Skye
SKYE’S LINKS 03/31/22
Is this a Father-to-Son lecture between Senator Joe and Hunter? Guess the boy never listened – or knew the Dad was just doing his political grandstanding. So they went into the corruption business together – and now the piper is being paid.
Hunter Biden Dam About To Burst? WaPo, CNN Go Scorched Earth Over 'Laptop From Hell'
Bottom line: I don't think that this is merely rats deserting a sinking ship; I suspect that Xiden's puppeteers have decided that Sloppy Joe has got to go, and go before the midterms wipe out their control of Congress. Read on to see what just happened that proves this.
PUTIN REAPS A BITTER HARVEST IN UKRAINE
Thousands of Russian corpses litter Ukraine
When Russia invaded Ukraine, it was widely believed to have expected an easy victory over its neighbor.
But so far, Russia has little to show for what it has called its “special military operation.” Just over a month into the war, Moscow is facing unintended consequences of its aggression in Ukraine, ranging from high casualties among its troops to economic ruin for years to come.
Here are five of them, showing how Putin is reaping a poisonously bitter harvest in Ukraine.
THE EMBARRASSMENT OF BEING A DEMOCRAT ISN’T IMPROVING, IT’S GETTING WORSE
A year ago, were barely 2 months into the Harris/Biden administration and my Dem friends were getting a bit embarrassed about the leadership they had helped foist on the country.
My naïve friends had bought into the propaganda that all of the turmoil in Washington was because of Donald Trump. They voted for a return to normalcy. Only two months into this administration, they were embarrassed to see that they had been hoodwinked big time.
I predicted to my friends that their embarrassment and that being suffered by so many of their fellow Dems would turn to anger in time for the midterm elections. I was way off. We’re already into Category 3 Hurricane Anger already and rising.
THE SHEER MADNESS OF THE LEFT TODAY
Madness! Madness!" — The Bridge on the River Kwai
With that exclamation, director David Lean ended his epic film about a dutiful but vainglorious British officer who sought to display to his Japanese captors superior British discipline and morale in a prisoner of war camp.As proof of British engineering superiority, he pursues his agendas by ordering his POWs to build for their Japanese captors a strategic bridge that otherwise they could not have built—only to try to destroy the efforts of fellow Allied soldiers sent to blow-up his masterpiece. For the delusional ideologue, reality must never intrude.
So it is now. When the rock of green and woke ideology hits the hard place of reality, sheer madness always results. Here’s how.
THE FIRST TO FALL – COULD THE EURO BEAT THE YEN TO THE CURRENCY GRAVEYARD?
Considering all of Europe's problems the big issue is envisioning a scenario from which an economic renaissance might flow.
To say the Euro-zone banking system deception which has been going on for many years is continuing understates the size of the fraud occurring before our eyes.
For years Japan has been the poster child and living proof that low-interest rates do not guarantee economic growth and prosperity. Going unnoticed by many investors is that the BOJ has been pumping up Japan's stock market by buying into the ETF market.
So which goes first, the euro or the yen. As Ludwig Von Mises wrote; "The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY UNDERSTANDING SELF-ESTEEM
In a study by Jean Twenge of San Diego State University, she found that college kids today are more likely to call themselves gifted and driven to succeed, while their test scores and hours spent studying are decreasing. Their tendency toward narcissism has also increased over the last 30 years.
Today I want to look at what I consider one of the sources of this trend: the phony self-esteem movement.
Many years ago, when I was young psychology graduate student studying with Nathaniel Branden, I remember him talking one day about how he had been invited to be part of The California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem, led by California State Assemblyman John Vasconcelos.
Nathaniel couldn’t see why he would be involved in that, since he did not see a role for government in the development of self-esteem. Nonetheless, the Task Force carried on, and created guidelines for building "self-esteem" in a way that Branden would never have advocated. For these guidelines are causing the mess so many college kids are in today.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/24/22
How to hit the ground running; House GOP members train and prepare to launch an onslaught of oversight investigations in 2023:
Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan – The West’s unanimity in punishing Putin are a shocking wakeup call for Xi regarding Taiwan:
China Wins A Little, Loses A Lot From Russia’s War On Ukraine
China's plans for Russia:
GOP Rep. Palmer: China's Intent Is to Make Russia a Vassal State
KETANJI JACKSON IS TOO SUPREMELY STUPID TO BE A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
Even before Ketanji Brown Jackson's extraordinary statement that she does not know what a woman is, I'd concluded that she's a dim bulb and, really, the judicial equivalent of Kamala Harris: an uninspiring Black woman who's floated effortlessly upward through affirmative action and fealty to leftism.
I'd spent the day mentally writing an attack on her, only to see Tucker Carlson hold forth with an incendiary monologue that attacked her "I'm not a biologist" lunacy, the whole transgender madness that the left is advancing, and the real agenda of remaking society in an ugly way, especially through the death of free speech.
I’m posting it below since it’s over 15 minutes long, so please finish reading me before you watch him, okay? Here we go…
WHEN WILL THE WEST SEE THAT UKRAINE IS WINNING?
One of thousands, died for nothing NATO: Up to 40,000 Russian Troops Killed, Wounded, Taken Prisoner or Missing in Ukraine Wall Street Journal March 23, 2022
When I visited Iraq during the 2007 surge, I discovered that the conventional wisdom in Washington usually lagged the view from the field by two to four weeks. Something similar applies today.
Analysts and commentators have grudgingly declared that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been blocked, and that the war is stalemated. The more likely truth is that the Ukrainians are winning.
What follows is an analysis of how and why they are winning, how and why the Russians are losing, and why both will quite likely continue to do so.
UKRAINE MUST WIN
The war in Ukraine has reached a turning point. The Russian troops that invaded the country from the north, south, and east are now scarcely moving. They have targeted schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, and a theater sheltering children, but they are not yet in control even of the places they occupy.
And no wonder: Few Ukrainians are willing to collaborate with the occupiers. The overwhelming majority, more than 90 percent, believe they will defeat them. The Ukrainian army refuses to surrender, even in cities badly damaged by bombardment.
There must be an endgame, a moment when the conflict stops. The Ukrainians, and the democratic powers that support Ukraine, must work toward a goal. That goal should not be a truce, or a muddle, or a decision to maintain some kind of Ukrainian resistance over the next decade. That goal should be a Ukrainian victory. Now.
WHY WOULD ANYBODY BACK PUTIN?
How can anyone of moral decency excuse this?
We’ve been assured repeatedly lately that nobody on the right supports Vlad the Invader and his inept, ill-planned, and ill-fated invasion of Ukraine. Would that it were so… but it isn’t.
In truth, there are numerous people on the right and calling themselves conservative, who are praising, egging on, and making excuses for Putin in his war of conquest against Ukraine. I won’t bother to link to any of them. You’ve no doubt seen them and can provide your own examples.
There seem to be three major elements to the pro-Putin platform. They are all nonsense and here’s why.
RUSSIA HAS A HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONS AND COUPS AFTER LOST WARS
It is well documented that sanctions themselves are not enough to topple authoritarian regimes – look at North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba. Yet sanctions have had tremendous impacts on the citizens of those countries – Venezuela experienced a 30% contraction in its economy in 2020, while the consequences of sanctions against North Korea have left most of the country malnourished.
Despite a war fever whipped by Putin's propaganda machine, sanctions can be a stress multiplier on an already vulnerable political system facing military, economic, and social setbacks.
For history has shown that Russian revolutions are not just a result of economic despair; they are also deeply intertwined with heavy Russian losses attributed to war. One only needs to look at the Crimean War in the 1850s, the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, World War I, and the Soviet War in Afghanistan in the 1980s to see how in Ukraine history may be repeating itself.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY BUILDING A GOOD REPUTATION WITH YOURSELF
We pay attention to other people who matter to us, and we tend to ignore those who don’t.
There’s more to this, though: We watch ourselves just like we watch others, and we develop a reputation with ourselves accordingly.
What kind of a person are you, in your own assessment? Do you have values, goals, and priorities? And do you act in accordance with those values, goals, and priorities? Are you the kind of person you would like to be? And if not, what are the barriers to becoming the kind of person you would like to be?
These questions are really important because our own self-reflection has a huge impact on our behavior.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/17/22
This is a photoshop fake picture. Enter “biolabs Ukraine” and you’ll get 9.5 million hits and not a single picture of one
Why did Czar Putin the Terrible invade Ukraine? Here are eight plausible reasons, and all eight may be true. The more that they are true, the less that Vladimir The Would-Be-Great is likely to give up rather than double down:
Why Did Vladimir Putin Invade Ukraine?
I add one more point to the above. I suspect that the CCP is feeding Putin with false information regarding Ukraine with respect to making biosurveilance labs look like biowarfare labs (see Jack’s HFR last Friday on this) and promoting further disinformation that the Ukraine has a nuclear weapons program.
Long overdue; if the; if the Crats lose one House of Congress, will the Republicans have the guts to do this?
UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP, WE REALLY HAD A WONDERFUL LIFE
In the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey is able to see what the world would have been like had he never been born.
Everything changes. George wasn’t there to save his younger brother from drowning. And, that in turn, meant that his brother wasn’t there to save the lives of hundreds of men on board a U.S. military troop ship. Everything has a domino effect.
Unfortunately, we get to have a similar experience. We see how one terrible leader imposing his disastrous policies on the American people has negatively impacted every American. We wonder wistfully what the world would look like had President Trump remained in the Oval Office instead of the blindingly incompetent and malevolent Joe Biden.
XI TO PUTIN — THANKS FOR SIBERIA, VLAD!
[TTP veterans may recall these maps from Chinese Siberia from 2006 – which explained why Russian Siberia will be Chinese Siberia in the not-distant future. It provides the historical background for Col. Austin Bay’s account of how Putin has accelerated the Chicom goal of making much of eastern Siberia Chinese once again.]
Before launching his war, Putin, his pals and for that matter, his pretend-allies in China, should have examined the strategic downside of both Russian "non-victory" in Ukraine and even defeat in Ukraine.
But his Chinese pretend-allies did consider these unpalatable alternatives -- and they grinned. Shift from Europe to East Asia and Russia's military failure in Ukraine calls into question the vulnerability of the Kremlin's greatest geostrategic treasure: resource-laden Siberia.
Communist China 2022 is bitten by the same savage imperialist bug as Putin. Beijing intends to restore the Chinese empire. And Beijing covets Siberia.
THE CULMINATION OF RUSSIA’S DEFEAT IN UKRAINE?
[Generals Ryan and Hodges provide their professional assessment of how and why Russia is losing its military attempt to conquer and subjugate Ukraine. Gen. Ryan gives the background to today (3/15), then Gen. Hodges explains why “the next ten days may decide this war.”]
General Ryan:
Experienced Russia observers were saying as early as 2017 that the power of the Russian military was overestimated, it was challenged by overstretch, and was technologically backward. These observers have been proved right.
Russia committed around 55% of their total regular ground forces to their invasion of Ukraine. This was not a calculated risk by the Russians; it was a gamble. A gamble that is failing badly.
As open source, as well as UK and US military briefs, note, the Russian advances in the north, east and south are grinding to a standstill. They have been outfought by the Ukrainians and have not been able to logistically sustain advances on multiple fronts.
Summing up, Russia has not achieved its key military objectives in the north, east or south. It is conducting concurrent offensives in different, disconnected parts of Ukraine. It has committed all the military forces it had for Ukraine on these missions.
AMERICA’S HESITATION IS HEARTBREAKING
The United States and its NATO allies are engaged in a proxy war with Russia. They are supplying thousands of munitions and hopefully doing much else—sharing intelligence, for example—with the intent of killing Russian soldiers.
And because fighting is, as the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz said, “a trial of moral and physical forces through the medium of the latter,” we must face a fact: To break the will of Russia and free Ukraine from conquest and subjugation, many Russian soldiers have to flee, surrender, or die, and the more and faster the better.
Yet, when the Ukrainians are willing to spill their blood, seemingly without limit, in a wholly admirable cause, American hesitation is heartbreaking. New Hampshire license plates bear the state motto Live Free or Die. The Ukrainians are acting on that belief, which previous generations of Americans acted upon as well.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY TURNING A WISH INTO A TRIUMPH
[Note by Jack Wheeler: I always find Joel’s wisdom valuable, and this week especially so. He explains why, for example, women who fantasize about losing weight end up losing less weight that women who don’t! To learn why and a lot more, read on…]
Have you ever watched the downhill skiers in the Winter Olympics before a race, visualizing the run, moving and swaying their bodies as though they’re on the run itself? They all do this now, because the visualization is a powerfully effective strategy for bringing out their best.
Much is made these days of having a compelling future vision. Picturing yourself on the winner’s block, or with that book published, or that wonderful relationship; imagining a future that you can step into… The pop psychology literature is chock full of advice for seeing yourself having accomplished your goals.
But the pop psychology literature on this is wrong.
NEW ARMY THTRONG
In these days of crisis, CJCS General Mark Milley is making sure our country will be protected from America’s worst dangers, white supremacists and enemies of inclusion and diversity, by New Army Thtrong!
THE GREEN IMMORALISTS
Thousands are dying from Russian missiles and bombs in the suburbs of Ukraine.
In response, the Biden Administration’s climate-change envoy, multimillionaire and private-jet owning John Kerry, laments that Russian president Vladimir Putin might no longer remain his partner in reducing global warming.
“You’re going to lose people’s focus,” Kerry frets. “You’re going to lose big-country attention because they will be diverted, and I think it could have a damaging impact”
“Impact”?
Did the global moralist Kerry mean by “impact” the over 650 Russian missiles that impacted Ukrainian buildings and tore apart children?
SKYE’S LINKS 03/10/22
A Russian oligarch’s yacht is “klepto-captured”
For investors; truly unprecedented economic changes have occurred in international economic relations during the past week, and we are now in unpredictable chaotic territory:
On The Cusp Of An Economic Singularity
Yippee!! Green Is Dead!! Putin's invasion of the Ukraine may have triggered a tipping point in Green versus Reality, at least in the EU:
Green Is Dead: EU Energy Roadmap Has Shifted From Decarbonization To Energy Security
By 78% to 18% likely American voters favor more domestic oil, gas, and coal production - and it is 55% to 27% among 'Crats:
70% Want Increased Domestic Oil Production, Only 18% Oppose
We close with What can you do to protect yourself from this plausible though less than certain chaos:
THE CRISIS BIDEN WANTS
The Democrats are well aware of the old adage, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” and are busy applying it as gas prices spiral out of all control.
On Monday (3/07), Transportation Secretary Pete “Mr. Mom” Buttigieg appeared to be fantastically out of touch when he responded to skyrocketing prices at the pump.
“Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well,” asserted Buttigieg. “Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so that people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV.”
It was a real “Let Them Eat Cake” moment for Secretary Pete, but there is a method to his madness: the administration isn’t just out of touch, it is actively trying to use this crisis to impose its green agenda.
THIS EVIL INVASION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE EVIL ENVIRONMENTALISTS
For more than 40 years, the environmentalist movement has been warning that global warming is the result of mankind’s burning of fossil fuels and poses an “existential threat” to human and other biological life.
This is one of the many grandiose lies the Left uses to reshape, if not destroy, Western civilization. It should now be obvious that the “Greens,” the environmentalist movement—not global warming—poses an existential threat to humanity.
Were it not for the green movement, Putin would not have been confident that he could get away with invading Ukraine. Main reason? During Trump’s presidency, and due to his policies, the United States became independent of foreign oil for the first time.
Immediately, starting within minutes of Biden’s inauguration by his killing the Keystone Pipeline, the Democrat Party, an extension of the environmentalist movement, forced America to revert to dependence on foreign oil, including Russian oil. Putin got the message.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY HONORING THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT
A marriage, a friendship, a close family relationship; all of our important relationships are built on countless moments, innumerable interactions that either build qualities of trust, joy, and respect - or undermine those qualities.
I want to show you what is arguably the most important moment for building a trusting, satisfying, loving relationship.
We can often think that what makes a difference in a romantic relationship, or our relationship with our kids, or other friends and relatives, are the big things; the romantic getaway for the weekend, or the great gift that we buy. But there is a moment that packs more leverage, more meaning, and more potential for doing good – or harm – than almost any other:
UKRAINE HAS WON AND PUTIN HAS LOST
The fate of a Russian column trying to enter Kyiv (3/01)
Against all the odds, Ukraine has won this war militarily. It has won because it has fought bravely and skillfully and now there is nothing Russia can do to change the political and social structure of the country.
Putin has lost big time and all he does now will create more damage against his own country than he can deliver against Ukraine. But it is unclear if he realizes or even cares about the mess Russia is in.
The destruction and murder of civilians goes on day and night, in Kharkiv and other cities, because like a petulant ex-lover, Putin wants to destroy Ukraine. It is an “if I cannot have her no-one will attitude.” But he has been jilted – it is over for him.
MAD DOG PUTIN
Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin in Sochi, January 21, 2007
Many observers are questioning the mental health of Vladimir Putin these days, and for very good reason. After all, what kind of leader engages in such brute activity toward the people of a neighboring country who have done nothing to earn his savage rage?
Yes, what sort of man?
It is high time that I publicly share a story about Putin that I’ve shared with my students for several years now, since it was first told to me. I’m publishing it here for the first time. He is Mad Dog Putin indeed.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/03/22
Russian army eating dirt:
The Javelin Is Wrecking Putin's Army -- Here's How the Anti-Tank Weapon Works
Turkish drones killing Russian soldiers in the Ukraine:
Turkish Drones Playing Key Role in Ukraine
Wow – that was quick. 70% of Russian crude frozen by buyer reluctance:
70% Of Russian Crude Trade Is Frozen As Surgut Again Fails To Sell Any Urals In Big Tenders
CONFUSED OLD MAN YELLS AT NATION FOR AN HOUR
Last night (3/01), a confused political hack from Delaware staged a one-man insurrection by invading the sacred precincts of the Capitol building, hijacking all the TV networks, and yelling that the planet would be destroyed unless we gave him all our money so he could burn it and turn it into green energy.
With the price of gas, homes, and groceries out of the reach of most Americans, Biden began by taking credit for doing nothing to stop Putin from invading Ukraine. And then vowed that he, along with a coalition of “freedom loving nations” would fight Putin until the last Ukrainian.
During his unhinged tirade, Biden revealed a plan to end women’s sports in America, but failed to name one thing that would actually stop Putin. Except locking Vladimir in a room and forcing him to listen to a Biden speech.
A POUND OF UKRAINIANS
Ersatz “president” Joe Biden stumbled through his State of the Union address last night (3/01), flubbing several lines from his prepared text and ad-libbing lines that did not make sense. Here is a list of his biggest mistakes:
- Biden mistakenly says “Iranian people” instead of “Ukrainian people.”
According to his prepared text, he was supposed to say “hearts and souls of the Ukrainian people.”
- Biden refers to “a pound of Ukrainian people”
Biden tried to recover saying Ukrainians were fighting “pound for pound” with “every inch of ‘urnagy'” Urnagy?
THIS IS A WATERSHED MOMENT
The most stirring and powerful address was by Ursula van der Leyen,MD, President of the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union. Above is the video of her talk, below the full text. Please consider watching and reading it entire.]
FINANCIAL BLITZKRIEGS CAN WORK!
Russia thought it would roll over Ukraine, but the West’s Financial Blitzkrieg now threatens to trigger the unravelling of Putin’s autocracy. Excellent!
This is new and exciting… We’ve invented a whole new way to wage war! And it might even work.
It only took a day – but what we’ve already learnt about Financial Blitzkrieg is you can’t have half-measures. The West surprised everyone – especially ourselves – with the scale of the weekend financial assault on Russia.
Now Europe and the West should go much further.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY THROUGH UPDATING YOUR ANCIENT PAST
There are (at least) two major qualities from our ancient past that cause us considerable trouble. Taking conscious control of them and training and updating ourselves for our present environment can make a big difference in our quality of life.
One of these is our attraction to high calorie foods. Starvation and famine were dire threats for our hunter gatherer forebears.
Our challenge is to adapt to our abundance by consciously and purposefully resetting our habits from hunter-gatherer auto-pilot eating, and toward deliberate habits that include knowledge of how our current meals will affect our future health and well-being.
The other leftover from our ancient past is our strong bias toward negativity. Jack gave me a video clip from Ukraine as an example of overcoming it.
ARE HUNTER AND HIS DAD PROUD OF THEMSLVES FOR THE WAR THEY MADE POSSIBLE?
Ukrainian woman after Russian missile attack today (2/24)
It finally happened, and everyone should have seen it coming: Russian bombs are now raining down on Kiev — and Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Mariupol — making Ukraine a full-blown war zone with reports of civilian and military casualties piling up.
And we have Hunter and his Dad to largely thank for it. Hunter Biden's need to take baksheesh undercut U.S. security interests, left Ukraine a corruption-soaked mess unfit for NATO membership, and opened the gates wide for Russia to move in on Ukraine.
Biden family corruption was one of many reasons why Ukraine couldn't get into NATO and secure the Article 5 protections it needed to deter Russia. Now it's fighting alone and hoping it can defeat the Russian juggernaut, which is only just beginning.
THE GATHERING STORM IN NORTH AMERICA
Demonized Heroes
[This is VDH at his most powerfully eloquent, all the way to a crescendo of eloquence at the end.]
Canada is now governed by absurdism, and it is symptomatic of an ailing North American elite.
The truckers remind Western audiences that modern progressivism equates muscular labor and hourly wage compensation with a sort of Neanderthalism, rewarding those who type on keyboards while punishing those who physically deliver, fix, make, and repair things.
We can reduce the divide to the embarrassing optics of a pouty-face pajama-boy prime minister with a pompadour coiffure, issuing threats to non-threatening beefy and calloused workers. Each time Trudeau speaks to his nation, the visual message is that any of the truckers could do a better job than he in both setting and explaining policy, while he would become a helpless weeping child if placed behind the wheel of a big rig.
JOHN DURHAM’S MESSAGE TO AMERICA
[Note by Jack Wheeler: Keep in mind while reading this that the author is the former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI, and principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). It’s a must-read.]
John Durham has been a special prosecutor for almost a year and a half — not a long time, but plenty of time for a drumbeat to begin that he was showing little progress against his orders to examine the origins of the debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative that convulsed a presidency.
His few indictments so far have been directed against peripheral players, feeding a fear among Donald Trump’s supporters that elites higher up the stack are going to get away with their chicanery.
Now, however, Durham has signaled to the American people that his investigation has legs, despite perceptions of plodding inertia. He has provided hope that accountability in D.C. — rare as a MAGA sticker on a Prius — actually might happen. Here’s how he did it.
IS CANADA BECOMING CUBA?
Canada is leaving the Western world.
In terms of all-encompassing government, suppression of dissent and the denial of fundamental human rights to many of its citizens, Canada is now more similar to Cuba than to any free country. Canada may eventually return to Western Civilization, but as of this writing, the majority of Canadians appear to have no interest in it doing so.
According to Maru Public Opinion (2/17), "two-thirds (66%) of Canadians support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bringing in the Emergencies Act ... A majority (56%) of Canadians do not support the truckers who are protesting in any way, shape, or form ... This is a majority view held in every province/region across the country."
It is shocking to learn a majority of Canadians are on Trudeau’s side in the cartoon above.
PUTIN IS PLAYING BIDEN LIKE A FIDDLE
Vlad Putin, the evil though very calculating chief oligarch of the shriveled nation of Russia (when stacked against its predecessor, the Soviet Union), is playing chess over the fate of Ukraine, while our figurehead president and his gaggle of administration mediocrities (here being charitable) and Pentagon toadies play checkers.
On Monday (2/21), Putin recognized Russian-dominated regions of Ukraine, followed by a minor incursion of "peacekeepers," traveling by bus, not tanks.
Putin doesn't need a full-scale invasion, I believe, because his approach is strategic. Meanwhile, we’re witnessing full diversion mode as American news outlets happily obsess on Ukraine. Putin is playing SlowJoe like a fiddle – here’s how.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY THROUGH THE ADVENTURE OF EMPATHY
Empathy is about orienting to the reality of another person’s subjective experience. It is the desire and effort we take to understand another person. Without the attempt at understanding somebody who’s different from us (namely everyone else) we don’t have all of the data; we’re missing part of the truth.
Kindness, empathy, and understanding are what lead to much happier relationships; and happier relationships are at the heart of a happier life.
If you want to enjoy an immediate sense of happiness, the most powerful action you can take is to do something kind toward another person. If you want to give someone you care about a sense of joy, be curious about them, respond to them… listen to them.
The fundamental quality that leads to greater empathy is curiosity. Curiosity about the other person’s internal experience allows us to wonder important, meaningful things; to imagine what they might be experiencing that leads them to think or feel or behave as they do.
SKYE’S LINKS 02/17/22
Pathetic! The Xiden administration, desperate to keep their Wag The Dog Ukraine scare alive accuses Zerohedge of being a Russian agent of influence - its Russia,Russia,Russia all over again:
Nolte: Without Proof, Feds Accuse Zero Hedge of Russian Collaboration
Xiden's puppet masters desperately need distractions; they certainly don't want you to read this:
Jake Sullivan's Role in Pushing Russian Collusion Hoax Questioned after Durham Filing
Or this:
Waltz: Durham's Clinton Spying Revelations 'a Massive, Massive Scandal'
Sorry, Hillary – You’re Toast for ’24!