A retired GOP representative who had served on the House Armed Services Committee said at the beginning of the circus the GOP was stirring up about support for Ukraine, that it was started by the four least informed members of the caucus and we should not put a microphone in front of them. Well, we did, and here we are once again letting the least informed steer the direction of one of the oldest, and what I once that was the bedrock of American political stability, towards shoal water. I too wish aid and support was moving faster, all I can think of is the administration seems to be taking a boiling frog approach...push the red lines Russia has laid down with ever increasing lethality of support. Where will it end no one can predict, I dearly hope not with boots on the ground. But keeping NATO together has been one of Biden's greatest successes and if NATO decides to cross that final line I know we will be with them. Well written and well thought out as always Bryan.
The list of things you and I disagree on may be long but I find that on the really important ones, there is little daylight between us. Whatever one thinks of Ukraine, Putin, Trump the Europeans etc. the idea that one country can simply invade another to acquire territory by force and seek to subjugate its people and destroy its culture is best left in the 19th century. I'm not sure what victory for the Ukrainians will look like exactly but I do know that allowing Putin a win takes us back to a world that was far more ugly and dangerous than the one we have grown up in and would be leaving to our kids.
This issue is what concerns me about DeSantis and the rush by some anti-Trump folks to anoint him immediately and swiftly eliminate all other candidates from consideration. First because I think these people are fighting the last war in insisting we need to pare a race that hasn't even started yet down to 2 by next Thursday. But that's a whole nother set of arguments.
What bothers me is DeSantis' apparently unlimited willingness to pander to the Moron Caucus base, Ukraine issues not excepted. I think there's good reason to think he doesn't actually believe this stuff based on his prior history, but....
I always think about something Penn Jillette once said about the argument "Oh, don't pay attention to Candidate Jones saying X. He's just saying X to win over the marks; we all know he REALLY believes Y and will act accordingly in office."
Jillette's response: what makes you so certain YOU'RE not the mark?
From George Will's article: I've noticed this fascinating trend ( nanny government "conservatism")
"Perhaps Hawley, advocate of nanny government “conservatism,” has been too busy promoting his plan to make the federal government not Big Brother but Big Parent, taking over parenting with a law against children under age 16 using social media."
I managed to find George Will's article elsewhere, without paywall. Granted, I'm 74, but when I read things like this it confirms my idea that there are worse things than dying for a worthy cause. I have to hope Putin does fear the vaporization of Moscow.
"When, however, Ukraine says Russians are scattering booby-trapped, explosive toys to maim children, remember that Soviet forces did this in Afghanistan. and Putin’s abduction to “re-education camps” in Russia of unknown thousands of Ukrainian children is an attempt at cultural erasure akin to what his Chinese soulmates are doing to the Uyghurs, which U.S. policy has branded genocide. Putin is refuting his war rationale that Ukrainians are culturally Russians."
Loans are not "forgiven", they are transferred to others. Other coutnries effectively subsidize, and those countries are less competitive internationally than we. As for the considerations you suggest, none of that is on the table. Most important to me though is that I don't think the President has the POWER to do what he wishes. CONGRESS does, and can do the things you suggest here. I would disagree as a matter of POLICY, not as a Constitutional matter.
While forgiving student loans might help us competitively, it spends a lot of tax dollars that aren't helping people who don't go to college. Don't a number of other countries effectively subsidize college costs to help them compete internationally? But it does seem that we would have to help those going to college AND those becoming employable in other ways. Are we considering the college major or tech training chosen in deciding who gets helped?
Most of what I'm reading suggests support for Ukraine is an absolute bargain considering the alternative. If Putin has designs on Poland , the Baltics and who knows what else, as a NATO member we could be drawn into not only a much more expensive war, but one that isn't just taking Ukrainian lives. Appeasement didn't work out too well for Chamberlain in the 1930s and fortunately FDR figured out how to basically "snooker" isolationist Americans into joining the war.
We certainly do. I am totally against America providing 90%+ of the bill to help Ukraine. Help Ukraine, sure, but it is NOT America's responsibility. How far we have drifted from the vision and guidance from our Founding Fathers.
A European war and folks like you are happy for American taxpayers to foot the bill, not the Europeans, but America. What's another $100-200 Billion. Pocket change, right Bryan. Cause we are fighting the evil commies (Russians). Pundits like you care more about the security of Europe than the Europeans do, and you are fine with that. Just as we have protected Europe since 1945 and paid most of the bill. No More. Europe needs to be told that in Xdays (60-90) the U.S. is stopping most of our aid to Ukraine. If Europe doesn't put on their Big Boy pants and pony up the $$ and Material needs required by Ukraine, then Ukraine can fall and Europe can deal with that. Tough Love is needed, not a continuation of 1945 group think.
A retired GOP representative who had served on the House Armed Services Committee said at the beginning of the circus the GOP was stirring up about support for Ukraine, that it was started by the four least informed members of the caucus and we should not put a microphone in front of them. Well, we did, and here we are once again letting the least informed steer the direction of one of the oldest, and what I once that was the bedrock of American political stability, towards shoal water. I too wish aid and support was moving faster, all I can think of is the administration seems to be taking a boiling frog approach...push the red lines Russia has laid down with ever increasing lethality of support. Where will it end no one can predict, I dearly hope not with boots on the ground. But keeping NATO together has been one of Biden's greatest successes and if NATO decides to cross that final line I know we will be with them. Well written and well thought out as always Bryan.
The list of things you and I disagree on may be long but I find that on the really important ones, there is little daylight between us. Whatever one thinks of Ukraine, Putin, Trump the Europeans etc. the idea that one country can simply invade another to acquire territory by force and seek to subjugate its people and destroy its culture is best left in the 19th century. I'm not sure what victory for the Ukrainians will look like exactly but I do know that allowing Putin a win takes us back to a world that was far more ugly and dangerous than the one we have grown up in and would be leaving to our kids.
This issue is what concerns me about DeSantis and the rush by some anti-Trump folks to anoint him immediately and swiftly eliminate all other candidates from consideration. First because I think these people are fighting the last war in insisting we need to pare a race that hasn't even started yet down to 2 by next Thursday. But that's a whole nother set of arguments.
What bothers me is DeSantis' apparently unlimited willingness to pander to the Moron Caucus base, Ukraine issues not excepted. I think there's good reason to think he doesn't actually believe this stuff based on his prior history, but....
I always think about something Penn Jillette once said about the argument "Oh, don't pay attention to Candidate Jones saying X. He's just saying X to win over the marks; we all know he REALLY believes Y and will act accordingly in office."
Jillette's response: what makes you so certain YOU'RE not the mark?
From George Will's article: I've noticed this fascinating trend ( nanny government "conservatism")
"Perhaps Hawley, advocate of nanny government “conservatism,” has been too busy promoting his plan to make the federal government not Big Brother but Big Parent, taking over parenting with a law against children under age 16 using social media."
I managed to find George Will's article elsewhere, without paywall. Granted, I'm 74, but when I read things like this it confirms my idea that there are worse things than dying for a worthy cause. I have to hope Putin does fear the vaporization of Moscow.
"When, however, Ukraine says Russians are scattering booby-trapped, explosive toys to maim children, remember that Soviet forces did this in Afghanistan. and Putin’s abduction to “re-education camps” in Russia of unknown thousands of Ukrainian children is an attempt at cultural erasure akin to what his Chinese soulmates are doing to the Uyghurs, which U.S. policy has branded genocide. Putin is refuting his war rationale that Ukrainians are culturally Russians."
Loans are not "forgiven", they are transferred to others. Other coutnries effectively subsidize, and those countries are less competitive internationally than we. As for the considerations you suggest, none of that is on the table. Most important to me though is that I don't think the President has the POWER to do what he wishes. CONGRESS does, and can do the things you suggest here. I would disagree as a matter of POLICY, not as a Constitutional matter.
While forgiving student loans might help us competitively, it spends a lot of tax dollars that aren't helping people who don't go to college. Don't a number of other countries effectively subsidize college costs to help them compete internationally? But it does seem that we would have to help those going to college AND those becoming employable in other ways. Are we considering the college major or tech training chosen in deciding who gets helped?
Most of what I'm reading suggests support for Ukraine is an absolute bargain considering the alternative. If Putin has designs on Poland , the Baltics and who knows what else, as a NATO member we could be drawn into not only a much more expensive war, but one that isn't just taking Ukrainian lives. Appeasement didn't work out too well for Chamberlain in the 1930s and fortunately FDR figured out how to basically "snooker" isolationist Americans into joining the war.
https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-britain-hoped-to-avoid-war-with-germany-in-the-1930s
We certainly do. I am totally against America providing 90%+ of the bill to help Ukraine. Help Ukraine, sure, but it is NOT America's responsibility. How far we have drifted from the vision and guidance from our Founding Fathers.
A European war and folks like you are happy for American taxpayers to foot the bill, not the Europeans, but America. What's another $100-200 Billion. Pocket change, right Bryan. Cause we are fighting the evil commies (Russians). Pundits like you care more about the security of Europe than the Europeans do, and you are fine with that. Just as we have protected Europe since 1945 and paid most of the bill. No More. Europe needs to be told that in Xdays (60-90) the U.S. is stopping most of our aid to Ukraine. If Europe doesn't put on their Big Boy pants and pony up the $$ and Material needs required by Ukraine, then Ukraine can fall and Europe can deal with that. Tough Love is needed, not a continuation of 1945 group think.