…I don’t want to get carried away…but…there’s been some sort of good news recently

This was driven home once again on Thursday, when Bannon surrendered himself to New York prosecutors to face charges of defrauding donors to We Build the Wall, a non-profit organization that raised over $25m to build a wall to keep immigrants from crossing America’s southern border. Although donors to the group were assured that 100% of their money would be used on construction, large sums were siphoned into the pockets of those running the group. And who as chairman of the board allegedly took the greatest sum of all? None other than Steve Bannon.

This affair – in which two people have already pleaded guilty – is a very direct example of a prominent figure in the Maga movement lining their pockets with the money of unsuspecting marks. But it also stands as a metaphor for the movement as a whole. Far from standing up for the interests of “ordinary Americans”, Maga exists to funnel money, power and prestige to a small elite while not lifting a finger to improve the lives of anyone else.

[…] as soon as he got into office, he governed as a plutocrat. His one significant legislative achievement before the coronavirus pandemic was a 2017 tax bill which forced lower-income groups to pay more and allowed higher income groups to pay less. And every year the administration proposed steep cuts to the social programs used by real ordinary Americans, including a 2021 budget which would have cut $1.2tn from Medicaid, food stamps and elsewhere.

[…] In the end, Maga is nothing but a scam with hate in its heart and other people’s money in its pockets. Just ask Steve Bannon.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2022/sep/09/steve-bannon-fraud-donald-trump-truth

…turns out maybe those prophylactic pardons weren’t worth the paper they were scrawled on with sharpie by the alleged administration…& it’s hard not to see that as good news

Bannon is facing charges that he siphoned off more than $1m from the “We Build the Wall” fundraising effort that promised to send all proceeds towards underwriting the completion of the US-Mexico border wall to enrich himself and his associates, the 22-page indictment said.
[…]
The state charges, led by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and New York state attorney general Letitia James, mirror the federal indictment brought in August 2020 against Bannon and three co-defendants Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea in the effort that raised more than $25m.
[…]
Bannon never went to trial after he received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump that expunged the federal charges. But pardons do not apply to state-level prosecutions and the New York state charges mark significant legal peril for the architect of Trump’s 2016 election win.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office started examining whether to pursue a case against Bannon almost immediately after he received the pardon, one source with knowledge of the matter said, and several close Bannon allies recently received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury.

That office opened its case armed with the knowledge that two others – Kolfage and Badolato – had pleaded guilty to the August 2020 federal case, and that Kolfage had admitted to the judge that he had conspired to illegally receive money from donations made to the project.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/08/steve-bannon-border-wall-charges-surrender

…though…as I guess is only to be expected…up is still down for some

When Steve Bannon heard that he was, after all, going to face charges last week for allegedly ripping off contributors to a multimillion-dollar fund to build a wall on the Mexican border, he claimed it was a sign of his success.

Donald Trump’s former strategist said his arrest on Thursday was an attempt to shut down his War Room pod and video cast because it is driving grassroots support for the former president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and reshaping the Republican party ahead of the midterm elections.

…though…for a wonder…it seems like that audience might actually be shrinking

The audience for this daily assault on reality is not as large as it once was. YouTube blocked the War Room two days after the storming of the Capitol in January 2021 for falsely claiming the presidential election was stolen. Exact numbers of listeners are hard to come by but the programme has been downloaded millions of times and still regularly appears in the top 50 most listened to podcasts in the US, at times reaching No 2 in Apple podcasts about American politics.
[…]
But now the 68-year-old architect of Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory, and briefly a White House aide, could be stopped in his tracks by his legal problems. Bannon already has a conviction for contempt of Congress under his belt for refusing to testify over his role in the attack on the Capitol that could send him to jail for months when he is sentenced in October.

…the rot, on the other hand

Madeline Peltz, who has followed Bannon’s broadcasts for the past two years for Media Matters, which monitors conservative and far-right commentators, said that for all his problems, it would be a mistake to write off the populist agitator.

[…] Bannon’s most important role at present may be his championing of what is known as the “precinct strategy”, which seeks to take control of the Republican party from the bottom up, getting Trump supporters to take low-ranking, often vacant, positions within local branches. They are then in a position to select more senior party officials and to influence decisions such as the staffing of elections and selection of candidates, and ultimately to move up the party ranks.

Maga activists are also targeting school boards and poll monitoring positions.
[…]
ProPublica contacted dozens of Republican party county leaders across the US who reported significant increases in membership applications that appear tied to the precinct strategy.
[…]
“If Bannon is successful in shoehorning grassroots activists, which it appears that he is, he could have loyalists controlling the levels of power within the Republican party and, even more concerning, in election administration. That could be almost impossible to unwind for years and decades to come,” [Peltz] said.

…but…if nothing else…it really isn’t as bad as it could have been

Bannon’s influence is not without its limits. Most of the candidates he backed in the 2022 Republican primaries lost. Peltz said that he is also financially vulnerable.

“A big weakness is that he’s super desperate for money. His billionaire benefactor, Gou Wengui, declared bankruptcy. Since then the whole show has turned into a big rightwing direct-to-consumer ad for a variety of scammy projects, including gold, MyPillow, satellite cellphones, prepper supplies. That’s a sign that he’s not in a good position,” she said.

Then there is the prospect of prison. He would not be able to broadcast the War Room from his cell, although others might hold the fort if he was serving a relatively short spell in jail. A longer prison sentence of several years, which is quite possible if he is convicted on the fraud charges, would be a different matter.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/10/steve-bannon-fraud-charges-elections-maga

…it’s not as though everything is headed in a good direction

CNN wants to be the new Fox News and it’s not even trying to hide it. Earlier this year Chris Licht became the new CEO of the cable network and immediately made it clear that he was going to change the network’s direction. One of Licht’s first moves was to embark on what Axios described as a “Capitol Hill diplomacy tour” and others described as a Republican boot-licking tour. Licht met with key lawmakers who had become wary of cable news and promised them that CNN was moving away from “alarmist” programming towards more neutral, objective reporting.

What does that mean in practice? Well, it appears to mean firing anyone who is critical of Donald Trump or Republicans. Last month CNN suddenly axed Brian Stelter’s Sunday show in a move many commentators considered politically motivated; Stelter had been an outspoken critic of Trump and was reviled by many on the right. Earlier this month White House correspondent John Harwood was fired shortly after calling Trump “a dishonest demagogue” on the air.

[…] Licht says he’s moving away from sensational news, but he appears to be putting on his own little drama for the right.

After purging progressive voices, Licht has just made his first big hire: announcing on Tuesday that John Miller would be joining CNN as the network’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Miller isn’t exactly an obvious hire if you’re looking to brandish your new “neutrality” credentials. The former New York police department (NYPD) deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism is an extremely polarizing figure who made headlines in March when he testified to the New York city council that the NYPD did not, in his opinion, inappropriately spy on Muslims after the September 11 2001 attacks. Which is a weird thing to say because Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting has clearly shown that the NYPD used census data to spy on Muslims following September 11 and the department has settled a number of lawsuits related to the illegal spying.

…because…though the death of the longest-serving monarch in british history might be one of the few things capable of somewhat displacing it from the front pages…

How it started. How it’s going pic.twitter.com/TAJiFQ8YrT

— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) September 11, 2022

...it is once more the anniversary of a terrible event that presaged some times I could do with getting a lot less interesting any time now…what I’m tempted to think of as the “patriot act” era…provided you extend that label to account for a number of potential definitions that very much require the quote marks

Licht doesn’t seem to mind that his new hire may alienate Muslims or anyone who cares about illegal police surveillance programs. He doesn’t seem to find it alarming that his new analyst has been accused of lying about the NYPD surveillance of Muslims. He doesn’t seem to find it awkward that even Eric Adams, the current mayor of New York City and a former police officer, said Miller was “wrong” to deny the existence of the program. Instead, the CNN CEO announced, with a seemingly straight face, that Miller “will help deliver on CNN’s commitment to tackle complex issues while presenting audiences with independent, objective news”.
[…]
So who is CNN going to hire next in order to demonstrate its objectivity? Trump seems to be angling for a job. On Sunday Trump posted on Truth Social that “if ‘low ratings’ CNN ever went Conservative, they would be an absolute gold mine, and I would help them to do so”. The way CNN is going I wouldn’t be surprised if they make Trump their new election integrity analyst next week.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/10/objective-cnn-rightwing-week-in-patriarchy

…can you even imagine? …sadly, I’m guessing the answer is along the lines of “all too easily”…we’ve all had entirely too much practice with that kind of crap…but…while we haven’t had as much practice as I’d like with things going the other way…I think I might be starting to discern a pattern

Stephen Miller, a former White House speechwriter and senior adviser under President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, a source tells CNN.

The department is seeking information about the Save America PAC, alleged “fake electors,” and communications between Miller and a long list of people.

CNN has previously reported that a federal grand jury is examining the Save America leadership PAC, one of former President Donald Trump’s main political and fundraising vehicles, in an expansion of the criminal investigation into the events surrounding the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.

…however grudgingly…even the new & “improved” CNN can’t entirely ignore this shit…which…seems like it might say more than it seems?

According to one source familiar with the language in the subpoenas, investigators may be looking into whether people associated with the Save America PAC defrauded people out of money using claims they knew to be false about the 2020 election being stolen.

Some of the subpoenas also requested any information that recipients previously turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot and communications recipients may have had with a broad list of people who worked to overturn the 2020 election results – including former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Victoria Toensing, and Boris Epshteyn, an adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign, among others.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/10/politics/miller-save-america-pac-federal-grand-jury-january-6/index.html

…follow the money & all that

The Pac, which was created by Trump in November 2022 shortly after the election, is funded entirely by Republicans, and currently sitting on more than $100m in funds – up from $31m in 2020.

Miller, who attracted notoriety during Trump’s administration for his alleged links to white supremacists and his staunch anti-immigrant stances, participated in a lengthy testimony earlier this year to the House select committee about Trump’s role in fanning the flames of the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
[…]
Others on the list of the subpoenas issued this week include officials who were involved with the electoral scheme in various degrees: from junior aides, to pro-Trump lawyers assisting in planning the scheme, as well as Republican lawmakers who are just Trump allies.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/10/trump-officials-subpoenaed-fundraising-overturn-elections

…& yes…there’s still no shortage of folks sighing deeply & announcing portentously that it’s a difficult set of decisions

[…] it’s a singularly complicated task, wrought with myriad difficulties — chiefly the explosive political proposition of indicting a former president — that no attorney general has faced before, according to Garland’s predecessors, former prosecutors and seasoned federal defense attorneys.
[…]
“What you saw with Cannon you’re going to see over and over again, and I’m not sure Justice knows what it’s getting into,” said a confidant who spoke with Trump about the case. “This is a case about presidential records and executive powers. It’s got ‘Supreme Court’ written all over it. He’s going to go all out. And if it ever gets to trial, he’ll win. It takes just one juror to hang. Those are good odds.”

…I’ve probably banged on enough about what an absolute fucking sham that whole ruling is…not a single piece of evidence nor so much as a solitary sworn affidavit in support…no jurisdiction…no standing…it’s as nothing-burger as can be…which makes cannon’s ruling the very definition of making something out of nothing

Attorneys familiar with the way classified information is used in court dispute the notion that the procedures would be entirely secret or that Trump wouldn’t get a fair hearing, but they acknowledge the government’s difficulties given the sensitive nature of the evidence.

Phil Lacovara, who was part of the special prosecutor’s team that investigated Richard Nixon over Watergate, described the graymail situation confronting Garland as “a Catch 22: The same evidence that makes the case seem so damning might make it difficult to prosecute him.”

David Laufman, the former head of the ​​counterintelligence and export control section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said the government would need to take a “thoughtful approach” to deciding what documents could be disclosed in the discovery phase and ahead of a potential trial.

It would have to choose documents that point to a defendant’s criminal liability but that aren’t so sensitive that putting them into evidence would worsen the risk of compromising intelligence sources and methods.
[…]
Echoing others, [Richard] Gregorie [a former prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida who used classified information in the successful prosecution of former Panamanian President Manuel Noriega] said he believes Garland has enough “substantial evidence to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump may have violated various federal laws concerning national defense documents. And, he said, Trump could have conspired to obstruct justice on June 3 when one of his lawyers signed a false declaration, drafted by yet another lawyer, stating that he no longer had various records at Mar-a-Lago that the Justice Department sought in a federal subpoena.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/rife-political-risks-garland-faces-tough-calls-considering-trump-charges

…funny thing…by leaving out all the grown up stuff & only presenting attorneys’ argument…which doesn’t constitute evidence…the attorneys themselves don’t open themselves to perjury charges…for that bullshit filing…but that seems a little like a distinction without a difference when they already perjured the hell out of themselves

Over six years and nine major investigations by Congress, the Justice Department and local prosecutors, as Mr. Trump has managed to avoid removal from the presidency and indictment, it has become clear that serving as one of his lawyers is a remarkably risky job — and one that can involve considerable legal exposure. Time after time, his attorneys have been asked to testify as witnesses to potential crimes — or evaluated as possible criminal conspirators themselves.

While the consequences his lawyers faced were extraordinary when Mr. Trump was in the White House, the dangers have only intensified since he left office and have become increasingly acute in recent weeks, as the former president has come under scrutiny in two different Justice Department investigations and has been forced yet again to find lawyers willing to represent him.

Last week, a Justice Department filing revealed that Mr. Trump’s lawyers had misled federal investigators about whether he had handed over to the Justice Department all the classified documents he took from the White House when he left office. That raised questions about whether the lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, could be prosecuted themselves and might ultimately be forced to become witnesses against their client. (Ms. Bobb recently retained a lawyer, according to a person familiar with the situation.)

The revelation capped a summer in which a team of lawyers that had been advising Mr. Trump as he tried to overturn the 2020 election faced a range of repercussions across the country from federal investigators, local prosecutors, state bar associations and government accountability groups.
[…]
Long before he became president, Mr. Trump viewed lawyers as tools to carry out whatever unsavory errand he required. As president, his disdain for institutional norms and demand for unswerving loyalty meant that Mr. Trump expected White House lawyers to act in his personal interest, whether or not doing so was within the bounds of the law or in the interest of the country.

He is also known for refusing to pay his lawyers for their work; last year, the Republican National Committee agreed to settle up to $1.6 million of Mr. Trump’s personal legal bills.
[…]
The personal ramifications of doing legal work for Mr. Trump became painfully apparent to lawyers around him four months into his administration when Mr. McGahn and several of his lieutenants — fearing they could be held responsible for Mr. Trump’s conduct — retained a high-powered Washington lawyer to represent them in an investigation into whether the president had obstructed justice.

Within two years, Mr. McGahn had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and prosecutors had turned him into a chief witness against Mr. Trump.
[…]
More recently, a long list of lawyers who have represented Mr. Trump have found themselves on the receiving end of ethics complaints and disciplinary action.

“Ultimately, we want to demonstrate to all the lawyers that the next time that Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani calls and says, ‘Hey, will you sign your name to this,’ they’ll say ‘no,’ because they’ll realize that there are professional consequences,” said Michael Teter, the director of the 65 Project, which has filed complaints against 40 lawyers who took part in suits challenging the 2020 results, including 17 last month.

Mr. Teter’s group has identified more than 110 lawyers across 26 states who agreed to participate in various plots by Mr. Trump and his allies as they sought to overturn the 2020 election. Thus far, at least 10 of them have been fined or sanctioned.
[…]
The most serious repercussions have come for four lawyers who acted as ringleaders in the effort. Mr. Giuliani’s licenses to practice law in the District of Columbia and New York were suspended, while Ms. Powell has been sanctioned in Detroit and faces a disciplinary action brought by the state bar of Texas. Both are also facing separate defamation lawsuits by Dominion, a voting machine company that claims that the two acted recklessly in falsely asserting that Dominion machines had helped flip votes from Mr. Trump to Mr. Biden. The suits each seek more than $1 billion in damages.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/us/trump-lawyers-legal-exposure.html

…meanwhile

One of the hallmarks of Donald Trump’s tenure in American politics has been the extent to which he remained cocooned in his own world.
[…]
It was a rhetorical terrarium, self-contained and self-sufficient. An ecosystem where nonsense thrived and spread, where false accusations competed Darwinistically for dominance. So his vague dismissals of the Russia investigation as a hoax in early 2017 had, by 2021, become complicated organisms, vines stretching and intertwining throughout the pro-Trump media universe.

And then, earlier this year, a change. Trump proudly removed his Russia theory from its home and presented it to the court, like a child digging up a dandelion he’d been watching in his yard and offering it as a horticulture contender at the state fair. The verdict, offered in a filing on Thursday, was probably not what Trump would have hoped.

…which might be putting it mildly

The background here is interesting, by the way. Trump presented his grand Russia hoax theory in the form of a lawsuit, alleging that Hillary Clinton and others — FBI officials, attorneys, IT guys — had conspired against him in violation of racketeering statutes (a.k.a. RICO). The suit was filed in a specific courthouse in the Southern District of Florida, apparently with the hope that it would be heard by a particular judge that Trump himself had appointed.

…which as cannon has amply demonstrated is arguably the principle foundation of his “legal” strategy…without which thumb on the scales

[…] it landed with District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks. When Trump’s legal team quickly moved to have Middlebrooks removed from the case, alleging bias, Middlebrooks responded by disparaging the transparency of Trump’s effort.

“I note that Plaintiff filed this lawsuit in the Fort Pierce division of this District, where only one federal judge sits: Judge Aileen Cannon, who Plaintiff appointed in 2020,” he wrote in denying Trump’s request. “Despite the odds, this case landed with me instead. And when Plaintiff is a litigant before a judge that he himself appointed, he does not tend to advance these same sorts of bias concerns.”
[…]
Middlebrooks’s blunt tone in assessing Trump’s intent carried through to his dismissal of the lawsuit this week.

“Plaintiff’s theory of this case, set forth over 527 paragraphs in the first 118 pages of the Amended Complaint, is difficult to summarize in a concise and cohesive manner,” Middlebrooks wrote as he began picking Trump’s allegations apart. “It was certainly not presented that way.”

[…] Durham, you’ll recall, was appointed by then-Attorney General William P. Barr specifically to try to see whether a case could be made to cast the investigation into Russian interference as flawed or biased. Unfortunately for Trump, the case was also filed before Durham’s case fell apart and before the lawyer targeted for prosecution, Michael Sussmann, was found not guilty by a jury.
[…]
As one would expect, the focus of the decision is on the legal merits of the case, which Middlebrooks found entirely unconvincing.
[…]
“Perplexingly, Plaintiff appears to argue that the Defendants obstructed investigation Crossfire Hurricane by contributing to the initiation of Crossfire Hurricane,” he writes. “That Defendants could have obstructed a proceeding by initiating it defies logic.”

While the decision centers on the legal questions, it does also uproot the baseless accusation itself. A report from the Justice Department’s inspector general cited by Trump’s lawyers “compels the opposite conclusion” from the one Trump offers in his theory: The IG “concluded that the FBI operated Crossfire Hurricane ‘for an authorized purpose’ and ‘with adequate factual predication’ that had nothing to do with any Defendant.”

What’s more, Middlebrooks adds later: “Plaintiff does not plausibly allege that any [White House] or Trump Organization computer was hacked.” This was an allegation Trump and his allies made repeatedly this year, elevating components of legal filings from Durham. Middlebrooks is correct: There is no evidence of any such hacking, much less Trump’s broader claim that the Russia probe was to any significant degree downstream from Hillary Clinton.

The judge made very clear that he understood Trump’s suit for what it obviously is.

“At its core, the problem with Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint is that Plaintiff is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm … instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum,” he wrote.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/09/trump-2016-russia-clinton/

…so…yeah…there’s still no shortage of people trying to undermine anything that might do someone some good

People in line to benefit from President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans could be taxed on the one-time relief depending on where they live.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/10/state-taxes-student-loan-forgiveness/

…but it’s worth noting that the only places that can do that are the ones who aren’t signed up to adopt the current federal code where taxes are concerned…because back when the American Rescue Plan passed there was a provision the GOP apparently failed to notice in its 1,300 or so pages which looks very much like it was put there specifically because them being this kind of shitty about this was as woefully predictable as a lot of other shit they pull…but next time you hear the phrase “bleeding them dry”…maybe bear in mind the folks for whom it’s a bit too literal

Plasma is a physical manifestation of the body’s ability to bounce back. Albumin, immunoglobulins and fibrinogen, some of the key components of plasma, perform essential functions, including transporting hormones, enzymes and vitamins; defending the body from infections; and controlling bleeding. Plasma therapies have many uses, among them helping high-risk patients weather illnesses like avian flu and Covid-19.

The problem is that while plasma does many wonders for those who receive treatments derived from it, its removal threatens the health of the people who sell it. Repeated plasma donations can weaken a donor’s immune system and lead to other negative side effects. Very few countries allow payment for plasma, in part out of concern that financially vulnerable people would risk their health for money.

Other developed nations place stricter limits on the number of times one can donate. In Britain, plasma can be given every two weeks; in Germany, it’s up to 60 times a year. The United States allows a person to sell plasma 104 times a year. The word “sell” is, of course, rarely used in the United States. Instead, the term is “donate,” which allows companies to pretend they are not in the business of scavenging the bodies of poor people for biological treasure.

Our system of “donation” is so successful that the United States provides about two-thirds of the plasma available worldwide and accounts for 35 percent to 40 percent of the plasma used in medicine in Europe — so much of which comes out of the veins of America’s poor.
[…]
Recently, I saw a flier saying I could make $825 a month selling plasma. Most of my life, I’ve lived under the delusion that there wasn’t a problem of mine that $400 to $800 wouldn’t fix. I don’t believe that anymore, but I am also not beyond a world where a hole like that wouldn’t have a real effect. I decided to go see how plasma donation had changed in the decade since I’d done it.

If my 2009 donation experience was like a trip to the D.M.V., my 2022 experience was more like shopping at a small Target. There were check-in kiosks in cheery colors and organized lines for regular donors, rewards programs, phlebotomists with preferred pronouns on name tags, and pictures of people helping each other hanging on the wall.

The clientele, however, was the same: poor people in need of cash. During the pandemic, the number of donations went down, forcing compensation to rise, particularly for people with Covid antibodies. Some donors reportedly began intentionally exposing themselves to Covid to earn more money.
[…]
I have no problem with people being paid for plasma. I just think that companies should take less of the plasma and that donors should be paid more. I have always found poor and working-class people to be deeply altruistic. They know what it is to work sick, be dependent on a car you can’t afford to fix and need help from family, friends and sometimes strangers. Such experiences lead to empathy, and like all people, they want to be a part of something bigger, something with a purpose.

I was paid $100 for my recent donation. The next donation will pay me $125 plus $10 from a coupon I was given, but only if I go back within 45 days. If I go back later, I lose the new donor benefits and will make only $40 to $60 like the other regulars. Once or twice a week it goes through my head that I should just do the eight donations at the higher rate and then quit, and if not that, at least do the next one. I could get an oil change or maybe knock a little more off the balance transfer before the interest hits. After all, that $135 is just sitting there, cash on the table.
The Treasure America Scavenges From the Poor [NYT]

…so there’s still no shortage of things nobody ought to be feeling good about…but…well…things can still go the other way…& that’s worth remembering

Ukrainian forces kept up their surge in the country’s east Saturday after punching through Russian defenses in a surprise counteroffensive that could prove a decisive turning point in the war.

Kyiv said its military had recaptured swaths of territory in a fast-moving thrust centered on the region around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, that threatened to turn into a much broader rout. After days of silence on the subject, Russia’s defense ministry said it was withdrawing troops from two key areas.
[…]
The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based military think tank, said in its latest update Saturday that Ukrainian forces had “captured an estimated 2,500 square kilometers (about 1,000 square miles)” in the area by Friday night. Britain’s Defense Ministry said that “lead elements have advanced up to 50km (31 miles) into previously Russian-held territory on a narrow front.”

…so…here might be a good spot for one of those putin-tweaked sure-jan.gif efforts…but it’s sunday & I’m not up to fielding that kind of thing

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised earlier this week to push on with Moscow’s military efforts in Ukraine, saying that his country was gaining rather than losing from the conflict.

…& I bet he’s busy saying nobody fooled his ass, either

Ukraine initially launched a counteroffensive in the country’s south late last month after weeks of public buildup and preparation, as it aimed to push toward the crucial coastal city of Kherson.

Then this week, after Russia redeployed large numbers of its own forces to the south to combat that effort, reports began to emerge of Kyiv’s forces launching another counteroffensive farther north — a move that appeared to catch both the broader world and Moscow’s military off guard.

“Either the Russians were too incompetent to see it, or they were so incompetent they saw it and couldn’t do anything,” Phillips O’Brien, chairman of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said earlier this week. “And neither of those are comforting for them.”

Some Western military analysts said the advance appeared aimed at shutting off supply and communication lines Russia has relied on to sustain its forces in eastern Ukraine, and could potentially leave thousands of Russian troops encircled.

Such sweeping advances on either side [are] largely unheard of in a grinding, attritional conflict.
[…]
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels after Blinken’s trip to Kyiv, said the war was “entering a critical phase,” requiring the West to remain clear eyed about what’s at stake.

“If Russia stops fighting, there will be peace,” he said. “If Ukraine stops fighting, it will cease to exist as an independent nation. So we must stay the course, for Ukraine’s sake and for ours.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-surprise-counteroffensive-kharkiv-russia-land-east

…so…rest up, I guess…because quitting time is a long ways off