@Keith_Blankens

USAF veteran, proud Democrat. Blocks all Trump supporters/bots. #Resist #BLM #BuildBackBetter Slava Ukraini. Mostly on Blue Sky now.

[Olga Lautman 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @OlgaNYC1211]

What I will never understand is that many European countries have intelligence on decades of relations between Trump and Russia and should have been prepared for this. No one in European leadership should be shocked and had ample time to prepare for the U.S. to abandon Europe

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

The US President is a parish and an embarrassment. And that's the nicest thing I could find to say about him.

[Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins]

Here's what happened inside the White House after the Oval Office shouting match:

Trump huddled with his key advisers immediately afterward inside the Oval.

According to a White House official, Trump consulted Vance, Rubio, Bessent, etc. That was when Trump decided that Zelensky was "not in a place to negotiate." He directed Secretary Rubio and his national security adviser Mike Waltz to deliver the message: it was time for Zelensky to leave.

The Ukrainians were holding nearby in a separate room. (That's standard for foreign leader visits.) Typically they reconvene for lunch. But the Ukrainians would not be dining at the White House. As the prepared food sat nearby on carts in a hallway, the Ukrainians were instructed to leave.

The White House official said the Ukrainians wanted to continue the talks. But they were told no.

Zelensky left shortly thereafter.

[Mike Martin MP 🔸 @ThreshedThought]

Europe and Ukraine: What now?

A🧶

[MAGA Cult Slayer @MAGACult2]

Ireland weighing in on MAGA

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

@lapatina_ They've slapped a "spam" label on your account. You may need to appeal that because you're invisible to people who apply their filters.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

He doesn't know she's a Russian agent?

[Senator Thom Tillis @SenThomTillis]

I look forward to supporting @TulsiGabbard's confirmation as DNI. She understands the need to focus on the agency’s core mission to better support the intelligence community and she is committed to transparency and accountability.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

@Teoyaomiquu Feels like that here too.

[Annie @AnnieForTruth]

I agree Paul…..

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

Because Tulsi Gabbard will give the Russians everything. Our national secrets will be compromised and passed to the Russians.

Tulsi couldn't get a security clearance in any normal circumstance.

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

Russian media seems to be overjoyed about Tulsi's new job as the director of national intelligence.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

What a stupid question.
Better question: You promised to terminate the US Constitution and then end birthright citizenship. Is that still your plan?

[Acyn @Acyn]

Welker: You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one. Is that still your plan?

Trump: Yeah, absolutely.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

Cutting Social Security will do NOTHING to balance the federal budget (actually, it does the opposite), nothing to lower your taxes (SS taxes will have to be converted to regular taxes), has no benefit to billionaires.

Lunacy.

[Democratic Wins Media @DemocraticWins]

BREAKING: In a stunning announcement, Fox News is reporting that Republicans are considering cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This should raise alarm bells everywhere.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

Periodic reminder that Trump is a walking violation of the Constitutional Emoluments Clause rendering him ineligible to serve as president.

Wish someone would do something about it.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

Well, America, word for the day is...kakistocracy

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Note to reporters, editors and headline writers working on Russia and Ukraine: the ATACMS is a short-range (tactical) missile, not a long-range missile. This consistent error generates a misleading impression and should be corrected.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

@DelilloM I've moved from surprise to disgust...

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

Weird, you'd think there might be laws covering something like this.

[PoliticsVideoChannel @politvidchannel]

BREAKING: Massive Trump scandal Uncovered

Trump may have 'stolen' $1.7 billion from the government while serving as president.

an expert calculated and revealed $1.7 billion flowed through Donald Trump’s businesses while serving as president.

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

EXACTLY this. Right here.

[PoliticsGirl @IAmPoliticsGirl]

It wasn't just liberals who lost on November 5th...

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

This morning, Russian Gazprom stopped gas supplies to Austria.

Austria's close cooperation in gas imports, which had existed since 1968, first with the USSR and then with Russia, came to an abrupt halt within 3 days.

◾️ How and why did it happen?
On November 14, Austrian company OMV won an arbitration against Gazprom for $242 million (excluding interest and court costs). The lawsuit was filed because of irregular gas supplies and their complete cessation in September 2022, when the Kremlin hoped to freeze Europe.

Vienna realized that Gazprom would not pay and decided to immediately claim this amount through the existing contract. In other words, instead of transferring regular monthly payments for gas supplied to Gazprom, OMV planned to withhold them until the amount awarded by the court was reached.

◾️ On October 15, OMV received a letter from Gazprom Export (a subsidiary of Gazprom) stating that natural gas supplies under the existing contract would be stopped completely.

◾️ On November 16, Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Austria, its oldest and largest EU customer among those remaining.

However, Vienna turned out to be ready, diversifying gas supplies with the help of non-Russian sources.

Moreover, it actually pushed Moscow toward such a scenario.

◾️ Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that what had happened was "what we have been preparing for since the beginning of the war in Ukraine" and assured that gas storage facilities were full and "no one will freeze this winter, no home will be cold."

"We will not be blackmailed by anyone, not even by the Russian president. We will not be brought to our knees by Putin's government, by Putin himself," he declared.

Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology Leonore Gewessler made a similar statement.

"The actions of Gazprom today prove once again that Russia is not a partner. But tomorrow also marks the end of a risk. If we no longer receive supplies from Russia, we can no longer be blackmailed," she wrote.

◾️ And most importantly.
By stopping gas supplies to Austria, Gazprom has thus violated the terms of the contract, valid until 2040.

And, by doing so, it gave Austria a formal pretext for an early and legally clean exit from the contract, thereby getting rid of their gas dependence on Russia.

And thus depriving the Kremlin of part of the gas revenues used for the war.

Putin has "outplayed" everyone once again.

📹: Kurier

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Many compare Trump to Putin. I have, too. But the moment right now feels more like the Yeltsin era, when Russia's oligarchs took advantage of an older & somewhat incapacitated leader to privatize the state for their own interests. I wrote about this at length in the 1990s. THREAD 1/

[@Keith_Blankens @keith_blankens]

This message was Kamala Harris' message in every single speech, every single comment when one on one with voters.

Same for Walz. Same for all of her surrogates.

This was President Biden's message for 4 years as president, 18 months as a candidate.

[Greg Landsman @GregLandsman]

4) Democrats need a clearer message.
➡️The system is rigged for the super wealthy & powerful and must be fixed
➡️Get prices down & use tax reform to help working people pay their bills.
➡️Care about everyone, everywhere. Show up with care & curiosity.

More in the weeds…