Something astonishing happened at the United Nations today. Ukraine sponsored a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago. The General Assembly overwhelmingly voted for the resolution.
The resolution was opposed, however, by Russia, North Korea, Iran, the United States, and 24 other Russian allies.
The United States voted with Russia, North Korea, Iran and 14 other Moscow-friendly countries Monday against a U.N. resolution condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine and calling for the return of Ukrainian territory. The resolution, sponsored by representatives from Kyiv, passed overwhelmingly in the U.N. General Assembly.
The U.S. delegation also abstained from voting on its own competing resolution that simply called for an end to the war, after European-sponsored amendments inserting new anti-Russian language in the resolution were approved in the 193-member body by a wide margin. The amended U.S. resolution also passed.
Did the American people vote last November to abandon our allies and to create a new partnership with Russia, North Korea, and Iran?
In other news:
Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico. He says it is henceforward “the Gulf of America.” Frankly, this is the sort of meaningless BS that he manufactures to please his base. It doesn’t lower the price of eggs. It’s pointless. when Trump is gone, the Gulf of Mexico will be the undisputed Gulf of Mexico.
The Associated Press has continued to call the Gulf of Mexico by its rightful name.
So Trump had to punish the AP. Its reporters have been barred from White House press conferences and from flying with Trump on Air Force 1 with the press pool.
Judge Trevor McFadden told the court there were several reasons he denied the temporary restraining order. He noted there was a difference in the issues of this case and case law presented by both parties.
He also questioned the amount of irreparable harm the AP would suffer as the news outlet can get access to the same information whether or not they’re in the room where it happened, he argued.
Right. They can always watch the press conference on television. They just can’t ask questions or ride with the press pool on Air Force 1.
Judge McFadden was appointed by President Trump in 2017.
Anand Giridharadas has a plan. Read this and listen in if you can.
At his blog THE INK, Anand writes:
How do you stick it to the world’s richest man? Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan has a practical plan to defund Elon Musk by sinking the value of Tesla.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25,at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be talking with Nolan about how everyday people can put real pressure on Musk and help to roll back his anti-worker, anti-American, and downright anti-human agenda. Please join us.
Hamilton Nolan has been an indispensable voice reporting on the labor movement and his newsletter, How Things Work, is a must-read for anyone interested in the issues at the intersection of labor, politics, and power — and these days, that should be just about everyone. In his writing for In These Times, The Guardian, Gawker — where he was a leader in the unionization drive — and in his new book, The Hammer, Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor, Nolan has chronicled organized labor’s struggle to redefine and rebuild in the 21st century and continues to explore how solidarity offers solutions to inequality, where America’s electoral politics have fallen short.
To join us and watch, download the Substack app(click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert that we’re live and you can watch from your iOS or Android mobile device. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to The Ink to access full videos of past conversations and to join the chat during our live events.
James Taylor, the notable folk singer, posted the following lyric on BlueSky:
THOUGHTS ON UKRAINE
Were we wrong about Zelensky, the hero of Ukraine?
Were we wrong to feel the brotherhood of freedom in their struggle to resist the unprovoked attack upon their young nation?
When they fought the bully Putin to a standstill with righteous resistance.
When they stood up to the tyrant and stoically paid the price in patriots’ blood, were we not thrilled at their courage?
How do we now turn away? To stand by, mute and cowed, as the men who would be king: Putin, Trump and Musk, huddle in their fortress and decide the fate of nations, shutting out the people they betray?
Is this what has become of the cradle of liberty, … and the home of the brave..? That we slide the hidden dagger in the back of those who were our champions? While our allies in the defeat of Hitler and Stalin witness our betrayal
It’s a time for courage. A time for outrage. Who dares to speak out against the “great and mighty” King Donald? (Where is Toto when we need someone to pull away the curtain?)
Not the Republicans in Congress. Not Republican governors. Not Amazon. Not Mark Zuckerberg. Not ABC. CBS? We will see.
Donald Trump has erased any doubt that he’s a dictator.
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” he posted on X.
It’s perfectly clear that he intends to let no law, court or even the Constitution restrain him. And certainly not Congress, which he treats as a confederacy of dunces.
Trump’s quote, ostensibly first uttered by Napoleon, also brought to mind the remark attributed to an earlier tyrant, King Louis XIV: “L’État, c’est moi” — I am the state.
Louis was an absolute monarch. The United States was to have no kings, nor anyone acting like one. Our founding document, the Constitution, made that clear.
That didn’t stop Trump from declaring “Long live the King,” with a crown superimposed atop his head on a Time magazine knockoff, for supposedly stopping New York City’s congestion pricing plan.
Far from saving our country, Trump is on a path to destroying it.
He and his billionaire hatchet man, Elon Musk, devoid of any accountability, are sabotaging every function and agency of government to an extent unseen in our history. It’s senseless, savage, sadistic, self-serving and subversive.
Following the Kremlin
Listen carefully. You might hear Vladimir Putin applauding. Nothing Putin could do alone could so weaken us at home and abroad, or so undermine the NATO alliance that has kept first the Soviet Union, and now Russia, in check.
This week, Trump fed the suspicion that he’s the Kremlin’s puppet, echoing Putin’s lie that Ukraine started his war of aggression. Trump actually called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.” A psychologist might call that projection.
Musk and Vice President JD Vance have also followed precisely the Kremlin’s line by lauding the rise of far-right parties in western Europe and demanding that the governments there make nice toward them.
The pillaging of our government persists — a coup against Congress, courts and the Constitution.
Consult Congress? Never
Congress did not consent to slashing the air traffic control system as if the loss of 67 lives near the White House on Jan. 29 did not prove the need for more personnel.
Congress would not consent to decimating and idling agencies responsible to restore communities ravaged by fire and flood, to cripple those needed to defend the nation against a bird flu pandemic, or to allow Musk to see your tax returns.
Congress would not consent to destroying the U.S. Agency for International Development and cutting off its lifesaving aid to children around the world.
Congress has not been asked about annexing Canada, threatening to break the Senate-ratified Panama Canal treaty, or claiming sovereignty over Gaza and ethnically cleansing it of some 2 million Palestinians, which would be a war crime.
Congress has not voted to bleach the government and the nation’s universities and public schools of anything suggesting multiracial and gender equity. Trump arbitrarily threatens to withhold funds from any that don’t bow to his white power agenda.
Congress has not voted to deny federal funds, as Trump is threatening, to cities and counties that don’t implement his racist deportations. Nor has it voted to destroy the civil service.
Congress has not voted to surrender to Trump the independence of the Federal Trade Commission or other agencies, nor to neuter their authority over Musk’s vast conflicts of interest.
Trump’s grasp to control everything extends even to the arts, to sacking the Kennedy Center leadership and making himself its president. It’s what dictators do.
Terrifying much of Europe
For all of its ingenious attributes, the Constitution is dangerously silent in one respect. It gives the president nearly a free hand in foreign affairs, subject only to Senate approval of treaties.
Every other president has made it his common-sense duty to consult Congress before leading the nation in dangerous directions. But Trump has already sold out Ukraine to Putin without consulting Ukraine, NATO or Congress.
Ever since World War II, which cost more than 400,000 American lives, it has been bipartisan U.S. policy to protect our nation by supporting democracy in Europe and opposing dictatorships there. No longer.
Congress has not been consulted on any of this because Trump considers it a nuisance. Louis XIV corralled troublemakers at the Palace of Versailles.
Trump keeps Congress in a political straitjacket, striking fear into Republican members of the precarious majority by threatening to “primary” them from the right. So Congress capitulates. It’s brutally effective.
Saving his country? Under Trump 2.0, America has never been in greater danger.
At a White House meeting with Trump, he picked a fight with Janet Mills, the governor of Maine. He asked if she was present, then berated her because Maine allows transgender women to compete in women’s sports. Governor Mills stood up for Maine’s laws and didn’t back down. Trump threatened to cut off all federal funding to Maine. Mills said, in a direct challenge to Trump, “we will see you in court.”
Republicans used to be the party that believed in local control and in diminishing federal control over state and local decisions. No more. Trump is obsessed with the transgender issue. He signed an executive order banning their participation in women’s sports. In other orders, he has tried to erase any civil rights for transgender men or women, any access to medical care for them, and to define them out of existence.
I am not sure where I stand on the question of whether transgender women should participate in women’s sports; after all, biologically, men are typically stronger and faster than women. I am not sure it is fair to have biological men and women competing in races that require physical strength.
But of this I am sure: transgender men and women should be allowed to live their lives without harassment by government. Their decisions are theirs alone. They should get the medical care they seek from qualified professionals. They should use whichever bathroom they want. People don’t become transgender so they can go to a different bathroom. Women’s bathrooms all have closed stalls. Are men worried that a transgender man might see them pointing their penises at a urinal? Really?
Government should butt out of people’s personal decisions. Government should stay out of our bedrooms and out of our doctor’s offices. The decisions we make about our lives that don’t hurt anyone else should not be controlled by government. As Governor Tim Walz memorably said, “Mind your own damn business.”
President Trump had a testy exchangewith Maine Governor Janet Mills on Friday over his threat to withhold federal funding from the state unless it bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
“You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding,” Trump told the Maine Democratat a White House event.
Mills told Trump the state’s policy is “complying with state and federal laws” and hinted at a potential legal battle over Trump’s order.
“We’re going to follow the law, sir,” she said.
“We’ll see you in court,” she added.
“Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that — that should be a real easy one,” Trump said. “Enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
The confrontationcame a day after Trump told a group of governors that he “heard men are still playing in Maine” and threatened to withhold funding under the terms of an executive order he signed earlier this month.
“So we’re not going to give them any federal funding. None, whatsoever, until they clean that up,” Trump said Thursdayat the Republican Governor’s Association meeting in Washington, D.C.
Several lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s transgender policies, with more challenges expected.
The Maine Principals’ Association allows transgender student athletes to choose between competing on a team based on their sex at birth or one that matches their gender identity. Despite Trump’s order, the group said it will continue to allow transgender female athletes to compete.
Mills, who was elected in 2019, said in a statement that Maine“will not be intimidated” by Trump’s threats, adding the state will “take all appropriate and necessary legal action.”
“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine schoolchildren of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” Mills said.
Today marks the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Putin said he had no plans to invade. Putin said the 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border were engaged in “training exercises.” There had not been a ground war in Europe since 1945. The U.N. Charter banned the invasion of one sovereign nation by another. Would he or wouldn’t he? It was inconceivable. But he did. Putin ordered his troops to cross the border, fully expecting that Ukraine would fall in three days. It didn’t.
And here we are. Three years later. Ukraine is still standing. The Russians have bombed the country mercilessly: schools, apartment buildings, hospitals, power stations, cultural centers. Ukraine has suffered terrible damage. Yet they have fought the far larger, more powerful Russian army to a standstill.
Russia demolished the beautiful city of Mariupol. But Ukraine still stands.
Trump appears ready, even eager, to sell Ukraine out. He has repeatedly belittled Ukraine’s leader, Zelensky. Musk insults Zelensky constantly in Twitter. They seem to be ready to betray Ukraine and to restore Putin to a role on the world stage, despite his corruption and brutality.
WHEN HISTORY LOOKS BACK ON this war, on this moment, on these three years of bloodshed and sacrifice, one name will shine above all others.
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy….
We need to talk about this man, because no one truly knows what could have happened if he hadn’t been there to lead.
This is a man who could have left. A man who was expected to leave.
The world was really expecting he would run. Western leaders whispered about setting up a Ukrainian government-in-exile abroad, like the invaded countries did so many times in history. They thought it was the “smart” move, the “practical” move. Many embassies in Kyiv packed up and left, destroying sensitive equipment before crossing the border, never expecting to return.
But Zelenskyy refused.
He looked at the Russian tanks rolling toward Kyiv. He heard the American offer to evacuate him. And he said the words that would define him forever: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
That moment changed everything.
The citizens of this country, inspired by the president’s defiance, fought harder than anyone imagined. Millions of civillians, many of them who never have operated a rifle before, joined the soldiers and went to the frontlines. The world saw this man standing tall in the middle of pure chaos, and because he stood, everyone else did too.
And Ukraine won the Battle of Kyiv. Almost three years ago now. It was our first big victory of the war. Not only the first victory, but also the first sign that this war would not going to be what Putin had planned. And Zelenskyy has never stopped fighting after that. Ever since, Zelenskyy regularly visits the frontlines to meet with warriors.
We are talking about a man of action, not words.
“If the deal is that we just give up our territories, and that’s the idea behind it, then it’s a very primitive idea. I don’t need a fantastic idea, I need a real idea, because people’s lives are at stake.”
These are not the words of a man looking for an easy way out. These are the words of a leader who understands the cost of surrender. Because it’s more than obvious at this point of time and history this war is not about land. It is about people. It is about justice. It is about the right of a nation to exist.
Our president understands this in a way that many so-called leaders do not.
And then, on the other side of the world, there is Donald Trump.
If Zelenskyy represents the best of humanity, the resilience to stand against evil, Trump represents its worst. Not just incompetence, not just corruption, but an absolute void where morality should be. There is no honor among his ambitions, no higher cause in his conquests. He is a man who poisons everything he touches. Who sees loyalty as something to exploit, who views his own country not as something to protect, but as something to own.
While Ukraine battles on the frontlines for freedom, the West in general but America in particular, face its own war: truth against lies, justice against corruption, courage against cowardice. The stakes are no different. Here, Putin wants to crush us. There, Trump wants to tear America apart from the inside.
If you want to know what leadership looks like, look to Ukraine. Look to the man who walks through trenches and visits soldiers on the frontlines. Look to a president who refuses to abandon his people, who has risked everything. Not for power, not for wealth, but for the simple belief that his country is worth fighting for.
That is leadership. That is courage. That is what we should demand in our own leaders.
But Zelenskyy’s leadership is not just in battle, not just in strategy. It is in his voice. He has spoken to every major government, every parliament, every organization that matters in this fight. He has stood before the U.S. Congress and told them why this war matters not just for Ukraine, but for the future of democracy itself.
And the world listened. Because when he speaks, he does not just represent himself.
He represents the soldiers holding the trenches. He represents the families sleeping in subway stations. He represents the mothers, the fathers, the children, every Ukrainian who refuses to be erased.
One day, this war will end. Ukraine will be in peace again, united, prosperous. This day, Zelenskyy will no longer have to fight. And when that day comes, may he sit peacefully in one of our beautiful beaches of the Black Sea, in a free Crimea, after an uninterrupted night of sleep, and watch his country rise from the ashes.
Because he did not give up. Because he stood when others would have fallen. Because he led when the world needed him most.
Because through the hardest three years in Ukraine’s history, no one would be doing a better job than him.
Thank you for everything, Volodymyr.
We resist because we are Ukrainians.
And every day of these three years, you remind us what that truly means.
EXCLUSIVE – An organization that wants to reform school boards across the country is launching what they call “the new NRA for education.”
“The 1776 Project PAC … was extremely successful over the last, I guess, four years now, electing over 250 conservatives to school boards across the country,” Ryan James Girdusky, founder of the 1776 Project PAC, told Fox News Digital. “We’ve seen that after they were elected, a lot of them wanted further help and outreach to sit there and talk about policy.”
Girdusky added that “The 1776 Project Foundation is going to meet that role and fill that void that is desperately needed as far as public policy goes when it comes to public schools and school boards.”
Founded in 2021, the 1776 Project PAC, says their mission is “Reigniting the spark and spirit of that revolution by reforming school boards across America.”
An embargoed press release from the 1776 Project PAC says the new foundation, “is an off-shoot of the 1776 Project PAC.”
“Since 2020, the 1776 Project PAC has led the conservative fight to win conservative school board seats and own the education issue, from ending remote learning to championing a return to classical education,” the release reads. “Over 250 of their endorsed candidates won elections. They have a majority of small donors and are currently #22 on Win Red….”
Aiden Buzzetti, president of the 1776 Project Foundation, told Fox News Digital that they want to be the “intellectual backbone” of education reform.
“There are so many school board members in the United States, there’s over 80 to 100,000 individual board members,” Buzzetti said. “And that is very important that those with an eye towards education reform are organized and are able to get the resources they need to implement the right policies or even review the policies that the current board has already put in place.”
A reader of the blog called Quickwrit submitted this important comment about JD Vance’s condescending speech to European leaders about why they should include neo-Nazis and fascists in their political life.
Quickwrit wrote:
SPITTING ON AMERICAN BLOOD
The soil of Europe is soaked with the blood of American soldiers who died in World War II to stamp out nazism, and Vance spat on that blood-soaked soil by urging that European leaders allow nazism to rise again.
And how bitterly sad all those countless American heroes who spilled their blood to end nazism must feel when they look down on our nation today and see nazi flags flying and people wearing nazi tattoos.
My father came back from fighting World War II a broken man from the horrors of war against the nazis…but at least he came back. He would feel that he and all those who died to end nazism have been betrayed to see nazi flags and symbols in America which Vance dresses up by calling it “populism”.
AND THEN Trump says that Ukraine should not have gone to war with Russia just because Russia invaded Ukraine — that’s like saying that the United States should not have gone to war with Japan just because Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
To take the analogy just another step further. Why did we go to war with Germany? Germany did not attack us. Germany did not invade our nation. Should we have stayed out of the war and allowed Hitler to overrun all of Europe? No, we were defending the idea of democracy. Were our allies perfect democracies? No. Were we? No. But the alternative was far, far worse.
Vance can’t see the difference between Ukraine, which for three years has resisted a brutal aggressor, and the aggressor.
Vance, Trump, and Musk whine that Zelensky has not held an election since 2018, so he must be a dictator. When did their buddy Putin last hold an election in which his rivals were allowed to compete? Never? They had the misfortune of being murdered before the elections. His last rival was sent to a Siberian labor camp, where he mysteriously died, even though he appeared in good health in all the photos of him.
Elon Musk has boasted of saving $65 billion thus far (nowhere near his $2 trillion goal), but various critics have complained that he has produced no evidence of such savings. Mostly, Musk has used a hacksaw to force people into retirement or fire them without cause. In only a month, he has demoralized the federal workforce and shattered federal workplaces without knowing the significance of those he pushed out.
Just yesterday, DOGE sent out emails to federal employees asking them what they accomplished in the past week, listing five specific tasks. Employees believed that failure to respond would lead to their termination, but unions are advising their members not to respond.
Trump is very pleased with Musk’s aggressive firings and urged him to do more of it.
Musk’s team of mostly inexperienced computer whizzes have taken charge of almost every agency, canceled contracts without knowing their importance, and fired veteran civil servants while being completely ignorant of their expertise.
Attention has focused on the youngest of the DOGE team, Edward Coristine, because of his age and curious background. Young Coristine calls himself “Big Balls” online. According to Brian Krebs, a technology blogger, Coristine was fired by a computer security firm for leaking secrets to a competitor and had some association with a gang of cybercriminals.
Now comes the shocker: according to Jacob Silverman, who writes about spies, Edward Coristine is the grandson of Valery Martynov, a Soviet spy turned double agent, who was lured back to Moscow and executed by the Soviets.
Coristine is now a “senior advisor” at the State Department and also a “senior advisor” at the Department of Homeland Security. He also participated in the snap review of FEMA, the Office of Personnel Management, and other departments.
Our government is in chaos, proving the adage: Where Trump goes, chaos follows.
Michelle H. Davis follows the sinister machinations of the Texas Legislature, which always pretends to be helping ordinary folks when they are actually hurting them.
She writes on her blog “Lone Star Left”:
Yesterday, the Texas Legislature took another step toward reshaping public education, not necessarily for the better. SB26, a sweeping education bill championed by Conservative lawmakers, passed with promises of boosting teacher pay and improving student outcomes. But beneath the surface, the bill reads more like a Trojan horse for privatization, union busting, and a long-term erosion of public education as we know it.
SB26 shifts teacher compensation from across-the-board salary increases and implements a performance-based pay system. On paper, rewarding high-performing teachers sounds excellent. In reality, this model has been used to justify pay disparities, foster favoritism, and force teachers into a test-score rat race rather than focusing on student development.
Merit and meritocracy are words we hear Conservatives use all too much. They frame these ideas as the backbone of fairness, insisting that success comes purely from hard work and ability. But in practice, “meritocracy” is often just a smokescreen for maintaining existing racial hierarchies. It ignores the systemic barriers that keep marginalized communities from accessing the same opportunities as their wealthier, white counterparts. In education, employment, and economic mobility, so-called “merit-based” systems reward those who already have advantages through generational wealth, access to elite schools, or the benefit of implicit biases in hiring and promotions.
When conservatives push for “merit” in policies like education funding or hiring practices, they advocate for policies that protect privilege rather than create equity. In reality, meritocracy doesn’t level the playing field. It rigs the game in favor of those already winning.
Brandon Creighton (R-SB04) used the words “merit” and “meritocracy” yesterday to describe SB26, which was a major red flag 🚩. This bill prohibits school districts from implementing general salary increases for instructional staff, except for inflation adjustments. Instead, funding is funneled into selective incentives that only some teachers will qualify for.
SB26’s move to contract a third party to provide legal assistance and liability insurance for teachers is particularly insidious.
This might sound like a win, but here’s the catch: this state-controlled insurance provider would replace a key service teachers’ unions offer, weakening their role in advocating for educators’ rights. It’s union-busting in disguise.
The bill also explicitly bans these contracted entities from engaging in political advocacy. Thus, teachers seeking to oppose harmful education policies will have one less resource. This is a classic conservative strategy: chip away at organized labor under the pretense of “helping” workers.
SB 26 isn’t about helping teachers. It’s about undermining unions, expanding state control over local schools, and pushing a corporate-style pay system that benefits wealthier districts while punishing the most vulnerable. Instead of investing in systemic reforms like universal Pre-K and across-the-board salary increases, the Texas Republicans have chosen to deepen inequities and destabilize an already struggling profession.
If the GOP were serious about education, they’d invest in all teachers, not just a select few. So, when Republicans announce that they’re pushing bills to raise teacher pay, just know that it’s total bullshit.
On top of this bill, which the Senate will claim is “teacher pay raises,” during yesterday’s hearing, Senator Bettencourt (R-SD07) continued his Trump impressions throughout. Weirdly, he does this in every hearing now.
Please read my book Reign of Error, in which I review the research showing the consistent failure of merit pay.
Diane Ravitch's blog 