It’s worth mentioning, that although the Russian (and former Soviet) army is large, is has never been, what one would call, a great army. Yes, they are ruthless and brutal, but the army is mostly made up of conscripts with very low morale.
Their history of losses outweigh their victories, and most of the losses are to smaller countries. Chechnya, Poland, Japan, Crimean War, and Sweden and Finland fought Russia to a standstill. And then Afghanistan, everyone’s loser. WWII, Russia would be Germany now except for Allied troops on the western front. Of course, the west might also be Germany without the Russian on the east.
Point being, the Russian offensive shouldn’t be surprising and is not a foregone conclusion of victory. But Putin is a brutal KGB bastard who will certainly not spare a life to get what he wants.
Why do the protected need to be protected from the unprotected by forcing the unprotected to use the protection that didn’t protect the protected in the first place?
As important as law enforcement officers are, the survival of a society, be it city, state, or nation, is a dedication to the concept of law and order by its citizens. Most people these blue cities and state believe in it. But the message from the local governments is that THEY don’t believe in law and order. They celebrate riots, ignore crime, and defund those hired to enforce the law. So now you have a criminal element that gets the message loud and clear.
To coin an old expression, Republicans don’t know whether to sh*t or go blind.
They want to be the good guys.
They want the high moral ground.
They want to appear fair and balanced
They want to appear somewhat conservative.
Unfortunately, the people trying to turn the U.S. into a socialist state are street fighters, with no morals, and fairness is an anathema to them. Socialist have to win.
Republicans would have never pulled down the Berlin wall as President Reagan did. Never ushered in the end of the USSR like Reagan did. They don’t have the stomach for it. They will take the victory as long as they don’t have to get their hands dirty.
Along comes non-politician Donald Trump who turns their world upside down. He’s of the same mold as Reagan. A brawler, foul mouthed, no fair and balanced. He wins, but he’s too much for the establishment Republicans to take. He needs to go and not come back. Hence the support for this round of impeachment. Being in Congress is not such a bad life as the losing party. They can live with that. That’s why Socialist win.
My hats off to the fine bunch of Conservatives in Congress who are left to pick up the pieces and go for a win the the future. Emulate Reagan and Trump, not Romney and McCain.
“Individuals with little knowledge and poor critical thinking abilities are unable to recognize lies and deception. Education plays an enormous role. Thus, when communist elements penetrate all levels of the education system, students become foolish and ignorant and thus vulnerable to manipulation.”
“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.” John W. Gardner (1961)
The desert is a magic and beautiful place. Thousands of part-timers (snowbirds) come each year to enjoy the lack of freezing temps, lack of snow, and clear blue skies.
A word to the wise. Desert hiking is an adventurous experience when done properly. But remember,
Enjoy the desert but don’t touch. Everything in it either bites, sticks, stings, or cuts. Take more water on your hike than you’ll need. While hiking when half your water is gone, so is half your hike.
The main problem with the excessive amount of news we are forced to digest on a daily basis is that a HUGE percentage of it has nothing to do with us. A tornado in Cape Cod is devastating to them, but meaningless to me in California. A murder in Mississippi is NOT national news. But it does add undue stress to our lives. A normal person shouldn’t be exposed to all the mayhem that occurs in the country. We can barely manage our local madness.