Odds the GOP win back the Presidency in 2024 ? 

If anyone other then Trump runs? Really good.Odds the GOP win back the Presidency in 2024 ?![]()
If anyone other then Trump runs? Really good.
If Trump runs? Really bad.
If anyone other then Trump runs? Really good.
If Trump runs? Really bad.
So as long as you can stick it to Putin, nothing else matters to you; is that it? The coup would have never gotten off the ground without support from the United States and the European Union, which was in response to then-president Yanukovych refusing to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the latter. People died because of it; they're still dying, many because they chose to criticize the violent psychopaths who now control their country, erroneously believing their lies that they lived in a free Ukraine.I find that a curious statement, considering Russia has been essentially under defacto rule by Putin since 1999 and has been slicing up portions of Moldava, Georgia, and now the Ukraine with the Crimea and Donbass...and maybe more in the future. I'm not particularly anxious to see us get stuck in a quagmire in the Ukraine either, but somehow we are the bad guys??
Just because I despise Biden and Obama, doesn't mean I need to have a favorable view of Putin and his cronies.
Perhaps that is what they are both hoping for?I agree with most of what you said.
Nope, they are both pushing the US to see how far they can shove this administration. Afghanistan showed the Biden admin to be fairly week and incapable, and both China and Russia want to see how much they can get away with.
Neither is destabilizing a country because it's closely tied to a country you don't like, but here we are. Also, Russia did not invade; they were invited by their allies to help fight a civil war against an illegitimate government, propped up by an enemy power.Perhaps that is what they are both hoping for?
As for the whole Russia thing.
Letting countries get invaded by a power that literally wants to redraw thier lines to the pre fall days is not something anyone should allow.
You seem to have completely ignored how even Gorby himself admitted Chernobyl was what did the USSR in, more than anything the west did.We're getting off topic, but I'll go ahead and reply. If the moderators want to move this to another thread that's fine.
It's more like Russia was an absolute mess after the fall of the USSR, it was hard to know whose one's "friends" really were with shifting power vacuums. Granted old habits die hard, but truth is? The Russians aren't happy that the Soviet Union is gone, and they blame the US for it. Well, Gorbachev too, but that's another story. Gorby wanted to keep the USSR intact, but hard to do so when the reforms end up killing a patient that had too many damn health problems to begin with.
The forces we are using in Ukraine now should be shifted to the Baltics, which are legit places that need protecting; we do not need to be involved in the Ukrainian situation.No, Bush going into Iraq didn't help, but look at Russia's history, they would have begun expansion again at some point, and historically their own expansions tend to be done at the business end of a rifle. As for Ghaddafi? He was living on borrowed time. The "Arab Spring", however it ultimately turned out, did him no favors. He was a scumbag and everyone wanted him gone. Please do not forget this is the same Ghaddafi who wanted to export "revolution" worldwide by setting up training camps for terrorist groups, and often did, while clashing with the Egyptians and invading Chad. The reason the French opposed Reagan's bombing of Libya back in the 80s turned out to be because the French felt it didnt' go far enough, they wanted Ghaddafi GONE.
Again, Russia is slicing up other countries again, and the West and NATO is supposed to be appearing irrational in these circumstances? How? Why?
Russians are paranoid about being invaded. Problem is? They tend to provoke this response because they have a tendency to invade and slice up territories themselves. For example in recent history, everyone loves to point out how the Soviets rightly defended themselves when the Nazis invaded with Operation Barbarossa...conveniently forgetting the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that was formed previously between Nazi Germany and the USSR which allowed both countries to divvy up Poland among themselves. If anything both countries feared invading the other and Hitler just happened to take the initiative first.
Then there's talk again about the "evil U.S. military industrial complex", the same "complex" that keeps the world trade routes open, American borders (mostly) secured (with possible exception to the current mess on the southern border, but I digress), helps render humanitarian aid around the world, keeps certain countries from going utter blitzkrieg on other countries, etc. etc. Is there corruption? Absolutely. Just like there is corruption in education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. etc. etc. Why do you think the damn Mob was invested so long in sewage and construction in the major cities like NYC? And said "complex" is easily dwarfed spending-wise by the gigantic social spending and healthcare in the US budget.
Obama may have Biden's ear, but Biden and Harris remain the problem and again, their ratings are currently shit and won't be getting better. You want things to get better? Vote them and their ilk out and support those who are working to do just that and opposed their policies. Then again, I've heard plenty of blackpilling (without pointing fingers, mind you) on this forum about how "Votes don't matter, the game is rigged! We're screwed! Conservatives are controlled opposition! China is inevitable! Life is Pointless!" Etc, etc. ad nauseum.
And consider this? The "little green men" and unrest tactics Putin is employing in the Eastern countries? Well, if no one is stopping him or slapping his hand away, eventually he's going to be like those looters in San Fran who just keep looting stores wholesale and keeps coming back for more because no one does anything about it. What's to stop him in the future from employing similar tactics against the Baltics? There are "ethnic Russians that need to be protected" after all. There might be ethnic Russians who live close to Poland who feel "threatened by the Poles and need protection" etc. etc. And the cycle repeats, and Russia expands, and the Russians feel like the grand olde days of their empire are coming back again...nevermind Russia is beset by a number of problem just like the Chinese, and just like the Chinese, may be building a grand house out of glass with sand as the base.
So would I; but unfortunately, a lot of people just refuse to accept that the cold war ended decades ago, and that Russia isn't an existential threat to western civilization anymore.I'd rather focus on China as they are a much much MUCH more serious threat than Russia at the moment.
Let the EU take care of its own issues for a while.
I'd rather focus on China as they are a much much MUCH more serious threat than Russia at the moment.
Let the EU take care of its own issues for a while.
I'm not. If they keep aborting their womb will be sterile in time.They get off on your disgust, they crave your hate as it validates them. They love that people are powerless to stop them from doing it. Though, don’t be too afraid. The tide is turning on people like them and abortion in general.
Josh Gerstein
Tue, December 7, 2021, 11:27 PM·4 min read
A federal magistrate judge in Manhattan has turned down a bid by a journalism advocacy group to make public details about the legal basis for an FBI raid last month on the home of a conservative activist and hidden-camera video producer.
The FBI seized cellphones in the early-morning, Nov. 6 raid on the apartment of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe in Mamaroneck., N.Y., as part of an investigation that appears to center on the alleged theft of a diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
The use of a search warrant to seize O’Keefe’s records raised the hackles of some First Amendment advocates, who said O’Keefe’s activities likely qualify for protection for members of the news media under federal law and Justice Department regulations. O'Keefe's critics say his deceptive tactics and evident partisan bias disqualify him from any claim to being a journalist.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press formally asked the court to unseal the search warrant materials, including the application that federal prosecutors and the FBI submitted when seeking permission for the search. However, Magistrate Judge Sarah Cave ruled Tuesday that the records should remain under seal for now.
Cave cited Ashley Biden’s privacy interests as one factor justifying continued secrecy for the court files.
“The Court is attentive to the fact that the Government is investigating potential criminal activity relating to the transmission of personal information about a private citizen, who happens to be the daughter of President Biden,” Cave wrote. “Given the details about Ms. Biden’s personal information included in the Materials, ‘the privacy interests of innocent third parties’ — including the victim of the alleged criminal activity — is in important countervailing factor against granting public access.”
Cave also concluded that release of the records at this juncture could impact the privacy interests of other individuals and impair the ongoing investigation by revealing details about what the government has discovered thus far.
Reporters Committee attorney Katie Townsend said Tuesday that the group was still considering whether to take further action on the matter.
In the 19-page ruling, the magistrate judge referred to O’Keefe as one of the “subjects” of the investigation. Federal prosecutors use that term to describe someone whose activities are being actively examined by the investigation but who is not currently seen as likely to be charged.
If Cave intended to use the term in that sense, it would raise further questions about the raid on O’Keefe’s home, since prosecutors are not typically permitted to use search or seizure warrants to get unpublished media materials about crimes allegedly committed by others.
O’Keefe’s attorney has said that the conservative provocateur bought the “rights” to publish the diary from two individuals who claimed to have obtained it legally. O’Keefe said the people who turned over the diary found it abandoned in a room where Ashley Biden had been staying.
O’Keefe said his group never published anything from the diary because it could not confirm that it was authentic. He later tried to turn it over to an attorney for the Biden daughter but after that person wouldn’t accept it, the journal was given to law enforcement in Florida.
O'Keefe has asked the court to appoint a special master to oversee any searches of his phones, but federal prosecutors have opposed that request.
A district court judge in Manhattan, Analisa Torres, is still considering whether to implement such a measure, but she did instruct prosecutors and the FBI to pause their review of the devices while she mulls the issue.
On Wednesday, a former Trump administration lawyer who recently registered to lobby for Project Veritas sent letters to the chairs and ranking members of several House and Senate committees, asking them to demand records and hold hearings about the searches of O'Keefe's home and similar searches targeting two of his former Project Veritas associates.
"The FBI’s and DOJ’s actions in this case make it clear that they’re more interested in punishing and intimidating the press than seeking the actual facts or respecting the Constitution," wrote Mark Paoletta, who described Project Veritas as "a non-profit news organization."
Paoletta's seven-page missive, obtained by POLITICO, quoted from Cave's mention of Ashley Biden in her ruling Tuesday and said he believes the Justice Department has misled the courts about aspects of the investigation.
"It is impossible to imagine the DOJ and FBI invading the homes of journalists to seize their reporter's notes on a story they never published, if the diary did not belong to someone named Biden," wrote Paoletta, who served as general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and was involved in President Donald Trump's controversial suspension of aid to Ukraine.
Several Republican lawmakers have written to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding details about the investigation, but the Project Veritas lobbyist said Democrats should also join those efforts.
"While I appreciate the efforts of the Ranking Members to hold the DOJ and FBI accountable, this type of assault on the First Amendment should be a priority for both sides of the aisle.," Paoletta wrote.
Disclosure: Gerstein is a member of the steering committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
So would I; but unfortunately, a lot of people just refuse to accept that the cold war ended decades ago, and that Russia isn't an existential threat to western civilization anymore.