Having been born in Texas, the only union members I ran across on a regular basis were teachers, who were banned by law from even threatening to strike. I've lived elsewhere in the US, and they were more like Texas than the union utopias I hear described.

I ask IBEW members in Alaska to do that, and they say yes, with a smile. Just because everyone's an asshole to you (wonder why), doesn't mean they are to everyone.

Where are you where everyone's in a union? Given the movie example, I'd lean towards CA, but I've worked with grad students and didn't run across any unions there.

Unionized secretary? What's the secretary's union?

An example is not a definition.

Then give me a definition of torture, so we can see what fits yours.

The original definition, as it was used in the Inquisition, would include taking away her iPad if she didn't do what you wanted (like clean her room). Threatening to kill her if she didn't perform sex acts with you would be "torture"? Or would you dispute that one as well? Then let's "lessen" the punishment and act demanded, and see where you draw the line.

But then, older definitions of slavery would still come close to applying to minors in the USA (with the exception that there's a fixed term, so it's more like indentured servitude), as indentured servitude was considered "slavery".

Torture is violence or the threat of violence to extract a result. Prison is violent, so threats of prison are threats of violence.

Adding on more charges is to play the game of "we'll get you on something, so if you don't confess to this small list, we'll send you away to prison for a long time." That's threats of violence to get a result. So this is all a game of legal torture.

Cause harm and threaten harm until you get a confession, regardless of the guilt of the people involved. That's the American Way.

And those are provided over how many networks? Two? Three? How many are resellers with no equipment of their own?

Yes, but before 1492, "World Wars" were common, but only involved Eurasia/Africa. The one continent where someone could theoretically walk from South Africa to France to China without ever getting your feet wet, though in practice, boats across the Aegean and Mediterranean were much easier than walking. And, for a while, every England vs world (France and Spain) was a world war. The Crusades were World Wars, even if East Asia didn't really care.

Should I presume the British forces to belong to Britain (England and Wales) or Great Britain? Or are UK forces called British, even if not from or based in Britain?

I was under the assumption that the UK armed forces, whatever they are called, are roughly proportionally staffed by member kingdoms, making English, what, 80% of the population of the force?

An army that's 90%+ English wouldn't be unreasonably called "English".

I've never had a job that didn't have "other duties as assigned". So there is nothing "outside the job description."

GDP would triple in 5 years. Easy. Next time ask a hard one.

Yeah, and we've gotten to the point that with the Guard holding "real" tanks and things like fighter jets, and the police with APCs and such, we have a domestic military capable of repelling the entire world, should the entire world declare war tomorrow. The military is surplus, and should be eliminated, saving trillions we can use to pay down the debt. If we paid off the debt and eliminated the military, we could cut Federal income tax in half, and increase services.

But no, being able to kill foreign dictators because they sell oil in Euros, not Dollars, is worth bankrupting the country and destabilizing the world.

There is oil and coal production in NZ, not sure how much as it isn't "my country" just an example of a country with trade partners and near-zero military. A single counter-example proves a generalization wrong.

When the police and the school are contacted for comment and refuse, what would you do? Bury the story to not soil the good reputation of the police?

When he's in police custody, being questioned, how can he be disturbing anyone? Or do the police hold private questioning in the auditorium of the school with all the students invited? Seems much more likely, it was a fabricated charge to hold him for something, and then his family started making a fuss, so the police stuck with it.

No, the teacher thought it would be about ballet. For a non-gun person, they'd likely correct the surname in their brain to a more popular (and commonly biographied person), and even presented with it in writing wouldn't read it correctly.