Step into the arena, many many people far smarter than you or me have hashed this debate and still have no consensus.

There is no general consensus on the definition of terrorism. The difficulty of defining terrorism lies in the risk it entails of taking positions.

The political value of the term currently prevails over its legal one. Left to its political meaning, terrorism easily falls prey to change that suits the interests of particular states at particular times. The Taliban and Osama bin Laden were once called freedom fighters (mujahideen) and backed by the CIA when they were resisting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Now they are on top of the international terrorist lists.

General Assembly Resolution 42/159 acknowledges that the cause of terrorism often lies in the “misery, frustration, grievance and despair” that leads people to seek radical change. The resolution identifies the root causes of terrorism as occupation, colonialism and racism. A definition of terrorism should thus be comprehensive, in order to avoid double standards.

This is a perp walk, the police/DA/et al made this happen - and ensured the media was there to capture the moment of him in ‘inmate orange’ flanked by heavily armed state police. Absolutely pre trial prejudicial influence.

Given the speed at which his arraignment and extradition from PA happened, and the fact that the NYPD could have chosen multiple different routes and methods to get him to NYC, he could have been shuffled into a regular prison bus in a police convoy from the airport, with blacked out windows - like is common in Europe where this kind of malfeasance actually results in mistrials and acquittals.

The greed is mind boggling. The Heathcare CEOs should be racing to pay up the snitchline bounty, or even increase it. Regulatory fines are seen as a ‘cost of doing business’ but these ghouls cannot see past their own greed to understand how this hurts them, over 0.00026% of their 2023 profit. UHC alone rakes in over $2.6 million in PROFIT not income per day - this money is a blip on the financials to them. And so are our lives.

“health companies spent more than any other sector in 2023 with federal lobbying spending topping $739 million for the year.”

Health industries are also top spenders at the state level, according to the report, “continuing a trend that started in 2019.”

We can thank Steve for the leaps and bounds that happened in the early 90’s with CGI - tl;dr he was a brilliant animator who snuck in under the radar at ILM and was given run of the animation department because he/his working partner literally invented many of the cutting edge animation techniques, from scratch.

Dude has a tragic story (personality disorder & alcoholism) that led to him being uncredited and blacklisted, pretty well captured in a biopic, worth the hour-ish watch imo.

• The Abyss, 1991 - Academy Award for Visual Effects
• Terminator 2, 1991 - Liquid Metal for T-1000
• Jurassic Park, 1993 - work featured throughout, with the highlight of the T-Rex’s movement and skeletal modeling
• The Mask, 1994 - Nominated for Academy Award for Visual Effect

Why?

You, your boss, the executive board, hell the country and the planet even, is completely irrelevant to the ghouls who only see profit. Everyone is replaceable.

Externalities are not a cost feature of capitalism, and when the government fails to prevent the most egregious excesses of the ‘line must go up, forever exponentially’ money chasers, everyone pays the price for their greed.

Communities poisoned because freight trains “need to be umpteen cars long to be profitable” whilst demanding priority treatment on taxpayer funded infrastructure.

Over $60 billion in taxpayer handouts to corporations in the last ten years alone, often with no or weak strings attached, and a legislature that refuses to enforce the clauses and responsibilities that secured those subsidies. Collect payout, ‘restructure and reincorporate’ and poof - there isn’t a company by that name anymore, our contract is void but they keep the money.

Public sector employees driven to destitution by crippling low pay, while Congress voted themselves $174,000 per year rocketing themselves into the top 9% of all earners, whilst we pay for 72% of their healthcare insurance premiums.

Yeah, because nobody else speaks up for those who’d be railroaded through court otherwise. You don’t ’see them speak up’ because those same people’s voice get lost in the crowd of everyone else’s outrage/support.

It’s trite but true, failure to defend the fringes leaves a smaller and smaller pool of resistance/solidarity:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Just got PTSD flashbacks from 90s “FMV cutscenes” thanks OP for the reminder of the dark ages lol

j. Non-permissive environment: An environment in which friendly forces anticipate obstructions to, or interference with, operations.

Corpo executives and billionaires about to find out that no matter the snitch line reward money they put up, people magically didn’t see anything.

Policing requires a degree of consent from the public, you’ll be turning away search party volunteers for a child kidnapping, but I don’t see a line of people ready to narc on shoplifting or drug possession.

Pick any rural county, and you can find a bus load of people who’ve been screwed over or denied care by health insurance. And for those who do not have a specific, personal grudge, healthcare options in the sticks are increasingly geographic monopolies run by a single provider, with a Byzantine network of in/out network insurers.

Someone driving their mother four hours for biweekly dialysis or cancer care because the local provider is not covered is going to be pissed. A parent buying their child because the local provider ‘streamlined’ care while slashing nursing headcount is going to be a lot more than pissed.

Focusing on this as a protest non-vote is your myopia. People who are disconnected and disillusioned by politics are not consciously deciding to not vote - it’s not important to them because the perception is that both sides don’t give a fuck about average people’s issues.

Those people are taking care of their kids, grabbing an extra shift at work to make ends meet, worried about if they can cover the next hospital bill/broken heater, etc If you cannot demonstrate to them that voting every 2-4 years actually improves their lives materially, they are going to continue to work towards improving their life without getting involved politically.

Blaming voters is not the path forward for 2026, 2028, 2030, etc Nobody owes the party shit. They owe you results, or at least a concerted effort to deliver results.

Look at how the traditionally reliable voting blocs have eroded - older black voters who lived through the civil rights era remember that progress delivered by the left wing, and vote Democratic overwhelmingly. Younger black voters lived through George Floyd and BLM, and saw Democratic flip-flopping and a severe lack of commitment or unity - and are more receptive of Republican economic appeals, given that team blue showed them they aren’t a priority. If systemic racism or police abuse is not going to be addressed by either party, might as well vote for the one who promises cost of living relief and has made (cynical and performative) pardons to black celebrities who encountered legal issues. THAT is the mentality that got shouted down when black celebrities displayed a willingness to parlay with Trump:

Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done. 🤙🏾 Lil Wayne

“We’ve polled our workforce about our new Dynamic Wages™️initiative, and 100% of remaining employees agree!”

Cool, so you’re an employee owned cooperative now?

Now look, there’s only two - maybe three - social events where stuffing my face to the gills with deviled eggs is semi acceptable.

I made my peace with the cholesterol, and I’ll pay the next-day toll every time that platter gets brought out.

😇

I already peg Tesla drivers next to Altimas and Ram 2500s, just different energy

Tesla is for the people who don’t want to drive a car, and their driving aptitude is frequently on full display

Altimas and Ram needs no further explanation, you already know

Open to what exactly…?

OPEN TO WHAT!?