When you live in the present moment, time stands still. Accept your circumstances and live them. If there is an experience ahead of you, have it! But if worries stand in your way, put them off until tomorrow. Give yourself a day off from worry. You deserve it. Some people live with a low-grade anxiety tugging at their spirit all day long. They go to sleep with it, wake up with it, carry it around at home, in town, to church, and with friends. Here's a remedy: Take the present moment and find something to laugh at. People who laugh, last. -Barbara Johnson

You realize if he didn't lie, he'd have nothing to say.

The Only Place That Putin's Propaganda Is Working Is In The GOP

Counterterrorism expert Clint Watts said that Putin's propaganda has been exposed and is not being believed except in the Republican Party.

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I totally believe this. The dis-information has gone on so long and was a huge help in getting Trump a spot in the WH he never should have had. I hope we can keep Putin from his goal. Some of the GOP believers do so for the benefits they feel they could receive like the power and money that has been on their minds the whole while the Loon was in the WH.

Jury Convicts Arbery Killers of Hate Crimes

The jurors decided that the three men previously convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were motivated by racism.

Feb. 22, 2022

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A jury on Tuesday found the three white Georgia men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery guilty of a federal hate crime, determining that they were motivated by racism when they chased the 25-year-old Black man through their neighborhood.

The case was one of the most high-profile hate crime trials in years, and came after a rash of acts of violence against African Americans, including Mr. Arbery and George Floyd, led to protests and soul-searching around the nation. It was seen as a victory for the Justice Department, which has pledged to make such cases a priority.

While legal analysts say that hate crimes are especially difficult to prove, federal prosecutors in the Georgia trial presented voluminous evidence of the defendants' racist beliefs and crude language, leaving some jurors visibly shaken. It took them roughly four hours to reach a verdict. When it was read aloud in court, some jurors wept.

National civil rights leaders hailed the conviction as a victory for racial justice.

"As the nation continues to grapple with racially motivated violence by police and vigilantes who shroud themselves in self-appointed authority, the jury sent a powerful message: We see you for what you are, and we will not tolerate your deadly campaign of intimidation," said Marc H. Morial, chief executive of the National Urban League. "This verdict draws a clear line in the sand."

Mr. Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she never doubted that the jury would find the defendants guilty, but her satisfaction was tempered with grief.

"As a mother I will never heal," she said. "They gave us a small sense of victory, but we will never get victory because Ahmaud is dead."

In addition to the hate crime convictions, the jury also found the three men — Travis McMichael, 36, his father, Gregory McMichael, 66, and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — guilty of attempted kidnapping and found the McMichaels guilty of one count each of brandishing or discharging a firearm during a violent crime.

The men now face up to life in prison for the federal crimes, on top of the life sentences they received in state court this year after being convicted of Mr. Arbery's murder, with only Mr. Bryan eligible for parole. The federal convictions ensure that the defendants will receive significant prison time even if their state convictions are overturned or their sentences reduced on appeal.

Most cases that local prosecutors and others ask the Justice Department to pursue do not end up this way. The department tends to be careful in selecting such cases, pursuing 17 percent of the hate crime incidents it was presented between 2005 and 2019. When the department does decide to prosecute, the cases usually end with defendants pleading guilty.

In this case, prosecutors had initially reached plea agreements with two of the defendants, Gregory and Travis McMichael, that would have sent them to federal prison for 30 years. But Mr. Arbery's family protested the deals, in part because they would have allowed the men to serve their time in federal prison — viewed by some as less dangerous — rather than state prison.

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ultimately rejected the agreements, allowing the trial to go forward. She has not yet sentenced the men in the trial that ended on Tuesday, and it was uncertain whether they would start serving their time in a state prison for the murders or in a federal prison for the hate crimes.

As a number of recent cases of violent crimes against African Americans have worked their way through the legal system, the Georgia case stood out for forcing a blunt examination of racism in the courtroom.

On Feb. 23, 2020, the three men used a pair of trucks to chase Mr. Arbery, who was running through their neighborhood, until the younger Mr. McMichael shot him three times at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Over a week of testimony, federal jurors were exposed to ugly expressions of bigotry by the three men, and then asked to decide whether those attitudes meant they had gone after Mr. Arbery because of his "race and color."

Lawyers for the three defendants argued that the men had not been motivated by racial animus, but rather because Mr. Arbery seemed to them like a potential crime suspect. Gregory McMichael's lawyer, A.J. Balbo, told the jury that Mr. McMichael had not been out to hunt down a Black person that day, but rather to go after Mr. Arbery specifically, after a police officer showed him security camera images of Mr. Arbery entering a nearby house that was under construction.

Mr. Arbery had entered the house numerous times in the weeks before the shooting, including the moments before the chase began, though there is no evidence he stole or disturbed the property inside. Twelve days before the shooting, Travis McMichael had also seen Mr. Arbery outside the house and had called 911, claiming he saw Mr. Arbery reach toward his waistband, a gesture, Mr. McMichael said, that made it seem like he could have been reaching for a gun.

Prosecuting hate crime cases is considered difficult because the government must prove not only that defendants harbor racist views but that their crimes were specifically motivated by bigotry.

In this case, evidence of the defendants' racism proved to be both voluminous and harsh, including numerous uses of racist epithets and racial insults. The government's case — with its video of Mr. Arbery gasping for his final breaths on the pavement and testimony that the defendants did not render aid to him — seemed to take an emotional toll on jurors, some of whom could be seen crying. Last week, one of the jurors asked court officials if counseling was available.

"At the end of the day, the evidence in this case will prove that if Ahmaud Arbery had been white, he would have gone for a jog, checked out a house under construction and been home in time for Sunday supper," Bobbi Bernstein, a Justice Department lawyer, told the jury. "Instead he went out for a jog, and he ended up running for his life. Instead he ended up bleeding to death, alone and scared, in the middle of the street."

After the verdict, one defense lawyer declined to comment and a second could not be reached. J. Pete Theodocion, the lawyer for Mr. Bryan, said he had been optimistic about his client's chances. "We'll have to respect the decision of the jury and move on from here," he said.

The verdict was an important victory for the Justice Department. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said at a news conference that "today's verdict makes clear that the Justice Department will continue to use every resource at its disposal to confront unlawful acts of hate and to hold accountable those who perpetrate them."

Brian Levin, a law professor and director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said the impact of the verdict would be felt "civically and culturally" more than anything.

"It sculpts the public's recognition that when there's a modern-day lynching," the federal government "will address the civil and racial harms in addition to the state criminal harms, and that's an important designation as we become more diverse," Mr. Levin said.

Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, a racial justice organization, said the convictions for both the murder and the hate crimes underscored the importance of community outrage, an essential ingredient of social justice efforts. Prosecutors did not charge the men until May 2020, more than 10 weeks after Mr. Arbery's death.

"The convictions on the state and federal levels would have never happened if there was not an uprising in Georgia when the local authorities tried to brush it under the rug," Mr. Robinson said. "The fact of the matter is, it would not have happened without outrage."

The death of Mr. Arbery was met with revulsion from both conservative and liberal lawmakers in Georgia. It prompted state legislators to significantly weaken a citizen's arrest law that one local prosecutor had cited soon after the shooting to argue that the three men should not be arrested. It also prompted them to pass a state hate crime law. This month, the legislature also passed a resolution declaring Wednesday, the second anniversary of the killing, "Ahmaud Arbery Day." Memorial events are planned in several Georgia cities.

As the verdicts were read aloud in court on Tuesday morning, Mr. Arbery's parents and other family members lowered their heads, some praying. "Thank God," said Marcus Arbery Sr., his father.

The only Black man on the jury, who also served as the foreman, wiped tears from his face as the verdict for each charge was read. The woman seated beside him also cried throughout Tuesday's proceedings.

"Ahmaud will continue to rest in peace," said Ms. Cooper-Jones, Mr. Arbery's mother. "But he will now begin to rest in power."

Chevy!!!! Where you been girl

The loon's support of Putin's actions is just downright treason in my book. I am so glad that he is not in power now given that Ukraine needs our support to maintain its fragile democracy and he most likely would have insisted that the Ukraine belongs to Russia so the invasion is lawful. Ukraine needs to be able to be free. I do not want the US to send troops because I think that is what Putin wants so let's pull out all the stops that we can to impede his progress. So the EU needs to step up and impose their sanctions as well.

Good to see you here expressing your feelings Chevy. I'm with you. Those men got what they deserved as the racists they really were. Good that the jury were able to see it so transparently. I hope this sends a message to those who may have similar feelings akin to these three that they can be held accountable. I know racism likely won't ever be over, but seeing strong justice happen offers some balm to those of us with souls that hurt for the un-justness visited on those who are our brothers and sisters. I hope those who have highly negative feelings about the Jewish as well as Asian people in our society will also get concerned that they could be called to answer any bad behaviors acted upon where these others are concerned. True justice for these people is long overdue.

This is great:

I imagine this came from the fact that once again, even though the Loon got to seat three on the Supreme Court, they didn't give him what he expected of them when he did it. The Supreme Court is allowing phone logs and other info to go to the 1/6 committee. Then again, they really can't do much else. It only got to the SC because the Loon lost all other appeals to the lower courts.

In fact, most of the Loon's entries to the lower courts as well as SC are such ignorant drivel and faulty reasonings like immunity carrying over that there wasn't half an ounce of standing to the argument.

As always difficult for me to imagine anyone who could be so delusional as to think they could automatically do something like attempt being president and not finally bump up against extreme scrutiny. The kind that demands answers and accountability. I hope it will be forthcoming soon.

“Because of the color of someone's skin?“

I read that sentence several times and each time the absurdity of that kind of hatred simply blew my mind.

Divine that was a long but great article and it did give much pause for a whole lot of thought. I did note those same items you referenced above. I've always said if the first couple of layers of skin were stripped away, we'd all look alike. As far as I've ever known we don't start out so selfish and mean and seem to be VERY accepting of those who are beginning the journey of life with us. Sad that we can't hold onto those feelings.

I too wonder what we may have lost in those whose lives are cut short.

I have been away from the news for a week, and almost hate to turn it on as it all makes me sick. What a time we are living in.

February 23, 2022

Today, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky made a passionate plea to the people of Russia to avoid war. He gave the speech in Russian, his own primary language, and, reminding Russians of their shared border and history, told them to "listen to the voice of reason": Ukrainians want peace.

"You've been told I'm going to bomb Donbass," he said. "Bomb what? The Donetsk stadium where the locals and I cheered for our team at Euro 2012? The bar where we drank when they lost? Luhansk, where my best friend's mom lives?" Zelensky tried to make the human cost of this conflict clear. Observers lauded the speech and contrasted its statesmanship with Putin's recent ramblings.

And yet, it will stand only as a marker. Tonight in America, but early Thursday in Ukraine, Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a "special military operation," claiming, quite transparently falsely, that he needed to defend the people in the "new republics" within Ukraine that he recognized Monday from "persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime." He called for "demilitarization" of Ukraine, demanding that soldiers lay down their weapons and saying that any bloodshed would be on their hands.

He also promised to provide for the "denazification" of Ukraine, a harking back to the period after World War II when Nazis and those who had worked with them were purged from society. Putin has repeatedly referred to Ukrainian leaders as Nazis, a charge Zelensky, who is of Jewish heritage, has pleaded with Russians to reject, citing Ukraine's losses in World War II and his own grandfather's service in that war. Putin's chilling word here suggests that he intends to purge from Ukraine all those who worked with the Zelensky government.

Putin warned: "Anyone who tries to interfere with us, or even more so, to create threats for our country and our people, must know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never before experienced in your history." This sweeping and vague threat seems to encompass everything from massive cyber attacks to nuclear war, but at this point it seems mostly to be an effort to deter resistance. Russia's economy is already taking hits from Putin's decision to recognize the breakaway governments, and it likely cannot withstand a long war. Putin needs a quick win.

As he spoke in a video, wearing the same clothes he wore in the prerecorded meeting broadcast Monday, suggesting this message might have been recorded at the same time, the U.N. Security Council was holding an emergency meeting in New York City to implore him not to go forward with war. At the Security Council meeting, the Russian ambassador claimed his nation was not "being aggressive against the Ukrainian people, but against the junta in power in Kyiv." Rather than a junta government that took power by force, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky was popularly elected in April 2019 in a landslide of more than 73%.

At 10:58 tonight, Eastern time, Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: "Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."

By midnight tonight, Ukraine's state emergency service said that ten regions were under attack.

Countries around the world condemned the attack. Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Sebastian Kofod said: "Denmark utterly condemns this horrific attack…. An abhorrent breach of international law. Russia bears full responsibility for this needless conflict[.] We will coordinate closely with allies, partners for strongest possible international reaction[.]"

In a statement, President Biden said, "The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable."

The administration increased sanctions today, adding the company building the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its corporate officers. Tomorrow, Biden will meet in the morning with the other leaders of the G7: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K.—the world's wealthiest liberal democracies. He will speak to the American people afterward to announce further consequences for Russia's aggression.

Tonight, Biden reported: "President Zelenskyy reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. I briefed him on the steps we are taking to rally international condemnation, including tonight at the UN Security Council. He asked me to call on the leaders of the world to speak out clearly against President Putin's flagrant aggression, and to stand with the people of Ukraine."

Zelensky told his people: "A minute ago I spoke to President Biden. The USA has started to unite international support. Today we need each of you to stay calm. If you can, stay at home. We are working. The army is working. The whole security and defense sector of Ukraine is working."

Richard Engel of NBC News reported on this speech by Zelensky and in the report he noted that much of the Russian news flying around Ukraine appears to be false, designed to get Ukrainians to panic and give up quickly.

I'm cutting the news in this letter off at midnight, Maine time, to keep the record clear. And, while we're at it, a lot happened domestically today, but I am holding it for the future. Today's invasion of democratic Ukraine by authoritarian Putin is important. It not only has broken a long period of peace in Europe, it has brought into the open that authoritarians are indeed trying to destroy democracy.

Even knowing what would happen I just prayed that it wouldn't. It is hard to believe we are in this place now. Just what wasn't needed at such a time when Pres. Biden is trying so hard to make in-roads into so many of the issues that were brought on by the previous errant four yrs. It will be as someone on the news said -- world changing. I do hope ultimately for the better, but there will be so much pain and destruction first.

I have heard some news people say that sanctions won't bother Putin much which likely is true. It would really be for those around him. If they get the rug pulled out from under them, they won't be able to support Putin in his efforts to as they say go back to the 70's. That was when Russia was considered to be powerful right along with the U.S. during the Cold War. Putin sounds a lot like the MAGA people -- looking for something that is long gone time-wise.