I wonder if Mitch McConnell is for hire.

ETA: not meant as a personal criticism.

That Wikipedia citation is Encyclopedia Britannica, which itself has no citations. I'm all for examining stuff, but for God's sake let's put a little effort in.

I listen to an hour of the BBC every morning and, boy, you should hear how they grill public officials that come on their show. It makes me wonder what the heck is going on with our press.

“President Donald J. Trump and his administration have a simple message: follow the law.."

That's rich.

Yep. I stand corrected.

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2024-01-25/clinton-yeltsin-moscow-summit-january-1994

Ukraine, specifically, would have no trouble feeding itself. As for defending itself, it gave up the greatest deterrent it had in 1994 in exchange for what turned out to be a bunch of empty promises from Russia and the United States.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170312052208/http://www.cfr.org/nonproliferation-arms-control-and-disarmament/budapest-memorandums-security-assurances-1994/p32484

Give them some nukes. Problem solved.

Heh. I'm more worried about what kind of influence they now have, to be honest. Believe me, I'm all for transparency.

On its face, yes. Wait until we get some anti-vax nutjob squawking about vaccine research they know absolute nothing about except for what they saw on Facebook.

It sucks getting old, doesn't it? I was pumping up my bike tires a couple weeks ago and moved the wrong way which resulting in some pretty bad back pain for a few days. Hope yours passes soon!

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5294328/israel-raid-bookstore-east-jerusalem

Beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

There's probably already enough scammers in that godforsaken corner of the world without subjecting them to that.

Heh. Good point.

Russell’s point seemed a lot more ominous, and you’re citing the same view you held 30 years ago. Perhaps it’s not as dire as is being portrayed.

Besides, we haven’t heard word one about paying down the debt (most of which we owe to ourselves).

According to this page: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go they're 45% of federal spending. I think my nibbling at the edges comment stands. What DOGE is doing now is opiate for the masses.

Why not?

The arsonist is burning his own house down.

Why though? I realize I'm asking a lot of voters who live in the most prosperous nation in the world, with a standard of living that's the envy of the world, but requiring them to articulate why they're ready to trash their own country doesn't seem like too big an ask.

What if instead of corruption we read it as doing the art of the possible? Congressional horse trading has generally worked pretty well for this country.

Governing is hard and sometimes unpopular. Republic, democracy, etc.

I'm sure there's a trade to be had there somewhere.

It'll just switch sides.

You know, you'd think one wouldn't have to spell it out as explicitly as this, but then we're living in an age where "We're sick of it" counts as cogent political analysis.

Torture is definitely where America sold its soul. A huge reason why I didn't vote for BHO in 2012 was the fact that Guantanamo remained open.

This article encapsulates much of the point I've been trying to make in the comment threads of various posts over the last several days: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-losing-court-boring-reason-adminitrative-procedure-act-rcna191113

There are lawful ways for the DJT administration to do what it wants to do. He's just to lazy to do it. That we probably all expected. What should shock Americans is we have half the country ready to skirt the law right along with him.