"Whoa, Zelenskyy thinks these MAGA Republicans are smarter than their constituents? Hmmmm. We’ll see."
Ya know, I try to avoid making sucker bets. Sooooo, I think I will avoid making the one that's implied in the above quote. Thanks for the offer, though.
“What he can do is remind lawmakers that Ukraine is possibly the last thing standing between a direct clash between NATO and Russia ”
I doubt Republicans will have the U.S. still be part of NATO, if and when Putin attacks a NATO nation. Trump’s pretty clear he wants the U.S. out of NATO, opening the door for his idol Putin to rebuild the USSR’s borders or maybe even go for Imperial Russia’s borders.
Yeah, they're so far up Putin's ass NATO is toast, don't worry, Europe has noticed and are figuring out what post NATO world order looks like should the dumbest American voters in history be victorious.
Any other nation would've denied Orban a visa. GOP is going to complain no matter what we do, so we might as well do our worst instead of trying to placate the unplacatable. Can't anybody here play this game?
MAGA aside why would any American think Putin is somebody we need? I spent two years in Putin's Russia and life was grand if you had the money, real money, not work for a paycheck money. So you either had Benz and a driver or you swept the beer bottles off the sidewalks of Tverskaya with your straw broom. Hmmm, maybe that's their plan
"MAGA aside why would any American think Putin is somebody we need?"
That's not the right question
First you have to ask why a CONFEDERATE would believe Putin is somebody "Americans need"
And then you have to remember that Putin and his oligarchs are just as white supremacist (with the inherent colonizing/oligarching/resource raping) as any Confederate Republican
And THEN the answer becomes clear, much more quickly
Republicans have an extra reason to hate Zelenskyy... he's the anti-Trump.
An entertainer turned polititian who won the popular vote by a landslide, and turned out to be *exactly* what the country needed. He was offered safe passage out of Ukraine at the start of the invasion, flatly refused to go, and asked for bullets instead. A genuine badass, effective war leader, gives inspiring speeches in multiple languages that no one laughs at. The people love him, his *wife* loves him, America's allies love him. He's going down in history in the *good* way. And the crowning insult; he's shorter than average and doesn't appear to give one hot shit about that.
Of course, all that's before we even START to talk about how he refused to Do Trump A Favour, and led directly to his first impeachment.
Even if Republicans weren't in Putin's jockstrap they can't deal with Zelenskyy without mortally offending Trump, and we all know what *that" means.
Of course most national leaders don't make geopolitical decisions based on seething petty jealousy, but here we are. JFC, how was this allowed to happen.
"JFC, how was this allowed to happen." I hear you. Print, Cable, and now online, Big American Media is owned by less than ten rich republican assholes. I think it all began with Ford's pardon of Nixon.
And then it was expedited by the one-two punch of the Reagan rollbacks and his Democratic Congress' attempt to pass an updated Fairness Doctrine which he proceeded to quietly veto
"In a seismic decision on Tuesday, New York’s highest court ordered that the state’s congressional districts be redrawn ahead of next year’s election cycle The ruling will likely transform state maps ahead of the 2024 elections and could result in Democrats winning back several seats they lost in 2022 — which could prove pivotal to regaining a national House majority.
In their 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals’ justices ordered the state’s independent redistricting commission to submit a new map to the Legislature, agreeing with the argument made by Democrat-aligned petitioners that the panel failed to complete its constitutionally mandated duty last year. The commission must provide the map no later than February 28, 2024."
Something like this really makes you hate these loathsome Republicans - we are used to them screwing us over - but when it comes to Ukraine the contrast really makes me crazy
Beware the IDU aka the misnamed International Democracy Union. They're pro Orban and pro Trump right winger knobs and it seems that they are pro Pootin as well.
One of the Trump co conspirators in Georgia is/was a member of the IDU.
The IDU is run by loathed former Canadian PM Steve Harper.
Mara Liasson's analysis on today's NPR Morning Edition:
"MARTIN: Why has U.S. border policy become the bargaining chip in this funding battle? It seems unrelated to Ukraine.
LIASSON: It's completely unrelated to Ukraine. But the situation at the border is the top issue for Republican voters. Immigration policy is one of the most intractable issues in U.S. politics. It's something Democrats and Republicans engage on every couple of years and always fail to make headway on. This time around, Republican voters are very concerned about migration across the Southern U.S. border, and they've been joined by blue state governors and mayors who also feel immigration is out of control because they're having a hard time grappling with large numbers of asylum seekers who are being bused into their cities.
Now, Joe Biden says he's willing to discuss compromise. In the past, he has made compromises with Republicans to pass bipartisan bills on infrastructure and microchips and gun safety. But in this case, immigration is such a good issue for Republicans, politically, heading into 2024, they don't have a lot of incentives to make a deal. They can just attack Biden for being soft on immigration. So it's not clear what price Democrats could pay in terms of border policy to get a deal, and that puts Zelenskyy and Biden and Ukraine in a very, very tough spot."
I mean if he could take fenatnyl from russia to buy guns in Texas to send to Ukraine.. Fuck still amounts to being a scumbag move due to not everyone being part of the scumbag party.
Manichean dip-fucking is baddest and goodest dip-fucking at the same time!
Meanwhile, we at Crock, Crank and Botheration are updating our landline poll questions for next week’s episode of Do the Beltway:
1. Why is Joe Biden too old to do his job?
2. Candy bars used to be a nickel. Why is inflation the most pressing issue today?
3. Yes or no: will Putin not be unsatisfied if we don’t give him Ukraine?
4. Given a 2024 match between Godzilla and Trump, why would you vote for Trump?
5. Biden is so old. How old is he!
6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you agree with the statement: “the trouble with dames are that the mouth don’t stop.”
7. What are your feelings about why transgenders keep your grandkids from calling?
8. Have you heard the exciting news about Lake Crockagator Estates Florida vacation homes? Stand by for a sales associate, he’ll be right with you.
"Whoa, Zelenskyy thinks these MAGA Republicans are smarter than their constituents? Hmmmm. We’ll see."
Ya know, I try to avoid making sucker bets. Sooooo, I think I will avoid making the one that's implied in the above quote. Thanks for the offer, though.
Yes, yes, yes. Give them the money and weapons they need. Our world's future hangs in the balance.
Few had any problem saying Merry Christmas until we were attacked for not saying it enough. Now I almost never say it. It's become self-fulfilling.
The War on STFU.
I agree with cancel culturing Hungary. Fuck them.
“What he can do is remind lawmakers that Ukraine is possibly the last thing standing between a direct clash between NATO and Russia ”
I doubt Republicans will have the U.S. still be part of NATO, if and when Putin attacks a NATO nation. Trump’s pretty clear he wants the U.S. out of NATO, opening the door for his idol Putin to rebuild the USSR’s borders or maybe even go for Imperial Russia’s borders.
Yeah, they're so far up Putin's ass NATO is toast, don't worry, Europe has noticed and are figuring out what post NATO world order looks like should the dumbest American voters in history be victorious.
Any other nation would've denied Orban a visa. GOP is going to complain no matter what we do, so we might as well do our worst instead of trying to placate the unplacatable. Can't anybody here play this game?
"Can't anybody here play this game?"
I can
But they don't want to put people who look like me in charge
And it doesn't matter how often over the past decade and a half or so your predictions were 100% correct, either
I used to think it did
Stupid me
MAGA aside why would any American think Putin is somebody we need? I spent two years in Putin's Russia and life was grand if you had the money, real money, not work for a paycheck money. So you either had Benz and a driver or you swept the beer bottles off the sidewalks of Tverskaya with your straw broom. Hmmm, maybe that's their plan
"MAGA aside why would any American think Putin is somebody we need?"
That's not the right question
First you have to ask why a CONFEDERATE would believe Putin is somebody "Americans need"
And then you have to remember that Putin and his oligarchs are just as white supremacist (with the inherent colonizing/oligarching/resource raping) as any Confederate Republican
And THEN the answer becomes clear, much more quickly
https://planamag.com/white-supremacy-is-systemic-narcissism/
Republicans have an extra reason to hate Zelenskyy... he's the anti-Trump.
An entertainer turned polititian who won the popular vote by a landslide, and turned out to be *exactly* what the country needed. He was offered safe passage out of Ukraine at the start of the invasion, flatly refused to go, and asked for bullets instead. A genuine badass, effective war leader, gives inspiring speeches in multiple languages that no one laughs at. The people love him, his *wife* loves him, America's allies love him. He's going down in history in the *good* way. And the crowning insult; he's shorter than average and doesn't appear to give one hot shit about that.
Of course, all that's before we even START to talk about how he refused to Do Trump A Favour, and led directly to his first impeachment.
Even if Republicans weren't in Putin's jockstrap they can't deal with Zelenskyy without mortally offending Trump, and we all know what *that" means.
Of course most national leaders don't make geopolitical decisions based on seething petty jealousy, but here we are. JFC, how was this allowed to happen.
And of course, Zelenskyy is a Member of our Tribe, and they really fucking hate us.
"JFC, how was this allowed to happen." I hear you. Print, Cable, and now online, Big American Media is owned by less than ten rich republican assholes. I think it all began with Ford's pardon of Nixon.
Yes
And then it was expedited by the one-two punch of the Reagan rollbacks and his Democratic Congress' attempt to pass an updated Fairness Doctrine which he proceeded to quietly veto
see above
"In a seismic decision on Tuesday, New York’s highest court ordered that the state’s congressional districts be redrawn ahead of next year’s election cycle The ruling will likely transform state maps ahead of the 2024 elections and could result in Democrats winning back several seats they lost in 2022 — which could prove pivotal to regaining a national House majority.
In their 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals’ justices ordered the state’s independent redistricting commission to submit a new map to the Legislature, agreeing with the argument made by Democrat-aligned petitioners that the panel failed to complete its constitutionally mandated duty last year. The commission must provide the map no later than February 28, 2024."
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/12/new-york-redistricting-court-hands-democrats-huge-2024-win.html
Something like this really makes you hate these loathsome Republicans - we are used to them screwing us over - but when it comes to Ukraine the contrast really makes me crazy
Beware the IDU aka the misnamed International Democracy Union. They're pro Orban and pro Trump right winger knobs and it seems that they are pro Pootin as well.
One of the Trump co conspirators in Georgia is/was a member of the IDU.
The IDU is run by loathed former Canadian PM Steve Harper.
The GOP have contracted the IDU a few times since 2016
There's a reason why right wingers around the world all sound the same. The IDU is a big part of that reason
Mara Liasson's analysis on today's NPR Morning Edition:
"MARTIN: Why has U.S. border policy become the bargaining chip in this funding battle? It seems unrelated to Ukraine.
LIASSON: It's completely unrelated to Ukraine. But the situation at the border is the top issue for Republican voters. Immigration policy is one of the most intractable issues in U.S. politics. It's something Democrats and Republicans engage on every couple of years and always fail to make headway on. This time around, Republican voters are very concerned about migration across the Southern U.S. border, and they've been joined by blue state governors and mayors who also feel immigration is out of control because they're having a hard time grappling with large numbers of asylum seekers who are being bused into their cities.
Now, Joe Biden says he's willing to discuss compromise. In the past, he has made compromises with Republicans to pass bipartisan bills on infrastructure and microchips and gun safety. But in this case, immigration is such a good issue for Republicans, politically, heading into 2024, they don't have a lot of incentives to make a deal. They can just attack Biden for being soft on immigration. So it's not clear what price Democrats could pay in terms of border policy to get a deal, and that puts Zelenskyy and Biden and Ukraine in a very, very tough spot."
this is exactly why i stopped listening to NPR. after literal decades. mara liasson was a key reason.
Thanks Mara for giving the GOP a heads they win tails Democrats lose contest.
Why can’t Biden be more like Reagan, and take money from one country illegally to buy weapons for another?
Or sign a law that gives money for the border and never send it along, on some grounds like the law wasn’t specific enough?
I mean if he could take fenatnyl from russia to buy guns in Texas to send to Ukraine.. Fuck still amounts to being a scumbag move due to not everyone being part of the scumbag party.
We could sell Texas to Mexico. And Florida.
Or just give Texas back to Mexico, and Florida to Spain
What did Spain ever do to you?
I don't know what i was thinking. Lo siento españa.
Let's give it to Russia
I wish I knew. We always seem to bring a wet noodle to a knife fight. It's a problem 40 years in the making.
Ukraine is having an actual border crisis and actual invasion. Republicans refuse to help because they are racist, fascist hypocrites.