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Accurate and well presented. The Cold War might be added. It fits the larger pattern in which economic stresses and the US prying China away from Russia were central to Russia’s defeat.

Polling shows that the Russians want peace negotiations by a large margin. There is also extensive public criticism of the Army and of Putin's ministers. Mostly though, Russians are concerned over inflation, the poor state of the economy, and the risks of themselves or eligible male relatives being conscripted into the war or called up from the reserves.

As for the public warning by the Russian MP, it is sharply stated and at the edge of what can be said publicly. It helps to move the line toward more direct criticism of Putin -- a dangerous turn for an autocratic ruler.

The quality of GOP event planning has obviously slipped a bit. Nixon’s advance men had a firm rule to never have any events with elephants.

My father was big on paperback WW II battle accounts, so I naturally read them as well. Early in my teens, I too was reading books at the rate of one a day. Now, in retirement, I have the time but pain due to health issues is a severe distraction.

Even as an autocratic security state, Russia is still subject to political processes. These revolve around the interests and loyalty of the oligarchs, those in Putin's circle, and of the military and security services. Since their calculations and actions are fraught with risk, they are mostly hidden from view. When change occurs, it can happen abruptly.

My read of Russia's military circumstances is that it cannot generate the combat power to win or even to hold on indefinitely. Neither can the Russian economy sustain the continued losses of manpower and resources due to the war. For all the urging of Russia's ultra nationalists for total war mobilization, such an effort would likely provoke widespread popular opposition and noncompliance. Indeed, Russia lacks the resources to properly train, equip, and support their current forces, so an expansion via mobilization is implausible.

My guess is that a slew of other new anti-cancer therapies are in the pipeline. They will tend to put downward price pressure on each other, including the featured new ones.

Many years ago, I lived in an area without cable and poor TV reception. For entertainment, I turned to hard boiled detective novels and went through dozens of them.

My girlfriend at the time borrowed and read one of them. Her assessment: "Now I understand why you talk like you do." My reply was that my father was cynical and I always talked that way. Hard boiled detective novels made me better at it.

You may well be correct. Then again, if (or when) the Russian economy and front line start to collapse, the dynamic changes. That is essentially what happened in Afghanistan. The signs of similar stress as to the Ukraine War are growing, but Putin is said to be both delusional and lied to. What might the G7 propose to break the impasse?

How about something like an immediate cease fire and withdrawal from Ukraine in good order by Russian forces, in return for phased sanctions relief? All remaining issues to then be negotiated in good faith.

Such an offer would be rejected by Putin, but it would set a marker down for the Russian public that Ukraine and NATO are not unreasonable in suggesting an Afghan war type solution. That might catalyze a political process in an increasingly war weary Russia that results in Putin's ouster or forced acceptance of terms.

Trump’s public comments seem designed to pressure the Iranian regime and to talk down oil prices. Trump is loud and brash by nature but he is also usually strategic about it.

Indeed, it is. As a rule of thumb, final decisions commonly follow such preliminary rulings.

“Forget it, Jake. It’s California.”

Ross Macdonald (Lew Archer, in Southern California) and Loren Estelman (Amos Walker, in Detroit). Hollywood made two Ross Macdonald novels into passable movies with Paul Newman using the name Harper.

And we always have Raymond Chandler.

In close cases, there tends to be detailed haggling by the Justices over revisions to their opinions. One revision can trigger others, with each Justice having to calibrate their demands and concessions against the risk of losing support for an opinion and perhaps losing or even gaining a majority.

Like it or not, Russia’s economic and logistical struggles, reverses in the field, and the ongoing development of Ukraine’s drone and robot technologies offer a genuine prospect of Ukrainian victory in some form. My guess is that since Putin now needs peace, Zelensky and the G7 will be discussing terms and arriving at a common position.

The terms of the appearance and Vance’s treatment by those harpies were no doubt negotiated in detail. The discussion will be sharp at times but polite. That will help Vance and future conservative guests and will help ABC to settle the ongoing FCC complaint.

Me too. My preferred casual reading is hard boiled detective novels. Very few of them now get published.

I think that Adm. Moorer and the eyewitnesses on the Liberty are as close to the truth as we are able to get. They indicate that, as a decision of state, Israel deliberately attacked the Liberty in order to prevent it from detecting and reporting Israeli battle plans that violated their promises to the United States.

As for classification, Adm. Moorer would be vulnerable to prosecution if his disclosures violated the directives of the US government. Since the US government did not formally accept Israel's explanation for the attack and Moorer's statements were never sanctioned, the US government may have done so to put Israel on record publicly that we know the truth about the attack on the Liberty and never to repeat the offense. Sovereign states sometimes do that sort of thing.

(1) For good reasons or bad, the governments of Israel and the US are lying about the attack on the Liberty.

(2) Some who know the SIGINT world far better than I do have made detailed allegations. Admiral Thomas H. Moorer served as Chief of Naval Operations and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in that era. He publicly alleged that the attack by Israel was a deliberate act.

Moorer believed Israel attacked the ship to prevent the interception of communications regarding their planned seizure of the Golan Heights from Syria. Moorer accused President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara of orchestrating a cover-up, including the recall of rescue aircraft, to maintain strategic ties with Israel.

I get all that, and I am a resolute supporter of Israel. Yet, as with the attack on Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and the assassination of JFK, key aspects of the attack on the Liberty remain suppressed. No one likes being lied to as if they are a gullible dolt. Suspicion as to Israel's conduct is natural, and it is hard to believe that the attack on the Liberty was an innocent mistake.