As with all things right-wing fear is always is a central motivating factor. Here Putin fears the spread of Democracy into Ukraine and then Russia. This is why he has to control what happens in Ukraine if he is going to control what happens in Russia. Of course, what is ironic is that Putin says he's invading to protect the Ukrainians from N**ism all while being a f*****t and forcing Putin's version of authoritarianism on everyone!

And of course, Trump thinks Putin's moves are brilliant but what would you expect Putin's special lapdog to say...

Being wrong and continuing to double down on that way past the point where sensible people realize their mistakes concerning allegiance to a truly despicable man...paints you into a harsh corner.

Republicans, particularly trump supporters are guilty of supporting e******n **es intended to overturn a l********e e******n, and now we are seeing these people double down in a betrayal of our country by supporting the authoritarian Putin who in reality is very much at the heart of the division in this country.

This is becoming a division that clearly has t*****rs to our country on one side, and no matter how much the right wants to say democrats are the t*****rs or authoritarians, it is becoming clearer and clearer which side those lines are drawn. Those bonding with the authoritarian dictator Putin see nothing wrong with this kind of authoritarian control...and the real patriots want nothing to do with Russian style politics, Putin, or trump and the GOP that won't fight against it.

Apparently Donald Trump has a first as the first President ever accused of rape. Interesting that E. Jean Carroll requested his dna at the first and not his deposition. So if there is no match then he's off the hook.

I wonder how the court is going to rule, given the fact that they are going to make him testify under oath in another case?

It's just more Trump drama. Probably nothing to it. She probably thought it was just a little wind whipping by!




Associated Press
Donald Trump's DNA, not deposition sought in defamation suit


Columnist E. Jean Carroll leaves federal court Tuesday Feb. 22, 2022, in New York. Carroll, who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s and then filed a defamation lawsuit against him, will not seek to depose him prior to trial because it would cause unnecessary delay, but she added that a DNA sample was still being sought. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)


ASSOCIATED PRESS
LARRY NEUMEISTER
Tue, February 22, 2022, 6:21 PM


NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for a woman who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in the mid-1990s and then filed a defamation lawsuit against him said Tuesday she will not seek to depose Trump prior to trial because it would cause unnecessary delay, but added that a DNA sample was still being sought.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan first made the revelation in Manhattan federal court during a pretrial hearing before explaining the decision to reporters outside the court as her client, E. Jean Carroll, stood by her side.

A deposition, Kaplan said, would “inevitably result in an inordinate amount of delay.”

“We want the case to go forward,” she said.

Attorney Alina Habba, who represented Trump at the hearing, said outside court that she had not previously heard that Carroll's lawyers did not want a deposition, a proceeding in which lawyers in civil cases question likely witnesses under oath prior to trial.

“It's surprising,” Habba said.

As for a DNA sample, Habba said: “None has been demanded.”

Kaplan, though, said the DNA sample had been requested after the case was first filed in state court, and the demand still exists after it was moved to federal court.

She said she would be “more than perfectly happy” to wait to interview Trump at trial, which she estimated could occur in as little as six months, after some near-term legal obstacles are cleared.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Carroll has consented to being named in the media.

She told reporters outside court that she was looking forward to the trial on behalf of all women “who have been grabbed and groped, assaulted and raped by men in power and are silenced.”

“And we are looking to bring justice, at least in this one case, against a powerful man,” she said.

Carroll said she would “never settle, never.”

“This is about principle. It's about a powerful man assaulting and raping a woman and then getting away with it. That's not right,” she said.

Carroll in a June 2019 book said Trump raped her in the mid-1990s in an upscale Manhattan department store.

The book excerpt prompted Trump to deny the allegations and question Carroll’s credibility and motivations in a statement from his White House press office, comments in an Oval Office interview and statements to the media as he boarded a helicopter for Camp David.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule eventually on Trump’s request that the United States take his place as the defendant in the lawsuit. The U.S. Justice Department has asserted that Trump cannot be held personally liable for “crude and disrespectful” remarks he made about Carroll because his remarks were made as he was carrying out his duties as president.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who presided over Tuesday's hearing, ruled last October that Trump cannot use a law protecting federal employees from being sued individually for things they do within the scope of their employment.

He also has rejected a request by Trump's attorneys that the progression of the lawsuit, including depositions, be delayed until the 2nd Circuit rules on whether Trump can be replaced as the defendant.

On Tuesday, the judge seemed to have little patience for arguments by Trump's lawyers saying that Trump should be able to countersue Carroll under a law sometimes used to challenge defamation lawsuits that unfairly make claims.

“I question whether you have the right to do what you want to do,” he said, noting that the lawyers were seeking to countersue more than a year after the case was filed.

Invoking the name of christian's savior, Jesus Christ, when did people get so frigging stupid?

You are supporting a dictator, one of the most ruthless and intelligent leaders ever to take control of one of the roughest and most corrupt groups of military and civilian leaders in history.

People are supporting this because the GOP is headed this direction with keeping control of government power by any means. Trump tried to go Putin, but he just couldn't quite o*******w some key roadblocks of democracy. And that said have worked diligently to create a few states where pesky ethics and rules can't get in the way of the next attempt to overturn enough state e******ns to throw a p**********l e******n into no man's land.

You are no patriot if you admire dictators, and it's debatable as to whether you can even be called an American...alternative American suits the purpose.

Politicians who supported the i**********n needed to be removed from office...and they sure as hell need to support this country and government over dictators who have been our enemy and still are.

crazy, Good question. I think the answer is obvious. Bullies like Putin will go as far as we let him. Where do we draw the line, Poland, Spain? how about New York or Ohio? The allies practiced a foreign policy with the n**is. It was called appeasement. They let Hitler take, Czechoslovakia, Austria, The Rhineland. Il Duce took Ethiopia, and Albania. The Japanese took thousands of miles of sea lanes, Indo-China, Mongolia, and parts of China. All this looking the other way whenever the Axis countries led directly to World War 11. The Brits and French no longer believe in this policy, either should we. For better or worse, we are a super power, and have vital interests all over the globe that must be protected.