John C. Knapp

@kiraincongress But it would be a good start, wouldn’t it?

The belief that putin’s death would end the war is an illusion. Iran shows why: even after the ayatollah’s killing, the regime endured. Systems don’t die with one man.

@RepDonBacon @Kasparov63 @RepStenyHoyer Surely your group can find one more member who will listen to the will of the American people. Keep pressing for it!

.@RepStenyHoyer is right. Congress should pass legislation helping Ukraine acquire the weapons it needs to defend against Russia’s invasion & tighten sanctions against Russia. We have 217 signatures to force a vote & only need one more. Americans overwhelmingly support Ukraine & want us to do more. hoyer.house.gov/media/press-re…

Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Tuesday is for creators who look up and capture it anyway. 📸 Today’s theme: Look Up.

@Persianserene1 Yes.

Trump said we don’t even know who’s in charge in Iran or who to talk to! And now he says we’re having “very good conversations” with them Is he a bad liar or just stupid?

@Pergament_F His defining achievement was Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, which he published at the age of 32. It was a brilliant work and set expectations of greater things that never followed. He is sometimes seen as a “one-hit wonder” of the philosophical world.

Ludwig Wittgenstein abandoned a vast family fortune, worked as a village schoolteacher, a gardener, and an architect, and spent much of his life in intense solitude, torn between philosophy and silence. He published little in his lifetime, believed most philosophical problems were misunderstandings of language, and died in 1951, reportedly at peace. His last words were: "Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life." Good night

@MandyLSimard South African penguins

What’s one bird you always get excited to see? 🐦🌿

@esaumccaulley Such an important point.

I am so tired of character and decorum mattering for every job except the highest elected office in the land.

Happy #FlowersOnFriday! Show us yours...💜🌱

@JamesLucasIT Breathtaking talent.

This intricate net was carved from a single block of marble by Francesco Queirolo. It took him 7 years. The sculpture was so delicate that no apprentice would dare touch it, fearing the net would crumble in their hands.

Drop a photo you clicked. No text. Let it speak..

Have a wonderful Flowers on Friday! Share your beauties!

@MykhailoRohoza Well said!

Putin underestimated Zelensky, and that played a cruel joke on him. He never considered Zelensky his equal — and still doesn’t. And that is Putin’s main mistake. To this day, Putin sees Zelensky as a comedian, an actor who accidentally won the presidential election. And that is his second mistake. Putin never managed to understand how and when the evolution of Zelensky happened — from comedian to politician, from politician to president, and from president to the leader of the Ukrainian nation. And these changes happened instantly — at 5 a.m. on February 24, 2022. Putin and the Russian intelligence services were convinced that Zelensky would not have the courage to stand up to the Russian army. In Russia, they were counting on his weakness and inexperience. Especially since Putin had an example before his eyes — Viktor Yanukovych, who in 2014 abandoned the country and fled to Russia during the Revolution of Dignity. Zelensky did not do that — he stayed in the president’s chair. The war revealed the true qualities he had all along. Since the beginning of the war, Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed the people every day, often recording these messages on an ordinary smartphone. The background is not always perfect, the lighting is not always good — but the sincerity he shows is worth a great deal. That sincerity is present even in the smallest details. Zelensky is not concerned with how he looks. He is concerned with one thing — to explain, to clarify, to support, and to help people understand his decisions. Putin cannot love anyone; he can only envy, rage, and fear. He was absolutely convinced that a man with as little political experience as Zelensky would not withstand the pressure of the Russian army for long. That Zelensky would be broken by the political situation in the country, economic problems in Ukraine, relentless criticism from bots and opponents, as well as scandals provoked by his enemies, pseudo-friends, and “well-meaning” advisors. None of them could believe that Zelensky had changed — that he had become a true wartime president. That he challenged Putin, who constantly pushed him toward capitulation. But that did not happen and will not happen, because many have already given their lives for Ukraine’s freedom and independence. Time has passed. The war has reached Russia and will soon leave Ukraine. Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have turned Putin into a real old clown, writhing in the arena — but the audience is not laughing. Over the years of the war, Putin has withered and shrunk, visibly declined; his speeches now provoke only confusion and ridicule. This angers him, but the fact remains: the exact opposite has happened to Putin compared to Zelensky — degradation. From the president of a powerful country, he has turned into a joke and a laughingstock. That is how he will remain in history. Even in this humiliation, he is capable of nothing more. And Volodymyr Zelensky will remain a historical figure — and a victorious president.

@DevanaUkraine So beautiful.

The Spiritual Anthem of Ukraine: “God, Protect Ukraine!”

Let’s see your 🌸 picture for Flowers on a Friday! “Among the petals, life and survival unfold.”

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park was preceded by two of his predecessors, but neither was president when they visited. Jimmy Carter went there in 1984, four years after leaving office. Richard Nixon did so in 1964, four years before being elected president. I saw President Carter’s message in the guest book when I was there in 2015.

In Shigeaki Mori, a Japanese atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima, President Obama saw the best of humanity, even while reflecting on one of our darkest chapters. Mori died Sunday at age 88. Today, we honor his example, which President Obama spoke to in 2016 when he visited Hiroshima on the 71st anniversary of America dropping the atomic bomb on that city. Among the more than 140,000 killed in Hiroshima, Mori discovered 30 years later that there were 12 American POWs. He researched the men and wrote to their families, who didn’t yet know how their loved ones had died. President Obama was the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, and while there, he reflected on Mori’s work — how it connected people through their shared humanity, regardless of their countless differences: “We’re not bound by genetic code to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can learn. We can choose. We can tell our children a different story –- one that describes a common humanity; one that makes war less likely and cruelty less easily accepted. We see these stories in the hibakusha –- the woman who forgave a pilot who flew the plane that dropped the atomic bomb, because she recognized that what she really hated was war itself; the man who sought out families of Americans killed here, because he believed their loss was equal to his own.” In telling the story of the universality of loss, Mori set an example for us all and we are all better for his contributions.

Impending violence against voting rights marchers in Selma, on cover of Life Magazine dated today 1965:

@thescottbarber God needs to be saved by people. Isn’t it the other way around?

It is notable how foreign the language of Christianity and evangelicalism is to these guys. They talk about God in a way that no one with even the smallest Christian formation would. It’s almost like they are using Christianity for selfish political ends.

@MandyLSimard A camellia in my front yard, captured this week.

Let’s see your Bee captures for Insect Thursday! 🐝📸 “Bees don’t just make honey—they make life possible.”

@JohannaNyman5 That’s because he is.

Zelenskyy acts more like a leader of the free world than Trump.

"Take only pictures, leave only footprints." Share a picture you took of a trail or path you enjoy!