heybruce

California is one of the most expensive places in the US for gasoline. Its prices are about what people pay in Europe. Orlando is relatively safe if you live in a well constructed building that is not in a flood zone. There are flood zones all over the US, and people who foolishly choose to live in them. However storm surges are the major killers in hurricanes, and Orlando is far from a storm surge area.

Really? You're blaming it all on the shift to green energy? You don't think a booming economy and Russia's invasion of Ukraine has anything to do with it? Gasoline, microprocessors, housing, etc. all respond to supply and demand. When there is an increase in demand prices go up prompting an increase in supply. However increasing refining capacity, building new chip factories, starting new housing developments, etc. can take years. Supply and demand will eventually even out in these areas, but there will undoubtedly be other issues by then. Welcome to life in the real world.

No one knows for certain if Putin would play nice, only that he never has before.

The continued expansion of NATO was not a threat to Russia. If Russia had not been threatening its neighbors there would have been no expansion. However the continued expansion of NATO was a threat to Putin's desire to recreate the Soviet empire. BTW: NATO was created to deter and defend against Soviet aggression, and was forced to evolve to defend against Russian aggression.

Bingo! That's why the "buffer zone" victims, consisting of nations that didn't want to be under Putin's thumb, have joined or want to join Russia. Russia should try making allies instead of intimidating and occupying neighboring countries. It's much cheaper.

Probably Russia will suffer? Do you think everything is hunky-dory in Russia now? Is that why the old and infirm are being drafted and the people are rushing to get out of the country?

If Russia withdraws from occupied territories the war will stop immediately. The let diplomacy take its course; Russia agreeing to reparations for Ukraine in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

"Who was driving the expansion of NATO?" Putin, obviously. Countries don't join a defensive alliance unless they feel threatened.

What off-ramps are you referring to?

As opposed to the wild ass some people back.

You are displaying profound ignorance and prejudice at this point. Look up Biden's time on the Senate Foreign Relations committee and his negotiations with Ukraine regarding aid and corruption while he was Vice President.

I can think of a few, but let's go with the one that's on topic: Biden's support for Ukraine.

Ukraine can annex the Russian territory first then attack Russian forces in it to defend its territory. Isn't this what Russia is doing in Ukraine?

He meant that Germany would shut the program down, which it did.

"You really ought to mention Biden also has a history of with-holding aid money as leverage to get something he wanted." You didn't think you were going to get away with posting that without being challenged to give examples, did you? Regarding DeSantis' performance, he didn't do a disappearing act like Ted Cruz did when Texas was having a power crisis, but doing better than Ted Cruz is a low bar to overcome. All DeSantis did was what any other Florida governor does during a hurricane. We can expect DeSantis to go quiet on illegal immigrants for a while. A great many of the people employed in the clean-up and rebuilding will be undocumented immigrants, and DeSantis won't want to draw attention to that fact.

And the obligation to drop challenges when there is no legitimate basis for the challenges is also an essential part of any true democracy. Sometimes people will drop challenges for the good of the country, as Al Gore did in 2020. However Trump always puts himself ahead of all else, and MAGA Republicans always put Trump before country.

In spite of all his rhetoric DeSantis doesn't punish people who employ undocumented immigrants, so of course the ones who want to work come to Florida.

Wouldn't it be great to take in some Russians who have inside knowledge of the Russian troll farms and are willing to share it in return for safety from Putin's war and draft?

Since my reply covered the MAGA Republicans who refuse to concede the election in spite of any credible evidence the results were illegitimate, yes, I think my reply is accurate and fair. The MAGA Republicans are among the 37% who will not concede an election regardless of the facts, and that is a serious threat to democracy.

Has Putin forgotten that the Russian Revolution began with the army rebelling against the incompetent war-mongering leadership of Tsarist Russia?

What accusations do you expect the Democrats to make? Do you think that they will insist that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, that the election was stolen? Do you think the Democrats will act like MAGA Republicans?

The "bloody thing" I replied to said that "Less than half of Trump voters say losing candidates should concede elections". My post was very much in response to that dangerous view.

There's no electoral college in the midterms.

I find it amazing that so many people can ignore what Trump did while they revel in the thought that he might get away with it. Trump stole government documents. A huge quantity of government documents. Some it them highly classified. When asked to return them he allowed some to be removed but hid others away. We still don't know how many he might have hidden. It doesn't matter if Trump thought about declassifying them. Those documents were classified because experts determined that revealing what they contained constituted a serious risk to the United States. Trump's Jedi mind declassification did not remove the threat these documents posed to the country. Be a real patriot and stop putting Trump before country.

Yes dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of rogue police violating human rights in the US. Versus a Chinese government policy of violating the human rights of millions of Uyhgurs.