#Extortion

[nando161mando]

Hmmmm I wonder if there's a connection here.....

[porterdavis]

[toontalks]

Yoojin Han being a little shit when his big bad S-rankers aren't around

[doomspaniels]

Today, during Extortion Hours[*], I thought: I will drop 2 items and let Tristan sort out how to bring them to me one at a time. It will be a fun challenge, something different, use his brain.

So I dropped a pill bottle and an emergency light behind the headboard, each I have dropped many times before. Tristan scrabbled under the bed a little longer than I was expecting, so I told him "bring me my meds?" and he did, then went back for the light. Much praise and treats.

Then he went back and brought me... a battery. 😳 Looked closer at the light, the back panel was popped off and it was missing two batteries. MUCH TREATS AND PRAISE. Tris brought me the other battery, then the back panel. Much, much treats and praise. (Light is reassembled and works no problem.)

I planned to offer him TWO items to sort, TWO. Not five. A brain teaser, not a scattered mess. What a good boy!

[*] Extortion Hours: Tristan makes Spaniel Eyes at me until I drop things for him to hand back to me

[entheognosis]

[nando161mando]

Oh boy....

[political-us]

Extortion

[phroyd]

Good Question!

Phroyd

[doomspaniels]

The hydrolyzed protein kibble, which I'm transitioning to use for all treats[*], is a definite hit. We're getting *extra* Extortion Hours trying to get more of that new kibble. (I was worried it would be bland. I'm glad it's more than acceptable!)

[*] except carrots! My vet says it's okay to initially keep their carrots (phew), but if we don't get any results, we'll need to remove them too.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

They always resort to threats and extortion. It's at this point where they're finally honest about why they believe.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans today are lining up to support military aid to Ukraine just two years after backing then-President Donald Trump’s extortion scheme against that country, apparently in acknowledgment that their earlier choices could come back to haunt them in this autumn’s midterms.

“I have zero problems with this phone call. There’s no quid pro quo here,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Sept. 29, 2019, defending Trump’s attempt to coerce Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into smearing Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic challenger Trump most feared, by withholding military aid to Ukraine.

“This type of diplomacy is hard to watch but nonetheless has existed and hardly rises to an impeachable offense,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds on Nov. 7, 2019.

In recent days, those same Republicans and many others have come around to urge Trump’s successor, Democrat Joe Biden, to provide more military assistance to Ukraine in the face of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

[...]

Back in 2019, Trump, his personal lawyer and allies in his administration pushed for Zelenskyy, a former comedian and political novice, to announce an investigation into Biden and to search for evidence that Ukraine had worked to elect Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, proof of which supposedly existed on a computer hidden somewhere in that country.

That false story, according to U.S. officials, was concocted by Russian intelligence in an attempt to deflect attention from their own successful work to put Trump into the White House in that election,

Trump, nevertheless, demanded Ukraine act on the Russian conspiracy theory and held up $391 million in congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine. In a now-infamous phone call with Zelenskyy, Trump asked him for “a favor,” which led to a whistleblower complaint that sparked Trump’s first impeachment.

Among 197 Republicans in the House and 53 in the Senate, only one — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney — voted that Trump had abused his power and should be removed from office because of it.

Some argued that while Trump’s call with Zelenskyy might have been improper, it did not rise to the level of an impeachable offense. Others, like Maine’s Susan Collins, said that the House impeachment vote by itself would be enough to chasten Trump and dissuade him from such behavior in the future.

GOP, Late 2019-Early 2020: Nothing to see here. Trump did nothing wrong with his call with Zelensky. [In fact, Trump got impeached for his extortion plot by withholding military aid to Ukraine to force Zelensky to conduct a bogus investigation against the Bidens] GOP, now: We stand with Ukraine.

This shows that the GOP want to protect cult leader Donald Trump.

[nando161mando]

The only real solution

[awesomecooperlove]

🔥🔥🔥

[unbossed]

Every time some knuckle-dragger claims that “going above and beyond” at a job will get you rewarded I can’t help but hear, “If we cavort harder our lord will surely throw us an extra coin this time!”

[phroyd]

For-Profit Healthcare is a dangerous oxymoron; it serves no purpose except to exploit a "market", the exchange of money between patient and healthcare provider. They make their money by arbitrarily setting costs and fees, taking a cut of reimbursements, charging a monthly fee for their care-approval and bill processing services, and delaying or denying care the path to profit.

It is nothing more than legally approved extortion.

Phroyd

[porterdavis]

GQP doubles down on a losing hand. This is mob boss shit.