With the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas and the ongoing conflict with Palestine, the war in Ukraine has not been talked about as much in recent months and still deserves the attention of the United States. 

The war in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, and it has had a devastating impact on civilians. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the war has caused widespread suffering for civilians, with Russian forces committing apparent war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, summary executions, and enforced disappearances. They have carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and repeatedly targeted energy infrastructure, leaving millions of civilians periodically without electricity, water, and heat as winter temperatures plunged. 

Russian forces have killed, arbitrarily detained, tortured, and forcibly disappeared civilians. Detainees reported beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, and waterboarding, among other torture and mistreatment. Russian forces have also tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russian soldiers held people in degrading conditions in basements, pits, boiler rooms, and factories.       In December 2022, the UN reported that between February 24 and October 21, it had documented 86 cases of sexual violence, most by Russian forces, including rape, gang rape, forced nudity, and forced public stripping in various regions of Ukraine and in one penitentiary facility in Russia. 

The United Nations has reported at least 6,919 civilian deaths and more than 11,000 wounded because of the war in Ukraine, with the actual figures estimated to be much higher. Approximately 6.5 million Ukrainians are internally displaced, and about 5 million have fled as refugees to European countries. About 2.8 million Ukrainians are in Russia and Belarus, in some cases against their will. 

Russian forces havecommitted many deliberate attacks against civilian targets, massacres of civilians, torture and rape of women and children, torture, and mutilation of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified 9,614 deaths of civilians in Ukraine during the war as of September 20231. The war crimes include attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, willful killings, torture and inhuman treatment, unlawful confinement, rape and unlawful transfers and deportations of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. 

 The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a full investigation into past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide committed in Ukraine by any person from 21 November 2013 onwards, set up an online method for people with evidence to initiate contact with investigators, and sent a team of investigators, lawyers, and other professionals to Ukraine to begin collecting evidence. Two other independent international agencies are also investigating violations of human rights and of international humanitarian law in the area: the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 4 March 2022, and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, deployed by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The latter started monitoring human rights violations by all parties in 2014 and employs nearly 60 UN human rights monitors.  

Some House Republicans are trying to block funding to Ukraine because it is something that President Biden and the democrats are fighting for. Senate republicans tend to have more of an understanding why funding Ukraine is so important, not just for the obvious reason the Russia attacked a sovereign country without provocation. The United States’ continued support of Ukraine is crucial for several reasons. 

Firstly, it is a matter of upholding international law and order. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the United States has a responsibility to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend itself. 

Secondly, Ukraine is a key ally of the United States in the region, and supporting Ukraine helps to strengthen the United States’ strategic position in Eastern Europe. If Russia were to defeat Ukraine in this war it would just be a matter of time before Russia felt emboldened to invade one of our NATO allies which would involve the United States in a hot war. 

Thirdly, supporting Ukraine is a way to counter Russian aggression and prevent further destabilization in the region. By providing military aid to Ukraine, the United States is helping to deplete Russia’s military resources, which in turn helps to reduce the threat that Russia poses to the United States and its allies. While it is true that funding Ukraine’s war with Russia is costing the United States 5% of its defense budget, the benefits of doing so far outweigh the costs. By supporting Ukraine, the United States is helping to uphold international law, strengthen its strategic position in the region, and counter Russian aggression, all of which are in the best interests of the United States and its allies. 

It is important that the international community continues to monitor the situation and hold those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable. The United Nations and other international organizations must continue to provide humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflict and work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

With the 177th U.S. Congress underway, the first week of committee hearings look more like a Saturday Night Live skit, rather than GOP Congressmen/women being paid $175,000.00 a year on behalf of the American people.

First there were the “Twitter File” hearings brought to the American people by the GOP lead Congressional Oversight and Accountability Committee.

The MAGA GOP hoped to show that the Biden campaign before the 2020 Presidential election had the FBI stop Twitter from publishing an article written by the New York Post about Hunter Biden’s laptop prior to the 2020 General Election
MAGA GOP came out looking foolish.

What these hearings did show was the overwhelming hypocrisy and idiocy that is not only rampant in the GOP these days but is rather their base branding.

The GOP Congresswoman from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, used her time berating former Twitter executives instead of asking questions of the former Twitter executives.

Greene told the executives they were “cancelled” stating they were unable to speak, akin to her personal Twitter account being disabled due to her Covid-19 misinformation, robbing Greene of her voice, according to the Congresswoman.

Greene showed the American people that she is much more interested in using her newly acquired Congressional committee seated powers to further her own personal agenda, rather than work for the American people.

Speaking of personal agends, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) also used her committee time to yell and throw a temper tantrum like a ten-year-old that isn’t getting their way.

Boebert was up in arms over her Twitter account being “shadow banned” by Twitter due to violation of Twitter rules.

Boebert yelled at Twitter executives “who do you think you are?” as if they were one of her children, much like her fellow GOP Congresswoman Greene.

Boebert seemed to be using this televised committee hearing as a personal soap box to grandstand on and make it very clear she was there to hash out personal grievances she held with Twitter, which is not the point of holding Congressional committee hearings.

It really came off that it was the first time either Greene or Boebert had ever sat down and had to do any real work in Congress that benefited the American people. Neither woman could act like a professional Congresswoman that was elected to that position by their constituents to work for them. It is scary that those two women sit on committees.

Twitter executives did admit an error occurred with the blocking of the Hunter Biden New York Post article; an article that proved to be erroneous with the facts. Twitter then did publish the Post’s Hunter Biden article 24 hours later. The GOP led committee did all it could to force the narrative of the hearings that those 24 hours of the Post article, being banned on only Twitter, somehow swayed the outcome of the 2020 General Presidential Election in favor of Joe Biden.

The GOP did not foresee the spotlighting of Twitter during these hearings as a launching point for the minority Democrats to point out several flaws in their arguments. Democrats proved that if any Federal government agency actively attempted to censor the American people on Twitter, it was the Trump administration that proved to be guilty of said censorship through these hearings.

Freshman Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) opened the flood gates with his questioning of Twitter executives asking about a particular 2019 tweet from model Chrissy Teigen, wife of musician John Legend, where Teigen referred to then President Trump as a “p—y a— b—tch.”

The Twitter executives testified under oath that the Trump White House internally approached Twitter to remove Teigen’s tweet because the former president found it to be a derogatory remark towards him.

Twitter executives went on to testify that the Biden Administration did not ask for any preferential treatment from Twitter.

Twitter executives then went on testify that an entire new database had to be established to cater to all requests that would come from the MAGA Republicans concerning Tweets that wanted removed.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) pointed out how Twitter caters to the political Right wing in terms of changing its policies when it comes to derogatory/inflammatory tweets that come from political figures.

Ocasio-Cortez through her questioning of Twitter executives about former President Trump’s tweets about how certain Congresswomen, namely of The Squad, came from countries “who’s governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world,”and insinuated that said Congresswomen should go back to “those countries where they came from.”

At the time using language such as “go back to your country” was in direct violation of Twitter’s rules.

Twitter then changed its policy as a direct result of the 2019 Trump tweets to not include “go back to where you came from” or “go back to your country” as a violation catering to the racist rhetoric of the far Right.

Through effective, intelligent, and informed questions Democratic Congressmen/women taught a masterclass, to the likes of MAGA GOP extremists, on how proper behavior and decorum should be conducted during a Congressional Oversight Committee Hearing.

The Democrats were able to flip the script on the MAGA Republicans through rational, thoughtful, fact-based questions that exposed the truth, and at the same time exposed the fact that they only care about their own agendas and that facts only matter when it suits them.

The totality of these hearings was over a five-day period that the American people will have to pay for.

Not once throughout the five days of hearings and testimony given by Twitter executives did the far Right ever come close to making any substantial point in proving any part of the Biden Administration or 2020 Presidential Campaign weaponized its influence to censor any part of Twitter.

Taxpayer money well spent.

Former President Donald Trump is still delusional about his loss in the 2020 election. So delusional in fact that he is calling to terminate the U.S. Constitution.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform with his infamous election fraud hits that he repeats over, and over again about how the 2020 election was stolen from him. Now Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution. Terminating the same Constitution that Trump swore an oath to protect and defend against enemies both foreign and domestic is a new one for Trump.

“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD AND DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC and the Democratic Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION?” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post published Saturday.
Trump continued to say, “A Massive Fraud of this type of magnitude allows for the termination, of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False and Fraudulent Elections.”

The former president is in pure panic mode and will do anything he believes will stop the ongoing investigations of his many alleged crimes.

Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 Presidential Election last week and unprecedented two years before the election, thinking it would shield him from the ongoing criminal and civil investigations and possible grand juries and indictments he may be facing soon.

Trump’s deranged post came days after, the soon to be House Majority Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-California) tweeted, “on the very first day of new Republican elected Congress, we will read every single word of the Constitution allowed from the floor of the House – something that hasn’t been done in years.”

I think Leader McCarthy should read out loud the Constitution to the former president because I do not think he understands it.

There is ample evidence that Trump never had a grasp of what the U.S. Constitution stands for or means, let alone how much time, effort, and bi-partisan consensus it takes to amend it legally, according to Axios.

Trump truly is unhinged this time. 25 months after the 2020 Presidential General Election was called for Joe Biden (both Electoral College count and Popular vote), the former Apprentice host feels the need that the document that lays the foundation for all rights in the United States needs to be “fired.”

Donald Trump’s remarks were condemned by the White House, with Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stated “attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation,” according to The Hill.

In a separate statement issued by Bates to The Hill, he called on all GOP lawmakers to “reaffirm their oath of office.”
According to Axios, several influential GOP figures have come out and criticized Trump’s insane claims.

Senator Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) tweeted on Monday, “as elected officials, we take an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution,”
Rounds goes on to say, “we should never dishonor the oath. No one is above the Constitution. Anyone that desires to lead our country must protect the Constitution. They should not threaten to terminate it.”

Rounds finished with “there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would alter the results of the 2020 election.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Arkansas) who was among a few Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial in 2020, condemned Trump’s comments in a tweet Sunday night stating “suggesting the termination of the Constitution is not only a betrayal of our oath of office, it’s an affront to our Republic,” according to ABC News.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) who also voted to convict Trump, said the Republicans have historically represented “the party of the Constitution,” which puts the former president’s comments into conflict with being a Republican, according to ABC News.
“When President Trump says he wants to suspend the Constitution, he goes from being MAGA to being RINO,” Romney also said, using the acronym for Republicans in name only.

Former Vice President Mike Pence told WVOC Radio in South Carolina “everyone who serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again, should make it clear we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Other Republican lawmakers had harsher things to say.
Representative Liz Chaney (R-Wyoming) said in a tweet on Sunday night “no honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution.”

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois) tweeted on Sunday “with the former president calling to throw aside the Constitution, not a single conservative can legitimately support him, and not a single supporter can be called a conservative.” Kinzinger added “this is insane. Trump hates the Constitution.”
Representative Mike Turner (R-Ohio) denounced Trump’s claims telling CBS’s “Face The Nation” that the former president’s remarks were “certainly not consistent with the oath we all take.” He goes on to say, “I vehemently disagree with the statement Trump has made.”

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, an adviser to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said “I don’t know why anybody would say such a thing like that, certainly not an ex-president. I think that’s irresponsible.

On the Democratic side, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) tweeted on Sunday “for Donald Trump last week it was dinner with antisemites. Now he’s calling for an end to America’s Constitutional democracy. He’s out of control and a danger to our democracy. Everyone must condemn this attack on our democracy” according to Axios.

Representative Bill Pascrell (D-New Jersey) tweeted Sunday “a few hours ago the leader of the republican party Donald Trump called for destroying the Constitution and making himself dictator.”

Representative Eric Swalwell (D-California) tweeted Monday “every congressional reporter should demand responses from Congressional Republicans about Donald Trump’s call for the Constitution to be terminated… how many of them call themselves ‘Constitutional conservatives’ during the Obama years???”

“Trump’s words and actions are well beyond the bounds of acceptable political discourse,.They stoke hatred and political violence, and they are dangerous” a statement made by Representative Don Beyer (D-Virginia), he went on to say, “Trump has openly declared himself an enemy of the Constitution, and Republicans must repudiate him.”

After a lot of backlash from the Republican Party, Trump tried to back track his statement by saying his posts were misinterpreted by the “fake news media” about his suggested that election rules should be scrapped so he can return to office.
According to Forbes, Trump insisted Monday that “what I said was that … steps must be taken to right the wrong, with the massive and widespread fraud and deception” he claims occured in the presidential election despite no evidence of his claims, according to Forbes

Newly elected Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told ABC’s This Week on Sunday he “thought it was strange statement.” He went on to say, “the Republicans are going to have to work out their issues with the former president and decide whether they are going to break from him and return to some semblance of reasonableness, or continue to lean into the extremism, not just of Trump but of Trump-ism”

I bet the Founding Fathers are rolling over in their graves.

 

With the Massachusetts mid-term elections decided, Democrats came out with big wins across the state. The Democrats won 37 State Senate races as opposed to only three Republicans and had 132 wins as opposed to 25 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. But the big historic win for the state of Massachusetts is Governor elect Maura Healey with 63 percent of the vote.

Healey will be the first woman elected governor in Massachusetts and the first openly lesbian governor in the country.

Healey has a clear vision of what she wants to accomplish

The climate crisis is one of her top priorities. “She understands the critical urgency of this issue and she knows what’s at stake – especially for the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable communities,” according to Maurahealey.com

According to her website, she will innovate with state government, “working directly with the communities, implementing science-based policy, partnering with clean technology businesses and supporting clean energy research development.”

Healey supports criminal justice reform. She supported the 2020 Police Reform Bill in Massachusetts repealing the mandatory minimums and bail reform. With the new Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, she wants to “ensure that our police departments and officers have uniform, training standards, certification and decertification policies, de-escalation tactics and other lifesaving procedures,” according to her website.

Healey will “appoint leaders who share a commitment to public safety, equity and criminal justice reform,” the website said.

She will continue to support investments that prevent entry into the criminal justice system in the first place by expanding and increasing access to behavioral health care and recovery services and hiring more social workers in schools. For those re-entering our communities, she will look to advance opportunities that increase access to jobs and education, according to her website.

Healey sees workforce developmement opportunities “as a means to support people who are re-entering society” and provide stipends for former inmates to live off of while they train for new jobs.”

Healey will continue to support legislation to ensure incarcerated individuals are not charged for phone calls to their loved ones which can be extremely expensive for family members. She believes “we must remove barriers to re-entry like losing a drivers license or being barred from good paying jobs or affordable housing,” according to her website.

She will “invest in multidisciplinary crisis to response teams to respond to certain emergency calls including behavioral health and homelessness” which will prevent less guns for a mental health crisis.

“As Governor, Healey will continue to be a strong advocate for federal funding for early education and care. She supports the Common Start Proposal which would make child care free for the lowest-income families, limit child care costs for most families to no more than seven percent of their income, and significantly increase pay for early educators to address the work force crisis in the early education field,” according to her website.

As Governor, Healey will continue to focus on “closing achievement gaps and better support for students and their families in K-12 education, which includes the Student Opportunity Act which provides more equitable funding for our school districts.”

She finds it important to invest in behavioral health services. She wants to update our school buildings which are in disrepair, outdated, lack modern science labs and equipment. Schools suffer from poor ventilation and are not environmentally sustainable, according to her website.

“The buildings most in need of renovation or replacement are disproportionately in lower-income communities that serve larger populations of Black and Brown students and educators who deserve to learn in a modern and healthy environment.” according to Healey.

Healey’s website says that “as Governor, Healey will promote to recruit and retain educators of color and expand early college programs. The Massachusetts Early College Initiative helps students from low-income families and communities of color earn free college credits and receive support while still in high school.”

Healey will “focus to find paths for students in higher education.” Healey was the first “AG in the country to create a Student Loan Assistance Unit and has helped thousands of borrowers navigate our broken student debt system,” according to her website.

For Healey, “tackling our student debt crisis is a matter of basic economics and racial justice.” As governor she will continue to “urge President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student debt per borrower.”

Healey intends on “investing in our community colleges.” Healey will also work to improve access and affordability for higher education so more students can graduate debt free, according to her website.

As Governor, Healey will stand up for reproductive freedom. She intends to “shield providers and patients from civil and criminal liability for performing and receiving reproductive or gender affirming care.” which is legal in Massachusetts, according to her website.

Healey would like to “increase access to emergency contraception by calling on the Department of Public Health to issue a statewide standing order for individuals to have access it with no cost at the pharmacy,” according to her website.”

Healey would like to “mandate health insurers to cover reproductive and gender affirming care, including abortion.” She wants patients to have no deductibles, copays or sharing requirements from insurers, according to her website.

“Healey would fight to permit access to abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in cases of severe fetal anomaly and would work to enact other recommendations of the Beyond ROE Coalition,” among other reproductive concerns, according to her website.

As Governor, Healey wants to ensure rights for people with disabilities ensuring her administration addresses “the rights, needs and aspirations of those individuals with disabilities in a comprehensive and coordinated way,” the website said.

As Governor, Healey will continue to stand up to efforts to infringe on LGBTQ+ rights and work to “ensure that everyone in Massachusetts can live a happy, healthy, authentic life,” according to the website.

This would include adopting gender neutral markers on more official documents, and streamlining the process of co-parent adoption, according to her website.

Healey is also focused on the health care affordability crisis first by “treating mental and behavioral care as seriously as all other forms of health care.” She would like to lower the cost of prescription drugs and will focus on ways to lower overall healthcare for families, according to her website.

Housing affordability is one of Healey’s top issues. Her administration will establish a state-led pro-housing campaign to “educate residents about our housing shortage and advocate for the creation of enhanced housing options in the

Commonwealth.” This effort will include public advocacy, training and education for community members and business leaders, toolkits and technical assistance for local officials, along with support for establishing local and regional housing production goals, according to her website.

Healey wants to “ensure our public transportation system is safe, reliable and accessible throughout the state.” Upon taking office she will immediately appoint a Transportation Safety Chief to work across the relevant transportation agencies to conduct full safety review of our rail and bus operations, and roads and bridges, including cyclists and pedestrians, according to her website.

Healey will “promote economic development that creates opportunity, serving and balancing needs of all stakeholders, our communities, workers, employers and investors.” “She will approach all efforts through an equity lens, ensuring everyone in Massachusetts can access high-quality jobs and careers.”

Healey will continue to “defend our immigrant communities and work to find meaningful ways to make sure everyone in our state feels safe, welcome and has the tools to thrive.” She will end state and local law enforcement’s involvement in federal immigration matters. At the federal level she would like to “provide a meaningful pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants”, according to her website.

Healey is also committed to protecting voter rights for the residents of Massachusetts by expanding access to the ballot in the Commonwealth. She would like to pass the VOTES Act in Massachusetts, including same day voter registration and election day voting, and make voting more accessible to people who are incarcerated.

I believe Massachusetts has voted in the perfect, progressive governor who will bring equality to all in the Commonwealth.