I really don't know where this good guy idea or narrative comes from besides propaganda and Hollywood obviously.

It's such a short lived nation and during that time it's conducted a genocide(s) of natives, coups of democratically elected governments, war on almost every continent on earth. It's the only nation ever to nuke two cities of civilians. It created a 'war on drugs' to incarcerate blacks. Has the highest prison (legally slaves) population of any western nation 1.8 million!!. It forced neoliberalism on Europe and the west in general. Had and has the highest per capita carbon impact in the world. Actively suppressed climate change knowledge and mitigation research the world over. Oh yea and chemical weapons on the Vietnamese, rape and torture of detainees and civilians.

And that's just a few tid-bits and not including anything the orange one has done and will do.

I'm not saying other nations are spotless. The US has done some great things but clearly it's institutions are fragile and it can only do great things in brief periods e.g. where it dominated the world economically and industrially after WW2. Reading the history of the US it is just a faster version of European powers development. Nothing special and it's got a king back after all that bleating on about freedom.

I liked the USA as a child. I love the idea of it but the reality is nowhere near that idea and further everyday. It's just another banana republic and we unfortunately have to watch the fire sale.

You've got to step back a little to understand.

The key thing is that it is not possible (excluding inheritance) to become a billionaire without being a scheming psychopathic cut-throat selfish person and having a determined drive to have power over others.

The second key is it's not possible to keep your billions without being a psychopath. This because you could never possibly spend that money in your lifetime and the only way to have accumulated it is through exploitation of labour.

So it's a thing you don't need that you got via abusing others. They want power and they don't care how they get it. They have no plan beyond that. Personally I think it's mental health issues and the fact that we allow this in our flawed system.

Fair point but they talk about Trump the same way and...well let's just say they're cut from the same cloth.

I'm going to assume your grandmother was a catch.

Send pics plz.

It's a tale as old as time. They don't see themselves as the 'bad' gays or Jews or whatever that their leaders and other Republicans/Torys/Religions etc hate. They think they'll be spared because they're special. All the way to the camps they believe this.

Initially just the rights gained by it removed. Any tax benefits, recognition of dependent status, military spouse stuff etc etc.

Later a list will be created and distributed.

The public will be encouraged to refuse service to openly gay people. From there it's a quick ride to imprisonment and reeducation until it's similar to Saudi Arabia. Then who knows.

Lol what? Russia does not have air superiority. You need a functioning air force for that. They're to scared to fly anything and Moscow has been hit by Ukrainian drones.

Lol air superiority. Lol I say.

I absolutely think this new DEI hobbyhorse is just for the Magats to get to be racist pieces of shit but if I had to construct a coherent point against the concept of DEI hiring it might go:

It's obviously true that certain groups don't have the advantages of others: the primary indicator of financial success is social-economic background. As such this is a long term vs short term decision. If we (an institution) want the best performance now we should hire in a meritocratic manner. If we want to raise our performance in the future we should apply DEI principles. This will inspire underrepresented groups into the field and this increase our pool of great minds. Given time this can be one of many tools to raise the maximum number of our potential workforce to their highest performance. However we want best performance now so we disregard that stuff in favour of performance now.

But I don't think it's as black and white as that.

Yea, I'm one.

Why not? There's a long future for Ukraine, their politics will be marked by anti russian revenge sentiments for the next century. If I was a politician there I'd bang that drum. Russia will collapse, not if but when.

They can wait out Russia.

Don't need to go that far. Most Americans can't quit their job for fear of loosing medical coverage.

I'd calm that indentured servitude with a couple extra steps.

PM of Poland.

I guess many Americans haven't heard of him, which is odd given Poland is the first bastion against Russia and a very strong US ally. Well was anyway.

I can't imagine the fear I'd have in their situation. I'd probably do something similar.

Though if we've learnt anything from history it's that their friends and co-workers will out them to the booted thugs at the drop of a hat anyway.

So maybe I'd go for the 'flame while I can' approach.

To be fair that's a proxy war between the US and the Arab world.

It was always going to end one way. People are mostly desensitized and the Oct events pushed the majority off the fence. Which was kinda the point. It's a rats nest and anyone trapped there is unfortunately walking dead trapped between the gears of globalism.

American voters had zero say in it really. I'm not sure anyone can do anything really. It's like trying to hold back the sea.

Aye let it crumble and give it back to the natives it was stolen from.

You haven't made a case.

Nonsense. Disappointed this gets upvotes.

How the hell are the democrats the party of enriching the wealthy when compared to the fucking R's?? I mean fucking hell have any of you ever read a book or even glanced at historic and current R policy?

Propaganda?

I've not seen anything like that since I've been here. What do they push?

Crys in simulator gamer. But agreed, hopefully this trend will be good for Linux use.

Why? It's got its own nuclear deterrent, a functioning economy, a family elected leader and close ties with the largest trading bloc on earth.

If I wasn't already gone I'd get gone.