Politics

[flatwater bill]

@Saul With two raging wars, an open border and rampant crime on campuses and in the cities, how can you conclude that Joe has delivered ANYTHING good? Happy with the Afghanistan withdrawl? How about the 63,000 handguns turned over to the Taliban? The 700 armored vehicles? Crime is rampant near me as illegal immigrants patrol and prowl trying to make a living, somehow. No end in sight. The largest portion of the US budget's discretionary fund is going to the war in Ukraine. Did you know that Joe received a letter from Putin 2 months before the invasion asking to meet and de escalate the situation, and Joe discarded the chance (need a reference?) What did he and Tony Blinken think would happen to the children of Ukraine? I'll tell you.....they don't care. This man has singlehandedly been more destructive than anyone in 25 years. Oh, and how's campus life?.....FWB

 

[Dogone]

Flat water Bill. You mention handguns . Canada gave 1000 AR15 to the Afghan army and you know where they ended up also.

 

[Saul]

@Saul With two raging wars, an open border and rampant crime on campuses and in the cities, how can you conclude that Joe has delivered ANYTHING good? Happy with the Afghanistan withdrawl? How about the 63,000 handguns turned over to the Taliban? The 700 armored vehicles? Crime is rampant near me as illegal immigrants patrol and prowl trying to make a living, somehow. No end in sight. The largest portion of the US budget's discretionary fund is going to the war in Ukraine. Did you know that Joe received a letter from Putin 2 months before the invasion asking to meet and de escalate the situation, and Joe discarded the chance (need a reference?) What did he and Tony Blinken think would happen to the children of Ukraine? I'll tell you.....they don't care. This man has singlehandedly been more destructive than anyone in 25 years. Oh, and how's campus life?.....FWB

President Biden has delivered aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan; he led a dramatic expansion of NATO; he has brought heavy investment into US semiconductor manufacturing and paired it with aggressive sanctions on Chinese acquisition of them; he has also led America to having the fastest and most robust economic recoveries of any developed nation.

I agree that he has done many things with which I fundamentally disagree, and many more that I things with which I agree in principle but am forced to shake my head at the poor execution; however, these do not negate the fact that he has, like every other president, done some things that I believe to be beneficial.

 

[Corey0372]

President Biden has delivered aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan; he led a dramatic expansion of NATO; he has brought heavy investment into US semiconductor manufacturing and paired it with aggressive sanctions on Chinese acquisition of them; he has also led America to having the fastest and most robust economic recoveries of any developed nation.

I agree that he has done many things with which I fundamentally disagree, and many more that I things with which I agree in principle but am forced to shake my head at the poor execution; however, these do not negate the fact that he has, like every other president, done some things that I believe to be beneficial.

While I don't agree with aid to any of those countries (though in all fairness it would likely have happened under any president) I'll always give Biden credit for seeing the withdraw from Afghanistan through.
I know the withdraw was ugly, but it was always going to be, and in reality it could have gone much worse had the Taliban not been so cooperative. Ironically, had the Taliban been able to enter Kabul earlier the ISIS bombing at Abby gate might not have happened (who knows). The city was in chaos because Afghan police had essentially given up their duties, and the Taliban remained outside the city for 1-2 days waiting for ISAF's withdrawal to be complete until residents of Kabul essentially begged the Taliban to enter the city and restore some semblance of order. I was there from Oct 2019 until April of 2021, and when a couple deadlines were missed early on after the agreements were signed between the Trump Admin and the Taliban, I was worried it was going to be further slowrolled and not actually happen.

No matter what though our troops aren't there anymore, which I'm very grateful for, and it happened under the Biden administration.

 

[CoElkHunter]

@Saul With two raging wars, an open border and rampant crime on campuses and in the cities, how can you conclude that Joe has delivered ANYTHING good? Happy with the Afghanistan withdrawl? How about the 63,000 handguns turned over to the Taliban? The 700 armored vehicles? Crime is rampant near me as illegal immigrants patrol and prowl trying to make a living, somehow. No end in sight. The largest portion of the US budget's discretionary fund is going to the war in Ukraine. Did you know that Joe received a letter from Putin 2 months before the invasion asking to meet and de escalate the situation, and Joe discarded the chance (need a reference?) What did he and Tony Blinken think would happen to the children of Ukraine? I'll tell you.....they don't care. This man has singlehandedly been more destructive than anyone in 25 years. Oh, and how's campus life?.....FWB

“Joe has delivered ANYTHING good?” Well, what about the continuing inflation of goods NOW after the massive inflation and resulting record interest rates since he’s been President as a direct result of he and the Democrats dumping Monopoly money into our financial system through their trillion dollar spending bills and adding to our $34 TRILLION National debt? OR, how about the fact 52-60 percent of the “new” jobs Brandon has created are Government funded jobs related to the massive spending spree. I could go on but surely there must be something “good” in there? LOL

 

[bob meadows]

@Saul With two raging wars, an open border and rampant crime on campuses and in the cities, how can you conclude that Joe has delivered ANYTHING good? Happy with the Afghanistan withdrawl? How about the 63,000 handguns turned over to the Taliban? The 700 armored vehicles? Crime is rampant near me as illegal immigrants patrol and prowl trying to make a living, somehow. No end in sight. The largest portion of the US budget's discretionary fund is going to the war in Ukraine. Did you know that Joe received a letter from Putin 2 months before the invasion asking to meet and de escalate the situation, and Joe discarded the chance (need a reference?) What did he and Tony Blinken think would happen to the children of Ukraine? I'll tell you.....they don't care. This man has singlehandedly been more destructive than anyone in 25 years. Oh, and how's campus life?.....FWB

our country will never come together. how anyone can think slow joe has the best interests of this country at heart really puts one at a loss of words. .......dems and their leadership are in my view the single biggest threat to this country and what used to be our way of life.......how anyone can support giving any money to other countries......Ukraine and Israel included.... until we take care of our own borders, pay down the debt etc is beyond me . things are only going to get worse, there is no healing for the split between people in this country. that's reality.......bob

 

[BSO Dave]

You and I are just going to have to disagree on this. When Trump was first elected, there is nothing I wanted more than to see him succeed. I was sorely disappointed, obviously you were not. And to be clear, I believe Trump has proven himself to be exactly what you claim here that he is not.

First of all, I seriously doubt you are being honest when you say that you wanted Trump to succeed... If you were fully aware of Trump's agenda and policies when he was running and honestly hoped for his success, exactly where did he disappoint on policy? Trump was the exact same guy in office as he was before office... What exactly did you think you think we were getting?

I suppose I could post dozens of links listing Trump's accomplishments and successes on his agenda, but that would obviously be a complete waste of time for both of us... However, I would be very interested in your list of failures and disappointment that you claim to have?

Conversely, it seems that President Biden has been successful at delivering on much of his agenda, some parts of which I like and others that I greatly dislike.

This statement above is exactly why no liberal can be taken seriously...

If you define success as fraudulently running on a moderate, unifying platform with absolutely no intention or capability of doing either, than yes, Brandon is the most successful POTUS ever... LOL..!

In fairness, I will concede that Brandon did deliver 100% percent on one of his most popular campaign promises which was to open the borders, flood the country with illegal immigrants, making a complete mockery of our sovereignty, national security, and the Constitution... I guess at the time liberals and independents thought this was a good idea, and just now they are acknowledging the damage? It baffles me how truly stupid half of the electorate in this country really is...

 

[BSO Dave]

I don’t have a problem with Muslims… and I have very personally been involved in fighting people in more than a few garden spots around the globe that happened to also be of Muslim faith…

What I have a problem with is radicals.. of any religious faith, or any political ilk, or any belief system that presents an all or nothing, my way is the only way, agree with me or suffer my (human) consequences, mindset..

Fair enough...

However, I do believe that there is a difference with "extremism" which is unique within the Muslim faith in that I have yet to see Muslim leaders take a united front on combating or even condemning this extremism within their faith... Why is that?

I realize that there are extremists within all religions as you point out, but I think that Christain leaders around the world would act very differently to violence and genocide committed in the name of the faith they share with the "extremists". You also don't see Christain "extremists" globally organized and committed to eradicating all races and religions other than their own... There have been several university studies done since 9/11 that have indicated although they may not be active participants, there is surprisingly some support for the extremism and violence among the "non-extreme" majority of the faith...

Giving the benefit of doubt, let's assume that the radicals and extremists are truly a tiny fraction of the Muslim faith overall... Even so, I honestly don't think the Muslim faith as a whole has done a good job globally at condemning the radicals and distancing themselves from the messaging.

 

[mdwest]

Fair enough...

However, I do believe that there is a difference with "extremism" which is unique within the Muslim faith in that I have yet to see Muslim leaders take a united front on combating or even condemning this extremism within their faith... Why is that?

I realize that there are extremists within all religions as you point out, but I think that Christain leaders around the world would act very differently to violence and genocide committed in the name of the faith they share with the "extremists". You also don't see Christain "extremists" globally organized and committed to eradicating all races and religions other than their own... There have been several university studies done since 9/11 that have indicated although they may not be active participants, there is surprisingly some support for the extremism and violence among the "non-extreme" majority of the faith...

Giving the benefit of doubt, let's assume that the radicals and extremists are truly a tiny fraction of the Muslim faith overall... Even so, I honestly don't think the Muslim faith as a whole has done a good job globally at condemning the radicals and distancing themselves from the messaging.

We're in agreement...

My post was in response to another members post (that has since been deleted... and should have been) that called for the elimination of "98% of muslims")...

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Drain the swamp? Build the wall? Neither happened.

 

[flatwater bill]

@Saul thank you for the thoughtful reply. It is no secret that I am opposed to war, especially in Ukraine. So while you tout "aid to Ukraine" as good, I see that as a negative. But now I understand your perspective better. When you come to understand that the main function of NATO is to take money out of YOUR pocket, and put it into someone else's, you will realize what a truly negative this is. NATO spent 20 years keeping Russia out of the World community so it could be the justifying and necessary enemy; keeping NATO relevant after the Soviet collapse and The Warsaw Pact dissolution. And they were great at it. It worked.
Was it some crazy Russian Agents that said:
"trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine in to NATO was truly overreaching. This move was a case of recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital interests"?
or "Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite. From the knuckle draggers in the dark of the Kremlin to Putin's sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests"?
Nope, not Russian agents, not agents of Putin that said these things.
It was the Dept Sec of State and the Director of The CIA.
They knew this would start a war. Joe and Tony Blinken didn't care. Did you know that Joe circumvented Congress and sent long range missiles to Ukraine 2 months ago, before the new aid package had passed? Did MNM report that Russia has started short range Nuclear 'fire drills" 2 days ago in response? I don't think many on this site know how close sleazy Joe has pushed us toward nuclear war. You consider that a positive, I consider it a negative. I liked him better when he was sniffing young girl children, as YT videos show, but that's another story. .......your opinion is vastly different than mine, but it helps me to understand how dems think, and the power of MNM. Thanks again.................FWB

 

[NE 7x57]

The very best thing President Reagan did, was replace Jimmy Carter.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I read something recently about Trump's criteria for selecting a VP running mate. Supposedly he doesn't want anyone who might be a presidential hopeful in 2028. This is bizarre! Having a VP running mate who will be a strong presidential candidate is maybe the most important criteria. I'd like to see Pompeo or some other adult in the room. None of the media favorites right now do much for me.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Sounds like liberal bs rumor to me.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

@375 Ruger Fan ... I feel like it's a Catch 22. Anyone he would likely select as his running mate probably isn't going to move the needle for me, at all, and anyone I would want to see be his running mate (with an eye to the future, or if he can't finish) probably would have to hold THEIR nose (and have Job-like patience) for 4 years to have the position.

Frankly, that sounds entirely plausible to me, given his limitless ego. Also, he won't want someone who could actually take the reins early, if he falters.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Biden's speech on Holocaust remembrance day was good. Credit where it is due.

 

[Red Leg]

@Saul thank you for the thoughtful reply. It is no secret that I am opposed to war, especially in Ukraine. So while you tout "aid to Ukraine" as good, I see that as a negative. But now I understand your perspective better. When you come to understand that the main function of NATO is to take money out of YOUR pocket, and put it into someone else's, you will realize what a truly negative this is. NATO spent 20 years keeping Russia out of the World community so it could be the justifying and necessary enemy; keeping NATO relevant after the Soviet collapse and The Warsaw Pact dissolution. And they were great at it. It worked.
Was it some crazy Russian Agents that said:
"trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine in to NATO was truly overreaching. This move was a case of recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital interests"?
or "Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite. From the knuckle draggers in the dark of the Kremlin to Putin's sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests"?
Nope, not Russian agents, not agents of Putin that said these things.
It was the Dept Sec of State and the Director of The CIA.
They knew this would start a war. Joe and Tony Blinken didn't care. Did you know that Joe circumvented Congress and sent long range missiles to Ukraine 2 months ago, before the new aid package had passed? Did MNM report that Russia has started short range Nuclear 'fire drills" 2 days ago in response? I don't think many on this site know how close sleazy Joe has pushed us toward nuclear war. You consider that a positive, I consider it a negative. I liked him better when he was sniffing young girl children, as YT videos show, but that's another story. .......your opinion is vastly different than mine, but it helps me to understand how dems think, and the power of MNM. Thanks again.................FWB

Oh good Lord. I would have to pull up the NATO entry from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Soviet_Encyclopedia which fortunately was tossed into the dustbin of history (and the actual trash) even by the Russians in 1990, to find a more biased and false assessment of NATO. It is so patently mendacious, so oblivious of the facts of history, that like much Marxist revisionist history it is difficult to even begin a debate.

NATO was formed because the Red Army snuffed out the post war aspirations of every Eastern European nation but Austria. Try to remember WWII began over Poland's right of self determination (which was crushed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union - a result the USSR insured would not change in its aftermath). Most of Western Europe lay prostrate as the war ended and the Red Army went nowhere. Perhaps while you are consulting your Russo-Ukrainian friends, you should also have a chat with the Poles, Czechs, Bulgarians, Hungarians, and citizens of the Baltic States who so gladly threw off the Soviet yoke when that empire collapsed - or who died trying to do so in 1956 or 1968. NATO and the United States prevented that same calamity in Western Europe. The very success of the Atlantic Alliance allows ridiculous revisionist nonsense such as this.

You argue that the West is responsible for the Soviet Union's isolation? Only in twenty-first century America could such a thesis have any traction. Communism was as militant and extremist political and cultural revolutionary movement as Islam in the 8th century. It celebrated the trampling of individual rights for the good of the collective state. It represented the antithesis of democratic capitalism. Its extinction is one of the most important historical moments in human history.

Regrettably, that extinction left us with a rump Slavic Dictatorship armed with the nuclear weapons of its predecessor, but with none of its political, cultural, or philosophical power. All it has left is naked military force. You are essentially arguing Russia deserves the right to enslave bordering countries in that tyrannical construct because it wants to do so.

I am sorry, but I will whole heartedly support the aspirations of any people wishing to avoid such a fate. NATO has been revitalized and enlarged not because of some goofy economic theory or defense contractors or lobbyists, but solely because of Vladimir Putin's strategic ambitions and mistakes.

We have a truly powerful Eastern Asian adversary growing in China. We do not need a second threat trying to recreate a Soviet type empire in Eurasia. That is an obvious American strategic interest. The fact that Russians or their apologists do not like it bothers me not in the least.

 

[Red Leg]

@375 Ruger Fan ... I feel like it's a Catch 22. Anyone he would likely select as his running mate probably isn't going to move the needle for me, at all, and anyone I would want to see be his running mate (with an eye to the future, or if he can't finish) probably would have to hold THEIR nose (and have Job-like patience) for 4 years to have the position.

Frankly, that sounds entirely plausible to me, given his limitless ego. Also, he won't want someone who could actually take the reins early, if he falters.

100%. If he wants to pick up skeptical Republicans like me and the few remaining moderate Democrats, he needs to pick someone like Pompeo, DeSantis, Youngkin, or even an opportunist like Cotten. Unfortunately, everyone of them is smarter, better educated, more experienced, and far more articulate than Trump. At least Noem has likely taken herself out of contention by bragging about shooting her 14 month old German Wire Hair Pointer.

 

[John Wasmuth]

100%. If he wants to pick up skeptical Republicans like me and the few remaining moderate Democrats, he needs to pick someone like Pompeo, DeSantis, Youngkin, or even an opportunist like Cotten. Unfortunately, everyone of them is smarter, better educated, more experienced, and far more articulate than Trump. At least Noem has likely taken herself out of contention by bragging about shooting her 14 month old German Wire Hair Pointer.

They're more experienced? Only trump, out of the names you cited, has been the leader of the free world, aka, President…. But I get what yer saying. The dog thing cost Noem any chance at all.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

100%. If he wants to pick up skeptical Republicans like me and the few remaining moderate Democrats, he needs to pick someone like Pompeo, DeSantis, Youngkin, or even an opportunist like Cotten. Unfortunately, everyone of them is smarter, better educated, more experienced, and far more articulate than Trump. At least Noem has likely taken herself out of contention by bragging about shooting her 14 month old German Wire Hair Pointer.

What of Tulsi Gabbard?