Blackout in Kyiv Day 4.

NY Times: Ukrainian flags are on display all over Maine. Why? (No paywall)

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WALDOBORO, Maine — Clam diggers visit Elaine and Ralph Johnston’s hardware store in the coastal town of Waldoboro for shellfish rakes and waders. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, they have also been able to pick up a more unusual item: the Ukrainian flag, sold for $15.99.

Across Maine, the yellow and blue banner — yellow symbolizing the plentiful wheat fields of Ukraine, blue, the sky overhead — flutters from flagpoles. It decorates lobster buoys and barn doors, clapboard houses sprayed with sea salt and cabins nestled in pine forests.

Unlike in cities like New York and Chicago, where symbols of Ukrainian pride in part reflect a large diaspora community, there are few people of Ukrainian heritage in Maine. But the flag’s widespread presence in the state shows another kind of solidarity. Mainers like to say theirs is a flinty spirit, born of enduring harsh winters and an equally harsh economy.

“People over there are doing a good job fighting for their land and their survival, and we in Maine, we like that,” Ms. Johnston said. “We sell flags to people who feel the way we do.”

Ukrainian Flags Are on Display All Over Maine. Why? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/us/ukrainian-flags-are-on-display-all-over-maine-why.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhlSVUZBSbIRp86rQePhP7Oybp5iHv3IzPQQCxPiuMTRoSB4F_JbLsmbt83mjOFScUENbYuQvE30e9OeUxxTg3i6r21pKM4GQRn44SiQjFxmJvXQbEz9TKtYDXjdrolmLD64EjcYX3tD6yJzSYjd1568pU0dVv70SNYxvrFAfc1joclpYopAZpwQzYEYCWY7bK_W1glZoLwPlyL4RI2WupZRTnQgdWYjroDew1WAljEJ2httSd-sJgPfYNKY9usakIoa8H8gr4OCmd3LI7PB5U5R4fclb0Coqf5ZF_4N2J9zCqNw7r4ZTgt

Mine flies in CT.

Day 3 of the Kyiv blackout:

The wisdom of Special prosecutor Jack Smith (parody acct.)

A description of day 2 of the Kyiv blackout:

The moment today when the European Parliament declared Russia to be a state sponsor of terrorism.

The vote was not close.

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1595397872974970883

Why hasn't the US done this?

Ukraine this morning.

There is a Special Prosecutor Jack Smith parody Twitter account

It's pretty funny. I'll post a couple of tweets.

https://twitter.com/7Veritas4/status/1595095547005878273


https://twitter.com/7Veritas4/status/1595063115435098116

https://twitter.com/7Veritas4/status/1594666809654910977?t=RhR8KgYBIZOq9T1o4L4bhw&s=19

CNNs Brownstein: 2024 election could come down to four communities

IN Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada.


Cited in Politico:
The two presidential nominees could start out in 2024 with as many as 46 states and D.C. sorted between the two parties. Brownstein argues that given recent trends, Democrats could start with a safe 260 electoral votes and Republicans with a safe 235 electoral votes. Under this scenario, longtime battleground states have become reliably red or blue. With Michigan and Pennsylvania seemingly back in Democratic hands, Florida and Ohio dominated by the GOP, sometimes-blue North Carolina out of reach for Democrats, and perennial GOP target New Hampshire out of reach for Republicans, the list of true toss-ups could be down to just four states worth 43 electoral votes: Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin.

The electoral college map is so closely divided that you can narrow down the decisive swing votes to a few pockets spread across those four states: “a miniscule number of people living in the tiny patches of contested political ground — white-collar suburbs of Atlanta and Phoenix, working-class Latino neighborhoods in and around Las Vegas and the mid-sized communities of the so-called BOW counties in Wisconsin.”

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/politics/2022-preview-2024-presidential-election

Politico: Bipartisan Congress expected to pass massive $38+ billion aid for Ukraine.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Congressional Republican leaders are on track to steamroll the growing number of conservative lawmakers who want to stop funding Ukraine’s war effort, a move that’s sure to intensify the GOP divide over U.S. support for Kyiv.

Interviews with lawmakers who traveled here for the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual pro-democracy conference, revealed that Congress is likely to allocate well more than the $38 billion the Biden administration requested for Ukraine’s military and economic needs as part of a year-end governing funding bill. And that extra infusion is set to advance with the help of senior Republicans, even as influential conservative groups urge a pause.


If Congress approves the White House’s request or super-sizes it, the U.S. commitment to Kyiv since Russia’s invasion began in February could top $100 billion by the end of the year — a massive sum that would throw a sharp elbow at Donald Trump-aligned Republicans who want to reevaluate U.S. policy toward Ukraine. But as questions swirl over the staying power of the Western coalition, lawmakers’ message here in Halifax was clear: Now is not the time to scale back the flow of weapons, equipment and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who co-led the congressional delegation to the conference, downplayed the impact of neo-isolationists within his party and noted that the Hill’s most powerful GOP lawmakers firmly support additional aid.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/22/gop-ukraine-aid-halifax-00069709