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I, like many others, was absolutely floored and disgusted to see Democrats wavingUkraine flags on the House floor late yesterday. All to celebrate the passage of an atrocious bill handing Ukraine MORE money and MORE boots on the ground.
https://twitter.com/RepJasonCrow/status/1781792015631389093
No Jason, you should NOT be waving an Ukraine flag or a flag of ANY other country on the floor of the United State HOUSE. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and the rest are correct. You were all very much out of line and went against the protocols of Congress.
Some House Democrats cheered, chanted, “Ukraine, Ukraine!” and waved small Ukrainian flags on the House floor following passage of the aid bill, causing the Chair to bang the gavel and remind them that “House decorum” precluded them from doing so.
House Speaker Mike Johnson took the podium at one point, banging the gavel and announcing, “The House will be in order! It is a violation of decorum to wave flags on the floor of the House. The chair said it, the speaker’s repeated it, please put the flags down.”
It was very obvious that the Democrats didn’t care. Never mind that something like this, if done by Republicans would be immediately branded as an insurrection, the Democrats get a pass. You see, it’s always ok when THEY do it.
House lawmakers in both parties joined forces Saturday to send a massive package of foreign aid to the Senate, ending a long and bitter stalemate over the fate of the legislation and all but ensuring the delivery of billions of dollars in new help to embattled allies across the globe.
The rare weekend votes were the culmination of months of fierce debate within the House GOP conference over how — or even if — Congress should step in with another round of military help for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan while providing humanitarian aid for civilian victims in Gaza and other war-torn regions around the globe.
And the celebration over an atrocious bill began as soon as the votes were in.
Yes, the Democrats were totally out of line.
And in another 2.5 months Ukraine will have made zero progress and be asking for more
— Purrplexed (@Purrplexion) April 20, 2024
But I will say, the Republicans absolutely bear responsibility for the funding to Ukraine in this bill. It’s atrocious on so many levels. Why? Because the devil is in the details of this new grift to Ukraine. Oilfield Rando on X ran a deep dive into the legislation, and it’s not pretty.
Title III of the Ukraine Aid bill:
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) April 20, 2024
$481 million for refugee and entrant assistance.
The Administration for Children and Families gives this money to the NGOs coordinating the border invasion. Incredible. Thanks, @SpeakerJohnson pic.twitter.com/7AUFrdZhhV
Just lovely isn’t it? Oh, but there’s more.
The Ukraine Aid bill includes:
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) April 20, 2024
-$300 million for Department of State "International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement" programs.
-$100 million for ‘‘Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining and Related Programs’’
But remember. We're just sending bullets! pic.twitter.com/cM5Pqwjqnz
As we all know, USAID isn’t exactly a stellar above-board operation either. Yes, Ukraine has been needing lots of bullets but this legislation contains a boatload of dollars and cents instead.
Section 505 of the Ukraine aid bill: We're sending them long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems.
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) April 20, 2024
It's fine. This is fine. I wonder what those will pull on the black market. pic.twitter.com/P5jh6kmkxd
That’s a very fine question! Not only that, Biden got multiple funding boosts with this atrocious legislation, including an increase from $100 million to $7.8 BILLION in equipment and supplies from our U.S. military to Ukraine. Which any rational mind would conclude leaves OUR soldiers short-handed.
Furthermore, outside of that, it’s shades of pre-Vietnam all over again. Why? Because MORE advisors are being sent to Ukraine.
“Throughout this conflict, the DOD has reviewed and adjusted our presence in-country, as security conditions have evolved. Currently, we are considering sending several additional advisers to augment the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) at the Embassy,” Ryder said in a statement to POLITICO, noting that “personnel are subject to the same travel restrictions as all embassy employees.
Supposedly these new advisors (we don’t know how many) will be conducting oversight regarding the weapons flowing from the U.S. to Ukraine. The implication is that those weapons won’t magically disappear into the black market. Except we already know that weapons and ammo have consistently gone missing from the very start. But sure, let’s send more “advisors” over to make sure Ukraine plays nice in the sandbox with their gifts.
As our longtime readers know, I’ve had huge concerns and heartburn over the blank checks the Biden Administration keeps handing Ukraine. Why? Because the return on investment isn’t happening.
Last November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered his forces to build trenches, fortifications and bunkers behind the more than 1,000-kilometer front line, but analysts say construction work moved slowly, leaving areas unprotected.
“If the defensive lines had been built in advance, the Ukrainians wouldn’t have retreated in such a way,” Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov said. “We should have been digging trenches through the fall and it would have stemmed Russian advances. Now everything is exposed, making it very dangerous.”
Quite frankly, Ukraine had the means and support to fully build those trenches and buttress up other lines of defense. Yet Zelensky didn’t push that through. Instead he spent much of last fall and into this spring whining about the lack of military support and money.
Democrats in Congress have ignored the realities of the Ukraine/Russia issue. They’ve refused, as has the State Department and DOD, to entertain pushing the two countries into negotiating a peace deal. Thus the fighting continues, Putin grandstands, Zelensky whines, and Democrats waive Ukraine flags on the House floor.
And for what? Well, this bit of horseshit from the Ukraine bill makes it all very very clear.
Remember how we were told that the new Ukraine aid would be given in the form of a “loan”?
Well, according to the just released bill, the president can forgive 50% of the loan after November of this year and the whole thing in 2026. [Emphasis Added]
You can damned well bet someone will have that loan forgiveness paperwork ready for Biden to sign JUST before Election Day in November.
Democrats waiving Ukraine flags on the House floor is a horrible move that shows they are happily putting America last while Ukraine happily rakes in the dough.
Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click
Jack says: Sending advisors…..
I seem to remember back when I was a lad growing up in the 50s/60s, we did that in a place called South Vietnam. We all know how that worked out.
Cameron says: “When you send advisors, you are declaring war.” Can’t remember where I read that.
A reader says: Shorter version: I am unhappy because Putin is unhappy and I enjoy spreading Russian disinformation and subverting democracies around the world. (Reagan is rolling over in his grave at that!)
You do realize that your whining reads suspiciously like comments made in 1938 when Hitler invaded the Sudetenland. At that time there were calls, both here and abroad, for appeasement and not aiding anyone or getting involved in anything. Hopefully the WWII iconography and idolization you have all over this blog isn’t just for show and you actually know and understand what happened next… (This isn’t pre-Vietnam, it’s pre-WWII, do try and keep up.)
If we don’t help Ukraine, it will hurt our interests in the long run. Do you want another land war in Europe?! Because that’s where this is headed. Putin WILL NOT stop at Ukraine. Autocratic dictators don’t stop, particularly when they have grandiose ideas about rebuilding the “glory” of the USSR and want to put it back together again, plus stop NATO. He’s not going to be ok with an appeasement and Ukraine is a sovereign nation and should not have to give up part of its territory. Why is this so hard to understand?
America is a wealthy nation. We spend billions on our military each year. We can spare this. You just don’t want it because it makes Putin mad, at least that’s how you’re acting anyways. The whining about money is all smoke and mirrors to cover up the Russian talking points. I love how you’re quoting some rando on X. You do realize he could be a Russian bot or troll, right? And just spreading misinformation? Maybe try listening to an actual foreign policy expert who can explain what the bill means, why those things are included, etc. rather than some random person on the Internet.
There’s reporting that Mike Johnson received intelligence reporting on the true state of things in Ukraine and he came to understand just how critical it was to America and our allies that Ukraine receive funding. Only Russian loving, democracy hating people are aghast at this. Something to think about…
Lloyd says: Are you nuts??? We have spent too much (of what we didn’t have) on Ukraine already. We have tried to protect Ukraine while we have ignored the invasion at our borders. Ukraine will lose the war to Russia. We will be left left incapable of defense of our own (I’m not sure who owns it any more!) country. I say, short of sending Zelensky some clothes other than army green (He pretends just like that Cuban fellow a few years back!), we send him nothing!
Que says: From Substack comes this insightful article on Ukraine from a friend who is a security analyst in the private sector, a former Treasury officer, and military veteran. She is also an immigrant from the former USSR and speaks fluent Russian.
I completely agree.
https://open.substack.com/pub/irenekenyon/p/ukraine-aid?r=3usur&utm_medium=ios
Skillyboo says: Would we be in this quagmire if Trump were re-elected? Probably not but the globalists who picked Biden picked him for the reason that he is a clueless walking cadaver who is President in name only. They, the globalists know that if Trump is re-elected the party is over, for now. Plan B will be to destroy him politically if they cannot convict him first. Rest assured that if he assumes office his second term will be a carbon copy of his first, endless accusations, lawsuits and court challenges to everything he does. It is imperative that the House and Senate turn decisively red to stop the globalist takeover of this nation.
Que says: In the link provided to prove “shades of Vietnam all over again,” here is what RedState writer ‘streiff’ actually wrote:
“While necessary to comply with the level of accountability of weapons and ammunition demanded by Congress and the Department of Defense, the atmospherics are terrible. One of the constant drumbeats one hears on social media is the inevitability of US “boots on the ground” (where else would boots be? Other than up your butt). The unfortunate use of the word “advisers” will cause split aortas all over the rather large pro-Russia, pro-Putin segment of the online right.
The US has successfully deployed advisers into hot conflicts without mishaps or the US becoming embroiled in a war. The last such instance was in El Salvador during Reagan’s campaign to roll back communism. The role of advisers in South Vietnam (Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand) did not lead to war but reflected a greater US role in a war inherited from the French. The role of those advisers was combat-oriented; this is not the case in Ukraine. One of the critical roles of US advisers in Southeast Asia was training indigenous armies. This is done today by sending Ukrainian units out of Ukraine to the UK, Germany, or other locations for training.
Under a worst-case scenario, a Russian attack on US advisers only results in direct combat between US and Russian troops if the US president decides to pursue that course of action. There is no legal requirement that the deaths of American servicemen be followed by a massive troop deployment. In fact, the last forty or so years of US diplomatic history indicate that the quickest way to get America out of an area is by killing some Americans (see Beirut and Mogadishu).
Calling US troops in Ukraine “advisers” is the kind of footshot that we’ve grown accustomed to from the Biden Defense and State Departments. Claiming that advisers inevitably mean direct conflict with Russian forces is the kind of hyperbolic conspiracism that parts of the right insist on trafficking in because they don’t want to be taken seriously.”
John Shepherd says: Get a clue. If Ukraine falls because the run out of stuff the blame will fall on Republicans not Biden as you hope.
BJ says: Hmmm…which party controls the House again? I believe it’s the GOP. The GOP had six months to negotiate this bill. If it’s a bad deal, then it’s on them.
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