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This is an excellent synthesis of the news. Surprising to me was the Kremlin's assessment of Biden, that he's smart and can speak on behalf of the West. Of course that is true but it's good to hear coming from Kadri Liik. I watched Laurence Tribe on The Last Word this evening. He was so eloquent and succinct in explaining the criminality of Trump's scheming and planning the seizing of voting machines and that Trump admitted all this publicly. Among his most important points was that AG Merrick Garland said he will follow the facts where they lead, but he has more than enough information now to indict Trump, and what is he waiting for. I wonder if Garland is too "old school" that he would not indict a former president. I think this would be a grave mistake, as Trump has committed multiple crimes and must be held accountable. One other point Dr. Richardson mentioned was that someone inside Trump's inner circle has most likely been leaking to the press. Even if that person wasn't giving an accurate account (probably afraid for him/herself) it shows there are cracks in the loyalty. If one person will do it, others will follow.

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While I have been extremely impatient with Atty General Garland, I am taking a step back and trying to gain perspective and calm myself down. It's pretty easy to fall into the "rage reaction". I repeat two points to myself.

The first has already been expressed here and elsewhere. TFG is feeling more and more desperate. More and more people in the know are talking to the committee. Charges are close to being filed in Georgia and New York. TFG's statements are more and more self-incriminating. And I see the "sinking ship" - rats are starting to travel down the rope to the safety of the dock. TFG's self destruction may lead to a large exodus of formerly loyal capos and picciottos.

The second is that we really should consider the fact that Merrick Garland might be the perfect person for this job. He has a long career of integrity and excellent judgement. I believe that when he acts, he will do so effectively and precisely. Keep in mind he has a judge's point of view. He is not going charge anyone until he ABSOLUTELY knows he will have a conviction.

So I am parking my frustration and anger. I am still looking for a place to put it :) But if you review Garland's impeccable career, and you consider that he has the mind of a Supreme Court justice...perhaps patience is appropriate. In the meantime, don't change the channel. TFG is squirming. Can't you feel it's desperation, smell it's fear?

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I had a very interesting conversation with a Trump supporter today. She volunteered that she didn't think she wanted Trump to be President again. Too much chaos. I was pleasantly surprised. Hope it's a trend. It does feel that a few more Republicans put a bit of more space between themselves and DT. Hope that's a trend as well.

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We are entering the Year of the Tiger. Because of how slowly justice is working, especially the Department of Justice, I started thinking that 2021 must be the Year of the Snail, so I had to look it up. 2021 was the Year of the Ox. Slow but powerful movement, steady and methodical; perhaps that’s an auspicious sign of the Chinese zodiac right now. From slow and powerful to ferocious. What do you think?

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Thank you Heather.

Well, if the Parliament thinks " honesty and decency matters" they really wouldn't like it on this side of the pond. It's non existent in most aspects of the GOP.

What keeps me up at night is the sheer reality that everything being documented and uncovered about Trump may never come to a conclusion or retribution.

Lately, everyday has discoveries that in an earlier version of this Country would be "stop the presses" headlines. Today they are discounted by the GOP. As I watch the daily White House presser, I am amazed that the outstanding news coming from Jen Psaki never makes it past the Brady Room doors. Very discouraging and frankly upsetting how the media is tanking this Administration.

In plain site.

Be safe. Be well.

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Apparently “honesty and decency matters” to the Conservative Party of the UK, but not to our Republicans.

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It's ironic that Putin and Russian oligarchs choose to invest their money in capitalist, democratic countries instead of autocracies like Russia, where control from the top down does little to stimulate innovation or the economy, and the ruble has little value.

US and the UK should freeze their assets now, and then release them when Russia withdraws its troops from Ukrainian borders.

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Great summary of key events and backstory. Thank you! I worry when I read that the “judge” is allowing Eastman to sort through emails with client attorney privilege. This smells of deception. The “fox” is straightening up the “henhouse”. How will the committee know they have the applicable emails if Eastman sorts out those emails he deems “privileged”? This is the same worry I have when the committee waits months to issue subpoenas. This just delays justice. And once the midterms are here…..ugh. Why is it Republicans can insist on Hillary answering to them… but this committee and Dems in general, are supplicants? I know they are building a timeline, but hire some additional investigators and move this along please.

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Trump is, in essence, ripping up the Constitution. The House Select Committee is, in essence, trying to piece our Constitution back together. If the Department of Justice fails to hold Trump, Giuliani, Bannon, and the other traitors accountable for crimes against our nation, they will, in essence, be sending the taped together Constitution to the paper shredder. If Trump is not held accountable, he and his seditionist allies will be empowered, the Constitution will be shredded, and our nation will be more.

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Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

Thank you sister Heather. Isn’t it as interesting as it is concerning that two of the world’s highest profile megalomaniacs - tfg and his idol VP - are the instigators of so much unrest? I don’t envy President Biden, but I’m grateful it’s him in our Oval Office. And, as a cat person, I’m grateful Willow’s in near proximity to him - pets and purrs can calm the soul. >^..^<

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Feb 1, 2022·edited Feb 1, 2022

Putin has never 'gotten over' the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even though he personally benefitted from it.

People are saying 'no one, not even Putin knows what he will do next.' But we know Putin wants the collapse of Western democracy.

And in that he is aligned with America's enemies, allies such as Hungary, Poland, Turkey etc etc - oh, and the entire apparatus of the Republican party.

Spheres of influence. Sovereignty. These things get very complicated.

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The WaPo reported this morning that TFG also deliberately tore up official government-owned documents and threw them on the floor on a regular basis, despite people telling him that he was not allowed to do that. This required a staff member of the NARA (who is paid about $70,000 a year and has numerous degrees) to spend all his time piecing together bits of paper and taping them together. Apparently there are quite a few documents that arrived at NARA in plastic bags in pieces. This is a felony. It would be the easiest thing to charge him with.

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It as if a fuzzy TV image slowly clears and comes into sharp focus. The truth has emerged. Now we need those who lived the truth to tell their story in person under questioning. Imagine a split screen: on one side the witnesses building an ironclad case of seditious conspiracy and on the other Trump watching the hearings in a rage and pacing as he takes out his anger and fear on the grotesquely adorned decor of Mar-a-Lago.

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Has the idea been posed that Putin's threat to Ukraine is primarily an attempt to disrupt and undermine Biden's presidency? Instilling chaos to benefit a run by TFG, or like? Perhaps this is just too obvious.

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It looks to be that Donald Trump is coming apart at the seams. Today's news that Trump openly admitted that he was attempting to overturn the election came right out of his mouth, together with a promise that if he were to be reelected, he would pardon the insurrectionists indicted and convicted in the January 6 insurrection. I have not speculated how much more evidence prosecutors would need to put together an ironclad case, but the events of the day, coupled with testimony by potential witnesses and hundreds of thousands of incriminating documents attesting to the conspiracy concocted by Trump and his cronies, as well as his unforced, out-of-court statements that basically admitted to the facts, and compound the felonies that he is already committed, all lead to one inevitable conclusion: Trump is guilty as charged, and so are his closest associates, the people who funded this conspiracy, and those who participated in in every way.

From the late 1930s onward, it became popular among the cognoscenti and academics to describe Joseph Stalin's so-called 'show trials' of those whom Stalin and his secret police chief, Beria, considered to be enemies of the regime. Bringing Trump and his associates to trial would not be so much of any show trial, as an absolute circus, on a par with the Nuremberg war crimes trials, given the scope of those conspiracies, and how deeply into the fabric of the American government they reached. But that is what they did, at the behest of a half mad narcissist. Who can figure that one out?

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Well, it is comforting to know that Putin recognizes Biden's intelligence and understands his ability with smart diplomacy. What's the matter with the republican hoard along with some democrats, both elected and in the public forum, that minute-by-minute do everything in their power to denigrate Biden in a year the likes of which we haven't seen since the enslavers tried to destroy the still-young United States.

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