Where We Are This Week 05/12/2023
Cold showers, Trump's invincibility, Ukraine gets another billion, Israel attacked at home and abroad, and the debt ceiling staring contest.
I’m now well over a month into taking a cold shower every morning. Each day, somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 AM, I begrudgingly wake up, rub the sleep from my eyes, and dive headfirst into my morning routine.
The first time I did it, it produced that familiar feeling of swimming in the river or cold hole in the off-season. My chest tightened and it was hard to catch my breath as the water rolled over the back of my head. After the initial shock, the discomfort subsided and it became somewhat exhilarating.
I don’t get that same jolt to the system as I did before. It’s still bracing but without the kerfuffle between my body and the sudden deluge at the start.
It’s routine, now. Andrew Huberman would have you believe that I’m one of the many converts now benefitting from the tremendous advantages the cold shower produces.
I’m not so sure. While I still have a reasonable amount of zeal for the activity and I do enjoy telling people I take cold showers, I’m not exactly certain my quality of life has greatly increased - but at this point, I refuse to stop.
I’m not A/B testing my morning routine with my protocol - or lack thereof - of the past, and I don’t plan to. I’ve sufficiently surrounded the act of not subjecting myself to three minutes of discomfort with enough guilt that it’s not an option.
It’s stupid and irrational. I have no empirical evidence that my new routine is superior to my last but I’m hellbent on continuing into the future. I had an old boss who adopted a vegan diet because his wife was doing so. She endured for about six months or so, whereas he continued on for about two years; subsisting on water, grains, grit, and spite.
I’ve never respected him more. I get it, now. I’m not sure if I’m continuing this trend based on its positive effects or if my consistency is driven by some level of self-hatred. Either way, there’s no end in sight.
Forget what they say about the old ones, all habits die hard.
Ain’t No War Like a Proxy War
‘Cause a proxy war don’t stop.
Earlier this week, the Biden Administration announced another $1.2 billion in aid for Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive against Russia. The latest round of funding’s provenance is under a federal program called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
This particular program allows for the disbursement of massive sums of earmarked financial aid for the intended use of purchasing armaments directly from US commercial weapons dealers. If you or someone you love has had any financial turmoil as of late, don’t fret; Lockheed Martin and Raytheon don’t have the slightest clue there’s a recession on. Who knew selling means of death and destruction was so inflation-proof?
Don’t get me wrong. I do think there’s a legitimate case to be made for supporting Ukraine’s defense systems and military aid - but the way we’re haphazardly shoveling cash into the furnace of war is reckless.
There’s a strong chance we’ll have stoked the flame with $150 billion by the end of this year and there is absolutely no chance the funding will ever have any congressional oversight. Just ask Rand Paul.
In addition to the fiscal irresponsibility, we’re handing over these weapons systems to a leader who is as much of a liability to a resolution as we are. Thanks to the Discord leaks, we know that Zelenksyy was being dishonest with US officials, and fully intended to use long-range weapons to attack Russia on its own soil - a rather escalatory move - not just on Ukrainian defense.
Among the tanks and anti-aerial defense systems allocated for the expenditure are guided missiles that have a range of 50 miles - well within the range of striking into Russia’s interior. It’s as if the Department of Defense and Congress just love playing with fire.
The USAI was created by the DOD in 2016, just two years after the US-backed coup of the pro-Russian Ukrainian government. The latest installment of aid brings the total expenditures of this specific program alone close to $15 billion. I don’t blame them, there’s comfort in routine. Why stop now?
Debtproof
In the world’s stupidest game of high-stakes chicken, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is driving white-knuckled, foot hanging out the window towards a head-on collision with President Biden, his Corvette, and the debt ceiling.
Let’s pause for just one moment to appreciate that opening. This, my friends, is why you tune in for Where We Are each week. Did I just compare the debt-ceiling impasse with Quentin Tarantino’s grindhouse masterpiece Deathproof? Why, yes, I certainly did.
I’ve remarked on this debate before; Donald Trump ridiculed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ‘rolling over’ on the debt ceiling crisis of last year. These crises are happening with increasing frequency.
Neither Biden nor McCarthy have a choice in the matter. They’re just relying on their opposition blinking first; McCarthy has done a fine, if not inconspicuous, job as Speaker so far, but neither he nor Biden could survive the political fallout of being the reason America defaults on its loan payments.
The debate around the debt-ceiling crisis is always a little muddled when the impact appears imminent. The object of raising the debt ceiling is to approve the payment of current loans and bonds the United States already owes, not, the approval of more spending.
Now, with the US set to default on June 1st, and ever the prudent negotiators, Biden and McCarthy have postponed talks for another week. Yes, because we all do our best work under the excruciating pressure of a critical deadline.
Now isn’t the time to remonstrate our spending habits, that ship has sailed. Maybe, someone can do that next a trillion-dollar omnibus bill is about to pass.
Negotiating at this point, as our country is a cool $31.4 trillion in the red, is a little like debating whether or not to take that weekend trip to Gatlinburg after you’ve already arrived. Eat the pancakes, go to Dollyworld, and take some salt water taffy home with you; just don’t send the American economy spiraling deeper into recession.
Gracious in Defeat
…is a term I don’t think former President Donald Trump has even the most remote idea of what it means.
On Wednesday, the former president lost his civil case against the writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump was found guilty, by the standard of most likely according to the preponderance of the evidence, of defamation and sexual assault.
Although he successfully beat the allegations that he’d raped Carroll, Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages to the plaintiff.
Later that day, the likely Republican nominee for president appeared at a town hall hosted by CNN - of all networks. Now, what does a former president and hopeful future president do after being found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming his accuser?
Defame her again, of course!
Immediately after the decision was made public, Trump was on national television deriding the verdict as bogus and questioning the integrity of the plaintiff to the applause of a sympathetic audience. Maybe not the most financially savvy tactic? But what do I know, I’m not a billionaire.
Trump being Trump isn’t the story here, it’s the applause. Those in attendance hadn’t shifted away from their staunch support of the embattled politician, right-wing Twitter was quick to dismiss the outcome of the trial, and Trump showed no significant dip whatsoever in primary polling.
The unwavering support of Donald Trump in his suit against Carroll, a suit he formally appealed on Thursday, evinces the divide of partisan Americans. Those who are rejecting the results of the case, and there appear to be plenty, show their complete distrust of the judiciary system - simply because it didn’t fall in their favor.
They’re perfectly willing to give the leader of the GOP the benefit of the doubt regarding his verdict of guilt, but not the court, the judge, and the jury of his peers that arrived at the determination. They’re not politically unique in this, just the latest to decry due process as a witch hunt.
We’ve seen this before amongst Republican and Democrat voters. In 2017, Roy Moore was running for US Senate in Alabama. Shortly before the special election was set to take place, a handful of women came forward and accused Moore of sexual assault. Moore retained the endorsement of the Republican Party writ large and the current president at the time, Donald Trump, ironically.
When asked if they thought the allegations against Moore were true, 95% of Republicans responded as ‘definitely false’ while 97% of Democrats marked ‘definitely true.’ Moore ultimately lost the election with independents largely favoring his Democratic opponent. The truth is rendered irrelevant to voters who stick to party lines.
Neither Moore nor his primary accuser were found guilty of defamation in a civil suit that concluded in 2022. So, your guess is as good as mine.
If we can’t agree on the validity of the verdict, can we at least agree that Donald Trump, who has a plethora of legal battles on his hands, is too preoccupied to be running for executive office?
The Catastrophe of Rashida Tlaib
Representative Rashida Tlaib hosted an anti-Israel event in the Senate building on Wednesday.
The event itself was organized by a slew of anti-Israel organizations and was reportedly a packed house. Representative Cori Bush also made an appearance alongside Tlaib.
The event was called Nakba75. Nakba is the Arabic word for ‘catastrophe’, a word that has become the exclusive descriptor for the establishment of a Jewish state by those who are opposed to its existence.
“The Nakba never ended. Each year our country sends billions to explicitly maintain an apartheid state and support ethnic cleansing without a second thought,” Tlaib said during her speech.
As we’ve discussed in this publication before, Israel, despite being a nation with faults like any other, is neither an apartheid state nor is it engaged in ethnic cleansing.
You’d think antisemitism and ignorance of this kind have no place on Capitol Hill, but you’d think wrong, wouldn’t you?
Conveniently, Tlaib’s remarks coincide with the current barrage of rockets being indiscriminately fired into civilian areas of Israel from Gaza. Over 800 rockets have been fired into Israel over the last 36 hours as of Thursday evening. Only one casualty has been reported as a result of the attacks.
Thank God for the Iron Dome, the missile defense system that protects Israeli men, women, and children from the wholesale bombardments routinely carried out by terrorist organizations residing in Gaza and Palestine - the same Iron Dome that Tlaib has tried to defund.
Tlaib and her ‘Squad’ colleagues have repeatedly slandered the State of Israel and voted against any financial assistance the US government may provide for their defense systems; so while her latest actions are certainly deplorable, they’re not necessarily a surprise.
As it turns out, not all habits can be measured equally and some die harder than others.
To a better next week.
Cheers,
~FDA
Loving your illustrations lately! Also that town hall... lmao. At this point, it’s all so comical I honestly don’t know what to do but laugh. Our poor country... these two old men are the best we’ve got?! Oy vey!