[guest post by Dana]

Welp, that settles it: Putin is trustworthy!:

President Donald Trump said Thursday that talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are “very well advanced” and he expressed confidence that Russian leader Vladimir Putin won’t press to restart the war if a truce can be reached.

Trump made the comments at the start of a White House meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer where Starmer was expected to make his case to the Republican president that American leadership would be critical to maintain the peace in Ukraine should the three-year war end.

“I think he’ll keep his word,” Trump said of Putin. “I’ve spoken to him, I’ve known him for a long time now, we had to go through the Russian hoax together.”

It’s almost like Russia didn’t break the Budapest Memorandum, Minsk 1 & 2, The Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty, Azov Sea & Kerch Strait Treaty, and Black Sea Fleet agreements. . . They’ve clearly proven themselves trustworthy, no??

Remember, in 2022, when Russia assured everyone there were no plans to invade Ukraine:

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov emerged from the nearly eight hours of talks and declared, “There are no plans or intentions to attack Ukraine.” He went on to say, “There is no reason to fear some kind of escalatory scenario.”

And less than a month later. . .

Additionally, in his meeting with Starmer, our president made a stunning observation:

Trump, speaking in the White House, and apparently unaware of the existence of gravity, laments Ukraine’s “very flat battlefields” because the “bullets only stop when they hit somebody”.

Makes you proud, doesn’t it?

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Sad news:

Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in New Mexico along with their dog, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. He was 95.

Their causes of death have not been confirmed, but “the circumstances surrounding the death of the two deceased individuals (are considered) to be suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation,” a sheriff’s deputy said, according to the affidavit for a search warrant obtained by CNN affiliate KOAT.

Hackman was an incredible actor. And one who could transform into a menacing character like no other. For me, however, there are two films that I really liked and believe showcased Hackman’s versatility.

First, in the 1988 film, Mississippi Burning, his role as the heroic, sharp old-school FBI agent Rupert Anderson reveals the heartache of a man who understands all too well the pervasive hatred toward Blacks at that time. It’s a very intense film that covers the disappearance and investigation of three civil rights workers in 1964 in Mississippi. At turns, tender-hearted toward Frances McDormand’s character, and then deeply angry and frustrated by circumstances of Mississippi and the Deep South, he is never not amazing to watch.

And second, his chilling role as Little Bill Daggett, the cruel and dangerous sheriff in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 film, Unforgiven. Always in tight control of a small town called Big Whisky in the 1880’s, residents live in fear of Little Bill, until one day, his character instinctively feels threatened when Eastwood’s anti-hero Will Munny rides into town. In this film, Hackman’s Little Bill is as menacing as menacing can get.

I was going to post a few clips from each film, but they’re a bit too rough.

You can read more on Gene Hackman here.

RIP.

-Dana