Arvind “Vince” Venkat

Today’s Independence Day is a should serve as an idea of what America should be, and a remembrance of the people that fought to create that vision of America from the civil rights to the labor rights activists. There’s still much work to do for that vision, but there have been strides toward it.

This is a terrible bill as it screws working families by cutting Medicaid and SNAP benefits, and helps the super wealthy by cutting their taxes. It also spends on weird programs like a sci fi Golden Dome missile defense system. Overall, this bill puts us further in debt and more broke.

The situation in Los Angeles right now is horrifying. President Trump overreacted by sending California’s National Guard, which he can only do when there is a rebellion or an invasion, this was neither of the two. Yes there were bad actors, but it was largely peaceful, and wasn’t an armed rebellion.

This is an appalling act of political violence which I hope is punished with the full force of the law. It’s a good thing though that Governor Shapiro and his family are safe.

Congratulations to Susan Crawford for winning the Supreme Court election in Wisconsin! This is the first of many defeats for “President” Musk and his puppet, President Trump. This shows that Wisconsinites don’t support the influence of dark money in politics, especially in their judiciary.

Congratulations to Senator Cory Booker for breaking the record set by Strom Thurmond, of all people, of the longest filibuster speech. This should set a precedent for what Democrats should do to oppose Trump, while also delivering, something which Booker touched on in his speech.

It was embarrassing to watch Trump and Zelensky engage in a verbal spat in front of the press and to see him doing Putin’s dirty work in pursuing an appeasement deal to resolve it. As an American, I proudly stand with Ukraine in their fight for freedom. #СлаваУкраїні!🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦

This appeasement stance also sends a message to other dictators with expansionist views that they’re free to “do whatever the hell they want to,” as Trump said, like Xi with Taiwan and Netanyahu with the Levant, although it’s clear Trump supports the latter.

Putin won’t stop at the territories that he currently holds in Ukraine; if Trump follows through on letting Putin “do whatever the hell he wants to in Europe,” he will definitely try and expand his territorial ambitions. The best peace deal is one that forces Russia to leave Ukraine.

Trump’s “peace” deal for Ukraine is not a peace deal, it’s an appeasement deal. They’re allowing Russia to keep what they stole from Ukraine. We all know how appeasement ends since the Allies tried it with Hitler, but that only emboldened him to continue expanding. Putin could be emboldened by this.

For President's Day, I thought I'd share my presidential tier list.

Also, I’m disappointed in national Democrats with their lack of response to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Now, while I understand that they’re still reeling from the 2024 election, important programs are at stake and a rich billionaire has our personal information, so they need to make a stand now.

As much as I want to say that this should send alarm bells, I saw this coming. This is a guy who argued that he’s immune to prosecution for anything he does in office, and won in the Supreme Court. So, it doesn’t even shock me that he would say shit like this.

Trump has just announced that he wants to take over Gaza and “clean it up.” He’s willing to hurt people that have already been displaced for over a year and help his buddy, Netanyahu, reassert Israeli control over the Gaza Strip. So much for America First and no new wars.

No country wins in these trade wars, the people lose. The countries that levy the tariffs are the ones that pay them, specifically the companies that import those goods, who then put that burden onto the consumer. Then, American workers have to deal with retaliatory tariffs.

For the first time since the first week of January, there are no active fires burning in Southern California. Now starts the cleanup and rebuilding of the neighborhoods and towns that have been burned. We have made it through many such disasters, so we will come out of this one stronger than ever.

Are you actually fucking kidding me? There is no way in Hell the Senate would actually advance someone like this who has archaic views on women in the military and even has sexual assault allegations against him.

Doing fine Mr. Klein.

Also, he cannot some of the executive orders like eliminating birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America because of the 14th amendment, and only the International Hydrographic Organization can change names of bodies of water.

It has now been one day since Trump took office again. He’s done a lot that make me concerned. In particular, his pardons of Jan 6th insurrectionists, his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords and the WHO, and his plan to tariff other countries are most concerning.

I’m sure in the future, history will judge Joe Biden less harshly than people do now, and my opinion of him as a below average president will change. So now as the sun sets on the Biden administration, I wanna say #thankyoujoeandkamala.

While I express concern with the Chinese government having a stake in our economy, it is hard to divest from them where it stands. So many people and entities are gonna lose their livelihoods since they have nowhere to go.

I am opposed to the ban on TikTok that has just taken effect not too long ago. Many people and small businesses rely on TikTok, many young people turn to TikTok for news and other kinds of information. Where are they all supposed to go?

Also, the point of his presidency was to be a transition away from the chaos and division of the first Trump administration, and he failed to prevent a second Trump presidency in 2024.

For example, the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the resulting Taliban takeover, the Israel and Hamas War and resulting genocide, and the crisis at the border. Those areas will hurt the perception of his presidency.

For me, Biden’s presidency has a below average presidency. While there were historic investments on infrastructure, on clean water, and on climate spending, drug prices are capped at $35, NATO is stronger, and Ukraine is still fighting Russia. There was a lot left to be desired.

He’s right about the oligarchy and the tech-industrial complex that he warns have terrible implications for democracy. We now have Elon Musk influencing Trump’s decisions and other tech CEOs bending the knee to him. We have dark money influencing elections and members of Congress engaging in stock.

Finally, now the question is, what comes next? Israel should commit to a two state solution that benefits both sides. Netanyahu and his allies should step down as he’s shown his contempt for Palestinians time and again. Hamas should also be toppled as they seek to destroy Israel through terrorism.

Live updates: Israel and Hamas agree to Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, source says | CNN Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging ceasefire agreement being finalized by negotiators in Doha, the first positive sign in months that a truce in the Israel-...

Israel and Hamas agree to a deal that will pause fighting in Gaza and lead to the phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, source says.

Trump will likely withhold disaster aid for these wildfires as retribution as he has done in the past. I just hope that Newsom has an adequate response to it.