Tom McConnell

[Angelica Shalagina Official🇺🇦 @angelshalagina]

Ukraine is exhausted.
Ukraine is hurting.
But Ukraine is still standing.
And we are NOT surrendering🇺🇦
#ukraine #ukrainerussiawar #ukrainians #ukrainiangirl #war

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@PDXReech @CorkYou @AdamKinzinger Sadly it's true, 10 or so of them couldn't get to the house to vote in time because of traffic. There are no exceptions.

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@lovely_jf71438 @Iloveautumn2 Healthcare Access
Infrastructure Investment
Climate and Clean Energy
Civil Rights and Social Safety Nets

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@GaryH76917 @AlexeiShortis @Iloveautumn2 Healthcare Access
Infrastructure Investment
Climate and Clean Energy
Civil Rights and Social Safety Nets

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@HattiePittie @OccupyDemocrats Are you a bigot or a racist bigot?

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: SWEET REVENGE! The Navy Admiral who Pete Hegseth fired DEFEATS her MAGA opponent to win a House seat in South Carolina — cementing the blue tsunami with a poetic flourish!

This is just too beautiful...

Democrat Nancy Lacore, a 35-year Navy veteran who rose through the ranks from helicopter pilot to become Chief of Navy Reserve, was fired in August of 2025 amid Hegseth's purging of high-ranking women in the military. While no official reason was given, the deeply misogynistic Hegseth has not been coy about his caveman belief that only testosterone-injecting men should serve.

Lacore has now defeated Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt to seize a seat that was formerly held by MAGA lunatic Nancy Mace who launched a failed bid for the governor's mansion this year.

Lacore has not been shy about criticizing Hegseth's disastrous mismanagement of the Defense Department, particularly his failed Iran War.

"Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense that we have ever had, and he is doing significant damage to our military that it will really take decades to undo," she said, adding that he "needs to go."

The most beautiful irony here? Congresswoman Lacore could soon be voting with the rest of the Democratic majority in the House to impeach Pete Hegseth. We have subpoena power starting in January, so we'll be able to uncover all of the gross negligence and rampant criminality that he's overseen.

Ain't karma grand?

Please ❤️ and share if you support impeaching Pete Hegseth!

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

He killed 542 men in 100 days without ever looking through a scope.

Simo Häyhä was small in stature — five foot three — stocky and quiet. His hands were calloused from farm tools, not polished by ceremonial sabers. In the rural southeast of Finland, near the village of Rautjärvi, he was known as a dependable neighbor. He hunted, farmed, and kept to himself. Nothing about him suggested legend.

Then came November 30, 1939. The Soviet Union invaded Finland, beginning what would later be known as the Winter War. Moscow expected a swift campaign. The Red Army brought roughly half a million soldiers, along with tanks, aircraft, and artillery. They outnumbered Finnish forces by nearly three to one. On paper, it looked less like a war and more like an inevitability.

But snow does not follow paper calculations. That winter was merciless. Temperatures dropped to minus 40 degrees. Engines froze. Metal stuck to bare skin. Forests swallowed sound. The Finns knew the terrain the way farmers know their fields and hunters know animal tracks.

Simo Häyhä was one of those men. He had grown up skiing through those forests, reading wind and shadow, standing motionless until game appeared. When he joined the Finnish Army, he did not transform into something new. He simply applied the skills he had built over years to a different purpose.

Dressed head to toe in white, he vanished into the snowfields. He packed snow in front of his rifle barrel so the muzzle blast would not kick up powder and reveal his position. He held snow in his mouth to cool his breath, reducing the visible vapor that could give him away in the cold air. He lay still for hours, sometimes entire days, letting the forest settle around him. He did not stalk. He waited.

What made him especially dangerous was a choice most snipers would consider illogical. He refused to use a telescopic sight. While others relied on scopes, Häyhä used only iron sights — the simplest aiming system available. He believed a scope could reflect sunlight like a signal mirror. It required lifting the head slightly higher, increasing visibility. In extreme cold, lenses could fog or freeze. Iron sights were lower, sturdier, and more reliable. He trusted his rifle and his eyes.

In fewer than 100 days of combat, he recorded more than 500 confirmed kills with his rifle. Some estimates place the number at 542. That figure does not include additional enemy soldiers he killed with a submachine gun in close combat. Five hundred men, in forests locked in ice, in a war his country was not expected to survive.

The Soviets gave him a name: the White Death. Sniper teams were dispatched to hunt him. Entire units were tasked with finding one farmer in a white jacket. Artillery shelled forests where scouts believed he might be hiding. Officers warned soldiers against careless movement across open ground. The idea that one man could inflict such damage deeply unsettled them. He was no longer just a sniper. He became winter with a trigger.

On March 6, 1940, a Soviet explosive bullet — designed to maximize damage — struck him in the face. It shattered his jaw, tore through his cheek, and disfigured the left side of his face. Comrades found him unconscious, barely recognizable, and carried him from the battlefield, assuming he would not survive.

He fell into a coma. Seven days later, he opened his eyes. The day he regained consciousness was the day the war ended.

Despite overwhelming odds, Finland endured. The country lost territory but retained its independence. Häyhä, disfigured and permanently changed, survived the conflict that turned him into a myth.

Then he did something almost no one expected. He went home. No book deals. No speeches about heroism. No attempt to turn reputation into money. He returned to Rautjärvi, to fields and forests.

P.S. I'm gradually leaving X and moving to Substack, where I share stories of war, history, and the people who shaped them.

https://t.co/kEbSUaYQZ9

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@darc87798 @Dale_E_Hayes Funny, your "Fact" is sourced as Opinion, but you don't understand english that well, do you Ivan?

[UncleSamsNaughtyFella @JustAJaneJ]

🫡Dr Sarah Paine’s assessment is like her reputation: impeccable.

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@angelshalagina I'm from MD in USA

[Tom McConnell @AimTmac]

@angelshalagina

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

BREAKING: Senator Chris Murphy has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke. His office says he is “awake and alert” and responding well to treatment. Doctors are optimistic about a full recovery.

We wish Senator Murphy a speedy and complete recovery. ❤️

[diane mckenzie @dianemc34717099]

What an interesting read...........

On Jeopardy the other night, the final question asked: “How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the Tomb of the Unknown?”
All three contestants missed it.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the Tomb and why?
He takes 21 steps — symbolizing the 21-gun salute, the highest military and foreign tribute.
2. How long does he pause before turning to walk back and why?
He waits 21 seconds, again in honor of the same tradition.
3. Why are his gloves damp?
They are lightly moistened to ensure he never loses his grip on his rifle.
4. Does he keep his rifle on the same shoulder, and if not, why?
He always carries it on the shoulder farthest from the Tomb. After each crossing, he performs an about-face and moves it to the outside shoulder.
5. How often are the guards changed?
Every 30 minutes, 24/7, 365 days a year.
6. What are the physical requirements for a Tomb Guard?
Applicants must be between 5'10" and 6'2" and have a waist no larger than 30".
Other expectations of the Guard:
They devote two years to the Tomb, live in the barracks beneath it, and must refrain from drinking alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives.
They can never swear in public or dishonor the uniform or the Tomb.
After two years, they earn a wreath pin signifying their service — fewer than 400 are currently worn.
If they violate the code, they must relinquish the pin.
Their shoes have thick soles to protect against extreme temperatures and metal heel plates that create the crisp click when they halt.
Uniforms must have zero wrinkles or lint and are inspected in a full-length mirror.
For the first six months, guards do not speak to anyone and do not watch television.
Their off-duty time is spent studying the 175 notable individuals buried at Arlington National Cemetery, memorizing who they are and where they rest.
Among them: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis, and Audie Murphy, the most decorated WWII soldier.
Every guard spends five hours daily preparing their uniform.
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM, O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
When Hurricane Isabel approached Washington, D.C. in 2003, Congress shut down for two days. The guards were offered permission to suspend duty due to danger.
They replied: “No way, Sir!”
Drenched and marching through the storm, they insisted that guarding the Tomb is the highest honor, not just a task.
The Tomb has been continuously guarded — day and night — since 1930.
God Bless and Keep Them
I don’t often encourage sharing posts, but I would be honored if this one reached as many people as possible. We should always feel proud of the men and women who serve, wherever they are stationed.
Duty – Honor – Country
IN GOD WE TRUST — with Herbert F Wieland.

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

🇺🇦❤️ He could have spent billions on yachts, mansions, and a life of luxury. Instead, he chose to help Ukraine.

His name is Howard Buffett. He is 71 years old and the son of legendary American billionaire Warren Buffett.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion, his foundation has committed approximately $1.33 BILLION to helping Ukraine!

And these aren't just numbers. Here's what that generosity means:

🍞 642 million meals funded for Ukrainians affected by the war.

🚜 823,000 hectares of farmland cultivated with support from his foundation, helping farmers whose equipment was destroyed by Russia.

🦾 $77 million for Superhumans, helping wounded Ukrainian soldiers and civilians receive prosthetics and rehabilitation.

💣 $167 million for demining, clearing Ukrainian land of deadly Russian explosives.

🏠 344,000 windows replaced in war-damaged buildings.

📚 $8.9 million to restore Kharkiv's Factor-Druk printing house after a Russian missile strike.

And here's something even more remarkable:

🇺🇦 Howard Buffett has personally visited Ukraine 27 times!

He visits devastated communities, meets farmers, and witnesses the consequences of Russia's war firsthand.

In December 2023, his name was added to Kyiv's Walk of the Brave.

But his greatest legacy isn't a monument. It's the lives saved, homes rebuilt, fields cultivated, and Ukrainians given hope again.

❤️ The world has plenty of wealthy people. Far fewer are willing to devote their wealth, time, and hearts to helping strangers thousands of miles away.

Thank you, Howard Buffett. Ukraine will never forget your kindness. 🇺🇦🇺🇸

P.S. I'm gradually moving from X to Substack. You can subscribe for free or support my work with a paid subscription:

https://t.co/kEbSUaYQZ9

[Prof. Bonk 🇺🇦 Perverse & Unintended Consequences @actfast]

A desperate White House scheme to bypass federal law, lower gas prices before midterms, and funnel cash to Moscow collapsed into a ghost fleet wandering open waters with nowhere to land.

The Full Report: 10/🧵
https://t.co/HQ6yAhJ573

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

In the middle of World War Two, German soldiers in southeastern Poland started avoiding a cluster of villages.

They wouldn't go in. They wouldn't take people out for forced labor. They put up warning signs and stayed away.

They believed the area was infected with typhus.

It wasn't. Two doctors had invented the whole thing.

The man behind it was Eugene Lazowski, a young Polish doctor working for the Red Cross in the town of Rozwadów. He was watching the Nazi occupation tear his country apart. Executions. Deportations. People shipped off to labor camps, many never coming back.

He wanted to stop it. He had no weapons, no army, and no way to fight.

What he had was medicine.

His friend and fellow doctor, Stanisław Matulewicz, had discovered something strange. If you injected a person with a harmless, dead strain of a certain bacteria, their blood would test positive for typhus.

They wouldn't be sick at all. But on paper, they'd look like they had one of the most feared diseases of the war.

And the Germans were terrified of typhus. It spread fast, it killed, and it could tear through an army. When the Germans found it, they quarantined the area and kept their distance.

Lazowski realized what that meant. If he could make enough people look infected, the Germans would leave the whole region alone.

So he started injecting his patients.

He chose carefully. He sent the blood samples to German labs for testing, exactly as the rules required. The results came back positive. Again and again.

The Germans declared an epidemic zone. Villages were quarantined. Soldiers kept out. People who would have been seized for forced labor or worse were left alone, because nobody wanted to go near them.

Lazowski had to be careful. If too many cases looked fake, someone would ask why nobody was dying. So he spread out the injections over time and kept the outbreak believable.

Eventually the Germans did get suspicious. They sent a team of doctors to inspect.

Lazowski met them with food and vodka and played the gracious host. He guided them toward the sickest looking, dirtiest patients he could find, in the most crowded rooms. The German doctors, worried about catching typhus themselves, took a few samples and left in a hurry.

The tests came back positive.

The fake epidemic lasted until the end of the war. Estimates say it may have protected around 8,000 people.

Lazowski also secretly helped Jews from the nearby ghetto, giving them medical care at enormous risk.

After the war he moved to the United States and became a professor of pediatrics in Chicago. For decades he barely talked about what he'd done. Late in life he finally wrote a memoir. He called it My Private War.

He died in 2006.

He never fired a shot. He beat the Nazis with a needle and a lab test.

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: TRUMP BETRAYAL! Zelensky reveals he offered the U.S. THREE OPTIONS to halt Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries — but Trump accepted NONE.

President Volodymyr Zelensky just provided stark evidence of Donald Trump’s betrayal of America’s commitment to defend Ukraine from the Russian invasion of its sovereign territory.

Trump has been pressuring Zelensky to unilaterally stop taking out Russia’s oil refining infrastructure, but the Ukrainian leader said in an interview with the Kyiv Post that the United States has met none of the three conditions he says his country requires before agreeing to a stop to its successful campaign to cripple Russia’s revenue-generating energy businesses. Therefore, the strikes continue.

Here are the conditions that Zelensky said that Trump can choose from to convince Ukraine to impose a ban on blowing up Putin’s petroleum refineries:
Option one: an “energy truce,” where Russia stops hitting Ukraine’s power infrastructure. “That is fair,” Zelensky said, and it’s hard to argue with that. Expecting Ukraine to stop hitting Russia, while its opponent continues to bomb away, makes no sense at all.

Option two: enable Starlink coverage over Russia so Ukraine can show the U.S. where Russian ballistic missile launchers are and destroy them. Zelensky noted that Trump’s team has said Elon Musk doesn’t want to. Who the f@#k cares what Elon Musk wants? If Musk continues to be an obstacle, the U.S. should nationalize Starlink on security grounds and turn Ukraine’s spigot back on.

Option three: if Starlink is off the table, give Ukraine missiles for its Patriot systems, something that “doesn’t depend on Musk or Putin.” Given the fact that the American military has blown through a significant portion of its arsenal in the misbegotten Iran war, this last option might be the toughest for Trump to fulfill.

“Ukraine had received none of the three proposed forms of support,” he said. “That is why the reaction is what it is. We are fighting for our lives.”
Zelensky also argued the refinery strikes can’t move global prices much, since Russia accounts for only 2% of global diesel exports and the other 98% comes from elsewhere.

Zelensky smartly warned against lifting sanctions on Russia before negotiations, saying they were imposed in response to aggression, “not as a price for the mere opportunity to talk.” He said lifting them early would leave Ukraine without leverage and that rebuilding support for new sanctions after more than 20 packages would be hard, a warning that lands after Trump waived sanctions and tariffs on Russia. “I do not want us to find ourselves without any leverage,” he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. delegation went to St. Petersburg after talks in Oslo and then gave Kyiv a briefing. Now a broad meeting between Ukraine, the U.S., the EU and NATO is planned in Brussels this week. As long as Trump is in Vladimir Putin’s pocket, however, the prospect for successful negotiations is slim to none.

Of course, the Kyiv Post is only reporting Zelensky’s point of view. The White House has not responded yet to his comments. But one of his points is hard to dodge: Ukraine is being asked to hold back while the other side keeps firing. Only a fool like Donald Trump would expect any invaded country to agree to a deal like that.

Please like and share if you think Russia should end the war by withdrawing its forces from Ukrainian territories!

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

Zelenskyy: “Trump Is Demanding That I Surrender to Putin”

Finally, the moment has come when we can stop pretending to be diplomatically polite, carefully choosing our words, and acting as though we are dealing with some sophisticated peace negotiations rather than the blatant coercion of a victim into surrender.

For the first time, Zelenskyy has said out loud what many have long suspected: according to him, the Trump administration is taking steps that are forcing Ukraine to surrender to Russia.

“I don't want to think that our American partners believe it is possible to end the war faster at Ukraine's expense. But that is exactly what it looks like.”

Trump is demanding capitulation!

Pay attention to that last sentence. No hysteria, no diplomatic scandal, not even an accusation. Just a statement of fact from a man who has spent far too long trying to convince himself that his ally really is an ally.

And indeed, a rather interesting picture is emerging.

Russia bombs Ukrainian cities, while Washington demands that Kyiv stop striking Russian oil refineries. Ukraine purchases American missiles for its Patriot air defense systems, but according to Zelenskyy, deliveries are being delayed. Restrictions on satellite communications are emerging, making it significantly more difficult for Ukrainian troops to conduct military operations.

And all of this is accompanied by endless talk about peace.

What kind of peace, gentlemen?

Imagine a robber breaking into your home, murdering your loved ones, setting your bedroom on fire, and then a police officer arriving at the scene. But instead of arresting the criminal, the officer demands that you immediately put down your gun because the shooting is disturbing the neighbors' sleep.

And, as a friendly gesture, he promises to help the robber get more gasoline.

That, in my opinion, is exactly what American diplomacy looks like today.

Trump loves to repeat that he wants to stop the bloodshed. A wonderful desire. Yet somehow, almost all his demands are directed at the country defending itself, while the man who unleashed the largest European war of our time is offered negotiations, economic concessions, and yet another opportunity to bargain.

There is one inconvenient detail for Trump here.

Zelenskyy cannot sign Ukraine's capitulation for the simple reason that Ukraine does not belong to him.

It is not a hotel that can be sold together with its guests, nor a golf course that can be handed over to creditors to settle debts.

Behind this country stand millions of people who have buried their loved ones, lost their homes, endured occupation, torture, and Russian prisons.

Trump can put as much pressure on Zelenskyy as he wants. But forcing Ukrainians to voluntarily recognize Russia's right to determine their fate is an entirely different matter.

The most disgusting part of this story is not even the pressure on Ukraine itself, but the attempt to present capitulation as a great humanitarian achievement for which humanity should thank the American president.

Putin demands Ukrainian land.

Trump demands peace.

And Ukrainians are expected to pay the price for both demands.

You know, history has seen deals like this before. They were usually signed by people who were absolutely convinced that someone else would have to pay the price.

And every single time, there was some solemn gentleman announcing that he had finally brought peace to Europe.

The only difference is that this time, Ukraine is still holding its weapons.

And it has no intention of laying them down.

© Valeriy Bochkov

[Lynx @LibertyLynx]

SpaceX Blocked A U.S. And NATO Satellite to Assist a Russian Intercept After Crippling Ukraine's Air Defenses

The Math Proves the Reality that Musk doesn't want you to see.
On Oct 13-14, SpaceX restricted Starshield/Starlink during a 39-missile Russian attack, cutting Ukrainian drone intercepts by 23% and stranding U.S. personnel in Kyiv. Forty-eight hours later (Oct 15), SpaceX blocked U.S.-licensed NRO, Space Force, and NATO radar satellite ICEYE-X36 in orbit so Russia's COSMOS 2612 weapon could intercept it (99.89%-99.98% posterior)

Our Model Demonstrates that the Russian intercept of the US/NATO ICEYE X-36 satellite (contemporaneous with the throttling of Starlink) would not have been possible, and almost certainly not been attempted, without SpaceX resources. At a material opportunity cost, Russia sprinted its COSMOS satellite to intercept ICEYE X36. Based on a previous attempt in June during which X36 maneuvered to evade COSMOS, Russia knew that this would be successful only if X36 could not maneuver. On October 15, SpaceX fixed X36 in place by issuing a collision alert for a sub-kilometer approach with its Starlink 35856 when SpaceX's own data shows that the actual distance was 4.8-5.0x as great. SpaceX issued no warning to COSMOS despite the fact that its sprint was far more threatening than the stable X36 orbit. SpaceX did not maneuver its Starlink 35856 satellite to clear the supposed collision risk. How, absent coordination with SpaceX, could Russia have known that SpaceX would take actions that (a) misrepresented the danger posed by X36, and (b) resulted in the fixing of X36 thereby enabling COSMOS's successful intercept? Thus, SpaceX was directly involved in simultaneously compromising Ukraine’s defensive and offensive capabilities. The conjunction of these two events makes innocent explanations untenable.

The Pentagon Capture & Iran Round Two Trap: Pentagon CTO Emil Michael who cashed out $7M–$35M from Musk’s inner-circle SpaceX vehicles (M8/Gigafund 0.1 and M6/Valor M33 II) and KQ Partners / xAI (selling xAIfor $5M–$25M three days before taking over CDAO/OSCand 21 days before SpaceX bought xAI, while keeping M8, M6, M9, M10 & Nomadic open) and Pete Hegseth purged rival Anthropic in two hours, surrendered combat command over US drones used to attack Iran to Starlink’s "Terms of Service," and on October 2 named Musk Co-Director of Project Meridian to design the Pentagon's "Future of Warfighting" just as America enters Iran Round Twowith depleted Patriot/THAAD magazines and Russia feeding U.S. warship/aircraft locations to Tehran.

SpaceX’s actions in Ukraine raise serious questions about its alignment with US security interests and its reliability as a cornerstone of US defense. These questions are particularly troubling given the effectively irreplaceable position SpaceX has been granted by the Hegseth/Emil Michael Pentagon.
$SPCX $TSLA

Our full quantitative analysis below w/ @streetwiseprof

[Reilly Belle Air 💙🚺🌈💪 🌊 💙 @ReillyBelle57]

Here are some answers to these immigrant-blaming MAGAts.