houseoftolstoy @[email protected]

@sickburnbro this shows something I see as a different fundamental problem. That is, our country is simply getting too big to exist in its current form (supposedly being a representative republic/democracy, but that is a whole different topic).

China only functions a large population country due to their government's tight grip. India is big, but that just proves the point of lack of functionality with scale.

@Sherri_Ingrey @andetritus @cjd @Aether >girls are best off doing what they think is best for them

Way too many single moms and women with 6 figure student loan debt for useless degrees for that to be true.

@deprecated_ii but why?

@sapphire @djsumdog @Hyperhidrosis by that definition, no one is a home owner.

@bonifartius @sickburnbro women who end up in situationships do so through their own fault. They scoffed at the very idea of requiring a commitment before sex (as seen with their distaste to men preferring virgins for marriage), and now they are suffering the consequences of the very thing they were warned against.

But they still have the audacity to be mad that they are "getting used" when they were warned about how they should practice sexual restraint.

This is Trump's screwup, though not his alone. The US empire was already failing, and the events putting that in motion were before Trump was even president the first time. Biden also made things worse by trying to paper over the economic problems, but now we are seeing these tactics of the Biden administration being used in the Trump administration, I was not a fan of it under Biden, and I am not a fan of it under Trump. Eventually we cannot fake our way through economic reality.

@h4890 not so sure about that, as I doubt Iran is in on keeping the empire propped up. But I think they allowed it to be "open" for a bit just to see if the US and Israel would abide by their word. Slim chance of that, and I am sure they knew it too.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/iran-says-it-closed-strait-of-hormuz-again-over-us-blockade-6013867?ea_src=frontpage&ea_med=section-1

Did we really go from "the Strait of Hormuz is open" to being closed again already? And for what, so the Friday headlines would get the market numbers to go up before the weekend?

This is exactly how I expect a declining empire to operate. Do everything to keep up appearances while being ineffectual at maintaining anything long term. No one is going to remember Number Go Up in the future, but they are going to remember the actual decline in standards of living.

I would prefer that the outcome of the war with Iran would be that the USA stops trying to project power and influence in the world and learns to keep more to themselves. But I cannot count on that outcome. Zionist interests and our current politicians seem to be putting us on a path to serious harm for the US and its people. It seems we will have to have the harsher lesson rather than the easier one.

@sickburnbro when you are paying extra money for the delivery of groceries or take-out, the extra cost is not simply how much it costs for someone else to do the work for you. You are also paying for the convenience of not having to go there yourself.

We can debate whether or not that "convenience" is worth it (I would say no). But as long as people demand the service for the price it is at, it will continue to exist.

@Furgar The Political Compass is faulty for sure. It attempts to rectify the issue of the Left-Right dichotomy being too simple by adding an extra axis of Authoritarian-Libertarian. The main problem is that "Libertarian-Left" does not really exist since the vast majority of Leftist political stances requires the government to force these policies on the people, thus negating the whole "libertarian" part of equation.

Politics is more of a trichotomy anyway.

@sickburnbro If I move to a different country on a permanent basis, damn straight I am assimilating. It is my job to adapt to where I am living, not for everyone else to accomodate me in order to allow me to live in their country. Living in someone else's country means I am admitting that they are doing something correct, and I should fall in line.

I have no plans to move, but if I did move to another country, this would have to be my mindset.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a99rrTC8BQQ

A good example of the feminist mindset on "an unborn [baby] being killed is only bad if the woman did not choose to kill the [baby]."

I have seen this when it comes to the issue of forced abortions in countries such as China. The only trajedy for feminists was not the babies dying, but the fact that a woman's choice was violated.

In a way this shows a religious mindset of the woman's desires being a central tenant to their morality. "I want, therefore it is moral."

@Terry only this time, you won't be able to use homosexuality to get out of service like Shake and Meatwad did.