Russia, Belarus, and Poland, Making an Arrow Aimed at the Heart of Western Europe ?

Here's the story in two parts.

First, Russia and Belarus:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/1gdtxq9/the_heck_you_say/

Isn't Lukashenko in league with Putin? Hasn't he allowed Russian soldiers in Belarus? Why would he be saying this? It almost sounds like he opposes Putin.

Then there's Russia and Poland:

Poland's Right-wing leader is yelling that Russians are sending immigrants into Poland via Kaliningrad (part of Russia to the north-east of Poland). I suspect he is quite sympathetic to Putin and would work with him to create a path through to Western Europe. It would be somewhat like the Bulge which Hitler's army tried to create, to stem the tide of Allied forces headed to Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2jdhF5EYXI&t=613s&pp=ygUGUG9sYW5k

So, is Poland's leadership in league with Putin or are they simply pointing to the immigration problem, the way a lot of Right-wing leaders do, when they want to win domestic support?

I would suggest Kamala Harris and Pres. Biden need intelligence briefings on this. We don't want a November 3rd surprise to suggest that the Democrats don't know what's happening in the world.

Answer for Michael Lewis and His Questioners

Michael Lewis, great author, did an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit.com. Here's one of the questions and his answer (in pink).

I think there's a solid answer to 3.

In 1993, Bill Clinton and the Congressional Democrats passed a budget which led some years later to a balanced budget with small surpluses for the future. It required 50 Dem senators and Veep Gore to pass it. The Republicans taunted Democrats who voted for the legislation. They had been telling people it would ruin the economy. It was successful, though, and Newt Gingrich even joined-in when he became Speaker of the House of Representatives.

When W Bush was elected, they blew it all up for tax cuts to their rich benefactors (many of whom depend on US debt for the huge wealth they've accumulated, but have no uses for).

Democrats realized the pointlessness of tackling the debt and have ignored it since. Dems fight for power and hope one day the Republicans will return to sanity and unite with us to solve problems like "the debt".

One can expect that if the Democrats get sufficient power in Congress and the presidency, that they will return to working on that issue.

Veep Debate Issues

There are a thousand issues, so it can be difficult to decide where to focus. Is it "the economy stupid" or "inflation" or something else? To me, there are many issues which can easily be debated, and the Republicans will have no answer. The most obvious recent one is "why did Donald Trump kill Immigration Reform legislation which he continually calls for?" But, there is another one that lingers.

The Republican Party is a coalition, just as the Democratic Party is. They generally support the idea of less government, especially taxes, and a strong military. But, the Trump MAGAs bring another element to the fore, one that should never have been in American politics. It's that there are MAGAs who "just want to see the world burn". They tried to overthrow the election of Joe Biden, and in so doing were happy to overthrow the United States Constitutional government.

That part of the Republican coalition makes it entirely criminal. That can be seen by the large number of them facing criminal charges and going to jail. Even if you weren't considering that part of the coalition, the rest would be rather extreme, but lower taxes and support for the Christian Right isn't new. As long ago as Ronald Reagan, that was part of the coalition. Even the inept George W. Bush didn't bring any revolutionaries into the party. It's not acceptable.

No patriotic American should twist their thinking to believing that it's somehow acceptable. It should be rejected out of hand, and Donald Trump with it.

North Carolina is Drowning

North Carolina disenfranchises its voters, and now they're floating away. God's punishment? Maybe?

https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1frqfvb/the_situation_in_western_north_carolina_is_dire/

More likely, it's another solid reason to believe the Climate Change Crisis is real. What will it take for them to see that better Democracy and some trust in science are good things?

Donald Trump Admires Dictators like Vladimir Putin

Trump says, give Putin whatever he wants:

https://newrepublic.com/post/186382/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-ukraine

Trump says, Ukraine is dead and defends Russian invasion of Ukraine:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-ukraine-dead-dismisses-defense-russias-invasion-114133226

Trump wants Ukraine to give up and be taken over by Putin.

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-signal-us-stop-ukraine-election-russia-volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin/

This is the same Russia which is incompetent and dangerous.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/17/russia-military-failing-dangerous/

Russian War Dead Tops 70,000

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr3255gpjgo

A factual comment from a Reddit.com discussion:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/explosion-at-ballistic-missile-testing-facility-in-russia-two-dead-radiation-spikes_3034915.html

 

 

Russia was testing a nuclear missile when it exploded!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russia-testing-flying-chernobyl-missile-18904171

If Donald Trump's judgment is this wrong, how wrong could Trump be when he suggests we leave NATO (the greatest defense pact in history)?

UPDATE: U.S. Economy, Obama Economy

The economy which Pres. Obama inherited was deeply flawed (see gray bar on graph at left), but he and Democrats in Congress rescued it and set it on a great course.

When it was overcome, the economy took off. It didn't change when Donald Trump took office. He INHERITED a good economy.

The graph below shows it growing like a rocket — better than other major economies. Only the pandemic could slow it in 2020.

Now, compare that to the rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Conservatives who are saying the economy is terrible.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/apocalypse-delayed-trump-promising-doom-never-comes-rcna170151

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/business/gop-debate-economy-biden/index.html

3 days ago  https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/24/politics/trump-fear-economy-analysis/index.html

Vice-President Kamala Harris has criticized Donald Trump for his comments about the Federal Reserve reduction of interest rates. It appears that Donald Trump doesn't want lower interest rates or a stronger, growing economy.

5 days ago  https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/politics/2024/09/21/harris-campaign-hits-trump-on-fed-comments-before-economy-speech/

 

UPDATE

Today, Friday, September 27th, the economic reports have come out and it appears the economy is doing even better than expected. While Donald Trump says we're in awful shape, the inflation rate has gone down down down. Here's a link to the Financial Times article: https://www.ft.com/content/dd9f2a56-ba40-4ede-bf58-f30c0cee519d

Nobody can trust an opinion on the economy from Donald Trump!!! He lies.