heybruce

Hawaii in the 1890's was a vulnerable, strategically valuable asset during the age of empires. Things are different now.

That's the kind of logic that keeps a lot of conspiracy theories alive.

You wanted the US to surrender Thailand to China. Got it.

How did that sale influence politics in Thailand? Other than making the Thai military more dependent on US equipment.

And the majority of Republicans still believe that the election was stolen and the invasion of the Capitol and threats against lawmakers was no big deal. That shows democracy is at risk.

Letting it be known that Presidents and former Presidents can get away with blatant criminal acts sends a much worse message.

If this stands I assume it means that people who lie on a federal form (a nonviolent crime) can still keep the gun(s) they bought. There goes one of the avenues of attack against Hunter Biden.

Translation, you have no evidence the US has asked for a base in Thailand.

On another topic you made it clear that you don't have faith in democracy and here you make it clear Thailand should not have friendly relations with the US. Out of curiosity, what kid of government do you think Thailand should have and what nations should it be friendly with?

"The military takeover in Thailand drew swift international condemnation on Thursday, with the United States saying it was reviewing its military aid and other dealings with its closest ally in Southeast Asia." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-protest-reaction-idUSBREA4L0ZH20140522 "The U.S. is suspending $3.5 million in military aid to Thailand, its first punitive step against the Asian country following a military coup, the State Department announced Friday. Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the department is still reviewing a further $7 million in direct U.S. assistance to Thailand, and an undetermined amount of aid from other global and regional programs." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-suspends-3-5-million-in-military-aid-to-thailand-after-coup/ Beyond expressing displeasure and suspending aid, what did you want the US to do?

The link says 7.2 million men have dropped out of the workforce. It did not call them able-bodied or state that they were turning down available work. It also mentioned skills mismatches and criminal records as an issue. I'll add that if the job are not where the men live and the pay is insufficient for them to live where the work is, that too will keep them unemployed. In other words, you're speculating without evidence.

Nixon received a Presidential pardon. Trump has not. To my knowledge Bush was never formally charged. Trump has been charged with some crimes and probably has more coming. Why are you so keen on making past Presidents above the law?

"2)Shokin the prosecutor was or had investigated Burisma for corruption, and was fired after Joe Biden withheld 1 billion dollars in aid money(which he famously bragged about doing this quid pro quo)" Shokin was burying the Burisma corruption investigation. That was one of the reasons he was fired. "Kaleniuk and AntAC published a detailed timeline of events surrounding the Burisma case, an outline of evidence suggesting that three consecutive chief prosecutors of Ukraine -- first Shokin’s predecessor, then Shokin, and then his successor -- worked to bury it." Although I don't think you'll let a little thing like facts interfere with your conspricacy theories. ""Ironically, Joe Biden asked Shokin to leave because the prosecutor failed [to pursue] the Burisma investigation, not because Shokin was tough and active with this case," Kaleniuk said."https://www.rferl.org/a/why-was-ukraine-top-prosecutor-fired-viktor-shokin/30181445.html

What social programs are you referring to? Are you suggesting government interference in how parents treat their kids?

Got any credible statistics on this?

The low unemployment figures and vacant job descriptions indicate otherwise.

Have you checked the unemployment figures lately?

When the price of agricultural labor goes up, the price of the product goes up. When labor costs go up a lot then the product price will also go up significantly. That would make US produce uncompetitive with imports. Unless we want almost every fruit and vegetable consumed in the US to be imported, we need to facilitate ways for immigrants to work legally in the US. Easy to obtained work permits and easy to comply with rules for employers would be a good start.

We could force people to take these jobs, but that seems like slavery. Inducing people to do these jobs with much higher pay and benefits would bankrupt a lot of farms and businesses.

So you agree that the undocumented immigrant in the US should be given legal status? From your source: "Because of the critical role undocumented immigrants play contributing to the American economy, the report recommends that the Biden administration and Congress provide them with a path to legal status—both out of recognition for the work they have done and the sacrifices they have already made, and because of the important role they will play in helping to fight the pandemic in the months ahead and in rebuilding the country and our economy." First provide a pathway to legal status and citizenship to the immigrants already in the country. Then set up an efficient, effective system to bring in more immigrants. After that, deal with remaining problems at the border. Once people who want to come to the US to work can do so legally the border situation should be much more manageable.

Let's ignore the fact that many farms and businesses would close if they had to pay decent wages and benefits, and take a look at long term demographics and economics. "The provisional total fertility rate for the United States in 2022 was 1,665.0 births per 1,000 women, essentially unchanged from the rate in 2021 (1,664.0). The total fertility rate declined by an average of 2% per year from 2014 through 2020, then rose 1% from 2020 to 2021 (3,8). The total fertility rate estimates the number of births that a hypothetical group of 1,000 women would have over their lifetimes, based on the age-specific birth rate in a given year." https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr028.pdf In other words, the US is not getting the necessary 2000+ births per 1000 women that maintaining the population requires, it is falling far short of it. That means declining population, a smaller number of people of working age supporting a growing population of seniors, a shrinking economy resulting in young people not only having to support too many old people but having restricted opportunities to invest for their own future, and the general decline of the country. The US needs immigrants. Fortunately the best, brightest, most ambitious and hard working people from around the world want to come to the US. Unfortunately fear mongering politicians and the "I'm not racist I just don't like brown people" idiots don't want to let them in. The best way to reduce illegal immigration is to greatly increase all levels of legal immigration. That will also keep the US economy prosperous and the future bright. It should be a no-brainer, but apparently there are a lot of people with no brains.

Reason for the refund request: "We didn't pay you to research facts, we paid you to invent a good story we could use for fund raising!"

When one side topples the government, shreds the old constitution (written for them following the previous coup), pardons themselves for all crimes then writes a new constitution giving themselves great power and then only applies ethical rules to the other side, I think a certain amount of whataboutism is appropriate.

Ignorant and too arrogant to admit it and try to learn. I suspect he still doesn't know what the nuclear triad is or why it has always been US policy to oppose nuclear proliferation. And this was the man trusted with the nuclear codes.

I know I'm pushing my luck on quotes from the article, but I think this one additional sentence is important: "What prosecutors have sought to show, according to people who have been questioned, is that Trump and aides willfully ignored evidence in their push to raise money and overturn the election, and that a panoply of advisers had access to the data." The Trump team not only ignored evidence the election was legitimate, they covered up that evidence so they could use the "stolen election" lie to raise money. The man really needs to be in prison.