this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] TropicalDingdong 22 points 1 year ago

You can have 3 free COVID vaccines, as a treat.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can’t forgive student debt can’t pay for healthcare yet we can have war, ffs

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The government actually has infinite money

Not that I'm saying we should throw money into these wars, but rather that we should have no issue taking care of healthcare and student debt.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

The government actually has infinite money

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

While I'm openly in favor of supporting Ukraine, it's important to note that the vast majority of this type of military aid is provided in kind.

So really, it's a proposal to give US Defense contractors $100b+ to replenish and restock the DOD with new kit and munitions for the old kit and munitions that we're providing to Ukraine. Which then get into the use accounting tricks e.g. depreciation values, etc.

The annual military aid to Israel is a little different, it's more like a loss leader coupon: give Israel money that they have to spend with US Defense contractors, which then also incentivizes them spending their own budget on complementary systems that can be integrated with those systems, munitions, support contracts, etc.

Although in this case, I believe it's primarily munitions and other kit that the DOD already has in warehouses.

This is oversimplified, but I just see these headline figures always being confused for pallets of cash.

[–] TokenBoomer 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

I don’t live in Ukraine. I need healthcare now. Let Blackrock and Vanguard fund Ukraine.

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[–] glimse 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Sweet! So it'll help the rich get richer and won't help any of us who don't work on the defense industry. Love it!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd try to explain the geostrategic and humanitarian benefits to helping one of the world's largest bread baskets defend against imperial conquest by an mafia run gas station, or do a deeper dive into Putin's desire to reconquer the old USSR satellite states, or the associated risks if he was successful, but I don't think you really care to have you opinion shaped by analysis and the realities of great power poltics, so I'ma leave you be.

[–] glimse 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I fully support giving aid to Ukraine. Just not so sure about funding the destruction of Palestine by a country with one of the world's strongest economies

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I never said I supported funding Israel's military, I don't. I just added that mini explainer because it's a different method of military aid than we provide Ukraine, and the proposal is bundled together.

[–] glimse 3 points 1 year ago

Sorry, this is on me - I should have been more clear in my first reply. I just think it's fucked up that we're spending all this money to support genocide when "we couldn't afford" to spend on US citizens. Defense contractors make a shit ton of money from war and the rest of us won't have anything to show for it. Again, speaking strictly about the middle east. Russia is a significant threat to the world so I'm fine with my tax dollars are going toward stopping their bullshit.

[–] shalafi 0 points 1 year ago

I can hardly defend war in general, and especially can't condone our assistance to Israel, but the DoD's spending has an enormous blast radius (heh).

I live in a military town, and have zero personal connection to military spending. But if the Navy straight bailed out of here? This place would be a hellish crater.

We've got to spend a generation or three dialing down the war machine, and it ain't gonna be easy.

[–] Cold_Brew_Enema 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How about helping your own fucking citizens first?

[–] surfb 3 points 1 year ago

US citizens have already enough weapons

[–] EpicFailGuy 1 points 1 year ago

Great, let's ask them for 200 and help fight homelessness and help student loan debt

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

"defense" industry lapdogs absolutely drooling at the steak Genocide Joe's dangling over their heads

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Reading half of the comments in this thread, I officially hate America.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember when we used to make fun of parliamentary governments when they became “without a government.”

Well joke’s on us right now with a Speakerless House.

[–] TropicalDingdong 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well joke’s on us right now with a Speakerless House.

Sounds like an issue for Republicunts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And people who want to fund death, which is a shockingly large number of Democrats.

[–] TropicalDingdong 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] dvoraqs 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Deaths would happen regardless if they can't defend themselves

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The US has blocked every opportunity for a negotiated peace, thereby causing tens of thousands of needless deaths, with nothing to show for it. The National Interest: How Will the Ukraine War End?

In the early weeks of the war, peace was still possible before the unimaginable loss of life, the devastation of infrastructure, and the loss of land in Ukraine. That peace was possible three times: in talks in Belarus, in talks mediated by then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, and, most promisingly, in talks in Istanbul. In all three, the war could have been ended on terms that satisfied Ukraine. In all three, Ukraine was willing to renounce membership in NATO. And, in all three, the United States blocked the negotiations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a problem for all of us. One of their main goals is making the government look useless, which is what it looks like to a lot of citizens. It may put a minor black mark on Republicans as a whole while they parade their clownshow around, but it puts a much longer lasting stain on the concept of government as a whole for a lot of people. Which is exactly what Republicans want.

[–] TropicalDingdong 1 points 1 year ago

Not really.

They own this and its only hurting themselves. Its better than them having a well functioning machine having horrible policies and getting them done.

This is a good state.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wonder what a poll in the US would look like if they let the people vote on this. But its an all or nothing vote. Like we vote to give both countries aid or neither.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why?

Why do we need to fund a genocide to stop a genocide?

Just why?

[–] Squizzy 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The worst part about being pro Ukraine and pro Palestine is realising Ukraine supports Israel.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ukraine's funding disappeared as one of the concessions for the 45 day funding bill while republicans pick a new speaker.

I think Zelensky is trying to play this smart because it ties something he needs (military funding) to something republicans need to support (Israel)

Whether or not he agrees with it doesn't matter, because as a leader this is the best move for him to get funding back.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

100% this… words are cheap, and he needs to do everything he can for his country… supporting palestine or staying silent gets him nothing, and potentially loses quite a bit in retaliation

it really doesn’t matter what he thinks is fair or just

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I say let them all deal with their own shit and the US can deal with it's own problems (which are piling up sky fuckin high). America has completely gone to shit while meddling with every other part of the globe.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

It should open some eyes on who stands where but alas it isn't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

So I need to vote against supporting Ukraine?

I feel like you get it, you're just trolling.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

What happens when we can no longer move balances around and dish out money to maintain the global status quo

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Some Republican lawmakers have grown skeptical of the need to fund Ukraine's war with Russia, and have threatened to halt government altogether to put an end to chronic U.S. budget deficits and fiscal spending fueled by $31.4 trillion in debt.

"The world is watching and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities," said Biden's budget director, Shalanda Young, in a letter to acting House Speaker Patrick McHenry.

She also told Congress of plans to submit another request for funding to deal with natural disasters, high-speed internet, child care and wild-land firefighter pay "in coming days."

Some $14.3 billion of Friday's funding request for the 2024 fiscal year would be dedicated to Israel, much of it to support the country's air and missile defense systems and other weapons purchases.

The request includes billions to replenish the country's military equipment, and would provide economic and security aid and support for refugees in the United States.

"The unwavering bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States is incredibly encouraging for all of our warriors and for our entire nation," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Friday on social media.


The original article contains 735 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 74%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] iforgotmyinstance 0 points 1 year ago

Bro I'm for foreign aid but this is getting insane.

Give me .01 percent of that and I'd be set for life. Where's the aid for Americans?