You are expecting too much from your country. Being rooted in Puritan “evangelicalism” the U.S. is incapable to divorce itself from the apocalyptic thinking of this form of Christianity. The Four Horsemen of the book of Revelation has always been an essential characteristic of American thinking. It was in the USA that I was introduced to a phrase that always appalled me. “Better dead than red.” I saw apocalyptic scenes in my childhood and youth in Germany. Our family was fortunate to have lived in a small town east of Mannheim where thousands perished. Half of my schoolmates grew-up without a father. But, WE were alive and life resumed. The only solution is the complete destruction/elimination of nuclear weapons of any form everywhere. Yes, my thinking is utopian; the alternative is either deliberate or accidental annihilation.
As Anne Jacobsen writes in her "Nuclear War A Scenario", " With time, after a nuclear war, all present-day knowledge will be gone. Including the knowledge that the enemy was not North Korea, Russia, America, China, Iran, or anyone else vilified as a nation or a group.
It was the nuclear weapons that were the enemy of us all. All along."
We are at any moment, only two hours away from total obliteration, given our insane nuclear brinkmanship and somehow find a way to change this or we will not survive. Thank you Bill for your post and especially the clip from Terminator 2 which I agree shows the closest reality of what truly happens when a nuclear device explodes.
Way back when I was in high school, when we were still using slide rules, I read an interesting book about humanity losing all knowledge due to nuclear war. It was titled: "A Canticle for Leibowitz". A good read, and it is still in print:
I think the only thing that has saved humanity from the many instances when further escalation to nuclear war was possible, was the humanity of a watch officer in a key position who believed the other side had rational people who would not launch. In most of those events, it was a Soviet/Russian watch officer.
Now with the rise of the neo-cons in this country, and the breakdown of communications between the US and Russia, the next time that belief may no longer hold. Add to that, the use of hypersonic weapons - and eventually AI in the response escalation, and the future is grim.
Politics won't save us - the system is too corrupted by billions of dollars. We have to look to ourselves and all the peoples of the planet to shut it all down. That, and maybe, pray a lot.
As noted previously, Saturday Democrats voted in lockstep for the Ukraine war package. Zero votes against the bill! This shows the absolute hypocrisy to their "green" credentials. I don't know what it will take to wake up the sheep in their flock, but it's clear the slaughter and destruction of all that is isn't enough.
Sign of the times: on this Earth Day, the latest climate news is that, "...the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the fossil fuel industry, giving the green light to the largest oil export project in the United States.The following week, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a license to the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) located off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. This terminal will have the capacity to export a staggering 2 million barrels of crude oil per day to foreign markets."
Oh, man, don't even get me started on THAT! The only good news lately is the cancellation of a massive road through the ANWR, but the Willow Project still lives. <sigh> One step forward, two steps back.
I can't say I followed the First Gulf War that closely, Ray, but the second one, IMO, had nothing to do with WMDs or bin Laden. It was about flexing U.S. muscle, enriching the MIC, dubya's daddy issues, and OIL. Planned by an evil cabal hiding behind a frat boy.
my unalloyed, categoric admiration for your eloquence here, dennis. if only bertrand russell and hitch were w/ us today. the intellectual courage of such atheistic, anti-theistic, nullifidian sages of their calibre remain is discouraging. the dearth of awareness and the nescient dimwittedness among most of western societal god-lovers will eventually transmogrify into even the lesser dolts' being dead, due to their inexorable determination for the rapture-ribaldry. their tartuffism and their determination to blindly embrace even nuclear war. is stunpolling.
it reminds me of hyper-competitive athletes like flo-jo [florence joyner] who was so determined to up the ante w/ her performance-enhancing drugs in order to continue competing, despite her aging body, at the highest international levels of sprinting, that the poor woman dropped dead at 38... the result of drug-induced epileptic seizures and drug-damaged cardio-vascular systems. winning was all she cared about; to win was the summum bonum... all that mattered. the level of devastation to flo-jo's body was well-known, yet she was still determined to pay the ultimate price. winning and being 'numero-uno' took precedence... just as they do w/ armageddon-crazed evangelicals, politicians, and OT-crazed zionists in nuclear-armed countries like the US and israel.
oh well, it will be one sure way of deleting our DNA so planet earth can be manumitted to begin anew. the downside is that all the DNA of other life forms will be exterminated as well... save the hardy cockroaches, rats, and anaerobic bacteria. how fitting!
I have one word for these Fundamentalist Evangelical Christians "Dinosaurs" (and their Fossils, etc.) If the Earth is 12,000 yrs. old. Where are they mentioned in their Manifesto the Bible? "OH!!! they were put here by God to test our Faith! I better brace myself because you are testing mine... Lol I'm all for your beliefs-- just don't come on places like here spouting them as Truths. A lot of people in Mental Institutions believe they are Napoleon too...
no such thing as 'free will'; we are prpagandized into mental desuetude. as you are well aware, fireman, the nutters are in control of the looney bin, one of which i had been ignominiously committed to in my mid-20s upon my return from japan, and the horrors of witnessing 1st-hand the hiroshima and nagasaki victims of the US's atomic bomb devastations of those helpless innocent civilians demolished and deranged on my 4th birthday on august 6th 1945... then 3 days later nagasaki. all those 17 years later when i arrived in japan to teach as a 21-yr-old, the japanese civilians exposed to those 2 nuclear holocausts were visible everywhere throughout japan.
Mike Whitney concluded his Information Clearing House 22 Apr 24 piece ~ TRUMP SOLD-OUT HIS BASE TO SHOVEL $95 BILLION TO UKRAINE AND ISRAEL ~ as follows:
One of the few people who has acted honorably in this fiasco, is Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is clearly one of the few members of Congress that genuinely gives-a-damn about the American people. Greene delivered an epic rant on the floor of the House yesterday following the vote on the Ukrainian aid package. Naturally, her heartfelt presentation appeared nowhere in the sellout media, so I transcribed most of what she said below. It’s worth the time:
“…. The United States taxpayer has already sent $113 billion to Ukraine, and much of that money is unaccounted for. This is an example of a sick business model the US government wants to continue….. The Congress votes for money for foreign wars that the American people do not support….. The American people do not support a business model based on blood and murder and war in foreign countries while the government does nothing to secure our border.
“The American people are over $34 trillion in debt and the debt is rising by $40 billion every night while we all sleep. But nothing is done to secure our border or reduce our debt. Inflation continues to rise every day and Americans can hardly afford to pay their grocery bills, they can hardly afford to put gas in their cars, and they can hardly afford the rent. And, now, average mortgage payments are over $3000 when they were just $1700 three years ago. Young Americans don’t think they will ever be able to buy a home and yet today, this congress thinks the most important thing they should do is to send another $61 billion to the war in Ukraine that the American people –by 70%– do not support!
“… But, today, the most important thing this body thinks we should do, is not reduce spending, or drive down inflation, or secure our own border that is invaded every single day by people from over 160 different countries… We have over 1.8 million ‘got-aways’ and we don’t know who these people are… and yet we have people in this very congress ‘talking tough’ saying, ‘We have to defeat Russia. Oh, we have to protect Ukraine’ and yet , all of you are unwilling to protect the American citizens that pay your salary, pay to keep the lights on, and pay to keep the federal government running. And for what?
“For nothing! Ukraine isn’t even a member of NATO But all you hear in Washington DC is ‘Oh, we have to keep spending America’s hard-earned tax dollars to continue to murder Ukrainians to wipe out a whole generation of young men so there are (thousands of) widows, and fatherless orphans, and not enough men to work in their industries. Oh, but you really support Ukraine. (sarcasm) What kind of support is that? It’s repulsive!
“SHAME ON THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT! SHAME ON THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT! IF WE WANT TO SUPPORT OUR MILITARY, THEN SUPPORT OUR MILITARY. WE SHOULD BE BUILDING UP OUR WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION, NOT SENDING IT OVER TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO KILL FOREIGN PEOPLE.
“AND IF THIS BODY WAS WHAT IT PRETENDS TO BE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US WOULD BE DEMANDING PEACE IN UKRAINE; PEACE FOR THESE PEOPLE, SO THAT NO MORE OF THEM HAVE TO DIE. BUT YOU NEVER HEAR ANYBODY DEMANDING PEACE. NO, NO, NO. PEACE IS THE LAST THING WASHINGTON WANTS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T FIT THE BUSINESS MODEL. THIS IS A BUSINESS MODEL THEY SAY BUILDS THE AMERICAN ECONOMY AND PROTECTS AMERICAN JOBS. WHAT A DISGUSTING BUSINESS MODEL. WE SHOULD HAVE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT BUILDS-UP OUR AMERICAN COMPANIES AND AMERICAN JOBS TO SERVE AMERICAN INTERESTS, AND OUR MILITARY AND OUR GOVERNMENT SHOULD CARE ABOUT PROTECTING THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE AMERICANS WHO PAY THEIR HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS TO FUND ALL THIS.
“America last. America last. That’s all this is. America last, every single day.” [EMPHASES added.]
Dang, Bill. MTG must have really hit a nail for You. That is the First time i have ever seen You use an expletive about anything. Let alone in a +++Positive+++ sense.
She nailed it for me, as well. But i'm not sure about her claim that "70%" of the American do not support the American proxy War with Russia in Ukraine.
TRUMP SOLD-OUT HIS BASE TO SHOVEL $95 BILLION TO UKRAINE AND ISRAEL by Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House 22 Apr 24
The man who is most responsible for the $95 billion giveaway to Ukraine and Israel, is the same guy who pretends to oppose America’s “wasteful” foreign wars: Donald Trump.
It was Trump who consulted with Speaker Mike Johnson about the contents of the Ukraine aid package, just as it was Trump who concocted the idea of issuing loans instead of dispersing the standard welfare handout. It was also Trump who said:
“I stand with the Speaker, (Mike Johnson)” after which he added that Johnson is doing “a very good job.”
A “good job”??
So, secretly collaborating with the Democrat leadership to push through a bill that “reauthorizes FISA to spy on the American people without a warrant, (bans Tik Tok) fully funds Joe Biden’s DOJ that has indicted President Trump 91 times, and giving Biden’s political gestapo a brand new FBI building bigger than the Pentagon,” while not providing a dime to protect the southern border from the swarms of people entering the country illegally, is doing a “good job”?
THE QUESTION WE SHOULD ALL BE ASKING OURSELVES IS WHY HAS TRUMP DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS SCAM? HE KEEPS SAYING THAT IF HE WAS PRESIDENT, HE’D END THE WAR IN UKRAINE IN A DAY. IF HE’S SINCERE ABOUT THAT, THEN WHY DID HE COLLABORATE ON A BILL THAT WILL DRAG THE WAR OUT FOR ANOTHER YEAR OR TWO?
This is from a Twitter post by political analyst Michael Tracey:
“Mission Accomplished. It is done: Donald Trump and the House GOP just completed one of the most epic swindles in political history, with Trump personally effectuating the largest-ever dispersement of Ukraine funding through his emissary, ‘MAGA Mike Johnson’ (as Trump lovingly calls him) The $61 billion passed this afternoon is likely enough to underwrite the brutal, pointless trench warfare for at least another year or two. This after the same old endless media screeching that Trump and MAGA Republicans were being brainwashed by Putin and would never fund Ukraine. That fundamental hoax continues ~ only this time Trump was in on it… .”
“He didn’t just ‘not kill it,’ he personally facilitated its passage.”
“It’s all a big shell game and Trump is playing along with it to improve his political prospects. How else would you explain his performance in this dismal charade?
TRUMP OBVIOUSLY KNOWS THAT HIS RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE WILL REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT COMPROMISE WITH THE NATIONAL SECURITY HAWKS AND ZIONISTS WHO RUN THE GOVERNMENT. SO, WE SHOULDN’T BE TOO SURPRISED THAT HE’S TRYING TO CURRY FAVOR WITH THEM NOW. BUT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT TRUMP WAS A STRAIGHTSHOOTER; THIS HAS GOT TO BE A REAL EYE-OPENER. THEY THOUGHT HE COULD BE TRUSTED, BUT NOW IT’S OBVIOUS THAT HE’S JUST ANOTHER BELTWAY PHONY TRYING TO INGRATIATE HIMSELF WITH THE WASHINGTON POWER-ELITE IN ORDER TO SHOEHORN HIS SORRY A** BACK INTO THE OVAL OFFICE.
Here’s more from Tracey:
“Sorry to be a ‘Broken Record,’ but the ‘Elephant in the Room’ here is genuinely Donald J. Trump. ….Trump even warned Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene directly not to oust Johnson, during their joint press conference at Mar-a-Lago last Friday, April 12 — just before Johnson unveiled his war funding strategy, for which he proudly declares having secured Trump’s endorsement. The bill even contains Trump’s repeated demand to structure the Ukraine funding as a so-called ‘loan’! Johnson proclaims that he and Trump are ‘One hundred percent united’ on all of this (direct quote) …”
Trump has used his vast political capital as three-time Republican Presidential Nominee to play his part assuring that the American political system mobilizes in perfect harmony to unleash $100 billion in endless-war funding.
If Trump is willing to play such a duplicitous role in securing the funding for the MIC’s perpetual wars, then why in-heavens-name would any red-blooded conservative vote for him?
It will be interesting to see what Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has to say about Trump after the $61 BILLION aid bill went thru after and with Trump's blessing.
Especially after saying this a couple of months ago. [And no, Mr Merwood: i didn’t witness Zelenskyy saying this personally, but my guess is that the reporters at AP writing the story did.]... :
ZELENSKYY CALLS TRUMP’S RHETORIC ABOUT UKRAINE’S WAR WITH RUSSIA ‘VERY DANGEROUS’ by The Associated Press 20 Jan 24
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was worried at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, branding Trump’s claim that he could stop Ukraine’s war with Russia in 24 hours as “very dangerous.”
In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 News that aired Friday, Zelenskyy invited the former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination to visit Kyiv, but only if Trump delivers on his promise.
“Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to a message seeking comment Saturday.
The Ukrainian leader also shared his concern about the U.S. taking unilateral action that failed to consider Ukraine’s perspective, noting the dearth of details around Trump’s “peace plan.”
Zelenskyy described the former president’s rhetoric as “very dangerous” and appeared apprehensive that Trump’s idea of a negotiated solution might involve Ukraine making major concessions to Russia.
“(Trump) is going to make decisions on his own, without … I’m not even talking about Russia, but without both sides, without us,” Zelenskyy said. “If he says this publicly, that’s a little scary. I’ve seen a lot, a lot of victims, but that’s really making me a bit stressed.”
He added: “Because even if his idea (for ending the war) - that no one has heard yet - doesn’t work for us, for our people, he will do anything to implement his idea anyway. And this worries me a little.”
Trump has repeatedly insisted that he is well-positioned to negotiate an end to the war that has raged for almost two years, saying he has a good relationship with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Throughout his political career, he has frequently lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, including after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
AT A CAMPAIGN RALLY IN GEORGIA JUST DAYS AFTER RUSSIAN TANKS MOVED INTO UKRAINE, TRUMP DESCRIBED PUTIN AS A “SMART” POLITICAL PLAYER AND EXPRESSED ADMIRATION FOR RUSSIA’S SWIFT TAKEOVER OF A VAST, “GREAT PIECE OF LAND” AT THE COST OF WHAT HE SUGGESTED WERE RELATIVELY MINOR SANCTIONS.
How long do You think America's proxy war with Russia in Ukraine could and would continue if that military aid bill doesn't get approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President?
Got any estimates on that? All the way up to Election Day, 2024, perhaps?
How has Zelenskyy's Army been doing recently without a regular flow of weapons and weapons systems from the United States?
And You need to address Your "extraordinary claims" challenge to the author of that article at Information Clearing House; not me.
In any event and in case You're interested, here's how the Wall Street Journal reported on the Goat Fuck ~"Why Donald Trump Didn’t Sink Mike Johnson’s Ukraine-Aid Bill" ~ at
How long do You think America's proxy war with Russia in Ukraine could and would continue if that military aid bill doesn't get approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President?
Got any estimates on that? All the way up to Election Day, 2024, perhaps?
How has Zelenskyy's Army been doing recently without a regular flow of weapons and weapons systems from the United States?
The key words in Kunstler's piece are: With absolutely EVERYONE lying to them about everything, it’s turned into some kind of bad faith olympics." [EMPHASIS added.]
And Ron Paul has infinitely more important things to think and talk about than Trump and his role in this whole CLUSTERFUCK.
The most important thing to remember about the Pentagon’s plans to “’modernize’ all these ‘legs’ of the [nuclear] triad at a possible total cost of $2 trillion over the next 30 years” is this:
That every penny of that $2 [or $3 or $4, whatever] TRILLION will go into the pockets of workers, supervisors, managers, executives, and shareholders of America’s Military Industrial Congressional Complex and its Secrecy Security Surveillance Censorship Propaganda Pantopticon.
As Randolph Bourne put it back in the middle of World War I: “War is the health of The State.”
You are expecting too much from your country. Being rooted in Puritan “evangelicalism” the U.S. is incapable to divorce itself from the apocalyptic thinking of this form of Christianity. The Four Horsemen of the book of Revelation has always been an essential characteristic of American thinking. It was in the USA that I was introduced to a phrase that always appalled me. “Better dead than red.” I saw apocalyptic scenes in my childhood and youth in Germany. Our family was fortunate to have lived in a small town east of Mannheim where thousands perished. Half of my schoolmates grew-up without a father. But, WE were alive and life resumed. The only solution is the complete destruction/elimination of nuclear weapons of any form everywhere. Yes, my thinking is utopian; the alternative is either deliberate or accidental annihilation.
As Anne Jacobsen writes in her "Nuclear War A Scenario", " With time, after a nuclear war, all present-day knowledge will be gone. Including the knowledge that the enemy was not North Korea, Russia, America, China, Iran, or anyone else vilified as a nation or a group.
It was the nuclear weapons that were the enemy of us all. All along."
We are at any moment, only two hours away from total obliteration, given our insane nuclear brinkmanship and somehow find a way to change this or we will not survive. Thank you Bill for your post and especially the clip from Terminator 2 which I agree shows the closest reality of what truly happens when a nuclear device explodes.
Way back when I was in high school, when we were still using slide rules, I read an interesting book about humanity losing all knowledge due to nuclear war. It was titled: "A Canticle for Leibowitz". A good read, and it is still in print:
https://www.amazon.com/Canticle-Leibowitz-Walter-Miller-Jr/dp/0060892994/ref=sr_1_1
I enjoyed that book but was disappointed in the ending.
I think the only thing that has saved humanity from the many instances when further escalation to nuclear war was possible, was the humanity of a watch officer in a key position who believed the other side had rational people who would not launch. In most of those events, it was a Soviet/Russian watch officer.
Now with the rise of the neo-cons in this country, and the breakdown of communications between the US and Russia, the next time that belief may no longer hold. Add to that, the use of hypersonic weapons - and eventually AI in the response escalation, and the future is grim.
Politics won't save us - the system is too corrupted by billions of dollars. We have to look to ourselves and all the peoples of the planet to shut it all down. That, and maybe, pray a lot.
As noted previously, Saturday Democrats voted in lockstep for the Ukraine war package. Zero votes against the bill! This shows the absolute hypocrisy to their "green" credentials. I don't know what it will take to wake up the sheep in their flock, but it's clear the slaughter and destruction of all that is isn't enough.
Sign of the times: on this Earth Day, the latest climate news is that, "...the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the fossil fuel industry, giving the green light to the largest oil export project in the United States.The following week, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a license to the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) located off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. This terminal will have the capacity to export a staggering 2 million barrels of crude oil per day to foreign markets."
- from the EarthJustice organization
But--how could this happen under Joe Biden, the "Green" president? <sarcasm alert>
Oh, man, don't even get me started on THAT! The only good news lately is the cancellation of a massive road through the ANWR, but the Willow Project still lives. <sigh> One step forward, two steps back.
I can't say I followed the First Gulf War that closely, Ray, but the second one, IMO, had nothing to do with WMDs or bin Laden. It was about flexing U.S. muscle, enriching the MIC, dubya's daddy issues, and OIL. Planned by an evil cabal hiding behind a frat boy.
The shattering of Iraq was first and foremost in favor of the Zionist Project in Israel.
That may be. In connection with PNAC.
As conceived and directed by PNAC would be a more accurate description.
my unalloyed, categoric admiration for your eloquence here, dennis. if only bertrand russell and hitch were w/ us today. the intellectual courage of such atheistic, anti-theistic, nullifidian sages of their calibre remain is discouraging. the dearth of awareness and the nescient dimwittedness among most of western societal god-lovers will eventually transmogrify into even the lesser dolts' being dead, due to their inexorable determination for the rapture-ribaldry. their tartuffism and their determination to blindly embrace even nuclear war. is stunpolling.
it reminds me of hyper-competitive athletes like flo-jo [florence joyner] who was so determined to up the ante w/ her performance-enhancing drugs in order to continue competing, despite her aging body, at the highest international levels of sprinting, that the poor woman dropped dead at 38... the result of drug-induced epileptic seizures and drug-damaged cardio-vascular systems. winning was all she cared about; to win was the summum bonum... all that mattered. the level of devastation to flo-jo's body was well-known, yet she was still determined to pay the ultimate price. winning and being 'numero-uno' took precedence... just as they do w/ armageddon-crazed evangelicals, politicians, and OT-crazed zionists in nuclear-armed countries like the US and israel.
oh well, it will be one sure way of deleting our DNA so planet earth can be manumitted to begin anew. the downside is that all the DNA of other life forms will be exterminated as well... save the hardy cockroaches, rats, and anaerobic bacteria. how fitting!
If God gave man Free Will, how can everything be part of God's Plan? If everything is part of God's Plan, how can we have Free Will?
ooops, i meant to say, "of their calibre WHO remain is discouraging.
I have one word for these Fundamentalist Evangelical Christians "Dinosaurs" (and their Fossils, etc.) If the Earth is 12,000 yrs. old. Where are they mentioned in their Manifesto the Bible? "OH!!! they were put here by God to test our Faith! I better brace myself because you are testing mine... Lol I'm all for your beliefs-- just don't come on places like here spouting them as Truths. A lot of people in Mental Institutions believe they are Napoleon too...
no such thing as 'free will'; we are prpagandized into mental desuetude. as you are well aware, fireman, the nutters are in control of the looney bin, one of which i had been ignominiously committed to in my mid-20s upon my return from japan, and the horrors of witnessing 1st-hand the hiroshima and nagasaki victims of the US's atomic bomb devastations of those helpless innocent civilians demolished and deranged on my 4th birthday on august 6th 1945... then 3 days later nagasaki. all those 17 years later when i arrived in japan to teach as a 21-yr-old, the japanese civilians exposed to those 2 nuclear holocausts were visible everywhere throughout japan.
Mike Whitney concluded his Information Clearing House 22 Apr 24 piece ~ TRUMP SOLD-OUT HIS BASE TO SHOVEL $95 BILLION TO UKRAINE AND ISRAEL ~ as follows:
One of the few people who has acted honorably in this fiasco, is Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is clearly one of the few members of Congress that genuinely gives-a-damn about the American people. Greene delivered an epic rant on the floor of the House yesterday following the vote on the Ukrainian aid package. Naturally, her heartfelt presentation appeared nowhere in the sellout media, so I transcribed most of what she said below. It’s worth the time:
“…. The United States taxpayer has already sent $113 billion to Ukraine, and much of that money is unaccounted for. This is an example of a sick business model the US government wants to continue….. The Congress votes for money for foreign wars that the American people do not support….. The American people do not support a business model based on blood and murder and war in foreign countries while the government does nothing to secure our border.
“The American people are over $34 trillion in debt and the debt is rising by $40 billion every night while we all sleep. But nothing is done to secure our border or reduce our debt. Inflation continues to rise every day and Americans can hardly afford to pay their grocery bills, they can hardly afford to put gas in their cars, and they can hardly afford the rent. And, now, average mortgage payments are over $3000 when they were just $1700 three years ago. Young Americans don’t think they will ever be able to buy a home and yet today, this congress thinks the most important thing they should do is to send another $61 billion to the war in Ukraine that the American people –by 70%– do not support!
“… But, today, the most important thing this body thinks we should do, is not reduce spending, or drive down inflation, or secure our own border that is invaded every single day by people from over 160 different countries… We have over 1.8 million ‘got-aways’ and we don’t know who these people are… and yet we have people in this very congress ‘talking tough’ saying, ‘We have to defeat Russia. Oh, we have to protect Ukraine’ and yet , all of you are unwilling to protect the American citizens that pay your salary, pay to keep the lights on, and pay to keep the federal government running. And for what?
“For nothing! Ukraine isn’t even a member of NATO But all you hear in Washington DC is ‘Oh, we have to keep spending America’s hard-earned tax dollars to continue to murder Ukrainians to wipe out a whole generation of young men so there are (thousands of) widows, and fatherless orphans, and not enough men to work in their industries. Oh, but you really support Ukraine. (sarcasm) What kind of support is that? It’s repulsive!
“SHAME ON THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT! SHAME ON THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT! IF WE WANT TO SUPPORT OUR MILITARY, THEN SUPPORT OUR MILITARY. WE SHOULD BE BUILDING UP OUR WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION, NOT SENDING IT OVER TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO KILL FOREIGN PEOPLE.
“AND IF THIS BODY WAS WHAT IT PRETENDS TO BE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US WOULD BE DEMANDING PEACE IN UKRAINE; PEACE FOR THESE PEOPLE, SO THAT NO MORE OF THEM HAVE TO DIE. BUT YOU NEVER HEAR ANYBODY DEMANDING PEACE. NO, NO, NO. PEACE IS THE LAST THING WASHINGTON WANTS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T FIT THE BUSINESS MODEL. THIS IS A BUSINESS MODEL THEY SAY BUILDS THE AMERICAN ECONOMY AND PROTECTS AMERICAN JOBS. WHAT A DISGUSTING BUSINESS MODEL. WE SHOULD HAVE A BUSINESS MODEL THAT BUILDS-UP OUR AMERICAN COMPANIES AND AMERICAN JOBS TO SERVE AMERICAN INTERESTS, AND OUR MILITARY AND OUR GOVERNMENT SHOULD CARE ABOUT PROTECTING THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE AMERICANS WHO PAY THEIR HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS TO FUND ALL THIS.
“America last. America last. That’s all this is. America last, every single day.” [EMPHASES added.]
Fuckin' A, MTG is right about this. She's got guts to speak the truth.
Dang, Bill. MTG must have really hit a nail for You. That is the First time i have ever seen You use an expletive about anything. Let alone in a +++Positive+++ sense.
She nailed it for me, as well. But i'm not sure about her claim that "70%" of the American do not support the American proxy War with Russia in Ukraine.
See the following from Gallup for details: "More Americans Say U.S. Is Not Helping Ukraine Enough" at https://news.gallup.com/poll/643601/americans-say-not-helping-ukraine-enough.aspx .
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin... :
TRUMP SOLD-OUT HIS BASE TO SHOVEL $95 BILLION TO UKRAINE AND ISRAEL by Mike Whitney
Information Clearing House 22 Apr 24
The man who is most responsible for the $95 billion giveaway to Ukraine and Israel, is the same guy who pretends to oppose America’s “wasteful” foreign wars: Donald Trump.
It was Trump who consulted with Speaker Mike Johnson about the contents of the Ukraine aid package, just as it was Trump who concocted the idea of issuing loans instead of dispersing the standard welfare handout. It was also Trump who said:
“I stand with the Speaker, (Mike Johnson)” after which he added that Johnson is doing “a very good job.”
A “good job”??
So, secretly collaborating with the Democrat leadership to push through a bill that “reauthorizes FISA to spy on the American people without a warrant, (bans Tik Tok) fully funds Joe Biden’s DOJ that has indicted President Trump 91 times, and giving Biden’s political gestapo a brand new FBI building bigger than the Pentagon,” while not providing a dime to protect the southern border from the swarms of people entering the country illegally, is doing a “good job”?
THE QUESTION WE SHOULD ALL BE ASKING OURSELVES IS WHY HAS TRUMP DECIDED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS SCAM? HE KEEPS SAYING THAT IF HE WAS PRESIDENT, HE’D END THE WAR IN UKRAINE IN A DAY. IF HE’S SINCERE ABOUT THAT, THEN WHY DID HE COLLABORATE ON A BILL THAT WILL DRAG THE WAR OUT FOR ANOTHER YEAR OR TWO?
This is from a Twitter post by political analyst Michael Tracey:
“Mission Accomplished. It is done: Donald Trump and the House GOP just completed one of the most epic swindles in political history, with Trump personally effectuating the largest-ever dispersement of Ukraine funding through his emissary, ‘MAGA Mike Johnson’ (as Trump lovingly calls him) The $61 billion passed this afternoon is likely enough to underwrite the brutal, pointless trench warfare for at least another year or two. This after the same old endless media screeching that Trump and MAGA Republicans were being brainwashed by Putin and would never fund Ukraine. That fundamental hoax continues ~ only this time Trump was in on it… .”
“He didn’t just ‘not kill it,’ he personally facilitated its passage.”
“It’s all a big shell game and Trump is playing along with it to improve his political prospects. How else would you explain his performance in this dismal charade?
TRUMP OBVIOUSLY KNOWS THAT HIS RETURN TO THE WHITE HOUSE WILL REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT COMPROMISE WITH THE NATIONAL SECURITY HAWKS AND ZIONISTS WHO RUN THE GOVERNMENT. SO, WE SHOULDN’T BE TOO SURPRISED THAT HE’S TRYING TO CURRY FAVOR WITH THEM NOW. BUT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT TRUMP WAS A STRAIGHTSHOOTER; THIS HAS GOT TO BE A REAL EYE-OPENER. THEY THOUGHT HE COULD BE TRUSTED, BUT NOW IT’S OBVIOUS THAT HE’S JUST ANOTHER BELTWAY PHONY TRYING TO INGRATIATE HIMSELF WITH THE WASHINGTON POWER-ELITE IN ORDER TO SHOEHORN HIS SORRY A** BACK INTO THE OVAL OFFICE.
Here’s more from Tracey:
“Sorry to be a ‘Broken Record,’ but the ‘Elephant in the Room’ here is genuinely Donald J. Trump. ….Trump even warned Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene directly not to oust Johnson, during their joint press conference at Mar-a-Lago last Friday, April 12 — just before Johnson unveiled his war funding strategy, for which he proudly declares having secured Trump’s endorsement. The bill even contains Trump’s repeated demand to structure the Ukraine funding as a so-called ‘loan’! Johnson proclaims that he and Trump are ‘One hundred percent united’ on all of this (direct quote) …”
Trump has used his vast political capital as three-time Republican Presidential Nominee to play his part assuring that the American political system mobilizes in perfect harmony to unleash $100 billion in endless-war funding.
If Trump is willing to play such a duplicitous role in securing the funding for the MIC’s perpetual wars, then why in-heavens-name would any red-blooded conservative vote for him?
Complete article at https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/04/22/trump-sold-out-his-base-to-shovel-95-billion-to-ukraine-and-israel/12/ .
Well. Thank You for that Pronouncement From On High regarding Michael Tracey, Oh Mighty Kiwi.
i'd rather read his Substack than what somebody says about him on Google.
But i'm sure that in Trumplandia, any journalist who dares even imply something negative about Trump is a totally, terrible shit stirrer.
"Prove me wrong!!!", as You frequently like to put it.
It will be interesting to see what Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has to say about Trump after the $61 BILLION aid bill went thru after and with Trump's blessing.
Especially after saying this a couple of months ago. [And no, Mr Merwood: i didn’t witness Zelenskyy saying this personally, but my guess is that the reporters at AP writing the story did.]... :
ZELENSKYY CALLS TRUMP’S RHETORIC ABOUT UKRAINE’S WAR WITH RUSSIA ‘VERY DANGEROUS’ by The Associated Press 20 Jan 24
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was worried at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, branding Trump’s claim that he could stop Ukraine’s war with Russia in 24 hours as “very dangerous.”
In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 News that aired Friday, Zelenskyy invited the former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination to visit Kyiv, but only if Trump delivers on his promise.
“Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to a message seeking comment Saturday.
The Ukrainian leader also shared his concern about the U.S. taking unilateral action that failed to consider Ukraine’s perspective, noting the dearth of details around Trump’s “peace plan.”
Zelenskyy described the former president’s rhetoric as “very dangerous” and appeared apprehensive that Trump’s idea of a negotiated solution might involve Ukraine making major concessions to Russia.
“(Trump) is going to make decisions on his own, without … I’m not even talking about Russia, but without both sides, without us,” Zelenskyy said. “If he says this publicly, that’s a little scary. I’ve seen a lot, a lot of victims, but that’s really making me a bit stressed.”
He added: “Because even if his idea (for ending the war) - that no one has heard yet - doesn’t work for us, for our people, he will do anything to implement his idea anyway. And this worries me a little.”
Trump has repeatedly insisted that he is well-positioned to negotiate an end to the war that has raged for almost two years, saying he has a good relationship with both Russian and Ukrainian leaders. Throughout his political career, he has frequently lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin, including after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
AT A CAMPAIGN RALLY IN GEORGIA JUST DAYS AFTER RUSSIAN TANKS MOVED INTO UKRAINE, TRUMP DESCRIBED PUTIN AS A “SMART” POLITICAL PLAYER AND EXPRESSED ADMIRATION FOR RUSSIA’S SWIFT TAKEOVER OF A VAST, “GREAT PIECE OF LAND” AT THE COST OF WHAT HE SUGGESTED WERE RELATIVELY MINOR SANCTIONS.
Full article at https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-russia-ukraine-trump-war-130e617cfebebeeba61044a0cb68a933 ; EMPHASIS added.
How long do You think America's proxy war with Russia in Ukraine could and would continue if that military aid bill doesn't get approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President?
Got any estimates on that? All the way up to Election Day, 2024, perhaps?
How has Zelenskyy's Army been doing recently without a regular flow of weapons and weapons systems from the United States?
And You need to address Your "extraordinary claims" challenge to the author of that article at Information Clearing House; not me.
In any event and in case You're interested, here's how the Wall Street Journal reported on the Goat Fuck ~"Why Donald Trump Didn’t Sink Mike Johnson’s Ukraine-Aid Bill" ~ at
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/why-donald-trump-didnt-sink-mike-johnsons-ukraine-aid-bill-81fe8d11 .
There are some what You will no doubt judge as "extraordinary claims" in that article, as well.
And You still haven't answered my question:
How long do You think America's proxy war with Russia in Ukraine could and would continue if that military aid bill doesn't get approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President?
Got any estimates on that? All the way up to Election Day, 2024, perhaps?
How has Zelenskyy's Army been doing recently without a regular flow of weapons and weapons systems from the United States?
What's a "Putin's MSO"?
And can You specify exactly where and when i gave "my position" on the Yanks, Regime change, and Russia?
The key words in Kunstler's piece are: With absolutely EVERYONE lying to them about everything, it’s turned into some kind of bad faith olympics." [EMPHASIS added.]
And Ron Paul has infinitely more important things to think and talk about than Trump and his role in this whole CLUSTERFUCK.
The most important thing to remember about the Pentagon’s plans to “’modernize’ all these ‘legs’ of the [nuclear] triad at a possible total cost of $2 trillion over the next 30 years” is this:
That every penny of that $2 [or $3 or $4, whatever] TRILLION will go into the pockets of workers, supervisors, managers, executives, and shareholders of America’s Military Industrial Congressional Complex and its Secrecy Security Surveillance Censorship Propaganda Pantopticon.
As Randolph Bourne put it back in the middle of World War I: “War is the health of The State.”
Yes we should but we won't. Not with our current system of government.