In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

Yesterday I linked to a comment by Michael McFaul, a Stanford Political Science professor, Obama advisor, and US Ambassador to Russia from 2011 to 2014. Wikipedia calls him "the architect of the so-called 'Russian reset policy'". He has been both a prestigious supporter and an architect of the Biden Ukraine policy. At Wikipedia , Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, McFaul and Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak headed an expert group called the Yermak-McFaul Expert Group on Russian Sanctions, which developed an individual sanctions roadmap with plans to tighten sanctions against Russia. McFaul debated the Russian invasion with John Mearsheimer in May 2022. McFaul has taken a position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine identifying Putin as a culprit in conducting the invasion of Ukraine against the position of Mearsheimer that Putin is pursuing a realist geopolitical plan to secure Russian national interests in the presence ...

Trump talked about who has the cards again on Friday : Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump urged Ukraine to "get on the ball and get a job done" as he expressed frustration over Kyiv's position over peace talks, saying he found it "more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine." . . . "As you know, we're meeting in Saudi Arabia on, sometime next week, early, and we're talking - what I find that in terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia, which is surprising because they have all the cards," Trump said. When asked whether he believes Putin when the Russian leader says he wants peace, Trump responded, "Yeah... I believe him." "I think he wants to get it stopped and settled and I think he's hitting them harder than he's been hitting them and I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now," Trump said. He referred again to Ukraine, saying ...

Via NBC News : Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating America’s NATO engagement in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense, the officials said. As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said. If Trump does make that change, it would mark a significant shift from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, which says that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them. This comes as the administration increasingly distances itself from involvement in any Ukraine peacekeeping force, especially any attempt by NATO countries to draw the US into a wider Ukraine role : Stating that the U.S. does not believe NATO membership for Ukraine would be a "realistic" outcome of any negotiated peace settlement with Russia, Defense Sec...

There've beern several stories over the past week about Hunter Biden being broke, for instance : According to court filings in California, Hunter's attorneys claim he "has suffered a significant downturn in his income and has significant debt in the millions of dollars range." Imagine that; when daddy's no longer pulling the strings from the Oval Office, the money well runs dry faster than Hunter can say "Where's my crack pipe?" Like most of these stories, this one misses a much bigger point: Remember Hunter's illustrious "art career"? You know, the one where anonymous buyers totally weren't paying for access to the White House? Those sales have crashed harder than Hunter after a bender. From selling 27 pieces at an average of $54,481.48 each, he's now managed to sell just one piece for a measly $36,000. The art career comes very late in the saga. Hunter's connections with his then-senator father almost certai...

We sorta-kinda know Trump has "paused" military aid to Ukraine, but we know very little beyond that . Trump was expected to further outline his plans for Ukraine and Russia in the speech to Congress, but did not reveal any further details on how he plans to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two. Trump said Ukraine was ready to sign a minerals deal with the U.S., which Washington says is crucial to secure continued U.S. backing for Ukraine's defense. Four sources told Reuters that the Trump administration and Ukraine plan to sign the deal in return for military aid, which Trump has paused. But later on Tuesday U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News, "There is no signing planned," according to a post on X by a Fox reporter. Trump gave no further details on the minerals deal, leaving its fate unclear. And precisely what has been paused? CNN calls it "shipments" , but what does that involve? President Donald T...

Via KTLA : A movement is underway to recall Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over her handling of January’s deadly and destructive Palisades Fire. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that paperwork had been filed with the Los Angeles Ethics Commission after it was initially filed with the state of California last week. The filing allows opponents of Mayor Bass to raise money so they can put a recall on the ballot. . . . Critics blasted Bass for not being in the city -or country- when the Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7. The massive blaze burned out of control for several days, scorching roughly 24,000 acres and destroying nearly 7,000 homes, businesses and other structures. The wildfire also claimed the lives of 12 people. The mayor previously said she had not been told about the severity of the fire weather conditions before she left for a diplomatic mission to Ghana. She cited that as one of the reasons for firing L.A. Fire Chief Kristen Crowley. However, the issues surrou...

"How'd that work out?" President Trump on weaponizing the government against him. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/rMQVbKVChw — Turning Point Action (@TPAction_) March 5, 2025 I was expecting a very different address to Congress from the one I saw last night. For one thing, if we watch a State of the Union at all, my wife and I put extra wine in reserve, expecting it will be needed to make it through the whole tedious experience. Last night, even though Trump spoke at record length, we didn't need the extra wine. But also, we were both expecting a more usual Trump stream-of-consciousness speech, but this one was structured and focused. In Mark Halperin's words at 9:10, [H]e just gave an extraordinary performance, and you can hate Donald Trump and still have to acknowledge it was an extraordinary performance, talking for a hundred minutes, not boring, high energy, and really used the luxury he had of an opposition which came in saying the focus was going to be on the r...