Welcome to The View from the Front podcast. My name is Stan and this is the April 25th edition.
You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link above. There is also an AI-generated transcript that you can find above. Or, you can find the podcast on your favorite channel below:
Timestamps:
Timestamp: 2:18. The West, Ukraine, and the civilized world get a big win.
Timestamp: 3:38. Why President Biden believes this makes America (and the world) safer.
Timestamp: 5:32. What weapons are in the Ukraine aid?
Timestamp: 9:05. The surprise news about weapons shipments, which broke on Wednesday.
Timestamp: 13:34. One good thing that came from the long delays on passing this Ukraine aid in the United States.
Timestamp: 15:48. Is the Republican Party starting to go after its extreme members more strongly?
Timestamp: 24:01. The UK announces a new, impressive aid package for Ukraine.
Timestamp: 29:49. An update on the situation in Haiti and the chances that U.S. troops may have to deploy.
Timestamp: 32:55. The forces necessary to contsrtuct a floating pier off the coast of Gaza have arrived, so that’s good news for the desperate folks inside Gaza who need larger amounts of humanitarian aid.
Timestamp: 34:18. Motivation and encouragement, just for you. As well as the honoring of a special Medal of Honor recipient.
Timestamp 49:29. Some final words of unity and a few special words for those vets out there (and non-vets, too) who are struggling with PTSD or are just in a really low valley right now. I think it’s really important to discuss this topic in every single show since veterans are at 57% higher risk of suicide than their peers of the same age groups who haven't served. Please listen to this if you are struggling.
If you just happened to stumble by, let me say a quick word about what we’re doing here.
For those who don’t know, my name is Stan R. Mitchell, and I’m a prior Marine and journalist.
Every week, I primarily do three things with my podcast:
Cover emerging hotspots and foreign policy news that you absolutely should know. (Why I focus on foreign policy...)
Work to unite our country and remind us of how lucky we are to live in America. (My thoughts on the division in this country...)
And finally, I always share plenty of motivation and encouragement at the end of each episode.
Take a listen to the podcast. I really hope you get something out of it.
Selected source notes for podcast and transcript above.
Supplemental Bill Becomes Law, Provides Billions in Aid for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan
President Joe Biden today signed into law a bill that provides much-needed security assistance to American partners, including Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
"It's going to make America safer. It's going to make the world safer. And it continues America's leadership in the world," Biden said during a briefing following the signing ceremony. "It gives vital support to America's partners so they can defend themselves against threats to their sovereignty and the lives and freedom of their citizens."
The president said that the security supplemental, worth about $95 billion, is not just an investment in the security of U.S. partners around the world, but also in U.S. security at home and abroad.
"This is directly in the United States' national security interest," Biden said. "If Putin triumphs in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a NATO ally."
If that happened, Biden said, the U.S., as a NATO partner, would be bound to assist.
"We'd have no choice but to come to their aid, just like our NATO allies came to our aid after the September 11 attacks," he said. "That's why we're supporting and surging support now to Ukraine, to stop Putin from drawing the United States into a war in Europe."
Among expenditures in the security supplemental package is more than $60 billion for support to Ukraine. Biden said that assistance will begin to flow immediately, initially as part of a new package of security assistance through presidential drawdown authority, which involves military equipment pulled from existing U.S. inventory.
"I'm making sure the shipments start right away," he said. "In the next few hours — literally, a few hours — we're going to begin sending in equipment to Ukraine for air defense munitions, for artillery, for rocket systems and armored vehicles."
Shortly after the president spoke, the Defense Department released details of a $1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine which includes, among other things, RIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided, or TOW, missiles; ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System; 155 mm and 105 mm artillery shells; and a variety of combat vehicles.
…
The bill also includes some $14.1 billion for funding to support Israel, Biden said.
Earlier this month, on April 13, Iran and its proxy groups launched more than 300 airborne weapons at targets in Israel, but the U.S., Israeli and partner forces destroyed a significant portion of them before they reached their targets. The president said the U.S. remains committed to Israeli security.
"My commitment to Israel, I want to make clear again, is ironclad," Biden said "The security of Israel is critical, and we'll always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and the terrorists it supports."
The supplemental security bill, Biden said, helps Israel replenish its air defense capabilities and also provides for additional defense needs.
The supplemental funding also provides $9.5 billion for humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and other populations caught in conflict zones across the globe.
The US secretly sent long-range ATACMS to Ukraine — and Kyiv used them
Haiti is kind of, sort of holding it all together for the moment. I honestly expected it to spiral worse, but for the the moment, it seems stable-ish (like boards standing on loose gravel and sand and mud or something).
U.S. Military Aircraft transports US Embassy Port-au-Prince Support and Security Personnel
In support of the Department of State, U.S. Southern Command transported support and security augmentation personnel for the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. A U.S. Air Force C-130 flew into Toussaint Louverture International Airport today for the planned rotation of personnel. This mission is a testament to the efforts of the Haitian National Police, the Armed Forces of Haiti, and the International Airport administrators and stakeholders. The security and support personnel who arrived in Haiti will help ensure the U.S. Embassy remains open, and operations continue. This airlift mission is consistent with the standard practice for Embassy security augmentation worldwide.
The U.S. embassy remains focused on advancing U.S. government efforts to support the Haitian people, including mobilizing support for the Haitian National Police, the Armed Forces of Haiti, and creating conditions for free and fair elections.
Never, ever give up segment links:
I call it the "Never, ever give up segment” because we must never ever give up as a country (though we face great division, a massive debt burden, and probably future problems that none of us could even predict. But we must never give up as a country.
And I believe we must stay united.
And also as individuals, we must never, ever give up. We’ve got family and friends counting on us, so in this section, I’m going to share some motivation to help encourage you.
I’d like to begin by honoring a Medal of Honor recipient.
If you don’t know, the Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration you can possibly earn in the military, and it’s awarded to service members who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
The medal is typically awarded by the President of the United States, upon the recommendation of the Armed Services.
I share these Medal of Honor stories to remind us of the sacrifices that have been made through the nearly 250 years of American history.
More than 1 million Americans have died in war getting us to this place and time.
And I think it’s always important we remember it, particularly when we have people regularly saying we face a potential civil war. Or that we should split because of culture war or what tax rate we should have or any other number of silly reasons.
I think our forefathers and foremothers would be dumbfounded to think we could rip apart this great nation over such trifling issues.
Now, let’s share some motivation to make sure that we never, ever give up in our own personal lives.
Of course, if you’re a regular listener, you know I also speak about never giving up when I discuss PTSD at the end of the show.
But for now, let’s just talk about some motivation.
And we’ve got some great ones this week.
I always like to share a few from the Bible, because this book has become such a source of strength and wisdom and calm for me during the past year.
And I hope by sharing a few, it might encourage you to get into the Bible yourself. Because I think it’ll really help you.
And, I always like to end each week’s notes with this one:
And with that, thanks for joining us this week on The View from the Front.
If you can, consider at some point becoming a paid subscriber.
That’s it for this edition.
Dealing with PTSD? Emotionally or mentally at rock bottom? Here’s the link that I mention in each podcast: Be like Ozzie; go near your master. (The power of prayer. Part 1.)
Love my moderate, optimistic view of politics and want to know more about how I see things?
Go here:
As a reminder, please be kind and try your best to love your fellow Americans.
So many men and women have sacrificed, fought, and died to keep this country together the past 240-plus years. Please work daily to unite our country again. The vast majority of Americans are decent, loving, great people.
Also, please try to be a better person each and every day. Try to be kinder on social media and how you interact with others with whom you disagree.
Please join me again in our next episode, and please stay safe until then.
Don’t forget: You can comment anytime — I try to monitor those. You can also reach out privately at: authorstanrmitchell@yahoo.com. (You can say “hi,” vent, or send news tips! I love all three of those things!)
Love and peace,
Stan R. Mitchell
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my books. It’s a great way to help support this writing journey I’m on. To date, I’ve written 12 of them: a CIA/Marine sniper series, a detective series, a private investigator series, an action-packed Western, a motivational self-help book about President Obama, and two realistic war novels: one about World War II and one about Afghanistan. You can find all of these books on Amazon.
Want to know more about me? Click here: About me. You can also learn more about my journey here: Writers are crazy, and I’m crazier than most.
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The latest podcast episode of The View from the Front. This is the 4-25-24 edition.