Staples

Only if you're the one holding the stick. And all monopolies must eventually crumble. Can you imagine the destruction if a super-monopoly was to die? Your comment reeks of American exceptionalism.

The goal is to mitigate damage. I'm afraid you're the one coping if you think this can end well. I don't know how it would work. I'm not privy to any military secrets. The specifics are not something a common person could ever evaluate. Try this thought experiment; imagine the current geopolitical situation as represented by children on the playground. The biggest and strongest kid, little Sam, is the playground bully. He steals the other kids lunch money, he beats up the weaker children, and threatens anyone who might stand up to him. All the kids are whimpering with tails between their legs. Because don't upset little Sam, or he'll pick on you next. This situation will never be solved by allowing Sam to continue his bad behavior. The weaker kids have to stand up for each other, with each other all at once as a cohort, and tell Sam NO in the strongest possible terms. Until little Sam is met with authority equal to or greater than his own, he will keep this misbehavior up for as long as he can get away with it. And every time Sam gets away with stealing lunch money without resistance, he gets bolder and greedier.

The weakest and most profitable first. See Venezuela.

Because they must. As the rest of the world must. The time to prevent America from turning into a Neo-Fascist state is now. Try this again in a year, and the stakes won't be just Greenland. To be clear, the GOP is trying to enslave as much of the world as they can before resistance is put up. They are cashing out a century of political capital.

Will never happen. Modern people are too sedated, and the military is too powerful.

Oceania, Eurasia, and East Asia. Political geography of Nineteen Eighty-Four - Wikipedia

Distract might not have been the right word. The point is there is value in making empty threats.

Stephen Miller Asserts U.S. Has Right to Take Greenland “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” In my view, the Greenland invasion threat is a tactic to distract from Venezuela. It's obvious it would be suicidal for the US to attack Europe. It's like sticking a knife at a bystander while you rob someone blind. It's an attempt to project force even while you are busy. Just that threat alone should prompt Europe and Nato to consider expelling US army bases. You don't threaten your allies.

Haha—you're absolutely right—and it's funny you mention it because I've noticed AI-generated text is obsessed with em-dashes—like, suspiciously obsessed—to the point where spotting three em-dashes in two sentences is basically a dead giveaway. Guilty as charged—I'll work on sounding more human next time!

I refuse to believe anyone would agree to marry that grub.

The only conclusion I can make about this from a game theory perspective is that the US must be so financially screwed that it's only survival strategy is to fund the war machine and pillage the world. And they don't plan on sharing.

The US is the most powerful rogue state to ever have existed. Utterly disgusting this was allowed to happen without a multi-national cooperative. From Wikipedia: Military interventions in foreign lands could be justified under multi-national cooperatives. But as a lone actor, seeking obvious personal gain and abusing global power, deserves the harshest sanctions and punishment. In my fucking opinion.

Speaking of Faberge. 70,000 pounds worth of conformity.

You won't have your workers without investors. Exactly. Patient capital isn't real. That wealth is debt, which is fake. If you measure our economics in real wealth, the planet is incredibly poor. Capitalism is the ultimate fake wealth machine. But fake wealth still beats nothing.

One aspect us lefties often ignore about capitalism it the limits of our own technology. How is it possible supermarkets and restaurants throw out tons of food when millions are left starving around the world? It is not a production problem, but one of distribution and coordination. It's a mistake to blame all of capitalism's woes on human nature. It is possible that capitalism is the best we can do with our level of technology. Not just logistical technology, but financial technology. The way we think about capital itself might be incompatible with any superior system. Crypto was the first (and in my opinion, failed) attempt at this. Capitalism was only born with the industrial revolution and the rise of manufacturing. Post capitalism might only be possible with an entirely new definition and more effective form of capital. Banking on purpose and excellence as a motivator for your NDEs is a lost game. No one will invest in a company like that. No one will go into the mines and do boring or dangerous work for the 'love of the craft'. Profit is the only motivator here, because the whole point of doing that kind of work is to make enough money so that you don't have to do it anymore. No one is going to go down into a mine and get black lung for free.

Self-bias 101.

I'm trying it for the first time this week for my sleep issues. Works good for me. At least so far. I preferred microdosing zopiclone, but I recently moved the doctors here won't prescribe it unless they see you with ongoing problems for months.

The more I make things, the more I appreciate how difficult creating anything is. I've been learning how to make 3D motion graphics (think title sequences for tv shows and movies). Just to make two minutes of animation at that quality can take half a dozen people at least six months to get it done.

Because in order to be convinced, one has to be open to changing their mind. The issue is they don't want to be convinced. There is nothing you could say to make them change their mind. They have to decide to do it themselves, which may never happen.

Good to know, thanks. I made the mistake of neglecting remineralizing before and it's no fun. Not for long, but enough to notice. Then when I did remineralize it didn't feel quite right either, so I gave up on RO. I hope you find something that works for you.

So what's the alternative?

That's it! No more penis in vagina! The level of suffering is too damn high!

What's so bad about suffering from time to time? You'd be such a snowflake if you had never suffered.

Sounds like a funny idea for YOU to make.