Please be inclusive and welcoming to everyone, regardless of their background, experience, or opinions.
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 16
Yeah, I know. t’s hard to keep your head above water in this flood of horseshit… but still…..
Trump continues his regular phone calls with Putin, who’s obviously now giving him instructions. The orange felon asked Putin to back off on Ukraine and got blown off: Putin started raining bombs, drones, and missiles on Kiev as they spoke on the phone. Trump obediently stopped the delivery of US weaponry to Ukraine after the call, dealing a devastating blow to the physically largest democratic nation in Europe. And, to add insult/threat to injury, Putin additionally said that he may not stop with Ukraine. NATO is officially facing a crisis and this moves the entire world closer to WWIII. Meanwhile, the 12th Russian oligarch — this time a bigwig in the oil industry — fell to his death from the 14th floor of a Moscow apartment building. One has to wonder if the billionaire American oligarchs who are supporting Trump realize that Putin was brought to power by morbidly rich Russian oligarchs, and then, when they started waffling on supporting his destruction of democracy in that nation, many ended up dead or in prison. Somebody might want to drop a note to Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, et al.
Thom Hartmann
No. of Recommendations: 2
I follow this pretty closely.
If Putin doesn't want to "stop with Ukraine", he's in for a nasty surprise.
His forces have been severely degraded. And while the US is no longer reliable, the rest of NATO is still formidable. Without the US, they are more than a match for the depleted Russia. I'm quite certain the rest of the alliance will honor the treaty, and come to the aid of anyone Russia attacks.
I doubt MAGA will win in 2028, so by the time Russia could -in theory- recover, a new POTUS will be in charge, and one that likely would honor the treaty, also.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Putin did *not* exploit American tribalism, or American lack of civics knowledge.
Bibi has never done it either.
Those who warned of such things were morons.
IF - we cannot realize how and why this all happened, it can't be prevented in the future.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Putin did *not* exploit American tribalism, or American lack of civics knowledge.
He surely did, and continues to exploit American tribalism and American lack of civics knowledge.
In fact the FSA has been doing just that for the last 15 years or so.
Russian disinformation exploits the cracks in American culture. They make no bones about doing so.
Bibi has never done it either.
Of course he has, and continues to do so, going so far as to align himself with one American political party and to call those who rang the bell on his doing so- "anti-semites". And that particular American political party now blesses Bibi's Gaza genocide. In fact, the leader of that American political party talks about building a huge resort with his name on it in Gaza once it has been emptied of its population.
And where they make a desert, they call it "peace" Tacitus.
IF - we cannot realize how and why this all happened, it can't be prevented in the future
Absolutely true. But we'll never get to that blessed exercise until we stop the bleeding.
And Jedi, I'm NOT even saying that the Democrats, as currently constituted, will ever get us to that point. It's no longer "Libs vs Cons".
Right now it's those who stand up for democracy against those who are rushing headlong into fascism.
That's the defining battle of our generation.
No. of Recommendations: 3
In fact the FSA has been doing just that for the last 15 years or so.
Did you mean "FSB"? Otherwise, I need to know what that acronym is.
Yes, the Russians had a lot of social media bots spreading lies about the Dem candidates (for POTUS), in hopes that the Felon would win. They continue to do so. They are exploiting the gullibility of the average American.**
But Putin -I think- believes that Americans are somewhat ignorant, and somewhat cowardly. Probably left over from his KGB days (when Soviet citizens were raised to believe that we were soft and decadent).
And Jedi, I'm NOT even saying that the Democrats, as currently constituted, will ever get us to that point. It's no longer "Libs vs Cons".
Right now it's those who stand up for democracy against those who are rushing headlong into fascism.
Absolutely. I have said many times that the country (and by extension, "democracy") comes before party. When I was a Republican, I think Dems and Reps agreed on that point...but no longer. For Dems it mostly does. For Reps, that seems to have gone away.
**It doesn't help that a large percentage of Americans get their "news" from social media, which is a cesspool of lies and distortions. If they get something correct, it's almost by accident.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Did you mean "FSB"? Otherwise, I need to know what that acronym is.
Yes, I meant FSB. Sorry bout that.
Yes, the Russians had a lot of social media bots spreading lies about the Dem candidates (for POTUS), in hopes that the Felon would win. They continue to do so. They are exploiting the gullibility of the average American.**
Americans, or at least many Americans, have gone soft. Perhaps the softest of all are those on the right who consider their performative cruelty to be a sign of hardness and vigor. There are plenty on the left who have gone soft as well. Ease, comfort and security have become the most important values for them and they have a natural affinity toward peace and quiet, even when banging drums is called for.
But Putin -I think- believes that Americans are somewhat ignorant, and somewhat cowardly. Probably left over from his KGB days (when Soviet citizens were raised to believe that we were soft and decadent).
True. But Hitler and Tojo thought the same. They thought Americans would remain asleep, even when faced by a direct threat to their ease, security and comfort. Perhaps this time will be different. Perhaps we all just can’t be bothered and we will not be bothered as the chains tighten around our necks. Or perhaps not. Perhaps we will all wake up and perceive the threat. Who knows? That chapter remains to be written.
And Jedi, I'm NOT even saying that the Democrats, as currently constituted, will ever get us to that point. It's no longer "Libs vs Cons".
Right now it's those who stand up for democracy against those who are rushing headlong into fascism.
Absolutely. I have said many times that the country (and by extension, "democracy") comes before party. When I was a Republican, I think Dems and Reps agreed on that point...but no longer. For Dems it mostly does. For Reps, that seems to have gone away.
There are lots of Democrats and Republicans who perceive the threat and are beginning to organize and act. Will they be enough? Or in time?
Again, that chapter remains to be written, but I know for certain- it won’t be written by those who surrender to despair.
Fuck despair. And fuck these Nazis…… I’m sure the same sentiment was expressed by Americans in foxholes 1941-45., though it would have been better if more Americans were saying it 1934-41.
**It doesn't help that a large percentage of Americans get their "news" from social media, which is a cesspool of lies and distortions. If they get something correct, it's almost by accident.
The other day, I ran across a few youtube videos that purported to narrate several encounters between Jasmine Crockett and John Roberts. In each, Crockett bested Roberts in various hearings and even one Supreme Court encounter. But as I listened to these videos (I was in my car) it became apparent that these encounters just couldn’t be true.
Sure enough, when I was in A place where I could actually do five minutes of research, it became apparent that these were fabrications created out of thin air.
Though we’ll never be able to compete with the right in the area of fabricated history, we do have our examples of political fiction.
No. of Recommendations: 1
the most common trait among oligarchs ; they will always choose to be 10X richer and take their chances relative to the average resident.
society is irrelevant.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Americans, or at least many Americans, have gone soft.
That's always been the case. We're soft until someone pisses us off. We have totalitarian leanings until some totalitarian threatens/attacks us. How many prominent Americans were NAZIs and pro-Hitler prior to 1941? Lots (including Lindbergh and Ford). Then we were attacked, and it became very unfashionable to be pro-NAZI**.
And the country was half isolationist right up until Dec 7, 1941. And prior to 1917. And, it seems, mostly today (e.g. anti-NATO, "Europe's problems are Europe's", etc...same rhetoric from the early 20th century).
We're soft, we like our comforts, everything is "so far away" (nod to Luke Skywalker ;-), it's none of our business. My hope is that something/someone really pisses us off. Because when that happens, we come together, and whomever it is is in deep excrement. The Felon has p-o'd about half the country already. E-baaa is predicting he's gonna p-o another 20M people with the attack on Medicaid. Not sure what the tipping point will be, but he's getting close to it. We've already seen some of the largest protests since Vietnam.
**My mom was mostly German. She and her mom's side of the family spoke German openly. Then the war started, and they stopped speaking it pretty much for the rest of their lives.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Trump obediently stopped the delivery of US weaponry to Ukraine after the call, dealing a devastating blow to the physically largest democratic nation in Europe
No, Trump is trying not to drain US stockpiles.
BTW. This aged like cottage cheese in the Georgia sun:
At President Trump's direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops," Parnell said.</i
