1 This whole thing staggers downward into dismal levels of non-statesmanship that astonish and increasingly frighten me. The president of a nuclear power says that president of another nuclear power "has no soul,” accuses him of being "a killer,” and vows that he "will pay a price.” Civilized national leaders simply do not speak in such a crude and thuggish manner.

Russia responds by recalling its ambassador from Washington.

The media, meanwhile repeats its insanity about Putin, not merely Russia, but Putin himself, "meddling” in the 2020 election to "denigrate Biden” (as if such a thing were necessary), "damage the faith of American voters in their elections” (another redundancy), and assist Trump’s election. They even retread the flattened tire of Trump and his minions assisting Putin in his efforts.

This nation is about as thoroughly fucked as a nation can be.

2 Bill, I have this mental image of Putin laughing his head off over Biden's remark -- before he came up with his own. He certainly is under no delusion as to Biden's mental condition. And I'll also bet that as we were approaching our so-called election last fall, Putin was thinking "Whatever happens, some of them will blame me. And I won't have had to raise a finger to screw it up -- their Left will do it for me."

3 You are absolutely correct Bill; Biden is pushing us in a very dangerous direction because of his stupidity.

Dana, I imagine Putin IS laughing his head off now. Biden did what Russian intelligence couldn't do.