Putin has pals in strange places | The Seattle Times
Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin is getting some valuable help in his desperate, grinding push to beat Ukraine into submission.
With Russia’s stockpiles of weapons running low, North Korea has pitched in with deliveries of missiles while Iran is providing a steady supply of lethal drones. Just as important for Putin’s cause, crucial military assistance to the other side of the conflict has been stalled by congressional Republicans who are holding aid to Ukraine hostage as they pressure President Joe Biden to take a harder line on illegal border crossings.
Republicans have had plenty of chances through the years to pass legislation that would change immigration policies, especially on the occasions when they held majorities in Congress, as well as the presidency, but they failed to get the job done. Yet now, without a Senate majority and only a slim, fractured majority in the House, they think they can get what they want by toying with the lives and liberties of the Ukrainian people.
Such a callous tactic would never have been attempted by the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan. Back then, Republicans believed in a robust foreign policy that championed democracy and stood behind free nations threatened by Russian aggression. Not these days. The GOP caucuses – particularly in the House – are riddled with members, so-called America First Republicans, who would be untroubled if the United States were to forsake commitments to democratic nations and let bullies like Putin thrive. Many of them, in fact, admire Putin as a hero of white Christianity.
The anti-Ukrainian Republicans take their cues from Putin’s chief American ally, of course, the GOP’s once-and-future standard bearer, former President Donald Trump. Should Trump return to the White House, Ukraine’s doom will almost certainly be sealed, and Putin will be empowered.
This new GOP foreign policy stance is not actually all that new. Back in another era when dangerous autocrats were on the rise, there were many isolationist Republicans who waved the banner of America First. Many of them had warm feelings for a certain European dictator and were unwilling to give aid to the democracies that were being attacked by that dictator’s tanks and bombers.
That dictator was named Adolph Hitler, and the America First Republicans were just as terribly wrong then as they are now.
worth repeating from David Horsey’s op ed:
The GOP caucuses – particularly in the House – are riddled with members, so-called America First Republicans, who would be untroubled if the United States were to forsake commitments to democratic nations and let bullies like Putin thrive. Many of them, in fact, admire Putin as a hero of white Christianity.
And Nazi Germany propped up members of Congress, media figures and celebrities (Charles Lindbergh) to keep us out of the war. But Japan blew it. Without Pearl Harbor committing us to war what would have happened in Europe?
My fine husband David lost his mother last night. She had various health issues but still it was a bit of a shock.
give david an extra comforting hug from me, craig. loss of a loved one is hard whether expected or not.
Sorry, David……..That’s hard stuff.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra
This Episodic podcast masterfully tells the full story of the America First Nazis in America around the time of World War II.
It should be taught in schools.
okay cult congregation, time again to put something in the collection plate for your leader:
NY judge orders Trump to pay legal fees to NY Times after failed lawsuit over disclosure of his tax documents
CNN Business
what with the upcoming defamation dollars owed to e. jean and the millions to NY state per AG case plus all those attorney bills and campaign expenses, your golden god wants more sacrificial bucks on his altar. so cough up
The Escambia County Public School District in Florida is now considering a ban of the dictionary, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley squared off in a battle to see which one of them won’t be President of the United States, Trump scheduled a Town Hall where he weighed in on Chris Christie dropping out of the race, he spent the day in a Manhattan courtroom for another episode of “Law and Personality Disorder,” the New England Patriots are in the market for a new coach after splitting with Bill Belichick, and we head out onto Hollywood Blvd for a new round of “Who’s High?”
note the newly coined words in video: “transing” by duhsantis and trump “master-debating”
Very sorry for your loss, David and Craig. It’s never easy to see them go but angels are always there with them.
Things are getting rough in russia right now. Many locales have failed power and/or heat stations, which is leaving thousands of people freezing in zero and lower temperatures. Unhappy russians. Last night, St. Petersburg, the warehouse for Wildberries started burning, and is still burning. A little over twenty-five acres of warehouse and St. Petersburg has burned. There have been other fires and breakdowns, some caused by Ukraine special forces, partisans and others by unhappy russians. These are increasing each week, which would be indicative of multiple actions, most important is that puttie is losing control of the story and people are learning how bad things are going in Ukraine for the conscripts.
This is a post on twit which helps explain the reason:
A background for understanding today’s #fire at Russian “#Wildberries” warehouse in #Petersburg. Russian companies obliged to pay a “slave toll” to the army, delivering a number of recruits. Some companies pay ransoms to protect employees. Wildberries, a Russian clone of Amazon, did the opposite: they mass-delivered slave soldiers, allegedly against some privileges for their business. Since 2022, Wildberries helped police to mass-arrest employees and forcibly recruit them. They pushed personnel out of the offices and warehouses into streets, where police waited for them, and arrested for the army. It was a well-known practice. Only in September 2022, Wildberries delivered 3,000 slave soldiers to the army, so many, that their warehouse in Koledino, Moscow region, could not function anymore. According to rumours, today’s fire in Petersburg was set by employees who were furious about the plans of their slave owners to sell them to the army.
Evangelicals have turned the Religious Party over to the snake handlers.
Attribution: Russian Angel by Vladimir Kazanevsky, Ukraine, PoliticalCartoons.com
The Russian president isn’t as isolated as you might think these days… — but with friends like these….
David and Craig…. so very sorry for your loss. Losing a parent is a hard thing… take good care of yourselves.
David and Craig,
Deepest sympathy. May you be comforted by friends and loved ones.
today’s meme…
Sturgeone
I followed the Maddow program from the beginning. It definitely deserves to be listened to in classes on government and history.
David, my condolences. Been there and even though it was a blessing for mom it wasn’t any easier for me and my sis. Remember her fondly.
what a year – heat, drought, frigid winds, snow to be followed by bugs and politicians
Cicadas to emerge in Southern, Midwest states in 2024 (thehill.com)
One year in Maryland we waded ankle deep in 17-year cicadas.
twixt in re the documents case reports another disappointing delay by cannon
that comment above about heat, drought, frigid winds, snow to be followed by bugs and politicians almost sounds like the six plagues written about in Exodus.
Many thanks for all your condolences.
Judge Cannon wants to dodge the courtroom as much as Plumpty because she has no idea what she’s doing up there.
David, Sorry to hear about your mother, You and your family are in my thoughts
Jack
I am using a WashPo gift on this article, all can read it.
The ramifications of Secretary Austin being quiet about having a prostate procedure and subsequent issues continue on. WashPo.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/13/henry-cuellar-texas-border-eagle-pass/
“Three migrants drowned in the Rio Grande, near the Eagle Pass park that Texas troopers have taken control over…”
“State officers and National Guard members have been denying U.S. Border Patrol agents entry to the 47-acre Shelby Park. Border Patrol agents learned Friday evening six migrants were in distress. Cuellar said that Border Patrol made multiple attempts to relay the information to state agents, first unsuccessfully via telephone and again verbally at the park’s entrance gate.”
“Texas Military Department soldiers stated they would not grant (Border Patrol) access to the migrants – even in the event of an emergency – and that they would send a soldier to investigate the situation,” Cuellar said in the statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The bodies of the three migrants, a female adult and two children, were recovered by Mexican authorities on Saturday morning…”
Did TX initiate departure from the union?
Sorry for your loss, Mr. C
So, i watched some of the AI- generated fake George Carlin routine, and the material might even be better than Carlin’s actual work. The accompanying AI-generated images are staggeringly convincing, and all of these technologies are in their infancy, they’re going to put the entire human race out of work, and soon
All hail your robot overlords 🤖
NEW THREAD by Jack