Ranking Member Shaheen, Senators Tillis, Rosen, Barrasso, Coons, King, Moran, Merkley, Van Hollen Statement on Russia’s Christmas Bombing of Ukraine; Foreign Relations Committee, December 25, 2025

 Foreign Relations Committee ; Ranking Member Shaheen, Senators Tillis, Rosen, Barrasso, Coons, King, Moran, Merkley, Van Hollen Statement on Russia’s Christmas Bombing of Ukraine

[Kip Currier: Note the silence of the Trump administration regarding Vladimir Putin's brutal Christmas Day attacks on the Ukrainian people. (See here and here and here.)

In the wake of such unrestrained cruelty, it is at least encouraging to see bipartisan condemnation of Putin's brutality by the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, as well as the Senators' unfiltered assessment of the Russian leader:

Putin is a ruthless murderer who has no interest in peace and cannot be trusted.

https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/ranking-member-shaheen-senators-tillis-rosen-barrasso-coons-king-moran-merkley-van-hollen-statement-on-russias-christmas-bombing-of-ukraine]

[Excerpt]

"“We condemn Russia’s brutal attacks on Kherson, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Donetsk and Kryvyi Rih waged on innocent Ukrainians as they convened to mark the birth of the Prince of Peace with their loved ones and in prayer.

“It bears repeating that President Zelenskyy agreed to a Christmas truce, but Putin declined, yet he directs soldiers to continue to commit brutal crimes of aggression on one of Christianity’s holiest days.

“Even for countries at war, there is a long history of Christmas ceasefires, including notably during World War I. Today’s decision by Putin to launch attacks rather than hold fire is a sobering reminder for us all: Putin is a ruthless murderer who has no interest in peace and cannot be trusted.

“We stand with the people of Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk marking the birth of Christ under the most challenging of circumstances. Ukrainians’ faith is a stronger force than the evil unleashed today by the Kremlin.”"

DOJ's Ex-Ethics Lawyer Speaks Out After Being Fired by Pam Bondi; Newsweek, July 14, 2025

 Dan Gooding and  Gabe Whisnant , Newsweek; DOJ's Ex-Ethics Lawyer Speaks Out After Being Fired by Pam Bondi

[Kip Currier: Shameful action by the U.S. Attorney General: Pam Bondi's firing of DOJ's premier ethics lawyer shows us everything we need to know about her priorities and ethical values.]

[Excerpt]

"Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismissed the Justice Department's top ethics lawyer, Joseph Tirrell, according to a post he shared on LinkedIn.

Tirrell, a Navy veteran, posted a copy of his termination letter on the platform Friday, noting that it resembled notices received by other DOJ employees. The letter included a typo, misspelling his name as "JOSPEH."

He wrote, in part, on LinkedIn, "Until Friday evening, I was the senior ethics attorney at the Department of Justice responsible for advising the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General directly on federal employee ethics. I was also responsible for the day-to-day operations of the ethics program across the Department. I led a small, dedicated team of professionals and coordinated the work of some 30 other full-time ethics officials, attorneys, paralegals and other specialists across the Department of Justice, ensuring that the 117,000 Department employees were properly advised on and supported in how to follow the Federal employee ethics rules."

He continued, "I look forward to finding ways to continue in my personal calling of service to my country. I encouraged anyone who is reading this to do the same. I believe in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.— 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' I also believe that Edmund Burke is right and that 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.'""

Worse Than We Feared: Five weeks in and the Trump administration has been more corrupt, dangerous, and evil than we expected.; The Bulwark, February 28, 2025

 JONATHAN V. LAST AND WILL SALETAN, The Bulwark; Worse Than We Feared: Five weeks in and the Trump administration has been more corrupt, dangerous, and evil than we expected.

"Will Saletan was in for Sarah today and we did a giant, super-sized show. It’s a great conservation, the through-line of which is basically: We are living in something close to the worst-case scenario."