Comments by "possumverde" (@possumverde) on "Voice of America" channel.

  1. That was an awful small fire for a hypersonic ballistic missile...
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  2. The argument in Roe v Wade wasn't really sound. Somewhat like the current roster (only in the other direction), SCOTUS '73 had already decided they were going to legalize abortion before the case even got there. In their hurry to get it done, they literally just looked for an argument that seemed legit and ran with it. They happened to pick one of the weakest... It only stayed on the books so long because no justices were interested in going through the madness that would come if they overturned it. Even the late Justice Ginsberg warned people that the original argument was not sound and would be overturned eventually. No one listened. If all people are interested in for the time being is simply getting rid of the bans (rather than acheiving a direct right to abortion,) challenging the state bans (at least up to 24 weeks) on the grounds that they violate the 13th amendment's protection against involuntary servitude is the best way to approach it. There are hundreds if not thousands of rulings from many levels of our courts where a woman carrying and giving birth are considered a form of work (she gets the final say because she's the one who will have to do the work of carrying and giving birth style arguments.) If it's work then the 13th applies. If the 13th applies, the 10th amendment can't and SCOTUS no longer has constitutional grounds to send the issue to the states. SCOTUS might still overrule that argument, but they'll likely have to pull their rebuttal directly from their backsides to do so. At that point, it will be clear to all that they are ruling based on personal/political/religious reasons not the constitution...and that will be the end of what little legitimacy SCOTUS has left. I doubt they're delusional or arrogant enough to destroy the court's integrity any more than they already have. Well...maybe Thomas.
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  3.  @Chew_Mane  The definition of life has no bearing in this issue. Tapeworms are alive (and share many chatacteristics with an underveloped fetus) but oddly they don't meet the requirement for personhood and thus aren't protected (and few would argue that parasites have feeding rights and thus can't be eliminated via medical treatment.) Until at least 24 weeks, a fetus is at best in a vegetative state (and that's being generous) with no signs of consciousness or self awareness (due to lack of brain development.) Pretty much on par with a parasite. Medically, up to that point it is not considered a human baby for those reasons as well as it's inability to survive outside the womb and thus hasn't acheived personhood. For those wishing to reconcile that reality with whatever mystical superstitions they may hold, simply look at it as an empty chasis still under construction which could potentially be mounted with a soul/whatever if completed. If scrapped before then however, no individual identity has been lost. So, no harm/no foul. Mind your own business and move on.
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  4. Because getting hit back so much harder builds up their martyr/underdog appearance and garners international sympathy.
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  5. Trump has it...Forgive them founding fathers for they know not what they do...
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  6. Europeans out of the Americas...
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  7. It has no business being a state issue as it is indirectly protected by the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude." State's do not have the authority to violate constitutional rights. As soon as a challenge based on that makes it to SCOTUS, they will have to overturn their overturn.
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  8. Yeah, but he quit caring long ago.
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  9. Modern Israel wasn't there either until they invented a pretender state to occupy the land so take your stupidity elsewhere.
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  10. If I were female coworkers of some of those picks, I'd be worried about them shaking something more than just the status quo around me...
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  11. @You Tube It will end up being another Afghanistan for them. Ukraine will switch to a more guerrilla style approach which will limit the effectiveness of Russia's greatest advantage (long range artillery/missiles) and slowly bleed Russian occupying forces to the point that they will eventually be withdrawn due to war weariness and ongoing sanctions.
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  12. Lebanon is 30% Christian. Israel is ~2%.
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  13.  @Kyle-fr3jv  They don't care. It's all just virtue signalling for them. As soon as the kid gets squeezed out they lose interest and head off to the next opportunity to show how holy they are...
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  14. The boat will capsize day one.
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  15. It's a moot point anyway. Abortion rights are indirectly protected by the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude." Once a challenge based on that makes it's way to SCOTUS, they'll have to overturn their overturn. In suits where the father of the fetus seeks to prevent an abortion, the courts have consistently ruled that, while both parties have a stake in the matter, the woman gets the final say because she's the one who has to do the work of carrying and giving birth. If the courts see it as work, then the 13th amendment clearly prohibits the government from forcing women to do it against their will.
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  16. Apparently not a very good one...
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  17. Dictator will dictator...
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  18. Hard to do as a private citizen
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  19. This was the first thing under Biden's administration that was actually played perfectly (though it might have been dumb luck.) With China's economy in total collapse and civil unrest rapidly growing, there's no way they could afford to get into a real military scuffle over something so trivial. Her going through with the visit despite the threats put Xi into a no win situation politically right before the party is due to determine if he gets a third term. If he does nothing, he loses face for not following through with his threats. If he takes his only other option and orders an obviously non threatening token military response (as he has) then he loses face for such a clearly impotent attempt to follow through on his threats. Either way, he gets screwed politically. It'll be interesting to see if this combined with his other failures will be enough for the party to... retire him.
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  20. Israel has a very strong Russian population (~15%) with close ties to family etc. In Russia. Siding with Palestine would be...awkward.
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  21. No. Comrade Putin might be delusional enough to consider it but his generals will draw the line there and likely coups if he seriously pushes for it. Similar to how German generals went along with hitler's madness for quite awhile but began refusing to keep fighting a lost war since they knew that to keep going would mean the complete destruction of Germany and it's people.
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  22. Yes. Even Russian investigators... multiple times. No evidence of weapons programs or other sinister activities have ever been found. It would take too long to go into full detail but you can google the Nunn-Lugar program and the origin, history, and purpose of their existence should be easy to piece together from there. Otherwise... Long story slightly less long, such labs exist in many of the ex-Soviet countries. They were originally Soviet biolabs used for the study and tracking of infectious diseases in their respective areas with some involved with the Soviet bioweapons programs at times. When the USSR fell, the US funded a program using those labs as part of the process of cleaning up/destroying any bio/chem weapons and other biohazards left behind by the Soviets. Once complete, some were then upgraded to modern medical facilities while others went back to the study and tracking of infectious diseases in their areas. The latter being partially funded by the US. The goal being giving those countries the ability to assess such threats and how to respond to them on their own so they wouldn't have to rely so heavily on other countries/organizations for such information which would in turn allow them faster response times to such threats. There have been multiple investigations of the lab(s) by all sorts of organizations/countries (Russia included) and no evidence of weapons programs etc. has been found. When you backtrace the claims, most lead to Qanon and similar conspiracy theory groups with no actual supporting evidence. Also, despite Russian investigations finding nothing, Comrade Putin has continued to make such claims over the years. Usually in support of military actions he has taken. Again with no supporting evidence.
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  23. They want to trigger an excuse to use their nukes.
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  24. Nope. They were right about the original argument. However, they were mistaken when they claimed abortion rights weren't protected by the constitution. The 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude" indirectly protects abortion. In suits where fathers seek to prevent an abortion, the courts have consistently held that, while both parties have a stake in the matter, the woman gets the final say because she's the one who has to do the work to carry and give birth. If the courts recognize it as work (and they have many times) then the 13th amendment prohibits the government from forcing a woman to do it.
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  25. What babies?
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  26. You won't like the result. Especially with unqualified people doing the shaking...
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  27. The ruling clearly violates the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude" and many applaud it... that doesn't bode well for the country at all.
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  28. Bah, With China's banks and economy collapsing, severe water crisis, and growing civil unrest, they can't afford to get into any real scuffles. The overkill hissy fit is just saber rattling to save face before the party's upcoming decision on whether Xi will get a third term as leader. Just ignore it.
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  29. It's probably not going to stay overturned for long. As soon as a challenge based on the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude" makes it to SCOTUS, they'll have to overturn their overturn. Edit: In suits where the father of a fetus seeks to prevent an abortion, the courts have consistently held that, despite both parties having a stake in the matter, the woman has the final say since she's the one who has to do the work of carrying and giving birth. If it's work, then the 13th amendment clearly prohibits forcing a woman to do it against her will.
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  30. Mother Theresa was a sick and thoroughly evil woman.
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  31. Indeed. Bending over and taking in the rear is the far better approach...
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  32. in sheol maybe...
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  33. As long as the Republicans hold the House, the US has no leverage with Israel. They refuse any attempt to limit weapons to Israel for any reason. A President can't simply block an already passed weapons aid shipment. The House has to approve such a block.
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  34. It clearly violates the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude." In suits where the father seeks to prevent abortion, the courts have consistently held that, while both parties have a stake in the matter, the woman gets the final say as she is the one who has to do the work of carrying and giving birth. If the courts consider it work (and they have many times) then the 13th amendment prohibits the government from forcing a woman to do it against her will.
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  35.  @markswain365  Didn't realize you were mental. My bad.
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  36. Trump's efforts to sabotage NATO for his idol Comrade Putin are partially to blame. Putin would never had attempted this had he been worried about a swift and decisive response from them.
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  37. Nope. The 40% strongly disagree with the ruling. When you add in those who somewhat disagree it reaches a majority. Doesn't matter anyway as the ruling clearly violates the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude" and will eventually be overturned.
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  38. They did a pretty poor job of upholding the constitution with this particular ruling as abortion rights are indirectly protected by the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude."
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  39.  @DaveMiller2  It's straight up fact. In suits where the father of the fetus seeks to prevent an abortion, the courts have consistently held that, while both parties have a stake in the matter, the woman gets the final say as she is the one who has to do the work of carrying and giving birth. If the courts consider it work (which they have many times) then the 13th amendment prohibits the government from forcing a woman to do it against her will. Put it to the five rogue SCOTUS justices and see what kind of rebuttal they can pull out of their backsides.
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  40. Ginsberg never said that there weren't other sound arguments which either directly or indirectly protect abortion. Just that the one they happened to base the original ruling on was weaksauce. For example, there's a very strong argument to be made with support of hundreds if not thousands of previous rulings from all levels of our courts in support that abortion bans violate the 13th amendment's protection from involuntary servitude. If the 13th applies then the 10th can't and SCOTUS ultimately has no grounds to send the issue to the states.
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  41. SCOTUS failed miserably here (and even had time to fix their mistake.) The ruling clearly violates the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude." In suits where the father seeks to prevent an abortion, the courts have consistently held that, while both parties have a stake in the matter, the woman gets the final say as she has to do the work of carrying and giving birth. If the courts consider it work (and they have many times) then the 13th amendment prohibits the government from forcing a woman to do it against her will.
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  42. Nah, they'll go easy on him. At worst his eventual plea deal will get him house arrest and a ban from holding public office.
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  43. Why should labs doing public health research need to go anywhere?
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  44. I d F sure doesn't. One look at Gaza and the West Bank will tell you that.
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  45. Her visit to Taiwan was meant to be a political sucker punch to Xi. It worked perfectly. China's current domestic problems would make getting into a real military scuffle with anyone undesirable (to say the least.) By announcing the potential visit, Xi was forced to make strong threats against it. Threats he clearly wouldn't be able to follow through on. Pelosi going through with the visit left him two choices, neither beneficial for him politically. Do nothing and lose face for not following through on the threats or order some obviously token non threatening military action (as he has) and lose face for such an impotent attempt to follow through on the threats. Either way, he loses face politically shortly before the party is set to determine if he gets a third term. Edit: Not everything Pelosi does is about money...just most of it.
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  46. Your god would be facepalming at how ignorant you are...if he existed.
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  47. Lebanon is for support because of Christian voters and Lebanon is 30% Christian. Israel is for military contractors.
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  48. @carloswater7  Israel isn't really a fan of Christians (they make up ~2% of their population). Quite a few of the Muslim countries are more tolerant. There are a few sects in Israel who still spit at the feet of Christians when encountering them in public.
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  49. It doesn't matter how many agree. Abortion rights are indirectly protected by the 13th amendment's prohibition of "involuntary servitude." Once a challenge based on that makes it's way to SCOTUS, they'll have to overturn their overturn.
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  50. No
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