Lauraleen Ford

[Lauraleen Ford @LauraleenFord]

Why did x eliminate all the accounts I was following? :( I have to start all over again.....

[Lauraleen Ford @LauraleenFord]

https://t.co/fckTOmWcjs

[Lauraleen Ford @LauraleenFord]

Point #3 :)

[Nick Freitas @NickJFreitas]

I'll say it again, for clarification...

It’s not about “wanting Putin to win.”

I DON’T want Putin to win. But I don’t see a lot of the people advocating expansion of this war, offering to send their own kids…

So here are some things to consider:

1. Trump is correct that Ukraine can't win a war of attrition against Russia. The numbers aren't there. You can send all the equipment you want, sooner or later Ukraine will require troops. Who is going to send them? Because it will not be us nor should it be.

2. Germany, the UK, and France all have GDPs larger than Russia. So they shouldn't need US support. Europe should be able to handle this on its own. If they can't, that says a lot more about how they have managed European priorities. You don’t get to simultaneously complain about US hegemony and then demand that we use our blood and treasure to solve a problem you could have easily dealt with by adjusting your priorities.

3. This war could have been stopped before it started. NATO did not need to expand to Russia's borders. NATO was originally established to combat communist aggression. Which means at this point its primary threat is Western universities.

4. Ukrainian gains have encouraged Zelensky to go for more than he can reasonably achieve. Russia outran its supply lines while at the same time leaving major pockets of resistance along its lines of communication. That combined with a massive influx of money and weaponry from the West is the reason it was able to push the Russians back. But without air superiority Ukraine is playing a game it can't ultimately win.

5. Trump is not just dealing with Ukraine here. He recognizes that the foreign policy nightmare that was the Biden administration has pushed our two greatest adversaries, Russia and China closer together. Russia is the lesser partner in that alliance and they don’t want to be dependent upon China. That presents an opportunity to both save Ukraine and create distance between Russia, China, and even Iran.

Welcome to a new foreign policy that takes reality into account.

Where the US is a respected ally not a sugar daddy.

If you don’t like that arrangement, I hear Ukraine is taking volunteers just in time for Spring operations

[Lauraleen Ford @LauraleenFord]

It's hard for me to believe the app has been around for 18 years!! Seems like 10 at most....

[John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad]

It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been on this app for 18 years. Time really flys.

[Mark Hemingway @Heminator]

One thing I think the Zelensky debacle illustrates is that European leaders have not grasped that America’s elite media institutions have lost all authority to make political consensus.

I fear Zelensky may have believed his own adoring coverage, and misread his moral leverage.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

When will social security run out of money, if nothing is fixed?
https://t.co/1dgiAlYYue

[NWS Aberdeen @NWSAberdeen]

Radar is down #sdwx #mnwx

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

My colleague @AnnieLowrey taught me lots of stuff I never knew about eggs and the factors that determine their price

https://t.co/UNVoRViIbc

[Lauraleen Ford @LauraleenFord]

This is an exciting step - dairy without animal suffering. I'm all for it.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇸LAB-GROWN WHOLE MILK HITS THE U.S.—NO COWS REQUIRED

Boston-based startup Brown Foods is debuting UnReal Milk, the world’s first lab-grown whole cow’s milk—made without a single cow.

Using mammalian cell culture, it mimics traditional dairy in taste, texture, and nutrition while cutting carbon emissions by 82%.

Unlike precision fermentation, this process recreates complete milk, allowing it to be processed into butter, cheese, and ice cream.

Independent testing confirms its molecular match to real milk.

With $2.36M in funding, Brown Foods eyes commercialization, positioning itself as a leader in cellular agriculture.

Source: Forbes

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇸LAB-GROWN WHOLE MILK HITS THE U.S.—NO COWS REQUIRED

Boston-based startup Brown Foods is debuting UnReal Milk, the world’s first lab-grown whole cow’s milk—made without a single cow.

Using mammalian cell culture, it mimics traditional dairy in taste, texture, and nutrition while cutting carbon emissions by 82%.

Unlike precision fermentation, this process recreates complete milk, allowing it to be processed into butter, cheese, and ice cream.

Independent testing confirms its molecular match to real milk.

With $2.36M in funding, Brown Foods eyes commercialization, positioning itself as a leader in cellular agriculture.

Source: Forbes

[Norwegian Ministry of Defence @Forsvarsdep]

- We have seen reports raising concerns about support for US Navy vessels in Norway. This is not in line with the Norwegian government’s policy. (2/3)

[Norwegian Ministry of Defence @Forsvarsdep]

I can confirm that all requested support has been provided. The U.S. and Norway maintain a close and strong defense cooperation. American forces will continue to receive the supply and support they require from Norway. 🇳🇴🇺🇸 (3/3)

[Reed Timmer, PhD @ReedTimmerUSA]

Dreaming of the manure tornado

[Alex Berenson @AlexBerenson]

In 1980, drug overdoses killed 6,000 Americans.

In 2024, they killed 110,000.

“Harm reduction” and the ending of “stigma” have been among the most catastrophic policy failures in American history.

It’s time for someone to tell you the truth.

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

WHY ZELENSKY CANNOT MAKE PEACE

Zelensky’s meltdown in the Oval Office began over his refusal to accept a negotiated settlement to the war. Even the Vice President’s use of the word “diplomacy” provoked a heated response.

So why can’t Zelensky make a peace deal?

1) He will lose power.

Zelensky cancelled elections in Ukraine and remains in power through martial law. Despite what USAID propaganda polls may claim, Zelensky is unpopular in Ukraine and would likely lose a fair election. That could leave him vulnerable to retaliation from political opponents he has imprisoned or seized assets from. In short, Zelensky needs the war to justify his continued rule.

2) The gravy train will end.

Ukraine was widely acknowledged as the most corrupt country in Europe before the war, and there is abundant evidence that Ukrainian elites have been hugely profiting from the billions in Western aid. If the war ends, so does the gravy train. A post-war audit of where the money went would also be disastrous for Zelensky’s supporters.

3) He fears the ultra-nationalists.

Most Ukrainians say they want the war to end, but the ultra-nationalist faction (a relative minority but well-armed and willing to use violence to achieve their ends) refuses to accept any territorial concessions to Russia. If Zelensky signs such a deal, he has reason to fear for his safety.

4) He’s psychologically committed.

Zelensky’s belief in ultimate victory over Russia has “hardened into a form that worries some of his advisors,” according to a report by TIME Magazine, which described Zelensky’s faith as “immovable, verging on the messianic.” According to one of Zelensky’s aides, “He is delusional. We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that.” Zelensky may be in too deep to see the situation objectively.

5) History will judge him harshly.

Zelensky could have accepted a draft peace deal signed in the first month of the war, the Istanbul Accords, under which Ukraine would have kept all of its territory in exchange for neutrality. A deal now will likely be modeled on Istanbul but require Ukraine to recognize realities on the ground (ie loss of territory). Acknowledging that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have died only to get a worse deal may be too bitter a pill for Zelensky to swallow, now or ever.

In summary, Zelensky has powerful motivations to reject a deal, no matter how bad the battlefield realities get. His incentive is to continue a doomed war even if it leads to the complete destruction of Ukraine.

Instead of offering unconditional support, Zelensky’s supporters in the West should be urging him to seek a diplomatic off-ramp. Certainly they should stop catering to his unrealistic and maximalist demands.

As Solzhenitsyn said, the yes-man is your enemy, but a friend will argue with you.

[Michael Shellenberger @shellenberger]

Healthy relationships depend on mutual respect. Ukraine and Europe don't respect us; they look down on us. America never had any obligation to protect Ukraine. And now we're asking why we should continue to spend our money, and put our lives on the line, to protect Europe.

[Myshkin @ode_to_fyodor]

Talking about thank yous is an unhelpful distraction and I don't like that he's doing it.

But to get back to the real point, Zelensky is asking - even expecting - Trump to act on his behalf to negotiate against Putin rather than to mediate as a neutral party. And Trump appears to be the only world leader who genuinely wants people on both sides to stop dying.

Everyone else on the world stage is cheering for a side. Many high profile accounts openly celebrate the deaths of half a million Russians as an important victory for the west. While they see the deaths of as many Ukranians as tragic but heroic and necessary. They are cheering for teams and want their side to win rather than wanting both sides to stop dying.

Many people on this platform are okay with many more Ukranians dying if it means preventing Russia from getting a "win." And opportunities for peace have been squandered for the goals of politicians on the other side of the world from the conflict.

Some in Ukraine are willing to fight to the last man to preserve the country's borders, but I think most mothers in Ukraine would rather have their sons alive than be sent another million rounds of ammo or see another thousand foreigners post Ukranian flags in their bios or have another hundred politicians celebrate Zelenskyy's bravery.

Trump is taking a lot of flack for how the meeting went yesterday, but I think he's the only one on the world stage who genuinely wants to save lives on both sides of the conflict.

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

The IDF prepares to resume the war in Gaza.

[Victor Davis Hanson @VDHanson]

Ten bad takeaways from the Zelenskyy blow-up

1. Zelenskyy does not grasp—or deliberately ignores—the bitter truth: those with whom he feels most affinity (Western globalists, the American Left, the Europeans) have little power in 2025 to help him. And those with whom he obviously does not like or seeks to embarrass (cf. his Scranton, Penn. campaign-like visit in September 2024) alone have the power to save him. For his own sake, I hope he is not being “briefed” by the Obama-Clinton-Biden gang to confront Trump, given their interests are not really Ukraine’s as they feign.

2. Zelenskyy acts as if his agendas and ours are identical. So, he keeps insisting that he is fighting for us despite our two-ocean-distance that he mocks. We do have many shared interests with Ukraine, but not all by any means: Trump wants to “reset” with Russia and triangulate it against China. He seeks to avoid a 1962 DEFCON 2-like crisis over a proxy showdown in proximity to a nuclear rival. And he sincerely wants to end the deadlocked Stalingrad slaughterhouse for everyone’s sake.

3. The Europeans (and Canada) are now talking loudly of a new muscular antithesis, independent of the U.S. Promises, promises—given that would require Europeans to prune back their social welfare state, frack, use nuclear, stop the green obsessions, and spend 3-5 percent of their GDP on defense. The U.S. does not just pay 16 percent of NATO’s budget but also puts up with asymmetrical tariffs that result in a European Union trade surplus of $160 billion, plays the world cop patrolling sea-lanes and deterring terrorists and rogues states that otherwise might interrupt Europe’s commercial networks abroad, as well as de facto including Europe under a nuclear umbrella of 6,500 nukes.

4. Zelenskyy must know that all of the once deal-stopping issues to peace have been de facto settled: Ukraine is now better armed than most NATO nations, but will not be in NATO; and no president has or will ever supply Ukraine with the armed wherewithal to take back the Donbass and Crimea. So, the only two issues are a) how far will Putin be willing to withdraw to his 2022 borders and b) how will he be deterred? The first is answered by a commercial sector/tripwire, joint Ukrainian-US-Europe resource development corridor in Eastern Ukraine, coupled with a Korea-like DMZ; the second by the fact that Putin unlike his 2008 and 2014 invasions has now lost a million dead and wounded to a Ukraine that will remain thusly armed.

5. What are Zelenskyy’s alternatives without much U.S. help—wait for a return of the Democrats to the White House in four years? Hope for a rearmed Europe? Pray for a Democratic House and a 3rd Vindman-like engineered Trump impeachment? Or swallow his pride, return to the White House, sign the rare-earth minerals deal, invite in the Euros (are they seriously willing to patrol a DMZ?), and hope Trump can warn Putin, as he did successfully between 2017-21, not to dare try it again?

6. If there is a cease fire, a commercial deal, a Euro ground presence, and influx of Western companies into Ukraine, would there be elections? And if so, would Zelenskyy and his party win? And if not, would there be a successor transparent government that would reveal exactly where all the Western financial aid money went?

7. Zelenskyy might see a model in Netanyahu. The Biden Administration was far harder on him than Trump is on Ukraine: suspending arms shipments, demanding cease-fires, prodding for a wartime, bipartisan cabinet, hammering Israel on collateral damage—none of which Westerners have demanded of Zelenskyy. Yet Netanyahu managed a hostile Biden, kept Israel close to its patron, and when visiting was gracious to his host. Netanyahu certainly would never before the global media have interrupted, and berated a host and patron president in the White House.

8. If Ukraine has alienated the U.S. what then is its strategic victory plan? Wait around for more Euros? Hold off an increasingly invigorated Russian military? Cede more territory? What, then, exactly are Zelenskyy’s cards he seems to think are a winning hand?

9. If one views carefully all the 50-minute tape, most of it was going quite well—until Zelenskyy started correcting Vance firstly, and Trump secondly. By Ukraine-splaining to his hosts, and by his gestures, tone, and interruptions, he made it clear that he assumed that Trump was just more of the same compliant, clueless moneybags Biden waxen effigy. And that was naïve for such a supposedly worldly leader.

10. March 2025 is not March 2022, after the heroic saving of Kyiv—but three years and 1.5 million dead and wounded later. Zelenskyy is no longer the international heartthrob with the glamorous entourage. He has postponed elections, outlawed opposition media and parties, suspended habeas corpus and walked out of negotiations when he had an even hand in Spring 2022 and apparently even now when he does not in Spring 2025.

Quo vadis, Volodymyr?

[Amjad Taha أمجد طه @amjadt25]

Happy Ramadan.
God’s Miracle: Finding a Hamas Hostage in Florida. I used to have deep discussions about the Abraham Accords with a friend on the Clubhouse app. We spoke often, exchanging ideas about peace in the Middle East, yet I had no idea what he looked like—only his voice.

But on October 7th, he vanished. No messages, no responses. That was the day Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. I had no idea what had happened to him.

Yesterday, I traveled to Florida to speak at a counter-antisemitism panel. They informed me that one of the freed hostages would be joining the discussion. As I sat there, I heard a familiar voice. It couldn't be.

“Shlomi, is that you?” I asked.

The man turned toward me, eyes widening. Recognition flashed between us. It was him, Shlomi Ziv. The same man I had spoken to so many times online, now standing before me after enduring the unimaginable. Hamas had kidnapped him on October 7th, and I had never known.

This was not a coincidence. This was God’s plan. Two voices for peace, one from the UAE and one from Israel, had connected online, separated by terror without noticing, yet reunited in the land of freedom, the United States. A message from above. No matter the darkness, no matter the silence, the voices of peace will always find each other. They will survive. They will endure.

Some moments in life defy logic. This was one of them.