heybruce

"Military doctrine since the 60s the Army changed over to the smaller round as most shooting today is suppressive in nature. Meaning very few rounds actually hit an enemy combatant. And of course you can carry a lot more small 223 ammo than the previous generation 308 caliber of the M14. Makes sense since doctrine is to pin down and destroy enemies with air power." Suppressing fire! Perfect for home defense in an urban setting. Just spray a bunch of bullets in the general direction of where you think the bad guys are. To heck with anyone else in that direction, I never did like that neighbor anyway. Of course that means that while I trust myself with an AR-15, but I don't want anyone living in my vicinity to own one.

How can you track a person? Don't you own a personal tracking device, a.k.a. a phone? From the link you obviously didn't read: "The first-of-its-kind proposal would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident have an abortion — from the out-of-state physician who performs the procedure to whoever helps transport a person across state lines to a clinic, a major escalation in the national conservative push to restrict access to the procedure." If you give some people a profit motive to snitch on a pregnant ten year old and they will find a way to collect the information and snitch. A further complication is catching the monster that raped the child. The guardian of the child can't notify the authorities of the crime without telling them about the pregnancy. If the pregnancy suddenly ends, an abortion is the obvious explanation. BTW: You never answered my question. Do you think a pregnant ten year old should be allowed an abortion?

"goading Putin"? Do you mean frustrating his attempts at empire building? Do you suggest sacrificing Ukraine, and any other countries Putin wants to add to his empire, in an attempt to appease him? Do you think rewarding nuclear blackmail leads to a safer world, or more nuclear blackmail?

Our disagreements on relative performance would be off-topic. On the subject of fitness for office, Trump made it clear he should never have been trusted with any office in US government when he publicly called the press "The enemy of the people". Shortly after that the Saudi government murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, probably assuming it had Trump's blessing. Anyone who undermines the free press in a democracy is undermining the democracy. Trump's continued attempts at undermining democracy shows that he is a menace and should never again hold any position of trust, other than possibly prison snitch.

I'm not so optimistic. We've already seen one poster who stated that he thinks Biden is worse than Trump. The post has since been deleted, but it's worth noting that on a topic about the former President doing everything in his power, including provoking a violent attack on the Capitol, to subvert the legitimate outcome of an election and end democracy in America, he still preferred Trump. That kind of mentality is widespread in America. It's very scary.

For now. Some states are trying to make it illegal for their residents to go to another state for an abortion. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/19/travel-abortion-law-missouri-00018539 There's also the inconvenient fact that a ten year old needs help traveling to another state for an abortion. That help may not always be available. Whether they catch the monster who raped her or not, do you think she should be allowed an abortion?

"IHL (International Humanitarian Law) prohibits attacks directed against civilians, as well as indiscriminate attacks, namely those that strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction. Principle of proportionality: IHL prohibits attacks that may be expected to cause excessive incidental civilian harm in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. In the conduct of hostilities, causing incidental harm to civilians and civilian objects is often unavoidable. " https://www.icrc.org/en/document/ihl-rules-of-war-FAQ-Geneva-Conventions

And it begins: "On Monday three days after the Supreme Court issued its groundbreaking decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an Indianapolis obstetrician-gynecologist, took a call from a colleague, a child abuse doctor in Ohio." "Hours after the Supreme Court action, the Buckeye state had outlawed any abortion after six weeks. Now this doctor had a 10-year-old patient in the office who was six weeks and three days pregnant." https://www.yahoo.com/news/ohio-restricts-abortions-10-old-172452857.html Of course to a hardcore right-to-life person, that fetus is a human being and the ten year old girl has to carry it to term or die trying.

Ukraine did not belong to NATO when Putin invaded, and was years from membership, if it ever did join. Ukraine wanted to join NATO because shortly after it ejected the Russian stooge President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, Russia seized Ukrainian territory and started supporting thugs in eastern Ukraine with weapons and Russian soldiers. It was difficult for Ukraine to remain neutral while it was under attack. Afghanistan was the country from which an attack on the US, a NATO member, was planned and set in motion. An attack on one NATO country is considered an attack on all. That's why NATO troops were in Afghanistan. You knew all this, you just want to deflect. However if Russia is willing to withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, pay war reparations, and agree to international peacekeepers in Ukraine to guard it against future attacks, I'm sure Ukraine will agree to end the war and remain neutral. What do you think the chances are of Putin agreeing to that?

"With all this tree-hugging and do-good attitude in the West we are not getting anywhere; it takes professional negotiations. One could turn the Ukraine into a neutral, sovereign, independent country and see, if and how Putin reacts. " Ukraine was a neutral, sovereign, independent country. We saw how Putin reacted.

Confirming the obvious: "A British documentary filmmaker who recently testified behind closed doors to the House Jan. 6 select committee said that former President Donald Trump is living in “cloud cuckoo land,” and is incapable of ever acknowledging that his claims about voter fraud are “delusional.”" "“Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t,” Alex Holder said in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast, “Skullduggery.” “You can't have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality.”" https://www.yahoo.com/news/filmmaker-who-gave-footage-to-jan-6-committee-trump-is-dangerous-living-in-cloud-cuckoo-land-235650617.html

The Clinton Whitewater investigation went from 1992 to 1998, and it involved far fewer people and lesser crimes.

But, but, but....Trump said he's a stable genius!

In both your sources: 'In response to Herschmann's claim, a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee said, "The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms. Hutchinson's account of this matter credible. While we understand that she and Mr. Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note, what’s ultimately important is that both White House officials believed that the President should have immediately instructed his supporters to leave the Capitol building."' A hand writing analysis should show who is speaking the truth.

There were always arguments for and against NATO enlargement every step of the way. Cherry picking the against arguments doesn't change the fact that every country that joined wanted to join, none of them want out, and more countries want in now than before Russia's invasion. "Russia has reacted no differently than the USA would react if Russia was about to establish military bases along the USA's borders with Mexico and Canada. " The US isn't establishing military bases along Russia's borders. NATO has deployed some forces into NATO countries most at risk of a Russian incursion, which is to be expected. Most noteworthy, the US hasn't done anything to cause Canada or Mexico to feel they need to call upon Russia, or any other country, for help in defending itself against a US invasion. Countries bordering Russia are in the opposite situation.

I sincerely hope the above posts are correct. However, with only a few exceptions, the Republican leadership has shown itself to be a bunch of spineless cowards who dare not risk upsetting the orange maniac.

"umbrella keeps inching East despite having engraved 30 years earlier NOT to do so ....... " As noted earlier, you have not shown any commitment to not expand membership to the east, or any other direction. Also, Russia has shown itself to be a terrific recruiter for NATO membership. Countries bordering Russia are very eager to join.

The only claim that is feebly supported is the source that showed that in 1991 13 of 16 NATO members at that time were not in favor of expanding NATO. That is not an assurance against expansion. The document was written at a time when there was misguided optimism that Russia would become a true democracy and behave itself. Times have changed. As has been stated repeatedly, no country has ever been coerced into joining NATO. Countries request membership, are often rejected, and other times have to wait for long periods and meet conditions to join. Please identify the 81% of wars that the US started.

Obviously you are unaware that Russia has violated the Minsk agreements from the beginning by having Russian troops in Ukraine. You also are in denial of reality; Ukraine voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons and there are no plans by anyone to put such weapons in Ukraine. Ukraine has been attacking hostile forces in Donbass seeking to expand their territory, and those forces have been attacking those parts of Ukraine not under their control. Got anything that didn't come from Russia Today?

I see. The war mongers are the countries that don't immediately surrender when Russia invades. Could you be any more obvious as a Russian troll?

The last obstacle to Sweden and Finland joining NATO has been resolved. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/turkey-clears-way-finland-sweden-join-nato-stoltenberg-2022-06-28/ Putin invaded Ukraine in part to halt NATO expansion. Instead he has succeeded in surrounding the Baltic Sea with NATO members.

There are huge numbers of people around the world, but particularly in Central America, that want to come to the US both for work and for their personal safety. There are a huge number of employers in the US eager to hire these people. No amount of walls and borders guards will solve this supply and demand driven problem. However by demonizing the immigrants, but not their employers, Republicans have made the problem so toxic that nobody dares suggest a sensible solution.

First, economic sanctions are not a declaration of war. Second, the US stopped selling oil to Japan because Japan was using that oil to fuel a genocidal invasion and occupation of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABCD_line Do you think the US should have supported Japan's wars of conquest and empire?

That nonsense again. What material support did the US provide to those in Ukraine protesting for democracy? The US sympathized with those who wanted real democracy in Ukraine. Putin wanted a corrupt autocracy that operated under his thumb in Ukraine. To achieve this he seized Crimea, provided weapons and leadership to separatist thugs in eastern Ukraine, further supported those thugs with troops he called volunteers, then staged a massive invasion of the country which he insists be called a special military operation.

How do we know that someone is deeply immersed in Russian propaganda? If they ignore the fact that Putin started the war in Ukraine and talk of Russia starting a nuclear war but refer to the other side as war mongers, they are deeply, irrationally immersed in Russian propaganda.