Lucian, I am puzzled why President Biden does not instruct the US Postal Service Board of Governors to be terminate the thug DeJoy as postmaster. Biden can’t directly fire him but he can direct the Board to take actions. Or am I wrong about that? (Biden has replaced at least three maybe four of the Governors, so there should be enough of them to eject DeJoy.)
I believe Biden can fire him. orangehead proved the President can fire anyone at any time for any reason or no reason, forget mere Boards, even in defiance of the Senate. DeJoy can sue if he doesn't like it. By the time that gets sorted out it'll be 2028 or so. Short of that it's a mystery why DeJoy is still n the job. Wray too for that matter, he's another MAGAT diehard holdover.
MaryPat is on the right track. The postmaster general is appointed by the USPS Board of Governors. Board members serve 7-year terms. The PG "has no fixed term." The challenge, as I understand it, has been that the Board skewed Republican and/or some seats were vacant. Here's more than you probably wanted to know about the subject, from the Federal Times: https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/2022/08/24/can-biden-fire-us-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy/ (Seriously, people, Google is your friend. I didn't know this 5 minutes ago.)
Thanks, but my question is why President Biden does not attempt to persuade the Board to fire DeJoy. The article you cite, by the way, does not mention that DeJoy destroyed many mail-sorting machines, many of them new, in an obvious attempt to make the Postal Service look incompetent so that he could argue for privatizing the Service.
I cited the article to provide some info about USPS governance, not to analyze DeJoy's record or motivations. Several comments suggested to me that this might be useful.
P.S. I have no idea whether and how the president communicates with members of the USPS Board of Governors. Do you? If you do, why not post it here?
P.P.S. The president cannot unilaterally say "Off with his head!" It's odd how some people seem to want presidents they support to have such powers, while wanting (quite correctly) to deny them to presidents they don't like.
Yes, thank you, the article you cite is very informative but my question is why President Biden is apparently not using his powers of persuasion to get rid of DeJoy. Biden has now appointed at least five of the replacements on the Board and he must have some influence on their decisions. The question is simply why has he not publicly responded to very great political and public pressure to fire DeThug.
(1) How do you know he isn't using his powers of persuasion? (2) Firing DeJoy is not in his power. (You might want to review the years 2017 to 2021, when the president frequently fired or threatened to fire appointees he disagreed with. IMO it's a good thing that the president can't fire people whom he didn't appoint.)
Again, the President can fire anyone, Board or no Board. Who's gonna stop him? The police? Is John Roberts gonna drive over to the PO and stand in the door and say you shall not pass? Power is not constrained by words or documents or courts. Its only constraint is will. The only reason any of this stuff works is because we all agree to let it work. After orangehead all bets are off. There's no good reason we should unilaterally follow rules that no longer apply.
I was appalled to learn that serving Marines are implicated in the January 6 debacle. That has got to be a violation of the UCMJ. That are the repercussions and potential consequences.
Oh, I'm sure the MC is going to do their thing after their case goes through the DOJ's wringer. I don't know if the MC can jail them (if they're not already jailed) while waiting the trial, but I bet there are some officers who are going through a real bad time from their superiors on this.
I don't know what to suggest, because I am having trouble reading about anything. I still haven't gotten over the disgusting Speaker fiasco, and things have gotten worse. It is hard to observe the stupidity and malevolence of House Republicans.
However, I do love Ukraine. What strong, brave people. Their courage and willingness to fight for their country is inspiring.
It makes what is happening to us look even worse. No heroes. Just petty, stupid people in very important positions. Scary.
Something reminded me of the song from “Chicago” whose refrain is, “Whatever happened to class?” In my head, I’ve been repurposing that song to fit the times. This song has to do with the Republicans (MAGAts, Q-people, Trumpers, idiot lawyers, moronic House members, criminals, and liars). The refrains I’m hearing are: Whatever happened to honor? Whatever happened to shame? Whatever happened to embarrassment? Whatever happened to Fear? Whatever happened to Duty?
I suspect the real question should be: Whatever happened to the people who voted these nut jobs in?
I would like to know who backed Santos because clearly wasn’t his doing he doesn’t have the brains or the money. Why are they not following the money: one year he’s broke the next year he’s got $700,000 to give to his campaign. So I ask again who really pushed him in? There’s been a remarkable lack of questioning about everything having to do with him from when he was a candidate to now and considering the tsunami of lies that have been exposed I’d like to know why.
Lucian, given your history with the military, I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about the infiltration of the military by the right-wing in all its forms. Milley is a hero for me, and I’m fairly sure there’s going to be another coup attempt. We need guys like him in control. How bad do you think the problem of subversion is in the military ? There are also many, many right-wing military retirees in the country, but I believe concentrated in the South. Is that true? How much of a danger to democracy do they represent? I have almost no connection to the military at all, but I’m worried about whether we can count on the military to protect us from a coup. Thanks.
I was at a conference at Carlisle Barracks at which civilians were welcome, and I heard Mikey Weinberg of the MRFF talking about that, about Dominionists in the Air Force Academy, and about what he snd his children, also vets/alums went through.
Sally Dorst. I've been meaning to ask you to explore the history of rape as a weapon of war. The Russians who are being turned out of jails and carted off to fight in the Ukraine war seem to be experts at using rape as a weapon of war. I'm wondering if historically rape was justified as women were seen as the property of men. And destroying property of your enemy is considered fair game .
Bliss Grey: I agree; however, unfortunately, there is no feasible solution to prevent the horrors of men committing egregious crimes against women and girls. Such crimes against women and girls are committed daily, and not just by male soldiers. Also by fathers, uncles, neighbors, strangers. Too many men are inclined to commit such crimes against women and girls. Why? I do not know or understand.
True. And again, the culprits are primarily men: Priests, uncles, strangers, clergymen, neighbors, coaches, and men trolling the late night streets looking for their underage prey.
One of my favorites is about the traffic jam in Afghanistan. I don't think that has been posted recently. A lot of people probably don't know that story. I can think of dozens more, but my computer doesn't count that high. :)
Maybe a column highlighting how many legal fights Trump has now lost-and in fact, he's withdrawn his court case against Letitia James shortly after being sanctioned nearly $1 million dollars for having filed a "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. The judge in that case really reamed him.
It's a red letter day and it appears that Trump's luck is running out fast.
I have a suggestion for a column. I was interested to read about your grandfather in WW2. Do you have any stories that he might have told? My father, a Staff Sargent, was also at the Anzio Beachhead, and a few times he told the story about meeting a general during the building of landing strips there. Did your grandfather talk about his time? My father hardly spoke about the war, and I’m sorry I didn’t get more details. It would make a great column to hear more about your grandfather’s experiences. Thank you.
There is a biography of Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. Dogface Soldier: The Life of General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. by Wilson A. Heefner. My father worked for The General in the 1950's and greatly admired him.
Division as a tank commander. He got two Purple Hearts and a battle field promotion from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in the Battle of the Bulge. His guy as a general he liked was General Omar Bradley.
The Library of Congress has the Veterans History Project, which is gathering biographical information about veterans. Anyone can submit materials for a veteran, and they become part of the collection at the Library. I’m trying to get information about my father together for a submission. I’d say that it’s hard, as my father passed in 2019, but getting anything out of him about his experiences was always difficult. I strongly suggest that you submit whatever you can for your uncle. Thanks for your reply.
Damn, he was on his way to a 5 year prison sentence (I mean in the larger scheme of drug abuse and excess in his life) and very unhappy, despite superficial appearances, no wonder he was as you put it, not very nice --- another hour with him, and you would maybe have though he was a world class A-hole or just f'ed up from --- well, who knows.
Will American Democracy ever get back to its original idea.? Has society been dumbed down so much by idiotic, yet powerful ” news” noise, that this country is now irreversible ?
I know this is a day late, and a dollor short but I would love to get your take on this subject. The piece made sense to me, but I don't know, what I don't know.
It would have to be an inventory the size of Google, so many things are classified within the government. They classify how many cans of floor finish they buy to do the Pentagon hallways, and it goes down, and up, from there. It's ridiculous, of course, but like anything else in government, it's too big and too old to change.
Remember the old manila envelopes with the routing list and names scratched through?
I worked in manufacturing in inventory control. Every piece of raw material, every nut and washer purchased, everything that came in the door, everything in the store room, everything in a machining or assembly department, everything in shipping, everything had a part number and a location. As important as these documents are it's hard to believe that there isn't some sort of library system that keeps track of them.
I was talking to a friend about Ukraine today about an anti-war talk we recently heard and there are some journalists and peace advocates reporting that a potential diplomatic settlement early in the war (March/April time frame) was scuttled by Boris Johnson (and the U.S.) in the interest of prolonging the war to further weaken Putin and Russia. If true, that would be disappointing to say the least. But my thought about that would be that any concessions from Ukraine to reach some sort of peace agreement would be allowing the criminal to get away with the spoils of their crime. That has already happened with the invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Of course, Zelensky and the people of Ukraine should be making these decisions, not the UK and US. And US (and European) advice and support of Ukraine is heavily influenced by their own self interests, even at the expense of Ukraine and its people.
And escalation to nuclear weapons is always a possibility, and none of us really know the likelihood of that happening. As long as that is a possibility, it's a concern. And one that shouldn't be taken lightly.
So, Lucian, I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Can peace be achieved with a tyrant and war criminal without giving in to the tyrant's demands? And it may be academic at this point, but was an early diplomatic solution really possible?
I read a lot of military history. One thing that strikes me about the modern world is how wars seem to get out of control and become existential struggles compared to former times, when countries (or their leaders) might campaign against one another, fight a desultory war or sieges or a few battles, and then come to terms. The winner got some prizes. The loser cut his losses and dreamed of a rematch someday. This was sort of a game of the Soldier Kings of Europe in the later 1600s thru the Napoleonic Wars. If we were living with that mindset, Ukraine would realize it couldn't prevail against its larger and more powerful neighbor and come to an agreement, while Russia would realize it couldn't afford to prosecute a war like this beyond a certain point. It would have ended by now with a settlement that would leave no one especially happy but at least stop the bloodshed and violence. But instead, this war grinds on and the longer it goes on the more neither side (or the NATO countries funneling arms to Ukraine to fight a proxy war; don't tell me that NATO gives a tinker's cuss about the Ukrainian people or democracy there; NATO/USA is playing a machiavellian game) is willing to appear to be "surrendering." This is a recipe for disaster. What's the end game? Does anyone in Washington have a clear plan or idea? Could they share it with the rest of us? Could there be an open discussion or debate about our policy?
Howdy. This is not the 17th century and you're giving NATO and the US far too much credit for any kind of "Plan to weaken Russia" This is the 21st century, no one wants wars of conquest anymore. Europe is middleclass shop keepers and a new generation of Internet folk. The US is not using Ukraine for anything. What is happening is a general revulsion toward Putin and the Wagner group and their criminal mob. The pointless destruction and serious brutality disgust everyone. Putin uses medieval siege methods, and the world loathes him and wants him gone.
Exactly, and if Putin finds a clear path to getting what he wants he will continue to hopscotch around and continue abusing other countries and murdering innocent people. The SOB would poison and push the entire world down stairs or out windows if he could get away with it.
It strikes me that this crazy effort to take away a woman's right for her own reproductive decisions has many layers including not only the most obvious religious ones and the
and the overtly attack on women in general, but a possibility of eugenetics. Statistics are revealing that women of color are suffering more than others. If one wants to control future voter numbers, why not nip it in the bud...as horrible as that sounds.
Friday night on The Last Word (hosted by Velshi), Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) was interviewed. Sen. Smith has a long history working with Planned Parenthood. She cited some shocking data from states with abortion bans regarding both maternal mortality and mortality among newborns for women of color vs. white women based on an Axios report of Jan. 19, 2023. While probably not purposeful from the perspective of eugenics, the data certainly works toward such results.
According to the Axios report, "Women in states with abortion bans are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or soon after giving birth, according to a report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute shared first with Axios."
Also, "Maternal mortality weighed heaviest on women of color: Native American women's maternal mortality rates were 4.5 times higher than those of white women and Black women's rates were 2.6 times the rate of white women.
Of note: The report also found that infants born in states with abortion bans were 30% more likely to die than those in supportive states."
I saw that interview. It got me thinking about a more sinister reason for abolishing Roe. It sounds contradictory - abolishing access to abortion, but when you factor in the demographics of who actually dies, it could be just one more box to check in their playbook.
an even more disgusting and horrible thought: how many Republicans have stocks/interest in the prison industry?
they need fodder for it, to keep the money coming in. Same with guns. You ever wonder why the NRA is so successful at keeping laws against guns to a minimum?
Lucian, I am puzzled why President Biden does not instruct the US Postal Service Board of Governors to be terminate the thug DeJoy as postmaster. Biden can’t directly fire him but he can direct the Board to take actions. Or am I wrong about that? (Biden has replaced at least three maybe four of the Governors, so there should be enough of them to eject DeJoy.)
I have no idea.
I believe Biden can fire him. orangehead proved the President can fire anyone at any time for any reason or no reason, forget mere Boards, even in defiance of the Senate. DeJoy can sue if he doesn't like it. By the time that gets sorted out it'll be 2028 or so. Short of that it's a mystery why DeJoy is still n the job. Wray too for that matter, he's another MAGAT diehard holdover.
Firing would be by board members, some recently replaced.
I wonder if Biden tolerates DeJoy at the PO, rather than risk him ending up in position that could cause more trouble.
Maybe he's been "turned."
Who? DeJoy?
MaryPat is on the right track. The postmaster general is appointed by the USPS Board of Governors. Board members serve 7-year terms. The PG "has no fixed term." The challenge, as I understand it, has been that the Board skewed Republican and/or some seats were vacant. Here's more than you probably wanted to know about the subject, from the Federal Times: https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/2022/08/24/can-biden-fire-us-postmaster-general-louis-dejoy/ (Seriously, people, Google is your friend. I didn't know this 5 minutes ago.)
Thanks, but my question is why President Biden does not attempt to persuade the Board to fire DeJoy. The article you cite, by the way, does not mention that DeJoy destroyed many mail-sorting machines, many of them new, in an obvious attempt to make the Postal Service look incompetent so that he could argue for privatizing the Service.
I cited the article to provide some info about USPS governance, not to analyze DeJoy's record or motivations. Several comments suggested to me that this might be useful.
P.S. I have no idea whether and how the president communicates with members of the USPS Board of Governors. Do you? If you do, why not post it here?
P.P.S. The president cannot unilaterally say "Off with his head!" It's odd how some people seem to want presidents they support to have such powers, while wanting (quite correctly) to deny them to presidents they don't like.
It's not odd at all. It's the way of the world.
Yes, thank you, the article you cite is very informative but my question is why President Biden is apparently not using his powers of persuasion to get rid of DeJoy. Biden has now appointed at least five of the replacements on the Board and he must have some influence on their decisions. The question is simply why has he not publicly responded to very great political and public pressure to fire DeThug.
(1) How do you know he isn't using his powers of persuasion? (2) Firing DeJoy is not in his power. (You might want to review the years 2017 to 2021, when the president frequently fired or threatened to fire appointees he disagreed with. IMO it's a good thing that the president can't fire people whom he didn't appoint.)
My question is why Biden is not PUBLICLY advocating removal of DeJoy.
Again, the President can fire anyone, Board or no Board. Who's gonna stop him? The police? Is John Roberts gonna drive over to the PO and stand in the door and say you shall not pass? Power is not constrained by words or documents or courts. Its only constraint is will. The only reason any of this stuff works is because we all agree to let it work. After orangehead all bets are off. There's no good reason we should unilaterally follow rules that no longer apply.
I was appalled to learn that serving Marines are implicated in the January 6 debacle. That has got to be a violation of the UCMJ. That are the repercussions and potential consequences.
Oh, I'm sure the MC is going to do their thing after their case goes through the DOJ's wringer. I don't know if the MC can jail them (if they're not already jailed) while waiting the trial, but I bet there are some officers who are going through a real bad time from their superiors on this.
One can hope.
I don't know what to suggest, because I am having trouble reading about anything. I still haven't gotten over the disgusting Speaker fiasco, and things have gotten worse. It is hard to observe the stupidity and malevolence of House Republicans.
However, I do love Ukraine. What strong, brave people. Their courage and willingness to fight for their country is inspiring.
It makes what is happening to us look even worse. No heroes. Just petty, stupid people in very important positions. Scary.
Stupidity and malevolence—a deadly combination!
It is Scary, I'm looking forward to the Ukraine column tomorrow.
Something reminded me of the song from “Chicago” whose refrain is, “Whatever happened to class?” In my head, I’ve been repurposing that song to fit the times. This song has to do with the Republicans (MAGAts, Q-people, Trumpers, idiot lawyers, moronic House members, criminals, and liars). The refrains I’m hearing are: Whatever happened to honor? Whatever happened to shame? Whatever happened to embarrassment? Whatever happened to Fear? Whatever happened to Duty?
I suspect the real question should be: Whatever happened to the people who voted these nut jobs in?
I would like to know who backed Santos because clearly wasn’t his doing he doesn’t have the brains or the money. Why are they not following the money: one year he’s broke the next year he’s got $700,000 to give to his campaign. So I ask again who really pushed him in? There’s been a remarkable lack of questioning about everything having to do with him from when he was a candidate to now and considering the tsunami of lies that have been exposed I’d like to know why.
Should political donations be subject to Gift Taxes ?
Hurts them and US.
You have described Trump...voila!
Remember, he was "hired" to run for a few reasons:
1. No interest in governance...left Bannon free to Deconstruct the Administrative State, his stated goal.
2. Trump is 100% transactional...since he has no empathy for anyone or thing, he was their perfect patsy for their agenda.
You nailed the main character flaw of Trump: "...he has no empathy for anyone or thing..."
The 74,000,000 still out there, believe me!
It's all about feeding their egos. Perverse psychology perhaps. But deep down inside they do know they are shit heads. Same goes TFG.
See any Facebook tussle, the Trumpsters are out there.
Here is how much I know. Zero.
Lucian, given your history with the military, I’m wondering if you have any thoughts about the infiltration of the military by the right-wing in all its forms. Milley is a hero for me, and I’m fairly sure there’s going to be another coup attempt. We need guys like him in control. How bad do you think the problem of subversion is in the military ? There are also many, many right-wing military retirees in the country, but I believe concentrated in the South. Is that true? How much of a danger to democracy do they represent? I have almost no connection to the military at all, but I’m worried about whether we can count on the military to protect us from a coup. Thanks.
I was at a conference at Carlisle Barracks at which civilians were welcome, and I heard Mikey Weinberg of the MRFF talking about that, about Dominionists in the Air Force Academy, and about what he snd his children, also vets/alums went through.
Yes, please
Sally Dorst. I've been meaning to ask you to explore the history of rape as a weapon of war. The Russians who are being turned out of jails and carted off to fight in the Ukraine war seem to be experts at using rape as a weapon of war. I'm wondering if historically rape was justified as women were seen as the property of men. And destroying property of your enemy is considered fair game .
As painful as it would be to read, it is a terroristic practice that needs to be addressed, somewhere, for the sake of the victims.
Bliss Grey: I agree; however, unfortunately, there is no feasible solution to prevent the horrors of men committing egregious crimes against women and girls. Such crimes against women and girls are committed daily, and not just by male soldiers. Also by fathers, uncles, neighbors, strangers. Too many men are inclined to commit such crimes against women and girls. Why? I do not know or understand.
Andrea Hayes, you are right. Boys are also at risk for this sort of violence.
True. And again, the culprits are primarily men: Priests, uncles, strangers, clergymen, neighbors, coaches, and men trolling the late night streets looking for their underage prey.
Sally Dorst: Oh my....I never thought about it that way. But I am regrettably convinced you are correct. Horrors against women never cease.
In the 50s I knew a young woman who was a German when the war ended. She described to me widespread fear in Germany of Russian soldiers raping.
You know me, Lucian - I want more stories about your amazing life!
One of my favorites is about the traffic jam in Afghanistan. I don't think that has been posted recently. A lot of people probably don't know that story. I can think of dozens more, but my computer doesn't count that high. :)
Me, too!
I second that request!
Maybe a column highlighting how many legal fights Trump has now lost-and in fact, he's withdrawn his court case against Letitia James shortly after being sanctioned nearly $1 million dollars for having filed a "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. The judge in that case really reamed him.
It's a red letter day and it appears that Trump's luck is running out fast.
My computer doesn't count that high.
If I could, I'd have the "eyes tearing, rolling all over the floor" emoji all over this comment!
Neither does mine. I'm wondering if Microsoft does, though? :)
Hi Mr Truscott
First, Happy New Year.
I have a suggestion for a column. I was interested to read about your grandfather in WW2. Do you have any stories that he might have told? My father, a Staff Sargent, was also at the Anzio Beachhead, and a few times he told the story about meeting a general during the building of landing strips there. Did your grandfather talk about his time? My father hardly spoke about the war, and I’m sorry I didn’t get more details. It would make a great column to hear more about your grandfather’s experiences. Thank you.
There is a biography of Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. Dogface Soldier: The Life of General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. by Wilson A. Heefner. My father worked for The General in the 1950's and greatly admired him.
My mother’s brother, Uncle
Ellis Butler, was in the Third Armored
Division as a tank commander. He got two Purple Hearts and a battle field promotion from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in the Battle of the Bulge. His guy as a general he liked was General Omar Bradley.
The Library of Congress has the Veterans History Project, which is gathering biographical information about veterans. Anyone can submit materials for a veteran, and they become part of the collection at the Library. I’m trying to get information about my father together for a submission. I’d say that it’s hard, as my father passed in 2019, but getting anything out of him about his experiences was always difficult. I strongly suggest that you submit whatever you can for your uncle. Thanks for your reply.
He didn't talk much about the war. Read his memoir, Command Missions, and the biography mentioned by a commenter below.
If you’re open to requests, Lucian, I was wondering if you ever crossed paths with David Crosby.
Briefly at the wrap party at the end of the Dylan/Band tour in LA in 73. He wasn't very nice. The two Beatles at the party were.
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/david-crosby-best-songs-1234663169/
Damn, he was on his way to a 5 year prison sentence (I mean in the larger scheme of drug abuse and excess in his life) and very unhappy, despite superficial appearances, no wonder he was as you put it, not very nice --- another hour with him, and you would maybe have though he was a world class A-hole or just f'ed up from --- well, who knows.
Whoa, now THAT is a story I'd like to see! Which two Beatles, for starters? And why was Crosby being surly? Details, man!
Will American Democracy ever get back to its original idea.? Has society been dumbed down so much by idiotic, yet powerful ” news” noise, that this country is now irreversible ?
I know this is a day late, and a dollor short but I would love to get your take on this subject. The piece made sense to me, but I don't know, what I don't know.
https://open.substack.com/pub/noahpinion/p/friend-shoring-vs-buy-american?r=1qi9ir&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Don't know anything about it.
Lucian, Isn't there some sort of inventory control system for classified documents that tracks who has a document and where it it?
It would have to be an inventory the size of Google, so many things are classified within the government. They classify how many cans of floor finish they buy to do the Pentagon hallways, and it goes down, and up, from there. It's ridiculous, of course, but like anything else in government, it's too big and too old to change.
Remember the old manila envelopes with the routing list and names scratched through?
I worked in manufacturing in inventory control. Every piece of raw material, every nut and washer purchased, everything that came in the door, everything in the store room, everything in a machining or assembly department, everything in shipping, everything had a part number and a location. As important as these documents are it's hard to believe that there isn't some sort of library system that keeps track of them.
I was talking to a friend about Ukraine today about an anti-war talk we recently heard and there are some journalists and peace advocates reporting that a potential diplomatic settlement early in the war (March/April time frame) was scuttled by Boris Johnson (and the U.S.) in the interest of prolonging the war to further weaken Putin and Russia. If true, that would be disappointing to say the least. But my thought about that would be that any concessions from Ukraine to reach some sort of peace agreement would be allowing the criminal to get away with the spoils of their crime. That has already happened with the invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Of course, Zelensky and the people of Ukraine should be making these decisions, not the UK and US. And US (and European) advice and support of Ukraine is heavily influenced by their own self interests, even at the expense of Ukraine and its people.
And escalation to nuclear weapons is always a possibility, and none of us really know the likelihood of that happening. As long as that is a possibility, it's a concern. And one that shouldn't be taken lightly.
So, Lucian, I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Can peace be achieved with a tyrant and war criminal without giving in to the tyrant's demands? And it may be academic at this point, but was an early diplomatic solution really possible?
Looking forward to your thoughts.
I read a lot of military history. One thing that strikes me about the modern world is how wars seem to get out of control and become existential struggles compared to former times, when countries (or their leaders) might campaign against one another, fight a desultory war or sieges or a few battles, and then come to terms. The winner got some prizes. The loser cut his losses and dreamed of a rematch someday. This was sort of a game of the Soldier Kings of Europe in the later 1600s thru the Napoleonic Wars. If we were living with that mindset, Ukraine would realize it couldn't prevail against its larger and more powerful neighbor and come to an agreement, while Russia would realize it couldn't afford to prosecute a war like this beyond a certain point. It would have ended by now with a settlement that would leave no one especially happy but at least stop the bloodshed and violence. But instead, this war grinds on and the longer it goes on the more neither side (or the NATO countries funneling arms to Ukraine to fight a proxy war; don't tell me that NATO gives a tinker's cuss about the Ukrainian people or democracy there; NATO/USA is playing a machiavellian game) is willing to appear to be "surrendering." This is a recipe for disaster. What's the end game? Does anyone in Washington have a clear plan or idea? Could they share it with the rest of us? Could there be an open discussion or debate about our policy?
Howdy. This is not the 17th century and you're giving NATO and the US far too much credit for any kind of "Plan to weaken Russia" This is the 21st century, no one wants wars of conquest anymore. Europe is middleclass shop keepers and a new generation of Internet folk. The US is not using Ukraine for anything. What is happening is a general revulsion toward Putin and the Wagner group and their criminal mob. The pointless destruction and serious brutality disgust everyone. Putin uses medieval siege methods, and the world loathes him and wants him gone.
Well said, Audiea!
Exactly, and if Putin finds a clear path to getting what he wants he will continue to hopscotch around and continue abusing other countries and murdering innocent people. The SOB would poison and push the entire world down stairs or out windows if he could get away with it.
It strikes me that this crazy effort to take away a woman's right for her own reproductive decisions has many layers including not only the most obvious religious ones and the
and the overtly attack on women in general, but a possibility of eugenetics. Statistics are revealing that women of color are suffering more than others. If one wants to control future voter numbers, why not nip it in the bud...as horrible as that sounds.
Friday night on The Last Word (hosted by Velshi), Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) was interviewed. Sen. Smith has a long history working with Planned Parenthood. She cited some shocking data from states with abortion bans regarding both maternal mortality and mortality among newborns for women of color vs. white women based on an Axios report of Jan. 19, 2023. While probably not purposeful from the perspective of eugenics, the data certainly works toward such results.
According to the Axios report, "Women in states with abortion bans are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or soon after giving birth, according to a report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute shared first with Axios."
Also, "Maternal mortality weighed heaviest on women of color: Native American women's maternal mortality rates were 4.5 times higher than those of white women and Black women's rates were 2.6 times the rate of white women.
Of note: The report also found that infants born in states with abortion bans were 30% more likely to die than those in supportive states."
https://www.axios.com/2023/01/19/mothers-anti-abortion-bans-states-die
Interview on The Last Word for those who may wish to view it: https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/sen-smith-overturning-roe-v-wade-was-just-the-beginning-for-gop-160510021614
I saw that interview. It got me thinking about a more sinister reason for abolishing Roe. It sounds contradictory - abolishing access to abortion, but when you factor in the demographics of who actually dies, it could be just one more box to check in their playbook.
an even more disgusting and horrible thought: how many Republicans have stocks/interest in the prison industry?
they need fodder for it, to keep the money coming in. Same with guns. You ever wonder why the NRA is so successful at keeping laws against guns to a minimum?
Racism and money.