As the Republican Party’s blockade of aid to Ukraine drags into its fourth month, the U.S. government under Pres. Joe Biden has found a clever new way to give Ukraine’s forces the weapons and ammunition they need to defend their country.
It is, in essence, an American version of Germany’s circular weapons trade—the so-called Ringtausch. The United States is gifting older surplus weapons to Greece with the understanding that Greece donates to Ukraine some of its own surplus weapons.
Greek media broke the news last week. According to the newspaper Kathimerini and other media, the Biden administration offered the Greek government three 87-foot Protector-class patrol boats, two Lockheed Martin C-130H airlifters, 10 Allison T56 turboprop engines for Lockheed P-3 patrol planes plus 60 M-2 Bradley fighting vehicles and a consignment of transport trucks.
All this hardware is U.S. military surplus—and is available to Greece, free of charge, under a U.S. legal authority called “excess defense articles.” Federal law allows an American president to declare military systems surplus to need, assign them a value—potentially zero dollars—and give them away on the condition that the recipient transport them.
What the point of democracy if no one care what half of the voters want.
I think your question is misguided. Democracy doesn’t mean a two-party system race to the bottom. Democracy can see democratically elected politicians that better resonate with each individual voter by eliminating first past the post voting and using ranked choice voting instead. The problem isn’t that “half the country disagrees”. You can’t please everyone. The problem is that we’ve been divided and weaponized against each other, so the tribalism keeps us from finding common ground we may have. I doubt anyone votes FOR a candidate anymore. They seem to just vote AGAINST another candidate. Democracy works. It’s our implementation of it that’s failing.
Ranked choice voting isn’t a game changer. Almost every problem in US politics can be traced back to the hundred year old cap on the size of the house of representatives.
The system has more than one critical flaw.
Not institutionalized lobbiests and corruption?
By having more reps their power is diffused, and a single lobbyist can’t meet meaningfully with twice the members they are now. The increased size would make lobbying more expensive and put a higher demand on campaign contributions, which is another expense. It also changes district size, which is important because a company may need more locations to have a meaningful impact on those districts.
While it’s possible the percentage of corrupt representatives stays the same, the increase in absolute number should make it easier to expose some of them. This could serve as a small check on corruption.
The biggest thing is that it’s more than twice as hard to get 20 people in agreement than 10.
Time to prune the Tree of Liberty
Working hard to put people before Party - https://represent.us/
Slava Ukraini!
They (bi-partisan) are coming for your social security though. No money for the people, only wars.
https://twitter.com/SSWorks/status/1729584226658381828?t=w2RFSDx5k8auaZId2WWFYA
Fuck the republican traitor filth.
Pro-any other country than your own, and that you were elected to serve is traitorous. I’m not big on nation-states and all that stuff personally. And these folks very much are, so by their own definitions they are traitors. I am kind of amused by Sister City agreements, where cities share solutions, without any way to force the other to comply. It’s down right friendly anarchistism.
Did you forget to take some meds or something? This is incomprehensible.
Looks like schizo-posting is back on the menu!
Fuck the republican traitor filth.
Pro-any other country than your own, and that you were elected to serve is traitorous. I’m not big on nation-states and all that stuff personally. And these folks very much are, so by their own definitions they are traitors. I am kind of amused by Sister City agreements, where cities share solutions, without any way to force the other to comply. It’s down right friendly anarchism.
Looks like schizo-posting is back on the menu!
That’s got to be a bad AI bot in training, right?
The first 3 sentences are actually coherent. The last 2 too. But the first 3 don’t belong with the last 2. It’s like they’re 2 different posts.
Calling it a schitzo-post may have been a bit off, but I legit have no other words in my vocabulary to describe how weirdly off kilter their comment is. They went from some type of criticism of elected officials working with other countries only to skip over to an entirely different thing about sister city agreements. It just kinda is bizzare overall.
Though I sometimes pull the same shit, sleep deprivation and autism are a terrible combination when it comes to coherence.
Schizo stuff tends to be coherent, it’s just that it’s coherent in a frame of reference that exactly one person in the world gets. On the far end of the spectrum people just don’t have enough computation capacity to take your frame of reference into account – not because of lower capacity, but because there’s too much shit on their plate at the same time: Effort is focussed on keeping one’s own thoughts at least half-way straight while the external world is secondary. Whereas on the functioning (yes I’m going to use that word) end of the spectrum you probably learn somewhere in school age that you need to slow your mind down and sprinkle in a couple of useful metaphors so the normies can understand. Dunno if my subconscious is less bubbly than that of full-on schizophrenics, or I have natural talent processing things better, or a knack acquired by sheer luck, or just better at not giving a fuck about some things, but it’s definitely also a skill that can and absolutely should be honed.
For the curious, the EASE scale should give a good impression of how it looks from the inside.
The Democrats outsmart Republicans yet again.
Next up: border secured just in time to win the November elections.
You think Biden closing the border as soon as he’s able is a good thing?
Like, you understand that wouldn’t just be a one time thing right? Future presidents could do it to, and Republicans actually do out things in motion in their first days.
I mean, Biden went from saying the border wasn’t an issue to saying we need that literally over night.
That doesn’t concern you?
I am not an American and I don’t personally think the American border is in trouble.
But objectively, illegal immigration is at record high numbers. So it will be difficult to deny that simple fact. (it’s mostly due to the hot economy, but American voters don’t understand that)
If Biden wants to win in November, he will have to find a way to get those numbers down, while Republicans do everything they can to get those numbers up.
So, as a non-American, it will be interesting to observe how Biden outsmarts the Republicans yet again.
it’s mostly due to the hot economy, but American voters don’t understand that)
What?
The economy is propped up by record breaking fossil fuels drilling and corporations increasing prices 2-3x while not raising pay…
That’s something virtually every American is aware of right now…
And while Biden trying to brag about the economy hurts him. Either he doesn’t understand that very basic thing, or he doesn’t give two fucks about theaverage American, just corporations and billionaires.
Which has been a critique of American neoliberalism since James Carville started spouting all this stupid shit to begin with
If you’re an American, you’ve just proven the point you quoted.
Ironic, lol.
No, the person I replied to said increased immigration is due to our “hot economy”…
But it’s not, because all that money is going into a very small amount of pockets.
Dude, I’m that person.
And you indeed either don’t understand or otherwise want to deny what is actually driving illegal immigration to the USA.
And that’s fine. As a free person, you are free to believe what you want to believe.
Didn’t you just say you weren’t American? Why are you discrediting the experience of people living in the US?
Oh wow…
Yeah. I don’t think me explaining anything else to you is gonna help then bud.
The difference is I’m going to do something so I never accidentally try again.
Holy hyperbole batman. Prices rose by about 15% on average and wages rose as well, but not as much (between 7 and 12% depending on the source).
Which given 10 years of almost no inflation and moderate wage growth, is not that surprising.
Unemployment at a 60-year low, real wages at a 50-year high. That’s not to say there aren’t problems (largely the cost of housing, education and healthcare eating up all the gains over the last half century), but the economy is good, Jack.
But objectively, illegal immigration is at record high numbers.
No it isn’t. Not even close. This is just assuming that because Republicans say it is that it’s actually the worst its ever been. Somehow every presidential election it’s the worst its ever been and news organizations parrot the accusation without just calling them out on the BS.
https://www.factcheck.org/2021/03/the-facts-on-the-increase-in-illegal-immigration/
It would be good if you could cite a source that wasn’t almost 3 years old. It looks like since this article, monthly CBP encounters at the southern border have more than doubled:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters
They’re apprehending more because they’re more able to track them, not because there were more than in 2000. And at the same time the people being apprehended are much more likely to be seeking asylum (aka legal). We can’t know the precise number of illegal immigrants, but it’s pretty safe to say it’s no where near the 2000s.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1130841306/new-record-in-border-patrol-apprehensions
Or the fact that he can just bypass congress to give weapons to Israel, or the record oil extraction during his first term? Dems pretending their party isn’t actively destroying the world is wild.
Are we still pretending bOtH sIdEs or are we just skipping straight to “democrats are evil don’t vote for them” now?
Both parties are evil because this is an evil country that must be stopped.
Take your Nork furry bait and shove it you fundementally unserious pissant.
Nothing screams serious/authority like a video game reference username lol.
I was wondering when someone would finally call me out on that lol
But I’m quite serious about hating America. No one should be president and we should do everything possible to make that a reality.
Seems like it’s usually just you and I down here lol. Let me guess, disillusioned American?
As a Canadian, yeah both of your right wing parties are essentially the same. Brown kids will be bombed and oil will be pumped.
And these lies will lead to trump again. Thanks for that
Trump definitely would dial it back, so you’re totally not a bad faith liar after all!
where is the lie?
Dems will lead themselves there, just like they did in 2016. Stop blaming voters for your party’s incompetence.
I’m blaming morons spreading discontent and shitty ass ideas and that’s fully fair. Thanks for changing the subject though
>are we just skipping straight to “democrats are evil don’t vote for them” now?
i’ve been there over a decade.
No
I feel like that was just a dare to the Republicans. That way when they kill the bill, they can’t point to Biden as the cause.
Define securing the border, because that goal post is mounted to a bullet train by republicans as long as trump isn’t president.
These comments look so much like the comments from a sports team sub.
Biden totally should have ran the ball there at the end, then Trump wouldn’t have enough clock left before the end to win! It’s like reducing politics down to it’s absolute dumbest, I can’t imagine why more and more people are choosing not to participate.
I love seeing Biden copy republican ideas. Really great to see the bipartisan effort to fuck people over.
“uh actually I really care about border security now”
Jfc these peoples ideals change as the wind blows. All it takes is a geriatric to tell them to care about it
Biden: Does something good again
Repblicans, unable to stop him: “Sorry Putin, we failed you. This time.”
I hope Putin does the, “don’t fail me again… Republicans (mechanical breathing noises)” thing, and then they fail him again.
Putin: Also, you are to wear these clown shoes and refer to yourself as “Mary”.
Putin: I have altered the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.
Hell fucking yeah!
At least this time it’s for a good cause…
But wouldn’t this be the second time in six months Biden is doing arms deals without congressional approval?
I just don’t see why everyone is excited to see Biden acting like a Republican on this stuff, but when it’s time for Biden to help Americans, he still can’t do anything without Congress
It’s like people honestly believe Dems only have to aim a smidge higher than the current Republican.
There’s no standards other than that, and that’s a huge danger to America, we can’t let whatever idiot Republicans run dictating what kind of president we’ll have for half a decade.
Except, this explicitly does have congressional approval. Congress has long ago authorized the President to get rid of obsolete, outdated, surplus tech.
‘federal law allows…’ – congress (not this moronic majority in the house) previously passed legislation that was signed into law that allows the president to give this stuff away
I just don’t see why everyone is excited to see Biden acting like a Republican on this stuff
Their preferred network news program doesn’t report on anything other than war, so they think it’s a top priority, even though their fellow Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and can’t access health care.
It’s called determinism.
when it’s time for Biden to help Americans, he still can’t do anything without Congress
The whole appropriations stuff really puts a crimp on executive power when it comes to expenditures. It’s fundamentally different from moving stuff around.
He has literal campaign promises he can fulfill without congress…
He’s been “looking into” them since assuming office, because he’s doesn’t really want to do them.
Cannabis can be descheduled in a day if he wanted too. Instead he pardons people but leaves it federally illegal.
While saying that forgiving student debt without fixing the cost of college wouldn’t fix anything.
Even tho that’s what he’s doing with cannabis users.
There’s no consistent logic to Bidens actions, he just does whatever he wants to do, and if he doesn’t want to do it, he says a president has no power and can’t do anything.
If people believe him, then it depresses turnout because the literal president keeps telling voters the president doesn’t matter. If they don’t, it still depresses turnout because people think Biden specifically won’t do anything.
The solution is the same it’s been since before FDR:
Try to help Americans and the votes will follow.
Tell me you don’t understand American politics without telling me you don’t understand American politics, why don’t ya?
He has the DEA reevaluating what schedule it is classed as. He does not have authority to make it legal. Again laws.
He tried to forgive significant student loan debt for everyone and got stopped by SCOTUS. He still has forgiven a lot of debt but it takes work to figure out who he can do it for without congressional approval and the SCOTUS ruling. Student loans are also based in laws that he can’t as easily bypass.
He is trying to help Americans and he has. Not as much we’d like but a hell of a lot more than the GOP.
The president is not a dictator.
He does not have authority to make it legal. Again laws.
He can’t make it federally legal.
But he can remove it from the federal schedule, which is why it’s illegal.
Then it would default to being federally legal.
Try to get nicer tho, I almost didn’t take the time to explain that for you.
Edit:
The president is not a dictator
The biggest reason to vote Biden is trump would be a dictator if elected…
Biden himself says that.
It’s hard to convince voters Dem presidents have no power, but Republican presidents would have all the power so we need to vote D so nothing can fundemantally change.
The logic doesn’t add up, and that’s why 1/3 of Americans don’t vote.
Because they are know nothings?
Republicans break the laws. Democrats don’t.
But democrats don’t hold Republicans accountable for breaking the law…
So saying Biden cant" do anything is wrong.
Like, imagine your playing a game with a toddler, and the toddler constantly cheats but you let them because they cry if you don’t.
If it’s just a game, sure, let them have their way.
But if you bet 100 million dollars on the game, you need to either stop them from cheating, or bare minimum start cheating too. Because even tho you’re playing against a literal toddler, if you follow the rules and let them cheat, you ain’t going to win the fucking game.
Edit:
And Biden can’t really claim that high ground when he just went around Congress to “sell” Israel weapons that are being used to commit a genocide, especially when the money they used to “buy” the weapons came from American taxpayers anyways.
I think the social liberals have always been the leaders on anti corruption practices. We don’t do enough. Change starts at the bottom though. Biden is not going to reform the DNC. That’s what the primary will be for four years from now, assuming we don’t end up with a dictator who cancels elections.
Maybe you should review what each branch of the US government can do, plus follow the news on things the President attempts
I have
Biden can order it be removed from the federal drug schedule. It being on that schedule is why it’s federally illegal
It’s what he said he’d do “decriminalization”.
But instead of doing that when he took office, he backtracked and has been “looking into if he can do that” for a couple years now…
Government process is slow, but it looks like Biden is pursuing pardons for pot convictions and trying to get states to do the same, as well as fix their laws. I also see a bill that passed in the house to reschedule marijuana but blocked by Republican filibuster in the senate.
First, I am announcing a pardon of all prior Federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.
Second, I am urging all Governors to do the same with regard to state offenses
Third, I am asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.
—-
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/us/politics/marijuana-legalization.html
passed 220-204, is unlikely to secure 60 votes to pass the Senate
Government process is slow,
It doesn’t have to be…
It can be descheduled in a day if Biden wanted to.
Instead he told people to “look into it”
Like, let’s say I owed you a $100, and everytime you asked me, I said I was looking into it.
Then three years after that, I said:
Sorry man, it’s a slow process
That would be true. But it’s also bullshit because I’m the one slowing it down and if I really wanted to I could just hand you the hundred bill I’ve had in my pocket for three years…
Biden can not unilaterally deschedule or reschedule a controlled substance. He can do what he is doing, by pressuring the DEA, HHS and FDA to deschedule it, but without congress approval he can not use a executive order to reschedule Marijuana as per the controlled substance act
I think Elizabeth Warren knows more about this than either of us…
The DEA can do it, and Biden can tell the DEA to do it.
So when Biden defenders claims he can’t, it’s like when billionaire defenders say CEOs can’t raise wages.
They can they just don’t want to.
Hell, Biden just ordered every federal agency to return to office, I don’t know why anyone would think federal agencies are above the president in the chain of command, but when it’s convient a whole bunch of people love to say it…
But also, we have to vote Biden because if we don’t trump will be president and in charge of every federal agency!
This shit is fucking old man.
In your linked article it says the DEA has final authority, the president does not have the power to tell federal agencies what to do, he can make suggestions or pressure them. Even the “biden ordered every federal agency to return to office” is bull shit. He suggested returning to office but each agency can do what they want, and they have since many agencies have no plans to return to office.
This.
It was always a white lie to claim the US was sending Ukraine billions in aid. The Democrats liked to pump up the numbers, because supporting Ukraine was and is politically popular. And the spending bills also contained nice pork for the military industrial complex.
But it has almost exclusively been old stock being sent. Stuff that is very valuable, since no other Ukrainian ally has the huge stockpiles that the USA has, but it was always worth much less than it was being billed for.
Now Biden is following a more boring, but more honest (in accounting terms) procedure.
Similar to what the Germans did.
As for helping Americans, he has also explored every possibility to reduce debt and prescription drug costs and to invest in infrastructure.
For example, much more has been spent on student loan forgiveness than on Ukraine.
For student loan forgiveness, I believe the tally is $137B. And that is real cash. For Ukraine the total is $75B, but a lot of that is pumped up valuations of old military stock. The actual value of what Ukraine received is closer to $40B
The actual value of what Ukraine received is closer to $40B
And replacing the old stock with newer, better kit will result in equivalent or more being spent inside America.
Good news. Fuck Republicans. Slava Ukraini.
The Republican way is to smugly grease palms, but the way around them is simply via Greece and shrug. 🤷🏼♂️
Sounds like Vietnam.
Please expand as I’m not sure what part of Vietnam you are referring to.
The other land we know nothing about part
Also sounds like every conflict in US history. So what?
That is sort of a self damning question you asked.
How have all of those armed conflicts gone for the US when the executive end runs around Congress ?
Again what is your point?
Are you saying it’s better to let the Ukraine flail? That sounds like a moronic thing to imply.
Both the Ukraine and Greece are our allies so why wouldn’t we help them?
I think we owe Ukraine as we removed their nuclear deterrent. That is very much on the USA.
But that doesn’t mean that IRAN-CONTRA should be valid US foreign policy. Lend Lease worked until it didn’t.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard. We aren’t helping Ukraine because we own them one. We are helping Ukraine because it’s in best interest of the entire world.
We aren’t helping Ukraine because we own them one.
Oh, yes we are.
Someone’s forgotten how upon independence in 1991, Ukraine gave up its nukes in exchange for guarantees of protection from the US, UK, Russia and France. We are literally upholding our end of a 30+ year old agreement we made with Ukraine, and the GOP is doing everything in its power to break our word.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
You are dense as they come if you think this is the only reason we are helping.
Sweet.
More debt for war, and this one isn’t even ours. That totally worked great when we did it in Iraq in the 80’s.
As if we haven’t racked up enough of that over the last 40 years.
Greece is gonna pay 4 or 8 billion dollars for the F-35(depending on whether it buys 20 or 40 of them). The US is just giving old surplus crap to Greece so that Greece will give its even older surplus crap to Ukraine.
And while i am not the biggest supporter of the current conservative government, i think Greece will continue having elections, wont use chemical weapons on any minorities or invade a tiny neighbour. So i dont see how Greece is comparable to Iraq.
and this one isn’t even ours
It will be if Ukraine falls, I guarantee it. We pay now, or we pay more later having left them to suffer and die while China watches the West clutch pearls. There is no not paying. Putin made that decision for us.
It will be if Ukraine falls, I guarantee it.
This is the justification every single time.
I’m honestly sick of hearing it, especially when Americans can’t get their own tax dollars back in aid.
Just get off with this tired argument. The US is the STRONGEST ECONOMY IN THE DAMN WORLD RIGHT NOW. We have built our land on the backs of every other nation on the planet pretty much. If nothing else, we deserve to give some back as a nation just to balance the scales, just to allow every armchair economist/philosopher/world leader here and every other stupid-ass social media platform to spout the bullshit they pull out of their half-brain ass.
Homelessness in the US went up 12% last year, in one year, alone.
What’s tired is watching us continue our warmongering when the neglect of our own people has grown to such a vulgar extent. It doesn’t matter how strong our economy is when all it’s doing is making a handful of people wealthier and funding other countries’ wars to our own detriment.
-
A nation can address more than one thing at a time.
-
Tax millionaires and above at a commensurate tax rate.
-
Stop voting for people who only ever vote to slash social service programs, like housing aid and renter’s rights. Now who, might I ask, is the group that does that every damn time?
A nation can address more than one thing at a time.
You partisan folks always repeat this, as if our government’s doing anything other than spending its time figuring out ways to spend more of our money on war.
Tax millionaires and above at a commensurate tax rate.
That will only happen if you vote third party. All the legislators in Washington ARE millionnaires.
Now who, might I ask, is the group that does that every damn time?
Both of you, ever since Clinton.
Congratulations - that’s the stupidest thing I’ve read all day. NOAA, NWS, HUD, Dept of Education, DoT, NASA, AMTRAK, BLS, Census… That’s just off the top of my head. Hyperbole is hyperbolic. Get rekd.
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It’s not debt at all because it isn’t new hardware. The program is literally giving old surplus hardware to allies and then they give their old hardware away to Ukraine.
Reminds me of Charlie Wilson’s war.
Man, Sorkin doesn’t miss. I wish there were more movies like this.
which republicans are pro-russia?
I don’t care what the talking head have to say. as for the elected people, I think it’s hard to call their statements pro-russia. at least, if these are the most damning, I would not conclude they are pro-russia.
I’d like to hear what they have to say about Russia, not just Russia’s relationship with Ukraine.
All of them.
you’ll forgive me for asking for some kind of proof.
Follow the bread crumbs. Every Republican policy benefits Russia. There was the team of traitors that went over and met with Putin on the 4th of July. It was proven that Russia aided the Trump campaign. No Republicans stood up against it or called it out for what it is. Knowing all of that and then supporting and actively still trying to write policy that hurts America and helps Russia man’s all Republicans are Russian supporting traitors.
this is conjecture. i was hoping for something more concrete.
You won’t find anything concrete with your head so far in the sand.
this, also, is not evidence: it’s rhetorical posturing
And their children. And grandchildren. Also their car inspectors.
Yes.
The ones that take Russian money.
is there a list of them?
https://accountability.gop/ukraine-quotes/
If there was a “list” you’d ignore it anyways, stop acting like you can be swayed by evidence
the list is just one step. once there is a list of accused, i’d want to see the evidence.
of course i can be swayed by evidence, but the ukraine quotes you provided are not very convincing, and many of them aren’t even from people in government.
I’m sure some sites have a list, they have not been very secretive about it.
I’ve been following this from around 2018, you don’t need to read many articles about the gop to see the pattern between the politicians and their handlers.
Yes you don’t trust anecdotal evidence and all that, so if you can be bothered go and find the real dirt on gop, or don’t I’m not your boss.
I don’t need to build their case for them. I’m justified in doubting them without clear evidence.
Fair enough, but it’s hard to present clear evidence when dealing with kompromized individuals. And pootin is an expert in keeping things hidden.
Please play some role reversal here - given the above, what evidence could be presented to make a convincing case?
I’ll give a starter: an FBI investigation of the presumably kompromized.
I’m sorry, this reads like maccarthyist russophobia through and through. if someone supports Russia, they can just say that. none of them did.
Let’s spread weapons all over the world and cross our fingers that we get the outcome we want.
the outcome we want
Profit.
Hey, no - let’s actually let Ukraine fall and allow the Putim regime this one because… the alternative is better for us? (the US and our allies, the rest of Europe and the fucking world…)
I’m idealistic, but some people just don’t have any damn common sense.
I mean anti-communism, democracy, freedom, the soveignty of nations, and profits are all on the same side for Ukraine but still the Republicans object.
Maybe figure out which PACs are cashing checks for Rubles or Yuan.
At almost 1/3 of a trillion dollars last year, arms exporters and manufacturers win.
At least he used an ally instead of an enemy as Reagan did.
Technically Reagan did use an ally first: Israel. The Iranians were a little pissed when they saw the Israeli customs stamps on their weapons.
The middle men, so to speak. But not really the same, though in the same dodge the issue situation. The biggest difference being Reagan sent weapons illegally via a known declared enemy.
Iranian government is always pissed about something. Oh no a woman playing chess
