The Radical Centrist™

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Biden

The Great Debate of 2024

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President Biden and Donald Trump squared off in their first debate of 2024 last night, and I am going to share my initial thoughts.

I didn’t watch it.

Slow down, take a Valium, I almost never watch speeches or debates first-hand.  Posturing, posing, blah blah blah, nothing really of substance, puke.  Here’s what has worked pretty well for me for decades.  If you listen to the pundits immediately afterward, it’s all spin.  Let a couple days go by.  Things and people settle down a bit.  Real live thinking people have had time to flesh out the fluff and churn out some reasonably objective observations.  And I will still do that, but breaking from my tradition I am going to give some initial thoughts.

I did watch about two minutes after it had already started.  Just happened to catch the last minute of Trump’s turn and the first minute of Biden’s turn.  Watching Biden was painful.  He did not have a good night, to put it mildly.  I literally did a facepalm.  Trump?  Lie lie lie lie lie lie, and lie some more.  In the minute I watched I think he told about six lies in one sentence, almost.  And it’s all stuff that is so easily disprovable.  Then top it off with a lie so big no honestly contemplative person would buy into it… except his menagerie of gullible suckers, they’ll lap that shit up.  What was the big lie, you ask?  Something about Democrats wanting to abort babies after they’re born.  Another facepalm.  You can’t make this shit up.

I keep hoping I will wake up one morning and the last eight years will have been a horrible nightmare.

But I digress.  Anyway, there are three kinds of people in our political wasteland, currently… “crackpot conservatives”, “whackjob liberals”, and “thinkers”.  I checked some social media echo chambers.  The crackpot conservative echo chambers wouldn’t defend anything Trump said (they never do), but they laid on Biden hard and heavy for his fogginess.  The whackjob liberal echo chambers were a little better, but not much.  They tore into Trump’s lies but also dusted off the trusty “Look, a squirrel” deflection and tried to spin Biden as being “not Trump”.

So, who won?  Bottom line, if you’re a crackpot conservative you think Trump won, and if you’re a whackjob liberal you think Biden won.  (Thinking people are still contemplating, we’ll let you know in a few days.)  This outcome was so easily predictable.

So, who REALLY won?  No one.  Not a single person in the United States of America is winning with this poor excuse for a political nightmare of a novel.

The New “Whataboutism”

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Today’s conservatives (read: Trump supporters) seem to be trying very hard to make “whataboutism” a legitimate debate tactic.  Seems that every  time I turn around they’re making specious arguments with no supporting evidence at all, let alone fact.  (As God is my witness, I am convinced today’s Republican don’t even know the definition of “evidence”, but I digress.)

Anyway, back in March 2018 I wrote a piece on “whataboutism”.  Long story short whataboutism is frowned upon in most debate circles.  Ironically enough, Republicans seem to be going out of their way to set it up as legitimate discourse.  Their arguments usually go something like this…

“Joe Biden is incoherent.”  Obviously a slam directed at his mental capacities and capabilities in handling the job of president.  He probably slurred a word, or misspoke, or whatever.  And he does have a history of stuttering.  But granted, Joe Biden is not as sharp as he once was, and in an ideal world I’d prefer someone sharper in the job now.  Joe Biden has indeed lost a step, in the mind.

We all know the only people saying these things are Trump supporters and they’re inferring Trump was better and more qualified for the job than Biden is.  Kind of a pre-emptive whataboutism, if you will.  Beat ’em to the punch!  If it weren’t so sad and transparently weak it might be mildly humorous.

So for those who are so inclined, what might you “whatabout”?  How about this…

Well what I would do, is I would, we would, we have tremendous military capability and what we can do without planes, to be honest with you, without 44-year-old jets, what we can do is enormous, and we should be doing it and we should be helping them to survive and they’re doing an amazing job.  (Fox Business TV show, “Varney & Co,” in March 2022)

…or the time he tried to redirect a hurricane with a Sharpie.  And we will be polite and not compare Joe’s “handling” of young girls with “grabbing them by the pussy” and walking in on naked teen girls at beauty pageants.  It’s almost as if Republicans are BEGGING people to counter with a whataboutism as pretty much everything they can possibly come up with to shame Biden Trump has most assuredly done worse.  There is nothing you can ding Biden for where Trump has not himself been more incompetent or sleazy or repugnent or Every.  Single.  Time.

And really, what about Hillary’s emails?

 

Ukraine vs Russia, Pt 1

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A few days ago Russia… let’s be honest, Vladimir Putin… launched a full invasion of Ukraine.  Not just small pieces, but the entire country.  Now, I will not front, I support Ukraine in this 100%, though I do not believe it will go well for them.

Please note that my thoughts have been very fluid on this situation for several weeks.  What I say and think may change based on unfolding events, and already have changed since the actual invasion a few days ago.  My points and topics here may be kind of scattered and incomplete, but hopefully they will come together over time.  So, some random thoughts and points…

What does Putin want?

I believe the primary purpose behind Putin’s actions are his ego, his concern with his legacy.  He doesn’t want to be remembered as just another bureaucrat, he wants to be remembered in history as the one who “reassembled” the old Soviet Union, or the old Russia (as much as possible).  Ukraine is a big part of that.   Ukraine is also about the last piece he can bring back.  Belarus is a Putin Puppet state, he failed in Georgia, the countries in the Kazakhstan area might be too strong, and the Baltic states… which I believe he really wants along with Ukraine, Russia has had a “Europe inferiority complex” for centuries… are long gone, members of NATO.  But if he can get Ukraine, which has been drifting West, he would see that as a feather in his cap and help solidify his historical legacy… he believes.

Strategy:  Following Hitler’s Playbook

There are many similarities here.  Back in the 1920s and 1930s there were various security alliances.  Very fragmented and chaotic than a single NATO today, but the same concept.  In the 1930s Adolf Hitler wanted to expand Germany, in much the same way and for the same reasons Putin wants to expand Russia.  What did Hitler/Germany do?

  1. Re-occupied the Rhineland in 1936, in violation of the Versailles Treaty.  There were measures in place to oppose this, and nobody did anything.
  2. The complete occupation and annexation of Austria in 1938.  No one did anything.
  3. Emboldened by the lack of consequences Hitler then set his sights on the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia (CZ).  CZ was militarily strong, and had defense pacts with France and the Soviet Union.  With threats of war the leaders of Europe met and sacrificed CZ (weren’t even allowed at the table!) and signed the Munich Agreement.  CZ was now a shell of itself, and it was only a matter of time.  CZ is a good example for modern Ukraine.
  4. The Memel Territory was returned to Germany from Lithuania under threat of an ultimatum.
  5. Then the remainder of CZ was invaded and taken by Germany.  CZ’s allies had already abandoned them, and made it public, might as well.
  6. Then the invasion of Poland in 1939.  Hitler, I believe, presumed he would have free reign here, also, and why not?, up to this point everyone who could stop him abandoned their alleged convictions and agreements to do so.

Ok, so what has Putin been doing?

  1. Second Chechen War, 1999-2009, to bring Chechnya back after losing them earlier in the decade (pre-Putin).
  2. Russo-Georgia War, 2008, where Russia invaded Georgia.  Georgia had been taking a pro-West turn and this was unacceptable to Russia.  Russia started making wild accusations as a prelude (read: excuse) to invade, and they did.  Unfortunately for Russia, they lost.  Fast forward to today and Russia does occupy part of the country, but there is only a cease-fire in place, and Georgia is seeking NATO membership.
  3. Insurgency in the North Caucasus, 2009-2017, basically the aftermath of the Second Chechen War noted above.
  4. Invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, 2014, really part of the current conflict.
  5. War in Donbas in Ukraine, 2015-present, also part of the current conflict.
  6. Proclaimed/recognized the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, from two “breakaway” regions in Donbas, in 2022.  Part of the current conflict.
  7. Invasion of all of Ukraine, 2022, status yet to be determined.

Chip chip chip chip away.  Bit by bite by bite.  Take what you want a piece at a time.  Test the resolve of the more reasonable opposition to get what you want.  Take action in bites just small enough to get people worked up, but not big enough to prompt them to actually do anything.  Will it work?  Is it working?  For Putin, I mean.  Will Ukraine be to Putin what Poland was to Hitler, the beginning of his downfall?

Conclusion

That’s it for now.  I will take this up in another episode, soon.  I will say I have so many conflicting thoughts I don’t really know where to go with them.  Basically, this is getting longer than I it would, and it is taking long than I thought it would… and I got stuff to do.  So, until next time… here ya go!

America First, indeed

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Dear Trump supporters, this post is for you:  For the four years of his presidency Mr Trump boasted “America First” and you all lapped it up and repeated it zealously.  You reveled in it.  And in the interest of full honesty… in spite of the historic connotations of the term and sentiment… at face value I agree with “America First”.  A nation, any nation, should put itself first before anyone else, just as a family should do the same, or an individual should do self-care first.  That’s not unreasonable.  So for this post we’re going with that angle, not the negative historical context.

Fact:  Back in February 2020 the Trump administration announced a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.  Not the legitimate government, the Taliban… the enemy, terrorists.  Trump, not Biden.  Ok, fine.

Biden has gotten a lot of flak for the chaos involved in our departure, but let’s observe some other facts…

  1. Withdrawal was never going to be easy.  Not this year, not five years ago, not five years from now.  That’s not how the Taliban works.
  2. Could Biden have done it better?  Sure.  Could they have done it painlessly and seamlessly?  No.  See point #1.
  3. Biden should have started sooner… I’ll grant that… but I say started because Trump never really did start, did he?  He sat on his hands.  The 14 month withdrawal clock was ticking and half over when Biden was inaugurated.  Other than removing some troops, which you agree was backward when Biden did the same, Trump… did… NOTHING.  Why aren’t you complaining about that?  Why aren’t you at least sharing the blame?

Joe Biden is doing what is right, not what is easy.  Trump did the easy part, he negotiated with terrorists and gave them the country.  Biden was left to do the dirty work, the work Trump set up then abandoned.  Anyone can talk… talk is cheap… Biden had the balls to actually, finally, get us out of Afghanistan.

Donald Trump promised us “America First”… Joe Biden literally gave it to us… and you don’t want it.  So what’s your problem?

Are you an American? Answer this: Who’s your president?

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Are you an American?  Are you sure?  Are you a Constitution-respecting patriotic law-abiding citizen who values responsible government and loves and wants what’s best for your country?  Yes?  Again, are you sure?  Ok, answer this…

Who’s your president?

Such a simple question, yet so many varied responses when there is only one valid and correct response.  Stop, sit down, and repeat after me… Joe Biden is my president.  I know that about killed some of you, didn’t it?  It’s the cold hard truth.  If you are an American citizen Joe Biden is your president (we’re not entertaining Trump’s “Big Lie” about the election).  Period.  Grow up.  Stop being a child.  Get over it.

To make this clear…

  • Right now, as of May 28, 2021, Joe Biden is your president.
  • Last year at this time Donald Trump was your president.
  • Four years before that Barack Obama was your president.
  • Eight years before that George W Bush was your president.
  • Eight years before that Bill Clinton was your president.
  • Eight years before that George HW Bush was your president.
  • Four years before that Ronald Reagan was your president.
  • Eight years before that Jimmy Carter was your president.
  • …and so on and so forth.

Did you catch that second one?  Last year Donald Trump was your, and my, president.  Do I like saying that?  Of course not, Donald Trump is a lying cheat and thief and the worst president we have ever had, but I acknowledge him as my president at that time because it was a fact.  For four years Donald Trump was my president.  I choose to be a reasonable and rational adult living in the real world rather than a tantrum throwing juvenile trying to proclaim things into existence that simply are not.

Going back to the, “Are you sure?”, question… if you try and say the duly elected president is not your president then know this:  You are not patriotic.  You do not value law & order.  You do not value what’s best for the country.  You do not love your country, nor even respect the Constitution.  You are one step shy of a traitor.

For the record, I’m not all that enamored with Joe Biden’s big-government-loving persona, either, and I’d rather he tone it down, but he’s my president.