Vlad's Blitzkrieg Turns into a Numbers Game

 Here is how badly Vladimir Putin's plan to conquer Ukraine has gone. One year into the conflict, or roughly 11 months longer than the Russian President thought it would take to overrun the country, he wasn't walking the streets of Kyiv, but Joe Biden was. Mr. Biden's tour guide was Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a man Putin thought would be either dead, or in exile by now.

Well, these things happen. Given what has gone down in the last few years Vlad Putin's first mistake was probably thinking Donald Trump would win the 2020 American presidential race. If it had gone Trump's way he probably would be roaming around St. Michael's Monastery right now with Trump in tow, carrying his baggage.

However, as we all know, things didn't work out for Trump two plus years ago and they certainly aren't working out for Vladimir Putin right now.

That doesn't mean somewhere down the line the whole bloody mess won't turn in Mr. Putin's favor. Let's face it he has far more resources, no matter how reluctant, than Zelensky does. A war of attrition favors Russia and if Putin can keep it up until 2024 he might catch a break if either Trump, or someone like him gets into the White House.

There is already a flock of republican vultures floating about congress. In the past 31 senators and 57 house members have voted against military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Among them, Rand Paul and the notorious secessionist, Marjorie Taylor Greene. 

The truth is this entire, "America First," nonsense is beginning to look like a, "Russia First," front organization. Most recently these devious clowns have demanded the U.S. take the aid designated for Ukraine and use it to clean up the disastrous train derailment in Ohio. How shipments of tanks, missiles, and ammunition would help the beleaguered people of East Palestine remains unexplained.

Putin entered this war thinking Russian forces would sweep into Kyiv as the Ukrainian army crumbled and surrendered. He seemed to believe NATO would stand by, paralyzed by political differences and a malaise brought on by the former American president.  He thought it would end so fast the Russian army didn't even think to bring along enough fuel to sustain a prolonged conflict. He felt, as many western observers did,, Zelensky would flee the country not long after the shooting began. He could live with sanctions because as president, he knew he personally wouldn't be affected by them.

Now he is in it for the long haul because he has to be. The whole idea of a blitzkrieg victory is gone and his only hope is the United States and Western Europe tires of supporting the Ukrainians, or elects leaders who for their own reasons either ignore him, or like him.

Depending on the source it is estimated there have been over 200,000 Russian troops, killed, wounded, captured, or gone missing. since the invasion began.  The Ukrainian casualties are estimated at 120,000. Russia is the 9th most populous country in the world. Ukraine has four million fewer people than the state of California. 

Given those numbers it doesn't take much of a math whiz to know without NATO and U.S. help the Ukrainians cannot hold off Putin's army forever. The far-right wing of the American republican party, despite its scientific limitations, knows it too. They just have to hide their knowledge under the cover of some, "America First," horse shit.  

Yes, at this point, the 2024 American elections can't get here fast enough for Vlad Putin. It turns out, he needs American politicians just as much as the Ukrainians do. 

2-27-23

MTG Wants a Divorce

 We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat's traitorous America Last policies we are done.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

Actually not everyone. Ms Greene took a highly unscientific poll of her Twitter followers. She received 13,892 responses. The Huffington Post reports a little over halve said yes to a, "national divorce," while 38% said no. Assuming her subscriber list is heavily tilted toward her peculiar brand of politics, 38%  is a hefty minority. It certainly isn't everyone.

The congresswoman didn't offer any suggestions on how this, "divorce," would take place, although, the last time we took a stab at one things got messy in a hurry. Unless you believe 750,000 deaths on both sides isn't messy.

A lack of details aside the irony of the tweet seems lost on our Marjie. How else can you describe it when she advocates for the break up of the United States in part because of,: treasonous" democrats. Let's face it, secession sounds pretty treasonous and not exactly, "America First." Especially when you have taken an oath to support and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic--twice.

If not irony, perhaps it is hypocrisy. That has always been a strong point for, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She once said becoming vaccinated against Covid was like pledging allegiance to the devil. Just to hedge her bets it is reported in 2020 she owned $50,000 worth of Pfizer and Johnson and Johnon stock. You know, the people who make the vaccines.

Just a couple of weeks ago, MTG, as she is known in the business, was publicly complaining about her salary level and the amount of , "hard work," she had to do in order to earn it. She had earned much more without all the hassle back when she was in the private sector she said. 

All of this begs the question, if you don't like the job and want to destroy the government which pays you to do it, why the fuck are you there in the first place? Go run your fitness centers, make millions, then pay off members of congress to vote how you like. That's the way most wealthy republicans do it.

Of course they don't show up in the news each and every day. And one has to suspect that is a lot of it for Marjorie Taylor Greene. Indeed, her attitude seems to be, if I'm going to be stuck with the lousy pay and long hours, by God, I'm going to be famous and wield some tangible power. Besides, Kevin McCarthy owes me big time., baby.

It might be Ms. Greene aspires to be a 21st century version of South Carolina Congressman, Preston Brooks. Prior to the civil war, Brooks, pissed off over the anti slavery politics of his northern colleagues and a perceived insult to his cousin who sat in the U.S. Senate nearly beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner to death with a cane. Greene doesn't own a cane, at least not at this time, but she does brag about her gun ownership and routinely avoids metal detectors which are designed to keep fire arms off the house floor. 

In a side note, Brooks was re-elected, after the attack but didn't live to see America's 19th century divorce. He died of the, "croup," in 1857. 

Ms Greene won re-election in 2022 with right at 70% of the vote in her district. She has just over 448,000 followers on Twitter. Despite these numbers it is unclear where she would live if her, "national divorce," actually happened. After all Georgia has two democratic senators and despite the crude threats of Donald Trump and others was carried by Joe, Biden. 

Well, sometimes things just aren't what you'd like them to be. Such is the nature of democracy. 

Perhaps that is why she hates it so much--huge numbers of us simply don't want to be the way she wants us to be.

2-21-23

Lying for Ratings: Welcome to 21st Century Journalism

On election night 2012, the Fox News decision said Barack H. Obama would win Ohio and therefore the presidential election.  The announcement flabbergasted republican operative Karl Rove who was sitting in as a guest analyst--not to mention GOP candidate Mitt Romney who was in the middle of rehearsing his victory speech. 

Rove's astonishment and disbelief moved him to claim the decision desk was wrong. It set him off babbling about thousands of uncounted votes in Hamilton County, a republican stronghold.. Romney's initial reaction to the news is unknown. However the news was so stunning to Fox management they sent one of their anchors into the bowels of the studio in order to interview the head of the decision team. He just smiled and said the team was confident in their decision. Late that night when the Fox prediction came true, Mitt Romney graciously accepted his defeat, then moved to Utah where he would later become a U.S. senator.

Eight years later things were , let's say, different. On election night 2020 Fox once again made an early surprise call. This one telling the world Joe Biden would carry Arizona. With the full support of Fox the White House was then occupied by a fully functioning psychopath named Donald Trump. 

Trump and his supporters howled like gut shot wolves. Shouts of treason filled the air and more darkly Trump began alleging fraud in not only Arizona, but everywhere else he lost. Some of the blame for the upset loss fell onto Fox News, not because they hadn't supported Donald Trump during the campaign, but because they had simply broadcast what their decision desk said was going to happen. 

Hey, sometimes the truth hurts. Especially when you tell it to cult fanatics.

Of course Trump's backup plan in case he did lose had always been to claim the election was stolen. By the end of the week, when it finally became crystal clear Joe Biden would be the next president the plot was well underway.

Fox, already stinging from the mob's criticism and seeing some of its viewers defect to places like OAN and Newmax,, made a business decision to go along with the big lie. The truth, which had always been expendable on the network, had become a downright liability..

Unfortunately in order to undercut the truly wild eyed loons on the smaller networks Fox had to put people on the air who were, you know, bat shit crazy They included the unhinged Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. All of them, with endorsements from Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, savaged the makes of Dominion voting machines.

Dominion bit back.

Defamation suits began to fly and so did subpoenas. Now it has been revealed in texts and emails everyone at Fox, right up to ol' Rupe Murdoch himself knew the big lie was, well, a big lie. Fox News wasn't airing the bizarre accusations, and theories because they thought they might be true, or even newsworthy. As proven by the internal communications they knew their guests were lying. They aired, unchallenged, those lies just to grab a few more ratings points.

They were so desperate to continue the lies at one point Carlson sent a message to Hannity begging for a fact checker to be fired because she had tweeted the truth. The company stock is falling, he wrote, this is no joke. 

The tweet was deleted, it is unclear if the fact checker retained her job. Meanwhile the unholy triad of Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham continue to lie about the 2020 election results, even after their texts admitting their disbelief in them became public.

When my wife watches some ultra right wing politico go off their nut she invariably asks the question, "Do you think he, or she, actually believes what they are saying?"

Obviously we now have the answer she has sought for so long.  At least when it comes to Fox News, no, they do not. 

Welcome to journalism in the 21st century.

2-18-23

Damn the Balloons, Full Speed Ahead

 

Watch the skies. Watch the skies.

Reporter Ned, "Scotty," Scott, from the 1951 Howard Hawkes' production, "The Thing from Another World."

Although we haven't found a seven foot tall, blood drinking alien near the North Pole, like the intrepid band of Americans did in the Hawkes' movie, Scotty's dire warning at the end of the film suddenly seems apropos.

So much so, after four high to mid altitude balloons, one of them confirmed Chinese, have been shot down over North American airspace in a little over a week, American authorities felt compelled to assure citizens none of them were of extraterrestrial origin. While on the surface it might seem silly to have to issue such a statement one has to remember the natives here are not only a tad superstitious, but also prone to mass hysteria. Especially when it comes to anything even remotely conspiratorial.

Let's face it, the nation went bat shit crazy a generation ago over what was known as Y2K. Then again when the Mayan calendars was nearing December 21, 2012. There are entire cable networks heavily populated with ghosts, ghost hunters, ancient aliens, unsolvable mysteries, and Big Foot sightings. Indeed, America is full of people desperately in search of an apocalypse.

Well raptures aside, the military's explanation for this sudden rash of unidentified balloons is simple. "We're finding more, because we've started looking for them." That's right, the entire U.S. air defense system has been geared for fast moving fixed wing and ballistic aircraft. No one ever considered slow moving balloons a threat. According to one military spokesman filters on radar systems nation wide had to changed out in order to better define their radar profiles.

Unlike the first balloon, which the Chinese readily admitted was theirs, no one has claimed the other three, smaller ones. Those days are probably past us now. One was shot down off the north coast of Alaska and crashed onto sea ice. Another ended up in the wilds of the Canadian Yukon. The third currently rests at the bottom of Lake Huron. Technically they all remain Unidentified Flying Objects. Or, as crypto scientists refer to them these days, Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or UAPs. 

Why any interstellar aliens would launch balloons into the earth's atmosphere when presumably they have technology which is more advanced--hey, they had to get here from way out there--is unknown.

Of course space aliens are an inscrutable lot. The one in the aforementioned, "The Thing from Another World was a highly evolved vegetable who just happened to lust for earthling blood. Not to mention he was an ill tempered bastard who was impervious to gunfire.

The good news, however, was despite all those distressing traits, the beast in the movie showed no interest in launching balloons.

So be of good cheer, America. We have deflated the enemy, whoever it is, every time we've met him. And our skies remain true blue.

Or, in other words, damn the balloons, full speed ahead.

2-14-23

A Feral Bunch of Dive Bar Nazis

 House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy is hardly a visionary, in fact he is barely the speaker, but even he saw it coming. On Tuesday morning, before Joe Biden's state of the union speech, he called republicans together and pleaded with them not to heckle, or otherwise interrupt the address. He knew if they did nothing good would come of it. He knew if they acted like a bunch of crude banshees the reaction would be swift and overwhelmingly negative.

All his little talk did was prove just how little control he has over GOP members of the house.

Yes, it didn't take long for things to get ugly on Tuesday night. Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene led the way. Dressed in a white fur trimmed coat--which caused many on Twitter to compare her to the Disney character, Cruella Deville--she repeatedly yelled, "liar," at the president and booed him with a lust normally reserved for football stadiums. Others, no doubt enchanted by her elegant wardrobe--in all truth she appeared to have just attended an exquisite soiree honoring some fellow sophisticate such as Hank Williams Jr.--joined in. 

Unfortunately, for the republicans involved and much to McCarthy's chagrin, most of the media reaction after the speech was just as the speaker feared. It didn't help that Mr. Biden was prepared for Greene and the rest to act like a bunch of drunk honk-tonk patrons. He dished it out far better than he received.

Not everyone on the ultra right acted like buffoons. At least not aloud. Utah republican Senator, Mike Lee sat silent, but he overplayed his act of, "Where did he come up with us wanting to kill social security and medicare? We never said that." It's unknown what the senator's expression was when shortly after he portrayed utter perplexion a video surfaced showing him saying exactly that.

The day after the speech, Colorado republican Lauren Boebert claimed Mr. Biden was the person who shut down American schools during the pandemic. Not hardly. The schools were shut down long before Joe Biden took office. Since that is an irrefutable fact we are left with the conclusion either Lauren Boebert is a reprehensible liar, or the stupidest woman hailing from the western slope of the Rockies.    

After the President exuded optimism and the hope for bipartisanship Arkansas Governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the republican response. Her presentation was at best dour, if not dire. In her words, the woke mob, "wants us to fly their flag and worship their idols." It was a statement which moved MSNBC's Chris Hayes to ask, What was she talking about?"

Ah, the mysteries of the MAGA mind. They are an inexplicable lot.

Meanwhile Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed in an interview she was not baited into her unhinged display, even though it certainly appeared that way at the time. In the end she said she didn't regret her actions and added, "He got exactly what he deserved."

Well, madam, while the jury is still out on what Joe Biden deserves we know one thing for sure. He got exactly what he wanted. He was vigorously full of fight, good humor, optimism, and set full speed on a course to improve not only the American infrastructure, but American lives. 

You and your pals, on the other hand, looked like what you are. A feral pack of dive bar nazis with no respect for Americans the institutions of the republic, or, as we saw Tuesday, even yourselves.

sic vita est

2-9-23

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu: A Mysterious Chinese Balloon Over America: Angst, Outrage, and Denials

 Late last week, for a select few of us, it felt like we were witnessing an updated version of a Sax Rohmer novel. Indeed, as the huge Chinese balloon drifted slowly eastward across the continental United States the entire affair reeked of the nefarious plots hatched by the evil, Dr. Fu Manchu.

Of course Fu Manchu didn't actually live in China. He haunted the dank basements, streets, and warehouses of old London. But, hey, James Bond never had blonde hair like Daniel Craig does either. Both of which proves everything morphs one way, or the other in the new millennium.

The massive balloon was first detected over the Aleutians on January 28th. By the 30th it was in Canadian airspace. However, on January 31st it re-entered the U.S. as republicans like to say, illegally. On February 1st the Billings, Gazette published a photo of it hanging in the perfectly blue Montana sky. At that point the excrement hit the fan.

The next day the Defense Department issued a statement saying it was tracking the balloon, taking precautions that prevented it from gathering sensitive information and assuring everyone it was well above the altitudes passenger air traffic frequented. The DOD spokesperson cryptically added, the department had previously tracked unidentified balloons over American air space the last few years. Meanwhile public interest in what was happening was fueled by clear skies and the ability of anyone with a decent pair of binoculars to see the damn thing. 

On the third of the month the Chinese admitted the, "airship," was theirs. They said it was a civilian project and had been blown off course. Its purpose was, "scientific," mainly meteorological. The excuse sounded a bit lame tor many Americans who have a hard time believing anything Chinese is a civilian enterprise. It didn't help everyone here knew the last major scientific export by Chinta was COVID-19.

By then the republicans had reached their limit. Calls to shoot the balloon down echoed through the halls of congress and on social media. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she hoped some, "average Joe," would knock it out of the sky. It is unclear exactly how that could happen since the balloon was drifting at 60,000 feet. The only plausible explanation is she is of the opinion the second amendment allows American citizens to own and use surface to air missiles in order to maintain a well regulated militia.

What ever the case, the balloon drifted east south east. It exited the U.S. mainland on Saturday,. although not for long. An American fighter shot it down within the 12 mile coastal limit, which seemed to satisfy GOP balloon blood lust, but pissed off the Chinese to no end, even if playing the wronged party in the episode was a stretch. Besides they should have known things weren't going to end well when Secretary of State Anthony Blinken cancelled his trip to Bejing because of the incident.

Despite the demise of the balloon republicans claimed Biden showed great weakness when he failed to gun it down over Butte. Biden said he followed the advice of the military who had told him the safest course of action was to wait until it was over open water before destroying it. They were probably right. There was no telling what kind of damage the falling debris could cause, plus you never know what is up there for sure. For all anyone knows the communications system on board might be sustained by a small nuclear power source. Better to down it in the ocean than, say, downtown Joplin, Missouri.

The former president and current candidate Donald Trump posted on social media the Chinese would NEVER attempt such a stunt when he was in office. Then the Pentegon released a statement saying they actually had--three times. Trump and others in his administration vehemently denied  any balloon incursions took place on their watch. 

So the conundrum the voting public faces is simple. Don you believe the denial of a man who still denies he lost a national election, or the military who shot the fucker down off the coast of South Carolina? 

As usual in America these days the answer to that question will break along party lines. 

What else can we expect? 

I mean other than fewer Chinese balloons and more Fu Manchu books and movies.

2-6-23

DeSantis and Trump: Crazy Vs Crazier

Five years ago, when the MSGA movement and its founder, Donald John Trump were both flying high, Ron DeSantis, like most republican candidates felt they had to prove to voters just how Trumpy they were. After he had gained The Big Orange Guy's  endorsement in the Florida governor's race, Mr. DeSantis ran a TV ad featuring himself and his kids. In the spot the future governor exhorted his son to, "build that wall," with a bunch of children's blocks. He read to his daughter from Trump's book, "The Art of the Deal." He also helped his kids paint a, "Make America Great Again," yard sign.

Yes, in 2018 it was, as they say, high tide and green grass for all things MAGA. However, by 2020 the winds had dramatically changed. Trump lost and while he and others were busy plotting a coup, Ron DeSantis quietly distanced himself from not only the former president himself, but the entire mob of lunatics who were following him down the rabbit hole of sedition and treason.

That didn't mean Governor DeSantis had seen the light, or been born again. It simply meant he realized Don Trump and his howling band of savants were losers. And the last thing a man with big ambitions wants, or needs is to be associated with losers.

This point was made crystal clear when the results of the 2022 mid term elections came in. Scads of Trump backed MAGA loons went down in flames. Ron DeSantis on the other hand, now making a name for himself without Donald Trump, cruised to victory. 

None of this is meant to portray the Florida governor as some sort of kinder, gentler right wing soldier. This is a guy who spent $615,000 of taxpayer money to airlift 50 Venezuelans to Martha's Vineyard. They weren't even in Florida when he did it. All 50 were in Texas, applying for political asylum--because, you know, Venezuela is run by a fucking communist. In order to make the stunt technically legal, because the money he used was earmarked for shipping migrants out of Florida only, he made sure the plane made a brief layover in the Sunshine State before landing in Massachusetts. 

His attacks on the LGBTQ community are well documented and he has recently gutted African American AP classes for high school students in his state. DeSantis' aim, he says is to, purge, " woke ideology," from the state's education system. In the past he has described America's history in the slave trade industry as, "forced relocation."

Ron DeSantis hasn't announced he is running for President, but everyone with a half brain, including Trump himself knows he is. Trump is so convinced the governor is in the hunt he has begun attacking him with the usual Trump school yard savagery. The former president claimed Desantis, "begged," for his support in 2018 and was so desperate he broke down in tears while doing so. He has called DeSantis disloyal and described him as a "RINO Globalist."  He has also threatened to expose all the, "dirt," on the governor.

Of course we all know Donald Trump promises many things, but rarely delivers. So far his only real, "dirt," on Mr. DeSantis is the governor's about face on the COVID-19 vaccine. When it first arrived on the scene Brother Ron was an avid fan. Now that it turns out much of the republican base is against COVID inoculation's, or at least government mandated ones, he sounds close to being an all out anti-vaxxer.

It is doubtful Donald Trump is afraid of Ron DeSantis. In all reality he probably sees him as just another opponent needing to be personally humiliated and crushed, like all those pitiful GOP fools in the 2016 primaries. However, he has to see in Florida's governor a younger, version of himself. Not as rich maybe, but just as ruthless and maybe, in some ways, even meaner.

The real blood bath will begin in a year. And given the nature of these two beasts it will be at least ankle deep.  

Hey, when it comes to republicans these days you only get two choices. It is either crazy, or crazier. There is no in between.

2-3-23