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Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 21

1/
Robert Reich

Ten reasons for modest optimism
----
Friends,

If you are experiencing rage and despair about what is happening in America and the world right now because of the Trump-Vance-Musk regime, you are hardly alone.

- A groundswell of opposition is growing — not as loud and boisterous as the resistance to Tump 1.0, but just as, if not more, committed to ending the scourge.

Here’s a partial summary — 10 reasons for modest optimism.

2/
1. Boycotts are taking hold.

Americans are changing shopping habits in a backlash against corporations that have shifted their public policies to align with Trump.

Millions are pledging to halt discretionary spending for 24 hours on February 28 in protest against major retailers — chiefly Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy — for scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in response to Trump.

Four out of 10 Americans have already shifted their spending over the last few months to be more consistent with their moral views, according to the Harris poll.
axios.com/2025/02/18/dei…

(Far more Democrats — 50 percent — are changing their spending habits compared with Republicans — 41 percent.)

Calls to boycott Tesla apparently are having an effect. After a disappointing 2024, Tesla sales
ccn.com/news/business/…
declined further in January. In California, a key market for Tesla, nearly 12 percent fewer
reuters.com/business/autos…
Teslas were registered in January 2025 than in January 2024. An analysis
electrek.co/2025/02/03/tes…
by Electrek points to even more trouble for Tesla in Europe, where Tesla sales have dropped in every market.

X users are shifting over to Bluesky ( my account
bsky.app/profile/anno15… )
at a rapid rate, even as Musk adds more advertisers to his ongoing lawsuit against those that have justifiably boycotted X after he turned it into a cesspool of lies and hate (this week, he added Lego, Nestle, Tyson Foods, and Shell).

3/
2. International resistance is rising.

Canada has helped lead the way:
- A grassroots boycott of American products and tourism is underway there.

Prime Minister Trudeau has in effect become a “wartime prime minister” as he stands up to Trump’s bullying.

Jean Chrétien, who served as prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003, is urging Canada to join with leaders in Denmark, Panama, and Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to fight back against Trump’s threats.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is standing up to Trump. She has defended not just Mexico but also the sovereignty of Latin American countries Trump has threatened and insulted.

In the wake of JD Vance’s offensive speech at the Munich security conference last week, European democracies are standing together — condemning his speech and making it clear they will support Ukraine and never capitulate to Putin, as Trump has done.

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Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 21

1/
Today in Politics Bulletin 75.
2/20/25

… Trump’s approval ratings are dropping steadily across multiple polls.
A new WaPo poll shows that only 45% of Americans now approve of his job performance while 53% disapprove.
57% believe that Trump has been exceeded his constitutional authority as president.
62% said Trump is not “honest and trustworthy.”

… The WaPo poll shows that only 34% approve of what Elon Musk has been doing, 49% disapprove, and 14% say they aren’t sure. A whopping 63% are concerned about DOGE getting access to sensitive personal data of individuals.

2/
… A Reuters/Ipsos poll has Trump’s approval at 44%, with 51% disapproving. Trump only had 41% disapproval a few weeks ago in the same poll.

… 53% said they think the economy is on the wrong track, which is up from 43% a few weeks ago. Trump now has only a 39% approval from voters on how he has handled the economy so far.

… The Quinnipiac Poll has Trump’s approval at 45%, Disapprove 49%.

… The CNN poll has Trump’s approval at 47% with 52% disapproving.

… The WaPo poll shows the American people against Trump’s pardons for violent J6 defendants 83%-14%.

3/
… Rep. Jasmine Crockett predicts Trump's approval ratings will keep going down:

"We've gotta do better at education. People don't understand. But you will understand when those hospitals in rural America start closing down even more.
- You will understand when you don't have your social security. - You will understand when your Medicaid, your Medicare goes away.
- You will understand when planes continue to fall out of the sky. Maybe Sleepy Joe is what we wanted, because we could at least sleep at night."

Read 39 tweets

Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 19

1/
Are We Now the Bad Guys?
Adam Kinzinger

- There was a time, not too long ago, when America stood as the beacon of freedom, the defender of democracy, and the steadfast ally of those who resisted oppression.

- We weren’t perfect—far from it—but we tried to stand for something bigger than ourselves

2/
Yet today, as I watch the behavior of our political leaders, the comments of an ever-increasingly unhinged Trump, and the growing indifference of many Americans toward our role in the world, I have to ask a painful question:

- Are we now the bad guys?

Donald Trump’s recent comments on Ukraine and NATO were a stark reminder of how far we’ve fallen.

At a distant campaign rally, he gleefully recounted a conversation in which he told NATO allies that if they didn’t pay what he deemed their "fair share,"
- he would encourage Russia to

"do whatever the hell they want."

3/
This was not a slip of the tongue or a misstatement—this was a deliberate, public declaration that the United States, once the protector of Europe, would now entertain the idea of abandoning our allies to Russian aggression.

Yesterday, he called Ukraine the aggressor, today he called Zelensky a dictator,
and claimed that Russia could be expected to keep the land they got in Ukraine because

“it cost them alot of lives to get it.”

Moscow is shocked, and wondering if they are dreaming.

In the words of the former Russian President now Putin stooge:

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Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 19

1/
Donald Trump has Dumped
Elon Musk

Elon Musk and Donald Trump's marriage are officially ended

By:
Johnny Palmadessa:
----
In a stunning turn of events, the long-standing marriage between Elon Musk and Donald Trump has officially ended.

The Trump administration has clarified that Musk is no longer leading the Department of Government Efficiency.

Instead, he’s been relegated to a more “humble” role: an advisor to the president—or, to put it bluntly,

just another aide.

2/
According to an official statement, “In his capacity as Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk holds no greater authority than any other senior White House advisor."

The filing further asserts, "Like other senior White House advisors, Mr. Musk does not have the formal or actual authority to make governmental decisions.

His role is limited to offering advice and relaying the President's directives."

3/
This decision follows an uproar across party lines.

From both Republicans and Democrats, there has been widespread outrage over an unelected figure like Musk wielding so much power within the White House.

His influence had reached disturbing heights—holding press conferences in the Oval Office, and even attempting to access confidential government data.

The public backlash has been deafening.

Read 6 tweets

Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 19

1/
The Kremlin has not given up on its goals: ISW explained what signals Russia gave at the talks in Saudi Arabia

The American and Russian delegations held their first bilateral talks on Russia's war against Ukraine the day before, on February 18. However, Russia continues to show signs that it is not going to make any significant concessions, according to Western intelligence services and US officials in particular.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has maintained his maximalist goals in this war and, as before, wants to control all of Ukraine, according to a new analytical material from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

” As one congressional official noted, there is “zero” intelligence showing that Putin is interested in “a real peace deal right now

2/
Intelligence officials say Putin has no plans to withdraw troops from Ukraine or to remove personnel or equipment from Russia's western borders.

"Six officials said Putin could agree to a ceasefire and peace deal to give the Russian military time to rest and recuperate, and there is a growing idea among Western officials that Putin could

"play the course"

of the talks to see what concessions he can extract and bring Russia back into the global community.

Two congressional officials and a former senior U.S. administration official noted that Putin's "broad ambitions" have remained unchanged since the end of the Biden administration and the new Trump administration took office," NBC reported in ISW.
understandingwar.org/backgrounder/r…

3/
Western intelligence estimates suggest that Putin has not changed his theory of victory in Ukraine and still believes that Russia's military advantage is such that it can
"outlast"
the West and Ukraine on the battlefield.

So the dictator's strategy, according to six NBC sources, is to "wait" until Ukraine and Europe are exhausted, and then eventually gain control of all of Ukraine.

Read 14 tweets

Lew Anno Support#Israel #Ukraine 24/2-22

@anno1540

Feb 18

1/
ADAM KINZINGER:

Trumps wants to be
NAPOLEON....

And he things nothing can stop him
---------
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law”

– Donald Trump, February 15, 2025

- With a ten-word social media post, Donald Trump has explained the sweeping power grab he has pursued since taking office about a month ago.

To put it bluntly;
- he believes that as President of the United States, he can do anything and escape accountability by claiming he’s acting to save the nation.

Trump’s declaration explains why he felt he could simply ignore the law and fire roughly 17 independent government watchdogs (called inspectors general).

It explains why he believes he can summarily close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent agency created by Congress.

2/
And it explains why he is, without cause, firing tens of thousands of federal workers.

All of Trump’s actions will be fought in court.

However,

- he seems confident he’ll prevail.
This is because he has packed the Supreme Court with his nominees, building a majority, which he believes supports an obscure philosophy of government called “the unitary executive.”

Under the unitary executive theory, a president has the authority to hire and fire anyone who works for the executive branch of the government (there are currently about 2 million of them).

Backers of this theory also believe that Congress cannot create independent agencies.

As he follows this idea, Trump is tipping the balance of power toward himself.

And the Republicans who run the House and Senate aren’t even uttering a peep of opposition.

3/
I would bet real money on the notion that Trump couldn’t explain the unitary executive idea, but this doesn’t matter, what he wants is more power.

In part, this is because he’s always been a power-mad creature.

However, he has another motivation -- The frustration he experienced as he tried and failed to act fast, and unilaterally, in his first term, which ran from 2017 to 2021.

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