Happy Thursday and welcome to today’s edition of Common Sense with Ally Sammarco—your daily briefing on politics throughout the world. Let’s break it down.
Russia downs 287 Ukrainian drones as peace talks advance….Russia says it shot down nearly 300 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 40 near Moscow, prompting airport restrictions and emergency responses to falling debris. The strikes came as President Zelenskyy revealed Ukraine is finalizing a 20-point peace framework with the U.S. and Europe. A Ukrainian official said a revised version—including new ideas on territory and control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant—has been handed to Washington. Negotiators are meeting online today, focusing mainly on security guarantees. Meanwhile, Russia continued its own overnight barrage, launching 151 drones and multiple missiles across Ukraine.
Common Sense takeaway: Even as both sides talk peace on paper, the war on the ground is intensifying, which is proof that any “peace plan” without ironclad security guarantees is just a draft, not a deal. If only our president could show some support for Ukraine—our ally—instead of kowtowing to a murderous dictator.
Pentagon diverted $2B to Trump’s immigration agenda, hurting military readiness…A new report from congressional Democrats says the Pentagon has rerouted more than $2 billion of its own budget to fund Trump’s immigration operations—canceling major training exercises, scaling back disaster-response drills, and delaying military construction projects, including housing and even two DOD-run elementary schools. The diversions covered deployments of active-duty troops and National Guard units to the southern border and several U.S. cities, as well as migrant detention operations from Guantanamo Bay to Djibouti. Lawmakers warned that DHS has not reimbursed most of the money, calling the arrangement a “baffling waste of military resources.” The Pentagon insists its nearly $1 trillion budget allows it to handle multiple missions at once.
Read the report here.
Common Sense takeaway: Trump’s border and immigration first strategy is coming straight out of the military’s budget—draining training, construction, and real projects that support our troops. It’s clear that he doesn’t actually care about our military or National Guard members as he sends them all over the country with little training. It’s all for show, per usual.
Senate faces doomed showdown over soaring ACA costs…The Senate is set to vote on dueling Democratic and Republican plans to stop health insurance premiums from spiking on Jan. 1, when enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits expire for tens of millions of Americans. Both bills are expected to fail, leaving Congress just days to prevent massive premium hikes. Democrats propose a three-year extension of the enhanced subsidies—the only solution they say actually prevents premiums from doubling or tripling. Republicans call the plan a “fantasy,” insisting the subsidies need major reforms and citing the $83 billion price tag. The GOP counterproposal scraps the enhanced tax credits altogether and redirects that money into small health savings account payouts, which Democrats blasted as “junk insurance” that doesn’t stop premiums from skyrocketing. Both sides acknowledge neither plan will hit the 60 votes needed.
Common Sense takeaway: Republicans don’t have a real healthcare plan—they never have—but they don’t want to be totally on the hook for the fallout of the impending disaster so they put together this last-minute proposal to put money in HSAs that does nothing for the increased premiums and still comes with the hefty price tag. Make it make sense. Oh right, it doesn’t.
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That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Check back tomorrow for more.
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Dump ICE down the sewer. The" Administruation" advertises daily for good paying jobs for thugs who want to join as....."agents"! $80Kper yr???