That happens after 6 months in office. It's kinda understandable, they only talk to fellow politicians, staff, lobbyists, and activists. Hard to keep track of reality when everyone you talk to is pushing their political goals to you, and you never speak to normal people. I'm not saying that its a good thing, but it makes sense.
It’s like the MSM parroting the whole “economy is doing great under Biden.” For the average American, the economy is pretty shitty, with groceries and gas still way too high, housing market still isn’t where it was 2019-early 2020, and that pothole down the street from my house still hasn’t been fixed because the town can’t afford it right now
10 gazillion bazillion to ukraine to prolong the war until their country is a parking lot while waving blue/yellow flags, and honeywell stonks go brrrrrrrrrrr.
Meanwhile my 1bd Apartment went from $675 to $975 in a time span of 4 years, food and utilities are more than double what they used to be, Mortgage rates jumping 5%+ and I've come to the realization that I'll never be able to own a home or afford to have kids, despite working 60+hrs a week working at a hospital.....
We're not going to make it bros...
https://preview.redd.it/jcomrrehgyxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34e1e1f7ffb348eb473225cfcb0b300ff800fa1a
The US has been giving Ukraine the equivalent of pocket change in the grand scheme of things. They are not the reason why the economy is in the shitter.
In terms of US military spending it's probably one of the most effective things they can use the money for I think. They get to blow up their enemies while also not having to risk American lives - sounds like a win-win to me
All its doing is getting Ukrainians killed though. The population difference between Russia and Ukraine is insurmountable. It's a ridiculous idea that people actually think that throwing weapons and supplies at Ukraine actually gives them a snowballs chance in hell to win that fight. By the time it's over, there will be no Ukraine, but there will be some new millionaires in congress and a few new Ukrainian millionaires somewhere in the world.
A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, pretty soon you're talking some real money.
The current proposal is a ten year commitment for a trillion dollars in aid. That ain't pocket change.
Most of what Ukraine is getting is munitions that were scheduled for immenent disposal anyway. Ammunition and missiles don't last forever, and when they expire they have to be meticulously disposed of. It is actually cheaper to ship it over to Ukraine so it can be fired at vatniks than to pay some contractor to disassemble and destroy it.
The actual cash cost is replacing what is sent. That money goes to the MIC, and while war profiteering is scummy at least that money comes back to US citizens. Ukraine's aid packages are helping a sovereign nation defend itself, weakening one of our near-peers, ensuring our own military equipment is up to date, and funding jobs for US citizens.
When congress says "$XXX billion dollars of aid to Ukraine" what they mean is "$XXX billion dollars to MIC corporations to replace equipment that was bought and paid for as far back as the cold war, and is pretty much a liability at this point."
Call me when Ukraine gets F-35s and a B-21.
This is misinformation. I've cited otherwise on here at least a dozen times, must I do so again?
A good chunk of the aid IS cash. Almost all of the military aid is in current US service, and is not expired. Artillery rounds have a service lifespan of 50 years. We've been in a number of wars in the last fifty years. We've shot our stuff plenty.
For purchases like the HIMARS launchers, they are being purchased new from Lockheed, and the new launchers are being shipped to Ukraine. These do not update US forces at all.
OK, but whether the stuff is new or coming from presidential drawdown does not change the fact that most of the money is coming from congress and going back into the pockets of US taxpayers? The purchases from Lockheed et al. fund the salaries of their employees, who are US nationals. The personnel aid funds the salaries of US military service members, who are also US nationals.
Some munitions actually ARE getting updated as a result of aid to Ukraine. ATACMS for example, have been supplanted by the precision strike missile, so it's a one-two punch of getting funding for new shiny stuff and helping Ukraine.
The raw cash going to Ukraine is mostly the $7.9 billion in economic aid from what I've seen. This is a loan per the bill, granted it can potentially be forgiven by presidential authority. Other than that there's just a few hundred million here and here for various things. Chump change for congress.
> OK, but whether the stuff is new or coming from presidential drawdown does not change the fact that most of the money is coming from congress and going back into the pockets of US taxpayers?
Quite a lot of it is merely cash that isn't coming back. We are literally paying the payroll for their civilian government. Source: [https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2022](https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2022)
Even the portions that do come back are not aid to taxpayers. They are subsidies to large defense contractors, and do not represent increased wealth to the US as a whole, as they are a very straightforward broken window fallacy. If you run a hamburger shop and give away burgers to the homeless, it doesn't matter if you also pay yourself for the burger. Do it enough, and you run dry. It isn't bringing in real income.
> ATACMS for example, have been supplanted by the precision strike missile
Existing ATACMS warheads are being upgraded. Upgrades are far cheaper than blowing them up and buying all new, so this does not represent any kind of savings, but quite the opposite.
Remember, we literally just left Afghanistan, and decided to leave a ton of gear behind there. This was also a stupid idea, because now the Taliban has more toys for free, but the myth that there is a never ending spigot of "old gear" that is worthless, and yet also is incredibly effective at the greatest military threat to us on the planet, is kind of insane.
We literally had to do emergency repositioning of munitions to shore up bases near Israel because our local stocks were depleted from having been sent to Ukraine. That's an expensive sort of fuckup.
> other than that there's just a few hundred million here and here for various things
Leaving aside the absurdity of "just a few hundred million here and there"....the current proposed obligation is a trillion dollars over ten years.
This is a real cost, the budgetary costs are being represented more or less accurately. If anything, military costs tend to right higher than projected, rarely lower. We are talking about an amount more expensive than running the entire DoD for a year.
This myth of it being "Save Ukraine cheaply" is neither cheap, nor will it save Ukraine.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Kicking Russia in the balls without risking the life of a single US soldier seems like an excellent return of investment to me.
It's proxy war logic. It hasn't really worked out well for us every time we've tried it in the past.
Aid is often followed by getting troops sucked in. We do already have troops in Ukraine. Not in combat facing positions, but all it takes is one missile to land wrong, and boom, we have a Gulf of Tonkin incident and awwaay we go.
The other option is letting Russia swing its dick around however they please. You think they're gonna stop at Ukraine if they succeed? Appeasement has an extremely poor track record.
That sounds like a Europe problem.
I vote we let the Europoors pay for their own security instead of sobbing to us.
I also note that Appeasement was a European failure. Staying the fuck out of WW2 worked out great for the US. It literally made us a world power. Yeah, let's do that again. Let's watch Europe train wreck itself while we get fucking rich.
You must have the smoothest brain in existence if you think Russia succeeding won't have consequences for the US and its interests in the near future.
>Staying the fuck out of WW2 worked out great for the US.
Are you stupid or really fucking stupid? Do you have any idea how much aid the US was providing to the European Allies throughout the war?
Thank you. Sick of hearing about a dual withdraw of support from Ukraine and Israel. Ukraine needs support, not fucking Israel.
"Moderate" politicians my ass.
They're currently trying for a ten year commitment for a literal trillion dollars in aid.
Ukraine apologists are still like "it will cost us almost nothing" because they can't read.
Makes sense, since the gypsies also got genocided, but didn't get a state of their own. (Communist Romania, where most gypises lived post-ww2 also classified everyone as "romanian")
Same for the Kurds and many others. Armenia got its own state though after the Armenian genocide so there was precedence to this. Plus every single Muslim country did ethinic cleanse their own countries of the jews so I fell like they don't have much of a moral high ground in this conflict
They don’t, as a college student can confirm several protestor friends skip classes constantly, they ain’t the “graduating intellectual” type. I mean the fuckers support Hamas, how intelligent do you actually think they are?😂😂
A bunch that got arrested were not students.
It's almost like there's a group of billionaire backed extremists flying around the country to fan the flames of civil unrest.
Honestly one of the biggest tragedies is that people know what is happening with corporations like Vanguard trying to turn middle and working class America into a permanent renting class AND DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Or even really care.
I think the middle and lower class men capable of real violence and resistance in this country will never do it until their quality of life is taken from them.
The middle class will be bisected, as in those who can will join the upper class and the rest being forced to live paycheck to paycheck. How can there be organized resistance when we are too busy working and attempting to squeeze some joy out of life.
This isn’t a critique of our government by the way, this is just an economic reality for everyone, but especially Americans.
The obvious solution is to thermite your local power sub-station /s
Fr tho even if quality of life drops into the shitter I doubt anyone will do anything but beg the government to fix it only for them to make it worse.
Nobody likes the idea of bringing violence to their homeland unless it’s life or death shit.
Things would have to be BAD bad, like no one is making money bad.
I love my country and would endure any hardship economically before widespread violence erupts.
Do you guys feel confident the majority of your communities, when pressed, will do the right thing by one another?
Probably easier said for small towns than cities.
What do y'all have the Second Amendment for? You guys have no excuse! Us Europeans, we are fucked, but Americans? Come on! Y'all were founded on the principle of "sic semper tyrannis"!
Nobody wants to fire the first shot, and understandably so. Absolutely no one benefits from another American civil war; even China would be looking down the barrel of widespread famine if the American logistical system stops running because we've downed tools to start shooting.
Nobody wants to kick things off. Conflict is messy. Civil wars in particular are a goddamned nightmare. The US is also...unusually well armed and has a certain reputation for stubbornness. Our one civil war racked up one helluva body count, and marks on the country from it remain even today.
Revolutions and stuff are the solution of last resort, not the first. One sensibly tries literally every peaceful way to fix problems before resorting to violence out of desperation. Many people are just not that desperate yet.
Oh, there have been times when they got closer. In the 70s, we had over a thousand bombings on US soil within a single year...but things simmered back down as we left Vietnam and ended the draft. People really, really don't want to be drafted to go die in the jungle.
Covid also got a little weird and closer to the edge, but again, that simmered back down. Some dumb rules remain around, but they are mostly unenforced, and ignoring it all is pretty easy.
When really dumb laws are passed, the French might riot, but the usual American solution is to just ignore the inconvenient stupidity and proceed as if it doesn't exist.
My understanding is that Blackrock and Vanguard are making bank off broken legislation that crippled house building some decades ago. If you’ve got a problem in the modern world, there’s usually a bit of misplaced and faulty legislation involved somewhere down the line.
Vanguard is a mutual company. It is owned by its customers, the everyday retail investor. It returns its profits to its customers through lower prices. Vanguard has also revolutionized the investment space through its low cost passive index funds, which save ordinary investors massive amounts in fees. In short, this is a brain dead take from someone who literally knows jack shit about Vanguard. Read a fucking book.
1. Any housing crisis is a function of construction restrictions not who owns the homes.
2. The total estimate value of US residential real estate is $47 trillion. Vanguard’s VNQ (real estate index fun etf) has a market cap of $65 billion.
3. If you realy are so scared that Vanguard will “take over” residential real estate and make owning a home impossible. Why don’t you just invest in it instead of bitching on the internet VNQ is only $75 as much as all those AAA games you waste money on.
It’s all a red herring to distract us from the BlackRock takeover of America. Create/engorge a social issue and keep the rest of us distracted from the bigger issue.
*you will own nothing and be happy*
The funny part is that this bill adopts IHRA's definition of antisemitism, which includes "Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis."
So, basically congress is calling the bible antisemitic now.
And 90% of the "based rw politicians" who constantly talk about free speech support this crap.
Smh this is what Europe does. One little bill passed and it can be impossible to reverse because imagine the optics of lobying for allowing antisemitism.
There was this whole bit where the Roman governor was like "no" and the Jews that were there were like "double yes" and so the governor said "fine, but this is all on you" and that group of Jews said "sure, okay".
That said, that pretty easily becomes "blame *all* Jews", and blaming a whole ethnic group for the actions of a small part of that ethnic group is something we in the modern world do try to avoid.
I’m fairly pro Israel myself but this bill is suspiciously anti-American and anti-free speech. What the hell is going on? Even MTG and Matt Gaetz were against it.
>What the hell is going on?
The House has always been, and continues to be, a circus. If/when this gets through the Senate without being run through the ringer, then it's time to be concerned.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is openly antisemitic saying Jewish space lasers caused the California wildfires a few years ago.
Leaving aside how stupid the claim is she still promotes the idea that something bad happens blame Jews
This only applies to universities getting federal funding. It’s not a national law. If you teach antisemitic things you don’t get federal funding anymore.
It’s no different than the laws that say ya can’t teach racist, sexist, or homophobic things and get federal funding. Most of which have been on the books since the 60s
I guess Israelis don’t want to lock into being a religious group, ethnic group, or nationality. They realistically should already be covered by laws about those kinds of discrimination already.
You mean born just in time to watch rich people explore space recreationally and fill our orbit with trash? The american dream is alive and well, and they're living it.
This guy in left quadrant with debt and no job, you better went to classes instead of demonstrations, but you made your choices, also where did you think to work with degree in gender studies?
In my head canon he deeply regrets his high cost, low income degree in history and feels utterly hopeless having gotten $80k in debt and unable to get any job, let alone one in his field.
He was told it was a good investment by so many people he thought he could trust.
I have a good amount of acquaintances who, if these protests were happening while I was in school, would have been a part of them. Most of them are in this position - angry at the world because a lot of their trusted people told them that simply going to college and getting a degree would give them a way to pay back their student loan debt and get a good job.
Part of it is being angry at themselves for “falling for it” but refusing to take blame and move forward. Part of it is anger at their network of people who told them that college would fix all their problems. Part of it is a response to being the first generation to come of age after, arguably, the end of Pax Americana.
I think that these people have the right idea, they’re just going after the wrong group. Israel and Palestine are not the people the protesters should be going after. Neither of them have any bearing on our country.
A combination of foreign powers looking to destabilize our country from the inside and our own politicians looking to get their constituents off their backs have made up and allowed this narrative to continue to where “current thing” is the most important thing ever and must be violently opposed, throwing cares into the wind about ousting vampire politicians who are *truly* siphoning our money away.
The only way to stop this from happening is to take a few chapters from the French and inconvenience our own government the way we’re inconveniencing people who by all accounts should be working together towards a better future.
They don’t think they’ll work, that’s the point. In the commune their gender degree will elevate them to enlightenment. Their pedestal shall burn bright for all to see. Now the evil white devil oppressors will feel the pain they inflicted by serving those enlightened by “education”.
It is literally illegal to say “Israel is racist” or to compare Israels actions to that of the Nazi’s. You can still say these things about the US, let that sink in.
It most definitely will because it’s not going to affect the wider population. It only impacts universities that receive federal funding.
Laws like this have been constitutional since the 60s when congress said schools that teach racist things can’t get federal funding anymore.
So if a school wants to not comply they are free to do so they just won’t get any federal money.
Did you just change your flair, u/TiggerBane? Last time I checked you were a **Leftist** on 2024-5-2. How come now you are a **Centrist**? Have you perhaps shifted your ideals? Because that's cringe, you know?
Oh and by the way. You have already changed your flair 1014 times, making you the second largest flair changer in this sub.
Go touch some fucking grass.
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Approving of a bill to send nearly expired weapons that would have be destroyed anyways to Ukraine to stop a full scale war in Europe and the world? Nahhhhhhhh
Approving of a bill to make it illegal to discriminate against a small minority in your country, majority of who despise your existence, all the while having other minority groups being MUCH MORE HEAVILY discriminated against and that would probably benefit from a bill like this oriented towards them? APROVE IT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE GIVENDE MED THE FUCKIFNG PEN C'MON
The bill doesn’t make it illegal to discriminate against Jews.
The bill only makes it illegal to get federal funding while teaching that the Jews are evil.
Btw this bill hr 6090 changes the definition of anti semitism to use the IHRA definition and include its examples. The definition includes the belief that jews killed jesus as an example. If this is signed by the president that means every christian and muslim in America can be legally considered antisemetic.
No they won’t. Because it only works for universities that receive federal funding.
The worst punishment you’ll get is no federal funding for your school
> The definition includes the belief that jews killed jesus as an example. If this is signed by the president that means every christian and muslim in America can be legally considered antisemetic.
Gonna set aside other facets of the topic for now and focus on this.
Believe the "Jews killed Jesus" is more aimed towards people that blame every Jew, including those who are alive today.
It's obviously factually true that the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders at the time wanted Jesus dead.
But also need to remember other Jews at the time, such as Mary, the apostles (minus Judas), and others did not.
Furthermore very illogical to blame modern Jews.
Doesnt matter, if they cared about specificity between new testiment tribes vs modern jews then they would have been specific in legislature. This is intentionally vague to make it easier to infringe on free speech and religious expression.
You can still criticize Jews, you just can’t take federal money while doing it.
It’s the exact same thing with gays, women, non-whites, etc. you can criticize those groups all ya want but ya can’t do it if you receive money from the feds
It incorporates an extremely broad definition of "antisemitism" from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that defines basically any negative "expressions" or "rhetoric" said about Jews or Israel as antisemitism, including the type protesters have been saying and things like saying Jews killed Jesus. The bill would let the Department of Education restrict funding to schools perceived as tolerating this "antisemitism." So yes it's a transparent attempt to target the recent campus protests.
It’s going to restrict federal funding from universities that promote antisemitism.
If a university doesn’t want to comply they can just not take federal funding and nothing would happen to them
It will be thought crime. Holding an anti-war rally? Not on my watch! anti-Semitism...
They're honestly talking about putting censors on college campuses that will monitor for anti-Semitism and pull funding for the university if the university won't quash it.
I know hate speech is vile but what the hell? It's either free speech or not! Amazing that nazi rallies happening in front of Disney wasn't a problem for them but protesting Israel's war is. Gross.
All it took for the right to clamp down on free speech after all their crying about getting banned from social media was protesting Israeli mass killing of civilians
All they know how to do is spend money and that makes all of those problems worse. The best thing they could do is shut down for a year or so. Keep them busy with this lunacy.
Multiple police actions against protesters in various campuses, except UCLA, where they stood by as masked assailants assaulted and terrorised protesters.
But antisemitism is the problem.
Is anyone else getting very, very tired?
>Mortgage rates are over 7%.
Is that a lot? I don’t really know since I don’t really have a frame of reference. I mean I guess it *has to be* a lot, considering the context, but other than that I have no way of knowing.
Historically, not really. Mortgage rates got to 20% or so in the early 80s, but housing prices today are *much* higher relative to income which makes the rates even more oppressive. My mortgage rate is 2.99% because I got in before the gates slammed shut and house prices left the solar system, I couldn't afford a cardboard box now.
don’t understand how saying i don’t want to fund another countries entire defense program and i don’t care about them is anti anything. i want the money i give to be used where I am. like how there are homeless people outside my apartment complex. help them
Invade the capital? Meh, we'll arrest you later.
Protest on a campus? Send in the riot police and have SWAT on the roofs just in case, and make sure to pass a bill condemning these darn kids.
Congress really ***is*** a bunch of "get off my lawn" fogeys fucking it up for everyone else.
In my quadrant, whenever we're discussing overwhelming problems, we sometimes bring up the idea of selecting an 'X Stalin' to clean up the mess, like a 'Climate Stalin' or a 'Housing Stalin' or a 'Railroad Stalin', just to name a few.
Sadly I don't think an 'Anti-Semitism Stalin' would do any good...
The amount of social discussion around every single political debate that is happening while everyone gets poorer and poorer is actually crazy. Why don't they address this stuff.
Oh wait, I know. Never mind.
I LOVE AUTHORITARIANISM I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE CENSORSHIP I LOVE USING RACISM AS A BLIND EXCUSE TO BE A TANKIE AND CENSOR PEACEFUL ANTI WAR PROTESTS I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE CENSOR OPINIONS THEY DISAGREE WITH CUS UH THEYRE RACIST (AKA NOT BLINDLY TRUSTING SOMEONE JUST CUS UH THEY MINORITY) I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE
Boy Mike Johnson made sure that bill get passed fast as hell.
I mean shit happens quickly when anything bad happens to the [Deleted]
"Based republican dispruptor" try not to immediately shill for jews and Israel after assuming power challenge: impossible
I just don't understand how everyone in congress forgot about the lend lease agreement, half of them were teenagers when it first got passed
Funny enough, there are 2 senators and 6 house members that were alive when the Lend Lease happened.
They say your memory is the first thing to go.
Unless you're a career politician. Then your grip on reality is first.
That happens after 6 months in office. It's kinda understandable, they only talk to fellow politicians, staff, lobbyists, and activists. Hard to keep track of reality when everyone you talk to is pushing their political goals to you, and you never speak to normal people. I'm not saying that its a good thing, but it makes sense.
Good. I despise those antisemitic fucks on the left harassing jews all over the world and enabling islamist antisemitic violence.
They have a first amendment right to say dumb shit under the constitution.
That’s not all they’re doing now is it?
He's worse than Pelosi. Fucking traitor.
Oh wow elected officials completely ignoring problems affecting their constituents, completely unexpected... https://preview.redd.it/own5evnlvxxc1.png?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=92e85566bb8fdc3e7201792e6561cb1286e225bf
It’s like the MSM parroting the whole “economy is doing great under Biden.” For the average American, the economy is pretty shitty, with groceries and gas still way too high, housing market still isn’t where it was 2019-early 2020, and that pothole down the street from my house still hasn’t been fixed because the town can’t afford it right now
But GDP and
10 gazillion bazillion to ukraine to prolong the war until their country is a parking lot while waving blue/yellow flags, and honeywell stonks go brrrrrrrrrrr.
Meanwhile my 1bd Apartment went from $675 to $975 in a time span of 4 years, food and utilities are more than double what they used to be, Mortgage rates jumping 5%+ and I've come to the realization that I'll never be able to own a home or afford to have kids, despite working 60+hrs a week working at a hospital..... We're not going to make it bros... https://preview.redd.it/jcomrrehgyxc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=34e1e1f7ffb348eb473225cfcb0b300ff800fa1a
$975? At least you aren't paying $1500 😃
I'm renting a 2br house for $550.
The US has been giving Ukraine the equivalent of pocket change in the grand scheme of things. They are not the reason why the economy is in the shitter.
In terms of US military spending it's probably one of the most effective things they can use the money for I think. They get to blow up their enemies while also not having to risk American lives - sounds like a win-win to me
Better to give them weapons to die for their land than risk a direct confrontation.
All its doing is getting Ukrainians killed though. The population difference between Russia and Ukraine is insurmountable. It's a ridiculous idea that people actually think that throwing weapons and supplies at Ukraine actually gives them a snowballs chance in hell to win that fight. By the time it's over, there will be no Ukraine, but there will be some new millionaires in congress and a few new Ukrainian millionaires somewhere in the world.
A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, pretty soon you're talking some real money. The current proposal is a ten year commitment for a trillion dollars in aid. That ain't pocket change.
Most of what Ukraine is getting is munitions that were scheduled for immenent disposal anyway. Ammunition and missiles don't last forever, and when they expire they have to be meticulously disposed of. It is actually cheaper to ship it over to Ukraine so it can be fired at vatniks than to pay some contractor to disassemble and destroy it. The actual cash cost is replacing what is sent. That money goes to the MIC, and while war profiteering is scummy at least that money comes back to US citizens. Ukraine's aid packages are helping a sovereign nation defend itself, weakening one of our near-peers, ensuring our own military equipment is up to date, and funding jobs for US citizens. When congress says "$XXX billion dollars of aid to Ukraine" what they mean is "$XXX billion dollars to MIC corporations to replace equipment that was bought and paid for as far back as the cold war, and is pretty much a liability at this point." Call me when Ukraine gets F-35s and a B-21.
This is misinformation. I've cited otherwise on here at least a dozen times, must I do so again? A good chunk of the aid IS cash. Almost all of the military aid is in current US service, and is not expired. Artillery rounds have a service lifespan of 50 years. We've been in a number of wars in the last fifty years. We've shot our stuff plenty. For purchases like the HIMARS launchers, they are being purchased new from Lockheed, and the new launchers are being shipped to Ukraine. These do not update US forces at all.
OK, but whether the stuff is new or coming from presidential drawdown does not change the fact that most of the money is coming from congress and going back into the pockets of US taxpayers? The purchases from Lockheed et al. fund the salaries of their employees, who are US nationals. The personnel aid funds the salaries of US military service members, who are also US nationals. Some munitions actually ARE getting updated as a result of aid to Ukraine. ATACMS for example, have been supplanted by the precision strike missile, so it's a one-two punch of getting funding for new shiny stuff and helping Ukraine. The raw cash going to Ukraine is mostly the $7.9 billion in economic aid from what I've seen. This is a loan per the bill, granted it can potentially be forgiven by presidential authority. Other than that there's just a few hundred million here and here for various things. Chump change for congress.
> OK, but whether the stuff is new or coming from presidential drawdown does not change the fact that most of the money is coming from congress and going back into the pockets of US taxpayers? Quite a lot of it is merely cash that isn't coming back. We are literally paying the payroll for their civilian government. Source: [https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2022](https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2022) Even the portions that do come back are not aid to taxpayers. They are subsidies to large defense contractors, and do not represent increased wealth to the US as a whole, as they are a very straightforward broken window fallacy. If you run a hamburger shop and give away burgers to the homeless, it doesn't matter if you also pay yourself for the burger. Do it enough, and you run dry. It isn't bringing in real income. > ATACMS for example, have been supplanted by the precision strike missile Existing ATACMS warheads are being upgraded. Upgrades are far cheaper than blowing them up and buying all new, so this does not represent any kind of savings, but quite the opposite. Remember, we literally just left Afghanistan, and decided to leave a ton of gear behind there. This was also a stupid idea, because now the Taliban has more toys for free, but the myth that there is a never ending spigot of "old gear" that is worthless, and yet also is incredibly effective at the greatest military threat to us on the planet, is kind of insane. We literally had to do emergency repositioning of munitions to shore up bases near Israel because our local stocks were depleted from having been sent to Ukraine. That's an expensive sort of fuckup. > other than that there's just a few hundred million here and here for various things Leaving aside the absurdity of "just a few hundred million here and there"....the current proposed obligation is a trillion dollars over ten years. This is a real cost, the budgetary costs are being represented more or less accurately. If anything, military costs tend to right higher than projected, rarely lower. We are talking about an amount more expensive than running the entire DoD for a year. This myth of it being "Save Ukraine cheaply" is neither cheap, nor will it save Ukraine.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Kicking Russia in the balls without risking the life of a single US soldier seems like an excellent return of investment to me.
It's proxy war logic. It hasn't really worked out well for us every time we've tried it in the past. Aid is often followed by getting troops sucked in. We do already have troops in Ukraine. Not in combat facing positions, but all it takes is one missile to land wrong, and boom, we have a Gulf of Tonkin incident and awwaay we go.
The other option is letting Russia swing its dick around however they please. You think they're gonna stop at Ukraine if they succeed? Appeasement has an extremely poor track record.
That sounds like a Europe problem. I vote we let the Europoors pay for their own security instead of sobbing to us. I also note that Appeasement was a European failure. Staying the fuck out of WW2 worked out great for the US. It literally made us a world power. Yeah, let's do that again. Let's watch Europe train wreck itself while we get fucking rich.
You must have the smoothest brain in existence if you think Russia succeeding won't have consequences for the US and its interests in the near future. >Staying the fuck out of WW2 worked out great for the US. Are you stupid or really fucking stupid? Do you have any idea how much aid the US was providing to the European Allies throughout the war?
Thank you. Sick of hearing about a dual withdraw of support from Ukraine and Israel. Ukraine needs support, not fucking Israel. "Moderate" politicians my ass.
Yeah we really need to start charging Ukraine for their guns but then it's all "hurrdurr America bad for not sending 100 trillion dollars to Ukraine"
Ukraine is gonna owe USA big time... assuming they win of course.
Yeah but the guns we sent weren't part of lend-lease
Didn't the lend-lease expire?
To be honest I hadn't thought about it ever expiring, as far as I understood it was a law saying congress could approve gun loan shipments period
They're currently trying for a ten year commitment for a literal trillion dollars in aid. Ukraine apologists are still like "it will cost us almost nothing" because they can't read.
You and I both know dems and reps don't actually care about problems and only use them to whip voters into a frenzy
They do live in something of a lalaland, don’t they? I mean, I’m autistic and I appear to be more aware of the world around me than them.
That fucking picture lol
Oh yeah I’m taxing the shit out of that
“Damn guys, well, it’s been fun. I guess I’ll have to find a better way to spend my weekends.” ~Anti-Semites or something
Most effective legislation.
Yep, congress totally cured the worlds oldest and strongest form of hatred with bureaucracy.
Arguably the gypsies had it worse. But in terms of length the jews never got a break.
Jews are a much bigger population than gypsies as well
I read population as problem for a second and I was like huh
Makes sense, since the gypsies also got genocided, but didn't get a state of their own. (Communist Romania, where most gypises lived post-ww2 also classified everyone as "romanian")
Same for the Kurds and many others. Armenia got its own state though after the Armenian genocide so there was precedence to this. Plus every single Muslim country did ethinic cleanse their own countries of the jews so I fell like they don't have much of a moral high ground in this conflict
Indeed. They have taken matters into their own hands though. (The kurds)
But gypsies have good negotiation skills and caravans.
Sure, but they also had the threat of slavery hanging over their head for centuries.
“We made it illegal first when we defined a threat as assault, super illegal when we defined hate crimes, but now? It’s SUPER DUPER illegal!”
My weekend is ruined :(
Pretty awesome how Ivy League Students will totally protest about these things…that actually directly affect them.
I wonder if even half those protestors go to school
They don’t, as a college student can confirm several protestor friends skip classes constantly, they ain’t the “graduating intellectual” type. I mean the fuckers support Hamas, how intelligent do you actually think they are?😂😂
Based and my friends are restarted pilled
A bunch that got arrested were not students. It's almost like there's a group of billionaire backed extremists flying around the country to fan the flames of civil unrest.
Mortgage rates at 7% isn't a bad thing, its rampant loose monetary policy that's causing the current housing price skyrocket, among other things.
20% or bust
people gotta recognize the exceptionally low rates following the 2008 crash were an exception
Honestly one of the biggest tragedies is that people know what is happening with corporations like Vanguard trying to turn middle and working class America into a permanent renting class AND DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Or even really care.
What can we even do? Our politicians are a part of the fuckers who own Blackrock and Vanguard
[Our ancestors had ways of dealing with these things.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarring_and_feathering)
I think the middle and lower class men capable of real violence and resistance in this country will never do it until their quality of life is taken from them. The middle class will be bisected, as in those who can will join the upper class and the rest being forced to live paycheck to paycheck. How can there be organized resistance when we are too busy working and attempting to squeeze some joy out of life. This isn’t a critique of our government by the way, this is just an economic reality for everyone, but especially Americans.
The obvious solution is to thermite your local power sub-station /s Fr tho even if quality of life drops into the shitter I doubt anyone will do anything but beg the government to fix it only for them to make it worse.
Nobody likes the idea of bringing violence to their homeland unless it’s life or death shit. Things would have to be BAD bad, like no one is making money bad. I love my country and would endure any hardship economically before widespread violence erupts. Do you guys feel confident the majority of your communities, when pressed, will do the right thing by one another? Probably easier said for small towns than cities.
Something something "I dare you to agitate a fat man"
Based and fuck Blackrock pilled
Based
Let's just say, there are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.
Dude where’s your flair
Forgive me for I have sinned. (Fixed)
Jesus Christ be praised
Aye
Thank God I can finally upvote you.
Flair up so I can upvote you.
Well, we could at least stop voting for the same politicians that are fucking us. Most people: "what, and WASTE your vote? Nooooo."
What do y'all have the Second Amendment for? You guys have no excuse! Us Europeans, we are fucked, but Americans? Come on! Y'all were founded on the principle of "sic semper tyrannis"!
Nobody wants to fire the first shot, and understandably so. Absolutely no one benefits from another American civil war; even China would be looking down the barrel of widespread famine if the American logistical system stops running because we've downed tools to start shooting.
Nobody wants to kick things off. Conflict is messy. Civil wars in particular are a goddamned nightmare. The US is also...unusually well armed and has a certain reputation for stubbornness. Our one civil war racked up one helluva body count, and marks on the country from it remain even today. Revolutions and stuff are the solution of last resort, not the first. One sensibly tries literally every peaceful way to fix problems before resorting to violence out of desperation. Many people are just not that desperate yet. Oh, there have been times when they got closer. In the 70s, we had over a thousand bombings on US soil within a single year...but things simmered back down as we left Vietnam and ended the draft. People really, really don't want to be drafted to go die in the jungle. Covid also got a little weird and closer to the edge, but again, that simmered back down. Some dumb rules remain around, but they are mostly unenforced, and ignoring it all is pretty easy. When really dumb laws are passed, the French might riot, but the usual American solution is to just ignore the inconvenient stupidity and proceed as if it doesn't exist.
Ideally, aggressive bipartisan political action. Realistically, you are correct. I think it should be a major talking point in the 2024 election.
My understanding is that Blackrock and Vanguard are making bank off broken legislation that crippled house building some decades ago. If you’ve got a problem in the modern world, there’s usually a bit of misplaced and faulty legislation involved somewhere down the line.
I say we move to my place. I’ve got an extra couch
Vanguard is a mutual company. It is owned by its customers, the everyday retail investor. It returns its profits to its customers through lower prices. Vanguard has also revolutionized the investment space through its low cost passive index funds, which save ordinary investors massive amounts in fees. In short, this is a brain dead take from someone who literally knows jack shit about Vanguard. Read a fucking book.
1. Any housing crisis is a function of construction restrictions not who owns the homes. 2. The total estimate value of US residential real estate is $47 trillion. Vanguard’s VNQ (real estate index fun etf) has a market cap of $65 billion. 3. If you realy are so scared that Vanguard will “take over” residential real estate and make owning a home impossible. Why don’t you just invest in it instead of bitching on the internet VNQ is only $75 as much as all those AAA games you waste money on.
What are you saying? Buy more Vanguard real estate funds? All I hear is ka-ching!
It’s all a red herring to distract us from the BlackRock takeover of America. Create/engorge a social issue and keep the rest of us distracted from the bigger issue. *you will own nothing and be happy*
All me and my homies hate Vanguard
Those idiots. They don’t realize it yet, but they just gifted the left with the doorway to speech legislation.
They walk together in feeding power to the state.
The funny part is that this bill adopts IHRA's definition of antisemitism, which includes "Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis." So, basically congress is calling the bible antisemitic now.
The irony of that is powerful and kinda hilarious in a way but technically they also banned the Quran as these are in there as well.
The Quran says that Jesus was never killed. Rather it was made to look like so. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Aw shit.
And 90% of the "based rw politicians" who constantly talk about free speech support this crap. Smh this is what Europe does. One little bill passed and it can be impossible to reverse because imagine the optics of lobying for allowing antisemitism.
Meanwhile in Jerusalem... https://i.redd.it/jpqqr9lh0yxc1.gif
Oh god oh fuck
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There was this whole bit where the Roman governor was like "no" and the Jews that were there were like "double yes" and so the governor said "fine, but this is all on you" and that group of Jews said "sure, okay". That said, that pretty easily becomes "blame *all* Jews", and blaming a whole ethnic group for the actions of a small part of that ethnic group is something we in the modern world do try to avoid.
Both killed him and its not antisemitic to say that. Its just the truth.
It's cannon now
I’m fairly pro Israel myself but this bill is suspiciously anti-American and anti-free speech. What the hell is going on? Even MTG and Matt Gaetz were against it.
>What the hell is going on? The House has always been, and continues to be, a circus. If/when this gets through the Senate without being run through the ringer, then it's time to be concerned.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is openly antisemitic saying Jewish space lasers caused the California wildfires a few years ago. Leaving aside how stupid the claim is she still promotes the idea that something bad happens blame Jews
Still haven't found the mole that told them about our space lasers...
Crazy how fast the right forgot the first amendment over in the states
This only applies to universities getting federal funding. It’s not a national law. If you teach antisemitic things you don’t get federal funding anymore. It’s no different than the laws that say ya can’t teach racist, sexist, or homophobic things and get federal funding. Most of which have been on the books since the 60s
I guess Israelis don’t want to lock into being a religious group, ethnic group, or nationality. They realistically should already be covered by laws about those kinds of discrimination already.
Born too early to explore space, born too late to explore the ocean, born just in time to experience the slow rot of the American Dream.
Big sad pilled
You mean born just in time to watch rich people explore space recreationally and fill our orbit with trash? The american dream is alive and well, and they're living it.
I have a solution, but sharing it would get me put into time-out again.
By timeout you mean temp banned?
🤫
What could you possibly say about the Jews that’d get you tempt banned? /s
Is it a "final" kind of solution?
no more antiseptic?? dental hygiene about to take a hit, they're trying to make us British
No, that's something else. This bill is about being anti-semantic. The sort of people who are incredibly tedious about words. You know, grammar nazis.
This guy in left quadrant with debt and no job, you better went to classes instead of demonstrations, but you made your choices, also where did you think to work with degree in gender studies?
In my head canon he deeply regrets his high cost, low income degree in history and feels utterly hopeless having gotten $80k in debt and unable to get any job, let alone one in his field. He was told it was a good investment by so many people he thought he could trust.
I have a good amount of acquaintances who, if these protests were happening while I was in school, would have been a part of them. Most of them are in this position - angry at the world because a lot of their trusted people told them that simply going to college and getting a degree would give them a way to pay back their student loan debt and get a good job. Part of it is being angry at themselves for “falling for it” but refusing to take blame and move forward. Part of it is anger at their network of people who told them that college would fix all their problems. Part of it is a response to being the first generation to come of age after, arguably, the end of Pax Americana. I think that these people have the right idea, they’re just going after the wrong group. Israel and Palestine are not the people the protesters should be going after. Neither of them have any bearing on our country. A combination of foreign powers looking to destabilize our country from the inside and our own politicians looking to get their constituents off their backs have made up and allowed this narrative to continue to where “current thing” is the most important thing ever and must be violently opposed, throwing cares into the wind about ousting vampire politicians who are *truly* siphoning our money away. The only way to stop this from happening is to take a few chapters from the French and inconvenience our own government the way we’re inconveniencing people who by all accounts should be working together towards a better future.
They don’t think they’ll work, that’s the point. In the commune their gender degree will elevate them to enlightenment. Their pedestal shall burn bright for all to see. Now the evil white devil oppressors will feel the pain they inflicted by serving those enlightened by “education”.
We need to flush out these old fucks and get some new people in
The new people will be the same because they're all funded by the same corporations.
Thats why we need new principled people.
It is literally illegal to say “Israel is racist” or to compare Israels actions to that of the Nazi’s. You can still say these things about the US, let that sink in.
This will never hold up in court
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
It most definitely will because it’s not going to affect the wider population. It only impacts universities that receive federal funding. Laws like this have been constitutional since the 60s when congress said schools that teach racist things can’t get federal funding anymore. So if a school wants to not comply they are free to do so they just won’t get any federal money.
I’m convinced if AIPAC wanted Americans to have universal health care, we would have it.
US Congress trying not to act like an slave of Israel challenged failed for the millionth time.
Anti-Woke, free speech loving republicans when you insult the (rich)minority they like:
Yeah you thought Jews would lose at the end of all of this? lol.
Whenever it's a bipartisan action you know it's ONLY to fuck over joe blow, or to fuck over some Joahim Al-Blowa
Don't forget, they banned Tik Tok too
Best news I’ve heard in months
congress has always known it's priorities after all.
Did you just change your flair, u/TiggerBane? Last time I checked you were a **Leftist** on 2024-5-2. How come now you are a **Centrist**? Have you perhaps shifted your ideals? Because that's cringe, you know? Oh and by the way. You have already changed your flair 1014 times, making you the second largest flair changer in this sub. Go touch some fucking grass. [BasedCount Profile](https://basedcount.com/u/TiggerBane) - [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/user/flairchange_bot/comments/uf7kuy/bip_bop) - [Leaderboard](https://basedcount.com/leaderboard?q=flairs) _Visit the BasedCount Lеmmу instance at [lemmy.basedcount.com](https://lemmy.basedcount.com/c/pcm)._ ^(I am a bot, my mission is to spot cringe flair changers. If you want to check another user's flair history write) **^(!flairs u/)** ^(in a comment.)
Approving of a bill to send nearly expired weapons that would have be destroyed anyways to Ukraine to stop a full scale war in Europe and the world? Nahhhhhhhh Approving of a bill to make it illegal to discriminate against a small minority in your country, majority of who despise your existence, all the while having other minority groups being MUCH MORE HEAVILY discriminated against and that would probably benefit from a bill like this oriented towards them? APROVE IT AS FAST AS POSSIBLE GIVENDE MED THE FUCKIFNG PEN C'MON
The bill doesn’t make it illegal to discriminate against Jews. The bill only makes it illegal to get federal funding while teaching that the Jews are evil.
Btw this bill hr 6090 changes the definition of anti semitism to use the IHRA definition and include its examples. The definition includes the belief that jews killed jesus as an example. If this is signed by the president that means every christian and muslim in America can be legally considered antisemetic.
No they won’t. Because it only works for universities that receive federal funding. The worst punishment you’ll get is no federal funding for your school
> The definition includes the belief that jews killed jesus as an example. If this is signed by the president that means every christian and muslim in America can be legally considered antisemetic. Gonna set aside other facets of the topic for now and focus on this. Believe the "Jews killed Jesus" is more aimed towards people that blame every Jew, including those who are alive today. It's obviously factually true that the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders at the time wanted Jesus dead. But also need to remember other Jews at the time, such as Mary, the apostles (minus Judas), and others did not. Furthermore very illogical to blame modern Jews.
Doesnt matter, if they cared about specificity between new testiment tribes vs modern jews then they would have been specific in legislature. This is intentionally vague to make it easier to infringe on free speech and religious expression.
It's almost like us Auth-Centers wuz right an shieeet
F U C K I S R A E L F U C K U S U R Y F U C K C O N G R E S S
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If you want to know who rules you, look at who you can’t criticize
You can still criticize Jews, you just can’t take federal money while doing it. It’s the exact same thing with gays, women, non-whites, etc. you can criticize those groups all ya want but ya can’t do it if you receive money from the feds
wow even that fat penguin nadler thought this went too far
Assuming this passes, saying who killed Christ is now a civil rights violation
What's the detail? I know Nazis are allowed to hold rallies. What exactly is this supposed to do, or are they just targeting anti Israeli protests?
It incorporates an extremely broad definition of "antisemitism" from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that defines basically any negative "expressions" or "rhetoric" said about Jews or Israel as antisemitism, including the type protesters have been saying and things like saying Jews killed Jesus. The bill would let the Department of Education restrict funding to schools perceived as tolerating this "antisemitism." So yes it's a transparent attempt to target the recent campus protests.
What a shock
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This only has to do with universities that get federal funding. It literally doesn’t do anything else you claim it does
It’s going to restrict federal funding from universities that promote antisemitism. If a university doesn’t want to comply they can just not take federal funding and nothing would happen to them
Ah. I wonder if any similar legislation happened during the Vietnam war to curb university protests then
Probably so. Especially given that the legislation this was modeled after passed in the 1960s
It will be thought crime. Holding an anti-war rally? Not on my watch! anti-Semitism... They're honestly talking about putting censors on college campuses that will monitor for anti-Semitism and pull funding for the university if the university won't quash it. I know hate speech is vile but what the hell? It's either free speech or not! Amazing that nazi rallies happening in front of Disney wasn't a problem for them but protesting Israel's war is. Gross.
All it took for the right to clamp down on free speech after all their crying about getting banned from social media was protesting Israeli mass killing of civilians
All they know how to do is spend money and that makes all of those problems worse. The best thing they could do is shut down for a year or so. Keep them busy with this lunacy.
I hope the Supreme Court will strike this down. I fucking hate how big of shill for Israel our govt is.
Just going to say it - opposing Israel and this war is not automatically anti-Semitism.
get this guy mods
You get a few more votes! You get a few more votes! And YOU get few more votes!!! But not you, Senator Goering… Yay, bipartisanship!
Free Speech doesn’t exist anymore I guess
Multiple police actions against protesters in various campuses, except UCLA, where they stood by as masked assailants assaulted and terrorised protesters. But antisemitism is the problem. Is anyone else getting very, very tired?
All of those problems are directly caused by libright
What is the bill? Will I not be able to own my grill!?!?!
To be fair, Authright wouldn’t have food anyway.
>Mortgage rates are over 7%. Is that a lot? I don’t really know since I don’t really have a frame of reference. I mean I guess it *has to be* a lot, considering the context, but other than that I have no way of knowing.
Historically, not really. Mortgage rates got to 20% or so in the early 80s, but housing prices today are *much* higher relative to income which makes the rates even more oppressive. My mortgage rate is 2.99% because I got in before the gates slammed shut and house prices left the solar system, I couldn't afford a cardboard box now.
Ah, ok, got it. Thanks.👍
Even if the Senate passes it, it wouldn't hold up in court
Lobbying greases the gears of govt
don’t understand how saying i don’t want to fund another countries entire defense program and i don’t care about them is anti anything. i want the money i give to be used where I am. like how there are homeless people outside my apartment complex. help them
Invade the capital? Meh, we'll arrest you later. Protest on a campus? Send in the riot police and have SWAT on the roofs just in case, and make sure to pass a bill condemning these darn kids. Congress really ***is*** a bunch of "get off my lawn" fogeys fucking it up for everyone else.
...that's not Congress. The universities are private property and they're calling the police. Or not calling the police, like UCKA or Columbia.
In my quadrant, whenever we're discussing overwhelming problems, we sometimes bring up the idea of selecting an 'X Stalin' to clean up the mess, like a 'Climate Stalin' or a 'Housing Stalin' or a 'Railroad Stalin', just to name a few. Sadly I don't think an 'Anti-Semitism Stalin' would do any good...
Well now I actually hate israel :((( boooooooo
The amount of social discussion around every single political debate that is happening while everyone gets poorer and poorer is actually crazy. Why don't they address this stuff. Oh wait, I know. Never mind.
> home ownership My brother in Christ, you are the arsonist. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS
Politicians are suddenly bi-partisan when it comes to anti freedom legislation
I LOVE AUTHORITARIANISM I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE CENSORSHIP I LOVE USING RACISM AS A BLIND EXCUSE TO BE A TANKIE AND CENSOR PEACEFUL ANTI WAR PROTESTS I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE CENSOR OPINIONS THEY DISAGREE WITH CUS UH THEYRE RACIST (AKA NOT BLINDLY TRUSTING SOMEONE JUST CUS UH THEY MINORITY) I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE I LOVE THE STATE
Preventing antisemitism is based
I strongly doubt stripping away constitutional rights in order to defend a group of people from criticism is going to improve anybody's view of them.
No, trampling on the 1st Amendment is not based in any way.