This article's question reminded me of and old and dark joke: when "power user" comes to the grizzled sysadmin with a printout of his very first program and asks "sir, can you see where the error is" to which grizzled sysadmin replied "in DNA" without ever looking away from his screen. Same here.. problem is in DNA of conservatism. They are attached to material stuff thus with each iteration removing themselves further from humanity. It's i escapable for them to end up here.

like in definition of insanity: making the same mistake over and over expecting different outcomes? Yeah by that definition US left is insane.

fighting or not they have all lined up behind POTUS45 even if previously they criticized him etc. At the time when left is dilly-dallying and builds up "resistance centers". Look, all the pro-Gazan declarations with conditional support for Biden is a waste of air as as soon as POTUS45 will grab his POTUS47 title it's game over and they will have no recourse, and more likely than not public protests will get slowly outlawed. Look North of the border for examples of how it's done (Alberta, Canada)... so no matter what they do nothing is going to change now the only differentiator is that Biden may listen whereas POTUS45 absolutely will not.

novel idea: do not allow to list party affiliations, only election platform. Those would be some very interesting results

I would agree with the theory (as I've personally witnessed people registering for opposing party to wreck havoc there internally), BUT: I rarely came across hardcore gun-loving Democrat, watching NRA-related content.

two party system aside, in present environment encouraging people to read opponents program vs your own is a wrong move. In ideal world people should be informed about all platforms, but this is not how US works

sounds like, indeed bystanders been hit according to latest information. I still believe that POTUS45 would be OK sacrificing any number of people as long as it gets him power. No evidence of his involvement but entire story "smells"

left wing is so busy ripping itself apart while right has fully consolidated, good luck winning elections. This is practically handing POTUS45 his POTUS47 title. US left wing always picks wrong timing to settle internal scores which is why it's always flatfooted and toothless.

interesting timing

conspiracy theorist in me sees several venues where it is Very beneficial to POTUS45 to stage this:

• finally come out as victim
• frame Biden/CIA/FBI as villains
• come out as "defiant" hero and rally support to the point where it's a landslide win, where he would be able to go after anybody and anything he doesn't like.

more wicked stuff comes to mind but I think above is sufficient . Fact that bullet grazed him and nobody around him in a tight setting is kind of strange, with his bravado on display with fist shaking. One can only dream for this election campaign video to be run on repe 24/7 on fox and other outlets, giving him more air time, and now that Biden asked everyone to read project2025 entire nation will be watching nothing but POTUS45. Still could be some morron that didn't get his signature at the rally pulling out his Beretta..

Democrats keep doing it to themselves: they keep on giving POTUS45 platform. Elections should be about what you are, not the other guy, but we're past that now, aren't we?

Best AI rant hands-down. I can agree with every word there.

yes. election time or funding CCP via extortion or identity theft. We're being spied on by both sides, true, but there is no even a sign of checks and balances on CCP side. In the west we do uncover some "bad behaviour" and try to stop it.

it's a game of influence and data collection. Even when you work at McDonalds they still can use you either as data point or leverage information gathered influence/coerce you to do things on their behalf. Look at their control level in China - your behaviour is constantly monitored and your life options get limited in life if your behaviour does not align with CPP expectations. Given that lots of stuff originates in China, would you like prices online be higher for you just because you've criticised CCP? Or, more invasively - some content disappearing from your device while bring substituted with some form of fake news etc? Randsomware is still a vector as well. Opportunities for benefiting CCP are endless once they own key device(s) in today's economy: your smartphone, that is used for company logon, bank operations, personal information storage. Imagine dataset they can feed AI yo simulate you and sll the fraud they can perpetrate under your name. Or they can wipe you off internet, closing your accounts pretending to be you and intercepting all communications. India and China already been proven using coercive powers to silence dissent abroad. So, no, it's not just specific industries. It's collective Western citizens.

There is no good strategy or good outcome with Huawei. CCP virtually controls any Chinese economic entity and has appetite for "secrets" of the West. Embracing Huawei would've been as bad as outcasting it. We're at the point where I hesitate to buy most things that originated in China.

totally agree on most points (see my earlier reply in this thread). However dissuading "investment" into property (aka taxation on non-primary dwellings) and keeping returns below inflation will divert investors from the real estate market over time. They will HODL however if not presented with exit strategy. If they are allowed time to divest and exit - they will IMO

not that simple. Trudeu is a jerk etc. But in this case the only reasonable measure that will minimize damage is to prevent further price growth. Maybe allowing growth at "under inflation" rates which could soften the blow to poor saps that are neck-deep in mortgages.

I hear ya, but there's no side-stepping the fact that families who took out mortgages at the peak prices and peak rates and won't be able to sell to cover their cost and sinking deeper in debt. In other words affordability after years of neglect becomes challenging. If all the mortgages are erased or re-adjusted to new market state then maybe... however what to do with families that paid 80% mortgage and their house price dips 50%. They paid real money to the real bank who gets to keep the money while family's deficit from all those extra payments amounts to nothing, esp. if they were targeting it as retirement fund. Thus far I saw no proposals that don't destroy portion of non-rich population. 🙁 Whoever comes up with solution will deserve Nobel prize.

Just because you cannot envision another perspective besides constant war and death that you've been impressively convinced is somehow morally superior- doesn't mean other people can't.

you've got pretty binary view on things yourself. What is the alternative you suggest. Can you spell it out in a handful of sentences?

never cared much for US MIC until recent. putin laid out recipe for any looney toon to grab neighbours territory on a whim. Granted, US war in Iraq smells of the same. However claiming that war in Ukraine costs taxpayers money is plain ludicrous. US has enough economic capacity to both wage war with russia and improve things domestically. Ukrainian war cost is a "drop in the bucket" for US economy. Shall we take a look at how much did US move deficit ceiling? it's in trillions, of which 61B is not even noticeable.

If we take a close look at overall situation: China has imperialistic ambitions, russia certainly does, there's plenty of inflamed pockets throughout Asia and Africa. You need someone with enough firepower to step in. Out of all existing candidates US is the least appauling. UN proved it's inadequacy. NATO exist mainly on paper. There is no other "world police". Unfortunate fact is that US is controlled in large by cynical capitalists who care little for the people. But at least some of the democratic institutions do function and try to bring balance which cannot be said of China or russia.

Last point claiming that Ukraine will eventually break without considering that the same is very much possible for russia is borderline trolling. Tension within russia grows and there is a non-zero chance it will result in regime change and the end of war. Providing material help to Ukraine is the only way to tip the scales at least somewhat in Ukraine's favour. Stating that peace agreement will immediately reduce number of deaths is misguided as portion of Ukrainian population will never accept it and will continue fighing resulting in further retaliating strikes from russia, not to mention a very likely probability of russia resuming it's campaign of Ukraine domination at a later date.