It's the interest paid on our national debt. Talk about a hockey stick. Joe has been handing out money to buy votes, a trillion here, a trillion there, now he says that we are going to have to raise taxes by almost five trillion dollars, which is almost double the deficit we are running, so obviously he has trillions of dollars more in spending in mind.
"Voters didn’t like the State of the Union address as much as reporters did." - WSJ
But Joe Biden was "masterful"! Didn't he make the "trains run on time" when he broke the rail strike! Why didn't he brag about that in his State of the Union speech? hope the new contract he forced the rail workers union to take holds up with all of the new inflation!
For those of you who carry yourselves as GOPe fanboys and fangirls, and you know who you are, I suppose congratulations of a sort are in order now that you and your democratical allies have moved to within 1 seat of handing control of the House to your dem pals.
This will accomplish several things for Team GOPe/Dem: unlimited Ukraine funding and immediate citizenship for 30 to 45 million illegals and whatever else is desired by the democraticals.
I can only imagine the feverish GOPe/Dem planning behind the scenes to deliver this final coup de grace to our republic and solidify a permanent 1 party state.
But remember: Trump is the problem, the only problem, has always been the problem, will always be the problem and if you just get rid of him the GOP can return to its "winning" ways.
Here is what Equity looks like in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Top voted comment at Instapundit: "This is just another way police manipulate crime statistics. Classify forceable r*pe as a simple assault, breaking and entering as minor trespassing. This is generally why homicide and car theft is the only reliable crime stat. Homicides because it really difficult to classify it as anything else and car theft because insurance companies generally require a police report. In this case too many minorities are committing high level felonies so you make them white so your numbers of minority arrest go down."
It was ironic that Special Counsel Hur also had memory lapses when he testifies.
“Hur makes a significant factual error. He says Dana Remus was President Obama's White House counsel. She was, in fact, President Biden's counsel.” ~ NYT
Another wasted effort from the Republicans in congress.
"In 2018, we had the House, we had the Senate, we had the White House, and we had a bigger majority than we have today, and we utterly failed to secure the border. Totally dropped the ball. Didn’t do it. "
So there is talk about the US forcing a divesture of Tik-Tok by the CCP affiliated company that controls it in the US. While I oppose the idea of the US government shutting down a platform, even a foreign controlled one on the basis of propaganda, what is interesting is that Rumble has put it's hat in the ring in offering to buy Tik-Tok and operate it in the US. Given Rumbles commitment to Free Speech this might shake out to be a net win for the Free Speech crowd if Rumble winds up operating Tik-Tok. Rumble offers to partner with Tik-Tok.
FYI, today, with the release of the fake Jan 6 "committee" corrupted hidden testimony which obliterated the serial hearsay lies peddled by Cassidy Hutchinson and coordinated by Liz Cheney (D-Northern VA), the FakeCons at National Review took major hits after their pathetic performance in buying into each and every democratical lie...even the most astonishingly absurd.
Of course, I suspect that is precisely the kind of rhetorical reaction Google and Facebook demanded from their paid "conservative" lap poodles.
It sounds like the stuff of fantasy, but it’s real. The group is called the Society for American Civic Renewal (the acronym is pronounced “sacker” by its members). It is open to new recruits, provided you meet a few criteria: you are male, a “trinitarian” Christian, heterosexual, an “un-hyphenated American,” and can answer questions about Trump, the Republican Party, and Christian Nationalism in the right way. One chapter leader wrote to a prospective member that the group aimed to “secure a future for Christian families.”
Catholics, LDS members, Unitarians, and some Pentecostals can go to Hell. But Claremont Institute is designing this secret society to keep Trump in power for as long as he lives. And former Indiana shampoo tycoon Charles Haywood, who refers to himself as “Maximum Leader” pumps big bucks into the cause from his nonprofit, the Howdy Doody Good Times Foundation, directly to the Claremont Institute.
The republic falls to the Howdy Doody Good Times Foundation? Say "Howdy Doody Do!"
Flat Tire said... I was impressed by Robert Hur and appalled by most of those questioning him.
So Flat, how impressed were you with Hur during this questioning?
California Democrat, Eric Swalwell asked Hur about a comment that appears on “Day 1, Page 47” of the transcript.
“You said to President Biden, ‘You appear to have a photographic understanding and recall of the House,’” Swalwell said. “Did you say that to President Biden?”
Hur conceded that “those words do appear on Page 47 of the transcript.”
Swalwell pressed further.
“‘Photographic’ is what you said, is that right?” he asked.
“That word does appear on Page 47 of the transcript,” Hur responded.
“Never appeared in your report, though. Is that correct? The word ‘photographic’?” Swalwell asked.
King Biden: "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?". The Archbishop of Queens was later killed when four Knights of the CIA traveled to Palm Beach to execute the deed.
"You know, if you let me write $200 billion worth of hot checks every year, I could give you an illusion of prosperity, too" - Lloyd Bentsen
He would probably not be allowed in the Democratic Party now. Wait 'til all of the affluent people who just switched to the Democrats because the top tier economically are doing really well right now get hit with the tax bill to cover the profligate spending, which is coming, no matter who wins the election. At some point as you move away from a crisis, you start to feel the cold reality of the wall on your back through your shirt.
Oh yeah, and Congress is looking at a bill to use TikTok as a Trojan horse to shut down free speech on social media. The President gets to decide which platforms meet the criteria to force a sale, so look for the government to take X away from Musk and give it to a reliable ally.
Telegram and Rumble for now seem safe. Freedom of information has been gutted in Europe, that's why they are still all in for the war in Ukraine. We are just catching up.
I watched Nate the Lawyer's Video discussing Hochul calling out the National Guard to the NYC Subway. To me, it is one of those things when you know what's going on, yet still shocked when you see the detail that exposes it all. So a few highlights:
Crime on NYC subway spiked by 45% increase in January, after NYC ended the holiday overtime pay for officers, thus reducing patrols. The previous year, a person arrested 41 times previously assaulted an MTA employee putting the employee in the hospital. Last month, a performer in the subway was hit in the back of the head by a woman that police eventually tracked down and arrested. Actually, she was arrested for stealing a ball cap from Nord Strom and then connected to the assault. Before the assault, she was arrested 8 previous times, released on bond, and at the time of the assault had 2 bench warrants for failure to appear.
Here is Hochul's 5 Part Plan to stop the criminal behavior. Step 2, ban "convicted" criminals from using the subway. Well, if they have 8 arrests, failed to appear to their hearing, and never convicted; how does this step stop that crime? "Oh, but there are other steps", yeah but when funding ends and the National Guard presence is reduced like the NYPD presence was reduced in January; what then? The other steps include talking with DAs and law enforcement, as if those people never talk to each other. There is also a step to spend $20 million on those with mental health problems, which is just money for the criminals.
What is not part of Hochul's plan is any step to actually put people who commit assault in jail.
Yet you can bet sometime later this year, Trump may end up in a NY jail under the notion he assaulted E. Jean Carroll some decades ago at a time when she can't remember, when she never reported it to police, and despite any physical evidence to support her claim. That may happen, and the woman that assaulted the subway entertainer will probably still be wanted for failure to appear.
BillieBob Thorton said... "Boats on the ground coming soon in Gaza."
"Amphibious combat vehicles? :)"
Our Navy is building a floating pier out onto the sea. The official report is there will be no support troops. IE Marines with pew-pews. The end result is we're building a dock for Hamas. How much is Hamas paying Biden?
I get amused watching the gad, Rich, and mutaman contort themselves into pretzels defending Biden.
Three people in the presidential arena have had classified documents in their possession: Hilary, Trump, and Biden. Only one had the authority to have them - Trump. Only one was charged - Trump.
Opinion | The NIH Sacrifices Scientific Rigor for DEI Its First program pushes institutions to hire medical researchers based on their ideological commitment
Our "allies" in Ukraine teaching their children to revere a Holocaust perpetrator and to hate a minority that lives within their '92 borders. It makes you wonder what their plans are for the ethnic Russians who live within those borders, should they prevail.
The thing is though that a French publication has gotten its hands on a leaked military assessment done by the French that suggests that A) everything the media has been telling us about the war have been, not only lies, but projection of Ukraine's own weakness, and B) There is no way for Ukraine to win this war without NATO troops joining the fight.
The reports also highlight "the inadequacy of the training of Ukrainian soldiers and officers": due to a lack of officers and a significant number of veterans, these "Year II soldiers" from Ukraine - often trained for "no more than three weeks" - were launched into an assault on a Russian fortification line that proved impregnable.
And it turns out that the battle plans were founded on racist assumptions about the Russians, and faith in the idea that the Ukrainians were some kind of master race who could overcome the odds, and before whom the Russians would melt away in fear, when the actual situation is this:
The reports also highlight that contrary to Ukraine "the Russians have managed their reserve troops well, to ensure operational endurance." According to this document, Moscow reinforces its units before they are completely worn out, mixes recruits with experienced troops, ensures regular rest periods in the rear... and "always had a coherent reserve force to manage unforeseen events." This is far from the widespread idea in the West of a Russian army sending its troops to the slaughter without counting...
This war never needed to happen, and we have thrown Ukraine to defeat when peace was not only possible, but at hand, and Ukraine could have remained intact, but the neocons refused it, and convinced Ukraine to renege on the deal that they had initialed with Moscow. Now we have created a confident Russia that is far stronger militarily than it was three years ago.
The US sees this too, which is why the architect of the war, Victoria Nuland, was apparently forced out of her job at the State Department, probably for getting us into this mess. She has not made any statement regarding her "retirement" months after being appointed as the acting No 2 at the State Department, then passed over for the permanent job, which went to a China hawk.
We have been lied to, non stop about this war. It's been a disaster for the US. Joe Biden is the most reckless President that we have ever had. Read it for yourself.
En n’excluant pas d’envoyer des troupes en Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron a provoqué un tollé en Europe et écopé d’un désaveu américain. Plusieurs militaires français, interrogés par Marianne, disent, eux, être « tombés de l’armoire ». « Il ne faut pas se leurrer, face aux Russes, on est une armée de majorettes ! », raille un haut gradé, persuadé que « l’envoi de troupes » françaises sur le front ukrainien ne serait tout simplement « pas raisonnable ».
""Let's not kid ourselves, against the Russians, we're like a majorette band!" scoffs a high-ranking officer, convinced that "sending" French troops to the Ukrainian front would simply "not be reasonable."
This isn't me saying these things, it's the French military. We should keep our noses out of border disputes involving military superpowers when they are not a core vital interest of the United States. WWIII looms closer and closer as Ukraine faces a defeat that the West may not be willing to accept, and so lead to a further round of escalations.
No, 'tim in vermont', this is not you saying these things, and it's not the French military, either, it's a formerly-left-wing-now-right-wing French website alleging that anonymous members of the French military are saying these things. There is no reason to believe that the "high-ranking officer" exists at all, or if he does, that he is high-ranking, or an officer, or even a member of the military.
As noted on the previous open thread, we all know that when the formerly-respected New York Times quotes anonymous "highly-placed sources in the Trump campaign" they're just making stuff up. But somehow Zero Hedge, or a French website you'd never heard of before it published something you want to believe, can be trusted not to make stuff up, when the New York Times can't? Now who's being naïve?
If I wrote to you, Gadfly, and said you are a really smart fellow, would that mean I had any evidence to report that you were indeed smart? I have seen evidence of your intelligence but nothing to gauge it as superior to anything. Perhaps I was just being flattering to you, hoping you would stick around and continue to say dumb things you shouldn't say.
So 'tim in vermont' (9:30am) is still worrying about what Ukraine might theoretically do to ethnic Russians when they recapture the Donbas and Crimea?
He's somehow totally unconcerned with what Russian occupiers are right now doing to ethnic Ukrainians and pro-Ukraine ethnic Russians in the occupied territories. For example, here's the 'governor' of Zaporizhzhia province just last week openly admitting to war crimes in a TV interview: (link). As the translator summarizes it: "Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia-appointed occupation Governor of Zaporizhzhia, admitted displacing Ukrainian families, brutally beating them and worse. He cancelled classes in the Ukrainian language in schools, describing it as unnecessary and a mere 'dialect.'"
Note that Zaporizhzhia oblast, like Kherson, had no significant number of ethnic Russians needing to be 'rescued'. Putin captured them anyway, or as much of them as he could, as a land-bridge to Crimea, demonstrating that his concern for supposedly oppressed Russian-speakers was a mere pretext to fool the gullible.
Note also that Balitsky spends the first minute or so of the 9:28 video calling Yanukovych a coward for not using even more force and Russian troops to stay in power, or killing himself. He doesn't seem to think the Maidan protesters were the ones doing the killing.
As for ethnic Russians in the Donbas and Crimea after Ukraine's victory, most of them support Ukraine. The ones who don't can leave if they don't like it, just as the many ethnic Ukrainians in Belgorod and the Kuban will (we hope) be able to move the other way if they wish. Russians who moved to Ukraine after the invasion and are occupying other people's property will have to leave, and should be glad if they don't have to pay back rent. And the ones who have been making war on Ukraine will have to leave or face imprisonment. Benedict Arnold and Ben Franklin's loyalist son William spent their last years in London. Too bad: they should have made better decisions.
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42 comments:
Your sunrise photos all seem the same. Just saying.
Look at this graph from ZeroHedge.
https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1767615904072782229
It's the interest paid on our national debt. Talk about a hockey stick. Joe has been handing out money to buy votes, a trillion here, a trillion there, now he says that we are going to have to raise taxes by almost five trillion dollars, which is almost double the deficit we are running, so obviously he has trillions of dollars more in spending in mind.
"Après moi, le deluge!" - Louis XV of France
"Voters didn’t like the State of the Union address as much as reporters did." - WSJ
But Joe Biden was "masterful"! Didn't he make the "trains run on time" when he broke the rail strike! Why didn't he brag about that in his State of the Union speech? hope the new contract he forced the rail workers union to take holds up with all of the new inflation!
I was impressed by Robert Hur and appalled by the most of those questioning him.
Reported that Rachel Rollins has been suspended from practicing law. The racists…
Roxbury Community College no show gig at $96k, here she comes!
I love these pics.
For those of you who carry yourselves as GOPe fanboys and fangirls, and you know who you are, I suppose congratulations of a sort are in order now that you and your democratical allies have moved to within 1 seat of handing control of the House to your dem pals.
This will accomplish several things for Team GOPe/Dem: unlimited Ukraine funding and immediate citizenship for 30 to 45 million illegals and whatever else is desired by the democraticals.
I can only imagine the feverish GOPe/Dem planning behind the scenes to deliver this final coup de grace to our republic and solidify a permanent 1 party state.
But remember: Trump is the problem, the only problem, has always been the problem, will always be the problem and if you just get rid of him the GOP can return to its "winning" ways.
Here is what Equity looks like in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Top voted comment at Instapundit: "This is just another way police manipulate crime statistics. Classify forceable r*pe as a simple assault, breaking and entering as minor trespassing. This is generally why homicide and car theft is the only reliable crime stat. Homicides because it really difficult to classify it as anything else and car theft because insurance companies generally require a police report. In this case too many minorities are committing high level felonies so you make them white so your numbers of minority arrest go down."
It was ironic that Special Counsel Hur also had memory lapses when he testifies.
“Hur makes a significant factual error. He says Dana Remus was President Obama's White House counsel. She was, in fact, President Biden's counsel.” ~ NYT
Another wasted effort from the Republicans in congress.
Tim in VT wrote: "Joe has been handing out money to buy votes".....
If helping students with debt is “buying votes”, then surely giving tax cuts to the wealthy is also “buying votes”. Right?
Swalwell: You said to President Biden, “you appear to have a photographic understanding and recall.” Did you say that?
Hur: Those words do appear in the transcript
Swalwell: Never appeared in your report
Hur: It does not appear in my report
"Those words do appear in the transcript"
What a fucking weasel.
If you type "shithole" as a google search, the first result is from an NBC News article wherein Trump referred to Haiti as a shithole.
Looks like Trump's right again.
"In 2018, we had the House, we had the Senate, we had the White House, and we had a bigger majority than we have today, and we utterly failed to secure the border. Totally dropped the ball. Didn’t do it. "
Chip Roy
So there is talk about the US forcing a divesture of Tik-Tok by the CCP affiliated company that controls it in the US. While I oppose the idea of the US government shutting down a platform, even a foreign controlled one on the basis of propaganda, what is interesting is that Rumble has put it's hat in the ring in offering to buy Tik-Tok and operate it in the US. Given Rumbles commitment to Free Speech this might shake out to be a net win for the Free Speech crowd if Rumble winds up operating Tik-Tok. Rumble offers to partner with Tik-Tok.
FYI, today, with the release of the fake Jan 6 "committee" corrupted hidden testimony which obliterated the serial hearsay lies peddled by Cassidy Hutchinson and coordinated by Liz Cheney (D-Northern VA), the FakeCons at National Review took major hits after their pathetic performance in buying into each and every democratical lie...even the most astonishingly absurd.
Of course, I suspect that is precisely the kind of rhetorical reaction Google and Facebook demanded from their paid "conservative" lap poodles.
A new secretive religious society just dropped. Get a load of the men-only Society For American Civic Renewal
It sounds like the stuff of fantasy, but it’s real. The group is called the Society for American Civic Renewal (the acronym is pronounced “sacker” by its members). It is open to new recruits, provided you meet a few criteria: you are male, a “trinitarian” Christian, heterosexual, an “un-hyphenated American,” and can answer questions about Trump, the Republican Party, and Christian Nationalism in the right way. One chapter leader wrote to a prospective member that the group aimed to “secure a future for Christian families.”
Catholics, LDS members, Unitarians, and some Pentecostals can go to Hell. But Claremont Institute is designing this secret society to keep Trump in power for as long as he lives. And former Indiana shampoo tycoon Charles Haywood, who refers to himself as “Maximum Leader” pumps big bucks into the cause from his nonprofit, the Howdy Doody Good Times Foundation, directly to the Claremont Institute.
The republic falls to the Howdy Doody Good Times Foundation? Say "Howdy Doody Do!"
Boats on the ground coming soon in Gaza. Co-ordinated by Team Afghanistan Withdrawal.
Flat Tire said...
I was impressed by Robert Hur and appalled by most of those questioning him.
So Flat, how impressed were you with Hur during this questioning?
California Democrat, Eric Swalwell asked Hur about a comment that appears on “Day 1, Page 47” of the transcript.
“You said to President Biden, ‘You appear to have a photographic understanding and recall of the House,’” Swalwell said. “Did you say that to President Biden?”
Hur conceded that “those words do appear on Page 47 of the transcript.”
Swalwell pressed further.
“‘Photographic’ is what you said, is that right?” he asked.
“That word does appear on Page 47 of the transcript,” Hur responded.
“Never appeared in your report, though. Is that correct? The word ‘photographic’?” Swalwell asked.
“It does not appear in my report,” Hur said.
King Biden: "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?". The Archbishop of Queens was later killed when four Knights of the CIA traveled to Palm Beach to execute the deed.
tim in vermont sarcastically said...
"But Joe Biden was 'masterful'! Didn't he make the 'trains run on time' when he broke the rail strike?"
Yes, Biden is very good at making the gravy trains run on time.
"Boats on the ground coming soon in Gaza."
Amphibious combat vehicles? :)
Inflation stopped going down 8 months ago, and is now embedded at a new higher level.
"You know, if you let me write $200 billion worth of hot checks every year, I could give you an illusion of prosperity, too" - Lloyd Bentsen
He would probably not be allowed in the Democratic Party now. Wait 'til all of the affluent people who just switched to the Democrats because the top tier economically are doing really well right now get hit with the tax bill to cover the profligate spending, which is coming, no matter who wins the election. At some point as you move away from a crisis, you start to feel the cold reality of the wall on your back through your shirt.
Oh yeah, and Congress is looking at a bill to use TikTok as a Trojan horse to shut down free speech on social media. The President gets to decide which platforms meet the criteria to force a sale, so look for the government to take X away from Musk and give it to a reliable ally.
Telegram and Rumble for now seem safe. Freedom of information has been gutted in Europe, that's why they are still all in for the war in Ukraine. We are just catching up.
"Boats on the ground coming soon in Gaza."
Not to mention on the beaches of South Florida, which is already starting.
I watched Nate the Lawyer's Video discussing Hochul calling out the National Guard to the NYC Subway. To me, it is one of those things when you know what's going on, yet still shocked when you see the detail that exposes it all. So a few highlights:
Crime on NYC subway spiked by 45% increase in January, after NYC ended the holiday overtime pay for officers, thus reducing patrols.
The previous year, a person arrested 41 times previously assaulted an MTA employee putting the employee in the hospital.
Last month, a performer in the subway was hit in the back of the head by a woman that police eventually tracked down and arrested. Actually, she was arrested for stealing a ball cap from Nord Strom and then connected to the assault. Before the assault, she was arrested 8 previous times, released on bond, and at the time of the assault had 2 bench warrants for failure to appear.
Here is Hochul's 5 Part Plan to stop the criminal behavior.
Step 2, ban "convicted" criminals from using the subway. Well, if they have 8 arrests, failed to appear to their hearing, and never convicted; how does this step stop that crime?
"Oh, but there are other steps", yeah but when funding ends and the National Guard presence is reduced like the NYPD presence was reduced in January; what then?
The other steps include talking with DAs and law enforcement, as if those people never talk to each other. There is also a step to spend $20 million on those with mental health problems, which is just money for the criminals.
What is not part of Hochul's plan is any step to actually put people who commit assault in jail.
Yet you can bet sometime later this year, Trump may end up in a NY jail under the notion he assaulted E. Jean Carroll some decades ago at a time when she can't remember, when she never reported it to police, and despite any physical evidence to support her claim. That may happen, and the woman that assaulted the subway entertainer will probably still be wanted for failure to appear.
BillieBob Thorton said...
"Boats on the ground coming soon in Gaza."
"Amphibious combat vehicles? :)"
Our Navy is building a floating pier out onto the sea. The official report is there will be no support troops. IE Marines with pew-pews.
The end result is we're building a dock for Hamas.
How much is Hamas paying Biden?
Here is my four part plan to reduce crime:
Put
Criminals
In
Jail
I get amused watching the gad, Rich, and mutaman contort themselves into pretzels defending Biden.
Three people in the presidential arena have had classified documents in their possession: Hilary, Trump, and Biden. Only one had the authority to have them - Trump. Only one was charged - Trump.
Britain’s NHS has banned puberty blockers as gender affirming treatment.
Sweden and the Netherlands to follow.
Sunrises are a way of assuring yourself you're still alive. "Yep. I'm still here. Let's go and annoy people. Life is good."
Sunrises are a way of assuring yourself you're still alive. "Yep. I'm still here. Let's go and annoy people. Life is good."
Rich said...
Tim in VT wrote: "Joe has been handing out money to buy votes..."
"If helping students with debt is “buying votes”, then surely giving tax cuts to the wealthy is also “buying votes”. Right?"
Rich, lad. What do wealthy people do with their money that students don't?
From WSJ...
Opinion | The NIH Sacrifices Scientific Rigor for DEI
Its First program pushes institutions to hire medical researchers based on their ideological commitment
Rich...
You need a meeting.
When the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands are more sensible than the USA regarding a progressive issue like transitioning, you know we are in trouble.
Our "allies" in Ukraine teaching their children to revere a Holocaust perpetrator and to hate a minority that lives within their '92 borders. It makes you wonder what their plans are for the ethnic Russians who live within those borders, should they prevail.
https://twitter.com/RothLindberg/status/1767915219093729500
The thing is though that a French publication has gotten its hands on a leaked military assessment done by the French that suggests that A) everything the media has been telling us about the war have been, not only lies, but projection of Ukraine's own weakness, and B) There is no way for Ukraine to win this war without NATO troops joining the fight.
The reports also highlight "the inadequacy of the training of Ukrainian soldiers and officers": due to a lack of officers and a significant number of veterans, these "Year II soldiers" from Ukraine - often trained for "no more than three weeks" - were launched into an assault on a Russian fortification line that proved impregnable.
And it turns out that the battle plans were founded on racist assumptions about the Russians, and faith in the idea that the Ukrainians were some kind of master race who could overcome the odds, and before whom the Russians would melt away in fear, when the actual situation is this:
The reports also highlight that contrary to Ukraine "the Russians have managed their reserve troops well, to ensure operational endurance." According to this document, Moscow reinforces its units before they are completely worn out, mixes recruits with experienced troops, ensures regular rest periods in the rear... and "always had a coherent reserve force to manage unforeseen events." This is far from the widespread idea in the West of a Russian army sending its troops to the slaughter without counting...
This war never needed to happen, and we have thrown Ukraine to defeat when peace was not only possible, but at hand, and Ukraine could have remained intact, but the neocons refused it, and convinced Ukraine to renege on the deal that they had initialed with Moscow. Now we have created a confident Russia that is far stronger militarily than it was three years ago.
The US sees this too, which is why the architect of the war, Victoria Nuland, was apparently forced out of her job at the State Department, probably for getting us into this mess. She has not made any statement regarding her "retirement" months after being appointed as the acting No 2 at the State Department, then passed over for the permanent job, which went to a China hawk.
We have been lied to, non stop about this war. It's been a disaster for the US. Joe Biden is the most reckless President that we have ever had. Read it for yourself.
https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1767562336452440422
From the French version:
En n’excluant pas d’envoyer des troupes en Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron a provoqué un tollé en Europe et écopé d’un désaveu américain. Plusieurs militaires français, interrogés par Marianne, disent, eux, être « tombés de l’armoire ». « Il ne faut pas se leurrer, face aux Russes, on est une armée de majorettes ! », raille un haut gradé, persuadé que « l’envoi de troupes » françaises sur le front ukrainien ne serait tout simplement « pas raisonnable ».
""Let's not kid ourselves, against the Russians, we're like a majorette band!" scoffs a high-ranking officer, convinced that "sending" French troops to the Ukrainian front would simply "not be reasonable."
https://www.marianne.net/monde/europe/guerre-en-ukraine-endurance-russe-echec-de-la-contre-offensive-ce-que-cache-le-virage-de-macron
This isn't me saying these things, it's the French military. We should keep our noses out of border disputes involving military superpowers when they are not a core vital interest of the United States. WWIII looms closer and closer as Ukraine faces a defeat that the West may not be willing to accept, and so lead to a further round of escalations.
Rich needs to pay attention in class.
Oh, Rich paid careful attention in class, which is why his posts are textbook propaganda.
No, 'tim in vermont', this is not you saying these things, and it's not the French military, either, it's a formerly-left-wing-now-right-wing French website alleging that anonymous members of the French military are saying these things. There is no reason to believe that the "high-ranking officer" exists at all, or if he does, that he is high-ranking, or an officer, or even a member of the military.
As noted on the previous open thread, we all know that when the formerly-respected New York Times quotes anonymous "highly-placed sources in the Trump campaign" they're just making stuff up. But somehow Zero Hedge, or a French website you'd never heard of before it published something you want to believe, can be trusted not to make stuff up, when the New York Times can't? Now who's being naïve?
If I wrote to you, Gadfly, and said you are a really smart fellow, would that mean I had any evidence to report that you were indeed smart? I have seen evidence of your intelligence but nothing to gauge it as superior to anything. Perhaps I was just being flattering to you, hoping you would stick around and continue to say dumb things you shouldn't say.
So 'tim in vermont' (9:30am) is still worrying about what Ukraine might theoretically do to ethnic Russians when they recapture the Donbas and Crimea?
He's somehow totally unconcerned with what Russian occupiers are right now doing to ethnic Ukrainians and pro-Ukraine ethnic Russians in the occupied territories. For example, here's the 'governor' of Zaporizhzhia province just last week openly admitting to war crimes in a TV interview: (link). As the translator summarizes it: "Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia-appointed occupation Governor of Zaporizhzhia, admitted displacing Ukrainian families, brutally beating them and worse. He cancelled classes in the Ukrainian language in schools, describing it as unnecessary and a mere 'dialect.'"
Note that Zaporizhzhia oblast, like Kherson, had no significant number of ethnic Russians needing to be 'rescued'. Putin captured them anyway, or as much of them as he could, as a land-bridge to Crimea, demonstrating that his concern for supposedly oppressed Russian-speakers was a mere pretext to fool the gullible.
Note also that Balitsky spends the first minute or so of the 9:28 video calling Yanukovych a coward for not using even more force and Russian troops to stay in power, or killing himself. He doesn't seem to think the Maidan protesters were the ones doing the killing.
As for ethnic Russians in the Donbas and Crimea after Ukraine's victory, most of them support Ukraine. The ones who don't can leave if they don't like it, just as the many ethnic Ukrainians in Belgorod and the Kuban will (we hope) be able to move the other way if they wish. Russians who moved to Ukraine after the invasion and are occupying other people's property will have to leave, and should be glad if they don't have to pay back rent. And the ones who have been making war on Ukraine will have to leave or face imprisonment. Benedict Arnold and Ben Franklin's loyalist son William spent their last years in London. Too bad: they should have made better decisions.
If helping students with debt is “buying votes”, then surely giving tax cuts to the wealthy is also “buying votes”. Right?
But of course Rich doesn't know spending government money to buy votes isn't the same as allowing those to keep more of the money they own.
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