President Biden: "I don't think much about Vadimir Putin." Americans should ask him how he plans to end the Ukraine war.

 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pressuring the U.S. and NATO to supply his country with Western-manufactured missiles that can strike deep inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West not to give Ukraine these weapons. Putin has said plainly that the Western allies will be at war with Russia if they allow Ukraine to use NATO-supplied long-range missiles to attack his country.

Some NATO nations seem to think Russia is bluffing. Political leaders in Canada and Great Britain want to grant Zelenskyy's request and send long-range missiles to Ukraine. The Dutch and the Czechs have also signaled their support for sending Zelenskyy the missiles he demands.

President Biden isn't on board yet. A few days ago, he confessed, "I don't think much about President Putin." I suppose he's distracted by more important issues than nuclear war.

Americans, however, should think a lot about President Putin and Russia. We should ask ourselves what our country's response would be if Iran used Russian long-range missiles to wipe out American military bases in the Middle East. Wouldn't we consider such an attack an act of war by the Russians?

Uncle Sam is already neck-deep in the planet's most significant military conflict since World War II. Ukraine could not have inflicted such heavy casualties on the Russian army and navy without American weapons, American technology, and American military support.

Millions of Russians and Ukrainians have died or been wounded in this senseless war, and millions more are refugees. President Biden admits that he doesn't think much about Vladimir Putin. Maybe it's time for Americans to ask Mr. Biden what the hell we're doing in Ukraine and how he plans to bring this tragic conflict to an end.

The politics of joy?

Harris-Trump Bring Excitement and Ectasy to Presidential Campaign: The Russians Aren't Feeling the Joy

You got no right to take my joy, I want it back.

Joy by Lucinda Williams

Posing as vaudeville comedians, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz wrapped up the Democratic convention last week. Harris waved her arms like a seance conjurer, and Walz strutted and gesticulated around the DNC stage like a game show host.

What was the convention’s theme? Not the economy, not crime, not the nation’s border. No, the theme was joy. 

Kamala Harris is “the president of joy,” Bill Clinton told the convention delegates. He knows a lot about joy. He spilled some of it on a blue dress when he was president. 

New York Times columnist Patrick Healy observed that joy is not a strategy for winning an election, but Healy may be wrong. Harris is ahead of Donald Trump in the polls, even though she hasn’t granted an interview with a real journalist since becoming the Dems' presidential candidate.

Harris is dodging the press because she's afraid a reporter might ask an inconvenient question, which is this: What the fuck are we doing in Ukraine? Such a question might dampen the joy that currently infuses Harris’s frenzied supporters.

Americans whose minds have been turned to Jello by the New York Times, WaPo, and CNN are enthralled by Harris’s clownish behavior, but the Russians aren't feeling the joy. They've suffered over a half million casualties inflicted by NATO weapons, including American cluster bombs, Abrams tanks, uranium-depleted artillery shells, and Bradley fighting vehicles.

If Harris wins the November election, she will find that joy doesn't travel well. I doubt Harris’s cackle will charm Vladimir Putin into surrendering Crimea. 

The politics of joy in Ukraine

December is the Cruelist Month: Watch Out, Student Debtors

 T.S. Eliot was wrong: December is the cruelest month, not April.  

We think of December as a time for rest after a toilsome and anxious year--a time to prepare for Christmas and reconnect with our loved ones.

Yet, December can bring a lot of nasty surprises--shocking us when our hearts are mellow and our guard is down.

For example, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. 

The Germans launched the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.

George Washington's ragtag army sneaked across the Delaware River and surprised the Hessians on Christmas Eve, 1776.

Poor Napoleon was shocked when he reached Moscow in December of 1812. He thought he had beaten the Russians, but he was wrong. By the time he got his army back to France, he had lost 90 percent of his soldiers. 

So here are my predictions for the month ahead: Americans will receive two rude shocks.

First, the United States is prosecuting a hot war by proxy in Ukraine. Americans believe that the plucky Ukrainians are beating the crap out of Russia.

I don't think so. The Russians are masters of winter warfare and still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Vladimir Putin will remind America there is a price to pay for mucking around in eastern European politics. 

Second, the crypto craze will blow up next month, and everybody who bought crypto coins will be wiped out. You will be surprised to learn the names of famous people who got duped.

These two bombshell events will rock the American economy and make us all poorer.

If you are a college student, this is the December to be on your guard. Now is a terrible time to take out student loans to pay for your studies. This might be a good time for you to take a gap year, get a job, and start thinking seriously about what you will do to make a living. 

If you're majoring in liberal arts, now is an excellent time to consider changing majors. You may love literature, but you will need more than a bachelor's degree in English to get a job.

My advice: select a vocationally oriented major and read Henry James on your own time.

Surprising the Hessians during the holiday season