The U.S. House finally passed the   $95 billion war/humanitarian needs aid bill   for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific (mainly Taiwan).  The Senate will act on this package Tuesday and President Joe Biden will sign it.  Speaker Mike Johnson (right) is using something novel, bipartisanship,  fiercely condemned by Republican loyalists.  More Republicans opposed the legislation, 112, with 101 in support, plus 210 Democrats.  Who gains?  Defense contractors, those countries and Joe Biden.  Who loses?  Donald Trump.   This budget victory is a sign that the Trump effect is weakening. About Trump and his hush money criminal trial in New York, various  viral trails of interest .  Keep in mind that the media attention is about a sex scandal, but the  real matter has to do with hiding information, keeping an issue hidden from voters ahead of the 2016 presidential election .  This illegal ploy worked, for Trump's narrow victory over Hillary Clinton would probably have been reversed if this bit o

The  Russo-Ukrainian War  is now in a stalemate: Started in February of 2014. Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014. In February of 2022, Russian launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Some history. Crimea was part of the Crimean Khanate from 1441 until it was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. In the Russian Revolution of 1917, Ukraine was absorbed by the Russian Empire  as a constituent republic Ukraine is the second-largest ( 1.7 times bigger than Germany ) European country after Russia. In 1922 the Soviet Union was formed with various  union republics , and until its dissolution in 1991, varied from 4 to 16 countries, always including Ukraine. Map of the Union Republics from 1956 to 1991, as numbered by the Soviet Constitution: 1.   Russia , 2.   Ukraine , 3.   Belarus , 4.   Uzbekistan , 5.   Kazakhstan , 6.   Georgia , 7.   Azerbaijan , 8.   Lithuania , 9.   Moldavia , 10.   Latvia , 11.   Kyrgyzstan , 12.   Tajikistan , 13.   Armenia , 14.   Turkmenistan , 15.   Estonia In