I traditionally have a thread heading to the election, here we go.

Get out the popcorn for this one.

Quote

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to formally announce next week he is running for president in 2024, NBC News reported Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The governor's official entry into the Republican primary field will put him head-to-head with former President Donald Trump, the party's current frontrunner for the nomination. Trump has already spent months treating DeSantis as his primary campaign rival, thrashing him with torrents of criticism over his gubernatorial record, his political skills and his personality.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/desantis-plans-to-officially-announce-presidential-run-next-week.html

So Senator Tuberville sold his Alabama property and lives in  Santa Rosa Beach,Florida... property he's owned 20 years.  Wife and son still own Auburn home.... while wife works as Florida realtor in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla,

Tommy Tuberville: Florida's third senator?

My PA senators life long residents,  have had PA homes for over 20+years having strong understanding of its citizens and states needs.  ?

They sure could use better representation to improve their states status.

Being a FL "senator"  with current FL politics, makes his digging heels re  NOT approving military appointments make sense.

 

 

NRSKarenRN said:

So Senator Tuberville sold his Alabama property and lives in  Santa Rosa Beach,Florida... property he's owned 20 years.  Wife and son still own Auburn home.... while wife works as Florida realtor in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla,

Tommy Tuberville: Florida's third senator?

My PA senators life long residents,  have had PA homes for over 20+years having strong understanding of its citizens and states needs.  ::)

They sure could use better representation to improve their states status.

Being a FL "senator"  with current FL politics, makes his digging heels re  NOT approving military appointments make sense.

 

 

Maybe dishonesty, along with cruelty, is now a feature (rather than a glitch) in modern conservative politics. 

NRSKarenRN said:

So Senator Tuberville sold his Alabama property and lives in  Santa Rosa Beach,Florida... property he's owned 20 years.  Wife and son still own Auburn home.... while wife works as Florida realtor in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla,

Tommy Tuberville: Florida's third senator?

My PA senators life long residents,  have had PA homes for over 20+years having strong understanding of its citizens and states needs.  ::)

They sure could use better representation to improve their states status.

Being a FL "senator"  with current FL politics, makes his digging heels re  NOT approving military appointments make sense.

 

 

Sorry, I lost you in the last paragraph. Can you restate that for me.  Our Representative for Northern Michigan lives in Louisiana most of the time.  And he is just a Trump tool..absolutely no thinking is occurring.  He's afraid to show up in his office on my town.  He will probably be re-elected.

 

Did anyone catch the debate last night? It was more like a free-for-all cage match, to see who could sneak in the wickedest punch. 

Pence--ick

Scott--he was off his game, I wonder if he was ill? 

Burgum--tried to say bad things don't happen in small towns. Uh, Uvalde?

Haley--made some decent points about Ukraine

DeSantis--double ick

Christie--hates Trump, probably because he nearly killed him with COVID.

Hutchinson--yawn

Ramaswamy--showy flim-flam man, nearly as bad as the former guy

nursej22 said:

Did anyone catch the debate last night? It was more like a free-for-all cage match, to see who could sneak in the wickedest punch. 

Pence--ick

Scott--he was off his game, I wonder if he was ill? 

Burgum--tried to say bad things don't happen in small towns. Uh, Uvalde?

Haley--made some decent points about Ukraine

DeSantis--double ick

Christie--hates Trump, probably because he nearly killed him with COVID.

Hutchinson--yawn

Ramaswamy--showy flim-flam man, nearly as bad as the former guy

I didn't watch the event having an early bedtime. I was delivering my spouse to the airport for a red eye itinerary to the Rockies in the wee hours of the morning.  I have watched as much as Fox has made available.

Your analysis seems in agreement with others.  

Haley was maybe most positioned to speak to the undecided and more moderate women in the GOP audience.  I'd like to see the whole debate so that I can see her presence.  She may have looked like one of a few serious people in a lineup of unserious people.

Climate change is a hoax? Really?

I watched the entire debate.  Pence made some very strong points, performed better than expected.  Nikki Halley took on Ramaswamy re his Israel and Ukraine/Putin comments-  "stop funding Ukraine war until Europe gives more". Ramaswamy's statement during the debate that climate change is a hoax  along with being a fool who wants to give parts of Ukraine to Russia --all disqualifying.   Her UN experience shone. She tailored her comments to appeal to general election voters-- I liked what she said.  Christie supported and praised Pence January 6th stance, loved  his calling Ramaswamy spiel "Chat GPT" --I was thinking the same thing at the time. Others did not rise to the occasion as Frat fight most of the night, IMHO.

nursej22 said:

Did anyone catch the debate last night?

No... yawn...better things to do with my time.

 

 

 

Beerman said:

No... yawn...better things to do with my time.

 

 

 

You aren't interested in who might be the GOP candidate to substitute for Trump if Trump is convicted of a felony before 11/24? Do you feel that, like Trump and Biden, these people are all equally qualified, equally corrupt and equally challenged in ethics and morals? 

And the GOP hopefuls may not be candidates this cycle, but perhaps the next. Or be appointed to cabinet heads, or as judges. 

But yeah, retired life is leaving me time to observe politics more, a subject that may not interest some, but it interests me. 

nursej22 said:

Did anyone catch the debate last night? It was more like a free-for-all cage match, to see who could sneak in the wickedest punch. 

Pence--ick

Scott--he was off his game, I wonder if he was ill? 

Burgum--tried to say bad things don't happen in small towns. Uh, Uvalde?

Haley--made some decent points about Ukraine

DeSantis--double ick

Christie--hates Trump, probably because he nearly killed him with COVID.

Hutchinson--yawn

Ramaswamy--showy flim-flam man, nearly as bad as the former guy

And that audience was worthy to be the onwatchers at a Roman forum where they get to watch the Christians mauled by the lions.  They were not a classy act.  What a collection of dum-dums.  They would applaud loudly for competing bad ideas, expressing their favor for policy A and policy anti-A at the same time.  I felt their presence sucked all the IQ out of the room...what was left of it after the buffoons stopped their presentations.  What affected me the most was 6 of them who raised their hands to supporting Trump even if he were convicted.  So they are OK with a president running the country from jail?  Am I in Bizarro World?

subee said:

  Am I in Bizarro World?

Yes, yes, we are. Did you catch the question about UFOs? D'oh!

NRSKarenRN said:

I watched the entire debate.  Pence made some very strong points, performed better than expected.  Nikki Halley took on Ramaswamy re his Israel and Ukraine/Putin comments-  "stop funding Ukraine war until Europe gives more". Ramaswamy's statement during the debate that climate change is a hoax  along with being a fool who wants to give parts of Ukraine to Russia --all disqualifying.   Her UN experience shone. She tailored her comments to appeal to general election voters-- I liked what she said.  Christie supported and praised Pence January 6th stance, loved  his calling Ramaswamy spiel "Chat GPT" --I was thinking the same thing at the time. Others did not rise to the occasion as Frat fight most of the night, IMHO.

I listened to an analysis by a leftie on Instagram Reels.  I think her podcast and Instagram is "Under the Desk News" or something like that.  She says that Niki Haley was the Ambassador to the UN, has the most foreign policy experience of all the candidates on that stage, that she is smart about foreign policy and was adamant that we continue to support Ukraine.   Ramaswamy and DeSantis said Europe should pull their own weight and they wouldn't give them anymore help.  

Europe is home to hundreds of United States military bases and stations and as the winner of World War II and with a 700 to 800 billion dollar budget military budget, this is not how we set up Europe.  It's not how we set up NATO.  Nothing wrong with asking Europe to do more for their own defense, but I have to agree with Niki Haley on this, we don't turn our back on our friends and allies in Europe like that.

A figure I've heard was our support for Ukraine is less than 3% of the Pentagon's budget.  One side effect might be because we are at peace we can "test out" our technology, get rid of some stockpiles, and even stimulate our military industrial complex by buying more American-made weaponry.

I'm against war and the military industrial complex but this is too important.  Like it or not we set ourselves up as the lone military superpower and protector of our friends and allies, particularly in Europe, Japan and Korea.  

"We need to help people here at home first" they say. Biden's infrastructure and other bills try to do just that but Republicans object.   I think we can do both, help our own people and Ukraine.  Stop cutting taxes and programs that help people to pay for it.  Cut the big fat military budget and find a way to help Ukraine.  Tax revenues for 2022 are reported to be 4.9 trillion dollars we can do this.

Quote

According to their research, between February 2022 and May 2023, the US pledged nearly €71 billion of total aid to Ukraine. 

EU countries and institutions have committed to €68 billion in total -- nearly the same as Washington. 

https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/28/how-much-has-the-eu-given-to-ukraine-compared-to-the-us

If you've read this rant, I thank you.