EXCELLENT - @TimothyDSnyder schools @RepMTG on the facts of russian fascism. Have a listen
Hopefully the Biden campaign retweets that to a much wider audience. Brilliant. And the patronising disdain for Greene the icing on the cake.
Methinks the lady doth protest too much
Hopefully this amendment passes
“ A U.S. lawmaker has mocked Marjorie Taylor Greene by adding an amendment to the Ukraine aid bill requiring that she be appointed "Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress."“
She better watch what tea she drinks as her antics (that look like to have pissed off both Trump and speaker) might yet lose the vote for her master in Kremlin
Johnson vs MTG / MAGA
“I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we’ve gotten,” Mike Johnson said, noting that Ukraine aid will stop Putin from expanding his conquest later. Remarkably, he's saying that on these matters, the "deep state" is telling the truth. 2/
Marjorie Taylor Greene recently said Biden/pro-Ukraine Rs are "tools of the foreign war loving deep state."
This sort of thing is why some senior Rs admit parts of the GOP are under Russian influence (h/t @juliaioffe). Johnson rebuked that MTG lie. 3/
MTG, Don Jr and others are pushing an elaborate lie: That MAGA wants "peace" (defined as ending Ukraine aid) while defenders of Ukraine are the ones who want to continue the war (by keeping the aid going). This trope erases Russian agency entirely. 4/
Similarly, JD Vance smuggled into his @nytopinion piece the idea that "we" (the US) will "prolong" war by renewing aid and that *Biden's* refusal to negotiate is keeping it going. Surprised NYT let him get away w/erasing Russian agency so deceptively. 5/
Ukrainians have further developed drone technology to scan, detect, map and gps link the locations of metal in fields. It's called "Brave 1".
I can imagine your frustration as to why would a native Russian speaker need subtitles?
Wonder if Johnson can see the writing on the wall for MAGA.
And some good news…..
Either that, or this is some cunning delaying tactic.
What does that peace look like, please tell?
With millions of UXO's and mines of all kinds scattered all over the world, that mapper will be a priceless tool for deminers everywhere.
Probably something along the lines of a Mod here deciding that the best way to keep the peace is by removing one of the parties ability to self-determine their own destiny. Except that the Mod here would have the governance to do so whereas nothing gives Trump the right to decide the outcome for a people who he does not represent.
Moscow Marge after a hard night on the town
I was speaking to one of their engineers a couple months ago. They were looking at it with the potential use of trying to get through the ludicrously thick mine belts the Russians had put up: Once located, other drones can come along and drop small charges on the mines. I'm not convinced the system is fast enough (even with a swarm of the things), I think it's more something which can be used for post-conflict de-mining (or finding dud cluster munitions). But points for thinking novelty.
Maybe it's finally dawning on the US Republicans just how ridiculous it looks for their air force to be actively & militarily engaged in the defence of Israel. Whilst Ukraine can't even defend itself with sufficient ground air defences. Never mind, the USAF engaging to actually defend Ukraine.
Unless it's able to detect 100% of uxb, how much benefit will it be to deminers outside of an active conflict zone?
Maybe soldiers will be happy to have 99% of uxb identified, but would you enter a field if you knew 1% of uxb remained undetected? Maybe you already have, but I wouldn't.
I would also wonder how well it would work away from the flat cultivated fields of Ukraine.
I'm confused.
What's with the sudden U-turn from Johnson?
Heres my two cents. We as in us out here have no idea whats going on behind the scenes. Its possible Johnson had been slowly working through this mess to get a result but had to thread carefully in the process.
You do have MTG and the rest of the MAGA ultras who have said they will dump him as speaker of house BUT:
BOOM of the day perhaps? A thing of beauty to look at as much as beauty is possible on a battlefield. In this case the bradley doing a great job efficiently and relentlessly
He's trapped.
I imagine even Trump is coming under enormous pressure to allow something to get done for Israel given the recent Iranian attack. And Johnson knows that the Democrats\Biden will never allow Israel through without a Ukraine vote alongside it.
Equally some traditional conservative Republicans(strongly anti-Russian ones) have made noise about signing the discharge petition if nothing is done.
Johnson has probably seen that no matter what he does the extreme MAGAs will fling rocks(the now double backed motion to vacate). Damned if he does damned if he doesn't.
So he offers the same bill as before but with Trumps loan idea on the humanitarian aid side(one that Biden can forgive at any stage and probably will) as a token offering so Trump can claim it was all his idea and the thing gets through. The Republicans avoid more members leaving early and relinquishing the majority in the house and the embarrassing discharge petition doesn't get triggered. And the democrats will protect him from motion to vacate because most desperately want a Ukraine bill vote.
Well now, things are progressing nicely
BREAKING -- THE HOUSE has resoundingly cleared the rule to consider the foreign aid bill. 316-94 Y: 165 D 151 R N: 39 D 55 R
Over over 75% in support. That's really encouraging.
Q is what will the MAGA crowd led by the witch MTG do? Will they just lie down OR try something like get rid of Johnson? However it looks like he will get great help from dems to remain and from reps too I would say
what is up with the 39 democrats that said no?!
I wonder are they at the farthest hard left of the Dems just like the MAGA crowd are farthest right of the Reps. As the phrase goes, "two cheeks of the same backside"
Ones that aren't fans of anything to do with Israel.
AXIOS
In a rare bipartisan move, 165 Democrats voted with 151 Republicans to prevent Rep. Mike Johnson's (R-La.) foreign aid package from being blocked, setting the stage for the bill to be passed early Saturday afternoon.
Why it matters: As Republicans struggle with a razor-thin majority and a rebellious right flank, such bipartisanship on typically party-line procedural votes is becoming more common.
What happened: 165 Democrats voted with 151 Republicans to pass what is known as a "rule," a procedural mechanism setting the terms of debate and votes on legislation.
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/19/johnson-bailout-democrats-on-foreign-aid
AOC and the squad
Yes, as Virgil says I think that this is opposition to the IDF funding that would also be going on as part of this mechanism rather than Ukraine funding. There is no Democratic member of the House that I know of that is opposed to funding Ukraine in the same way that there are Republicans who are.
Bernie Sanders voted against the Senate bill because it included funding for Israel.
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