Mum's the word.      
We must hide our lament that celebratory events like the Super Bowl parade collapse in gun violence.      
This is the reality of living in America.

Why do Republicans refuse to pass common sense gun safety measures?        
Why do Republicans accept assault weapons and mass shootings as something we have to accept as part of life in a free society?

Ending gun violence and banning assault weapons hinge on electing Democrats who will pass common sense gun safety reforms.

     Alexei Navalny dead at 47

Beware the MAGA leader's warning to NATO members that MAGA is with Putin in an axis against NATO.

"Dictators do not go on vacation." -- Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukraine's actions are presently limited by a deficit of artillery and long-range weaponry.

"Just say it, Democrats: Biden has been a great president."        
-- Stuart Stevens 

   Leadership is about building consensus.

"(Alexei) Navalny's death is a stark warning of the danger of underestimating Putin's determination to challenge the West ... (Navalny) died fighting for democracy and free elections (in Russia) - values that many Americans too often take for granted. But, as Navalny reminded us, they are never guaranteed.

"We must defend our own democracy."

-- Worldview with Trudy Rubin

Janis Kliphardt Emery wrote:

Donald Trump, who has not commented on Alexei Navalny's death, is now likening himself to Alexei Navalny.

We need to move forward from Donald Trump and his minions.

"The world needs Russian dissidents."

1. Na Zdorovye

America is not taking this Alexander Smirnov story seriously enough.

In a rational world, the revelations about Smirnov should have upended the presidential race and become a crisis for congressional Republicans. Here are the three obvious points of scandal:

(1) Russia is trying to interfere in a presidential election (again) on behalf of Donald Trump (again).

(2) Elected Republicans were told that Smirnov’s claims were unreliable, unconfirmed, and probably tainted goods. Yet they demanded the FBI give them access to them, and then they went around promoting them.

(3) It isn’t enough to say that the Russian government is trying to help Trump—it’s also the case that elected Republicans in Congress were trying to help Russia’s intelligence operation.

Not that anyone should be surprised. Trump owns the Republican party. Russia has a vested interest in electing Trump. Ergo, the Republican party will do whatever it can to help Russia’s intelligence operations.

One other reason not to be surprised: It’s always been about Russia.

I will never quite understand how Trump defanged the Mueller investigation by simply shouting “TOTAL EXONERATION” and “RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA HOAX HOAX HOAX” over and over.

What no one seems to remember is that Mueller investigation was absolutely damning. Trump’s “TOTAL EXONERATION” was of the allegation that his campaign had worked directly with the Russian nationals attempting to interfere in the election on his behalf. He only stood to the side and encouraged them.

That’s the exoneration.

But on the question of: Were the Russians illegally interfering in the 2016 election in an attempt to help Trump? Well, that’s a slam-dunk. The answer is yes. Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals on charges of illegal election interference.¹

In nearly every case, the original allegations that the Russian government had embarked on a massive intelligence operation with the goal of helping to elect Donald Trump president of the United States turned out to be true. Trump’s big victory was in muddying the waters enough that Mueller was not comfortable indicting him for coordinating with the Russians who were working on his behalf.

Trump is nothing if not transactional, which is why he sided with Putin over and over as president.

Trump’s political career is inextricably linked to Putin and there are many theories as to why.

The “why” doesn’t really matter. It makes no difference if Putin has been blackmailing Trump with kompromat or if Trump sincerely believes that Russia deserves to dominate Europe.

But all the same, there’s a simple, non-conspiratorial explanation.

Russia has a long history of playing spygames and waging information warfare against other states.

In Trump, they saw an American politician who was wholly transactional and they realized that this presented them with an opportunity: If they helped Trump in such a transparent and ostentatious way that it was basically public, then Trump would see Russia as being on his side, and so would treat them as allies.

How was I to know that he was with the Russians too?

    (We) America is the weak link.

Who can trust America if Trump is president (he has promised retribution)?      
Donald Trump is a threat to world order.        
The world is apprehensive about who we will elect as president.

A "proud political dissident" he's not.    
He (Trump) is a fraud and a sex molester.

Donald Trump is nothing like Alexei Navalny, the two men are not remotely alike. Trump is not a courageous leader, he is not brave; he is a habitual liar who emulates Putin.

Not Trump nor his crowd should attempt the comparison to Navalny again.

The 2024 presidential election is all about democracy.

The world would be laughing at Donald Trump if people weren't so concerned Americans might foist him back on the world scene.

After touring the Odesa port area with the Greek Prime Minister, there was a deadly Russian missile strike in proximity to President Zelenskyy's convoy. The strike was close enough to the convoy that people getting into their vehicles saw the missile coming in, heard the explosion and felt the impact.

Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign with the admonition that America support our allies.