there be elections? And if so, would Zelenskyy and his party win? And if not, would there be a successor transparent government that would reveal exactly where all the Western financial aid money went?

7. Zelenskyy might see a model in Netanyahu. The Biden Administration was far harder on him than Trump is on Ukraine: suspending arms shipments, demanding cease-fires, prodding for a wartime, bipartisan cabinet, hammering Israel on collateral damage--none of which Westerners have demanded of Zelenskyy. Yet Netanyahu managed a hostile Biden, kept Israel close to its patron, and when visiting was gracious to his host. Netanyahu certainly would never before the global media have interrupted, and berated a host and patron president in the White House.

8. If Ukraine has alienated the U.S. what then is its strategic victory plan? Wait around for more Euros? Hold off an increasingly invigorated Russian military? Cede more territory? What, then, exactly are Zelenskyy's cards he seems to think are a winning hand?

9. If one views carefully all the 50-minute tape, most of it was going quite well--until Zelenskyy started correcting Vance firstly, and Trump secondly. By Ukraine-splaining to his hosts, and by his gestures, tone, and interruptions, he made it clear that he assumed that Trump was just more of the same compliant, clueless moneybags Biden waxen effigy. And that was naïve for such a supposedly worldly leader.

10. March 2025 is not March 2022, after the heroic saving of Kyiv--but three years and 1.5 million dead and wounded later. Zelenskyy is no longer the international heartthrob with the glamorous entourage. He has postponed elections, outlawed opposition media and parties, suspended habeas corpus and walked out of negotiations when he had an even hand in Spring 2022 and apparently even now when he does not in Spring 2025.

Quo vadis, Volodymyr?

Again, sorry for the light blogging. I'm a little sick, and I made it worse by taking Afrin a couple of hours before bedtime. Afrin is a serious stimulant and kept me up until 4am. I knew it was a stimulant (I've made this mistake before) but I thought, wrongly, that it would wear off if I took it two hours before bed.

Posted by: Ace at 01:48 PM | Comments (401) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Treacherous Lt. Bearclaw Pops Off

This is Alexander Vindman, who had previously been offered the position of Minister of Defense... of Ukraine.

PETE SEAT: I'm just some simple Indiana boy, but when I watched this event today, I want to know why our ally is allowed to disrespect the United States of America, the leader, the current leader of this free world.

VINDMAN: J.D. Vance owes Zelenskyy an apology. President Trump owes Zelenskyy an apology for the way he was treated.

SEAT: For what?

VINDMAN: I demand it.

SEAT: What?

VINDMAN: I demand that they give him an apology... If you're going to go ahead and say preposterous things like Zelenskyy owes an apology for being attacked, I'm going to go ahead and say something outrageous. Actually, I'm going to go --

SEAT: If the price of -- IF you say that Ukraine wants peace.

VINDMAN: I think J.D. Vance should resign. How about that? We're just going to go throw crazy stuff into the air.

SEAT: If you say Ukraine wants peace. If Zelensky wanted peace, then he would have kept his mouth shut.

VINDMAN: He did until there were lies.

I'd love to have any legal pretext to see this fat m'f'er's financial records.

Posted by: Ace at 12:30 PM | Comments (541) | Trackbacks (Suck)

THE MORNING RANT: Who Said It - National Review or Brian Stelter?

I’m traveling, so I’m just going to slap up a quick post, noting that the incessant sniping at president Trump from false flag conservatives the polite right sounds little different than Brian Stelter and other far-left partisans in the media right now.

The reason, of course, is that publications such as National Review and the Wall Street Journal now share the politics and the agenda of ABCNNBCBS and the NY Times. The only difference is in how they go about trying to protect the left-wing status quo against a Republican president actually implementing the conservative reforms that “Conservative Inc” once pretended to support.

One of these two quotes is from CNN’s Brian Stelter, the other is from National Review’s Jim Geraghty. Can you guess which one is which?

1) Geraghty or Stelter?

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which disburses funds to PBS and NPR stations, gets $535 million a year in federal funding. So any official who seriously wanted to achieve billions in cost savings would start elsewhere.

2) Geraghty or Stelter?

If you’re going to cut or preserve a particular USAID program, cut it or preserve it on the merits. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you’re reducing the deficit or controlling the debt in any significant way.

The answers are below the fold…

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (539) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

Barges
David Bomberg

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (380) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 3/ 3 /25

Good morning kids. For those of you in South Carolina, stay safe! Hopefully your localities are not headed up by Bass-holes and Newsoms.

Of course the big story is the fallout, pun intended I suppose, of the Trump/Vance Borscht-belt refugee Shecky Zelenskyy meeting that the latter seemed to intentionally sabotage. Either that or the Pissant Pysanky is just naturally clueless and boorish. To not have known going in what the position is of the person you are bargaining with is to completely flunk diplomacy 101. Trump has made crystal clear for quite some time, his disenchantment with those who seek to waste billions of dollars and millions of lives on what is essentially a centuries-old border dispute between Russia and Ukraine that has the potential to touch off a third world war. It's also reflective of the feelings of a solid majority of the American people, Ukrainian flag emojis on Facebook notwithstanding.

Despite at certain points in history being an independent country, Ukraine for the most part was for centuries either part of the Tsarist Russian Empire or of the Soviet Union. Now, did Vladimir Putin have the right to launch an invasion and war to take back part or all of Ukraine by force of arms and in so doing slaughter thousands of people including his own soldiers and citizens? No. But to not recognize the blundering and political bullshit emanating from Foggy Bottom going back to the Obama and Clinton years in setting the stage for this, is willful ignorance, mostly on the part of the institutional Left in this nation and the warmongering neocons who can't see past their own snouts in the trough of the military industrial complex that get fat off the blood and treasure of America's soldiers and taxpayers.

Of course, the usual suspects are blaming Trump and Vance and worse than that are once again trotting out the hideous slander of them being Putin's puppets. Even way before Trump shut this travesty down, the word "Impeachment" has been echoing through the whorehouses of Congress.

The Anti-American American Left could care less about Ukraine except for how it could be used as a weapon to rid themselves of Donald Trump and more importantly, protect their generational war on America as founded and obtain absolute power. So what if millions of Ukrainians and Russians needlessly die or even if someone somewhere miscalculates and nuclear weapons are used. A lot was revealed in this kerfluffle.

The conservative lens reveals a deeper truth: this clash is a referendum on globalism’s failures. For decades, we’ve been sold a lie -- that America must police the world, that our prosperity hinges on perpetual war. Trump shatters that illusion. His minerals gambit wasn’t greed; it was genius -- a chance to onshore critical supply chains, slashing reliance on China while giving Ukraine a stake in its own salvation. Imagine a future where American factories hum with Ukrainian titanium, not Shenzhen’s scraps. Zelensky’s rejection didn’t just tank a deal; it spurned a vision. . . Is there risk? Sure. A U.S. pullback could strain NATO, embolden Moscow short-term. But the greater risk is inertia -- bleeding out for a war with no victory lap. Trump’s not wrong: Zelensky’s gambling with World War III, but so are we by staying tethered to his quagmire. The President’s play is bold, brash, and quintessentially American -- a rejection of guilt, a return to grit. Conservatives must rally here, not waver. This isn’t retreat; it’s rebirth. Let Europe carry the torch; we’ve got a nation to rebuild.

In a not wholly unrelated story, along with the cutting the funding to financially wasteful and in most cases societally destructive bureaucracies, Last week President, and Commander-in-Chief of the United States' Armed Forces President Trump sacked a whole lot of Flag officers

The current president’s decision to fire flag officers isn’t a break with American law and tradition. The “Appeal to Congress” from former secretaries of defense certainly is. The warning about a crisis is the crisis. This dangerous argument needs to be hammered into its grave, quickly and forcefully.

Like DOGE and the wholesale rejection of Democrat policies across the board by wider and wider swathes of the citizenry is a crisis to those who have led us down the road to ruin domestically and internationally since at least the end of the Second World War, if not longer.

. . .Pentagon data that increasingly is calibrated in terms of race, gender, and sexual orientation, have also shown that in recent years, white males, who serve and die—asymmetrically to their demographics—in combat theaters, have shied away from the military, and disproportionally account for general recruitment shortfalls.

One likely explanation is that they apparently felt that inordinate political Pentagon DEI emphases and public congressional commentary from Pentagon brass about supposed endemic “white privilege” or purported racist cabals were aimed at them. In 2021, Secretary of Defense Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley seemed to weigh in before Congress on highly political and polarizing matters of critical race theory—even connecting the January 6 demonstrations to supposed “whiteness”, opining on “white rage,” and recommending the controversial racialist works of Ibram X. [krement] Kendi.

Politics in the Pentagon predated the current Trump administration.

. . . Will there be more or fewer theater-wide wars, such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East?

Will the Pentagon procurement pivot from traditional military systems and platforms, following lessons in the Middle East and Ukraine, in order to emphasize drones, and cheaper and more numerous munitions?

And lastly and most importantly, will the generals who replaced those fired prove more adroit in defending U.S. interests and less political—or less so?

The realities that follow from these firings, not necessarily the firings themselves, or the anger at them, will answer those questions.

Recall it was the dog-eating Muslim son-of-a-Stalinist who sacked flag officers because he feared they'd come after thim once his agenda of Fundamental transformation got into high gear. Of course, not a peep from the propagandists, and of course we all know what happened to Mike Flynn.

Taken all together, the old order is being shaken apart by Donald Trump. Just his presence and for sure what he is exposing will, please God, have the salutary effect on our society and government long after he has left office.

No doubt, the will to power and those who seek it will still be with us, such is human nature, but hopefully future generations will have rejected them in sufficient numbers for a real American and western renaissance of sanity and prosperity to take hold. The fact that Trump was RE-re-elected in the first place last November, and that the approval numbers for the media are in the toilet, inversely proportional with that of Trump's first 6 weeks, while certainly not absolute proof, certainly must mean something insofar as we seem to be moving in the right direction.

If we can somehow disrupt and dismantle the Academia/brainwashing industry, then we really will have a shot at perhaps seeing restoration, or the foundation of it being set down in our lifetime.

From the ridiculous to the sublime.

President Trump has invited a freed Israeli hostage to the White House after being shocked by his stomach-turning interview following 16 months in Hamas captivity.

Eli Sharabi, who was released last month after being held by the Palestinian terror group since October 2023, is expected to meet with President Trump on Tuesday, his brother Sharon told Israeli newspaper Haaretz Sunday. Trump extended the invitation to Sharabi and other hostages after being shown clips of his harrowing interview describing his torture and starvation.

Sharabi described being chained, beaten, and starved by his captors, with treatment worsening every time Israel’s leaders announced the worsening of prison conditions of captured Hamas fighters, in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12. . . Sharabi lost 40% of his body weight while in captivity, the Times of Israel reported.

He was released as part of the first phase of a ceasefire deal that saw 29 other hostages and the bodies of eight Israelis returned to the country. A total of 59 hostages are still being held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip.

I can only imagine how the media will report on this meeting. That is if they report on it at all. Probably complain that the real victims The "Palestinians" were snubbed in favor of Israeli colonialists.

Al Jazeera can hire Joy Reid for a song! Jizz + Zira. QED.

MSNBC has just fired Joy Reid, who had her own news-and-opinion show at the network for four years. Reid is best known for her crazed anti-Israel and antisemitic views, including her conspiracy-theorizing about “who really was responsible for 9/11,” and her nonstop attacks on Israel for “bombing babies” in Gaza. . . When Joy Reid refers to “little babies being bombed,” she does not have in mind the baby-killers of Hamas, whose operatives burned alive Jewish babies on October 7, 2023. Nor does she mean those members of Hamas who murdered the Bibas boys, four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir, by strangling them in November 2023. No, she means the IDF, which she wants you to believe has deliberately, with malice aforethought, caused “little babies” to be “bombed.” Some children, including babies, have died in Gaza from Israeli strikes on buildings where Hamas was hiding both its operatives and its weapons. But such deaths are the unavoidable consequence of Hamas’ practice of embedding its operatives and its weapons in civilian areas, using Gazans as human shields. There has never been the slightest intent by the IDF to harm “little babies,” or, indeed, ay civilians. The IDF, in the hellish conditions of urban warfare, made more difficult still by Hamas embedding itself in with the civilian population, including “babies,” makes a tremendous effort, unheard of in the annals of modern warfare, to warn civilians away from sites about to be targeted. Already by March 2024, the IDF had dropped nine million leaflets, sent fifteen million text messages, and made sixteen million robocalls

As for my co-religionists - a condition that is merely an accident of birth and nothing more. At last night's Oscar ceremony many, those of the self-gassing bent, actually cheered a pro-'Palestinian' agitprop documentary. Funny how their necks will never know the feeling of KSM's rusty hacksaw. If only.

A news outlet finally asked one of the biggest questions haunting Hollywood.
“Why Are Jewish Celebrities in Hollywood So Afraid to Talk About Antisemitism?” reads a probing op-ed at The Hollywood Reporter.
The author explores how relatively quiet Jewish personalities have been over the past year-plus. All the while, antisemitism has flourished in ways we haven’t seen in decades.
Remember how Sarah Silverman created “The Great Schlep” in 2008 to help Barack Obama’s presidential campaign? Or, more recently, how she mistakenly saw a swastika in a generic public image and cried foul.
Now, as Jews are literally chased into an attic, she says nothing.
Non-Jewish stars have been equally silent. That’s a bigger question that also needs to be addressed.
Sadly, the author is either afraid to explore the answer or can’t bear to say it.
Here it is. It’s mostly political.
Defending Jewish people isn’t cool in Hollywood. It’s framed as right-leaning and makes stars uncomfortable. President Donald Trump has been a loyal friend to Israel.

P.S. From the No-Shit-Sherlock Dept., Chris Murphy is cancer.

far-left Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Orange Man Bad) offered a detailed blow-by-blow account of the entire incident, concluding that “the whole meeting is a set up. By pushing this plan to hand Ukraine to Putin (IN FRONT OF ZELENSKY!), Trump is trying to either humiliate or provoke Zelensky. But he does neither, and so Vance has to light the match.” Neocon warhawk Bill Kristol reposted a photo of Zelensky with Trump, along with the caption: “The Leader of the Free World, sitting next to Donald Trump.” . . . For the left, that is the worst thing Trump could possibly do. From their socialist internationalist perspective, his America-First position is wrongheaded, obstructionist, and recklessly counterrevolutionary. They would rather see America bankrupted than a reconsideration of the disastrous foreign policy strategy the nation has pursued for 75 years. And so they side once again against Trump and for the continued draining of the resources of the American people. There was never any doubt that they would.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY




• South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) declared a State of Emergency in response to more than 100 wildfires breaking out in the state that had impacted 4,200 acres.
  South Carolina Governor Declares State of Emergency in Response to Wildfires

• Characterized by persistent symptoms such as brain fog, insomnia, tinnitus, and palpitations, PVS is said to affect individuals long after vaccination. Some victims have shared their experiences of unemployment, homelessness, and dependency on antidepressants.
  Yale Study Reveals Covid ‘Post-Vaccination Syndrome’ Victims.
  
• Daniel Greenfield: The alternative to government tribal neutrality is tribal warfare.
  The DEI Detribalization

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 07:30 AM | Comments (485) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 3 March 2025

Top Story

• Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon X2 laptop chips are expected to offer 50% more multi-threaded performance than the current generation Snapdragon X chips. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Coincidentally, Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon X2 laptop chips are expected to offer 50% more cores than the current generation Snapdragon X chips.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (162) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - March 2, 2025 [Doof]

Howdy Hordelings, and welcome to the first Sunday ONT of March! Did the month come in like a lion for you, or like a lamb? Is that still a thing? Anyway, there's plenty of fun and interesting stuff here for you. Come on in!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (516) | Trackbacks (Suck)