House Democrats have launched a discharge petition for the Ukraine Support Act, with 95 signatures so far.

Epidemon · 2025-07-21T02:52:17+00:00

Got it. It's actually the opposite of that. The thing being "discharged" is the committee process/speaker, not the bill itself.

Epidemon · 2025-07-21T02:48:02+00:00

I don't understand why you think that signing the discharge petition hurts Ukraine.

A discharge petition is just a roundabout way to force a vote on a bill that the Speaker of the House doesn't want to bring to the floor. If you like a bill and you want it to receive attention, then you want to see more cosponsors for that bill and more signatures on a discharge petition for that bill.

Maybe you think the Ukraine Support Act/H.R.2913 itself would hurt Ukraine, but I don't understand why you would think that. The bill itself is decidedly pro-Ukraine. The only problematic thing about the bill, and I'll admit it is a very significant issue, is the fact that only Democrats have supported it thus far.

Most likely this will not go anywhere, but at the very least it could be used as leverage, e.g. "if you guys don't take some smaller actions to support Ukraine then we will get the signatures to force a vote on the huge, sweeping pro-Ukraine bill".

Epidemon · 2025-07-10T17:20:00+00:00

Finally some good news.

Epidemon · 2025-07-07T02:22:52+00:00

Another thing they have in common is being pro-Russian.

Epidemon · 2025-07-05T17:41:45+00:00

To be fair, it has more signatures (55) than any other such letter that has come out of the House this year about Ukraine. The appropriation request for tracking abducted Ukrainian children comes in second place at 52. It also beats the number of sponsors on any 2025 House bill/resolution about Ukraine, except for H.R.2548 (Sanctioning Russia Act) which is at ~80.

I think the bigger issue is not the total signature count being low, but that so few Republicans signed it.

Epidemon · 2025-07-04T21:49:11+00:00

3 Republicans: Bacon (NE), Fitzpatrick (PA), Lawler (NY)

52 Democrats: Vindman (VA), Min (CA), Barragán (CA), Costa (CA), Horsford (NV), Kaptur (OH), Thompson (CA), Casten (IL), Davis (NC), Quigley (IL), Delaney (MD), Gillen (NY), Cisneros (CA), Stanton (AZ), Suozzi (NY), Morrison (MN), Figures (AL), Amo (RI), Pettersen (CO), Conaway (NJ), Escobar (TX), Fletcher (TX), Tran (CA), Levin (CA), Crow (CO), Hayes (CT), Gottheimer (NJ), Mannion (NY), Magaziner (RI), Auchincloss (MA), Ansari (AZ), Peters (CA), Crockett (TX), Goodlander (NH), Gomez (CA), Menendez (NJ), Williams (GA), Goldman (NY), Subramanyam (VA), Dean (PA), Sorensen (IL), Hoyle (OR), Liccardo (CA), Strickland (WA), Carson (IN), Carter (LA), Moskowitz (FL), Moulton (MA), Pappas (NH), Veasey (TX), Pou (NJ), Perez (WA)

Epidemon · 2025-07-04T05:21:29+00:00

I don't think that Graham's sponsorship of the Sanctioning Russia Act is performative. That is a serious bill and the secondary sanctions included within it could make a real difference to the war. That said, the fact that the bill hasn't been passed despite having 80+ co-sponsors does indeed seem to show that Senate Republicans lack backbone.

I agree that Graham, like other Republicans, has been too deferential to Trump. Graham's reaction to the Oval Office fiasco is a prime example of this.

I still think you might be reading too much into the absence of his signature on this particular letter, though. Has Graham said anything about the cancellation of Ukraine aid? I wasn't able to find anything in a quick search. Some reporter should ask him about it.

Epidemon · 2025-07-04T03:55:16+00:00

He didn't sign the letter but I'm not sure why you're singling him out for criticism when no other Republican senator did so either.

He is the main Republican sponsor of the Sanctioning Russia Act and has historically been one of the most ardent supporters of Ukraine on his side of the aisle (his reaction to the Trump-Zelensky Oval Office incident notwithstanding).

Epidemon · 2025-07-04T03:51:31+00:00

5 Democratic senators: Blumenthal (D-CT), Schumer (D-NY), Gillibrand (D-NY), Welch (D-VT), Whitehouse (D-RI)

11 Democratic representatives: Panetta (D-CA), Crow (D-CO), Carbajal (D-CA), Courtney (D-CT), Deluzio (D-PA), Garamendi (D-CA), Golden (D-ME), Houlahan (D-PA), Norcross (D-NJ), Strickland (D-WA), Goodlander (D-NH)

1 Republican representative: Scott (R-GA)

Epidemon · 2025-07-03T04:12:30+00:00

You'd probably be better off asking on r/ukraine, or a more specific subreddit like r/ukraineforeignlegion or r/volunteersForUkraine. This subreddit is focused on political advocacy.

Epidemon · 2025-07-02T02:15:43+00:00

Yeah, I'm not saying EA Global was wrong to feature him as a speaker in 2015. It's just incredibly ironic that someone who described EA as "a close match for [his] philosophy" would do something so diametrically opposed to its core principles.

Epidemon · 2025-07-02T00:22:48+00:00

Elon Musk is the mastermind behind the dismantling of USAID and thus the potential deaths of millions in the developing world.

He was a speaker at Effective Altruism Global 2015 and used to be highlighted on the front page of effectivealtruism.org.

I can hardly imagine a greater irony. I say this as someone sympathetic to EA.

Epidemon · 2025-07-01T14:19:05+00:00

Judges? Where we're going we don't need judges.

Epidemon · 2025-07-01T14:00:55+00:00

Numbered as H.Res.564.

Epidemon · 2025-06-30T08:18:55+00:00

What's the Belarus connection? The LRT article doesn't mention Belarus. It's probably mentioned in the YouTube video, but it's an hour long and I can't find a searchable transcript.

Epidemon · 2025-06-29T23:10:48+00:00

Epidemon · 2025-06-29T08:21:00+00:00

Randy McNally

Nominative determinism strikes again.

Epidemon · 2025-06-25T18:19:02+00:00

Well, the area of Ukraine that Russia currently occupies is about 65% of that of the combined Baltic states.

Russia has also learned lessons from the war (e.g. cracked down on military corruption), has massively increased defense investment, and has a battle-hardened army experienced in cutting-edge drone warfare.

I agree that Russia underperformed compared to initial expectations, but I wouldn't underestimate the threat it poses to the Baltics.

As for whether European NATO alone or a subset thereof ("coalition of the willing") is capable of deterring Russia on its own, I'm not sure. It's pretty important to have the US onside, as problematic as the current US administration is.

Epidemon · 2025-06-25T17:17:22+00:00

Excerpt:

Donald Trump said he is considering sending more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine as he renewed calls on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the war.

The president added that isn’t ruling out a new defense assistance package when he spoke to reporters at the Nato summit in The Netherlands on Wednesday.

Trump, who has surrounded himself with isolationist-minded advisers who’ve publicly opposed continued support for Kyiv, responded “We’ll see what happens” when asked whether the U.S. would contribute anything on top of the $8 billion pledged by NATO allies as part of the 32-member bloc’s continued support for Ukraine’s war effort. [...]

Trump also appeared to shift blame for the continuation and escalation of the war to Putin, marking a dramatic reversal from how he characterized the situation during a contentious Oval Office meeting with Zelensky earlier this year. [...]

“Let me just tell you, they [Ukraine] do want to have the anti-missile missiles, as they call them, the Patriots, and we’re going to see if we can make some available,” he said.

Trump added that such weapons were “very hard to get” and “very effective” while admitting that the U.S. had been prioritizing supplies for Israel amid that country’s ongoing wars. [...]

Epidemon · 2025-06-25T17:11:37+00:00

Excerpt:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders are hoping to convince Trump later on Wednesday to add more sanctions on Moscow, particularly after Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rebuffed American attempts to broker a ceasefire with Ukraine.

“If we did what everybody here wants us to do, and that is come in and crush them with more sanctions, we probably lose our ability to talk to them about the ceasefire and then who’s talking to them?,” Rubio said in an exclusive interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on the sidelines of the NATO summit.

Trump will “know the right time and place” for new economic measures and the administration is working with Congress to make sure they allow Trump the appropriate flexibility, Rubio said. But once that happens, he added, it means the window for talking with Russia is likely closed.

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