“Work will set you free”

Exactly. You have to have a very comfortable life if the idea of having a kid doesn’t scare the shit out of you… that or you’re the type of person that doesn’t give a shit about your kids.

Maybe don’t rely on rt for news… zelensky’s popularity shot up after Trump and Vance’s oval office disgrace. Trump then sent people to try to convince zelensky’s opposition to push for elections, and even the opposition told them to fuck off.

I’m not saying that the stock market will end. I’m saying that we will never be in as good of a position ever again. The post ww2 world order is being rewriten right now. We were at the top because we were more or less trustworthy and had significant influence throughout the world. We didn’t have much competition. Now that no one trusts us and our influence is being dismantled our trading partners will seek out our competitors or start their own industry creating even more competition. I hope I’m wrong, but i just don’t see how we will ever be trusted again.

Why would you think stocks will go back up? The tariffs have proven that we are an unreliable trading partner, and countries are starting to look elsewhere. In addition, the outrage from abandoning our allies has caused a large part of the world to boycott our companies. I don’t see how things could possibly go back to what they were.

It’s all because of propaganda. They live in an entirely different world that is not reality. I’m surrounded by conservative voters where I live and most of them say “I haven’t heard about that” whenever I mention a new outrage that’s in the news that I see. I think it’s their way of saying “I don’t believe you”.

When I talked to a couple of them about the zelensky oval office fiasco one response was “well I heard that zelensky called Vance a bitch in the meeting”. I pointed out that he was lied to and that the whole thing was recorded and that never happened, but I would bet money that they still believe that lie over me. Another response was the Russian propaganda that zelensky is a dictator. There is no reasoning with them. They don’t care about what reality is. They only believe in what makes them feel good and feeds their pride and ego. I’ve tried having rational discussions, but it always ends with them saying “I can’t articulate why you’re wrong, but I disagree with you”. If you can’t articulate something maybe that means you don’t understand it enough and should reevaluate your conclusions, but they won’t because it would hurt their pride. God damnit I’m am so far beyond frustrated with them.

Just change they name of it so that they would have to be specific about the policies they demand be ended instead of just saying “D.E.I. bad”.

Same with the oval office. They were saying zelensky was disrespectful. When? I watched the whole thing and was insanely impressed by his restraint. Everyone who does even the smallest favor for Vance should harass him about being thankful. His behavior was absolutely disgusting.

I’ve heard this so many times when talking to my conservative relatives. Why do they care so much about what other people do? If they want to sit and do nothing, how is that a bad thing? Why do they think they have the authority to dictate how other people live? It might even be a good thing if more people sat and did nothing. There are too many people out there doing damage to the world that it would be an improvement if they stopped. They put so much emphasis on being productive, which is good, but I don’t care if you’re not productive as long as you’re not destructive.

So where are all the western liberal democracies at? Europe? Canada? Please interfere with our elections now.

Forget all the nations and their interests. It all boils down to east vs west where the west represents liberal democracy and the east represents authoritarianism. How or why people keep siding with the east is something I have tried but will never understand.

If the axis won they would’ve ended up fighting amongst themselves. Their ideology requires scapegoats, and they will always find them. The ideology itself is counter to peace. We had 80 years of peace because we pushed it to the fringes, but now that it’s resurging I feel like I’m surrounded by people who grew up in a different world with a different history.

Then where have you been. It’s likely the biggest reason she lost. A whole bunch of people decided not to vote because they blamed Biden for Gaza. When told that Trump would be worse the response was always that it can’t get any worse. I submit that US occupation of Gaza is worse…

All undocumented people in the country should wear Trump gear 24/7. If they’re lucky ICE might walk on past them, but at the very least, it would be hilarious optics for dr. Phil to be tagging along filming ICE round up a bunch of people in Trump gear.

The Renaissance was a time of a vast labor shortage. This allowed workers to demand higher wages, and it also allowed leisure time to study new things and make new art.

What future uses might it have? I have only ever heard that crypto’s main selling point is that it’s not controlled by any government. Why is that a good thing? I can understand that sanctioned dictators and money launderers would find that useful, but what benefits are there for the average person? You might be able to make a profit off speculation if you’re lucky, but in doing so you’re also supporting those dictators and criminals. If it had any other use it might seem less like a pyramid scheme, but I am fully unaware of what those other uses might be.

He was carrying around the gun and a manifesto… he was trying to be caught. Dude probably was going out to eat every meal and getting frustrated that no one called the cops on him till today.

I think we are talking about two different things. I’m talking about individual policies, and I think you are talking about elected representatives. I do agree that percentages of representatives should match the population, but votes on individual policies should always match what the majority of the population wants.

“Also majorities are slow to change, and it’s simply dishonest (and destabilizing) to have one’s vote weigh less depending on which group they are part of.”

It doesn’t. Just because you are a part of the minority doesn’t make your vote count less. It just means there are more people who disagree with you than agree.

I’d say countries that devolve into dictatorship aren’t due to too much democracy but due to weak constitutional protections.

Right now in the US we are in danger of devolving into a dictatorship because of the extra weight added to minority votes.

Edit: and by minority votes I’m talking about policies with less than 50% support.

That’s a bit more than just math. When considering a policy, I don’t tend to take into account where the different parties stand. It’s better to think for yourself and not resort to tribalism. With that in mind I do think the majority should win 100% of the time. It has been insanely annoying here in the US how some policies have had popular support for years if not decades yet go nowhere because of small interest groups who use cheap tricks like the fillibuster and the electoral college to ensure the will of the minority wins out. I do acknowledge the danger of the tyranny of the majority, but I think protections against it should be provided by the rights outlined in a strong constitution.