After his playing days, Pete Rose did collectable shows and received money for his autograph. Eventually the IRS caught up with him and charged him with not reporting $360,000 in income. Like others who do that, he was sent to PRISON. Fine $50,000 And then there's Hunter Biden. According to charges, in 2017 and 2018 he made over 1.5 million and didn't pay over $100,000 taxes owed in each of those years. And unlike rose, we have no clue where this coke-head low-life got that much money. Apparently the "investigators" didn't want to go there. His sentence, having to write on a blackboard 100 times, "I will pay my taxes." Oh and he's fined $25,000. And dad and his elite friends will keep telling us "no one is above the law" and "the rich don't pay their "fair share." And of course while they're continuously trying to take guns away from those that legally obtain them his dad is "proud" of his son who used the Lie and Buy way of getting a gun.
My son asked me once how we evolved to the current state of affairs we find ourselves in here in the good old USA. I told him that it was not any landmark court decisions or legislation. It was thousands of little choices to look the other way over decades; situations where we knew the course of action but ignored it due to convenience for one reason or another. Here we are again. It's obvious that the Biden family is corrupt. No sane, halfway intelligent person could deny that. They damn themselves with their own words. Everything that has happened under this shell of a man suddenly makes perfect sense when you shine the light of his family's foreign interests on them. They are clearly in bed with China and Ukraine personally and it shapes all of their decisions. Think back to the Escape from Afghanistan and the abandonment of Bagram AB, the mysterious destruction of the undersea oil pipeline to Europe from Russia, the sudden lack of interest in source of covid in China, his benign response to the Chinese balloons over our military installations in the US, the unquestioned open-ended aid to Ukraine ( a nation known primarily for human trafficking, organized crime and minerals needed in the production of electric vehicle batteries ), the lack of response to Chinese interests buying up American land from seas to shining sea, particularly around US military installations and of course our open border policy where at least 60,000 undocumented Chinese have entered. And now we know the Bidens have been paid handsomely by foreign reps from these nations going back to 2015. This is treason. Influence peddling. A national security threat of the highest order. What are we going do about it? Allow his handpicked minions like Merrick Garland to continue to protect them. When do we do what is right for America and not just for a political interest?
The Biden/China link goes back much further. Obama put Biden in charge of dealing with China during their administration. It was during this time that China began building man-made islands in the South China Sea. This is a threat to both international shipping and our Asian allies. The two individuals in the Obama administration who should have been strongly condemning and leading world opposition to this ploy by China was Biden and our Sec. of State Kerry. Coincidently at this time Hunter Biden and Kerry's stepson Chris Heinz started and investment firm and a large "investor" using that firm was, you guessed it the Bank of China. This of course generated millions in commissions for the Biden and Kerry family and also purchased their acquiescence in China's expansion.
I think that's one of the things about the rise of partisanship over country that concerns me perhaps above all else and saddens me at the same time. It is as if we no longer have any vital national interests so long as the "other" guy is in power. Whatever he's doing, I must oppose so as to appear loyal to my partisans to hell with any overriding national interest. A central tenet of US defense doctrine has for several generations beginning with Truman, the strong on national defense conservatives and reinforced by the Reagan doctrine and $trillions$ in equipment, infrastructure and diplomacy a priority focus to defend against Russian armor rolling across the plains of the European land mass and rolling up their weaker neighbors. The US designed, funded and manufactured generations of military hardware for just this purpose. Russian expansionism by force of arms was to be resisted at every corner of the globe. The Obama administration was eviscerated for his sack-less response to the annexation of Crimea in spite of US security guarantees to Ukraine contained in the Budapest Memorandum. Well, right now Russian armor is rolling across the European land mass for the sole purpose of rolling up a weaker neighbor. Why, after generations, is it suddenly no longer in our interest to aid in their defense just because a Dem is in office? Sorry, that's BS. If providing leadership to an alliance that is providing material aid in the defense of Ukraine is being in bed with them, count me in, I'm jumping in the sack. We do have national interests that are independent of who's in office and this has been one of them since the end of WWII and remains so today. This party before country drivel that is being puked from the fringes by the Carlson/Trump/Putin wing will be the death knell for US world standing and our ability to influence world affairs and cede world leadership to Xi.....for nothing other than political stupidity. The Russian army is being decimated right before our eyes without a drop of American blood being spilled....a win for Ukraine is a loss for Putin and a loss for Xi and a huge win for the US and the world order with the US at the helm. If we turned our back on Kyiv, it only will embolden Xi and Taiwan is soon on the menu. The decimation of the Russian army, humiliation of the Putin/Xi/Mullah/North Korea cabal without losing a single drop of US blood is the deal of century
Russian helicopters battle Wagner mercenaries rolling toward Moscow Holy Sh!t.....that crazy MFer is on his way to Moscow after already having taken Russian southern military command center in Rostov. Stay tuned, Mr. Putin not having a good day
We left billions in military equipment in Afghanistan, that has to be replaced. We're sending billions in equipment to Ukraine, that has to be replaced. The "military/industrial" complex is gorging off the American taxpayer. Originally, backing Kiev was a way of weakening Putin. As this has dragged on, it's become of way of weakening ourselves. And not missing the irony, Xi has decided to help Putin, no so much because he cares to help him but to keep him sapping our equipment. WSJ News Exclusive | Ukraine War Is Depleting U.S. Ammunition Stockpiles, Sparking Pentagon Concern
Backing Kiev was the right thing to do because it's the right thing to do to support democracies from illegal foreign invasion and it's in our national interest to preserve a rules-based world order. Let's not forget that Xi stood by Putin suggesting "no limits" to their partnership before the invasion even began, they deserve each other and both deserve their present humiliation. Standing as the "arsenal of democracy" is one of the foundations of our ascendancy to world leadership. The only thing that would weaken ourselves is to abandon generations of sound policy, turn our back on allies in time of need, neglect security commitments and bow to the demands of the Putin /Xi cabal.....watching the Russian state military apparatus disintegrate in the face of Ukrainian resistance without a drop of American blood is a phenomenal return on our investment. I remember well the last time the federal budget was balanced was in 1998 and Bill Clinton took all the credit, but in fact it was a direct result of the lower defense spending needs after the fall of the Berlin Wall and disintegration of the Soviet Union. The return on investment realized from the success of the Reagan doctrine was clear and compelling and can be measured in the hundreds of $Billions$. I'm not ever going to support abandoning a policy that has proven itself for generations over administrations from both sides simply because the guy presently in office is not my guy. Hell, there are people on the fringes of both sides that would criticize the guy that cured cancer if he was not of their political persuasion. How can that possibly be good for anybody?
Israel is a democracy and the way Obama, Kerry, and Biden have been kissing Shia ass in Iran is not what I'd call "support." Obama sat by with his thumb up his ass the first time Putin took part of Ukraine by stealing Crimea. After that disgrace in Afghanistan, it wasn't surprising that Putin saw another jellyfish in the White House and a chance to steal more territory. Our enlistments may be down, our munitions low, our navy second in number of ships to China but we'll destroy our enemies with our pronoun policy.
Agree with all of that, but also gotta say that I favor supporting Ukraine...I believe it is in our best interest and in the interest of our friends and allies. How far we should go with that support is something for smarter people than me to debate. Does doing it wrong the first time (Crimea) mean we gotta do it wrong the second time?
Back to Ukraine, I'd ask dear Mr. Putin, how's that "genius" thing working out for ya now? Clearly his assessment was very wrong. I would advise that he have his meals tested on the reg if he makes it through the day without a bullet in his head. The great irony of all this is that the feckless Obama response that you rightfully criticize is precisely the course of action advocated by the Carlson/Trump/Putin wing of fringe right, exactly the opposite policy construct of the Reagan doctrine and other great conservative leaders of the past and the ONLY reason that they advocated for it was because it was the opposite of current admin policy.....that is the extent of the logic, national interest and generations of successful policy be damned. That's where we are....brilliant. FUBAR
I'm surprised at how wrong some of the ex military talking heads on TV were about the war. Most seemed to feel that Russia would roll over Ukraine in a few months. Obviously Putin believed that too. After that armored column on the way to Kiev got destroyed, it seemed as though the whole tenor of the war changed. A large number of Russian top military were killed in that campaign and when Russia went to a draft to replace troops, the support at home seemed to melt away. You wonder what the end game is for this mad man in the Kremlin with a nuclear arsenal. Ending the war with little to show for it won't be popular and continuing to get chopped up in Ukraine isn't any better. His neighbors are now all joining NATO. His dream of reassembling the Soviet Union is crumbling. If he's overthrown, maybe Xi will think twice about Taiwan.
I guess I'm just a little jumpy after 20 years of thousands of wasted lives and hundreds of billions spent in Afghanistan and not a god-damned thing to show for it. I'm sure we're gonna come out of Ukraine smelling like a rose. Until then, I'll watch a movie about our last great definable military victory.... Patton.
Pretty sure this isn't the outcome that Xi anticipated when he hosted Putin at the Olympics as they conspired shortly before the invasion was launched. The strength of the allied response to Putin's invasion is one that will no doubt give him pause as he considers his options and next steps with Taiwan
Looks like our guy Prigozhin got halfway to Moscow and either 1) got cold feet, or 2) more likely couldn't get enough of the Russian general staff/security apparatus to come over and turned his armored columns around. Putin - strong man that he is - offered him a deal, GTFO of Russia and head to pasture in Belarus and live to see another day. That would be the equivalent of the founder of Blackwater getting pissed off at the ineffectiveness of a US military effort/leadership, bringing his fighters back to the US, taking Ft. Bragg and occupying Fayetteville while telling Gen Milley and Lloyd Austin that he's coming for their a$$ then rolling armored columns up I-95 towards DC and firing on responding US military assets along the way while Washington mobilizes forces and prepares for the assault. He turns his columns around after the President promises amnesty if he goes to Canada.....just imagine the reaction if that were here in the US. Putin has been humiliated, weakened immeasurably both domestically and on the international stage. The images of the crowds cheering and celebrating Prigozhin as he rolled through the streets of Rostov and the weakness with which Putin handled the situation will live on. Love to hear the next conversation between Xi and Putin. Russia more a vassal state of China than ever before.....if he'll have them