I Don’t Want To Beat The Issue
The airwaves are filled with news on Ukraine, and we have concentrated on it here too. I don’t want to repeat what you know, so just a few thoughts today and onto to some other topics.
I have written continually that President Biden is leading from behind with Ukraine. Here’s a write-up from Politico today that talks of the Zelenskyy speech yesterday, his request for planes and the reaction. As you know Politico leans left in their reporting:
Yes, lawmakers commended his bravery and his words — some even wiped away tears in reaction to the video he showed of dead Ukrainians being pulled from the rubble…. And Democratic allies of the Biden administration — from Senate Majority Whip DICK DURBIN (Ill.) to swing-state freshman Sen. MARK KELLY (Ariz.) — continue to push back against Zelenskyy’s desired fighter jet transfer. Democratic lawmakers aren’t united on the latter by any means. (Sen. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-Conn.), who visited the Poland-Ukraine border in recent days, is one of the latest to declare his support for the transfer.) But as we wrote Monday, in the past couple of weeks, Congress has seen success in forcing President JOE BIDEN’s hand on Ukraine because it’s been largely united — clear up to top levels of leadership.
They pushed him into the oil purchase and pressured on sanctions. The President should be leading.
Politico continued:
Right now, lawmakers are still fractured on this issue. Will that pushback hold? It’s hard to say — especially amid headlines about Russian forces shooting Ukrainian civilians standing in a bread line, or bombing a theater where hundreds were sheltering and where Ukrainians had specifically denoted the word “children” in large letters to signal to bombers to stay away. What’s more, at least one Democratic leader — Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER himself — has supported the transfer of these planes before: In a March 5 statement after his Zoom with Zelenskyy, he said “these planes are very much needed. And I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer.
”The pressure from the right is also reaching a crescendo. Senate Minority Leader MITCH MCCONNELL didn’t mince words when he exited Zelenskyy’s video conference and told reporters that “Biden needs to step up his game right now, before it’s too late.” And as our colleagues wrote Wednesday, Republicans are out-hawking Biden and the Democratic Party on this issue — big time.
Will he give in and transfer the planes? I hope so, but let’s see.
Some Quick Tidbits
Not much reporting, but N. Korea shot up another missile yesterday. They have shot up more than at any time in their history. Why?
Think appeasement and weakness they perceive.
Putin said some chilling words about protests in his country. The longer this goes, the more threatening it is becoming and the Russia economy is suffering.
Yesterday they blamed the global sanctions for pushing the country toward its first default since 1998.
Mr. Putin even acknowledged that the country’s economy had taken a major blow from Western sanctions.
Add the war remains bogged down and apparently a fourth General was killed yesterday. Some tough times for Mr. Putin who has to be watching those around him.
Here’s a story that should have gotten big coverage, and I bet most readers don’t know about it:
The Western Sheriffs Association delivered a unanimous vote of “No Confidence” in Vice President Kamala Harris’ handling of the migration crisis that’s slammed the U.S. border, with the sheriffs calling for President Biden to sideline his No. 2. The sheriffs said they were looking to help Ms. Harris in her task, assigned by Mr. Biden, to try to stem the flow of unauthorized migrants. Instead, they said they’ve seen the administration go backward, dismantling tools that had worked and making local law enforcement’s job tougher. “America’s sheriffs have watched in disbelief as the southern border has turned into an invisible line in the sand,” the association said in the No Confidence resolution, which passed at the association’s March 9 meeting.
We want more fossil fuels until we don’t need them, right? Well, guess who’s back actively working against that? Jane Fonda.
Yes, Jane Fonda. She is launching a PAC dedicated to electing “climate champions” and defeating “the allies of the fossil fuel industry” in primary and general elections nationwide. Here’s part of Fonda’s statement:
“It’s time we fight fire with fire or, in this case, to fight dollars with dollars. Jane Fonda Climate PAC will have one goal: do whatever it takes to defeat the political allies of the fossil fuel industry, no matter which side of the aisle they’re on.”
A personal note. Two people, Vietnam Veterans, mentioned her to me this week, and she shows up in the news.
You saw the Russian sanction list, I assume. Hillary Clinton mocked them for sanctioning her. It got me to wondering why on that limited list was she and Hunter Biden? You can only sanction when you have something to sanction. Is the press curious?