Timothy - your writing is so timely and brilliant and goes to the heart of the people involved with what you are writing about. Thanks for your great work - as it gives your readers an 'up close' perspective of what you are feeling while you are on the ground in these dangerous places - thanks so much for what you do and how you do it.
Timothy, thank you for helping us understand the plight, and the bravery, of the Ukrainian people opposing the Russian war criminal. I hope we can show the same strength and bravery facing down our *fascist war criminal*.
Thank you for introducing us to these incredible Ukrainians, and for painting the extraordinary, unbearable contrasts - the crane operator killed, the tea lady in the basement. When A said "Fascists" my heart sank, because I know he meant us as well.
Yes indeed, "he meant us as well," Meant for the Mountains.
Putin and his fellow lovers-of-money oligarchs hate the human freedoms of the west, every bit as Donald's MAGA cultists hate American women who freed themselves from the slots patriarchy carved out for them, every bit as same cultists hate black people in our cities, every bit as they hate the brown-skinned in another language who do the dirty work white nationalists will never do.
Donald's poorly educated got that way by design, by schools turned over to testing (mega profit for billionaires, everything machine gradable), same schools long rid of humanities, civics, essay writing, and foreign languages.
All the dictators, oligarchs, and autocrats crave uniformity. No differences. No individuals. Only stereotypes, groups, cliches, slogans, and categories. They enjoy fucking underage girls, and young boys, too, as Donald's pals Jeffrey and Ghislaine years-long trafficked for them.
Yes, American schools have sunk to the level of the assembly-line Russian, Hungarian, Chinese, North Korean, Turkish, Egyptian, El Salvadoran, Saudi, and far-right Israelis still stealing land on the West Bank.
You are so right. As a retired teacher in three southern states, I know the pressure put on schools to make it easier for their students to play sports than make good grades. The poor kids in poor areas are doomed under our current system which now puts Christianity in schools higher than history, languages, math, and sciences.
I greatly admire your physical courage. Thank you for putting your eyes on the truth and telling us about what you have seen. This piece is so much more than thinking about.
Argh. I ache for Ukrainians. Our own fascists supporting the Russian fascists. We resist; we protest and support Ukraine. But these workers are frontline.......hold on. We do care.
The best and quickest way to end this war is for Ukraine to WIN the war.
The US and European Union should immediately "open the flood gates" and provide Ukraine with any and all, and more, materiel it needs to drive out Putin. Remove all restrictions on Ukraine's targeting of long range missiles; it's long past time for drones to land on Putin's dinner table.
Why we are choosing to make Ukraine fight this war with one hand tied behind its back is mind-boggling. What are we doing?!! If we had opened the flood gates 6 months, 8 months, or a year ago, with Putin now on the verge of being driven out of Ukraine, think of how much better the war's status would be for Ukraine and democracy in general. Our "leaders" need to grow a spine and wake up!
The US will never “open the floodgates” to help Zelensky nor the Ukrainian people as long as trump and his fascists control the US. Open the floodgates to help Putin, is more likely.
I'm afraid you are correct. It's quite evident by Trump's behavior that Putin has video of Trump in bed with underage girls when Trump visited Moscow several years ago.
Go read it all, watch the vid and linked articles. The Epstein topic has high utility and a long history of spin and deceit.
Mike Johnson, recently: “When he [Trump] first heard the rumor he kicked [Epstein] out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant who tried to take this stuff down.”
Josh Marshall:
"It’s an odd moment. Because Johnson says it in this kind of off-handed way and without explanation like it’s just one in a litany of talking points. But he clearly suggests that Trump played some role bringing about Epstein’s downfall, that he was an FBI informant who presumably told the authorities about Epstein’s sex crimes ....
"....Two of these points are well-known. The transaction with the Russian oligarch has been written about extensively and was the subject of criminal probes. Of course, Trump denies it was money-laundering. But that part of this story is well-known. It’s also well-known that Trump and Epstein fell out over this real estate transaction. Those two parts of what I’m explaining are established parts of the Trump story. What’s new is the idea that Trump was either the key source who started the Epstein investigation or one of them and that he did this to retaliate against Epstein’s threats and protect himself from being exposed in a money laundering scheme.
"I can’t stress this point enough: You can’t tell what you don’t know. This isn’t an accusation. It’s formal logic. So even if we accept the idea that Trump played a role in Epstein’s downfall, it’s not exonerating. It shows what we’ve long suspected: that Trump had known about Epstein’s operation for years and was fine with it. (That’s assuming for the moment he wasn’t a direct participant — it’s the weekend, I’m being generous.) He only made a call when Epstein was threatening to expose a money laundering scheme.
"Wolff said this a few weeks ago, apparently on the basis of recorded interviews from 2018 and 2019. But last night I saw a few articles from that period that strongly hinted at something like this. So I suspect reporters had heard something about this but couldn’t quite nail it down. In other words, I think this has been known as a rumor at least for some time.
I don't know. However, if they had released FBI records showing he was an informer at the beginning of the scandal, it would have been over. If they trot out FBI files now, everyone will know it's just more coverup.
He likely has video and still photographs of smug, never-accountable Donald with those very underage girls from materials Jeffrey carried with him when he visited Putin, and more from what others carried for him.
My interpretation of the alleged pee-pee tape is that it's really a squirting tape. Females of the extraterrestrial MAGA species squirt like a commercial drinking water fountain when they orgasm. Trump doesn't want the world to see him engaging in extraterrestrial sex and asking if Trump is an extraterrestrial.
This means squirt, or extraterrestrial female orgasm, 💦
David B. I agree . Trump never intended to aid Ukraine. Some people say Putin "played" Trump. I say Trump "played" us, letting us think he'd finally arm Ukraine if only the Europeans upped their support to Ukraine. Or if Putin met with Zelenski. Or--Or--Or. No! Trump has allied us with Putin.
'Putin's dinner table.' After Ukraine's audacious and successful drone attack on several
Russian airfields long distances into its interior, it has baffled me why they have not targeted the Kerch bridge again, Putin's dacha in Sochi (Crimea) or other targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Does TS or anyone have any insight into the strategic thinking behind not taking any of these or similar aggressive moves? This war doesn't end until the general Russian populace experiences it up close and personal. Only they can create the pressure to make Putin stop waging his unholy war.
Bridges are hard targets. They require high accuracy and heavy explosives to destroy. If the released stats on the Flamingo cruise missile are anything to go by, even it would need better precision sensors to destroy one. Let's hope someone slips them a few. (Evil grin)
The comparison with the Spanish Civil War is obvious. The Nazis used the fight to polish their bombing tactics while Franco's fascists overwhelmed the resistance on the ground. Putin is using Ukraine as a test case for his imperial ambitions while the West dithers or colludes. Trump seems to be content to let this drag on, much in the manner that he's quietly urging Israel to finish off Gaza so he can build his Middle East Riviera.
Your writing took me to the front. 7 seconds. We are into the beginning of 8 months with our own fascist oligarchic gang...a gaggle of them seated with Felon34 in Whitey's house Thursday night, funded by all our tax dollars. That dinner promises more death and destruction as russia's fascists continue death and destruction almost 1300 days since 24 February 2022. I woke to read the Kyiv Post headline report of another huge attack across Ukraine but focused on Kyiv where a government building was hit. I wondered when they would finally target that area of the capital. When EU offices were hit, I knew it would be soon. Thank you for being the eyes and ears we need! Our own lamestream media seem to be mindlessly trotting out russian talking points and showing brainless tucker praising putin's "leadership". I am waiting for someone to say, "F*** trump and the US. Ukraine is in NATO and Article 5 is in force. That will, I believe, be the one way to finally stop putin.
"F*** trump and the US. Ukraine is in NATO and Article 5 is in force. That will, I believe, be the one way to finally stop putin.”
I agree emphatically.
I am old enough to have been touched by the Norman-Rockwell spirit of the second half of the 40s, the 50s and the early decades of the 60s. Domestically America had its flaws, which were being addressed by the civil rights movement. But the United States and its allies stood triumphant over totalitarian autocracies. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech and the establishment of an international rules based order under the agis of the United Nations set the tone for globally generally prosperous decades and peace to come.
To see Trump, the 45th and 47th president in a line that began with the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, is so far beyond the pale of disgrace, as to be unimaginable were it not reality.
“Promises made promises kept”. Yup, Trump,MAGA, Project 2025 what 77+ million of us voted for despite all of the warnings ideologically they refused to heed. What a deplorable chapter in our history.
To me that post war era was exemplified in the SS United States the creation of American ingenuity, that carried our flag around the world. Her value to our American heritage - part of what made America really great? About to be scuttled to be the world‘s largest artificial reef 160 feet below the surface of Trump‘s Gulf of America, a local, aggrandizing enterprise for the benefit of the few, that trades on the glorious name of her namesake.
I happened upon this interview earlier. I believe it speaks to this current moment, which despite its dark overtones can present a new time of renewal and recommitment.
Llinda, I am ever grateful to you for this link to Dan Feifer’s interview with Heather Cox Richardson. I plan to broadcast the link, because the entire interview is so cogent, offering perspective on her work, our history, and our times that is unique. Thank you!.
Have you thought about WHY these Ukrainians said "Fascists." To put the pieces of the puzzle together, Vladimir Putin spent 15 years as a Russian KGB operative in Germany. He speaks fluent German - as does Mrlania by the way. He lived in East Germany and was a part of the regime that worked to preserve Fascism in Germany rather than liberate the people. Putin himself is a Fascist - not a communist but more like Stalin who was a ruthless dictator. Lenin's idea of communism was a society of equality - people working for the people but controlled by the state. Stalin and his new emergent and nascent (Putin), is not working for the people. These two men are/were self-focused - amass riches for themselves while telling scoeity they work for the people. Stalin emerged while promising a "better life" to Russians.
Does this sound familiar? Along came an American-born meglamanic with no fear of betraying his country to gain riches and power. He promised that he "will make America great again." Donald Trump is as much of a fascist as Hitler, Stalin, and Putin.
Hitler attempted to overthrow the German government by force - using paramilitary groups. He went to prison, emerged, and through propaganda and promises, he won the next election. Trump attempted to overthow the U.S. government using paramilitary men and women, which failed. He then, with massive help from Putin, his usual con man routine, endless and worthless promises, he won the 2024 election. Today, the U.S. government is nearing collapose - Trump's BBB has promised the richer will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
Ukraine has lost most of its support from the United States. The war is going badly - partically due to Trump. "Ukrainians will never accept capitulation to Russia, whether in the form of surrender of Ukrainian lands or the abandonment of Ukrainian citizes to Russian occupiers." (Foreign Affiars, July 2025)
"The Kremlin wants to turn Ukraine into another Georgia, where pro-Russian political actors have largely captured the state and are pushing the country toward autocracy." The same is happening in the United States where we are fighting our own "Russian invasion."
One wonders how many Russians with any sense of their history recall that within the lifetime of the oldest of them, they themselves were doing just what the Ukrainians are doing now - fighting a long and bitter war against a fiendish invader determined to destroy them, their families, and their cities, and to do so with a level of barbaric cruelty unmatched in human history.
There are many additional independent media that are taking the place of so-called MSM aka legacy media. Meidas Touch Network. Brian Tyler Cohen, et al, et al. Many are all over Bluesky.
Unfortunately, Murdoch's media (and Russian media et al) - who have troves of Kompromat - is where the 77 million who voted for 47 turn their eyes.
Timothy - your writing is so timely and brilliant and goes to the heart of the people involved with what you are writing about. Thanks for your great work - as it gives your readers an 'up close' perspective of what you are feeling while you are on the ground in these dangerous places - thanks so much for what you do and how you do it.
Timothy, thank you for helping us understand the plight, and the bravery, of the Ukrainian people opposing the Russian war criminal. I hope we can show the same strength and bravery facing down our *fascist war criminal*.
Thank you for introducing us to these incredible Ukrainians, and for painting the extraordinary, unbearable contrasts - the crane operator killed, the tea lady in the basement. When A said "Fascists" my heart sank, because I know he meant us as well.
We are betrayed by our, choke, President. I can think of no better place for our tax dollars to go internationally.
Yes indeed, "he meant us as well," Meant for the Mountains.
Putin and his fellow lovers-of-money oligarchs hate the human freedoms of the west, every bit as Donald's MAGA cultists hate American women who freed themselves from the slots patriarchy carved out for them, every bit as same cultists hate black people in our cities, every bit as they hate the brown-skinned in another language who do the dirty work white nationalists will never do.
Donald's poorly educated got that way by design, by schools turned over to testing (mega profit for billionaires, everything machine gradable), same schools long rid of humanities, civics, essay writing, and foreign languages.
All the dictators, oligarchs, and autocrats crave uniformity. No differences. No individuals. Only stereotypes, groups, cliches, slogans, and categories. They enjoy fucking underage girls, and young boys, too, as Donald's pals Jeffrey and Ghislaine years-long trafficked for them.
Yes, American schools have sunk to the level of the assembly-line Russian, Hungarian, Chinese, North Korean, Turkish, Egyptian, El Salvadoran, Saudi, and far-right Israelis still stealing land on the West Bank.
You are so right. As a retired teacher in three southern states, I know the pressure put on schools to make it easier for their students to play sports than make good grades. The poor kids in poor areas are doomed under our current system which now puts Christianity in schools higher than history, languages, math, and sciences.
Oh, yes.
I greatly admire your physical courage. Thank you for putting your eyes on the truth and telling us about what you have seen. This piece is so much more than thinking about.
I admire his courage too. When I am back in Europe I would like to visit Ukraine as well.
This whole war is so sad. Putin is a Russian thug through and through and trump is a massive failure. I hope Zelanskyy can survive it.
I hope we survive it. Evil spreads.
Don’t stop reminding us what fascism looks like.
Argh. I ache for Ukrainians. Our own fascists supporting the Russian fascists. We resist; we protest and support Ukraine. But these workers are frontline.......hold on. We do care.
The best and quickest way to end this war is for Ukraine to WIN the war.
The US and European Union should immediately "open the flood gates" and provide Ukraine with any and all, and more, materiel it needs to drive out Putin. Remove all restrictions on Ukraine's targeting of long range missiles; it's long past time for drones to land on Putin's dinner table.
Why we are choosing to make Ukraine fight this war with one hand tied behind its back is mind-boggling. What are we doing?!! If we had opened the flood gates 6 months, 8 months, or a year ago, with Putin now on the verge of being driven out of Ukraine, think of how much better the war's status would be for Ukraine and democracy in general. Our "leaders" need to grow a spine and wake up!
The US will never “open the floodgates” to help Zelensky nor the Ukrainian people as long as trump and his fascists control the US. Open the floodgates to help Putin, is more likely.
I'm afraid you are correct. It's quite evident by Trump's behavior that Putin has video of Trump in bed with underage girls when Trump visited Moscow several years ago.
Trump would simply say that it was an AI generated video
and his cult members would agree. Once you drink the Cool-Aid, the result is certain.
It's so much more than that. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/is-this-the-hidden-part-of-the-trump-epstein-drama
Go read it all, watch the vid and linked articles. The Epstein topic has high utility and a long history of spin and deceit.
Mike Johnson, recently: “When he [Trump] first heard the rumor he kicked [Epstein] out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant who tried to take this stuff down.”
Josh Marshall:
"It’s an odd moment. Because Johnson says it in this kind of off-handed way and without explanation like it’s just one in a litany of talking points. But he clearly suggests that Trump played some role bringing about Epstein’s downfall, that he was an FBI informant who presumably told the authorities about Epstein’s sex crimes ....
"....Two of these points are well-known. The transaction with the Russian oligarch has been written about extensively and was the subject of criminal probes. Of course, Trump denies it was money-laundering. But that part of this story is well-known. It’s also well-known that Trump and Epstein fell out over this real estate transaction. Those two parts of what I’m explaining are established parts of the Trump story. What’s new is the idea that Trump was either the key source who started the Epstein investigation or one of them and that he did this to retaliate against Epstein’s threats and protect himself from being exposed in a money laundering scheme.
"I can’t stress this point enough: You can’t tell what you don’t know. This isn’t an accusation. It’s formal logic. So even if we accept the idea that Trump played a role in Epstein’s downfall, it’s not exonerating. It shows what we’ve long suspected: that Trump had known about Epstein’s operation for years and was fine with it. (That’s assuming for the moment he wasn’t a direct participant — it’s the weekend, I’m being generous.) He only made a call when Epstein was threatening to expose a money laundering scheme.
"Wolff said this a few weeks ago, apparently on the basis of recorded interviews from 2018 and 2019. But last night I saw a few articles from that period that strongly hinted at something like this. So I suspect reporters had heard something about this but couldn’t quite nail it down. In other words, I think this has been known as a rumor at least for some time.
"So why did (Mike) Johnson say this?"
I don't know. However, if they had released FBI records showing he was an informer at the beginning of the scandal, it would have been over. If they trot out FBI files now, everyone will know it's just more coverup.
Putin likely has much more, Thomas.
He likely has video and still photographs of smug, never-accountable Donald with those very underage girls from materials Jeffrey carried with him when he visited Putin, and more from what others carried for him.
My interpretation of the alleged pee-pee tape is that it's really a squirting tape. Females of the extraterrestrial MAGA species squirt like a commercial drinking water fountain when they orgasm. Trump doesn't want the world to see him engaging in extraterrestrial sex and asking if Trump is an extraterrestrial.
This means squirt, or extraterrestrial female orgasm, 💦
David B. I agree . Trump never intended to aid Ukraine. Some people say Putin "played" Trump. I say Trump "played" us, letting us think he'd finally arm Ukraine if only the Europeans upped their support to Ukraine. Or if Putin met with Zelenski. Or--Or--Or. No! Trump has allied us with Putin.
Hopefully the war will not outlast Trump's reign- meaning both will end soon. Hopefully....
I’m afraid you’re right. But at least Europe and Canada are supporting Ukraine.
'Putin's dinner table.' After Ukraine's audacious and successful drone attack on several
Russian airfields long distances into its interior, it has baffled me why they have not targeted the Kerch bridge again, Putin's dacha in Sochi (Crimea) or other targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Does TS or anyone have any insight into the strategic thinking behind not taking any of these or similar aggressive moves? This war doesn't end until the general Russian populace experiences it up close and personal. Only they can create the pressure to make Putin stop waging his unholy war.
Bridges are hard targets. They require high accuracy and heavy explosives to destroy. If the released stats on the Flamingo cruise missile are anything to go by, even it would need better precision sensors to destroy one. Let's hope someone slips them a few. (Evil grin)
Or perhaps even more sophisticated drone babies water craft.
The comparison with the Spanish Civil War is obvious. The Nazis used the fight to polish their bombing tactics while Franco's fascists overwhelmed the resistance on the ground. Putin is using Ukraine as a test case for his imperial ambitions while the West dithers or colludes. Trump seems to be content to let this drag on, much in the manner that he's quietly urging Israel to finish off Gaza so he can build his Middle East Riviera.
Your writing took me to the front. 7 seconds. We are into the beginning of 8 months with our own fascist oligarchic gang...a gaggle of them seated with Felon34 in Whitey's house Thursday night, funded by all our tax dollars. That dinner promises more death and destruction as russia's fascists continue death and destruction almost 1300 days since 24 February 2022. I woke to read the Kyiv Post headline report of another huge attack across Ukraine but focused on Kyiv where a government building was hit. I wondered when they would finally target that area of the capital. When EU offices were hit, I knew it would be soon. Thank you for being the eyes and ears we need! Our own lamestream media seem to be mindlessly trotting out russian talking points and showing brainless tucker praising putin's "leadership". I am waiting for someone to say, "F*** trump and the US. Ukraine is in NATO and Article 5 is in force. That will, I believe, be the one way to finally stop putin.
"F*** trump and the US. Ukraine is in NATO and Article 5 is in force. That will, I believe, be the one way to finally stop putin.”
I agree emphatically.
I am old enough to have been touched by the Norman-Rockwell spirit of the second half of the 40s, the 50s and the early decades of the 60s. Domestically America had its flaws, which were being addressed by the civil rights movement. But the United States and its allies stood triumphant over totalitarian autocracies. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech and the establishment of an international rules based order under the agis of the United Nations set the tone for globally generally prosperous decades and peace to come.
To see Trump, the 45th and 47th president in a line that began with the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, is so far beyond the pale of disgrace, as to be unimaginable were it not reality.
“Promises made promises kept”. Yup, Trump,MAGA, Project 2025 what 77+ million of us voted for despite all of the warnings ideologically they refused to heed. What a deplorable chapter in our history.
To me that post war era was exemplified in the SS United States the creation of American ingenuity, that carried our flag around the world. Her value to our American heritage - part of what made America really great? About to be scuttled to be the world‘s largest artificial reef 160 feet below the surface of Trump‘s Gulf of America, a local, aggrandizing enterprise for the benefit of the few, that trades on the glorious name of her namesake.
Altogether SHAME! Shame on us.
I happened upon this interview earlier. I believe it speaks to this current moment, which despite its dark overtones can present a new time of renewal and recommitment.
https://youtu.be/JSDXB8L7WNM?si=FEQwQDElm0RsukEW
Llinda, I am ever grateful to you for this link to Dan Feifer’s interview with Heather Cox Richardson. I plan to broadcast the link, because the entire interview is so cogent, offering perspective on her work, our history, and our times that is unique. Thank you!.
That's great Henry! 🌻
Thank you! Please keep writing.
Have you thought about WHY these Ukrainians said "Fascists." To put the pieces of the puzzle together, Vladimir Putin spent 15 years as a Russian KGB operative in Germany. He speaks fluent German - as does Mrlania by the way. He lived in East Germany and was a part of the regime that worked to preserve Fascism in Germany rather than liberate the people. Putin himself is a Fascist - not a communist but more like Stalin who was a ruthless dictator. Lenin's idea of communism was a society of equality - people working for the people but controlled by the state. Stalin and his new emergent and nascent (Putin), is not working for the people. These two men are/were self-focused - amass riches for themselves while telling scoeity they work for the people. Stalin emerged while promising a "better life" to Russians.
Does this sound familiar? Along came an American-born meglamanic with no fear of betraying his country to gain riches and power. He promised that he "will make America great again." Donald Trump is as much of a fascist as Hitler, Stalin, and Putin.
Hitler attempted to overthrow the German government by force - using paramilitary groups. He went to prison, emerged, and through propaganda and promises, he won the next election. Trump attempted to overthow the U.S. government using paramilitary men and women, which failed. He then, with massive help from Putin, his usual con man routine, endless and worthless promises, he won the 2024 election. Today, the U.S. government is nearing collapose - Trump's BBB has promised the richer will get richer and the poor will get poorer.
Ukraine has lost most of its support from the United States. The war is going badly - partically due to Trump. "Ukrainians will never accept capitulation to Russia, whether in the form of surrender of Ukrainian lands or the abandonment of Ukrainian citizes to Russian occupiers." (Foreign Affiars, July 2025)
"The Kremlin wants to turn Ukraine into another Georgia, where pro-Russian political actors have largely captured the state and are pushing the country toward autocracy." The same is happening in the United States where we are fighting our own "Russian invasion."
Thank you!
One wonders how many Russians with any sense of their history recall that within the lifetime of the oldest of them, they themselves were doing just what the Ukrainians are doing now - fighting a long and bitter war against a fiendish invader determined to destroy them, their families, and their cities, and to do so with a level of barbaric cruelty unmatched in human history.
Thank you. Very poignant
When the President's threats to go to war with American cities & their people, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning”, are footnotes in MSM, we need to stand up & resist together. Policy differences be damned when the Trump admin & its MAGA base want a full on dictatorship. https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/the-american-dictator?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/september-6-2025?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
At least, that's where they turn their eyes for now. Until 47 comes for them.
There are many additional independent media that are taking the place of so-called MSM aka legacy media. Meidas Touch Network. Brian Tyler Cohen, et al, et al. Many are all over Bluesky.
Unfortunately, Murdoch's media (and Russian media et al) - who have troves of Kompromat - is where the 77 million who voted for 47 turn their eyes.
Thank you for your insights Professor Snyder, as well as for your willingness to go there during wartime and speak to people on the ground. 🙏🏼