"If you invite your serial killer gun nut friend to build a tree stand on your property pointed at my house, we're going to have problems"

The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement. That was what he sent us. And was a pre-condition for not invade Ukraine. Of course we didn't sign that.

At least he had some good jokes to warm up the crowd!

I think I've told you before that I know it's hard to allocate money for defence, because most politicians want to spend money on health, on education, on infrastructure instead of defence.

The CIA routinely funds groups covertly. As is the case with RFE, we are often able to confirm this covert funding decades later.

A main purpose of the CIA is to obscure what groups the U.S. supports. Did they just stop doing their job one day?

Nelson Mandela was not a great man.

Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti

Sigh

redditor!

I also don’t automatically think that it means Zelenski was “forced to not give up”.

1. Ukraine negotiates ceasefire.
2. BJ tells Ukraine to not go through with it.
3. Ukraine does not go through with it.

Why else would Ukraine have reversed course if not for one of its NATO puppetmasters commanding it to? Either it's that, or BJ making a really impassioned argument for sending a bunch of Ukranians to an early grave and Zelensky fell for it, or Zelensky just changed his mind all on his own and the timing is a pure coincidence.

Johnson’s April visit to Kyiv, during which he reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to break off talks with Russia

Hmm let's look at the source on that: Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukranian language paper headquartered in Kyiv, owned by a Ukranian investment company also headquartered in Kyiv.

Kremlin propaganda!

Landlords pay up front (directly or via a loan

You're describing a developer. Most landlords aren't developers.

And yes, the government should take on the role of developing residential properties and ensuring everyone has access to them. Housing is not a commodity, it's a basic human need.

"Cartoon villain" here means "a villain who is just intrinsically evil and does evil things as a result." Contrast this with real people, who generally have material or ideological motivational for the actions they take.

The left views NATO as evil not because it's full of cartoon villains, but because it is an organization that consciously, due to material and ideological motivations, chooses to immiserate the global south for the benefit of its constituent countries' ruling classes.

They must mean that referendum we had to overturn Roe v. Wade, or the one that got us universal healthcare

Look, you started hot in this thread but tired after a few comments. They adjusted, you didn't, and you got rocked; it happens. Hit the showers and we'll get after it early tomorrow with some film.

"Sir, their government has brainwashed them by... running the country well enough to consistently raise the standard of living!"

"Those dastardly Chinese!"