Joe Ferguson forever

I'm beginning to believe Billsy. You are really a stealth trumper. you support virtually all of his policies and act as apologist for his lies... Military dominance and economic dominance are joined at the hip. If you don't understand that, then there is no hope for you. not that there was ever much....

they aren't "promises". 2% GDP is a guideline. more at the CNN link above t: All of these Trump claims are false. While a majority of NATO members do not meet the alliance’s target of each member spending a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product on defense, the 2% target is a “guideline” that does not create bills, debts or legal obligations if it is not met. In fact, the guideline doesn’t require payments to NATO or the US at all. Rather, it simply requires each country to spend on their own defense programs. When Trump was president, the guideline was written in forgiving language that made clear that it was not a firm commitment. That version of the guideline, created at a NATO summit in Wales in 2014, said members that had yet to reach 2% would “aim to move towards the 2% guideline within a decade with a view to meeting their NATO Capability Targets and filling NATO’s capability shortfalls.” In other words, the members that were below 2% in 2014 didn’t even have to promise to hit the target by 2024 – simply to make an effort to do so by then. NATO does require members to make direct contributions to fund the organization’s own operations. But there is no sign that members have failed to make those contributions, which constitute a tiny fraction of the allies’ defense spending, and Trump has made clear that his talk of debts is about the 2% guideline. Stephen Saideman, the Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University in Canada, said in a Monday email that the word “inaccurate really does not cover Trump’s protection racket/country club perception of dues owed to the US.”

what lie? be specific. If you accuse someone of lying, it's only decent to be specific in naming the lie. Oh wait, decent....

ya it's a big conspiracy. like dna insertion thru vaccines. Hint: you're not worth that much trouble. 2% gdp is a guideline. not contractual. 18 countries are putting up 2%. What we are buying with our 2% is continued world economic domination (China has fallen back, Russia isn't close to us economically) and military domination, which are tightly linked. But you are either too ignorant or too partisan to understand that...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/13/politics/fact-check-trump-nato/index.html hint: He wants out of NATO. He lies about funding constantly.

that's what he tells you rubes and you buy it...he dislikes NATO because Putin despises it.

trump was prez in 2019. what is a lie? be specific. do you have problems with this analysis from conservative Brookings from 2017? again, be specific. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/trump-remains-a-nato-skeptic/ "This makes President Trump look weak and indecisive—weak because he is gutting America’s position of strength in Europe, and indecisive because his administration is at sixes and sevens on Article 5. Is he really in favor or opposed to it? No one knows for sure. And weakness and indecision can be provocative. The great risk is that Vladimir Putin will see an opportunity. In Trump, Putin has a president who is largely aligned with his worldview. But Putin’s problem is that Trump is constrained. He cannot deliver sanctions relief. He cannot deliver a new Yalta agreement to grant Russia a sphere of influence. He cannot even meet Putin for a one-on-one summit, such is the level of opposition in the United States. Trump acknowledged as much in a rambling press conference in February. He said: [T]he false, horrible, fake reporting makes it much harder to make a deal with Russia. And probably Putin said “you know.” He’s sitting behind his desk and he’s saying “You know, I see what’s going on in the United States, I follow it closely. It’s going to be impossible for President Trump to ever get along with Russia because of all the pressure he’s got with this fake ..."

and NATO is being attacked by him. connect the dots MAGA morons. anti NATO dummy. One example: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/nato-president-trump.html

is this orwellian doublespeak? Yes a registered D, who does not support trump won by a good margin. MAGA lost. trump didn't endorse anyone in this race probably cuz he didn't want to continue his record of showing that his endorsement is often the kiss of death.

you apparently never considered that the 2 events (election interference and Ukraine invasion) are connected...c'mon, you can't be that dumb. Most of Europe (at least the establishment in power) did not and do not want trump. They're well aware of his anti NATO stance. So why do you think trump invaded Ukraine under Biden?

Gee. You’d have thought ole tuck would have asked that…my guess is they hoped trump would be reelected so they could walk in unchallenged. When it didn’t happen they invaded, not willing to wait for years now you go. Why did the Russians support trump in 2016?

People decide policies. Why did Russian election interference in 2016 aim to make trump win?

Remember that huge part of the Mueller report these dufeses repeatedly ignored? It was unequivocal on Russian interference in 2016 election. And it benefited trump. why did the Russians support trump?

Wah. The D won convincingly in red tinged Long Island. The issues were immigration, the economy and abortion. Not a good election for MAGAs

geez, there's a lot to sort out here. Being physically disciplined in grammar and high school for minor offenses like laughing during mass or smoking cigarettes in the boys room are hardly the equivalent of mass murder. Corporal punishment was the norm when I was a kid. Very few kids I knew weren't subject to it. Did it help us? Hard to tell. It made some kids tougher and some kids extremely anxious and timid. Probably made me tougher but so did a week in the woods roughing it as a boy scout. Or coaching kids in little league that were only a couple years younger. Positive reinforcement works better than negative in my experience: Being challenged to succeed rather than punished for failing....So maybe the answer is we need more opportunities to succeed for young people. Not that things should be given but that they need an opportunity and path to earn them. Some will still fail and end up MAGA's. Many will succeed.

nope. I was spanked, had my face slapped, had my knuckles whacked (by nuns), paddled by a gym teacher, paddled in hazing etc. Don't believe it made me a better person. I do find it interesting however that the 19 states that allow corporal punishment are all red states with some of the lowest income and education metrics. Do you think that's coincidence?

maybe you need to relocate to Mississippi or Louisiana or Alabama where corporal punishment is accepted. Those states do so well in education and income metrics, after all...

"2) It's common for lawyers, judges and juries - not just neurologists - to assess memory problems." Nope. It's common for neuropecialists to examine patients involved in legal proceedings and report their detailed findings to the court - lawyers, judges and juries. Dementia has many causes and delirium is an entirely different animal....

I forgot. The stock market only matters to real republicans. trumpers not so much. as commie callahan says, this is only for the "investor class". sounds pretty socialistic to me.

here's what you and orange man don't understand (from a CNN editorial): As with much foreign policy, the Republican frontrunner radically misunderstood the nature and purpose of this relationship. NATO is not an alliance based on dues: it is the largest military bloc in history, formed to face down the Soviet threat, based on the collective defense that an attack on one is an attack on all – a principle enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty. It’s purpose which suits the US profoundly: The White House invoked Article 5 after 9/11. And since NATO’s creation, US might has been often packaged globally as the expression of a dozens-strong consensus. NATO helps bolster the US’s ebbing position as the sole hyperpower. Strip away this vast alliance, and its diplomatic and economic might, and the US looks quite lonely on the world stage. In short, the US will almost certainly always spend much more than anyone else on its military, regardless of its allies. NATO gives it a global bedrock of legitimacy, support for the dollar, and the post-Soviet hegemony it thrives upon.

witty! at least half way. but your side keeps saying this whole neo nazi movement is tiny and insignificant even tho there appear to be several in residence here. There are more than a few in Europe too- https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7bnja/neo-nazi-music-shows-return-to-europe. Ukraine has bigger problems, namely murderous russians.

Cruz and Rubio were fighting each other to kiss trump's ring yesterday. They aren't insane. They're just scum.

try again, in English. for russia, yes. not for Ukraine.

I think they would say they had no choice but to fight off a foreign invader. But the Russians had a choice and made the wrong one. Who knows, it may have even affected your friends and family there....

I suspect the Russian public would disagree with your assessment that supporting Ukraine has not made a difference. They've suffered mightily for Putin's aggression.