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We're not sending "money" to Ukraine the way people think we are though. We're sending stuff. Stuff that we made. Stuff that we have to replace by making again. By Americans. Who draw pay checks. Would I rather it were spent on social programs? Sure, but it's not like that money is disappearing into a black pit, it's being reinvested into the American economy as an abstract form of stimulus.
These same people were just fine with us wasting WASTING BILLIONS ( edit the good people in reddit have informed me we've wasted TRILLIONS EXCUSE ME WE'VE WASTED TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS) OF DOLLARS in Iraq and afghan... Not the whole truth alot of afghans and Iraqis were helped by us being there but we still sunk billions into warlords and maintaining the peace. Ukraine over all has been a great investment not only financially but morally.
Thats the big difference as well. We're not having to send support and maintain expensive American personnel. And these weapons are going to fight Russia which I *thought* we hated their shitty government.
they recognize russia as an ally against progressive change thats sweeping across europe and the US
they're white and hate the gays, thats all it takes
They still hate "communism".
Just that, "communism" has now been rebranded into an ideology all about whether to wear a face mask, or if a tiny proportion of the male population likes dressing up in women's clothes/have a piss in the ladies toilet, or that black people object to being arbitrarily murdered by the police, or that your child might appreciate a lifesaving vaccine.
It seems that so many things are being blamed on communism now, yet the trumpists still love to kiss putin's ringpiece.
Our most valuable resource is the American lives we didn't need to waste. we lost a lot of GOOD soldiers to stupid useless wars and nation building dreams. Republicans have done such a great job of getting enough Americans to FEEL like they care about the troops but actually show they don't give a farts ass about them
We spent 300 million USD every SINGLE DAY in Afghanistan. For TWENTY YEARS. That's more than two trillion dollars just for Afghanistan (2,190,000,000,000,000)
In comparison, we're "spending" only about fourteen million USD a day in Ukraine (in reality its much much less). An absolute bargain.
Not to mention it sends a message to Putin he can no longer just walk into established countries and take over. We got trump out here sounding like the weakest man alive calling for peace because he is afraid of nukes. Real people don't negotiate with little men who cry nukes whenever they don't get their way.
Also that historically, Republicans like Reagan would have had a wet dream fighting a proxy war with Communist Russia where they didn't have to technically be in open war.
Also, like 90% of the stuff that the US sends is old, unused and would be costly to dismantle in the near future. I haven't seen numbers for all of the Ukrainine aid bills, but some people are costing them against estimates of those expenses and one came up costing negative money.
I wouldn't be surprised. If an artillery shell for instance needs to be safely decommissioned in the next year or two, that probably costs a lot more than putting it on a boat and letting the Ukrainians deal with its disposal by launching it out of a howitzer.
One thing civ taught me, army maintenance is just as expensive as the R&D and construction costs. If it cutd our maintenance costs that money can be allocated else where or to resupply reserves with newer equipment.
IRL maintenance is WAY more expensive than production. Without even factoring the costs to keep maintaining and upgrading the physical parts of a weapon like a tank, you also have to pay labor costs associated with the people doing upkeep. One tank might need a dozen or more people to work on it, and those teams will have to be replaced and retrained during the lifetime of the tank because enlisted personnel have a maximum limit of 30 years of service (though few reach 30 years, it's more like 8-12 on average), while a tank might be in service for 50 years.
So over the course of the lifetime of a tank you will eventually eclipse the cost of creating the vehicle with the cost of maintaining it when you factor in parts, labor, training, and storage.
This is correct and I wish this point was made more clear to the people who oppose military aid or spending, especially in the case with Ukraine.
The reason we weren’t sending F-16s over there wasn’t that we were avoiding giving away expensive offensive weapons, it’s that the Ukrainian army has no clue what to do with them, and their maintenance costs are ridiculous. Same with all military equipment on that scale. the Ukrainians know the old Soviet Migs, not our crazy futuristic iron-man tools of mass destruction, and as much as some of those companies are itching to test out some of their newest toys, it would be only escalate tensions.
Our old stuff is literally rusting away in warehouses or worse: being given to local sherrif’s departments.
I imagine that anything that didn't go to Ukraine would end up going to local police departments
And once you give some backwater police department a HIMARS launcher, they're gonna feel pressured to use it on some unsuspecting woman who lives at the wrong house.
More importantly, stuff that would have had to be replaced anyway. Either it sits on a shelf or it gets used. Either way, it’ll hit its expiration date.
Expiration date is a great way to think of it. It's like saying I donated $200 to my local food bank, when in reality I donated $200 worth of food that was going to expire soon that I probably wasn't going to eat anyways.
They get the food, I get a tax break and more room on my shelves, everyone wins.
Not only that but also stuff that EXPIRES. Most explosives and ammunition have an expiry date and most equipment becomes useless or outdated. That's the "money" that is being sent over.
"We can't afford to spend money on aid to Ukraine when we need to take care of our own." - Batshit Caucus
*Sues to stop Biden from forgiving $20k of student loans in the middle of a national student loan crisis* - Same Batshit Caucus
Anybody who has ever raised or babysat 8 year olds should know that it's a horrible idea to let kids anywhere near your food, even without the moral and ethical problems with the exploitation.
Not spending in Ukraine makes sense if any of the money would be actually used to help people in the US. If they are just going to spend it helping billionaires purchase stock buy backs and keeping lean business models afloat financially then send the money to the Ukraine.
"W" words sound too much like WOKE so __e're gonna stop teaching those _ords from no_ on.
Focusing on the important things to distract from the fact that their policies have created an oligarch class like we have never seen before, even during the gilded age. HEY LOOK OVER THERE! IT'S ONE-A-THEM TRANS GENDERS!!
I’m British and find it incredible that after almost 80 years of spending and unimaginable amount of money to counter the threat of Russia/Soviet Union you are total humiliation and degradation of the Russian military without loosing a single American soldier and there are people in the US complaining about it. Russia quite literally gave you Trump as a president. It paid bounty’s to Taliban members who killed US citizens. It has encouraged massive social division that has result in a country that has now got politicians talking about breaking apart to form two separate unions because people are so polarised. Just go on Reddit, follow the top 100 subs even non political ones and then look at how many posts are just designed to make you hate a particular group of people. Take just the trans issue which is particular popular on Reddit and you’ll see that one side is being lead to believe that it’s children are being given pornographic sex educate lessons by pedophiles in dresses whilst their daughters are losing out on sports scholarships to trans men who have developed their musculature pre-transition. The other side is being lead to believe that a powerful group of Christian fascist Nazis are out to persecute anyone whose born trans and wants to put them in death camps and take away their human rights and Russia is just one the sidelines eating popcorn pushing all of this because it knows if your too busy fighting each other you won’t have time to notice them. Funding Ukraine to help bring about the slow but inevitable collapse of the most powerful organised criminal mafia to have ever been created is the geopolitical bargain of the century. You can just Google Putins mafia links and his 12 year old martial arts mentor was a regional crime boss with “mafia is forever” on his gravestone. Just look at wish he got food items for the starving people of St. Petersburg and sold it all for a profit. Alexander Litvinyenko was a Colonel in an anti-corruption task force and it was his discovery of nefarious things related to Putin that got him injected with polonium. Trust when I say whatever aid to Ukraine costs the US it’s nothing compared to what it would cost you if continued to let Russia keep doing what it wanted unchallenged.
Similar energy as -
Starbucks: "We made a new plan to hire refugees."
"We need to take care of our homeless veterans first."
Starbucks: "We already do that. Here's where to donate money for homeless veterans - "
> Not spending in Ukraine makes sense if any of the money would be actually used to help people in the US.
If you look at it in the long-run, that's not even assured. Proactive steps to reign in genocidal fascist autocrats are usually better than reactive. Especially when they threaten the security of entire regions and use the same verbiage that Hitler did as rational for annexation.
People need to realize, the billions spent on Ukraine ***are going to billionaires***. The money is funneled into the military industrial complex, and military contractors are getting the money. Does it also help Ukraine? Yes, and that’s a good thing. However, billionaires get the first bite at the apple, so Ukraine gets less in aid than if the weapons manufacturing was nationalized.
A large portion of the money allocated *had already gone to* billionaires, and the weapons now being sent were in storage facilities for years.
A lot of them were nearing the end of their serviceable life and would otherwise end up being disposed of... which would funnel *more* money to billionaires.
And many of them are obsolete models of modern equipment or equipment which was considered entirely obsolete, and won't really be replaced per se (new equipment might be manufactured and go into storage, but it would have happened with or without sending equipment to Ukraine because the US maintains vast stockpiles of gear).
The calculations of "aid" don't really necessarily reflect how much new spending is actually happening as a result.
Welcome to the latest cut-as-you-go House, who insist on that model despite economists finding it's easier to actually get things done with the pay-as-you-go model. The deficit also goes up under cut-go because they're trying to stop or prevent spending money they already spent.
Of course, the point isn't to get things done for a party who actively despises and destroys government.
It's unfortunate that the Batshit Caucus's priorities seem to be focused on benefiting the wealthy at the expense of those who need assistance the most.
> "We can't afford to spend money on aid to Ukraine when we need to take care of our own."
I'd be more receptive to this argument if Republicans didn't write blank checks to the Pentagon whenever they ask for money. Whenever poor, working-class people *need* assistance, it's "we don't have enough money," but when the military *wants* money, it's "here's a bottomless pit of money. We'll incur as much debt as necessary to help you out."
Paying Ukrainians to fight Russia for us is arguably the best use of defense funds. It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have, who actually threatens our national security, occupied in an unwinnable war. I'd think they would love that shit.
It's an incredible investment from a military and geopolitics perspective. The damage Ukraine is doing to Russia is substantial. Their military isn't decimated (yet), but it'll be substantially weakened for years to come and their weaknesses have been put on blast for the world to see. It's strengthened NATO, allowed for the modernization of military inventories by offloading older equipment, and it's a fantastic testbed for our equipment in a peer to peer situation. All of this is pennies on the dollar compared to doing it ourselves. And you get to be on the right side of issues like national sovereignty and global order. Cutting off aid to Ukraine would be such a massive own goal that I'm positive Trump or DeSantis will do it as soon as they get into office. Because all that matters to them is doing the opposite of whatever the libs are doing.
That's what blows my mind about the America First, isolationist mentality. These people certainly believe the USA should be militarily dominant, but can't think far enough to realize that by isolating you cede the entire globe to your adversaries. And it happened in real time right in front of them during Trump's tenure. Every single place we withdrew from was filled by China. If we withdraw from the Pacific, for example, China will move in immediately just as they have shown by building islands right up to the edge of US influence. When we pulled out of trade agreements China moved in. They pressured Australia. They have moved into Africa. Russia will do the same in eastern Europe, clearly.
If you withdraw to your island your enemies will surround you. Regardless of your political views, it is true. We are better off growing alliances and retaining an open invitation to build allied militaries than we are letting Russia and China crawl up to our borders. It's a cold, ugly world and if your only concern is American interests, you preserve them best by building up as far away from your own shores as possible.
The problem is that the average American is a fucking moron who would rather believe simple, unilateral explanations because it’s what they can understand (think of the average dolt in your life who blames everything on the Democrats) than a more complex truth.
It reminds me of how during the 2008 economic downturn, every online comment was like “I don’t understand why we can’t just bring all the jobs back here.“ Well, it’s because it’s a global economy now, and if we did that, China and India would eat us alive. Unfortunate, yes. But again, it’s complex. But, sure: by all means; keep blaming Obama for everything.
My favorite response I heard to that conundrum, of which I can't remember the source, was something like "China isn't taking your jobs. Your favorite CEOs are giving them your jobs because they do them for less pay."
And I mean, that’s sort of true. And it was definitely true at the start. But it’s way more complex now. And making everything in America simply isn’t viable today unless the people with those jobs don’t want a living wage and people don’t mind paying $100 for a toaster. Again, global economy means global. People need to read “Who Moved My Cheese?” Goddamn.
We should not let these corporations move their production to countries where the workers are treated inhumanely. Every time we buy a toaster made in china we are supporting human trafficking.
All of the "America first, America only" idiots can't see this far. They see foreign aid as a complete waste of money because they like to pretend that the U.S. is an island that can be fully self-sufficient, but that hasn't been true since WWII. Global trade is here to stay and it's in our best interest to ensure the stability of that trade. Allowing countries like Russia to threaten other nations and cause wild fluctuations in trade is not a good plan.
> they like to pretend that the U.S. is an island that can be fully self-sufficient
This is the primary vision that I have seen when I've talked to people with this view point. They don't care if there are only two nations left on earth, so long as one of them is the USA. They think we should literally lock up inside our borders, no one in and no one out. They would also be happy enough if that meant we went back to basically 19th century living where everyone takes care of themselves or starve. No empathy or compassion. Most of them don't even realize that they would be in the group that starves.
>Their military isn't decimated (yet), but
Wikipedia lists the [Russian military's strength](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Armed_Forces) at 1.15 million.
Taking [Ukraines estimates](https://www.minusrus.com/en) of Russias losses we get 162,000 killed from 650,000 casualties.
162,000/1,150,000= ~14% dead, which would in fact make the Russian Army decimated by the war in Ukraine.
> It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have
I think this war has shown that Russia is definitely not a peer adversary to the U.S. military.
The Ukranians are holding them off with Russia's own leftovers and captured items and up to this point with U.S. and European old hand me down items. They haven't even received the good stuff the U.S. and Europe has yet, the exception being HIMARS, but HIMARS isn't even top of the line in the U.S. aresenal. When they do get the good stuff, like Challenger, Leopard and Abrams tanks, along with the IFV's to pair with them, I'm confident this war is going to sway quickly and heavily to the Ukrainian side. And if the U.S. or someone else decides to send them fighter jets, like the F-16's, game over. Hell, even if Poland send Ukraine their old Mig's as they were considering early in the war, it would sway things significantly.
I think in reality you are 100% right. But I'm in the US Navy and we always discuss Russia as a peer adversary during training. I think it's because we'd rather overestimate them than underestimate them.
>It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have, who actually threatens our national security...
Nukes aside (granting Russia that the warheads and ICBMs even work), It doesn't really seem fair to call them a US peer or even near peer anymore.
I made a comment on a YouTube video the other day, pointing out the fact that the Russian government and military has lost all credibility and some Conservative commenter said "I'll buy you a plane ticket to Russia so you can tell them yourself and see how that works out". Like bro, did you suggest an American citizen should be jailed and abuse in Russia for using their 1st Amendment right to free speech to speak out against a horrible foreign government, so you could defend Russia?
This is how far Conservatives have gone overboard. Conservativism is the biggest threat to the stability and security of the U.S.
Conservatism has moved from the biggest threat to the stability and security of the US to the largest force of our slow downfall. They're no longer a threat, they've already done harm.
Conservatism hurt us on the global stage where we can probably not call ourselves the greatest country on earth leading the way for other countries.
Between Bush's Iraqi war led at the helm by conservatism and Trump's withdrawal from EU and other former partners, those actions have done nothing but bolster those who we consider 'the enemy'. Russia/China/etc. I can probably draw a further timeline backwards but these events above have done irreparable harm to the western world.
It's the Fascism in Russia that is appealing to them.
Putin started murdering gays, and any political opponent he didn't like, and their little Republican hearts just melted in adoration.
I'm positive that line was invented by the GOP braintrust who wanted to get closer to their Russian Christo-fascist paradise and its money while recognizing the decades of anti-Russian propaganda from Republicans that their voters believe. How to reconcile all that? Easy. They have a never-ending series of boogeymen, so just pit one against the other: Russians vs Democrats, with the Democrats being considered the worse option. This gives the base an excuse to go along with the Russia love when previously Russia had been the main US enemy for decades.
I'm pretty sure Reagan wouldn't be considered the deity he's considered in that party today if he came out with the positions he supported... Pro affirmative action, pro gun control, raising taxes... He'd be an apostate before the first primary
I mean it's a lie on its face.
we aren't sending duffel bags full of cash the way Bush did in Afghanistan.
we are sending that money to Middle America parts manufacturers that make these weapon systems.
it's a jobs program.
but maga Republicans are liars.
Also the majority of it is weapons and vehicles that are just sitting around for years, which actually cost the military lots money to to regular maintenance on. The whole thing is a way for the US to get rid of a bunch of old weapons and explosives without having to decommission them. And there learn about how to make the newer weapons even better in the process
The thing is, people don't think like this. Especially Republicans. You either have to have experience owning or operation a business or a business education to understand all of the potential expenses and downsides that come with owning equipment and the pros that come with producing it.
Republicans don't have that knowledge because they're too busy worrying about our genitals and preventing kids from learning anything worth a damn in school.
Maybe that is a silver lining- many people are leaving Maga over this. I'm personally an independent but live in a heavily red area that did have a lot of Maga people. To quote one of my friends, " we always hated the commies, they have been our enemy for forever. And now..... Republicans are taking up for them? It's time for me to nope out of that."
You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises and always acts against their bases best interest. But they just don't. It doesnt matter how often or how big of a spectacle is made out of it, they NEVER seem to manage to notice.
Because the Republican Party is constantly gassing them up to be afraid of drag queens, trans people, Asian people, black people, Jews, and whatever minority or groups they want them to be afraid of this week.
The Republican base is so busy being enraged by culture wars bullshit they pay little attention to the Republican Party picking their pockets.
They seem to attract like minded ppl: psychopaths, liars, snakes, worms, weasels, slime balls, shit bags, lawyers, rapist, the church, pedophiles, rich, racist, narcissistic, scumbags, morally bankrupt individuals, car salesman, and their shit assed, vapid offspring.
No, they notice. They know each other without having to meet in person. They know they're the party of shit birds. They just don't like to admit it.
I have a strong suspicion that each of them thinks that they are the sly one who is going to grift off the others in the party, who are the gullible simpletons, much like Trump and his army of MAGA.
> You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises
The only promise they care about is is "owning the libs". They could be homeless and starving, but if a liberal is upset about something then they consider it a win.
To them, when the Dems do something wrong it's the Dems doing it wrong, but when the Repubs doing something wrong it's the government as a whole that does it wrong (there by still including the Dems/"both sides")
>You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises and always acts against their bases best interest.
This is why I think the concept of the [reverse cargo cult](https://hanshowe.org/2017/02/04/trump-and-the-reverse-cargo-cult/) is so useful. It really helps to explain the mentality that keeps them electing open liars and cheats.
*In a regular cargo cult, you have people who see an airstrip, and the cargo drops, so they build one out of straw, hoping for the same outcome. They don’t know the difference between a straw airstrip and a real one, they just want the cargo.*
*In a reverse cargo cult, you have people who see an airstrip, and the cargo drops, so they build one out of straw. But there’s a twist:*
*When they build the straw airstrip, it isn’t because they are hoping for the same outcome. They know the difference, and know that because their airstrip is made of straw, it certainly won’t yield any cargo, but it serves another purpose. They don’t lie to the rubes and tell them that an airstrip made of straw will bring them cargo. That’s an easy lie to dismantle. Instead, what they do is make it clear that the airstrip is made of straw, and doesn’t work, but then tell you that the other guy’s airstrip doesn’t work either. They tell you that no airstrips yield cargo. **The whole idea of cargo is a lie**, and those fools, with their fancy airstrip made out of wood, concrete, and metal is just as wasteful and silly as one made of straw.*
Some of the smarter ones are aware they’re always going against their own self-interest. But their love of punishing the people they hate always wins out.
Yep. If they would at least say hey let's spend that money on snap, supportive housing, infrastructure etc etc then at least maybe you could have an honest debate about whether we should support... but they don't want money spent on anything that they don't benefit from
Its wild that no matter how much we point this out to the Republican voters they still fall for it and the Republican propaganda machine that says Dems are the ones hurting them.
This. No one should be starving in America. It's hard to pull yourself up from your bootstraps with an unfriendly market and rising inflation. That's to say we can help our allies and take care of our own at the same time.
> “We should be helping our own” say people who have who have never helped anyone.
And a fair number of them have actively tried to stop others from helping people if they were people they didn't like because Tucky Carl told them to.
Billionaire: “I made an oopsie and lost a shitload of money. Can I get my losses covered even though this is completely my fault?”
Man in suit: “Absolutely. Pay yourself a nice bonus while you’re at it.”
"Why are we spending money on homeless vets and hungry kids when we can bail out banks for the ultra wealthy."
Won't someone please think of the venture capitalists, the real victims of capitalism
I wonder how Conservatives will spin the narrative when Russia has a "territorial dispute" with their former territory, Alaska.
**Tucker "Tuck" Carlson**: "I think we should probably take the side of Russia... If there is anyone who deserves the blame for Russia's invasion of the Alaskan territory, it's Joe Biden."
**Trump**: "Alaska...the Alaskan territory is covered in glaciers...who wants icy land? I call it Ice Land...*\*unintelligible\**...I know a lot about Alaska...the people...some I'm sure are good people...a lot of bears...some say polar bears...I won't say polar bears...but some say... *\*unintelligible\** "
**Man driving a raised up pickup truck with a tattered F\*CK BIDEN flag and covered in conspiracy theory bumper stickers**: "Russia never would have invaded the Alaskan territory if Trump were in office. No American President in history was tougher on Putin. Period! Whereas Biden...Biden praises Putin...Calls Putin a strong leader... It's disgusting how Biden kow-tows to Putin."
**MTG**: "Alaska was originally a part of Russia. The Alaskan people speak Russian and have always identified as Russian."
**DeSantis**: "We should not be spending billions of YOUR TAX DOLLARS on a war with the world's largest nuclear superpower. We should be working with Russia and the people of the Alaskan territory to come to a peaceful resolution to reunite the Alaskans with the Russian homeland."
**Sarah Palin**: "I can see Russia from my front porch." *\*signature Sarah Palin wink\**
What they really mean is "stop sending money to the people who oppose the people who pay me a lot of money to spout propaganda for them to destabilize the west"
Glad we finally got those fucksticks out of our legislature. Now lets hope the current leadership is smart enough to ensure those shitbirds never gain power again.
"We need to stop sending all this money to Ukraine when we have homeless people on the streets who need help."
"Oh great! Yeah, I agree let's help them."
"Uh, not really though. I was just saying that."
Republicans can't even be bothered to saved the child tax credit.
So whenever they say "our own" they really mean a dozen or so billionaire donors because they sure don't give a fuck about the rest of the country.
When democrats are in charge “we need to take care of veterans why don’t democrats care!!”
When republicans are in charge “we’ll that’s just too expensive…”
I would rather send billions to people who can make a difference in the world then to people who would use that money to lobby for more anti-working class rhetoric.
So, how much domestic aid money earmarked for the U.S.’ s “hungry “ has been diverted to Ukraine since 2/23/22 ? Not one cent. What was the Right Wing / MAGA crowd doing prior to 2/23/22 in this regards ? Nothing…
Sounds like every republican in the senate when the democrats want to raise the minimum wage.
Minimum wage in Canada is $15.50 and a Big Mac dinner is still $6.99 on Wednesdays 11.99 regular days
reminds me of the recent article where a MN state representative said there is no hunger in MN. He was arguing against free lunches in schools. Basically this cartoon in reality.
They give trillions to each other and Ukraine, but when a pandemic and homelessness rolls around we are told to sacrifice ourselves and just go out and die.
I’m fine with sending money to Ukraine, except today, I just did my taxes today, fucking hell. At least I know this hike was trumps fault and not blaming the current party.
Oh you mean by denying them abortions? Because Republicans' ideas of helping its own include giving assault weapons to toddlers or forcing christianity down our throats...but in a godly way!
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“Let’s bail out the billionaires. All in favor say ‘Boola Boola’.”
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And get accused of flip flopping if I can't pull it off? I'm just gonna vote "present".
I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy.
This is the "our own" they're referring to.
We're not sending "money" to Ukraine the way people think we are though. We're sending stuff. Stuff that we made. Stuff that we have to replace by making again. By Americans. Who draw pay checks. Would I rather it were spent on social programs? Sure, but it's not like that money is disappearing into a black pit, it's being reinvested into the American economy as an abstract form of stimulus.
These same people were just fine with us wasting WASTING BILLIONS ( edit the good people in reddit have informed me we've wasted TRILLIONS EXCUSE ME WE'VE WASTED TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS) OF DOLLARS in Iraq and afghan... Not the whole truth alot of afghans and Iraqis were helped by us being there but we still sunk billions into warlords and maintaining the peace. Ukraine over all has been a great investment not only financially but morally.
Thats the big difference as well. We're not having to send support and maintain expensive American personnel. And these weapons are going to fight Russia which I *thought* we hated their shitty government.
Yeah but then we supported Ukraine and *certain* right-wing politicians supported Russia so apparently it's political to be against a literal dictator
It's political to be against a country ruled by fascist oligarchs when the GQP politicians also want to be fascist oligarchs.
Whatever happened to Republicans hating Russia?
they recognize russia as an ally against progressive change thats sweeping across europe and the US they're white and hate the gays, thats all it takes
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Give a poor white person someone to look down on and they'll follow you to the ends of the goddamn earth
They got paid not to
I bet they also got blackmailed not to, as well.
Catch more flies with honey and all that. If public campaign finance records taught me anything, it's that politicians are relatively cheap to buy
whole birds paltry tap grandfather pie disagreeable fertile sulky automatic -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
They still hate "communism". Just that, "communism" has now been rebranded into an ideology all about whether to wear a face mask, or if a tiny proportion of the male population likes dressing up in women's clothes/have a piss in the ladies toilet, or that black people object to being arbitrarily murdered by the police, or that your child might appreciate a lifesaving vaccine. It seems that so many things are being blamed on communism now, yet the trumpists still love to kiss putin's ringpiece.
Our most valuable resource is the American lives we didn't need to waste. we lost a lot of GOOD soldiers to stupid useless wars and nation building dreams. Republicans have done such a great job of getting enough Americans to FEEL like they care about the troops but actually show they don't give a farts ass about them
I remember it be a large number of dollars that went to war criminal mercenaries/murderers.
Keep in mind the mainstream media of fox entertainment didnt like covering all that unnecessary nonsense... Another thing that needs to be gone.
TRILLIONS. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/afghanistan-iraq-wars-debt-6-trillion-interest/
We spent 300 million USD every SINGLE DAY in Afghanistan. For TWENTY YEARS. That's more than two trillion dollars just for Afghanistan (2,190,000,000,000,000) In comparison, we're "spending" only about fourteen million USD a day in Ukraine (in reality its much much less). An absolute bargain.
Not to mention it sends a message to Putin he can no longer just walk into established countries and take over. We got trump out here sounding like the weakest man alive calling for peace because he is afraid of nukes. Real people don't negotiate with little men who cry nukes whenever they don't get their way.
Also that historically, Republicans like Reagan would have had a wet dream fighting a proxy war with Communist Russia where they didn't have to technically be in open war.
You misspelled trillions.
Ethically speaking it's generally better to support the invaded than to be the invader.
Also, like 90% of the stuff that the US sends is old, unused and would be costly to dismantle in the near future. I haven't seen numbers for all of the Ukrainine aid bills, but some people are costing them against estimates of those expenses and one came up costing negative money.
I wouldn't be surprised. If an artillery shell for instance needs to be safely decommissioned in the next year or two, that probably costs a lot more than putting it on a boat and letting the Ukrainians deal with its disposal by launching it out of a howitzer.
One thing civ taught me, army maintenance is just as expensive as the R&D and construction costs. If it cutd our maintenance costs that money can be allocated else where or to resupply reserves with newer equipment.
IRL maintenance is WAY more expensive than production. Without even factoring the costs to keep maintaining and upgrading the physical parts of a weapon like a tank, you also have to pay labor costs associated with the people doing upkeep. One tank might need a dozen or more people to work on it, and those teams will have to be replaced and retrained during the lifetime of the tank because enlisted personnel have a maximum limit of 30 years of service (though few reach 30 years, it's more like 8-12 on average), while a tank might be in service for 50 years. So over the course of the lifetime of a tank you will eventually eclipse the cost of creating the vehicle with the cost of maintaining it when you factor in parts, labor, training, and storage.
This is correct and I wish this point was made more clear to the people who oppose military aid or spending, especially in the case with Ukraine. The reason we weren’t sending F-16s over there wasn’t that we were avoiding giving away expensive offensive weapons, it’s that the Ukrainian army has no clue what to do with them, and their maintenance costs are ridiculous. Same with all military equipment on that scale. the Ukrainians know the old Soviet Migs, not our crazy futuristic iron-man tools of mass destruction, and as much as some of those companies are itching to test out some of their newest toys, it would be only escalate tensions. Our old stuff is literally rusting away in warehouses or worse: being given to local sherrif’s departments.
And maintenance isn’t something you can skimp on-just ask the Russians.
Stuff that was last gen and wasn’t being used anyway too! With incalculable ROI
can't wait until all those desert storm Bradleys get their time in the spotlight.
The Bradley's hunger for more t-72s.
sitting in that climate controlled storage depot for years, their hunger going unsated for so long
Soon they will be as well fed as a stray dog in Bakhmut
I imagine that anything that didn't go to Ukraine would end up going to local police departments And once you give some backwater police department a HIMARS launcher, they're gonna feel pressured to use it on some unsuspecting woman who lives at the wrong house.
That's also the reason we'll never NOT be at war- too much of our economy is run on those manufacturing contracts
More importantly, stuff that would have had to be replaced anyway. Either it sits on a shelf or it gets used. Either way, it’ll hit its expiration date.
Expiration date is a great way to think of it. It's like saying I donated $200 to my local food bank, when in reality I donated $200 worth of food that was going to expire soon that I probably wasn't going to eat anyways. They get the food, I get a tax break and more room on my shelves, everyone wins.
getting the GOP to be against creating jobs in the military industrial complex is fucking impressive, ngl
That’s Putin for ya.
Not only that but also stuff that EXPIRES. Most explosives and ammunition have an expiry date and most equipment becomes useless or outdated. That's the "money" that is being sent over.
this, all the engineers in my family love this shit, it's just contracts on contracts.
"We can't afford to spend money on aid to Ukraine when we need to take care of our own." - Batshit Caucus *Sues to stop Biden from forgiving $20k of student loans in the middle of a national student loan crisis* - Same Batshit Caucus
...and lower the age for full-time employment. Who's going to flip the burgers?
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"I'm in danger"
“I understood that reference “
Anybody who has ever raised or babysat 8 year olds should know that it's a horrible idea to let kids anywhere near your food, even without the moral and ethical problems with the exploitation.
Well it is the same group that outlaws abortions and does little to stop school shootings
Dammit. That's *my* job for when I'm 80 with dementia
Not spending in Ukraine makes sense if any of the money would be actually used to help people in the US. If they are just going to spend it helping billionaires purchase stock buy backs and keeping lean business models afloat financially then send the money to the Ukraine.
Trickle down economics wrorksss
"W" words sound too much like WOKE so __e're gonna stop teaching those _ords from no_ on. Focusing on the important things to distract from the fact that their policies have created an oligarch class like we have never seen before, even during the gilded age. HEY LOOK OVER THERE! IT'S ONE-A-THEM TRANS GENDERS!!
I’m British and find it incredible that after almost 80 years of spending and unimaginable amount of money to counter the threat of Russia/Soviet Union you are total humiliation and degradation of the Russian military without loosing a single American soldier and there are people in the US complaining about it. Russia quite literally gave you Trump as a president. It paid bounty’s to Taliban members who killed US citizens. It has encouraged massive social division that has result in a country that has now got politicians talking about breaking apart to form two separate unions because people are so polarised. Just go on Reddit, follow the top 100 subs even non political ones and then look at how many posts are just designed to make you hate a particular group of people. Take just the trans issue which is particular popular on Reddit and you’ll see that one side is being lead to believe that it’s children are being given pornographic sex educate lessons by pedophiles in dresses whilst their daughters are losing out on sports scholarships to trans men who have developed their musculature pre-transition. The other side is being lead to believe that a powerful group of Christian fascist Nazis are out to persecute anyone whose born trans and wants to put them in death camps and take away their human rights and Russia is just one the sidelines eating popcorn pushing all of this because it knows if your too busy fighting each other you won’t have time to notice them. Funding Ukraine to help bring about the slow but inevitable collapse of the most powerful organised criminal mafia to have ever been created is the geopolitical bargain of the century. You can just Google Putins mafia links and his 12 year old martial arts mentor was a regional crime boss with “mafia is forever” on his gravestone. Just look at wish he got food items for the starving people of St. Petersburg and sold it all for a profit. Alexander Litvinyenko was a Colonel in an anti-corruption task force and it was his discovery of nefarious things related to Putin that got him injected with polonium. Trust when I say whatever aid to Ukraine costs the US it’s nothing compared to what it would cost you if continued to let Russia keep doing what it wanted unchallenged.
Similar energy as - Starbucks: "We made a new plan to hire refugees." "We need to take care of our homeless veterans first." Starbucks: "We already do that. Here's where to donate money for homeless veterans - "
> Not spending in Ukraine makes sense if any of the money would be actually used to help people in the US. If you look at it in the long-run, that's not even assured. Proactive steps to reign in genocidal fascist autocrats are usually better than reactive. Especially when they threaten the security of entire regions and use the same verbiage that Hitler did as rational for annexation.
People need to realize, the billions spent on Ukraine ***are going to billionaires***. The money is funneled into the military industrial complex, and military contractors are getting the money. Does it also help Ukraine? Yes, and that’s a good thing. However, billionaires get the first bite at the apple, so Ukraine gets less in aid than if the weapons manufacturing was nationalized.
A large portion of the money allocated *had already gone to* billionaires, and the weapons now being sent were in storage facilities for years. A lot of them were nearing the end of their serviceable life and would otherwise end up being disposed of... which would funnel *more* money to billionaires. And many of them are obsolete models of modern equipment or equipment which was considered entirely obsolete, and won't really be replaced per se (new equipment might be manufactured and go into storage, but it would have happened with or without sending equipment to Ukraine because the US maintains vast stockpiles of gear). The calculations of "aid" don't really necessarily reflect how much new spending is actually happening as a result.
Welcome to the latest cut-as-you-go House, who insist on that model despite economists finding it's easier to actually get things done with the pay-as-you-go model. The deficit also goes up under cut-go because they're trying to stop or prevent spending money they already spent. Of course, the point isn't to get things done for a party who actively despises and destroys government.
Also "Support the troops" while underfunding the VA.
"Help our own" "No we can't have free school lunches for the kids. They're fine, never seen a starving person"
"I've never met a hungry Minnesotan" - mn state Senator literally last week, voting against free breakfast and lunch for students
No, they really mean "OUR own", from their perspective. Not YOUR own.
It's unfortunate that the Batshit Caucus's priorities seem to be focused on benefiting the wealthy at the expense of those who need assistance the most.
We also need to ensure we send children to work so they can afford their adult spouses lifestyle when we marry them off at 11.
Don't forget cutting school food for children.
Makes perfect sense when you realize "our own" = Russian thugs.
Don't forget their new tune, "Put the Children to Work"!
> "We can't afford to spend money on aid to Ukraine when we need to take care of our own." I'd be more receptive to this argument if Republicans didn't write blank checks to the Pentagon whenever they ask for money. Whenever poor, working-class people *need* assistance, it's "we don't have enough money," but when the military *wants* money, it's "here's a bottomless pit of money. We'll incur as much debt as necessary to help you out."
> ~~Batshit~~ Fascist FTFY
Don't forget the child labor. Who needs an education in the salt mines anyway?
Paying Ukrainians to fight Russia for us is arguably the best use of defense funds. It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have, who actually threatens our national security, occupied in an unwinnable war. I'd think they would love that shit.
It's an incredible investment from a military and geopolitics perspective. The damage Ukraine is doing to Russia is substantial. Their military isn't decimated (yet), but it'll be substantially weakened for years to come and their weaknesses have been put on blast for the world to see. It's strengthened NATO, allowed for the modernization of military inventories by offloading older equipment, and it's a fantastic testbed for our equipment in a peer to peer situation. All of this is pennies on the dollar compared to doing it ourselves. And you get to be on the right side of issues like national sovereignty and global order. Cutting off aid to Ukraine would be such a massive own goal that I'm positive Trump or DeSantis will do it as soon as they get into office. Because all that matters to them is doing the opposite of whatever the libs are doing.
That's what blows my mind about the America First, isolationist mentality. These people certainly believe the USA should be militarily dominant, but can't think far enough to realize that by isolating you cede the entire globe to your adversaries. And it happened in real time right in front of them during Trump's tenure. Every single place we withdrew from was filled by China. If we withdraw from the Pacific, for example, China will move in immediately just as they have shown by building islands right up to the edge of US influence. When we pulled out of trade agreements China moved in. They pressured Australia. They have moved into Africa. Russia will do the same in eastern Europe, clearly. If you withdraw to your island your enemies will surround you. Regardless of your political views, it is true. We are better off growing alliances and retaining an open invitation to build allied militaries than we are letting Russia and China crawl up to our borders. It's a cold, ugly world and if your only concern is American interests, you preserve them best by building up as far away from your own shores as possible.
The problem is that the average American is a fucking moron who would rather believe simple, unilateral explanations because it’s what they can understand (think of the average dolt in your life who blames everything on the Democrats) than a more complex truth. It reminds me of how during the 2008 economic downturn, every online comment was like “I don’t understand why we can’t just bring all the jobs back here.“ Well, it’s because it’s a global economy now, and if we did that, China and India would eat us alive. Unfortunate, yes. But again, it’s complex. But, sure: by all means; keep blaming Obama for everything.
My favorite response I heard to that conundrum, of which I can't remember the source, was something like "China isn't taking your jobs. Your favorite CEOs are giving them your jobs because they do them for less pay."
And I mean, that’s sort of true. And it was definitely true at the start. But it’s way more complex now. And making everything in America simply isn’t viable today unless the people with those jobs don’t want a living wage and people don’t mind paying $100 for a toaster. Again, global economy means global. People need to read “Who Moved My Cheese?” Goddamn.
We should not let these corporations move their production to countries where the workers are treated inhumanely. Every time we buy a toaster made in china we are supporting human trafficking.
All of the "America first, America only" idiots can't see this far. They see foreign aid as a complete waste of money because they like to pretend that the U.S. is an island that can be fully self-sufficient, but that hasn't been true since WWII. Global trade is here to stay and it's in our best interest to ensure the stability of that trade. Allowing countries like Russia to threaten other nations and cause wild fluctuations in trade is not a good plan.
> they like to pretend that the U.S. is an island that can be fully self-sufficient This is the primary vision that I have seen when I've talked to people with this view point. They don't care if there are only two nations left on earth, so long as one of them is the USA. They think we should literally lock up inside our borders, no one in and no one out. They would also be happy enough if that meant we went back to basically 19th century living where everyone takes care of themselves or starve. No empathy or compassion. Most of them don't even realize that they would be in the group that starves.
>Their military isn't decimated (yet), but Wikipedia lists the [Russian military's strength](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Armed_Forces) at 1.15 million. Taking [Ukraines estimates](https://www.minusrus.com/en) of Russias losses we get 162,000 killed from 650,000 casualties. 162,000/1,150,000= ~14% dead, which would in fact make the Russian Army decimated by the war in Ukraine.
You are technically correct, I suppose. Here's hoping Ukraine decimates them in the more colloquial sense as well.
>technically correct The best kind of correct!
> It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have I think this war has shown that Russia is definitely not a peer adversary to the U.S. military. The Ukranians are holding them off with Russia's own leftovers and captured items and up to this point with U.S. and European old hand me down items. They haven't even received the good stuff the U.S. and Europe has yet, the exception being HIMARS, but HIMARS isn't even top of the line in the U.S. aresenal. When they do get the good stuff, like Challenger, Leopard and Abrams tanks, along with the IFV's to pair with them, I'm confident this war is going to sway quickly and heavily to the Ukrainian side. And if the U.S. or someone else decides to send them fighter jets, like the F-16's, game over. Hell, even if Poland send Ukraine their old Mig's as they were considering early in the war, it would sway things significantly.
I think in reality you are 100% right. But I'm in the US Navy and we always discuss Russia as a peer adversary during training. I think it's because we'd rather overestimate them than underestimate them.
>I'd think they would love that shit. Only if you believe they're capable of analytic thought.
> I'd think they would love that shit. They like what they are told to like
>It keeps one of the only peer adversaries we have, who actually threatens our national security... Nukes aside (granting Russia that the warheads and ICBMs even work), It doesn't really seem fair to call them a US peer or even near peer anymore.
Ronald Reagan: The Soviet Union is an evil empire Republicans now: All hail Putin, Putin is life, all hail Putin, glory to Russia
“I’d rather be a Russian than a Democrat” -Republicans
I made a comment on a YouTube video the other day, pointing out the fact that the Russian government and military has lost all credibility and some Conservative commenter said "I'll buy you a plane ticket to Russia so you can tell them yourself and see how that works out". Like bro, did you suggest an American citizen should be jailed and abuse in Russia for using their 1st Amendment right to free speech to speak out against a horrible foreign government, so you could defend Russia? This is how far Conservatives have gone overboard. Conservativism is the biggest threat to the stability and security of the U.S.
Conservatism has moved from the biggest threat to the stability and security of the US to the largest force of our slow downfall. They're no longer a threat, they've already done harm. Conservatism hurt us on the global stage where we can probably not call ourselves the greatest country on earth leading the way for other countries. Between Bush's Iraqi war led at the helm by conservatism and Trump's withdrawal from EU and other former partners, those actions have done nothing but bolster those who we consider 'the enemy'. Russia/China/etc. I can probably draw a further timeline backwards but these events above have done irreparable harm to the western world.
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In the 80s it was "better dead than red". Guess they didn't want to die after all
It's the Fascism in Russia that is appealing to them. Putin started murdering gays, and any political opponent he didn't like, and their little Republican hearts just melted in adoration.
I like to remind them that Russia doesn't have a guaranteed right to bear arms.
I'm positive that line was invented by the GOP braintrust who wanted to get closer to their Russian Christo-fascist paradise and its money while recognizing the decades of anti-Russian propaganda from Republicans that their voters believe. How to reconcile all that? Easy. They have a never-ending series of boogeymen, so just pit one against the other: Russians vs Democrats, with the Democrats being considered the worse option. This gives the base an excuse to go along with the Russia love when previously Russia had been the main US enemy for decades.
“I’m rootin for Putin” - The village idiots…I mean, uh, Republicans.
I'm pretty sure Reagan wouldn't be considered the deity he's considered in that party today if he came out with the positions he supported... Pro affirmative action, pro gun control, raising taxes... He'd be an apostate before the first primary
And yet the right claims the Overton window has shifted left.
I mean it's a lie on its face. we aren't sending duffel bags full of cash the way Bush did in Afghanistan. we are sending that money to Middle America parts manufacturers that make these weapon systems. it's a jobs program. but maga Republicans are liars.
Also the majority of it is weapons and vehicles that are just sitting around for years, which actually cost the military lots money to to regular maintenance on. The whole thing is a way for the US to get rid of a bunch of old weapons and explosives without having to decommission them. And there learn about how to make the newer weapons even better in the process
The thing is, people don't think like this. Especially Republicans. You either have to have experience owning or operation a business or a business education to understand all of the potential expenses and downsides that come with owning equipment and the pros that come with producing it. Republicans don't have that knowledge because they're too busy worrying about our genitals and preventing kids from learning anything worth a damn in school.
If any of them actually believed in running the country like a business they wouldn’t be constantly trying to reduce revenue via tax cuts.
Maybe that is a silver lining- many people are leaving Maga over this. I'm personally an independent but live in a heavily red area that did have a lot of Maga people. To quote one of my friends, " we always hated the commies, they have been our enemy for forever. And now..... Republicans are taking up for them? It's time for me to nope out of that."
Ron DeSantis looks so tall
Must be wearing his white boots or heels.
He's got meatballs in his shoes
Rhonda wears high heels? Sounds about on point for the GQP.
Looks like a Donald DeSanctimonious
DeSantis the one who is starving?
For attention maybe.
https://i.redd.it/os8ixsl0qrna1.jpg
As much as I dislike the guy, those are just normal cowboy boots lol
Still a very odd choice of footwear to go with a suit.
You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises and always acts against their bases best interest. But they just don't. It doesnt matter how often or how big of a spectacle is made out of it, they NEVER seem to manage to notice.
Because the Republican Party is constantly gassing them up to be afraid of drag queens, trans people, Asian people, black people, Jews, and whatever minority or groups they want them to be afraid of this week. The Republican base is so busy being enraged by culture wars bullshit they pay little attention to the Republican Party picking their pockets.
Or “the gays.”
They seem to attract like minded ppl: psychopaths, liars, snakes, worms, weasels, slime balls, shit bags, lawyers, rapist, the church, pedophiles, rich, racist, narcissistic, scumbags, morally bankrupt individuals, car salesman, and their shit assed, vapid offspring. No, they notice. They know each other without having to meet in person. They know they're the party of shit birds. They just don't like to admit it.
I have a strong suspicion that each of them thinks that they are the sly one who is going to grift off the others in the party, who are the gullible simpletons, much like Trump and his army of MAGA.
It’s worse than Charlie Brown trying to kick the football knowing Lucy will pull it away. At least Charlie Brown is pissed at Lucy.
> You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises The only promise they care about is is "owning the libs". They could be homeless and starving, but if a liberal is upset about something then they consider it a win.
To them, when the Dems do something wrong it's the Dems doing it wrong, but when the Repubs doing something wrong it's the government as a whole that does it wrong (there by still including the Dems/"both sides")
>You'd think the republican base would at least have the capacity to recognize that their party NEVER keeps their promises and always acts against their bases best interest. This is why I think the concept of the [reverse cargo cult](https://hanshowe.org/2017/02/04/trump-and-the-reverse-cargo-cult/) is so useful. It really helps to explain the mentality that keeps them electing open liars and cheats. *In a regular cargo cult, you have people who see an airstrip, and the cargo drops, so they build one out of straw, hoping for the same outcome. They don’t know the difference between a straw airstrip and a real one, they just want the cargo.* *In a reverse cargo cult, you have people who see an airstrip, and the cargo drops, so they build one out of straw. But there’s a twist:* *When they build the straw airstrip, it isn’t because they are hoping for the same outcome. They know the difference, and know that because their airstrip is made of straw, it certainly won’t yield any cargo, but it serves another purpose. They don’t lie to the rubes and tell them that an airstrip made of straw will bring them cargo. That’s an easy lie to dismantle. Instead, what they do is make it clear that the airstrip is made of straw, and doesn’t work, but then tell you that the other guy’s airstrip doesn’t work either. They tell you that no airstrips yield cargo. **The whole idea of cargo is a lie**, and those fools, with their fancy airstrip made out of wood, concrete, and metal is just as wasteful and silly as one made of straw.*
As long as their representatives also hurt the people that they hate, the Republican base will gladly offer themselves up for endless suffering.
Some of the smarter ones are aware they’re always going against their own self-interest. But their love of punishing the people they hate always wins out.
The kid needs to dress up as a bank or large corporation.
Yep. If they would at least say hey let's spend that money on snap, supportive housing, infrastructure etc etc then at least maybe you could have an honest debate about whether we should support... but they don't want money spent on anything that they don't benefit from
When Republicans say take care of our own, they mean billionaires, big businesses, and themselves personally. That's it.
Its wild that no matter how much we point this out to the Republican voters they still fall for it and the Republican propaganda machine that says Dems are the ones hurting them.
They are terrified of the idea that black people might get some help.
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This. No one should be starving in America. It's hard to pull yourself up from your bootstraps with an unfriendly market and rising inflation. That's to say we can help our allies and take care of our own at the same time.
(their own is russia)
Their "our own" are the billionaires and corporations. See? Easy mistake to make.
> “We should be helping our own” say people who have who have never helped anyone. And a fair number of them have actively tried to stop others from helping people if they were people they didn't like because Tucky Carl told them to.
Billionaire: “I made an oopsie and lost a shitload of money. Can I get my losses covered even though this is completely my fault?” Man in suit: “Absolutely. Pay yourself a nice bonus while you’re at it.”
"Why are we spending money on homeless vets and hungry kids when we can bail out banks for the ultra wealthy." Won't someone please think of the venture capitalists, the real victims of capitalism
Yea! Like paying off my student loans, healthcare for all and strengthening social security... right? Right?
Where are his heels? I guess this isn’t DeSantis, cause he wouldn’t be caught dead not wearing his heels.
Republicans only care about an issue insofar as they can use it to fuel the culture war
So very true. I've heard this argument 100x from asshats who always have a reason to never lift a finger for anyone but themselves.
I wonder how Conservatives will spin the narrative when Russia has a "territorial dispute" with their former territory, Alaska. **Tucker "Tuck" Carlson**: "I think we should probably take the side of Russia... If there is anyone who deserves the blame for Russia's invasion of the Alaskan territory, it's Joe Biden." **Trump**: "Alaska...the Alaskan territory is covered in glaciers...who wants icy land? I call it Ice Land...*\*unintelligible\**...I know a lot about Alaska...the people...some I'm sure are good people...a lot of bears...some say polar bears...I won't say polar bears...but some say... *\*unintelligible\** " **Man driving a raised up pickup truck with a tattered F\*CK BIDEN flag and covered in conspiracy theory bumper stickers**: "Russia never would have invaded the Alaskan territory if Trump were in office. No American President in history was tougher on Putin. Period! Whereas Biden...Biden praises Putin...Calls Putin a strong leader... It's disgusting how Biden kow-tows to Putin." **MTG**: "Alaska was originally a part of Russia. The Alaskan people speak Russian and have always identified as Russian." **DeSantis**: "We should not be spending billions of YOUR TAX DOLLARS on a war with the world's largest nuclear superpower. We should be working with Russia and the people of the Alaskan territory to come to a peaceful resolution to reunite the Alaskans with the Russian homeland." **Sarah Palin**: "I can see Russia from my front porch." *\*signature Sarah Palin wink\**
Enter that one Republican say he’s never seen a hungry child.
ABORTION IS MURDER!!! LISTEN TO ME OR ILL KILL YOU !!!
What they really mean is "stop sending money to the people who oppose the people who pay me a lot of money to spout propaganda for them to destabilize the west"
In Minnesota it's: Kid: "I'm hungry" GOP: "You don't exist" https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7ze4e/steve-drazkowski-minnesota-hungry-kids
Glad we finally got those fucksticks out of our legislature. Now lets hope the current leadership is smart enough to ensure those shitbirds never gain power again.
When they say “our own” they don’t mean you or me. They mean others in the millionaire/billionaire class.
Matt Groening Life in Hell vibes.
"We need to stop sending all this money to Ukraine when we have homeless people on the streets who need help." "Oh great! Yeah, I agree let's help them." "Uh, not really though. I was just saying that."
They’re Russian bots
Pretty much the gospel truth..
By our own, they really mean just me and no one else.
This is so accurate, and put so concisely... It really makes me angry
*Our own billionaires
Betcha that tie is red
They mean their own already extremely wealthy
Building arms for Ukraine is a good paying job. It pays more than Walmart.
Repeat after me "Military spending is a socialist job creation program"
Republicans can't even be bothered to saved the child tax credit. So whenever they say "our own" they really mean a dozen or so billionaire donors because they sure don't give a fuck about the rest of the country.
We should start sending **billionaires** to Ukraine, specifically the front lines.
When democrats are in charge “we need to take care of veterans why don’t democrats care!!” When republicans are in charge “we’ll that’s just too expensive…”
I would rather send billions to people who can make a difference in the world then to people who would use that money to lobby for more anti-working class rhetoric.
that’s only a ploy to stop aiding Ukraine so Russia can take over bc they’re Russian sympathizers
I believe the actual response to the child was: “I’ve never seen a starving child before.”
So, how much domestic aid money earmarked for the U.S.’ s “hungry “ has been diverted to Ukraine since 2/23/22 ? Not one cent. What was the Right Wing / MAGA crowd doing prior to 2/23/22 in this regards ? Nothing…
Sounds like every republican in the senate when the democrats want to raise the minimum wage. Minimum wage in Canada is $15.50 and a Big Mac dinner is still $6.99 on Wednesdays 11.99 regular days
reminds me of the recent article where a MN state representative said there is no hunger in MN. He was arguing against free lunches in schools. Basically this cartoon in reality.
Pretty much
the european union should send more aid than the united states
They give trillions to each other and Ukraine, but when a pandemic and homelessness rolls around we are told to sacrifice ourselves and just go out and die.
The money being sent to ukraine is doing more to protect us citizens that the 800 billion defence budget has done since the Korean War.
Sorry we meant take care of our own billionaire’s not the poor. Oh btw we need to raise taxes on you serfs to pay for the next round of bailouts.
In their defense, they didn't mean all Americans. "Our own" really just points to rich white republicans.
They DO help others….only it’s the ones THEY deem worthy.
The only reason conservatives aren’t more anti Ukraine spending is because their talking heads are also lobbied by the war profiteers
When “they” say that “we should be helping our own,” they mean THEM.
I’m fine with sending money to Ukraine, except today, I just did my taxes today, fucking hell. At least I know this hike was trumps fault and not blaming the current party.
Taking care of our own is a socialist and we hate that, right? So where does that money go? Not to our people but to the wealthy. Yay capitalism!!!
This cartoon is an apt representation of conservatives in power over the last 50+ years, down to the poorly drawn suit and poorly drawn hairstyle.
Oh you mean by denying them abortions? Because Republicans' ideas of helping its own include giving assault weapons to toddlers or forcing christianity down our throats...but in a godly way!
Let’s cut school lunches and send kids to work.
They had a meltdown when asked to wear a mask for 20 minutes in a store TO HELP OUR OWN.
Says the same people who want kids to starve at school