#7

When I was still in the military, a girl who worked for me went to work in DC. Her and her husband paid something like $1.4M for their house in the city.

"His salary is $74,000 per year so why can't he rent a room somewhere in Washington?"

His salary is $74,000 per year is why he can't rent a room in Washington. At that income level, maybe he could afford a place somewhere in West Virginia.

"What would have happened to all the Ukrainians who did not want to become Russians?"

They would have been relocated to Siberia. Or in more extreme circumstances, executed.

Most likely, Russia would have also relocated millions of urban western Russians to Ukraine to dilute Ukrainian influence and help the government control the population.

"And stop letting Israel determine ME policy. They are Murderous Bigots..."

Sooo unlike the Jihadists in the Islamic Resistance, amiright?

"MEDDLING in Ukrainian And Russian politics got us where we are today."

Where we are today?

I sure can't speak for you, champ, but if you are a European...Russia has been emasculated. The Baltic Sea is now a NATO lake. In a conflict, the Russian Baltic Sea Fleet can stay in port, or it can sink. Period. Because of that, Kaliningrad has gone from being a strategic strongpoint for the Russians to an untenable liability that they are obligated to defend. And even if they are able to defend it...so what? EST/LAT/LIT can now be reached from the north and the west. Maybe soon Kaliningrad will be able to shed it's slave name.

Where "we" are today is a pretty good ------- place...unless you're rooting for the commies.

"War creates more violence more hate and more irrational chaos."

Dude,

If Russia had initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2014, they would have likely been successful. My opinion only.

Instead, they gave Ukraine eight years to develop a seething hatred of Russians. So when they did attempt to take the full enchilada...the full enchilada fought back.

#58

"War is merely the continuation of policy with other means."

-KvC

"The US then cheated on this, starting in 1994, when Clinton signed off on a plan to expand NATO all the way to Ukraine."

Um, no Scott.

Which countries did NATO invade to encroach on Russia? Yugoslavia?

The only reason NATO countries border Russia is because those countries joined of their own free will. From the 1990s until now. NATO didn't force them to, they chose to. And they likely would not have, except that Russia aggression compelled them to do so. Most NATO countries in the Balkans and eastern Europe have at one point or another been a Russian vassal state. I don't think they want that again.

"Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, seven more countries in the 'not one inch eastward."

NATO invaded these countries?

Should NATO have told them, "Sorry bro. You belong to Russia."

I think you probably know as much as I do, but it seems like the NATO countries are looking to see how they operate with the US not taking a leading role. It's a wise plan.

"Russia saw a developing situation and preemptively Attacked to prevent an inevitable later War."

Is that why they invaded Donbass in 2014?

"The war would never have been started if Ukraine and Biden would have agreed not to involve NATO directly on Russian border, kind of what USA always wanted from other countries."

Huh?

What are you talking about. The US didn't force the Baltic countries to join NATO. That's not a thing you can force. And that pre-dates Biden by decades in come cases.

"I refuse to give another dime to corrupt politicians in other countries and Dem Ukraine war makers only to see another American die for Putin or Democrat war making. End the ------ war now."

That's a nice sentiment. Do you have any ideas on how to achieve that?

Maybe the US demands that the rest of the world cease their aid for UKR, so that Putin can wrap things up quickly and easily?

I think what changed the decision calculus was Russia's alliance with NorK and the deployment of NorK troops. That's an escalation in and of itself, and it shows that Russia is struggling to succeed with it's own organic forces. In my mind, this act just regains a recognized level of parity that both sides understand.

But yeah, it is going to be thousands of North Koreans who pay the price.

^I should have stated "Continental US." The beaches in Hawaii and Guam are obviously far better than those in Florida.

"Some of the best beaches in the world is what there is."

In Florida???

You've clearly never seen the rest of the world.

I have.

I will say that the best beaches in the US, again highly subjective, are situated around Destin. But compared to the rest of the world those beaches maybe hit the 5/10 mark at best.

There are some really cool coastlines in the PNW and NE, but you're not probably going to swim there. Same with Michigan.

FTR, the best beaches I have ever seen are in Albania. Which is why I am going to plant the flag there.

I know vacation appreciation is highly subjective, but why Florida? I sort understand going to see the mouse...sorta...but other than that, what is there?

I could understand people from Alabama or Georgia driving in, but 74% arrived by air, which suggests that they are not coming from a neighboring state.

As the senior classification authority on anything except DOE-related programs, the president is fully within his power to release any sensitive information. Even the most sensitive. The ODNI sits right below the president. It is unlikely and ODNI would share any info that was not approved by the president.

"People love the rapist. American women feel sooooooo empowered."

American women had the chance to vote against him.

They really didn't.

Dobbs may have been important to some female voters, but it does not appear to have outweighed other issues.

But you can watch TikTok's of the ones who were outraged.

They're funny.

#83

Dude, I think Trump is an abject ------- ------. But in the end, his victory appears to have had more to do with people actually liking him and what he was selling. It's not something I would have ever seen coming.

"the left has a ---- ton of puritans who can't stand it when they don't get their candidate and they stay home."

It would appear that there were a lot of Muslims and Arabs in Michigan who voted for Trump because the Dems weren't going to overly criticize Israel. If you're an Anti-Israeli, Trump's being in office is only going to weaken the position of the people you support.

It's kinda crazy.

"Oh so when the left has a strong populist its THEY CANT GET ELECTED. When the right has a strong populist it's THEY CANT BE STOPPED."

I'm not sure if "the left" is the term I would use, but it's going to be very difficult to run as a populist and a proponent of identity politics. The two are oil and water.

Like I said: IMO the Trump win shows that a Bernie win would be a distinct possibility...if Bernie were young enough to run in the near future. I think AOC is more of an identity politics person, but I have found myself agreeing with her on occasion, and I think she is introspective on why the dems lost. Why so many people whom she would have viewed as being in her camp voted for Trump.

One of the hanging chads in my mind, so to speak, is why so many did vote for Trump. Prima facie, it may seem like a repudiation of contemporary left-wing values. It may be, but I think it's just as likely a repudiation of modern US progressivism, which doesn't really contain any sort of populist position that is not infused with identity politics.

#27

Tariffs take you from a participant in the global marketplace to a participant in a national marketplace.

Which do you think provides more wealth creation? Which do you think creates more jobs.

Anyone who ever took an economics course knows that tariffs are bad. Unless you're one of the small group who benefits from them at everyone else's expense.

But this is the Drudge Retort...there is certainly not a dearth of current or former econ students contributing to the discussions here.

Whether you like Trump or not, he won both the popular vote and the electoral college. Additionally, His party flipped four states in the Senate. Hell, Sherrod Brown lost in Ohio, and he's been in Ohio politics longer than I have been alive.

Maybe it's time for that come to Jesus moment and realize that, for many of you, the rest of the US does not share your interests. And that's OK. You don't share theirs.

The good news for all my progressive friends, maybe, is that the US just elected an extremist. Maybe next time it will favor you and be a progressive extremist. There's not always a lot of trade space between the left and right extremists.

Sorry, though. I think Bernie is too old. And there is no more a young Bernie than there is a young Trump.

"you voted to get rid of the constitution!"

Hmm.

I missed that.

Walk me through how the US held a vote to get rid of the constitution.

That's not even a thing.