What are you talking about? Russia isn't our ally. And joining NATO would change his agenda. There's no way he believed he'd be accepted into an alliance that's primary mandate is to protect western nations from Russian expansion and aggression. The idea is an absurdity.

Of course he was denied. NATO's guiding purpose is to block Russian expansion and aggression. Allowing Russia into NATO would be an absurd act that would give him access to NATO's strategic policies and plans against his country. Allowing him into NATO would preposterous.

In the context of NATO and Russian expansion, I think it's an appropriate phrasing. It refers to his agenda to reconstitute the Soviet Union and expand into Europe. I think some people have forgotten that Russia under Putin's leadership is distinctly anti-American, and he is firmly our enemy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was a period when relations between the US and Russia were more cooperative as democracy and the trappings of life in the west were imported into Russia. But Russia largely returned to being an enemy of the United States once Putin took over and began working towards his anti-American, anti-democratic goals. We have to acknowledge the fact that he is not our friend, but our enemy, and his agenda is in direct conflict with the mandate of NATO including the US.

I'm fine with not expanding it. I'm not in a position to see all the relevant facts, but from my standpoint I think it's fine as is.

Disagree. It's accepted by two dozen merchants within a 30mi radius of my house, and that number is climbing. It's a currency, and tho it's primarily used as an investment vehicle right now, that will change as halvings continue until all coins have been mind. I believe it will transform into a widely accepted currency at that point. So, currently it's valuable as an investment vehicle, and as a currency. That's what it was intended to be, and so I don't think you can call it useless unless you also think other investment vehicles and currencies are useless.

I agree with not allowing Ukraine to join NATO, but this idea that NATO should be dissolved is a ridiculous, pro-Putin talking point. NATO is the single most successful military alliance in modern history. It was created to oppose Russian expansion, and it has been extremely successful in maintaining that goal. The idea that it's not necessary is utter nonsense that only serves Putin's desires. There's a reason why his primary behavior has been in service of weakening NATO, and spreading propaganda aimed at changing public sentiment about the alliance. Without NATO, Putin will invade one European nation after another as he works to achieve his goal of reconstituting the Soviet Union, and expanding into Europe. NATO is the essential push back on Putin's agenda, and they have been widely successful in containing him, and preventing war throughout Europe. Putin is the only one who benefits from the dissolution of NATO.

I don't think matters that some are considered useful in some corners. I'm talking in comparison with Bitcoin. I think 99% of these altcoins are shit that have no future. They're all essentially clones and memecoins intended to be pumped up, and then stripped of their value for the benefit of the creators and significant coin holders. They're a pump and dump vehicles.

Monero isn't a shitcoin. I consider all the Ethereum and Solana currencies to be shitcoins. Not Monero, or Ethereum.

I question how into crypto they are if they don't know what Lightning is. Not knowing about eCash I can understand, but Lightning is a well-established L2 network. What are these people actually doing with their time?

I live in Colorado. I don't need to go to a special place to get weed for kicking other shit. In my city (Denver), there are more weed shops than McDonald's, Wendy's, and Starbucks combined.

Weed doesn't count. I found it to be a necessary tool for quitting other substances.

May there always be someone watching your back...

https://video.nostr.build/dba1d19f165c7e9a28f9ca385f1c03daf3d0f3a40c67cc23db936697eb5bd18e.mp4

I love everything about it. If I search for the best bitcoin wallet, it creates a "listicle" covering the 5 best wallets. It's just so smart. And it's smart recommendations based on a query are actually useful, and have introduced me to some things I'd never otherwise find.

I signed up for #Kagi on the recommendation of a few other nostriches, and I'm really impressed with it so far. The search results are excellent, and on point. And the included features make it far and away the best search engine I've ever used. And I've used a lot. I was previously using SearXNG, which is probably the 2nd best now, but Kagi is superior.

The beginner plan includes 300 queries per month, which is probably sufficient for me, but it scales up if you need additional capacity. Check out a free trial at https://kagi.com

Is their postal service shitty? I don't see how it could be worse than DeJoy's USPS.

Gunnison is also in the middle of nowhere, and the drive to Denver sucks. It's beautiful country, but without a helicopter, I don't think I'd like it. Those mountain roads on the west side of Breckenridge are absolutely brutal in the winter, and sometimes even in the spring when the snow melts and roads flood. It's a nice place to visit, especially in the summer, but it's not for me.

What would I even do with 15 full bathrooms, and 3 half bathrooms? Even if you have a family of 5, what are you doing with 16 bedrooms, and all those bathrooms? I guess if it housed a whole Marine unit, but they're not typically given all that luxury.

I hate the postal service. Everything my mom sends me takes at least 10 days to arrive. But everything she sends to other people gets there in 5 days. Sometimes it takes me 15 days to receive a first-class letter. It's just awful service. I used to be able to send international mail that arrived in under 10 days, but since this Louis DeJoy asshole was installed by Trump, the whole thing has gone to shit.

It's gotta be a pain in the ass to keep 18 bathrooms clean.

Oh no! We setup a single-sig wallet to hold our $5 billion bitcoin reserve, and now we can't find where we stored the key! Starring Martin Lawrence and Mr. Bean!