Mad War Criminal 🌻🌻🌻☘️☘️☘️

Ukraine:  The war is now in its fourth week and though Ukraine continues to suffer immeasurably and the refugee count is still climbing the Russians are have a hard time too, way more than they or almost anyone anticipated they would.  Yesterday President Zelenskyy continued on his very shrewd government tour, a trip that has included virtual visits to the UK, Canada, US and as of this morning Germany. While he was charming, cajoling and even at times criticizing his legislative audiences, combining requests for military equipment with a heartbreaking video montage of the crushing damage being inflicted on his country by the Russians, Vile Vlad was at home raging. The increasingly isolated Russian leader is mad at his overfunded military for underperforming and over promising, he’s mad at those “fifth column” Russians who have spoken out against his war, he’s even pissed at his yacht hiding oligarchs for whining about the sanctions they’re suffering, chastising them for prioritizing their need for “foie gras and gender freedoms” over blind fealty to him, their patron saint of corruption.  There’s a significant chance that Vlad is more than angry mad he may just be mad mad, as in unhinged and crazy and as Joe Biden called him in an unscripted moment a “war criminal.”  On the subject of  corruption, it’s not unreasonable to assume that a significant portion of the billions Vlad thought he spent upgrading his military instead lined a few pockets, his and his oligarchs.  It’s also fair to say that Russian prima ballerina Olga Smirnova who decamped to Norway to protest the war should watch her back and avoid touching door knobs because Vlad isn’t happy with her either.  And having to explain to the 7000 Russian moms why their sons, even a few generals, aren’t ever coming home, or are but in body bags, that too wasn’t part of Vlad’s game plan.

Switchblades:  Getting back to the charismatic Zelenskyy, he’s getting most of what he wants from the west and the US including javelins, stingers, switchblade drones and other lethal weaponry though at least for now he’s not getting those fighter jets or that no-fly zone he keeps requesting. Amazing how the volatile combination of Vlad and the very media savvy Zelensky have united the west in a manner that seemed impossible back when the Former Guy, influenced by Putin, was threatening to pull out of NATO, something he really planned do in his second term once that “rigged” election was behind him.  Worth noting that the Former Guy has started to pivot away from Putin just a little saying that the current Vlad isn’t the same nice one he used to chat with way into the night when no one was listening, well no one but Vlad and the Russian translators.  By the way, Russia sanctioned a whole bunch of Americans yesterday including President Biden and his son Hunter, Hillary Clinton, General Milley, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin among others, but for some reason the FG was nowhere to be found on the list.  

Evolution:  Unfortunately Sarah Bloom Raskin, wife of Representative Jamie Raskin, was forced to withdraw her Federal Reserve nomination after Senator Joe Manchin announced he would not vote for her and no Republican stood up to fill his spot.  Raskin is eminently qualified but Manchin opposes her confirmation because his energy industry constituency hates her, something about her position that climate change should be incorporated into risk analysis.  No reason to be concerned about the failure to take into consideration anything related to rising tides or the like, something the military and responsible corporate leaders already do, also no reason to worry about Georgia Republican Senatorial candidate Herschel Walker and his view that evolution isn’t real because there are still apes. I can’t explain that so I won’t but sadly Walker is more than holding his own against Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock. Also on the Senate campaign front, it looks like Dr. Oz is flailing and may even be considering throwing in the towel.  Yesterday, the NJ native who is running in Pennsylvania got into some trouble for saying that if he won he wouldn’t give up his Turkish dual citizenship, a problem because he then couldn’t qualify for a whole bunch of committees. He later retracted that statement but it probably doesn’t matter because he’s polling in the low single digits. Not only are apes still here but so is the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden, it continues on even though he has now paid off all of his outstanding tax liability because of course.      

Viral Musings:  Proving that coronavirus is still out there, add Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin to the COVID positive list.  Martin is in Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day and was in the same room as Biden before he got his test results though the White House says that they weren’t in close contact.  Likewise second gentleman Doug Emhoff is also COVID positive though VP Harris is not, at least so far, but she is keeping a low profile and has canceled a few in person meetings. Also on the coronavirus front, Pfizer has applied for emergency use authorization for its current vaccine to be given as a second booster/fourth shot to the 65 and over set.