Hanaguma

Sounds like a reasonable sentence. Chauvin was clearly out of his depth and worried about how to control a much larger, much stronger man who was obviously high on something.

Yeah, gotta wonder about the mentality here. You carry drugs into a virtual dictatorship, what did you expect was going to happen? Sorry but no sympathy here. If she is lucky, the Russians can appear "magnanimous" and just deport her. If not, a stretch in the Moscow Marriott awaits...

Fair answer, well put. Thank you. FWIW I agree that it did embolden him and is part of the reason for the current shambles. And to be honest, if the victim were a more democratic and free nation I would be more inclined towards helping them.

Uh, it looks to me like your graphs actually prove my point. Inflation in 2017 was 2.13%, 2018 was 2.44%, 2019 was 1.81%, 2020 was 1.23%. Unemployment? 2017 was 4.36%, 2018 was 3.9%, 2019 was 3.67%, 2020 was 8.31% (thanks Covid). And thanks to fracking and exploration, as you said in 2019 the US became an energy exporter. Biden OTOH is an enemy of the energy sector. That is what he promised in his election campaign and what he is doing. So I am really not sure what you think you are proving with your graphs, other than that I was right...

It is entertainment for me the same way it is for Democrats. All they want is to torpedo Trump '24 and keep the American people distracted going into the midterm elections. All their performative vituperation and angst is a big show put on for their friends in the media.

Iraq and Afghanistan were both total disasters. Not the kind of example I would use to justify excess military spending. Both left their regions worse off than before. If other countries want to join NATO, good for them. And also up to them. If you want to stop innocent loss of life, get Ukraine and Russia to the bargaining table and get them to hammer out an agreement. But keeping Ukraine propped up with weapons and gold will not encourage them to negotiate.

Of course invading is. So the war is Ukraine and Russia. But the US trying to kill Putin, or the Russians trying to kill Biden? A whole new ball game. You could expect an immediate and tragic escalation.

OK, good start. And to stop Putin, what are you willing to do? I think the whole farce in Ukraine has shown that Russian military power is not what everyone thought it was. Do you honestly think he will take a chance on attacking a NATO member state?

I am no "Trump loyalist". My preference is that he fade away from politics as fast as possible. He was good for the US and good for the economy while he was in office, but that is over now. My opinion, he should have taken the "L" and gone home. But that just isn't in his nature. About the only good he does is in still turning the left and the media into gibbering morons- it is quite entertaining.

What part of the "thousands of soldiers" did you not read? And of course money is a part of it. Giving a limitless budget to the MIC to buy weapons for a foreign war is foolhardy. Where will the money come from Transam? How much are YOU willing to give? At present it is around $400 per family in the US. Would $4000 be OK with you?

Ukraine isnt in NATO. You are right that Russia poses a threat to Europe. So let Europe solve the problem. Thing is, they got too addicted to Russian energy to actually have any political heft. Russia, as I have said before, has an economy on par with South Korea in terms of GDP. They can hardly be more than an annoyance.

True, yet don't Congressional investigations involve competing testimonies, and questioning of witnesses from people other than those who are eager to give them tongue baths? Makes the paranoid in me wonder what is being hidden from the public.

...and still waiting to hear anything from you other than platitudes and fluff. Let's say the current $40 billion gets spent and the war rages on. You OK with spending ANOTHER $40 billion? Sending in troops? Starting a regional conflict? You have yet to show any concrete proposal at all.

Well, they should be able to remember SOME of them at least, don'T you think? And IF there was any kind of cross examination of the witness, that could come out in the questioning. But that isn't happening here. It is one sided and becoming rather a farce.

Those countries can all defend themselves, form an alliance if they want, or make peace with their big neighbour. But Russia is not a global threat on any scale, particularly compared to China. Same question I have asked others- what price are you willing to pay to keep Russia out of Ukraine or any of those countries? Is it worth war? How many thousands of dead soldiers? How many billions of dollars?

IF you look at your precious list you will see the nations at the top are all small and inconsequential. Of the MAJOR European countries on the list, they all spend less than the US. I don't think using Latvia as a standard has much merit. I DO feel sorry for the Ukranian people, getting dragged into a conflict like this. By all means give to the Red Cross if you want. But like so many people who support the conflict, you don't have any idea of the end game. You have not said what price you are willing to pay to end the war, what constitutes 'winning', and so on. I say that Ukraine is worth zero lives and zero dollars, at least to my country and the US. How about YOU? What specifically are you willing to sacrifice to keep Ukraine out of Russian control? Answer that and I may take what you say seriously.

Targeting the leader of a foreign country is a declaration of war. If you want to escalate the situation, that is the perfect way to go about it. How would the US react if the Russians made an attempt on Biden's life? Not well I imagine. Plus, even if you DO manage to take out Putin without setting off World War 3, there is no guarantee that the next leader in Russia will be any better. Could very well be worse! That kind of warmongering is dangerous and ineffective.

IF not, then where will it come from? You then have two options- borrow it (probably from China) or increase the deficit. Which do you think is more acceptable? It is also $115 for every man woman and child in the USA. $400 per family. Now do you think most people would be happy giving up that $400 to aid Ukraine or would they rather have it to pay for their groceries?

Really? What advanced aid and how much? How far are you prepared to go to defend the Ukraine- you ready to go to war if it looks like Russia will win? How will you pay for the aid you want to send? These are questions you need to answer before you go off spouting meaningless platitudes and bromides. Funny that the same thing didnt happen in 2015 when Putin took the Crimean region. Wonder why... perhaps because Putin has been used by the left and the media (but I repeat myself) as some sort of existential threat to America ever since Trump was elected. A steady diet of Putin Putin Putin has caused derangement in a lot of people. You have spent the better part of 6 years building him up into some kind of Stalin 2.0 figure when he is really just a small man from a broken country with a small economy. He aint worth it. And neither is Ukraine.

Actually it doesn't. It shows that both in dollars and in GDP, the US is spending more to defend Ukraine than countries like the UK and Germany. Which is of course ridiculous. I get that Putin has been made into some mythical boogeyman figure in the media, but reality is different. Whether or not Russia takes the Donbass or whatever other territory matters exactly zero to the big picture of the world. Russia has a GDP somewhere in the range of South Korea. The other Europeans should be able to handle the situation if they choose. You want to find an actual enemy? A country that is worth worrying about? Try China.

Same in many countries. Local elections and national are treated differently. Countries that use a parliamentary system such as in most of Europe, Canada etc., do so in an attempt for the leader to represent the entire nation, rather than small chunks. But you knew that. Also, so did Hillary Clinton in 2016 when she ran one of the worst campaigns in US political history. Can't blame the system when both sides knew the rules beforehand.

To be frank, yes that is my attitude. A pity what is happening in Ukraine, but they aren't worth a single life of an American soldier. Maybe Zelensky shouldn't have been so cocky and should have sat down with Russia before everything kicked off. By the way, what is YOUR endgame- you support direct military involvement? US air force flying combat missions? Love your chart. It shows that, even in GDP terms, the major nations of Europe are slackers compared to the US. So I ask you- where should the $40 billion come from? What government department should lose budget to send to Ukraine?

Ain't a popularity contest, it is more like a chess match. Winning the popular vote is irrelevant. It is like saying the team that gets the most hits should win a baseball game. Besides, both parties were well aware of the reality of the electoral college system when the election began. In any case, not many countries use "popular vote" to choose their leader. Canada doesn't- in the last election the Conservative Party actually got more votes than the Liberals, but the Liberals won the election. This can happen in any country that uses a parliamentary system.

On cable tv yes, but not on tv as a whole. The Big 3 networks (which all lean left) get a total of 20 million viewers for their news shows, which dwarfs all cable news channels, Fox included.

Yes Russia is the aggressor, but so what? How much blood and treasure do you think we should expend to prop up Zelenskyy? How many boys would you like to see come home in body bags? I say zero. Russia is not a global threat, at best they are a regional nuisance. And one that Europe should be easily able to handle if they truly wanted to. Instead, they addicted themselves to Putin's energy resources and have been turning a blind eye for years. Yet somehow when a problem arises, Uncle Sugar has to foot the bill. The US has given far more than the rest of the world combined. It has to end. The $40 billion sent to push back on Putin has to come from somewhere- it's more money than NASA gets in a year! Not worth it.