Archives for 2024

First Pete.  it’s a 5-minute interview, but it’s totally worth it.  This video should be in the dictionary as the example of  “good government”.

That’s huge.

Reminder that there’s only one party actively trying to make your life better— the other one just wants to give tax breaks to their rich friends https://t.co/gNJZeUB0bE

— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) April 24, 2024

Then Joe.  The sly fox.   (Politico)

The Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time in the two-year war — and Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines.

In March, the U.S. quietly approved the transfer of a number of Army Tactical Missile Systems with a range of nearly 200 miles, said a senior Biden administration official and two U.S. officials, allowing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces to put at risk more Russian targets inside Ukrainian sovereign territory.

The administration will include additional long-range ATACMS in a new $1 billion package of military aid President Joe Biden approved on Wednesday, one of the U.S. officials said.

The provision of the long-range version of the ATACMS ends a lengthy drama in which Ukraine clamored for years to receive the weapon, driving a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. The U.S. quietly sent the medium-range version of the missile in October, but Ukraine continued to press for a weapon that would allow it to strike farther behind Russia’s lines.

The U.S. on Wednesday announced a new $1 billion package of weapons that will quickly be transferred to Ukraine now that Biden has signed off on the long-delayed foreign aid bill that passed the Senate this week. Among other weapons, the tranche will include Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for air defense; 155mm artillery rounds; Bradley Fighting Vehicles; Javelin anti-tank systems; and Claymore anti-personnel munitions, according to a Pentagon press release.

But totally straight forward!

The U.S. was initially reluctant to send ATACMS — even under sustained domestic and international pressure — due to stockpile concerns and fear of escalating the war. But Russia’s increasingly brutal tactics and more American production of the long-range version convinced Biden to authorize the transfer.

The Biden administration warned Russia that attacking Ukraine’s energy grid and using North Korean-provided missiles would lead the U.S. to reconsider sending ATACMS to Ukraine. Those strikes continued, leading top officials — national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. C.Q. Brown — to unanimously recommend the weapons transfer.

The Biden administration believes providing ATACMS can give Ukraine some new momentum in the two-year war, forcing Russia to move back critical command and control nodes and other high-value targets such as aviation assets, said the second U.S. official.

Republicans still haven’t figured out that bluster is not strength.  Possibly a good part of why so many people underestimate Pete and Joe.

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Oh, and a bonus truth from Simon Rosenberg.

Everyone understands that the Rs are going to do everything they can to build up and inflame these protests to distract from their nominee who is a rapist, a serial criminal, a fraudster, a betrayer of the country and the ugliest political thing we’ve ever seen?

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) April 24, 2024

Open thread.

Pete & JoePost + Comments (206)