All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[CaptainEurope]

For those following the trial on Xitter, this list of journalists who reported about Trump's Rape/Defamation trials also includes a lot of people xeeting live from this trial:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1651581822071865349

[kidfresh512]

Trump rages at judge hours before hush money case begins

Former President Trump railed against the judge in his criminal hush money case early Monday, just hours before the first criminal trial against a former president is set to begin.

Recalling complaints he has made for months, Trump argued that Judge Juan Merchan is corrupt, that the charges against him are political in nature and baseless, and dubbed the entire effort a “witch hunt.”

“The Radical Left Democrats are already cheating on the 2024 Presidential Election by bringing, or helping to bring, all of these bogus lawsuits against me, thereby forcing me to sit in courthouses, and spend money that could be used for campaigning, instead of being out in the field knocking Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the History of the United States,” he said in one early morning Truth Social post. “Election Interference!”

So much for a gag order. Poor guy always a victim. Not sure why his followers see him as some strong man's man. Hes always a victim of one conspiracy or another. And he wears orange makeup....

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump rages at judge hours before hush money case begins



So much for a gag order. Poor guy always a victim. Not sure why his followers see him as some strong man's man. Hes always a victim of one conspiracy or another. And he wears orange makeup....

I don't understand that either. Trump is the biggest whiner to come down the pike in ages, he's the ultimate example of a "snowflake" which MAGA Maggots accuse us lefties of being.

[Catlady in training]

Not to defend what happened, but comparing those protesting what's happening in Gaza to the Jan 6 is far from fair.

Gaza is a legitimate issue, where hundreds are dying needlessly.

Jan 6 is just some douchebag being a douche.

I'm sure every extremist thinks their issue is legitimate. Attempting to murder somebody is still a crime though.

[Catlady in training]

Ukraine air defences overwhelmed as Russia pounds power stations

Ukraine’s air defences are being overwhelmed by concentrated waves of Russian bombing aimed at its power stations, acknowledged a senior presidential adviser after the destruction of an entire plant on Thursday.

Mykhailo Podolyak said Moscow was adopting new tactics of attacking power stations with up to “10 or 12 missiles at a time”, bypassing already stretched Patriot and other missile shields.

“The system is overloaded,” Podolyak said in an interview. “Now we have to see whether we can keep the system running, whether we need more air defence systems, especially against [hypersonic] ballistic missiles, and whether we can restore the destroyed facilities.”

On Thursday, Trypilska, a coal and gas fired plant south of Kyiv, was destroyed after Russian bombing caused fire to break out in the turbine hall, according to its operator, Centrenergo.

The energy company said that while no staff were killed, it had lost 100% of its generating capacity. “The scale of destruction is terrifying,” said its chair, Andriy Gota. The attack came three weeks after the same company lost the Zmiiv power station to Russian bombing near the city of Kharkiv.

Podolyak said Ukraine was urgently seeking help from its allies to better tackle the threat, and said that while Kyiv had not yet run out of US-made Patriot and German Iris-T air defence missiles, it was running short of the critical munitions. “They are definitely in deficit,” he said.

Ukraine said it had destroyed 57 of the 82 missiles and drones launched by Russia during a major attack overnight on Wednesday – a relatively low proportion by Kyiv’s standards. Two gas storage sites, owned by Naftogaz, and two other power plants, owned by the private generator, Dtek, were also targeted.

Ukraine has conducted more than a dozen waves of drone strikes at Russian oil refineries and related facilities aimed at disrupting the invader’s economy. However, this week Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, publicly cautioned that such attacks could have “a knock-on effect” on global energy prices and called on Kyiv to focus on targets “that can directly influence the current fight”.

Oh no, not the oil prices! That would be terrible!

Podolyak said the west needed to understand that Russia was “carrying out warfare against the civilian population” and complained of a lack of condemnation from the international community. “The Russians have completely destroyed one of the largest thermal power plants in Europe. But we don’t see any resolutions from the security council in the UN or any other proclamations like that,” he said.

Homes and businesses in and around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, have suffered repeated power cuts this spring as a result of near daily Russian bombing. On Thursday, 200,000 homes were reported to be without power in Kharkiv region after a series of rockets were aimed at the area.

Ukraine’s overall position has deteriorated markedly since the start of the year, after military aid from the US dried up and Donald Trump allied Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to put a $60bn Ukraine aid package to the vote. The frontline town of Avdiivka was lost in February, while successful missile strikes have increased in number outside the capital.

Podolyak said he was bemused by the lack of military assistance from the US, describing it as “an odd situation for us”. Funding Ukraine would demonstrate “the reputation of the US as a global leader” and that reluctant Republicans should appreciate doing so “is an investment” in that position, he said.

No ****.

[Tuck]

I mean, Russia is on the security council. Anything condemning them is going to get vetoed.

[Catlady in training]

I am not much fan of making memes out of war, but sometimes they hit the mark (no pun intended).

[CaptainEurope]

Trial started.
Trump Media just crashed 16%.

[Tuck]

I am not much fan of making memes out of war, but sometimes they hit the mark (no pun intended).

I was only commenting on why the security council hasn't issued any kind of condemnation.

The reason aid for Russia has dried up is because the real Trump Derangement Syndrome is what's happened to the Republican Party.

[Catlady in training]

I was only commenting on why the security council hasn't issued any kind of condemnation.

The reason aid for Russia has dried up is because the real Trump Derangement Syndrome is what's happened to the Republican Party.

I wasn't here yesterday, so I was posting that regardless. If I was reacting to your post, I would have quoted you.

Re: GOP, too bad there is no "uncommited" movement about the aid to Ukraine. I keep hearing not all Republicans are horny for dictators, but not seeing any proof of that.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I wasn't here yesterday, so I was posting that regardless. If I was reacting to your post, I would have quoted you.

Re: GOP, too bad there is no "uncommited" movement about the aid to Ukraine. I keep hearing not all Republicans are horny for dictators, but not seeing any proof of that.

Or they're being shouted down by the party's lunatic faction that's following Trump's edict to let Ukraine die because they wouldn't help him dig up dirt on Hunter Biden years ago.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I was doing an entry of horror/monster/unexplained stuff I do on my FB for friends and looked up The Winter War. It was a short 3 month war Soviet Union and Finland had. In it the same comparisons of what were seeing in Ukraine and Russia happened. With SU wanting lands and possibly conquer the entire country by Stalin.

The war ended as Finland couldn't compete against the military might but the Soviet Union struggled badly in the war with losses. They got some lands and while they won...they also lost...Hitler saw how badly the army had done and choose to invade them next.

[Malvolio]

Trump rages at judge hours before hush money case begins



So much for a gag order. Poor guy always a victim. Not sure why his followers see him as some strong man's man. Hes always a victim of one conspiracy or another. And he wears orange makeup....

He intentionally insults the judge and the judge's family, so that he can say that the judge cannot be impartial and therefore should recuse himself or declare a mistrial. It's a bald faced delaying tactic, but let's hope it doesn't work for him.

[Gray Lensman]

Trial started.
Trump Media just crashed 16%.

18 percent now.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

He intentionally insults the judge and the judge's family, so that he can say that the judge cannot be impartial and therefore should recuse himself or declare a mistrial. It's a bald faced delaying tactic, but let's hope it doesn't work for him.

Trump been emptying the arsenal of those tactics for weeks now, so going after the judge and his family is hardly surprising. A last ditch scheme if this fails is Trump rolls his lawyers under the nearest Greyhound, screams "incompetent council" and begs for a delay to bring new ambulance chasers onboard. I'd be shocked if that's not the next move.