What exactly do you want to do? Start a major war over a conflict that has zero impact on your life? Are you willing to enlist and fight for Ukraine or is this another war you'd send other people's kids off to die in? Tell me what you want done.

And yeah, us showing faux concern over authoritarianism is relevant to the discussion. Maybe worry about the issue at home before starting a war in a region we have no business in.

Seriously, tell me what you want done and what skin you're putting in the game.

Yeah, I'm sure it's about caring and responsibility and not the billions in arms sales.

IMO we shouldn't have to in the EU/NATO backyard. They are economically big enough, rich enough, militarily strong enough to take care of matters in their own (literally) backyard. Russia is still a feeble version of USSR at her peak.

And if EU/NATO aren't able to, its only because the US is enabling that behavior and we should stop.

We should refocus our efforts vs China (and oil rich Venezuela which, if we do it right, will solve our oil needs :)). Let EU/NATO be primary against Russia.

There are multiple reasons why they don't 'care' enough, and economic interest is one of them. Another is that they are generally on the side of avoiding conflict at all costs. I wasn't trying to make a moral point. I was just saying it's not enough of a priority for them, to put it mildly, for them to take the lead on stopping Russian imperialism.


And what happens if the EU/NATO just choose not to anyway? How far does the US allow Russian imperialism to go before it becomes our problem, and what is the price of stopping it then compared to the price of doing so now?

This of course is leaving aside any question of what the right thing to do is period, and the responsibility all nations bear who can stop such aggression and choose not to. It seems to me that Ukraine itself is being essentially ignored in this discussion.

There is some irony in being upset that Russia is going to invade Ukraine and take their natural resources and then advocating for us to take Venezuela's natural resources.

See :)

They have more skin in the game than we do. It's easy for us to advocate for conflict halfway around the world. It's another thing to when that conflict is taking place on your continent.

Why do you think the EU/NATO may choose not to?

They may not be able to do it in the current crisis but they should get serious and "choose" to do it in the next.

I think they choose not to do it because they know the US will play the big brother. And therefore we are enabling them.

We've got enough problems of our own. Non-domestically, China is our main threat. Its ridiculous we should take lead in the EU own backyard. It was ridiculous we took lead in the Kosovo crisis and made it happen.


Ukraine is in the position it is in because it's not strong enough and is not a NATO member (and they gave up their nukes). I don't know all the domestic stuff that happened, but basically Russia feels they can push Ukraine around because of those 2 things.

I'm definitely not saying the US should not help stop the aggression. I am saying EU/NATO should take the lead with US support.

Because they are generally fairly pacifistic. That's an oversimplification, but it's how the EU views foreign issues on the whole. I think if the US does nothing, they'll let Russia do pretty much whatever it wants.


In a perfect world I'd agree with you. Ofc, in a perfect world it wouldn't even be necessary, but NATO as an entity has always depended on American leadership for good and ill. The EU has shown nothing substantive in it's entire history of existing to my knowledge that indicates they want any part of this kind of role. I don't see any reason to think that waiting for them to do something is productive.

This may be true and a factor.

But beyond pacifism, they know they have big brother to lean on. Do you disagree that we are enabling that behavior?

The judge lifted the injunction after hearing from the parties involved: Judge lifts injunction in ThedaCare, Ascension worker dispute

The brief from Ascension is worth a read: https://www.wpr.org/sites/default/fi...briefjan24.pdf

I love how it starts off with a version of "a failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine".

It's still a little bit worrying that a judge didn't understand what "at will" employment actually means.

I always thought it meant "we can fire you at any time we want and you get...haha just kidding, fuck you workers!"

There are a bunch of reasons, and I suspect it's the fact that there's a bunch of reasons, rather than any one reason in particular.

1. Sovereign states should generally object when one sovereign state intimates it's going to invade and take over another sovereign state, because you could be next.

2. It's Russia. Cold War bogeyman that still has nuclear weapons.

3. From a geopolitical standpoint, Russia taking over Ukraine gives them a port for their navy that isn't icebound all the time (although that was sort of accomplished with Crimea).

4. If Russia takes over Ukraine and no one does anything, it reinforces the idea that if you have nuclear weapons, you can kind of do what you want and the international community will not come back hard at you.

Whether this all amounts to something we should all sign up to go and fight and die over is probably a reasonable argument.

True. The judge seems to have issued the initial injunction on the basis that the team leaving would compromise public health (a central point of ThedaCare's request, subsequently eviscerated by Ascension in their brief).

But even in that scenario that judge is inferring that there are limitations to "at will" but those limitations apply to workers, not employers. Which, honestly, is pretty close to the truth.

Wasn't this the exact argument for avoiding WW2?

I thought that American Isolationism was already done and dead as a failed foreign policy; with all the receipts to prove it?

It's partially back because we just finished losing a 20+ year long war in Afghanistan and if you toss troops into Ukraine next week, you will piss off most Americans who don't care about Eastern Europe and of those, half couldn't find it on a map.

Looks like Stephen Breyer is retiring, giving Biden at least one chance to nominate a judge.

ETA:

Assuming Manchin and Sinema are ok with it.

I hope that the ass kissing of Manchin has already begun. He just got off two major "Everybody look at MEEEEE!" moments with BBB and Voting Rights. He's probably looking for a third. Let's not make it this.

We have mid terms this year. We have to wait.

That’s right!!! We have to wait until the gop is in control before voting. I forgot.


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It's too early to care about the actual numbers, but this shows the problem for the GOP. People would like someone other than Biden, but the actual GOPers that might run are loathed.

NEW POLL: @JoeBiden would lose badly to a generic Republican, 46% to 37%.

But BIDEN would beat leading Republican prospects head to head, including:
➡️ DONALD TRUMP
➡️ MIKE PENCE
➡️ RON DESANTIS
➡️ TED CRUZ https://t.co/tWnmTZxbPL pic.twitter.com/WYDP1dqIoV

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 26, 2022

We all clamor for a moderate independent gop as an alternative (see Kasich) instead of the current cult of T


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In fairness, that's always the case.

"Generic Republican" and "Generic Democrat" are by far the strongest politicians we have ever had.

And "Third Party" is by far the most popular party in the country.

It those pesky details that end up bringing down the popularity.

I don't want any of the 5 in that graphic, but I would vote for Biden before any of the other 4. If I had to chose between those 4, I wouldn't vote and I would pray for 4 years.

There have to be better options than this.

Good luck finding "Generic Republican."

(I guess that is what Youngkin ran as in VA, but he is shedding that very quickly. Hogan, perhaps.)

An intersection of politics and football that seems custom-made for FOFC:

The weirdest habit of the RBG cult was being super into her dissents. Like being a fan of Lions post-game interviews or something.

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) January 26, 2022

Little surprised DeSantis is so low. His whole thing is he's Trump but competent and without the baggage. But maybe the baggage is what people like.

Another example of the baggage perhaps benefitting the candidate. Being a wife-beater would have disqualified you years ago, but in Georgia it seems like it might benefit him.

New Quinnipiac poll of GEORGIA:

Senate
Warnock (D-inc) 48
Walker (R) 49

Gov
Abrams (D) 47
Kemp (R-inc) 49

Abrams (D) 48
Perdue (R) 48

GOP Gov Primary
Kemp 43
Perdue 36

(1702 RVs, 666 GOP LVs, 1/19-24)https://t.co/uj7gnjGH7H

— Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) January 26, 2022

Would be interested to see how Gaetz being a pedophile has helped or hurt his standing among the electorate. Seemed to be a negative in Alabama years ago, but a lot has changed.

Kasich took away my mom's insurance so he could cut taxes on the rich, so fuck that guy.

Not surprising at all in Georgia. Warnock and Abrams are both loved outside of the state, but the more they are praised everywhere else the less popular they are locally. Really, Walker's best strategy is to say as little as possible and let his name recognition carry him into the end-zone. He will look like an idiot on a debate stage.

If it's a referendum on Warnock, I just wonder why you wouldn't pick one of the many Republicans who haven't violently assaulted women throughout their adult life. Unless the violent assaults are something that help with a portion of the electorate.

And it's Hershel Walker... in a year UGA won a National Championship. Before he went off the deep end politically he was probably the second most popular athlete in the state after Hank Aaron. If football name recognition carried Tuberville to a Senate seat in Alabama, Walker could cruse to GA Senate... as long as he does exact what you said.

Trump picked Walker. That's all that was needed.

FWIW, I think that the PredictIt pricing on the nominee for Bryer's replacement is pretty spot on

Ketanji Brown Jackson at 65%
Leondra Kruger at 23%
J. Michelle Childs at 14%

I don't think that there's any real value there. But if I were placing money, I'd probably go with Childs at 14%. She's from SC, and I think that Biden still likes the aura of bipartisanship, and in this weird way that Senators still sometimes think locally even in 2022, I could see Scott and Graham signaling to the White House that they will support her if nominated and that being appealing to Biden.

All that said, it will likely be Jackson like everyone is predicting.

If people want diversity on the court, they should look less at race/gender and more at background. How about a nominee that didn't go to one of the handful of elite law schools? How about a nominee who worked as a public defender at one point or had a unique background to becoming a judge?

Seems like everyone on the court took a similar path to get there. The difference is whether they have to bow to the Federalist Society or not. Deviating from that might bring some unique voices to the court.

I'm all in for a nominee with a public school JD.

I also think that this confirmation will be decidedly low-key.

It isn't for control of the Court.
It is replacing a liberal with a liberal.
Everyone on the short list is a moderate/institutionalist
The GOP couldn't stop this if it wanted
The GOP has huge tailwinds going into the mid-terms

I just don't see why the GOP would want to pick a huge fight that it probably can't win that might end up resetting a table that looks really good for them right now.

Let it go through. Put up token resistance. Let the Senators from far-right states give some speeches and vote against her. But kind of keep it off the news. Don't let it seem like a great "win" when she's confirmed.

And then go back to focusing on the issues (CRT/inflation/etc.) that are working for you.

Ketanji Brown Jackson was a federal public defender at one point FWIW.

The right is probably going say that Biden's pick is going to be some out of control liberal judicial activist and is going to want to be seen putting up a valiant if futile effort in trying to stop the nomination. Every decision ever issued by the judge will be looked over with a fine tooth comb.

I think the party incentives and individual incentives are at odds. Each person running in 2022(Senate) or 2024(Pres) are going to want to use this has a way to prove their bonafides. For example, I expect the GOP primary in Ohio to be all SCOTUS all the time, with each of the GOP candidates trying to out extreme the others. I agree, how much of this will spill over into the confirmation is the question, but you can be sure Ted Cruz and others will be lookig for the all of the attention they can muster.

The "liberal" label has lost the power it once had. This nominee is guaranteed to be labelled a Communist or Marxist. We've already moved past Socialist.

Also, there's a reason Democrats never miss with their SCOTUS picks: they overtly choose wild Leftists. That's the only real qualification. They wouldn't care whether Biden nominated an HLS grad who clerked for Breyer or Cardi B, so long as that person voted reliably Left.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 27, 2022

Got my 6419 today, the tax form for the child tax credit. Plugged it in to Turbo Tax and my return dropped by 2K. I expected that but man, there are going to be a lot of people who don't and are going to be wicked pissed.

Race is on to reach sunken US plane... before China

This is a fascinating situation: finders keepers on a whole different level

It is impacted by earned income. If you are above certain individual or married income thresholds (like in your case, I imagine), it is gradually phased out.

Child Tax Credit 2021-2022: What It Is & How to Claim It - NerdWallet

If you're Mitch, this is how you want it to go. You even get some reliable GOP folks to vote for the nominee. That way you can trot out the fake claim that when Biden does reasonable middle-of-the-road things like this nomination and the infrastructure handout bill, the GOP definitely aren't crazy obstructionists, hell bent on destroying democracy. But they're here to protect you from crazy Joe's other radical liberal policies. And, at the end of the day, you were just playing strategically because replacing a liberal with a liberal in a court where you have a 2 justice advantage is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

SI

That's good to hear.

If anyone listens to podcasts, ALAB is a great series by some lawyers. They have a few episodes that cover how the top judges in this country all come from the same pipeline. Little to no diversity on the bench. You have to go one of a couple schools and clerk for one of a couple judges to ever have a chance at a high position in this country.

Like Amy Coney Barrett? ;) (or the Harriet Miers nomination for that matter)

Generally Presidents nominate SCOTUS justices from Harvard and Yale law schools because they don't want to run into accusations that the judge isn't qualified (same reason that former SCOTUS clerks get nominated).

I guess ice cream is Biden's tan suit.

A good question that I neglected answering. I would call that unknown and unknowable. There are a couple of points of distinction. As I'm sure you are very much aware, the EU doesn't have a central political figurehead such as a US president to make such decisions. So the EU, as an entity, would be more comparable to a group of US states all needing to independently come to the same conclusion. And we know how likely that would be. The EU exists more for economic cooperation than any unified foreign policy. NATO has always existed for the common defence of its members, which sort of puts Ukraine outside of its charter as you mentioned. Neither is really comparable to the way a superpower nation functions in the modern world.

Vis a vis enabling - the thing about that is, to stop enabling them if we want to call it that, we have to be willing to fully and truly 'call the bluff'. That is, we don't get involved, and we accept the consequences if they really just don't want to get involved either. I think there is some aspect of enabling going on *probably*, but unless we are really willing to become isolationists in regards to major regions of the world, we can't really test that hypothesis.

Two of the Supreme Court justices went to the same high school. All 3 Trump nominations belonged to the same social club. Not one person from a public school has been appointed in 50 years.

This fucking idiot thinks it's a meritocracy.

Oh boy, here comes another round of Hunter Biden bullshit from the right (judging by our local Sinclair broadcast). Also, crime and dead cops!

Whoops, forgot "CRISIS IN THE CLASSROOM!"

The NYT is the one suing to get the e-mails. So not sure I'd just chalk the Hunter Biden stuff up to right-wing media.

I do think that if there was anything incriminating, the State Department would have released it back when Trump was President.

Although in media news, Newsweek just let a neo-Nazi write an op-ed for them.

I don't know about e-mails; this was a segment basically endorsing the new Peter Schweizer book/conspiracy theory.

Just amazing to me how this wouldn't even be page 10 news in the USA.

Starmer demolishes Johnson in front of Tory MPs stunned into silence: worth watching every minute pic.twitter.com/Xrv8jidjoS

— Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) January 31, 2022

Looks like the Cuomo firing investigation brought out the fact the president of CNN Jeff Zucker that he had never disclosed, and he's now resigned:


https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/media...cnn/index.html

Biden quick to tweet about the new name for Washington Commanders


"I suppose there's room for two Cpmmanders in this town" With a picture of Commander on the front lawn of the White House :)

I guess this is what happens when you create a fake border crisis.


Texas National Guard soldiers call border operation a disaster | The Texas Tribune

Mission is quite clear: Stave off a challenge from the right in the 2022 Texas governor primary

SI

Good job Biden. Looking forward to more details (and movie).

Brings to mind that I haven't read recently about other "we've killed the #2 or #3 AQ, ISIL etc. leaders.

Remember when Bin Laden was still alive, and every couple weeks we killed someone and announced that they were the "#2 person in Al-Qaeda?" My buddy joked that Al-Qaeda has more vice presidents than a bank.

Yeah. For a few years, #3 in AQ was easily the most dangerous job in the world.

I had read this morning that there was a Special Forces action in Syria, but there were no details. It'll be great if the facts are true, but then I am sure there is going to be a claim the US actually blew up his family or some such. I know there is footage of a supposed helicopter that was shot down, but that doesn't fit with the no US casualties claim.

Can't wait to see how Tucker twists this into a bad thing.

From what I read special forces were involved, and they blew up the helicopter before leaving, most likely because it couldn't be flown out.

It's going to be; "I thought they (his enemies) were against violence and killing? Why are we praising them for doing the same thing that they hated trump for doing? When are they going to recognize that trump had it right all along? When are they going to give him the praise he deserves for his skillful leadership as president?"

See what I did there?

That's exactly how it'll be played.

Yes apparently they took out the ISIS leader. I guess he blew himself up with his family to avoid capture.

The answer is yes, we do want a US digital currency.

The U.S. is debating whether to adopt a digital dollar : NPR
Credit card companies will be hurt with reduce fees but so what.

Visa and like are big enough and have enough heads up to see a new paradigm is coming and they need to adapt (and compete).

Seems like wishful thinking. I doubt the banks and credit card companies will allow the politicians that they own to create a system that excludes them. I also have a tough time understanding how this would be markedly different from using Apple Pay or a credit card. Vendors will still need some way to process transactions and I doubt it will be something without fees of some sort (whether on the customer or vendor side).

I guess I'm confused.

How does a digital dollar differ from what we do now? I put everything on a debit/credit card. My paycheck is automatic. I find carrying physical dollars an inconvenience and I only use quarters for the laundry machines in my condo complex.

How does my life change?

I'm guessing the dollar will exists as bits on your device, much the same way that a dollar bill exists as paper/cotton/whatever in your wallet.

I'm interested to see how they'll combat fraud. I would guess that would be the biggest hurdle to overcome.

This is the reason it will never happen.

SCOTUS just used the shadow docket to eviscerate what was left of the Voting Rights Act.

Kavanaugh with the "well we really can't do anything if an election is coming up in a few months" argument.

Not really surprising. VRA is mostly dead and the racist gerrymander in Alabama is allowed.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/polit...ama/index.html
When Roberts is joining the liberals in something that guts voting rights, you know it goes too far

SI

Amusing that Roberts was A-OK with gutting the VRA in Shelby (2013) on the basis that things had changed since the 60s, and now when the named states start doing the exact same things that got them put under supervision in the first place he tries to put the genie back in the bottle.

What's that phrase about being both smart & dumb at the same time?

If you pass something that is too racist for even Roberts, it's pretty bad.

Roberts MO is that he's trying to death by a thousand paper cuts everything. He (probably correctly) thinks the long game is the way to go - he knows he has a generation to gut things. And if you do it slowly, society at large is more willing to accept it. Even he isn't comfortable with how fast things are going.

SI

Nauseating

I think Biden is being too nice. If I was him, I would jump on it and score some points with the independents. To be fair, I've not seen the full text so it may have been taken out of context. But if not, call out everyone that supports this wording. Outrageous.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/09/polit...ion/index.html

I'm so old I remember when conservatives said that anyone who blocked a road should be run over.

Just to clear things up, @RepMTG

Gazpacho: a vegetable-based Spanish cold soup
Gestapo: Nazi Germany's secret police pic.twitter.com/T9q76r706G

— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) February 9, 2022

everybody wins here

Iraq has not been on my radar recently (and neither has Afghanistan). Thought this was interesting.

I associated the Kurds to being friendly to the US. And Al-Sadr friendly to Iran. Now it seems Al-Sadr is no longer Iran's friend and was supporting the Kurd candidate. Its obvious Al-Sadr wants to be the power behind the throne.

About 2,500 US troops in advisory roles in Iraq (+ god knows how many military contractors).

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/10/middl...ntl/index.html

Somewhere in the archives of this forum I made the argument that al-Sadr would eventually become the most powerful man in Iraq. Where I was wrong was that I figured him to be an Iranian puppet. All in all, having him turn out to be an Iraqi nationalist isn’t a bad outcome.

Fair warning for US citizens. Get the heck out of dodge or don't whine and expect help if you are caught in an invasion.

Ukraine crisis: Biden warns Americans to leave now as 'things could go crazy quickly' | Euronews

I always wonder when shit goes down and you hear about the random embassy worker who was somehow still over there and got caught, how many of those people are actually CIA.

FWIW.

Inflation came in hotter than expected yesterday and some are now predicting increase of .5 basis points soon with additional .25 increases (think the target is 1 basis point this year).

Spoke with the wife and we agree we aren't really seeing $250 or $305 a month impact per article below. We don't gas up as much (e.g. I'm remote and wife is < 10 miles), we eat out every weekend but we don't overdo it, we eat more chicken than red meat or fish. We think the main reason why we don't feel the impact is because kids are grown and we don't need to buy a bunch of stuff or food for just us two.

Regardless, Biden is in a world of hurt. Powell is his BFF now.

The average household is spending an extra $250 a month, or $3,000 per year, due to high inflation — but middle-aged Americans are paying even more - MarketWatch

We're spending a lot more, but it's not because of inflation. It's because the kids are growing so fast that we keep having to buy them new clothes. My 13-year-old outgrew 3 pairs of cleats last year. Luckily he doesn't play an equipment-intensive sport like hockey or football.

This is very cool. Assume this is from last year's infrastructure bill.

I don't think 4 simultaneous charging goal per 50 miles of interstate is good enough, but we have to start somewhere (just make sure there is enough land to expand). Question is how much will this cost for "fill-up".

I can see private sector getting involved in charging stations after they've seen commitment from the government ... from what I've read, gas stations make their money in the stores, not on the gas.

Four fast chargers every 50 miles—US unveils EV infrastructure plan | Ars Technica

I was in like Dublin, GA or somewhere once and saw a random charging station at a gas station. Now that I have an EV, I think having high-speed charging stations at rest stops/gas stations would be a game changer. I dropped my daughter off at camp last summer near Rome, GA. We stopped for lunch after the dropoff and I saw a charger in town square that seemed reasonable and was high speed. I would totally take her this summer in my EV knowing that now. Aside from the fact that it was Rome, GA, seemed pretty neat.

I can see a world where the market takes over and you end up with massive charging areas that naturally have food, etc. happen there. Basically, people start planning to grab their sodas, burgers, bathroom breaks, etc. while the cars are charging.

But it will be interesting to see if we can get enough capacity. Cars take, what, 5 minutes to gas up? And you still see the pumps at popular interstate stops pretty full. If we really all start driving EVs, and they take ~30 minutes to charge, that's a LOT of roadtrip charging that we will need.

I've heard of a system where the batteries are charged and waiting for you, and instead of charging your car, you swap out the battery. That would be able to handle a massive load. But you need to commit to that model and build the whole system around it. And it does not sound like we are going that way.

I guess smart cities/counties who get ahead of it could turn it into something that can create jobs and revenue, I mean you already have the casinos and outlets that have sprung up around remote gas stations, if that 5 min top up turns into a minimum 30, you can see obviously how that would work.

It's definitely an interesting discussion though... my mind immediately goes to the UK where they have a hard "get off petrol/gas" date but a huge percentage of housing is still terraced without a garage, so the infrastructure questions are obvious. One particular photo of a guy blocking the sidewalk and charging his EV through his window went viral (with the usual social media snide) but nobody seems to have a smart plan for what happens when everybody in that street has to have an EV, and these aren't typically neighborhoods where there's a ton of free space to go around to boot.

Tesla pushed this idea several years ago.

Imagine if you bought a new Tesla. Would you want to swap out your new battery for one that has been used hundreds of times?

Also imagine try to create a service station that would swap batteries for every conceivable car model.

Charging stations are more similiar to what we're doing now so you don't have to ask the average consumer to change their ways and habits.

I can fill up my Hybrid Camry for approx 15 gallons x $3 = $45. This will get me about 420 miles. So 420 / $45 = 9.3 cents per mile.

Below Tesla estimate ranges from 4.2 to 4.6 cents per mile. So approx half the cost.

I assume as chargers become more popular, the costs will go down (is this a true assumption?). Regardless, significant cost savings, supposedly less environmental impact, more stable prices, and very importantly, less reliance on ME oil.

Negatives are impact to current gas station industry, gas companies, and will we need to build more power plants?

Outside of food, I don't think there is much the Fed can do. Most of the sectors driving inflation are not due to our economic policy.

You can charge up to 200 miles in 15 minutes. It's not that bad and I have to guess will only improve over time. Seems like a very mild inconvenience for the occasional long road trip.

Not a fan of taxpayers covering this but I guess the electric car market is just a big subsidy at this point.