("Let's colonize Gaza!") so why does he puss out on Ukraine after a conversation with "Mr Innocent?"

That brings up another sticking point. WTF is our business in Gaza? He is supposed to be securing our borders, not suggesting that we kick citizens out of their own countries.

He has a spokesperson, and he should let her do most of the talking.

I suspect, and I hope, that Trump is just running his mouth, and that he ultimately won't mean some of these things that he's saying.

That is all well and good until someone who is crazy... Netinyahooo or Putin or the next Osama... take him seriously and act on it first.

4 years go by fast. We don't have time for other countries.

This kind of stuff makes me realize why the media is being so soft on Trump lately. It's because he's being soft on the left.

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That brings up another sticking point. WTF is our business in Gaza? He is supposed to be securing our borders, not suggesting that we kick citizens out of their own countries.

He has a spokesperson, and he should let her do most of the talking.

That has always been one of Trump's biggest problems. He has people hired
to handle the media, but he always one-ups them by posting to social media first. That was a problem before he was elected in 2016, it was a problem
all the way through his first term, and now the cycle is repeating itself.

And the thing is that most of Trump's spokespeople actually try to do their jobs, if he'd let them. It isn't like they don't do anything at all, like Biden's last spokesperson.

I suspect, and I hope, that Trump is just running his mouth, and that

ultimately won't mean some of these things that he's saying.

That is all well and good until someone who is crazy... Netinyahooo or Putin or the next Osama... take him seriously and act on it first.

4 years go by fast. We don't have time for other countries.

Agreed, nor do we have time to deal with whatever fallout it might cause.

This kind of stuff makes me realize why the media is being so soft on Trump lately. It's because he's being soft on the left.

I think it could also be that he is soft in the head. BTW, buddying up with Israel is not an issue of the left. Any pro-Israel actions he takes would be buddying up with the (religious) right.


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Exactly. I like Ron's optimism about it but it's not sitting well. We kn

I have noticed that... the quick flop from "Biden funding Ukraine is bad" to "Ukraine funding is mostly humanitarian and is OK"... too.

Well, I didn't hear him say that, but he said something along the lines of "what we gain from their rare earth materials will be worth it."

It's possible I guess. I don't know exactly what materials they have, or
what their value is though. Hopefully Trump knows.

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This kind of stuff makes me realize why the media is being so soft on Tr lately. It's because he's being soft on the left.

I think it could also be that he is soft in the head. BTW, buddying up with Israel is not an issue of the left. Any pro-Israel actions he
takes would be buddying up with the (religious) right.

He's buddying up with a variety of people on both sides. And of course that's not what I had in mind. Maybe he's trying to actually unify the country, but that's actually not what I ordered. :(

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Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

But on the other hand, any aid to Ukraine's military seems like a provocation for Russia. We need to make peace with Russia first before
we take Zelenski's rare earth materials.

We need Ukraine as a negotiation tool for working with Russia. Trump won't give up that until the Russia issue is solved.

But I still think that most aid will be in the form of humanitarian aid, not military aid. And Trump can use **that** as a "good faith" lever in the negotiations.


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But on the other hand, any aid to Ukraine's military seems like a provocation for Russia. We need to make peace with Russia first befor we take Zelenski's rare earth materials.

We need Ukraine as a negotiation tool for working with Russia. Trump won't give up that until the Russia issue is solved.

But I still think that most aid will be in the form of humanitarian aid, not military aid. And Trump can use **that** as a "good faith" lever in the negotiations.

That sounds perfectly legit and logical to me, but I haven't heard any discussion about humanitarian aid, just military aid.

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I have noticed that... the quick flop from "Biden funding Ukraine is bad"
to "Ukraine funding is mostly humanitarian and is OK"... too.

Well, I didn't hear him say that, but he said something along the lines of "what we gain from their rare earth materials will be worth it."

The "humanitarian" bit was in a post right before I responded to this one.

It's possible I guess. I don't know exactly what materials they have, or
what their value is though. Hopefully Trump knows.

Trump probably knows what Biden knew but we'd not believed if Biden had told us. Maybe/hopefully they are similar to the ones that China supplies, since they've got pissed off about the tarrifs and are going to make it harder to
get their mineral exports now.

It would explain why Russia wants control of the area.


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I think it could also be that he is soft in the head. BTW, buddying up with Israel is not an issue of the left. Any pro-Israel actions he takes would be buddying up with the (religious) right.

He's buddying up with a variety of people on both sides. And of course that's not what I had in mind. Maybe he's trying to actually unify the country, but that's actually not what I ordered. :(

Unifying wouldn't be bad, but I don't think of monkeying around in Gaza as being a part of "unifying the USA" in any way.

Something I have noticed here... while gas prices started going down around
the election, and have not fluctuated much, grocery prices are still going
up. I don't (usually) buy eggs but other things are also going up. Used
to be that at least junk food was affordable, for folks who couldn't afford better, but even that is going up.

I would like to see issues like these... ones that affect our pocket books,
and undoubtedly the issues that got Trump elected... addressed. Instead we
are getting the distractions of "let's make Gaza a resort" and "let's fire
a bunch of people (which won't be good for the economy)" and "let's turn
Elon and his minions loose in the government systems."

IMHO, they are trying to distract us from the fact that fixing the economy
is going to be a lot more work than the quick fixes that were promised.


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Well, I didn't hear him say that, but he said something along the lines "what we gain from their rare earth materials will be worth it."

The "humanitarian" bit was in a post right before I responded to this
one.

It's possible I guess. I don't know exactly what materials they have, or what their value is though. Hopefully Trump knows.

Trump probably knows what Biden knew but we'd not believed if Biden had told us. Maybe/hopefully they are similar to the ones that China
supplies, since they've got pissed off about the tarrifs and are going
to make it harder to get their mineral exports now.

It would explain why Russia wants control of the area.

Good point. Maybe the "Ukraine has biolabs" thing was used as an excuse, but I think there's truth to that also because there has been witness corroboration. If it is true, then it's my expectation that Trump will do something about that also (kill 2 birds.)

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Something I have noticed here... while gas prices started going down around the election, and have not fluctuated much, grocery prices are still going up. I don't (usually) buy eggs but other things are also going up. Used to be that at least junk food was affordable, for folks who couldn't afford better, but even that is going up.

I don't see grocery prices rising here, but certain things inflated quite a bit while Biden was president. Certain products that I buy suddenly became at about $1 more than before.

I would like to see issues like these... ones that affect our pocket books, and undoubtedly the issues that got Trump elected... addressed. Instead we are getting the distractions of "let's make Gaza a resort"
and "let's fire a bunch of people (which won't be good for the economy)" and "let's turn Elon and his minions loose in the government systems."

The Elon Musk thing appeals to me. I was disappointed when I heard that USAID's workforce was slashed to "less than 300 employees." I don't know why it takes 300 people to shovel our money into a flaming dumpster. But at least that number is down from thousands that it had before.

I'm confident that we will see a return on all this money saving, unless they plan to pass those savings on to Ukraine and Israel.

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Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

But I still think that most aid will be in the form of humanitarian aid, not military aid. And Trump can use **that** as a "good faith" lever in the negotiations.

That sounds perfectly legit and logical to me, but I haven't heard any discussion about humanitarian aid, just military aid.

Keep in mind that most of this is just speculation on my part.

I've tried to do some research into this topic, but finding reliable information is hard. Which means that people are playing with their cards close to their chest because negotiations will happen soon.


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It would explain why Russia wants control of the area.

Good point. Maybe the "Ukraine has biolabs" thing was used as an excuse, but I
think there's truth to that also because there has been witness corroboration.
If it is true, then it's my expectation that Trump will do something about tha
also (kill 2 birds.)

Lots of places have biolabs. I assume in this case the accusation was that
the labs were being used for chemical or biological warfare agents?


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Something I have noticed here... while gas prices started going down around the election, and have not fluctuated much, grocery prices are still going up. I don't (usually) buy eggs but other things are also going up. Used to be that at least junk food was affordable, for folks who couldn't afford better, but even that is going up.

I don't see grocery prices rising here, but certain things inflated quite a bi
while Biden was president. Certain products that I buy suddenly became at abou
$1 more than before.

They are still going up here, some things 10-20% so.

I would like to see issues like these... ones that affect our pocket books, and undoubtedly the issues that got Trump elected... addressed. Instead we are getting the distractions of "let's make Gaza a resort" and "let's fire a bunch of people (which won't be good for the economy)" and "let's turn Elon and his minions loose in the government systems."

The Elon Musk thing appeals to me. I was disappointed when I heard that USAID'
workforce was slashed to "less than 300 employees." I don't know why it takes 300 people to shovel our money into a flaming dumpster. But at least that number is down from thousands that it had before.

There are probably some things that USAID does they are actually supposed to
be doing that still need doing. I had never heard of them before now. Had you?

I'm confident that we will see a return on all this money saving, unless they plan to pass those savings on to Ukraine and Israel.

Maybe. Back in the early 2000s, we had a gubenitorial candidate (R) who ran against "waste, fraud, and abuse." He won. His minions were "business
people" and not "politicians" and claimed that they would be cutting things that met that criteria. Sort of like Elon, they got in & poked around in computer systems and state programs that they knew little about. They did
cut some of the waste and abuse out. However, they also cut neccesities,
made up a bunch of really weird rules, and, even worse, added their own waste, fraud, and abuse.

When confronted, the response was basically "it is ok because it is 'our
side' that is wasting/frauding/abusing now instead of theirs." The very loyal bought that, but most others like me did not. He lost re-election. It was
not close.

It took us at least 12 years to finally dig out of the mess they made, and
I am not convinced we are completely out of it still. Kentucky is not a big state, so you figure 12 years for a small state... 3 years for every one
year they were in office... will be many, many more years for all 50 of us.


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But I still think that most aid will be in the form of humanitarian a not military aid. And Trump can use **that** as a "good faith" lever the negotiations.

That sounds perfectly legit and logical to me, but I haven't heard an discussion about humanitarian aid, just military aid.

Keep in mind that most of this is just speculation on my part.

I've tried to do some research into this topic, but finding reliable information is hard. Which means that people are playing with their
cards close to their chest because negotiations will happen soon.

I feel more ripped off by Ukraine than by anyone else (except for maybe Democrats.) They have dirt on Biden. Now I wonder if they have dirt on Trump too.

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Lots of places have biolabs. I assume in this case the accusation was that the labs were being used for chemical or biological warfare agents?

Yea, Putin's original argument was that Ukraine had "biolabs" and the invasion began while we were all still sore about covid.

https://www.c-span.org/clip/senate-committee/user-clip-nuland-confirms-existenc e-of-bio-research-labs-in-ukraine/5005368

I don't know if Ukraine's bio labs were intended for weaponizing viruses, but Putin definitely inferred that by stating that the biolab was the reason for his invasion.

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There are probably some things that USAID does they are actually
supposed to be doing that still need doing. I had never heard of them before now. Had you?

No, I had never heard of them. I feel bad for all the Americans who died in poverty while that department was spending millions of dollars on transgender propaganda and experiments.

I found an article on cnn.com about how USAID provides lifesaving HIV treatment for people in Sudan. The reporter said that "many people will die if NSAID cuts the funding."

But I look at it this way: If the Sudanese taxayers don't give me money for N95 masks, I'm 20% more likely to catch an airborne virus. So I think they'd better start sending me some money to make sure that doesn't happen, or else I'm gonna have sad news for CNN to report on.

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Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

I feel more ripped off by Ukraine than by anyone else (except for maybe Democrats.) They have dirt on Biden. Now I wonder if they have dirt on Trump too.

Possible, but doubtful. We'll have to wait and see, though.


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Lots of places have biolabs. I assume in this case the accusation was that the labs were being used for chemical or biological warfare agents?

Yea, Putin's original argument was that Ukraine had "biolabs" and the invasion
began while we were all still sore about covid.

I don't know if Ukraine's bio labs were intended for weaponizing viruses, but Putin definitely inferred that by stating that the biolab was the reason for his invasion.

With the timing of it, one does wonder if Putin chose "biolabs" hoping it was
a good excuse he could get away with.


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I don't know if Ukraine's bio labs were intended for weaponizing viruses Putin definitely inferred that by stating that the biolab was the reason his invasion.

With the timing of it, one does wonder if Putin chose "biolabs" hoping
it was a good excuse he could get away with.

I was supportive of it at the time. I was and still am outraged by the virology industry. But now that it's costing me money, looking back, I guess I'd say let them have their little bio lab.

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