By speaking with Trump in advance, Putin positions Russia's interests as the backdrop against which Ukraine's requests will be evaluated. Zelenskyy is then forced to argue uphill. The Ukrainian president must wage through pre-loaded nonsense (to use a family-friendly term) like Trump's repeated insistence that "Russia wants peace" while Moscow continues its terror bombing of Ukrainian civilians. Just this week, Russia lobbed more missiles at Kyiv, killing innocent people and destroying civilian infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Russian tyrant can frame Ukrainian demands as excessive before they are even presented. Providing Ukraine the aid it needs to repulse the Russian invaders becomes "escalatory."
An Afrikaner who came to the U.S. after President Donald Trump claimed the country would be a safe haven for people like him has been held in federal detention for months since his arrival. Benjamin Schoonwinkel came to the U.S. in September, believing he would be protected after Trump's many statements to that effect. But on arriving at an Atlanta airport, he was detained and handcuffed by the U.S. border agents whom Schoonwinkel told he was seeking asylum. The South African man was transferred to a federal detention facility within two days and has remained there ever since. After leaving behind a life of relative comfort on the word of Trump, he now sleeps on a metal bunk bed. "I never expected this to happen," Schoonwinkel said in a video interview with The New York Times this month. "I expected a little bit of red tape."
Bovino would renew the sense of alarm in a metropolitan area that has been demonstrably changed by the 64-day federal incursion and evoke memories of the most surreal autumn in recent local history. The tear-gassing of Chicago neighborhoods. The rousing of suburban mothers in bathrobes, drawn into streets to yell at agents and shame them. The attempted deployment of the Texas National Guard, on Trump's command, only for a federal judge to order the troops to stand down almost immediately upon their arrival in Illinois. The agents who pointed guns and other weapons at bystanders. The arrests of more than 4,500 people in a mission, the Department of Homeland Security said targeted "the worst of the worst." The reality is that most of them were people with brown skin who were at the right place " their landscaping jobs, the hardware store, a Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru " at the wrong time.
Russia doesn't seem to agree with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's assessment that the country is "fully committed" to achieving peace with Ukraine.
Just days before Christmas, West Virginians should be focused on family, faith and the small joys that carry us through the coldest months of the year. Instead, far too many families across our state are staring down something that should never be part of the holiday season: the real possibility of losing their health care on Jan. 1. read more
Violent threats pile up as Indiana Republicans confront pressure from the orange child rapist
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