Anyway, I caught just a little of the Oscars last night, and it was nice to see the beautiful and classy Lupita Nyongo win the statue for best supporting actress for her acting in Twelve Years A Slave. (Shout out to my man John Ridley for winning a statue for that movie as well.) Maybe "the times they are a changing."
I am still trying to figure why these very wealthy people get free clothes from very expensive designers, and gift bags with over $80,000.00 worth of goodies.
Anyway, enough about fun and games in Tinseltown , there are serious things happening in other parts of the world. Vladimir Putin is still flexing his muscle in the Ukraine region and, so far, America and her allies in Europe are still trying to figure out what to do with Russia's version of Ronnie Reagan.
I know that John Kerry says that "all options are on the table", but the White House knows that realistically economic sanctions and kicking Mother Russia out of the G8-- which would really piss off Vladi-- is the only way to go. I like that idea. Go after Russian money and try to get European and American banks to cut off the pipeline to all that money from the uber rich Russian oligarchs.
Also, get more Europeans involved and engaged. It's their corner of the world, and they better get their butts in gear to try and protect it. Vladi might be trying to get at Poland next.
Of course the right-wingnuts in Washington, as is to be expected, have all come out to condemn the president and call him weak. They claim that Putin has been playing chess while Obama has been "playing marbles."
The thing is, though, he is also their president, and America is involved in a very complicated and nuanced foreign crisis in a very volatile part of the world. So hearing senators attack a sitting president during this time was quite stunning to me. The only people whose "eyes are rolling" are those of us who see the right-wingnuts in this country for the lunatics that they really are.
Still, given the type of people we are dealing with, we shouldn't be surprised. They should understand, though, that their language only emboldens people like Vladimir Putin and weakens the perception of America in the world.
People like Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio also seem to conveniently forget that W was in the same position as it relates to Putin in 2008 when he invaded Georgia.
But hey, let's not let facts get in the way of the latest right- wing talking points.
“I am deeply concerned that Russia’s ongoing military intervention in Crimea may soon expand to eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, President Obama said that Russia would face ‘costs’ if it intervened militarily in Ukraine. It is now essential for the President to articulate exactly what those costs will be and to take steps urgently to impose them."
McCain and those of his ilk are hoping that he tries to "impose" war, and the rest of us understand that when you deal with a madman, you have to tread very carefully.
