I know so many want Putin’s puppet and others to pay the piper, and that they believe DOJ is going to let them walk, but I don’t believe it. My husband and I watch American Greed on CNBC and one of the things I noticed about DOJ is they never bring just one charge in any type of crime. They throw every charge possible against the perpetrator. It would take up too much court time and paperwork to file charges one at a time. That is why they haven’t filed charges against IQ45 for taking the classified documents to Mara Lard O . I, also, believe that the J6 committee is providing DOJ with all the evidence they have gathered so far, as are other government agencies. (Just from January 6th there is about 250 terabyte of information!) Also, I believe there are some people (possibly on the J6 committee) who know what is going on but are pretending not to know so as not to give anyone a heads up. I believe when Meadows and others are charged, it will be for numerous crimes. I do not believe for one minute that Garland is going to overlook what happened or who was involved in the J6 insurrection.Know that DOJ has a 98% conviction rate.
@enkasongwriter Those two are a case of arrested development ... never progressed emotionally past jr high levels - and are being the " mean girls" now. They were either bullied and now gloat in their influence and self importance or just got stuck in their glory days.
And so it begins.
We had the Mask Wars and the Vaccine Wars.
It is time for the Gas Wars. People are getting really mad.
Of course nobody wants to pay high prices for gas. The prices are sky rocketing and this is going to hurt a lot of people. I am sure there will even be investigations for price gouging at some point.
But...there are the haters who are furious about how it effects them personally (guess who?) and those who are sucking it up and dealing with the new reality. Me vs. We once again.
I saw this tonight and thought I would post it.
🌻
We can chose to travel less.
We can chose to carpool.
We can chose to ride a bike.
We can chose to walk.
We can chose to use public transportation.
Ukraine Cannot.
🌻
@lovendures my daughter posted this exact quote on her social media page. It’s true. But some still won’t hear it. Sad for them. Let’s continue to send the light and help each other do the same. Have a beautiful peace-filled day.
@lovendures I posted that on my social media page a few days ago....and most of the comments have been "we can choose to open the Keystone pipeline and get our gas that way."
It just amazes me how "spoiled" many of us have become. I'm glad to see the polls that say most Americans are willing to pay higher gas prices if it hurts "THE OTHER UN-NAMED ONE."
I just don't see it much in my red state.
The Keystone pipeline = Canadian sludge oil (thick) flowing down to the Gulf (refined) and put on ships to go elsewhere. America got no profit from this. It could have leaked and threatened the water table. American tribes protested this danger -rightfully so.
You might want to quote Heather Richardson Cox's analysis if they bring up Keystone (which is just a cultural war item Rs are using to blame Biden):
The Keystone Pipeline, which runs from oil sand fields in Alberta, Canada, into the United States and to Cushing, Oklahoma, exists and is fully operational. The XL Pipeline consists of two new additions to the original pipeline, together adding up to 1700 new miles. One addition was designed to connect Cushing to oil refineries in Texas, on the Gulf Coast. That section was built and went into operation in January 2017.
The second extension is the one that caused such a fuss. It was to carry crude oil from Alberta to Kansas, traveling through Montana and North Dakota, where it would pick up U.S. crude oil to deliver it to the Gulf Coast of Texas. (This would have had the effect of raising oil prices in the middle of the country.) This leg crossed an international border, and thus the Canadian company building it needed approval from the State Department. The proposed pipeline would threaten water supplies in the Northwest if it leaked, for it would run over a huge aquifer, and the people who lived downstream from the proposed route, including Lakotas and members of other Indigenous tribes, protested the pipeline’s construction. To read all, go here:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-8-2022?s=r
Brian Tyler Cohen also has some excellent tweets on the matter:
The 2 causes of rising gas prices right now are the 2 things that Republicans would never, ever dare criticize: Vladimir Putin and greedy oil companies. That’s why they’re trying to blame Biden.
There are 9,000 drilling leases that oil companies have but are refusing to use right now.
Republicans think that “energy independence” is achieved by approving an 8%-built pipeline, allowing a foreign company to use eminent domain to steal Americans’ land to transport Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico to ship to countries like China. Cannot make this stuff up.
Reminder: Keystone XL was NOT for America. It was to transport Canadian product to the Gulf of Mexico to ship overseas. America is now more energy independent than under Trump. Any lack of production is due to oil companies not using leases that they own to pad their profits.
Why do Republicans believe a pipeline to transport Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico to ship to other countries would have made America significantly more energy independent?
NEW: President Zelenskyy just praised President Biden for his handling of the crisis in Ukraine and banning of Russian oil: “I am grateful personally to President of the USA Biden… for this leadership.”
Ever notice how the politicians using gas prices as a political weapon are the same ones entrenching our reliance on fossil fuels?
The people who melt down every time gas goes up 7 cents are the same ones blocking a transition to renewables that would end this perpetual cycle. I'm just so fucking tired of kowtowing to petrostates & losing kids in wars over oil. We don't have to live like this; we choose to.
Reminder: Presidents do not control gas prices. At all. But they can sign bills like the American Rescue Plan that puts shots in arms and rebounds the economy at a record pace, creating 7.4 million jobs and bringing the unemployment rate to lower than it was before the pandemic.
Funny how Americans are gladly willing to pay thousands upon thousands of dollars more than European countries for healthcare, but we draw the line at paying all of 50 cents more for gas.
Also, these positive tweets which I just like:
JUST IN: President Biden and Democrats have cut the deficit by more than half — $571 billion — compared to prior years, according to new @USCBO data.
The unemployment rate is now lower than it was even *before* the pandemic. Wow.
I also live in a red state, and many of my red state neighbors are eating crow right now.
For YEARS, they have badmouthed America for giving resources to fledging governments (Afghanistan, Iraqi, Vietnam, etc.). Never mind that America was at least partcially responsible for the government instability anyway. It is heartbreaking when you invest so much into a country only for the corrupt officials to cut and run and hand their country back over to the enemy (I think the Afghanistan pullout hurt Biden, but my red state neighbors seem to have trouble remembering that it was Trump who initiated the pull-out in the first place.) I had to hear how Putin was such a "man's man" and a good leader, blah, blah, blah!
But now...Ha hah! Many of my neighbors can't stand Putin. They see Ukraine as themselves (a spunky, smaller country fighting for themselves against great odds). They even say "well, this is why we have the 2nd Amendment! If Russia attacks us, we can hold them back" (Spoiler alert-The Russian military is pathetic. They have over 100,000 soldiers there and still can't make much progress. Putin has taken most of the country's wealth and spent it on himself and his friends, so it is no wonder his army is doing so badly.)
So I am enjoying myself so much right now. Most of my neighbors seem to be pro-Ukraine and pay for the gas without much complaint. Yes, there is mumblings of "It's all Biden's fault," but I just say "why don't you ask Big Oil to release more fuel? Biden can't make them, because this is actually a democratic republic and a capitalist country. If Biden seized the oil, you will scream 'communism!' But why can't Big Oil do the right thing for once? Why can't it make the sacrifice for our country?"
And yesterday, I had to hear from a right-wing nut about how Putin was being blamed unfairly and that Ukraine was a country of Neo-Nazis. I laughed in her face and asked her about her stance on Putin attacking the hospital with mother and newborns in it. I said "how can you claim to be pro-life? You call rape victims and doctors who help them murderers, but you are in full support of a man who bombs newborns in their cribs? Or are you pro-life because people like you want to decide over the life and the death of newborns?" She left in tears, because many people also supported my position.
And this is in RED STATE TENNESSEE!
Yes, it is a little different for us here. I truly think most people here support Ukraine because their president said "I need ammo, not a ride." They are living out their end-of-the-world, fight in the trenches fantasies through him. Right now, Ukraine looks more like them, and Putin, with his cold demeanor and nice suites, looks more and more like the "elites" that my neighbors have raged about for decades. Watching them back-flip and try to justify their new positions gives me great entertainment. Most of them, I simply nod and agree (why antagonize them if they are willing to help Ukraine?). But those who are supporting Putin are getting a rude awakening from my little corner of the world.
Yes, I know that the people around here will never change. They will twist their views to follow their own creed, because no one wants to admit they were wrong and become the villain of their own story. But I believe the independent voters may be swayed to keep Democrats in power if Republicans continue to go back and forth on their support for Putin. All Democrats need to do is say "if you vote for this supporter of Putin, you are basically voting for Putin." This may offset the inflation issue, especially if Democrats take off the kid gloves and point out that it was Republicans who have recently championed taxing the middle class (thank you, Rick Scott), who championed anti-abortion (if Roe v. Wade is overturned this summer, many states become like Texas), and who love Putin and call him a genius (thank you, Donald Trump).
I know I may be feeling overly optimistic, as many experts still predict that Republicans will take control, but I hope that recent events will show enough voters that Republicans can't be trusted right now, especially after their love affair with Putin over the years. They can't be trusted to fight those who mean to harm us, and they can't be trusted to turn the economy around. All they do is sit on their hands and vote for tax cuts for themselves, which they did when they had full control of the government from 2016-2018.
So I hope Ukraine continues to stay strong, and that the alliance we are part of leads to Putin's withdraw (either by choice or by being taken out of power). One can only hope.
Yes, I know that the people around here will never change.
Never say never. 😉
A long time ago, here, I wrote that whenever I looked at Tulsi Gabbard, I got a dark, uncomfortable feeling.
A duel-citizenship Russian agent named Elena Branson was indicted this week for pushing pro-Kremlin agendas without being registered as a foreign agent.
She donated to one US politician. Wanna guess?
I hope our government is able to expose every rethug who is working-literally-for Russia. There are many.
@polarberry interesting that you felt she had a dark energy. She was always my very last choice (before TFG) in the election. I couldn’t even listen to her speak because I just felt she was so… off. Just intuitive instant dislike.
I gave her more attention than I typically would because it seemed all of my Republican friends were saying how great she was. If a Dem was to win, they wanted her.
interesting about her donor but also not surprising she’s doing the Fox News rounds and spouting propaganda.
I disliked her instantly. Got pushback for it, even here. Not sure why my foreboding about her was so strong. Lord knows she's hardly the only rethug who has (or had) rubles flowing into their pockets.
Democrat, my butt. She was a plant, like others, to divide and defeat the party. I hope all the dirty money dealings are completely exposed, so the whole country can see who is owned by whom.
interesting that you felt she had a dark energy. She was always my very last choice (before TFG) in the election. I couldn’t even listen to her speak because I just felt she was so… off. Just intuitive instant dislike.
When she first came on the scene I liked her. She had some different ideas about things that resonated with me. And then the debates started. Every time I heard her speak it seemed like maybe she had had some bad gas station chicken and had some sort of a tape worm slowly taking over parts of her body starting with her mind. There were occasional moments of lucidity but for the most part, the tape-worm was driving the bus.
Or - as we learned yesterday, maybe more like another Russian tool.
@polarberry Hillary Clinton was right about Gabbard. She got so much grief for suggesting that Gabbard was a Russian asset during the 2020 presidential primary.