Day: September 27, 2023

Time Is Running Out For The GOP

Tonight is the second GOP debate in the series and Trump still holds a commanding lead…..the time is running out for candidates to make their move to give Trump a descent race.

Let me break it down for you….

The way things stood Monday remain how they stand just hours before the Republican presidential debate Wednesday in California, with two notable candidates not expected to take the stage. FOX 26 Houston reports that former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson didn’t make the cut, while former President Trump, far and away the GOP frontrunner in polls despite his four recent indictments, is skipping the debate to instead head to Michigan to meet with striking autoworkers. The debate will be moderated by Fox News’ Dana Perino and Stuart Varney, as well as Univision’s Ilia Calderon, and will be hosted on the Fox Business Network from 9pm to 11pm ET, per the New York Times. It will also air on Fox News and Univision and stream on Fox Nation, Univision, and Rumble. More on what to expect:

  • Catching up with the candidates: The AP runs through how each of the competitors did during the last debate, and where some may now stand with voters. Set to take the stage Wednesday night: former VP Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
  • Ghost of the Gipper: Voice of America places its focus on the debate’s venue—the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, where the specter of No. 40 looms large. The location “brings back the views of a former president who still serves as a conservative model to the party,” VOA notes.
  • What else to watch for: CNN expands on the Reagan vibe, as well as on what else to expect during the show. For one, the news outlet anticipates “major divides on abortion,” after Trump recently opened “what could be the party’s most significant policy fissure.”
  • Peerino’s take: The debate’s host thinks “it is time for a breakout moment,” and predicts that’s exactly what the candidates will be vying for. “The debate is not just to showcase these candidates,” she tells the Hill. “It’s for one of them to say, ‘I can be [Trump’s] main rival.'” She adds, “You’ll see some posturing.”
  • Delicate attack: Political analyst Lara Brown agrees with Perino, telling USA Today that she expects Wednesday’s debate to be “more contentious and more confrontational” than the first one when it comes to Trump. It’s a fine line, though, she says, with candidates having to jockey for position without alienating GOP voters who once supported the former president. She notes some Republicans are worried that “if they hit him too hard or cut too close to the bone,” his supporters will “cancel” them from the party.
  • Blunting Trump’s ‘momentum’: The AP notes Republicans’ “growing urgency” to present a candidate that might be able to gain ground on the frontrunner. “It’ll be interesting to see whether or not folks realize that the sand is going through the hourglass pretty quickly right now,” GOP strategist Kevin Madden says.
  • At stake for DeSantis: One candidate under the spotlight in particular is the Florida governor, who’s running more than 40 points behind Trump in recent polls. “It’s too late for just a fine performance,” Republican pollster Christine Matthews tells the AP. “DeSantis has gone from leading alternative to Trump to just one of the pack of challengers, and he will be under pressure to perform.”
  • ‘Fake’ debate: That’s how Zack Beauchamp frames Wednesday’s event for Vox, writing that it will be “a cosplay of a competitive election—and a distraction from an ugly truth.” That truth being that it doesn’t look like anyone will be able to catch up with the former president. “At this point, the only things that could stop Trump are his death or incapacitation,” Beauchamp notes.

There you have it….all the information you need to watch (if you so desire) the next debate and what is at stake for these candidates.

For anyone interested I will watch the debate for I am a political junkie and will post detail analysis here on IST tomorrow.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

There Is A WTF Situation

As the Ukraine war chugs along one NATO ally has had enough and that would be Poland.

Poland has issued a statement that it will no longer send military support to Ukraine….it did say that weapons and stuff could travel through the country to get to the war but Poland itself would cease its supply operations.

The KA-BOOM!

A missile lands in Poland and destroys a structure.

Polish experts have confirmed that the missile that killed two people at a grain facility in southern Poland in November was fired by Ukraine, Rzeczpospolita daily reported, citing sources.

The explosion of the missile in NATO-member Poland fuelled fears that the war in Ukraine could spiral into a wider conflict by triggering the alliance’s mutual defence clause, but at the time Warsaw and NATO said that they believed that it was a Ukrainian stray, easing worries about escalation.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told Rzeczpospolita that Poland had established that the missile that landed in the village of Przewodow was an S 300 5-W-55 air-defence missile fired from Ukrainian territory.

“This rocket has a range of 75 km to 90 km,” the newspaper cited a source as saying. “At that time, the Russian positions were in a place from which no Russian missile could reach Przewodow.”

Ukraine has denied that one of its missiles had landed in Poland.

(usnews.com)

Now was this a retaliation?  Was it a false flag by Russia?  Or was it just a simple accident?

I am not saying one or the other but it does look a bit suspicious.

Just asking.

Another NATO ally is proposing to change their involvement in the Ukraine-Russia mash-up….Hungary.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Budapest was ending support for Kiev on international issues due to a 2017 Ukrainian law that limits the rights of Hungarians. The announcement comes as Ukraine’s support in Eastern Europe wanes, with Poland halting all weapons transfers to Kiev after President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Warsaw. 

Speaking to the country’s legislature on Monday, Orbán took aim at a 2017 Ukrainian law that limits where the Hungarian language can be spoken. “They want to transform (Hungarian schools) into Ukrainian schools, and if that does not work, they want to close them,” he said. “We do not support Ukraine in any issue in the international scene until it restores the laws that guarantee the rights of Hungarians.”

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/budapest-threatens-to-pull-support-from-kiev-for-ukrainian-ethnic-laws-oppressing-hungarians/

This should not surprise anyone that has bothered to keep up with the news….Orban is a douche and an authoritarian so he would like Putin over the democracy offered by the West.

Finally with all this chaos in the region how will it effect the flow of US stuff into Ukraine?

Not to worry there will always be enough money for war no matter who suffers in this country.

Senate leaders on Tuesday announced they reached a deal on a stopgap funding bill that needs to be passed by September 30 to avert a partial government shutdown. The bill includes $6.2 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion for natural disasters.

“We will continue to fund the government at present levels while maintaining our commitment to Ukraine’s security and humanitarian needs, while also ensuring those impacted by natural disasters across the country begin to get the resources they need,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said.

The bill would fund the US government until November 17. The inclusion of $6.2 billion for Ukraine would ensure that the US could continue to fund the proxy war against Russia, although the Pentagon has said Ukraine operations would be exempted from any shutdown.

(antiwar.com)

Mr. Schumer?  What about the resources this country needs?

Why is Ukraine more important than Main Street?

Just asking.

And there you have the news that slips through the cracks in the MSM reporting procedures.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”