Hodad

Blah, blah, blah. NATO, as an organization isn't doing anything. The member states are the actors. And Blackrock isn't a nation, let alone a NATO member. No member nation has any need to keep NATO relevant. The member nations do not derive any financial gain from the fact that NATO exists. They receive a security benefit. Again, what you are proposing is that Sally in apartment 7B is down in the basement bashing the boiler with a hammer in order to justify the existence of the co-op, which will route the collected money for repairs. I guess because she loves paying money to the co-op for repairs? lol -- it's kookoo

You posted it, but apparently didn't read it. 🤣 The very first example: "a sense of duty compelled Harry to answer her questions" <-- oh, look, it's not physical. Summons? <-- oh yeah, those are words Did you happen to read that long list of "similar" words? Or synonyms? Apparently not. Coerce, pressure, demand, insist, urge, etc. I'm guessing you're the sort of person who will choose to die on this hill rather than admit you didn't know the meaning of the word, but it wont' change the fact that everybody else is pretty clear what it means. You're erecting an artificial barrier to communication.

Of course the listener makes their own choices. You could choose to defy the law. There would then be consequences.The language of the directive is still compelling. Do you think the word "compel" means exclusively to literally use physical force to move someone's body. If so, you're using your own made up definition. Everyone else understands that "compelling" describes a spectrum of very motivating language rather than physical force.

Of course words compel action. They just have to be compelling words. Are there any laws that you follow that cause you to behave in ways that you wouldn't voluntarily or naturally behave? Of course. Congrats, words have compelled you. To be compelling, words have to be believed and communicate plausible positive or negative benefits of a proposition. You believe the words are earnest and true, they give you information and you take action on that information if the perceived consequence is sufficiently attractive or repulsive to justify the action.

"Taxpayer funds" is still completely irrelevant to your moronic conspiracy theory. The member countries of NATO are not opposing Putin so that they can pay themselves--they are spending that money on defense anyway. Nor are they opposing Putin so that they can chip in to keep the lights on at NATO headquarters. You're theory is unbelievably stupid, predicted on a fundamental ignorance of what NATO is or how it operates. "The end."

Oh, there were no convictions? That'll be a huge comfort to the guys rotting in prison, liar. Two guilty pleas and five convictions. Jeebus. You're utterly without shame.

At this point, I think we know the old saying is not true. We see that words do hurt. They can hurt anyone, but the emotionally vulnerable are particularly at risk. And with the easy reach words have today we've seen an epidemic of young people socially bullied to death. Or you can think of Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine dehumanized Jews and other vulnerable minorities to the point that an otherwise sane populace came to accept unbelievable atrocities. So words do matter and they certainly can hurt. The idea of a hate crime is that it has the secondary effect of terrorizing the targeted group. It's similar to the way that we think of terrorism and murder differently. Yes, they are both killing, but terrorism (like hate crimes) causes additional harm to the population outside of the direct harm to the victims.

Sounds easier. And no, he absolutely did incite the insurrection. The only reason those people marched down to storm the Capitol and hunt our legislators is because Trump told them lies for months, riled them up again that day and told them that stopping the certification was an existential crisis for the country. Partisan hacks will equivocate, but that's a fact.

I expect is simply a pragmatic choice. If you can put a crook behind bars with something easier to prove and skip all the silly wrangling about free speech and word definitions, do it. Take the concrete case as an easy (or easier) layup Add new charges later if you want to. A little like Al Capone and tax evasion.

Trump is mercurial, but the one constant amidst the chaos is that he consistently hires the worst, batshit crazy lawyers.

Yes, the reason is that there are a lot of dumb people in the world. With small imaginations. Half of the population is below average intelligence.

Jeebus, man. People watched them board the shuttle and watched it launch. Third parties tracked the mission. At the same time the world watched the broadcast as the astronauts walked in the moon. And then the world tracked the journey home and watched splash down And they brought home souvenirs, which again the world has studied. You think they went to the moon and just didn't go outside? Multiple countries can share the ISS, but you think we can't go to the moon? What you're proposing is just insanity. The thinking is so poor and disordered it seems impossible that it comes from a functional human being.

We did go back to the moon. Multiple Apollo missions returned. 12 Americans set foot on the surface. There is really no reason to doubt the moon landings. Governments/militaries (and others) around the world tracked the missions and "watched" it happen. The Russians gave up when we won the race. They would have loved nothing more than to call us out on a fake, but they also knew the rest of the world was watching and tracking the Apollo missions. IIRC, a couple of years ago an Indian spacecraft actually photographed the original landing site with our discarded modules still there. Moon litter!

You go to the dermatologist to have an irregular mole analyzed. It's measured and graded and the doctor tells you it's malignant and will have to come off. The girl at ULTA beauty tells you it looks benign. You're the kind of guy who thinks those pieces of advice are equally valid and the un-credible opinion deserves as much weight as the expert evaluation. In other words, a dumb guy who's likely going to die when that beauty mark metastasizes. 🙄

If you think that, you have no idea what was happening inside the certification process. The mob was just the tip of the iceberg. Educate yourself.

Sure, nobody erected gallows at the Capitol and nobody chanted to "Hang Mike Pence!" Except they did, liar.

As always, you lie. He was asked to denounce white supremacists and to tell the Proud Boys to "stand down and not add to the violence." Trump instead chose told them to "stand back and stand by." It's on video. Your gaslighting won't work. Trump wouldn't condemn or denounce them. Instead he told them to "stand by"! They understood exactly what he meant and celebrated it. "Standing down and standing by sir," the account wrote. The account then posted two videos of the answer, including one with the caption "God. Family. Brotherhood," in which a man howled at the TV in response to Trump's response." ... Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs also posted after the debate that he was "standing by," and he said the president "basically said to go f--- them up." "President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA... well sir! we're ready!!" Biggs wrote."

Jan 6 is the day we almost lost our democracy. No joke, no hyperbole. We were exactly ONE person away from a constitutional crisis unlike anything the country has seen before: Mike Pence. If the Vice President had followed Trumpco's criminal scheme, had caved to the pressure and threats, had been cowed by Trump's rabid mob, howling for his death, we very well could have fallen into some state of chaos or civil war. I disagree with almost everything Pence has ever said politically, but that day he stood strong, did his duty and upheld his oath to defend the constitution. That day he was heroic. And I still continue to be shocked and appalled that Republicans want to put back in office the man who tried to overthrow our government.

Congrats for finally catching on. Took a while to get there. No injection of cash into NATO. Just countries spending on their own militaries. 👍

Yes, it's all very crazy. The idea that millions of people will believe lies about factual events without reason or evidence--or, in this case, contradicted by reason and evidence--is fascinating and terrifying. I keep wondering when the rational Republicans will get fed up with these kooks and tell them to shut up and sit down and let the grownups run the party like they used to. Or break away from a party that no longer represents anything that it used to.

Oh, I'm certain that Epstein knew or somehow associated with a lot of people who didn't know what was going on. I think it's pretty unlikely that Trump was one of those people. "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life." So when he boards the "Lolita Express" and is surrounded by a gaggle of very young women who have no business being there, I think even Trump can put 2 and 2 together. Whether Trump partook or not I can't say (we know he's not above cheating on his wives, paying for sex and using women) but it's almost certain the wares were offered, don't you think? Mr. "locker room talk" surely chatted with Epstein about his hobby, don't you think? It seems pretty unlikely that Trump knew enough to nod and wink at Epstein's predilections in the public press while not understanding how far Epstein would go.

As I've told you now a dozen times, there are almost no "NATO" funds. The member countries spend about $3 billion collectively on NATO overhead- office facilities, staff, etc.. All the actual spending is countries spending on their own militaries. Regular old defense spending. And again, where the money "comes from" doesn't matter. Whether it originates as tax revenue or is found under a couch cushion, that has no bearing on the fact that there is no profit motive to keep NATO alive, nor is NATO a third-party positioned to profit from countries' defense spending.. There are just the member nations trying to get more security at lower costs. What you're proposing is as stupid as claiming that some mysterious "they" in a co-op apartment building is sabotaging the plumbing so that the co-op continues to be relevant, so the co-op can get some money. Well, no, that's not how any of that works. There are just shared costs, and if costs go up, it's bad for all the members. There is no party positioned to benefit from co-op expenses.

Nooooooope. Let's set aside the insane conspiracy theory crap and your poor understanding of the word seditious and revisit Trump's speech. Transcript here Fairly early in the speech he instructed them to be peaceful, exactly one time. Then he spent an hour selling his rabid mob the same pack of election lies and framing the moment as an existential crisis: they had to act NOW to stop the steal and save their country. And he told them to march down to the Capitol and do that. He told them to fight 21 times. He told them that in cases of fraud, special rules apply, before finishing with: "And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans, for our movement, for our children, and for our beloved country. And I say this despite all that's happened. The best is yet to come. So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue..." You are so full of crap. You're the same shameless, spineless who twill ell us that it's fine for a president to pressure and threaten election officials to "find" him more votes. The same transparent liar that tells us it's fine for a president to extort foreign leaders for campaign favors. The same amoral creep who tell us it's no big deal if he boasts about sexual assault and complain when he's held accountable for exactly that behavior. Just fark off. Nobody is buying your bullshit.

Taxes have absolutely nothing to do with your fundamental ignorance of all things NATO or with your ridiculous--impossible--conspiracy theory, Hostess Cuupcake. Instead of admitting the mistake and moving on, you want to die on this stupid hill? Great, enjoy!

Trump reduced LEGAL immigration. Didn't reduce illegal immigration. That's a FOX news fantasy.