Being Putin’s stooge won’t win Trump a peace prize. The Order of Lenin, though, is in the bag

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/08/being-putins-stooge-wont-win-trump-a-peace-prize-the-order-of-lenin-though-is-in-the-bag

He’s less coy now. Their phone call on 12 February lasted 90 minutes – and changed the world.

What did Putin say? It must have been persuasive. Since then, Trump has been falling over himself to please and appease the Kremlin’s dictator. He has suspended US military aid and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, pilloried and plotted to oust its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and demanded a “peace deal” on Russia’s unjust terms. Meanwhile, the wider ramifications of Trump’s sellout carry huge negative implications for Europe and western interests in China, the Middle East and Africa.

If Trump is not Russia’s stooge, what explains his epic volte-face? Apologists offer several excuses. One is that Ukraine is not America’s problem. Nonsense. Unprovoked armed aggression against a sovereign democratic state is every free nation’s problem. Another is that the US should not have to fight Europe’s wars. Answer: it doesn’t. It fights its own wars on other people’s territory, out of self-interest. It always has.

Supporters say Trump is a master dealmaker and peacemaker. Phooey! He has already offered crucial Ukraine giveaways to Putin, for zero return. Remember his North Korea and Afghanistan fiascos? And look at Gaza. How’s that going, Comrade Krasnov? Fans claim he’s performing a clever “reverse Nixon” by disrupting Russia-China ties, like that other disgraceful US president in 1972. Except, only days ago, Putin and President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the “unique strategic value” of their alliance.

Whatever Trump’s reasons, the shocking truth is that Putin owns him now, even if he didn’t own him before. The US has switched sides. Trump boasts, self-incriminatingly, that he alone has inside information about Kremlin intentions. This dumb patsy likes the strongman vibe. He’d like to be a dictator, too. He admires how Putin terminates opponents “with extreme prejudice”, as in Apocalypse Now. Except in this twisted White House remake, JD Vance is mad, bad Colonel Kurtz.

Watch "‘A world without American leadership’: Top allies scaling back intelligence sharing with America"

PA system on Shabbos even transistorized

 Igros Moshe (OC III #55) Even though there are a number of advantages of a transistorized pa system in regard to Shabbos prohibitions, nevertheless it is still prohibited to use either on Shabbos or Yom Tov.  There are four reasons for prohibiting a pa system. 1) Even if it is setup prior to Shabbos it is still prohibited as we see that grain can not be placed in a mill before Shabbos to be ground on Shabbos since it makes noise on Shabbos similar a clock can not be set up to sound the time on Shabbos. 2) Speaking into a pa system causes greater use of electricity which might be prohibited even though the halachic status of electricity has not been clearly decided  3) It is possibly included in the rabbinic decree against use of musical instrument on Shabbos because you might make adjustments. This is very common that the system needs to be adjusted when someone is speaking and this can be done by almost everyone as opposed to a musical instrument that requires an expert. 4) It is possible that the sound that comes from a pa system is not considered the original sound spoken into the microphone. The creation of a new sound is probably a prohibited act that might be a Torah prohibition but I don’t have time to elaborate. Three of the four reasons apply also to a transistorized pa system with the third reason  possibly not applying. Thus it is prohibited and one should not be lenient.   

“Hundreds of Dead”: Inside the Fallout from Trump’s Ukraine Intel Pause

 https://time.com/7265679/satellites-front-failing-hundreds-dead-fallout-trump-ukraine-aid-pause/

The U.S. decision to suspend the flow of military intelligence to Ukraine this week has aided the Russian advance along a critical part of the front, weakening the negotiating position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and killing many Ukrainian soldiers in recent days, according to five senior Western and Ukrainian officials and military officers familiar with the situation.

“As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” one of the officers told TIME in an interview on Friday in Kyiv, asking not to be named when discussing sensitive military operations. “The biggest problem is morale,” he added, as the armed forces of Ukraine are being left to fight without some of their best weapons systems, not as a result of Russian attacks but American pull backs. “It’s really causing an advantage for the enemy on the front line.”

Republicans press Trump to resume military, intelligence aid to Ukraine

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5181289-trump-ukraine-military-aid-intelligence-pause-republicans/

Republican lawmakers are starting to urge President Trump to reverse his decisions to pause U.S. military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, warning that a prolonged stoppage of U.S. help for the war effort would have a seriously detrimental effect.

They acknowledge Trump has the right to temporarily halt weapons shipments to Ukraine to assess the war, pressure NATO allies to step up their contributions and to create a window to negotiate a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump defends direct US-Hamas talks as Israel seethes, attempts to sabotage them

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-defends-direct-us-hamas-talks-as-israel-seethes-attempts-to-sabotage-them/

US President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his administration’s unprecedented direct negotiations with Hamas, saying they were being conducted for the benefit of Israel and in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

“We are helping Israel in those discussions because we’re talking about Israeli hostages,” Trump told reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.

“We’re not doing anything in terms of Hamas. We’re not giving cash,” he continued. “You have to negotiate. There’s a difference between negotiating and paying. We want to get these people out.”

Jerusalem is not happy about the direct US-Hamas talks, however, a government official told The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity. Accordingly, Israel was behind Wednesday’s media leak about the negotiations’ existence, the official said, confirming reporting in the Ynet news site.

While the White House claimed it consulted with Israel on the matter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only found out about the US talks with Hamas after the fact, the official said.

Russia launches devastating attack on Ukraine after Trump’s defence of Putin

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/08/russian-attacks-on-ukraine-intensify

Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.

Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukrainian cities has intensified after a torrid week in which Trump has pulled the plug on intelligence sharing with Ukraine and halted the supply of US weapons.

These hostile moves mean the alarm system that warns Ukrainian civilians of incoming enemy missiles is less effective. Asked if Putin was taking advantage of US aid pauses, Trump on Friday acknowledged Ukraine was experiencing a “tremendous pounding”.

He suggested, however, that “anyone in Putin’s position” would do the same. Before a meeting on Tuesday between US and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he was “finding it easier” to deal with Moscow than with Kyiv.

Marco Rubio Melts Down at Musk in Furious Cabinet Shouting Match

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/marco-rubio-clashes-with-elon-musk-in-furious-cabinet-meeting-meltdown/

Marco Rubio blew up at Elon Musk at a closed-door Cabinet meeting after the DOGE head accused the secretary of state of failing to slash his staff, according to a report.

Musk, the world’s richest man, told the secretary of state, who was seated next to Donald Trump at the meeting on Thursday, that he had fired “nobody,” The New York Times reported. He sarcastically added that the one person Rubio had perhaps fired was an employee of Musk’s DOGE.

Finally, Trump stepped in to play peacemaker. He said that Rubio was doing “a great job.” Everyone needed to work together, he added.

Before turning his attention to Rubio in the meeting, Musk, an unelected tech billionaire hand-picked by Trump, had taken shots at other top members of the president’s Cabinet.

Russian Strikes Have Surged Since Donald Trump's Return

 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-strikes-trump-missile-2041606

Russia has increased its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to figures by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Citing data showing Russia's increased drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, George Barros, who leads ISW's Russia team and geospatial intelligence team, said on X, formerly Twitter, that Moscow, not Kyiv, was "the obstacle to peace."

MAGA conspiracy confusion Trump vs Zelensky who was the Victim?

 https://mishpacha.com/who-got-set-up-and-who-got-upset/

Did Trump set the stage for Zelensky’s downfall, or did Zelensky stage the set for his own diplomatic coup?

Unless… Zelensky saw the confrontation coming and weaponized it to his advantage. I mean, he knew Trump was reluctant to commit to Ukraine long-term. He knew Europe was watching, looking for signals of American wavering. He knew the Western media was ready to pounce at any sign of Trump stepping back from Ukraine. So, what if Zelensky used the meeting to force a moment of crisis?

President Google

 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQZTVxGZNkfhbgFjFBDRRVnKZlW

Updates from DOGE: President Musk and his merry band of technocrats continue to play Operation with the federal government, to much shock and awe. Musk is looking at basic systems like government credit cards, and it turns out there are more open credit cards than there are federal workers (4.6 million active credit cards to about 3 million federal employees). He continues to cut various programs that really did turn out to be huge scams, but as the DOGE boys move fast, they also break so very many things. Because they are using search terms to find the easiest-to-cut, silliest government programs. But some words have woke and non-woke meanings. Woe betide the researchers studying ecological diversity. Woe be the fools who thought they could abbreviate point-of-care as POC or any words that contain the letters D, E, or I. There are some hilarious and dark stories about all the totally apolitical programs caught in the keyword dragnet, and yes, ecological diversity and point-of-care healthcare services really are among them. So too is an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which was flagged for removal from the DoD website even though it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which you think would get Enola a little respect. I’m impacted personally, as my research on the faggot case moth hangs in the balance. And my 15 government-issued credit cards.

The Awkward Truth About Trump, Musk, and Kids With Cancer

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-awkward-truth-about-trump-musk-and-kids-with-cancer/

Before honoring a 13-year-old survivor in his address to Congress, President Trump joined Elon Musk in cutting funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment.

“Democrats reminded us they are the party of insanity and hate—they could not even clap for a child,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X following the address.

Afterwards, Democrats reminded everybody who questioned the decision that this was a president who had been joined by Musk in cutting funds for pediatric cancer research and treatment. And the Democrats did not forget that Trump had pardoned those who injured 138 cops on Jan. 6 while assaulting the very building where Trump now honored this brave youngster in a cut-to-size police uniform.

“That said, if the president is going to help kids with cancer, granting DJ Daniel an honorary Secret Service agent position is not going to do it.”

She suggested Trump could start by releasing and fully restoring the NIH research grants he had frozen, without cutting the provisions for necessary administrative costs.

“And he could stop talking about Medicaid cuts,” she continued. “Half of all kids in the United States are on Medicaid. It’s going to really hurt seriously ill children if we cut Medicaid.”

Trump’s Embrace of Putin Has Germany Thinking of Nuclear Weapons

 https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/germany-nuclear-weapons-trump-956f9d10

President Trump’s embrace of Russia is causing Europeans to rethink their security and giving currency to an idea the U.S. has long sought to avoid: a nuclear-armed Germany.

Friedrich Merz, who is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, said Berlin should start talks about expanding the French and British nuclear deterrents to cover Europe, according to an interview the conservative politician did with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung weekly.

Netanyahu was not aware of US-Hamas talks

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/405017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not informed ahead of time that the US was holding direct talks with the Hamas terror group on the next stages in a potential deal, the Washington Post reported.

According to the report, Israel fumed at US President Donald Trump's decision, saying that holding direct talks with the terror group on the matter of the hostages' release violates the ethical code of conduct on the matter and harms Israel.

Diplomatic sources told the Post that Netanyahu was caught by surprise when he saw reports about the process, and that he was not updated through official channels before the talks took place.