x.com/euromaidanpress/status/2062129172491685895
Fuel rationing in Russia
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Latvian PM Andris Kulbergs called for ending economic ties with Moscow and Minsk, with drugmakers Grindeks and Olpha a likely exception.
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2026/06/03/latvias-kulbergs-vows-to-cut-trade-with-russia-and-belarus-but-pharma-sector-exempted/ -
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Life.
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This is Sam Clemens, our youngest renegade
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‘Woman at the Garden’ was created in 1873 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in Impressionism style. Find more prominent pieces of landscape at Wikiart.org – best visual art database.
— Read on www.wikiart.org/en/pierre-auguste-renoir/woman-at-the-garden-1873 -
Hiram Bernard NEWS, LIFE, AND ART NOTES FROM A CHILDLESS% (CHILD-FREE)[1] CAT LADY WORKING AWAY IN THE DEEP SOUTH IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK .
O.K. It’s after 12 noon. I have not written a blog post although that was my top priority for the morning. But today’s cleaning day and that always interrupts everything. Even having a housekeeper who comes every week doesn’t seem to change the amount of work or disruption caused by the drudgery of this never ending task.
But, we are lucky. If someone asked me about our housekeeper, someone who knew neither of us, I would respond that she was one of the best people I know and considered as a friend more than anything else. She is kind, responsible, trustworthy, sympathetic, asmart as a whip, fun to talk to, and completely professional. Who could even ask for that? She is also one of the few people I have run across in my 75 years of living who seems to actually live her life in a way that is coherent with what she believes. We are fortunate to have her.
But with a house that until recently contained 10 cats and now contains nine (Hiram Bernard recently died of cancer), there is no end to the cleaning. And, it’s spring. They are shedding like crazy. We could run a profitable business making sweaters out of cat fur.
NOW
As I’m sure you have noticed, I have decided to substantially change the website. Rather than just reporting news stories I am particularly interested in, I am trying to integrate news commentary with notes about my personal life, what it feels like personally to be living in this runaway circus of corruption and greed and the amassing of power. At times, i will include discussions about music, art, and literature so we won’t all go stark raving mad.
I don’t know how it will work.
I am, however, extremely interested in hearing back from those of you who are reading www.lawpowerandjustice.com
about how you think it is working.
I welcome any responses. Let me know how you like the change. Let me know about stories from your personal life that relate to the current news. Pass along recommendations about books and music. And, please, pass along photographs of animals in your life and stories about them.
SOME NEWS
I’m still wondering if the White House is in a “sweaty panic” over the situation in Iran. A “sweaty panic” is how Tom Nichols, who writes for various publications including the Atlantic and appears on Nicolle Wallace, characterized it. [2] Nichols recently commented that the smell at the White House was something like: “We’re all looking for the guy who did this (started the Iran war). Had we only known.”
“What is it they think they are going to get out of this?” Nichols asked recently on NSNOW. The Iranian people have been abandoned.” Wendy Sherman, a diplomat who participated in the Obama Iran Nuclear Deal commented: “The lives of the Iranian people are worse.”
BOOK NOTES
As you probably know i am not a fan of Joe Scarborough, but i watch him and he does do some good things on ,SNOW. Last week he helped promote an independent bookseller in rural Texas who has an extremely popular podcast: “daily Stoic.”
Ryan Holiday chose a group of books that guarantee to be both absorbing and instructive in this time of growing corruption, authoritarianism and late phase capitalism.
BOOK NOTES
(From the Painted Porch, an independent book store in Austin Texas. )
· “The Storm before the Storm” by Mike Duncan. This book is about the 100 years before Caeser destroyed the Roman Republic. It will “keep you up at night.”
· “Tyrant” by Stephen Greenblatt. Shakespeare had no guarantee of free speech so he used his plays to make political comment. He studied the traits and programs of tyrants and worked them into his characters.
· “Freak Kingdom” by Timothy Denevi. This is a biography of one of our greatest political writers, Hunter S. Thompsona. Because of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,l and Thompson’s outrageous lifestyle he has become a caricature of himself. This biography brings his life and work back into serious discussion.
· “History Matters,” by David McCullough. This is a collection of what McCullough”s daughter thought were his best works. History does matter. It matters so much that powerful people try to steal, manipulate and sometimes erase it. McCullough reminds us that a study of history forces us to consider the fact that it could always have gone differently. When it went right, it was because of individuals and what they did. When it went badly it was often because of what people didn’t do.
· “All the King’s Men,” by Robert Penn Warran. Based on the life and career of Huey Long “the Kingfish”, this book describes how a poor man becomes a lawyer and then a politician to help other poor people. What he finds however is that it is all too easy to become complicit with the same people he went into politics to fight. Themes are: Complicity, corruption of populism, corruption in general, the corrosive effect of corruption, leverage.
· “The Great Gadsby,” : Opening line: “Whenever you feel like criticizing people just remember that everybody hasn’t had the privileges you have had.”
· “FahrenHeit 451” by Ray Bradbury.
· “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Victor E. Frank
[1] One of the comments I recently got reminded me of the political nature of using the word “childless.” In this case, I was mimicking J. D. Vance and his disdain for women who have no children. My friend reminded me that “child free” was probably a better way to phrase the situation and I have no disagreement. I certainly consider myself “child free.” I never wanted children, nor did I ever sit around and ponder any loss I was experiencing for not having them. Changing diapers, being constantly interrupted, being a chauffeur, a cook and a hall monitor just never appealed to me. There are infinitely more times when I say to myself: “I’m so glad I don’t have children” than “I wish I had children.” It’s just not my thing. Additionally, I grew up with a mother who never wanted children and would have been infinitely more happy had she never had them. So, I appreciate the comment and acknowledge the political importance of the use of language.
[2] Nichols used to be an obnoxious conservative, but Trump has changed him. (Note: It’s a bit like Nicholas Kristol. Think about writing a “Look Who’s Talking” about Kristol and Nichols).
Tom Nichols 
CHILDLESS CAT LADY 
Owner of “the painted porch.“ Life
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CHILDLESS, OVER-EDUCATED CAT LADY WORKING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK [1]
Wednesday 26 May 2026
It’s been a busy and productive day. I spent eight hours propped up on the bed, waiting for the computer people to phone about getting me back connected with my website, Law, Power, and Justice. Since I couldn’t leave the laptop in case they phoned, I managed to get a lot done.
I did my Spanish on Duolingo, which I love. This app is so well thought out, and so much fun to do, it actually has me logging in for almost 300 consecutive days. Even though I wrote a doctoral dissertation about law in Aztec Mexico and so spent years reading in Spanish, after years of ignoring my Spanish I need to start over learning again.
What I would really like to do is get fluent enough to act as a translator for the people being taken into custody by ICE and other people going through the legal system. So, I’m working away.
Our lawn keeper, a wonderful man named Jason, was swept up in the beginning of the Trump draconian immigrant exclusion. He is in Mexico now, with his father, on their farm. If my understanding of the situation is correct, he took a self-deportation after being put in an ICE facility in Coastal Georgia, then in California. At least he has a place to go and they sent him there. In that respect, I suppose, he is lucky.
But his face is pale and wan and different. When he was working for us, he looked like a movie star. He owned his own business, he had a wife and children, he made and managed money. If we weren’t there when he came to do the lawn, he would say: “That’s ok. I’ll get it next week.” He had the money to pay his workers whether he paid him or not. But, he looks different now. I don’t suppose “defeated” is the word, but somewhere close to that. I hate the U.S. government for doing that to him.
NEWS NOTES: MSNOW – Nicolle Wallace
· We are evidently about to make a peace deal with Iran that leaves us in worse shape than we were before this lunacy started. There are 13 dead people who need an explanation about why they had to die in Iran.
· Ted Cruz and Lindsey Grraham are even criticizing the proposal. They were among the voices who were criticizing the Obama dead. (Note: Interview on CNN this afternoon, guy who used to be at State).
· Tom Nichols is describing the White House as being in a “sweaty panic.” They thought the regime would collapse, as it did in Venezuela. Once that didn’t happen, they didn’t know what to do. “They still don’t know what to do,” says Nichols. “What is it they think they are going to get out of this,” he continues. “The Iranian people have been abandoned.” (Note: As have the Ukrainian people). “What do they think they are going to get out of some kind of deal.” The response from the White House has the smell of: “We’re all looking for the guy who did this? ….”Had we only known.” You shouldn’t have taken a talk show host and put him in charge of the most powerful military in the world.
· But in the final analysis, the president made the decision. Netanyahu told him it would work. And, it needs to be considered: “Could anyone have talked him out of this? Probably not.”
· Nicolle Wallace: This is what you get when you go along with what’s wrong and stupid. This is what you get when you appoint people like Hegseth.
· Tom Tillis: “Hegseth owns it.”
· (Look at Atlantic Article by Tom Nichols).
· There were new strikes by the United States last night.
· Wendy Sherman: The lives for the Iranian people are worse.
[1] EXPLANATION TO COME
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Rosatom builds weapons, imports sensitive components, helps Russia oppress civilians, and is a potent arm of Moscow’s influence network.
— Read on euromaidanpress.com/2026/05/28/not-just-nuclear-power-how-rosatom-fuels-russias-war-machine/EUROPEAN SANCTIONS LEAVE IT LARGELY UNTOUCHED.
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NEWS NOTES FROM A CHILDLESS OVER EDUCATED CAT LADY WORKING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK.
It’s raining, thank goodness. We lost at least 120 houses in the past drought, and I suspect that won’t be the end of it. Human beings don’t deserve their thumbs. I actually stole that line from my cats. They are deeply resentful of the advantages granted by a humble digit.
It’s 11 AM and I finally got up and found some clothes to put on. Mike got up earlier and went to try to clean up one of his condos so a tenant can move in. It’s lonely around here when he’s not here. I find it difficult to organize my life. It’s like when Hiram Bernard (our youngest cat) was alive. He was always here with me, by my side and even though he was minding his own business, he was there, near me and it made all the difference.
This (in case you didn’t already know) is Hiram Bernard, looking beautiful, intelligent, and guarding his staircase. Hiram owned, or thought he owned the second floor. Nobody was allowed to come up without a lot of temper. Even when he was very ill, he jumped on Sam for daring to break the ban. We will never forget him or stop grieving him.
NEWS NOTES:
· In Southern California, they are trying to prevent a chemical tank from exploding. Great, just great. 50,000 residens have been evacuated. The company that owns the tank agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators “more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions” (AP, 5/25/26).
· In the Democratic Republic of Congo workers are struggling to contain an Ebola outbreak, suspected of killing more than 200 people. Over 900 cases have been registered but it is suspected that the number of cases is much higher. Panic among the population has not helped, nor has the massive gutting of funding perpetuated by the US. Fires have been set in medical tents and residents have attacked health clinics. (Note: Some families have become violent trying to take their dead relatives back to their villages to bury them.) “Delays in identifying the Ebola outbreak were caused I part by the rarer species of the virus that is circulating. The latest outbreak has no vaccine. (NPR, 5/25/26).
· Article: “Putin Can No Longer Hide His Catastrophie,” by Phillips Payson O’Brien. (5/23/26). Even though more than 1 million Russians have been killed in the criminal invasion of Ukraine, Putin has worked strenuously to hide the effects of the war. The government has avoided enlisting too many men fron Moscow or St Petersburg, preferring to take the cannon fodder from faraway “Russian imperial possessions.” But, the annual parade commemorating the defeat of Germany in WWII, revealed that Putin was terrified of a drone strike. The internet has been restricted to keep residents from finding out how bad the situation is. But, the main Moscow airport had to be shut down temporarily. (Book by O’Brian: The Strategists: Churchhill, Stalin, Roosevent, Mussolini, and Hitler – How War Made them and How They Made War.”)
· (Note: Marianas Islands, article about the losing of a war.)
· (Note: The Electricicity of the words “Lymphoma” and “Metasticize.”
· Sign up for free to Mother Jones Daily.
· USAID was one of the first agencies DOGE targeted. “USAID spent billions of dollars on food aid, public health, and emergency relief for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. (Mother Jones, 5/20/26). As usual, Trump is trying to destroy the agency completely. Journalists from Mother Jones found that in South Sudan, former recipients believed that their own people in the agencies were lying to them than that the US had cut off aid. Were I now so GD cynical about the US I would find this heart breaking. -
x.com/meanwhileinua/status/2057872620268253572
Putin didn’t invade Ukraine because of NATO. He invaded because Ukrainians were proving democracy works.
Historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum puts it plainly: Putin looked at Ukraine’s democratic movement and thought, “If they can do it in Ukraine, then people could do it in Russia. So I need to crush this.”
That’s the real threat Ukraine posed. Not missiles. Not borders. A working democracy next door.
Applebaum frames the war as a fault line between the democratic and autocratic worlds. Russia isn’t just trying to take territory. It’s trying to erase Ukraine as a nation, reduce it to a colony, and send a message to every country that the post-1945 rules of Europe no longer apply.
Those rules were simple: no invasions, no wars, borders don’t change by force. Russia understood exactly what it was breaking when it crossed into Ukraine.
Law, Power, and Justice 