Hypocrisy is alive and well in the 3 one god religions. How many Christians do you know that support the idea of “Turn the other cheek”? How many support the idea of “Though Shall Not Kill”? What about human rights? Not to mention the molestation of little boys. The “Christian” right support of Trump, a man who represents everything Jesus spoke against two thousand years ago. If Jesus were alive today he would be horrified at what is being done in his name. Then there are the Jews. For all the talk of anti Semitism and anti racism lets look at the settler movement in Israel. Its a badge of honor to be anti-Arab and to feel they have the right to land that they say was given to them in some words written thousands of years ago. Kill, steel, discriminate, its all fine it seems as long as its against anyone who is of another religion. And lets look at who just got elected in Israel. The most right wing, screw Arab regime in the country’s history. Lets not forget Islam. Those great religious thinkers the Taliban blatantly discriminate against women and anyone who disagrees with their narrow interpretation of the Koran. The Saudis are not much better. The “Islamic Republic” of Iran is sending weapons to Russia to kill indiscriminately the people of Ukraine. Not to mention they kill their own people for not wearing a head scarf! Allah ahoukbar? not much evidence of that in any of the leaders who claim adherence to the tenants of any of those religions. If only one could be a fly on the wall of a meeting between Moses, Jesus and Mohamed where they have to wonder “What the hell happened?”

I have never been a fan of Tucker Carlson. Never trusted his practiced sincerity. He tells lies so well with a straight face that one can see why he gets an audience. I never saw him as stupid, just a charlatan who is out for money and does not imagine that what he says will be taken seriously enough to do any real damage. Catching a bit of his show today on Fox it seems pretty apparent that success has gone to his head and he has conveniently detached himself from reality. He also makes the mistake of presenting a point of view that is so narrow that it is obvious what he thinks. Sincerity works much better if there is some subtlety. But I dont think he really believes what he is saying. If he does he must be insane and I dont think he is insane. Just another charlatan who has learned that one can make a lot of money out of lying to the uneducated who dont know any better. Most people dont know history so they are destined to see it repeated. But one can make a lot of money out of those people. The problem is WE DONT WANT history to repeat itself. There were Tucker Carlson types back in 1939. Lets not spend money overseas. Nothing to do with us. How soon we forget! That’s why backing Ukraine is so important.

Well its Christmas time again and the world is still deep in trouble. Burying one’s head in the sand is alive and well it seems,

1. At least there is a bit of comedy in the Megan and Harry doc. Aside from committing the biggest TV sin, being boring – the doc’s first three episodes showed just how out of touch with reality those two are and Megan particularly comes off as a shallow fame digger. Harry comes off as a besotted simpleton. Switching to the other news showing starvation in Somalia with millions facing death, the devastation in Ukraine where little old ladies are freezing and living like cave men, floods, etc – how are we to have any sympathy for Megan and Harry? Boo Hoo, you have to put up with paparazzi while you live the life of luxury in your big mansion while most of your countrymen are suffering from inflation, trying to make ends meet etc.

2. Speaking of Ukraine, there is still some thinking about a negotiated settlement. The problem is simple. If Putin can show any win, then the message will resonate with China and Taiwan will be the next drama the US will face. And that drama will dwarf the Ukraine situation. Also, the money spent in Ukraine is a drop in the bucket of the US defense expenditure and in fact, given the damage Russia is doing to its military capability (not to mention its credibility) at around 5% is a cheap investment for the US to make. Meanwhile, people dont realize that when the US commits billions of $ most of that money is spent buying US arms and goods so much of the money stays in the US and is in fact a stimulus to the defense industry providing jobs to US workers and to research on ever more sophisticated weapons. The reality is that Putin will loose as the West cannot afford the price to let him win. We still have enough leaders who remember the lessons of World War 2, The sooner the Russian people realize this and get rid of him the better off they and the world will be. There is another silver lining, though long term but significant and mostly overlooked. The pressure on Europe to find alternatives to fossil fuels will end up as a knife in the heart of the Russian economy, Saudi Arabia and other oil rich states as well. There is good reason that the Gulf States and even Saudi Arabia are looking to build up there non oil business. They see the writing on the wall. Russia should do the same instead of waiting its energies on trying to be something it is not.

Tulsi Gabbord was just on Fox once again showing she is another Nevil Chamberlain. Nevil did in fact deliver “Peace in our time” – only problem was that “our time” turned out to be short lived. The reality that Ms Gabbord does not understand is that peace cannot be attained by giving in to a leader of a powerful country who is dedicated to change the map in his favor. Hitler was such a man – so is Putin. Both have said so. Both sent their military to do just that. After great pain and suffering Hitler failed. Putin needs to fail as well.

The “progress” of Putin from his appointment by Yeltsin, Bush peering into his soul, the Russians singing his praises like a pop star to ever more authoritarian rule, having opponents jailed, or poisoned and eventually to his current Totalitarian position should be a lesson on what can happen to a politician who gets away with norms little by little over time.
All those supporters of Trump today who have seen his attempts to overturn an election that he lost should consider what happens if he gets elected in 2024. He could well follow in the footsteps of his hero Putin. Get rid of the 22ed Amendment to the Constitution that prevents him running for a third term. Making his son or daughter Vice President. Having Trump Jr. succeed him as President. Republicans be ware. If you make a monster to attack your opponents, one day that monster will turn on you and bite YOU in the ass.

If Putin had managed to conquer Ukraine in a few days as he seems to have intended, he might have gotten away with it. A quick fait accompli as happened in Crimea usually makes it difficult for a democracy to want to respond with any long term commitment and sacrifice. The fact that this did not happen now makes the decision to invade Ukraine an unmitigated blunder.
The world now sees exactly what makes Putin tick and the days of President Bush looking into Putin’s soul and finding good are long gone. The days of Obama thinking Russia is no longer an automatic threat are also long gone.
For the people of Ukraine, any warm feelings about Russia are also gone. Many realize that the war was the work of only one man, Putin, but the atrocities of Bucha, and all the other towns the Russians have attacked or occupied have delivered the message that the evil is more than just one man. Russian soldiers committed those atrocities, not Putin himself.
The end result is that the Ukraine is lost to Russia forever. When Finland and Sweden join NATO it will be yet another confirmation of Putin’s blunder. Then there is the USA and the military establishment who now have been given added reasons to build America’s military machine. They are seeing Ukraine as a way to seriously weaken Russia without loosing American lives in the process. The same goes for the Eastern part of Europe who know all too well about the Russians and have experienced Russia in the recent past.
All in all, Russia under Putin is headed for long term pain. Russian oil money well be used to rebuild Ukraine. The world will not accept any other result. That will keep Russia backward for a long time as the cost of rebuilding Ukraine increases with every shell the Russian army shoots into the country. What a waste! What an idiot Putin turned out to be!

Today of Fox News Kevin McCarthy was again trying to attack the Biden administration for not sending arms before the Russian invasion apparently forgetting that Fox, many Republicans, the Ukrainians and most Europeans thought US intelligence was going overboard predicting a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russians said they had no intention to invade, Zilensky told the US to stop scaring the Ukrainians, the Biden administration did not want to give Putin an excuse to invade. Were arms secretly being supplied, yes, but for good reason this was kept a secret.
Kevin McCarthy never cared about the Ukrainians, he has been single minded about getting reelected and becoming Speaker of the house. Now he is just another Monday morning quarterback changing his tune as the winds change. The Reality is that Biden cant win Republican support no matter what he does. He is for something, Republicans will be against it. That is the reality of US politics today. Too bad Putin figured this out long ago and has incorporated it into his strategy and he is not the only one. In the US political scene of today it is not just domestic lobby groups that try to influence government decision making – it is foreign governments as well. The most successful foreign government has been Israel, but China, Russia, are not far behind. The problem, is in a capitalistic society it is easy to hide the true source of the money especially if money is funneled into groups that support your view for their own reasons. There are plenty of useful idiots to tap into.

On my brief look at what Hannity was saying on Fox I was surprised to see he is still pushing the idea that President Biden is not all there and the rest of the world is mocking the USA because of it. He even showed a clip from an Arab TV station that mocked Biden. He seems to have forgotten that the most mocked President in living memory was Trump. Not only in the USA but almost everywhere around the world, The hair, the crazy statements, comedians the world over had a field day. If he wants clips to show that they are all over the internet.
Meanwhile, any country that was not sympathetic to the US would of course have negative coverage of a US President. Strange that an American on American media would do the same. Then again, Hannity cannot be accused of being pro American – unless he can twist it to be pro Trump.
Lets not forget the fun shows like “Spitting Image” had with President Regan. “The Presidents Brain is Missing!” was a great one that hinted that Nancy Regan was really running the show. The show brutalized Thatcher and just about everyone else as well. That’s what comedians do.
In fact, compared to Trump, President Biden is not in the comedian league with Trump. Trump was so nuts it was great comedian fodder. Biden is too normal. I will bet there are many comedians who miss Trump – not for his politics but for his nutty statements.

As Putin claims the Russian forces are doing well, NOT killing civilians and what Ukrainians they do kill are Nazis – Bucha is fake news and photos and videos manufactured – its time for NATO to start having some fake news as well – like flying “fake” F-16s to take out the Russian air force. If Russia complains just say it must be fake news and no NATO forces are in Ukraine. Photos? videos? they are manufactured. Two can play the fake news game.