The planned signing ceremony in the White House Oval Office of the USA extorting Ukraine to give up its rare earth elements for peace with Russia  exploded into a shouting match among Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy, President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance.   Zelenskyy was kicked out of the White House. What happened?  There will be reports citing White House, media and Russian views, but my take is that this meeting was planned as an ambush for Trump to extract his revenge stemming from his  first impeachment  in 2019.   Further orchestration becomes obvious when  Senator Lindsey Graham ( R-South Carolina ) immediately called on Zelenskyy to resign .  The whole misadventure surely looked like that scene in films you've seen of a schoolyard bully beating up a classmate.  It was terrible to witness. From  Fox News : After the Friday meeting, Zelenskyy wrote on X, "Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank...

The USA has worked well since 1776 because the framers of the Constitution were wise enough to establish a government with a separation of powers: legislative branch makes laws, judicial branch interprets laws and executive branch enforces laws.  But the Constitution can be upheld only if these three are independent from each other.  For the first time ever in our history, we have a president who does all three whenever he wants, has one branch ( the U.S. Congress ) afraid to defy him, and the third ( Supreme Court ) which has already ruled that a sitting president can do anything and be free from prosecution.  Democrats and the public are useless in any defense, so President Donald Trump now rules like a dictator. There is one delay in the system.  A judiciary which has checked Trump.  But only temporarily, for anything Trump does not like gets eventually appealed to the Supreme Court.  The next few months will determine if the USA is in a constitutional c...

We have been at-sea heading for Southampton, UK,since leaving Miami on Sunday.  Before bringing you up to day on our cruise, one item regarding Donald Trump.  His re-election as president   will definitely change our relationship with the world.    His stance has always been America first. With Europe. The Ukraine War will be probably be settled, with Russia gaining some territory.  Interesting that Vladimir Putin has not yet congratulated Trump. His view about NATO is clear.  He wants every member to pay their share. His "pal," Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, will hold a summit of 50 European leaders today in Budapest, which will be our final European Christmas River Cruise stop. He identifies well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and has had good relations with Saudi Arabia.  Iran has tried to assassinate Trump, so there is a problem there. China will also see some added tariffs, and there is that Taiwan matter.  ...