John French Sloan South Beach Bathers 1908
Trump July 4th
Republican Congressman Has a Great Idea: RNC Should Nominate Trump on July 4th
"What are they so afraid of? Why are they so afraid of Trump?"
"Well, because they know that he can win and he’s gonna take back the presidency and he will change the corruption in the deep state. He… pic.twitter.com/lRxLWtuXoC
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 31, 2024
“This article by Elie Honig, the CNN legal commentator who followed every twist and turn of the Trump Trial, and formerly worked with Alvin Bragg in the Manhattan DA’s office, is totally devastating as to the due process violations of this prosecution — particularly this stunner:”
RFK Trump
🚨 NEW: Robert Kennedy Jr. says the 34-count felony conviction against Trump is going to “backfire” on Democrats.
He says, “The Democratic Party believes it has a candidate that can’t beat President Trump and that they need to do it in the court.”
“I think that’s bad for our… pic.twitter.com/OItKUWkyd3
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 31, 2024
Maddow
JUST IN: @MSNBC's Rachel @maddow sensationally claims that If the Republican Party is allowed to and succeeds at waging war on the legal system because of this case, because of this defendant, That's it. It doesn't come back for other people if it goes away for Trump." WATCH… pic.twitter.com/OzP6VcBzZq
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) May 31, 2024
Schiff
JUST IN: Democratic Congressman @RepAdamSchiff
condemns GOP for rallying to Trump's defense, celebrates Trump's conviction, praises @Liz_Cheney and @AdamKinzinger. WATCH"The only thing shameful about today is the actions of Speaker Johnson and so many of Trump's enablers that… pic.twitter.com/PMlz3Kgp8P
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) May 31, 2024
Never President
🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump, the same man they doubted is now the same man they fear. They didn’t try to arrest him until they all stopped laughing. The American people stand with Trump we are done with the global elite. End the greed, end the corruption, end the deep state.… pic.twitter.com/vbMfksYAXz
— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) May 31, 2024
Only the Supreme Court can make this whole. Turley doesn’t think they will. So we’ll have a circus.
• Trump is Convicted: What Comes Next? (Turley)
This morning, many of us are emerging from the late coverage last night after the conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 felonies. I was in the courtroom for the verdict, which hit like a thunderclap (particularly after a strange snafu with the judge). The question that everyone is asking: what happens next? The scene in the court was a madhouse. Judge Juan Merchan told the court that the jury had not reached a verdict and would be dismissed for the day. Many reporters in the overflow courtroom were leaving when Merchan suddenly said that there was a verdict. People came running back into the courtroom. That was followed by 34 guilty verdicts. I am obviously saddened by the verdict, but not surprised. Until the very end, I was hopeful that there would be a hung jury, a result that could restore some integrity to the New York criminal justice system. However, I previously noted that the jury instructions made conviction much more likely. I referred to the deliberations as a legal “canned hunt” due to instructions that made conviction a near certainty.
[..] So what happens next? Obviously, appeals will be taken. As I said last night, we must keep the faith. Indeed, moments like this require us to take a leap of faith in a nation that remains committed to the rule of law. Manhattan is neither the entirety of the country nor the legal system. I believe that these convictions will be overturned, but it will take time. Judge Merchan committed, in my view, layers of reversible error. Eventually, this case may reach the United States Supreme Court. It has been suggested that an appeal could be taken directly to the Supreme Court. I find that doubtful after the Supreme Court rejected an expedited process for Special Counsel Jack Smith in his federal prosecutions. It will work first through the New York appellate system.
As for the criminal process, Trump will have to meet with a probation officer for an interview. That officer will make recommendations to the court. There is a possibility of a jail sentence for felonies that come with up to four years for each offense. Any jail sentences would almost certainly run concurrently. However, any jail sentence would be ridiculous in Manhattan for an elderly first-offender in a non-violent offense. Consistent with his past commentary, MSNBC legal analyst and former Mueller aide Andrew Weissmann predicted that Merchan will give Trump jail time. He is not alone as legal analysts seemed to get caught up in a thrill-kill conviction.
It is much more likely that Merchan will impose a sentence without a jail sentence, though with fines. The most appropriate, in my view, would be a conditional discharge that requires Trump not to commit a new crime or face potential imprisonment. Merchan could also tailor a sentence to require home confinement or even weekend jailing. Those options would raise serious conflicts with his campaigning and obviously, if elected, serving as president. Even the probation process will be awkward since a convicted defendant ordinarily has to get approval for any travel outside of the state from his probation officer. Sentences can also include community service, counseling and other requirements. After his ruling in this trial, it is impossible to rule anything out. However, any jail sentence would add even more outrage to an abuse of the criminal law system.
“I’m the leading person for president, and I’m under a gag order by a man that can’t put two sentences together.”
• “This Is A Scam”: Trump Rails Against Judge Following Guilty Verdict (ZH)
President Trump is giving a live press conference following Thursday’s guilty verdict in his ‘hush money’ trial, in which he was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. “I paid a lawyer, totally legal. I paid a lawyer, a legal expense,” Trump said in reference to the payment made to p*rn star Stormy Daniels by convicted liar and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. “It’s not sheetrock construction, or any other thing. It’s a legal expense. Think of that. This is what the falsification of business records were. And I said, what else are you going to call it?” Trump said he would have testified during the trial, and wanted to, but “The theory is you never testify because as soon as you testify … they’ll get you on something that you said slightly wrong, and then they sue you for perjury, but I didn’t care about that. I wanted to.” “This is a scam. There’s a rigged trial. It shouldn’t have been in that venue. We shouldn’t have had that judge,” he continued. “As far as the trial itself, it was very unfair. We weren’t allowed to use our election expert under any circ*mstances.”
According to Trump, witnesses on his side “were literally crucified” by judge Juan Merchan. “You saw what happened to some of the witnesses that were on our side. They were literally crucified by this man, who looks like an angel, but he’s really a devil,” Trump said, referring to Merchan. A crowd of Trump Organization employees cheered the former president as he walked to the podium, passing by the escalator he descended nine years ago to announce what would become a successful 2016 presidential bid. The former president rehashed many of the complaints he’s raised for months. He bemoaned that his request for a venue change was denied, and his push for Merchan to recuse himself was dismissed. -The Hill. Trump also slammed Merchan’s gag order that prohibited him from talking about witnesses in the case, along with court staff and their family members. “Think of it: I’m the leading candidate. I’m leading Biden by a lot, and I’m leading the Republicans to the point where that’s over,” Trump said. “So I’m the leading person for president, and I’m under a gag order by a man that can’t put two sentences together.”
Following the verdict, several notable Trump supporters and prospective running mates condemned the verdict. “Massively conflicted, Biden donor and Liberal judge + stacked jury with unconstitutional jury instructions + radical leftist prosecutor = wrongful conviction,” said South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in a statement posted to X. “No doubt Trump will be easily vindicated soon as the case will obviously be overturned on appeal.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) weighed in as well, posting “The verdict in New York is a complete travesty that makes a mockery of our system of justice,” adding that it was a “jury from the most liberal county in America.” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) called the verdict “a disgrace to the rule of law and our Constitution.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Friday that he believes Supreme Court justices are “deeply concerned,” and urged the court to step in when the case is appealed. Johnson told “Fox and Friends” that the conviction was “totally unprecedented” and “dangerous to our system” because it ruins people’s faith in the criminal process and the courts. “People have to believe that justice is fair, that there’s equal justice under law. They don’t see that right now,” he said. “And I think that the justices on the court, I know many of them personally, I think they’re deeply concerned about that, as we are. So I think they’ll set this straight but it’s going to take a while.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the outcome “the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved.”
“Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to “get” Donald Trump. That this case—involving alleged misdemeanor business records violations from nearly a decade ago—was even brought is a testament to the political debasem*nt of the justice system in places like New York City. This is especially true considering this same district attorney routinely excuses criminal conduct in a way that has endangered law-abiding citizens in his jurisdiction. It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law. If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict. In America, the rule of law should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court. -Ron DeSantis.
Bragg
Alvin Bragg found a way to turn a misdemeanor into a felony to get Trump.
This how Bragg handles crime in NYC for people not named Trump. pic.twitter.com/QnBX5MDfGl
— MAZE (@mazemoore) May 31, 2024
A “political prisoner” is exactly what he is.
• Questioning Trump’s Guilt Is ‘Dangerous’ – Biden (RT)
US President Joe Biden has called on Americans to accept the guilty verdict handed down to his political rival, Donald Trump. Biden argued that his presidential predecessor was “reckless” and “irresponsible” to suggest that the trial was orchestrated by the White House. Trump, currently the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge Biden in this November’s presidential election, was found guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records. New York prosecutors successfully argued that Trump concealed the payments – made to p*rn star Stormy Daniels – in order to influence the 2016 election.
“The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,” Biden said on Friday, in his first public remarks since the conviction. “Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself,” the president continued, adding that Trump was judged “by a jury of 12 citizens” and can now appeal the conviction “like anyone else.” Trump has long maintained that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, brought the case on Biden’s orders, and that judge Juan Merchan, whose family fundraises for Democrats, was too “conflicted” to oversee the trial fairly. The former president also complained that a jury in New York, which overwhelmingly votes Democrat, would be inherently biased against him.
“They’re in total conjunction with the White House and [Department of Justice],” Trump told reporters outside his Trump Tower property earlier on Friday. “This is all done by Biden and his people. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.” Trump said that he intends to appeal the “scam” judgment, and called November’s election date “the most important day in the history of our country.” “It’s my honor to be doing this, but it’s a really unpleasant thing, to be honest,” he said, reiterating that he considered the trial “rigged.” “It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict,” Biden shot back. Asked after the speech whether Trump was right to call himself a “political prisoner” and blame Biden for his conviction, the president paused, said nothing, and grinned at reporters. The Republican Party has described Biden’s grin as “pure evil.”
Freckless
Biden: "It is reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible to say that the [Trump trial] was rigged." pic.twitter.com/4ScJXPlAU5
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 31, 2024
Jan 6 revisited.
• Reuters: Trump Supporters Want RIOTS, Violent Retribution After Verdict (MN)
Reuters has published an article claiming that Trump supporters have called for “riots and violent retribution” after the GOP nominee was convicted in the New York Trial Thursday. Here’s a screenshot of the article (in case they change it):
Reuters says that it has conducted a “review of comments on three Trump-aligned websites: the former president’s own Truth Social platform, Patriots.Win and the Gateway Pundit.” The piece continues, “Some called for attacks on jurors, the execution of the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, or outright civil war and armed insurrection.” The article then quoted one comment that stated “Someone in NY with nothing to lose needs to take care of Merchan,” referring to the judge, and adding “Hopefully he gets met with illegals with a machete.” The piece quotes another comment on Gateway Pundit, that states “Time to start capping some leftys. This cannot be fixed by voting.” The article quotes several more comments calling for violence, but admits that some have since been removed.
Reuters also charges that since the 2020 election Trump “loyalists have responded with a campaign of threats and intimidation targeting judges and court officials.” The article also quotes Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has recently published a book on “far right terrorism.” Ware charges that Trump has an “ironclad ability to mobilize more extreme supporters to action, both at the ballot box and through violence.” “Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant,” Ware added. This all comes after Joe Biden labelled violent BLM protests “peaceful” and contrasted them to January 6th protesters “storming” the capitol. Wow. They really are going all out on in their attack on Trump and his supporters.
“In the 24 hours since Crooked Joe Biden and his New York henchmen got their sham trial verdict, the Trump Campaign has raised $52.8 million through the online digital fundraising platform..”
The platform was so busy it crashed multiple times..
• Trump Raises $53Mln in 24 Hours After Conviction (Sp.)
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said in a press release that it raised a record $53 million in the span of 24 hours following his New York conviction. “In the 24 hours since Crooked Joe Biden and his New York henchmen got their sham trial verdict, the Trump Campaign has raised $52.8 million through the online digital fundraising platform,” the release said on Friday The new total means Trump’s campaign is receiving an average of $2 million in donations each hour, according to the release. More than one third of these contributions are from new donors to the campaign, the release said, adding that it showcases a growing opposition to the jury’s decision.
On Thursday, a New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump said the verdict was a disgrace and part of a sham trial pushed by the Biden administration via a weaponized judicial system and a partisan judge in order to interfere in the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. Trump also said he will appeal the verdict while his campaign and various legal scholars noted that it does not affect his right to run for president of the United States.
“Today they said, ‘We’d like to set up tables so you sit down.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to sit down for a debate. Let’s go,'” Trump told the crowd..”
• X To Host Town Halls With Trump, RFK Jr. (ZH)
Former President Donald Trump and independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will participate in live town halls hosted by X and cable news network NewsNation, Axios reports. The events have yet to be scheduled, nor moderators picked – however, X users will be able to ask questions of the candidates during the events, called “The People’s Town Hall,” according to the report. The Biden campaign has declined to participate. In a Wednesday evening appearance on News Nation, Kennedy confirmed his plans to participate, adding that X owner Elon Musk offered use of his platform. The moderators, which will likely include at least one NewsNation host, will have final say over the questions asked.
Axios reports that X CEO Linda Yaccarino approached NewsNation parent Nextar with the idea. NewsNation notably hosted the fourth GOP presidential primary debate last December, which was watched by over 4 million people across NewsNation and sister network CW. Meanwhile, Biden and Trump have agreed to a June 27 debate hosted by CNN – over which RFK Jr. has filed a FEC complaint over the criteria required to participate. On Thursday, CNN announced that it plans to run commercials during the event – which has been ad-free for many years under the management of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates, Variety reports. CNN’s plan to include commercials was noted in rules for access that were recently issued to members of the DC Television News Pool and subscribers of its feed as well as to CNN’s affiliates.
What’s more, networks will have the option of selling their own commercials instead of running the ones that air on CNN. CNN has yet to offer information about how many ad breaks the debate will contain and how long they will be, according to one of these people. Last week Trump announced during a rally in the Bronx that one of his conditions for debating will be that they stand up. “Today they said, ‘We’d like to set up tables so you sit down.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to sit down for a debate. Let’s go,'” Trump told the crowd. “So we’re not sitting down. We’re gonna be standing up for the debate.” “If crooked Joe Biden makes it through the debate, which I think he will, [the media are] going to say it was one of the great debate performances in history,” Trump added.
Trump Musk
It seems that Trump will win the presidency, all while in prison (verdict from hush money trial).
“If this happens, Trump will be re-elected in a landslide victory.”
– Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/Re4IBToxa8
— Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) May 31, 2024
“If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate,” Musk wrote on X..”
• Musk To Host Trump Town Hall After Slamming NY Verdict (RT)
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has confirmed reports that he will host a live town hall event with presidential candidate Donald Trump, after criticizing his felony conviction as politically motivated. X (formerly Twitter), which Musk owns, has partnered with the TV network NewsNation to live-stream town halls with presidential candidates on both platforms, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an individual familiar with the matter. “This will be interesting,” Musk said on X Friday, linking to a New York Post story about the town halls. The idea is reportedly the brainchild of X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Musk apparently extended the town hall invitations to Trump, President Joe Biden, and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Biden’s campaign reportedly declined, however.
According to the reports, X users will get to submit questions for the town hall, which will then be curated by moderators, who will include at least one NewsNation host. The date, location and moderators for the events have not yet been announced. Earlier this month, the Biden campaign sent a debate offer to Trump to appear on two legacy TV outlets – CNN and ABC News, and with no audience in the studio. The Trump campaign accepted and the debates were scheduled for June 27 and September 10. The arrangement completely bypassed the Presidential Debates Commission. On Thursday, however, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on 34 charges of “falsifying business records,” related to his reimbursem*nt of then-lawyer Michael Cohen for the alleged hush money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has denounced the trial and the verdict as politically motivated – as has Musk. “If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate,” Musk wrote on X, adding that the verdict did “great damage” to the Americans’ faith in their legal system. The day before, the Wall Street Journal reported a rumor that Musk might become a White House adviser should Trump win the November election. The alleged connection has been widely interpreted as a sign that some Silicon Valley moguls were moving away from the Democrats.
Trump was a prolific user of Twitter and leveraged the platform to get his message out in 2016, when he beat the legacy media favorite Hillary Clinton. The company “permanently suspended” his account while he was still the sitting president in January 2021, following the US Capitol riot over the alleged irregularities in the 2020 election. Trump had called on his supporters to stand down, not break any laws and go home, but Democrats accused him of “inciting an insurrection” and he was banned by all major social media shortly thereafter. Musk bought Twitter in October 2022 and restored Trump’s account last year, but the former president has chosen not to actively post on the platform.
Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system.
If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate. https://t.co/zrHCyIZazh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2024
“..Ukraine’s military lacks the know-how to actually launch the missiles, so American military “advisors” will have to be on hand to do it..”
• Gloat While You Still Can (Kunstler)
Of course, the Alvin Bragg victory in the artfully constructed “Stormy Daniels Payoff Case” decided late Thursday calls to question how come the Mueller Special Counsel Probe into 2016 election interference (actually run by Mr. Weissmann, due to Mr. Mueller’s declining cognitive ability) failed to spot the same web of evidence — hard as they toiled, and they had a good two years and millions of taxpayer dollars to git’er done? My guess: too many white lawyers on the Mueller staff. Everybody knows now from watching the latest crop of television commercials that white people are unusually stupid and helpless and cannot cope with common problems without assistance from helpful people of color (POCs). So, God bless Alvin Bragg for finally fixing what Bob Mueller’s fifteen bloodhounds led by a pitbull somehow botched.
The former president is now convicted on thirty-four counts of book-keeping errors in furtherance of an alleged 2016 federal election violation that the Federal Election Commission declined to charge — that is, paying a p*rn star to sign a non-disclosure agreement about a sexual liaison — because it is not a crime under federal election law, and about which the head of the FEC, James E. “Trey” Trainor III, was barred by Judge Merchan from testifying on during the course of the trial for reasons yet unknown. Of course, that is but one of a great many points of law that will merit appeal in what everybody — even some white people (people of non-color, PONCs) — knows was a case so crookedly contrived that it is fated to get tossed in the higher courts, and probably with harsh remonstrance to the degenerate officers of the court who brought it and adjudicated it. But you will have to wait on that because the mills of the law grind slowly.
Joshua Lisec
Now, in the radiance of the full Woke gloat, we await Judge Merchan’s sentence, to be announced a mere few days before the Republican Convention in Milwaukee in early July. Jail time at Rikers? Home confinement (with ankle bracelet)? Severe travel restrictions? Reporting to a parole officer? Drug tests? Hey, No one is above the law! It is hard to imagine that the judge will demur from inflicting maximum humiliation on this wanton repeat violator (thirty-four times!) of book-keeping errors. It would tend to interfere with the presidential candidate’s campaign schedule, but so what? Where does it say in the Constitution that an election must be fair? Or Judge Merchan could suspend all that pending appeal and just allow Mr. Trump to go about his election business free on bail. But why would he? After all the trouble he went to. And all the glory he’s reaping for it. “Joe Biden’s” party has Mr. Trump exactly where they want him, they think: pinned down like a moth in a shadow-box, inert and pathetic. (But, in reality, more like King Kong, chained in the rank basem*nt below the stage of a Broadway theater before busting loose in midtown and upending subway cars so as to devour the little humans tumbling out like so many tic-tacs.)
Expect Mr. Trump’s lawyers to file writs to the SCOTUS requesting expedited attention to the denial of due process issues and the election interference question. The situation is comparable to the year 2000 presidential race, where the SCOTUS stepped in on probable cause that the lower court (in Florida that time) had violated the Equal Protection clause of the constitution. In the meantime, through the luminescent fog of gloat, perhaps you did not notice that “Joe Biden” took a giant step yesterday toward commencing World War Three. The move was framed as the US gives Ukraine permission to use American missiles to strike deep within Russia. That was a bit disingenuous, you see, because Ukraine’s military lacks the know-how to actually launch the missiles, so American military “advisors” will have to be on hand to do it, meaning US military personnel will commit an act of aggression upon Russia.
“Long-range missiles are not battlefront weapons, Roberts asserted. “If the missiles are not intended to be used for their purpose, why give them to Ukraine?”
• Paul Craig Roberts: Western Involvement Escalates Ukraine Conflict (Sp.)
The West is thoroughly involved in the ongoing Ukraine conflict and is also widening it, former US Assistant Treasury Secretary in the Reagan administration Paul Craig Roberts told Sputnik commenting on the latest US announcement that President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use its weapons near Kharkov. Roberts pointed out that the Ukraine conflict has been widening ever since it started with the West sending every weapon to Ukraine that initially it said it would not. “Troops would never be sent, but the French Foreign Legion is now sent, and the NATO consensus is building to send NATO troops,” he said. A State Department spokesperson told Sputnik that Biden has greenlighted Ukrainian strikes using US-supplied weapons inside the Russian territory for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkov region of Ukraine, but has not authorized the use of long-range missiles, including ATACMS, inside Russia. “There is no reason for long-range missiles supplied to Ukraine by Washington except to hit distant targets. Long-range missiles are not battlefront weapons, Roberts asserted.
“If the missiles are not intended to be used for their purpose, why give them to Ukraine?” Roberts went on to say that although Russia has won in its stated goal of liberating Donbas, that region is not the endgame for the West.
“Putin has won his version of the war – the liberation of Donbas – but Washington’s version of the war is not limited to Donbas,” he said. “If Putin doesn’t quickly use the necessary force to bring the conflict to a quick end, he will be faced with NATO troops in Western Ukraine and the incorporation of Ukraine west of the Dnieper into NATO with nuclear missile bases on Russia’s expanded border.” Ukraine has received billions of dollars in donations and loans from its allies since Russia launched its special military operation in February 2022. The United States alone has provided more than $100 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid. Russia has repeatedly warned countries supplying weapons to Ukraine that it sees military shipments as legitimate targets.
“..The illegitimacy of Volodymyr Zelensky’s rule was intentionally set up to make negotiations with Russia impossible..”
• Zelensky’s Illegitimacy Deliberately Created – Constitution Author (Sp.)
The presidential term of Volodymyr Zelensky expired on May 20. The 2024 presidential election in Ukraine has been canceled citing martial law and general mobilization. Zelensky said that the election was now “untimely”. The illegitimacy of Volodymyr Zelensky’s rule was intentionally set up to make negotiations with Russia impossible, one of the Ukrainian constitution’s authors tells Sputnik. The current constitution was adopted in 1996. Dmytro Tabachnik, then head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, was one of the members of the constitutional commission that drafted the charter. “Knowing the constitutional norms, I can say that according to Article 103 of the Constitution and the explanation of the Constitutional Court, which clearly states that the terms of the president’s powers are determined solely by the articles of the Constitution, it can be said that after May 20, Zelensky is not the legitimate leader of Ukraine,” Tabachnik said.
“According to the constitution, there can be no other interpretation — Zelensky is an illegitimate leader of Ukraine, this clearly follows from the norms of the constitution,” he underlined. Tabachnik argued that Zelensky’s illegitimacy was “specially created.” “There are various interested parties in the bloody conflict in Ukraine. One of the most devious and cynical is Britain,” Tabachnik noted. “Over the past few years, Britain has been trying to play its own separate game. Britain is primarily interested in prolonging the military actions and their escalation.” “Britain absolutely does not care about Zelensky’s illegitimacy,” the constitutional expert said. “They need to solve a task to prolong hostilities as long as possible and exhaust and not only Russia, but also their favorite senior ally, in the past younger brother [the US],” Tabachnik argued. As evidence of this, he recalled that London has already repeatedly interfered in events in Ukraine.
“The Istanbul agreements were destroyed by the direct, brazen interference of the former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. All the initial statements on the use of heavy and long-range weapons usually came from Britain as well,” Tabachnik said. “Creating stalemates between different great powers is Britain’s typical method. To bring the great powers together along the lines of their immediate neighbors,” he pointed out. “This is how they tried to shake up the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century, this is how they made mischief along the entire perimeter of the Russian Empire.” He noted that the “British model of prolonging” the conflict in Ukraine has several aspects. “The first is the gradual escalation of hostilities. Notice that British politicians are always the actors and promoters of this escalation,” Tabachnik explained. “The second is the complication of negotiations. A special Jesuitical formula was designed to complicate negotiations, consisting of three points.”
“First, the so-called ‘Zelensky formula’ was promoted, repeatedly assessed by leaders of various countries as completely unrealistic and not based on the real situation. The second point of delay was when Zelensky himself issued a decree banning any negotiations with Russia. And the third was moving towards artificial illegitimacy,” he continued. According to Tabachnkik, London is well aware that Russia, represented by its top leadership and Foreign Ministry, relies on the impeccable purity of legal formulas in international relations, so it will not negotiate with an illegitimate president. However, if negotiations with Kiev are impossible, there remains only one solution — Kiev’s capitulation.
“In the case of accepting capitulation, [legitimacy] becomes secondary,” Tabachnik argued. For instance, after Adolf Hitler’s suicide, the Third Reich was headed by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, solely based on Hitler’s will — Dönitz was neither elected nor approved by the German parliament. “Nevertheless, the delegation formed was recognized by all allies and agreed in Potsdam on the night of May 8-9 that these individuals would sign the capitulation,” Tabachnik recalled. Russian President Vladimir Putin, following Russian-Belarusian talks on May 24, stated that Russia assumes Zelensky’s presidential mandate has ended.
Zel
Watch this man.
This is the man European and the US are willing to spend hundreds of Billions to vaporise our continent for?
This Corrupt, Unelected Dictator.
90% of communication is non verbal.
Watch him. pic.twitter.com/GlnwwKRMI9— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) May 31, 2024
“..these “dividing lines between” Russia and the West “may be there for decades.”
• “A Full-Scale War Isn’t A Foregone Conclusion” – Timofeev (ZH)
Ahead of the “Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era” conference in Moscow on Thursday, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Director General Ivan Timofeev told Russian state-owned news agency Tass about the increasing likelihood of a full-scale war between Russia and the West. “A full-scale war is not is not a foregone conclusion, but unfortunately, its likelihood is growing,” Timofeev said in an interview with Tass. He said, “One option is that there will be a great rise in confrontation between us. At the root of this is the Ukraine issue, as the West continues to provide large-scale military assistance to Kyiv.” At a separate meeting on Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told foreign ministers about the need to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to penetrate deep inside Russia.
Timofeev warned about the rising possibility of a direct conflict with NATO: “A number of officials, particularly in France and the United Kingdom, have said that individual military units from NATO countries may be deployed to Ukraine. If they take part in military operations against Russian forces, they will become a legitimate target for our army. “Let’s hope this possible escalation involves conventional arms and not nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, NATO is spending ten times as much as Russia – if not more – on defense. It’s certainly a dangerous scenario. The RIAC director general continued: “The NATO leadership has made statements that no troops will be sent to Ukraine, and a number of EU politicians have said that this is counterproductive. That means they aren’t united on the issue.”
Timofeev added: “As for Russia, we must take every possible scenario into account. We have the capacity to deter these threats. “However, such a scenario will cause irreparable damage to everyone.” He concluded that the West will likely continue assisting Ukraine through weapons and equipment supplies, indicating these “dividing lines between” Russia and the West “may be there for decades.” Daniel Blake, Asia and emerging market equity strategist at Morgan Stanley wrote in a note to clients in April that the shift towards a multipolar world has been underway for the last five years. With that comes a war cycle, and, as we’ve penned before, a splurge in defense spending is bullish for defense companies.
Mearsheimer
Prof. John J. Mearsheimer: Putin is not bluffing.
When they start to retaliate, it
could involve attacking targets in Poland.It could involve attacking targets in the Baltic Sea.
⚡️⚡️⚡️Representatives of NATO countries, especially in Europe, especially in small countries,… pic.twitter.com/fDbXiZ0XbR
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) May 30, 2024
“This is not some kind of ‘military assistance, this is taking part in a war against us.”
• Medvedev Warns NATO of Nuclear ‘Miscalculation’ (RT)
The West is bringing the Ukraine conflict to a stage in which it could spiral into uncontrolled escalation with potentially global repercussions, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said. This comes amid reports that many Western countries have allowed Ukraine to use foreign-made weapons to strike deep into Russia. Writing on Telegram on Friday, Medvedev, who serves as the deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council, stated that Western countries, which are said to have signed off on long-range strikes, must understand that their military equipment and personnel either operating in Ukraine or carrying out attacks on Russia from other countries, “will be destroyed.” He stressed that Russia considers all long-range systems used by Ukraine to be directly controlled by NATO personnel. “This is not some kind of ‘military assistance, this is taking part in a war against us.”
Medvedev said NATO wants Western involvement in the conflict to be seen as the independent initiative of certain countries, hoping to avoid the need to invoke the collective defense clause. The former president dismissed this narrative as a “dangerous and harmful delusion.” According to him, actions such as sending troops to Ukraine or guiding long-range weapons are a “serious escalation of the conflict.” While the US-led military bloc wants to believe that Russia would never use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine or NATO, “life could be much worse than their frivolous reasoning” allows, Medvedev warned. He went on to say that the West risks miscalculating the chances of nuclear weapons being used, just as it failed to anticipate the start of Russia’s Ukraine operation. This is not intimidation or nuclear bluff. The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. The power of the deployed NATO-made weapons is constantly escalating. That is why today no one can exclude the transition of the conflict to its final stage.
Russia has repeatedly said that a nuclear war must never be fought, ruling out the use of any nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Some Western countries have supported NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s call last week to the bloc’s members to consider lifting “some of the restrictions they have put on the use of weapons” sent to Ukraine. Several Western media outlets also reported this week that the US, Kiev’s key backer, has allowed Ukraine to conduct “limited” long-range strikes deep into Russia. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s office confirmed the reports, saying Kiev will now have a better chance of “countering Russian attempts to mass across the border.” Moscow has warned that the actions Kiev’s Western backers could lead to an escalation and serious consequences.
The hunger for war is palpable.
• Nordic Countries Greenlight Long-Range Ukrainian Strikes On Russia (RT)
NATO members Norway and Finland have said Ukraine can carry out long-range strikes against Russia using Western weapons provided by the US-led military bloc. The statement came after US President Joe Biden reportedly gave Kiev permission to use American weapons to hit targets in the part of Russia bordering Ukraine’s Kharkov Region. On Thursday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on member states to permit Ukraine to use weapons for striking targets inside Russian territory. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has said there should be no restrictions on the use of weapons provided to Ukraine by Western countries.
“We also believe that Ukraine has an absolutely clear international right to attack Russia on its territory as part of its defense of its own territory,” Eide said in an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK.In an interview with Japanese media on Thursday, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said there was no problem with Ukraine striking Russian territory with weapons provided by the West, as long as it complies with international law.“There is no problem with using the weapons provided to attack Russia in self-defense. It would be hypocritical to send weapons that cannot be used,” he said, as quoted by Nikkei news agency.The Ukrainian leadership has been demanding for NATO to permit the use of its weapons to attack targets deep inside Russia.
Latvia and Poland earlier said they were in favor of such strikes. However, Italy and Hungary have voiced their opposition to the idea. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reportedly made a U-turn on the issue, saying on Wednesday that he now supports Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia, despite earlier concerns about escalation with Moscow, according to Politico. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Kiev’s Western backers need to understand that long-range strikes on Russian territory using weaponry they have supplied would represent a conflict escalation and lead to “serious consequences.”
“Medvedev said Friday that Russia would “proceed from the fact” that all long-range weapons used by Ukraine “are directly controlled by military personnel of NATO country..”
• Moscow Has Right to Take Proxy War With NATO Global (Sp.)
The Biden administration joined with the leaders of Germany, Nordic countries and the Baltic states on Thursday by lifting formal restrictions on the use of NATO long-range strike systems sent to Ukraine to target areas deep inside Russia. Sputnik asked a leading European defense commentator about the move’s political and strategic implications.Russian officials blasted Washington and its allies on Friday over the escalation of the Ukrainian proxy war through NATO countries’ decision to approve long-range attacks on Russia, with both the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry pointing out that the alliance never shied away from allowing its proxies in Kiev to target the Russian hinterland.“We are aware that attempts to strike Russian territory with American-made weapons are already being made. This is sufficient for us, and it clearly demonstrates the extent of the United States’ involvement in this conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Separately on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that allies had approved long-range strike weapons’ deployment, and said the bloc expects Kiev to use these arms “in a responsible way” in line with international law. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed Stoltenberg, saying in a Telegram post that it was “obvious that NATO was lying and creating a smokescreen, inventing a story that they supposedly had not yet decided to allow or not allow the Kiev regime to carry out strikes using Western weapons on Russian territory.” Former Russian president and deputy Security Council head Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that Russia would “proceed from the fact” that all long-range weapons used by Ukraine “are directly controlled by military personnel of NATO country,” and emphasized that “this is not ‘military assistance’, but participation in a war against us” which constitutes a possible “casus belli.”
[..] “The Russian offensive near Kharkov has been used as a reason to change Western policy,” Mikael Valtersson, a former Swedish Armed Forces officer and military observer specializing in air defense, told Sputnik. “The reasoning in Western circles was that Ukraine must be able to answer if attacks come from the Russian side of the 1991 border. From a military point of view this might be understandable, but it is still another huge step towards escalation from the West toward Russia,” the observer said. Valtersson expects the military consequences of NATO’s green light for Kiev to be “minor,” since Ukraine’s military has a limited number of long-range strike systems.
Then there’s the experience Russian Air Defense Forces have amassed over the past two years in fine-tuning their equipment specifically to target projectiles like the ATACMS and Storm Shadow. Still, the threat posed by the long-range missiles is not insignificant, particularly given Kiev’s willingness to use them in the past to target civilian areas in the Donbass and the Russian city of Belgorod. The “big question,” according to Valtersson, is “how involved the Western powers will be in targeting and other preparations for the attacks.”
Western military personnel are already active in Ukraine and “have been there for a long time,” President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. “They are [foreign] specialists under the guise of mercenaries..”
• First French Troops En Route To Ukraine (RT)
The first group of French military instructors are coming to Ukraine, high-profile Ukrainian politician Aleksey Goncharenko said on Friday. His statement comes just days after Ukraine’s top commander Aleksandr Syrsky announced that had authorized the presence of the French personnel in the country. “My sources informed me that the first group of French instructors is already on its way to Ukraine,” Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday evening. NATO boots on the ground is a contentious issue inside the US-led alliance, whose members maintain that they are not parties to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Moscow, meanwhile, has said that it views Ukraine’s Western backers as direct participants, stressing that Western-supplied weapons are being used to strike targets on Russian soil. In February, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he could not rule out the possibility of NATO member states sending troops to Ukraine in the future, although French officials soon clarified that he meant non-combat personnel. Macron later argued that NATO should adopt a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards Russia. The French leader has been working behind the scenes to forge a coalition of countries willing to dispatch trainers to Kiev, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Syrsky, who was made Ukraine’s top general in February, said on Monday that he had signed the papers allowing instructors from France to visit Kiev’s training facilities and “familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel,” and had notified French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Moscow has warned that any additional military aid to Kiev amounts to serious escalation. Western military personnel are already active in Ukraine and “have been there for a long time,” President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday. “They are [foreign] specialists under the guise of mercenaries,” he told the press. He said that the deployment of Western forces to Ukraine would be “another step towards a serious conflict in Europe and a global conflict.”
“In Georgia today, as we speak, there are 27,000 Western-funded NGOs..”
• Scott Ritter: Georgian ‘Foreign Agents’ Law Exposes Western Influence (Sp.)
The new “foreign agents” law will help Georgians tell right from wrong and real friends from fake ones, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter told Sputnik, arguing that the legislation should be called the “transparency law.”Georgia’s “foreign agents bill,” which designates non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power,” became law on May 28. The US immediately announced sanctions against Georgian politicians backing the legislation, while the EU threatened to freeze the country’s candidate status. One might wonder as to why the law, which resembles the US’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), has been received with such animosity in the West. The crux of the matter is that the legislation is aimed at exposing the West’s deep disrespect of Georgia’s sovereignty, according to former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter.
“In Georgia today, as we speak, there are 27,000 Western-funded NGOs. What are these non-governmental organizations doing? It’s about buying a generation of Georgian citizens, a young generation, a generation that has lost touch with who they are and what they are as Georgians, a generation that is out of touch with the reality of what happened to Georgia in the 1990s,” Ritter told Sputnik.Over the past several decades, Georgians have experienced what the “European choice” really entails, Ritter continued, referring to US-backed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s aggression against South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers in August 2008, which was quickly repelled by Moscow. Following Saakashvili’s botched invasion, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had declared their independence from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Currently, the Western-backed Georgian opposition wants to create a “second front” against Russia, something that would be nothing short of suicidal, according to Ritter.
This policy of confronting Russia is part and parcel of an overall package that includes Georgia becoming a member of the European Union and member of NATO, which would also mean ceding Georgia’s sovereignty to the West, the military expert warned. “Georgian Dream has the best interests of Georgia in mind,” said Ritter. “The EU wants Georgia to participate in the economic sanctioning of Russia. The Georgian Dream Party so far has said no. Look what happened to Europe when they sanctioned Russia, it boomeranged, backfired. What about Georgia? By not participating in the economic sanction of Russia, the Georgian economy has grown more than 10% over the course of the last two years and is on pace to continue this level of growth.
That’s called looking out for Georgia first.” When it comes to Georgian NATO membership, many of the nation’s seasoned military officers, who participated in NATO’s Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo campaigns and brought home the dead bodies of Georgian soldiers, are no longer enthusiastic about joining the alliance, the expert remarked. Ritter explained that territorial disputes with South Ossetia and Abkhazia will not allow Georgia to join NATO any time soon, adding that the irony is that the two breakaway republics will not start settling their disagreements with Tbilisi until the latter gives up its NATO aspirations.
Bird flu
https://twitter.com/i/status/1796193970097172641
Coyote
Blue eyed coyote pup rescued from a collapsed den
📹 David Bradley
pic.twitter.com/tstdI0ldGE— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) May 30, 2024
Emanuel is back
If you stop to watch one thing today, let this be it. pic.twitter.com/obGNxRwqD0
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) May 30, 2024
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