Coffee Talk With Tiff for Sunday’s Open Thread

Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Sunday aka Fathers Day.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

This article was intended to be shared on Saturday, until President Biden announced the passing of Champ, the Biden’s 13 year old German Shepard.

So, this morning, still a hot icky California day, I present “Coffee Talk with Tiff.”

First up, with yesterday’s pot of coffee, versus a cup of coffee this morning, as I was using my iPad to scroll through the Twit-verse, is Florida Man/Republican/Senator Marco “What a Disappointment,” Rubio with his hot take on a Politico article.

There is a lot of dumb inside the tweet text itself.

First, Impeached Twice 45 was not Impeached for “freezing aid,” so, no, I don’t remember when freezing military aid was an impeachable offense as that’s not what dumbass was impeached for.

Second, the article itself explains that this aid was an aid package that would be in response to Russia’s aggressive troop movement along the border of Ukraine in the spring.

The Biden White House has temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would include lethal weapons, a plan originally made in response to aggressive Russian troop movements along Ukraine’s border this spring.

The aid package would be worth up to $100 million, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations.

Politico. 06/18/2021.

The package was put together at the direction of the National Security Council, but those National Security Council Officials put the proposal on hold. After Russia announced it would draw down “troops stationed near Ukraine and in the lead-up to President Joe Biden’s high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Politico goes on to link to the Washington Post, who was the first to report the admin’s freeze on the aid package.

I paused there, had more coffee during which I searched Twitter for more takes on the Ukraine aid package, these tweets were found prior to my clicking the Politico linked Washington Post article.

Yes, President Biden and President Putin did meet two days before the Politico article was published. However, if one, clicks on the provided link to the Washington Post, we find their article was published on the 15th, not after but prior to the meeting.

Washington Post. 06/15/2021.

The first part of Hudson’s article focuses on the internal debate over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Last month’s decision to withhold sanctions against the company and CEO behind the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline was particularly divisive. Critics of the pipeline, which would transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, view its imminent completion and operation as a major geopolitical coup for the Kremlin.

The State Department, in a position backed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his deputy Wendy Sherman and Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, recommended a raft of U.S. sanctions intended to block the pipeline, without waivers for the company or chief executive, said officials familiar with the decision.

[but–cause there always is a but…]

Biden, backed by top aides on the National Security Council, disagreed, arguing that the move would inflame relations with Germany, a key ally that views attempts to block the pipeline as a violation of its sovereignty. With the pipeline over 90 percent complete, White House officials viewed the project as a fait accompli that was not worth jeopardizing the U.S.-Germany relationship over.

Washington Post. 06/15/2021.

Hudson notes this prompted bipartisan anger from Congress and adds; The tension demonstrates an emerging post-Trump dynamic. Many Democrats, still seething over the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election, want Biden to exert maximum pressure on Russia. Republicans, who privately grimaced at Trump’s glowing overtures to Putin, want the same.

He quotes a bunch of things here, and finally we get to the $100 million new aid package.

The extent of U.S. support for Ukraine is another issue that has caused divisions on the administration’s approach to Russia.

In the spring, as Russia amassed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, the Biden administration considered a package of lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine worth tens of millions of dollars under an authority given to the president by Congress.

The administration decided to table that aid package, however, after Russia began reducing the number of troops at the border in late April, said people familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

U.S. officials say they have not ruled out the package, and could still advance it if Russia expands its presence at the border. They also point to a separate $150 million assistance package for Kyiv that the Pentagon announced on Friday that includes counter-artillery radars, electronic warfare equipment and counter-drone systems.

Washington Post. 06/15/2021.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki offered the following statement regarding Ukraine assistance:

The idea that we have held back security assistance to Ukraine is nonsense. Just last week—in the run-up to the U.S.-Russia Summit—we provided a $150 million package of security assistance, including lethal assistance. We have now provided the entire amount appropriated by Congress through the Ukraine security assistance initiative. Two days before the Summit, President Biden stood on the stage before the entire world at NATO and said that we would keep putting Ukraine “in the position to be able to continue to resist Russian physical aggression.” We have also prepared contingency funds in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine. As President Biden told President Putin directly, we will stand unwavering in support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity

White House.gov. 06/18/2021.

So it was about here, that my interest in this story ebbed, and we discovered the death of a beloved dog.

Which leads me into this tweet by Dan “Dick/Rick” McLaughin…

He doubled down by writing an article…

He complains that nobody read the piece.

I read it, it’s his opinion I guess is the nicest thing I can say about it. I’m not going to quote the piece here, I’m moving on to this thread as found in the Owl, posted by Halodoc.

The thread is 16 tweets long. I’m not posting the whole thing. Just some highlights…

She isn’t wrong. I clicked it, so I did give them traffic because it’s the clicks that matter, not the reason for those clicks.

This led me to glance over and see a Daniel Dale tweet. I have to pat him on the back for probably being the one person that try’s the hardest to be objective and fair to everyone’s side.

Tiny bit of background, by now, most if not all of you are aware that Tucker “that fucker,” Carlson, said on air that the FBI planned and aided in insurrection on January 6th, 2021.

He had help defending his words, that go from the FBI might have been involved to according to government documents the “insurrection was organized in part by government agents.”

Greenwald has 18 tweets not including the one posted to layout how the FBI and media are all in on everything…or something…

Daniel Dale weighed-in on just the tweet I shared, the first one from Where’s my Tinfoil Hat’s huge ass thread.

Which led to this…

If you are at all interested in an explanation from an expert. I present Elie Honig.

And this concludes Sunday Coffee Talk with Tiff.

HAPPY DAD’S DAY ONCE AGAIN.

This is an Open Thread.

About the opinions in this article…

Any opinions expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this website or of the other authors/contributors who write for it.

About Tiff 2519 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.