LDD

Good point and I agree…somewhat…Donald is only really “in” on the “sure thing” and coincidentally his hedging on all issues has left him with very few “sure things”…we’re either in for nothing or everything. I feel like he’ll do nothing and the world will move farther to the abyss…TACO

So now, absent US leadership, everyone (Putin, Zelensky, Netanyahu, now Iran) is just doing whatever they want. Either we've "pulled back from the world stage" or nobody respects the Orange TACO truck? Which is it? If Iranian missiles start getting through and US bases and/or US Navy assets start getting attacked and something finds a hole, it's a whole new world. Meanwhile, Chinese chess pieces keep slowly falling into place. When they make a move, it won't be a mistake and it won't be little.

Six times in history...now 7. https://www.military.com/military-life/6-times-military-was-used-suppress-civilian-uprisings-us.html

My crazies, your crazies, their crazies…ahhhh pronoun games. I’m not going to explain the obvious to you. But, try this little exercise and ask yourself…”What possible interest could the world’s richest man have in the US government saving money and being more efficient?” If you come up with an altruistic motive as an answer, try again. If you just can’t get it, be patient and watch the next couple of years. Good luck buddy👍

R u for real with that statement? You actually think Elon Musk cares? He’s a shrewd businessman…he’s playing both sides right now. He got his foot in the door and siphoned all the info he needed to give his business an edge while making himself and his liberal, electric vehicles look appealing to MAGA since they were “soooo unfairly attacked” by the liberal hate machine…blah, blah, blah…now he can re-center himself in the public eye and distance himself from Donald because he has what he wanted and by the time anyone realizes the “access” he has provided himself and confronts it, IT WON’T MATTER. Well played Elon You still have them thinking you care about the US deficit for some f-in reason!

Radio…say it with me now…raaayyyyddeeeeooooo…it’s rural Alaska, islands, remote…cool to get a paper from a couple weeks ago to start a fire with. Is any of this registering with you? Working people in rural America, the elderly… Not everyone watches Fox News at the country club champ.

Welp, yer either too dumb or too arrogant to understand the link that I spoon fed to you. Go back to ktoo and look at the local pieces and find some commensurate reporting. I’ll be waiting. You want to be “shocked” and “maddened” all the time. Try looking at an issue and absorbing information to understand it and quit being so elitist. (I can give you some pointers there but you’ll need to pay attention) F—k, MAGA wins an election and suddenly they’re better than everyone. Rural America counts too bud.

Well, if you read the article linked from Yahoo it clearly states that Germany will allow them back into the country because they are citizens but they apparently will not have free passage to other EU nations. So, the first part of what you said is null and void. There's no mention of the third. As far as the rest of what you said I guess I don't have nearly enough info. to make any clear conclusions since I don't know whether or not these people have committed any crimes or exactly what the intelligence briefings say about these people. I don't generally just take a random X accounts "word for it" that these people are victims. There might be more to this story or there might not be. I will admit, freezing a bank account is a serious sanction. We do it all the time in the country to bad actors who are perpetrating crimes or are under investigation in this country. We even do it to our own citizens when there is a pending case and a judge is convinced that there are grounds to do it. That might be the case here. Apparently, the EU has the ability to freeze assets and funds based on some legal body. I'm not sure if Germany can freeze the assets of its own citizens in their country, but, it looks like the EU can do it although it's tough to find a detailed news piece about this. ...and now you want to talk about Israel...okey dokey

Correct and the standard for free speech is that you're not charged with a crime and thrown in jail because your speech is being held against you. Freedom of speech does not mean "freedom from consequences". It is well within the sovereign rights of a country or a business owner to act upon what is being said.

Aren't you big on sovereign borders? The EU clearly has its reasons, neither you or I are privy to its intelligence briefing on these people. We currently have all sorts of entry standards and some of those area clearly a direct reflection of the politics of the executive branch of our government. Are you saying that we should have the right of denial but other EU countries should not?

Yeah Dan, it's like real work. If you don't do it well, Americans die.

Who? Like the people that ask TACO questions? Who is "they"?

They can be sued for libel and slander for sure.

Not at shooting war yet, but yes, the West is still in a constant cold game of shadow war with Russia. I don't pretend to know what the EU end game is, but if your belief is that Russian propaganda is not being spread widely on social media platforms and that it isn't aimed at the slow decay of western power then we are in total disagreement. Your initial post from an apparently "anonymous" X source gives the appearance of an attack by the EU on the free press. Subsequent information reveals that these at least two of the three "journalists" literally live in Russia and are a part of the Russian propaganda machine. Furthermore, the German nationals will be allowed to return to Germany but not to transit freely. This would be a seemingly wise choice by the EU as these "journalists" seem to have close ties to the Russian military.

Based on the posted articles it appears that these "journalists" might be on the Russian payroll, especially since two live in Russia and one "regularly appears on...Russia military channel Zvedva" and would only return to Germany "on a tank". Doesn't sound like Leslie Stahl.

Who are these journalists? Is that a picture of one of them? Do you have a link to a verified account or news outlet beyond @amuse?? I'm trying to find out who @amuse is? Do you know?

Trump's like some woman who can't decide what dress to squeeze her fat body into before a dinner date. One thing, then the next, then some pouting, then some gratification...of course the investors picked up on it. His biggest issue is that he's used to doing business with other selfish, greedy whooores just like himself, not with people who actually have standards and morals. If he was making deals with the people he usually does, then all this would be figured out and they'd be golfing and banging hookers by now because they get antsy and need to wrap it up. Unfortunately for Donald, the MAGAS, and the United States, he's dealing with very serious people who have very specific "codes" by which they live and are highly disciplined. He has shown his hand and it is small, orange and fragile. It's unfortunate for this country because if you strip away the layer of glitzy, Vegas fat there are some good ideas there but he doesn't have the faculty to engage the world and make it happen for America.

I clicked...all of the "Alaska Energy" features are older but the site itself supports links to all kinds of relevant local Alaskan news, which was my initial point. Soooo, you have to play "gotcha cowboy" games, I get it, you want to be right here. Everything everywhere is biased in some manner. We are humans. NPR generally gets the left of center tab based on how their newsrooms choose what to cover. They definitely choose topics which are sensitive in the culture wars. So, when far right spectrum listeners hear a piece about trans issues followed by one about an abortion issue the perception is that NPR is massively left. Their reporting is overwhelming objective and follows universal journalistic standards, but their "Who cares?" method of establishing stories undoubtedly skews left of center. I believe this to be a product of the nature of public radio and public services in general being intricately connected to a diverse American population. My point is that once again the president is taking a wrecking ball to drive in a nail. Let's defund ALL public radio, which reaches the masses and performs really unique and important local reporting (you can keep clicking and see it on the KTOO tab, but don't worry, you're still right here).

Looks absolutely defunct... https://www.ktoo.org/alaskasenergydesk/ ...and if you click around on their site there's some pretty unique stories there and most of those stories cannot be found "anywhere and everywhere". The Biden laptop? Yeah, that's a pretty huge f-in deal...especially since we have elevated morality to the top of our political ideals right now. Big driver in your circles, I forgot. So, let's deprive the people of rural Alaska, (bastion of radical leftist ideology) some programming in the name of non-partisan correctness. I forgot that everything, anywhere, all the time, at every moment must be exactly one way in the culture war. My bad... (dumbazz sarcasm intended)

Theoretically, any reporting on anything ever can be done by non-government funded entities. But, it either won't be or it isn't unless the broadcast area is profitable. That's where PUBLIC services step in like radio. "Alaska Energy Desk" KSKA-FM "Arizona Science Tech Desk" KNAU-FM "Kentucky Collaboration" WVXU-FM Those are all regional shows carried by regional stations that support local citizens and issues and economic influences that impact those areas specifically and that's not even news. C'mon man, don't be so elitist, I really have no clue what the massive issue is with people getting something back locally for all the damn taxes they pay. Why is that such a huge issue?

L-O-C-A-L reporting...as in what is going on literally right where people live because there isn't a radio station except the local public one. There are also lots of elderly in those areas and poor people who may or may not have internet and/or computer access. It's a reality. You don't have to like NPR but it does serve a public purpose.

NPR provides valuable local reporting in many rural areas of the country where people actually live their lives and don't hang breathlessly on every change in the political winds like everyone here. This would be a huge blow to rural America and will simply be a continuation of the degradations that Trump has imposed on poor, white Americans since inauguration day.

I agree with that statement to a degree. If it came to it, we could force our will anywhere. However, if Donald keeps cutting away the fabric of our controls over these countries, we will find ourselves very shortly on an island where it will be much, much more difficult to enforce our position, unless of course we want the bombs to fly. His insistence on how "unfairly" we have been treated is alienating a lot of good will throughout the world. People don't like to hear the richest, most powerful country in the world who is x times more capable than them and x times richer than them is a victim somehow.

I don't go to "platforms" for real information. I find it absurd that people post X account opinions as facts here and then use those subjective, random and often HEAVILY biased opinions as a fact or as some sort of justification that they then assume is meaningful. I might as well create some username, start an X account and then repost my own opinions that I created on X as PROOF of something. It's f-in dumb. Literally everyone has an opinion. Reposting one that confirms yours doesn't mean anything.

I’ll assume you meant “don’t”. I’m not sure I agree with your “majority” statement since it’s been about 70 years since we took the lead in the world and there are very few people alive in America right now who were around when we weren’t massively influential. I’m not a rest on the laurels type so I prefer leadership. I can see your point though, you live in God’s country…it’s peaceful out there…till it’s not. We either make a continual sacrifice of leadership or we make a huge one down the road. I’m good NOT passing it to my grandkids.