Biden baffles, Jackson stuns and Putin seethes.
He looked frail and confused, yet he was there to project power. Biden was in Brussels as Ukrainian cities were being flattened. At the news conference Biden said he supports recent calls to boot Russia from the G-20 of world leaders. The food shortage now being felt in Europe was also addressed. Biden said “It’s going to be real.” There is also the crisis of refugees. The United States will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and others fleeing Russia’s invasion and provide more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance. Biden said he is “hopeful” that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not assist Russia in its war against Ukraine but declined to say whether he knew if they would or not. They after exhausting the prepared list of reporters that Biden is allowed to take questions from, Biden did a strange thing. As he was leaving the room with reporters shouting questions at him he stopped and decided to take one. He said "I was supposed to be an hour ago at the European meeting. The question which made the evening news was asked by CBS reporter Christina Ruffini.
Ruffini: "Sir, deterrence didn’t work. What makes you think Vladimir Putin will alter course based on the action you’ve taken today?"
Biden: "Let’s get something straight. You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter."
"Ruffini repeated the question, asking whether these actions could make Putin change course.
"That’s not what I said. You’re playing a game with me. The answer’s no," Biden snapped back.
"The maintenance of sanctions, increasing the pain and the demonstration [is] why I asked for this NATO meeting today, is to be sure that after a month, we will sustain what we're doing, not just next month, the following month, but for the remainder of this entire year," Biden said.
Biden's remarks come after weeks of messaging from key Biden administration officials – including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who claimed the sanctions placed on Russia were meant to deter the actions of Putin."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-insists-russia-sanctions-never-meant-deter-putin-ukraine-despite-white-house-messaging
The Week:
SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings:
The Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson ended today. She will most likely be confirmed by the Senate. Looking back at the week the most shocking moment was when Jackson refused to define what a woman was. On day 2 Sen Blackburn asked her "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?" Blackburn had already mentioned biological males competing against biological females in college athletics. So it made sense that she would ask, "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?"
"I can't," said Jackson.
It was a stunning moment and a terrible one for Jackson. You have to be a biologist to know what a woman is? Who would say that?
Answer: A Supreme Court nominee fearing a minefield. Sen Ted Cruz asked her tough questions as did a few others, but on balance they had little information on her to work with. She claimed to believe in the original meaning of the Constitution and Republicans kept their word that the hearings would not resemble the vicious atrocities that democrats inflicted on Kavanaugh, Thomas and Bork.
The US may allow Russia to import Iran's excess enriched uranium.
Unbelievable you say? It's all part of the very secret new "Iran Deal." There are also rumblings that Russia is negotiating a multibillion dollar arms deal to supply Iran with war planes and submarines... Let us not forget that Russia is actively looking for ways to evade US sanctions, and Iran has supposedly offered to help.
The war rages on:
More than 2,700 people were able to leave the battered southern city of Mariupol on Thursday, but Russian forces are still not allowing a humanitarian convoy to enter, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said. The 2,717 left Mariupol in their own vehicles, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said through the Telegram app. An effort to evacuate people from Melitopol, which is also in southern Ukraine, failed, Vereshchuk said. Melitopol has been occupied by Russian troops, and Mariupol is blockaded. Ukrainian officials have said 90 percent of Mariupol has been destroyed.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/ukraine-russia-war-live-updates-biden-meet-nato-allies-n1292873
Trump sues Hillary Clinton, DNC over Russian collusion allegations.
On Thursday, former President Donald Trump filed a sprawling civil lawsuit against 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the DNC, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and more than a dozen others alleging a vast conspiracy to undermine his 2016 presidential campaign and administration with accusations of Russian collusion.
The Open Border:
"There were 2.4 million people that were encountered illegally crossing the border during the four years of the Trump presidency. During the first 14 months of the Biden presidency we've already exceeded that number."
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/599571-gop-pressures-dhs-over-title-42-withdrawal
What have we learned?
We just learned that the sanctions imposed on Russia after they invaded the Ukraine were never meant as a deterrent contrary to what just about everyone in the Biden administration has been saying. We are also learning that Ukraine might even win it's war with Russia. This sad news reported by Bret Baier hours ago: The number one killer of adults 18 to 45 years old is opioid fentanyl. https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/12/23/fentanyl-now-biggest-killer-americans-18-45-years-old/
Here we have broken through a bit more of the great mysteries of NT. How many knew that individuals who are not members of HD cannot be discussed in HD? That earth shattering news just broke today. Shall I go back and retrieve all those disgusted members of NT who quit? Better still is this one, which btw only applies to yours truly. It seems that links are not only preferred but are now a rule punishable via flags/tickets and points. You never heard of such a thing? That just happened and I think it's related to something I mentioned last week in that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" piece I attached. You may want to look back at last week's issue.
Cartoon of the Week:
Honorable Mention:
Today, we remember Lori Piestewa, the first Native American Woman to die in combat, leaving behind her parents & 2 children.
And Chicago's man of the hour, Willie Wilson
Wilson gave away $200,000 in free gasoline last week as prices at the pump neared 15-year highs.
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There is a lot on the fire for Joe Biden. He has the midterms, the unknown in the Ukraine and on the backburner is this:
According to your favorite NR writer, Cruz questioning was an utter fail.
That is a lie.
Oh, let's see....Jim Geraghty, Andrew McCarthy or Rich Lowry?
"Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) refused Wednesday to make public pre-sentencing reports in a handful of child pornography cases in which Republicans claim Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson handed down overly light penalties, calling it “a bridge too far for this committee.”
It wasn't a lie.
Which FAILS to prove your claim that:
Thanks for playing.
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You got your link and your proof.
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I doubt many people here even know what that word salad means.
Yet you went for it before reading the article.
Remember that old adage "he knows where the bodies are buried?"
That's going to stay a word salad.
That is an odd comment.
You know my MO on the weekly review.
See you in the morning.
Honestly, he might be right about that. I just did a quick search and I see a lot of news stories from the last couple of months analyzing whether or not sanctions would deter Putin, but he seems to have only ever said they were about punishment, not deterrence. Deterrence seems to have been the press’s idea, not the president’s.
Deterrence seems to have been the press’s idea, not the president’s.
no, numerous claims of deterrence were made administration officials, including the Vice President, the Secretary of State, numerous national security officials, and the administration’s press secretary. The administration, if not Biden personally, pushed that argument, not the press.
Can you say plausible deniability?
Republicans boast they have not pulled a Kavanaugh. In fact, they’ve treated Ketanji Brown Jackson worse, the Editorial Board writes https:// wapo.st/3D7ob7V
Imagine comparing Republicans asking Jackson to explain her record to the false & wild accusations made by someone who couldn't remember any details and the likes of Mike Avenatti?
Who else but the editorial board at the Washington Post dares to gaslight like that.
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The Ukrainian Snake Island sailors who went viral for shouting "Russian warship, go f--- yourself" were freed on Thursday during a prisoner swap with Russia.
http:// hill.cm/uvwM5cu
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6 Times Biden's Aides Contradicted His 'Sanctions Never Deter' Claim
Biden visited the troops yesterday as "commander-in-chief.' Those in the military seem to show their feelings for various presidents.
You Bet!
Yesterday Biden told them: "You’re going to see when you’re there, you’re going to see women, young people standing in the middle, in the front of a damn tank saying I’m not leaving".
Biden's handlers do clean-up as the msm down plays it.