That was one nice thing about being on the radio.

It didn't matter what you looked like, or which way you faced the camera. You just got to, and focused on, the business at hand.

That's a big one among my questions.

"How (and where and when, and by whom) do we get rid of Putin? Because he's certainly not in a good place now, health-wise, by many accounts, and is expected to be (and has been) getting worse.

That may be the end game. The last resort.

Realistically, that may be the only thing left that can be done. The ONLY way out.

I think I'd want to take her seriously.

Russian invasion of Ukraine[edit]
On 28 February 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hill was asked by Politico's senior editor Maura Reynolds if she thought Putin would use Russia's nuclear weapons and responded by saying that "Putin is increasingly operating emotionally and likely to use all the weapons at his disposal, including nuclear ones." She stated, "Every time you think, 'No, [Putin] wouldn’t, would he?' Well, yes, he would”.[34]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Hill_(presidential_advisor)

Yeah. No kidding. Now's when we really need ya!

Yeah. I noticed that.

"Watch certain campaign warchests collapse."

HELL Yeah, with a Big WHOA NELLY and a Ha-Cha-Cha!

THAT will be MOST revealing!

I totally get that.

There's usually a few default positions I wind up falling into. And the one that's really yelling at me is "...and so we do nothing?"

And I guess I'm not sure where I'm aiming, with that one. First, before anything else, I guess we better define and determine the term "do nothing".

ARE we doing nothing?

I don't think so. It's not like we're just sitting around on our duffs watching TV. In my own little local "sphere of influence," our Indivisible group's Research & Writing Team recently started leaning in on the Ukraine crisis. The weekly results are sent out to 230 Indivisible folks, fellow activists, and friends. It started a week ago with a "thank you Biden" ask, urging our readers - residentially and/or employment-wise, in at least two counties - to call their Senators/Reps and tell them to stand with Our President in this crisis. And the "quote of the week" was
“Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
· Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political
activist, Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor


This week we've got several Ukraine elements, starting right at the top: (In case anyone here needs/wants it.)

Notes for the New Week:
Want to support the people in Ukraine? Here's how you can help:
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help
Updated February 25, 2022 9:55am ET/6:55am PT
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/us/iyw-how-to-help-ukraine/index.html
Link in third paragraph: https://action.publicgood.com/campaign/


A Thought for Starters:
“The fight is here. I need ammunition, not a ride … I am here. We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this."
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, refusing to evacuate for his own safety as the Russian military tries to overrun his country, 2-26-22.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/26/europe/ukraine-zelensky-evacuation-intl/index.html


Undoubtedly there'll also be an ask, or two.



So at least there's that...

Hmmm... that thought hadn't occurred to me.

HMMMMMM ... Important thing to bring up.

Maybe VITALLY, and URGENTLY important.

Perhaps if they're clogging those little country roads, that's the point? Preventing the locals from escaping (and throwing his own troops into the grinder in the process? It's been reported and commented on, repeatedly, that he's wily as hell, and cares not - who gets killed or maimed on the path toward his idea of domination. And that he's brutal.

I trust him, too.

He didn't exactly spend all those decades taking naps.

And believe me, MM, I hear that, too.

I get that, too.

But following the story, seeing the footage, thinking A LOT about the civilians caught in this worldly Hell, seeing the footage of the women and children, the babies in makeshift nurseries in makeshift basement shelters, the sorrowful goodbyes at the border crossings when the men have to stay and fight and may likely face death...

It just throws me back to asking questions. The last time I was this emotionally caught up in a story was when John Lennon was shot. And everybody I worked with was my age and loved Lennon and the Beatles and had grown up with it, and many of them cried, too. I was just fortunate enough not to break down while live on the air. And THERE, AGAIN, was a situation wherein you cover it, you've got all the facts, you've got the names and faces and backgrounds and motivations, all those "who-what-where-when-why-how's" and you're STILL left with questions. The whole lot of us at that network were messed up on that one, to one degree or other, for more than a week.