I assume that by conservatism, the author means classical liberalism. I mean, he’s not wrong. Although, conservatives have historically sided with fascism because shared interests in one form or another.

Now that you mentioned it, a leader being surrounded by sycophants is precisely what American founding fathers were trying to rail against. And that is all collapsing right before our eyes.

I was going to argue against this, but then you’re right. There has been regulatory capture of socdems as they became neoliberals; who keep chasing the magical “centrist” unicorn. But in reality, who they are trying to appease are the property owning base who want their property value to keep going up and up, at the expense of the youths, families and homeless, and to appease rich donors.

I’m eking out into oldness. Don’t remind me.

There is a special guillotine for this wannabe parasite.

When I was applying for a house mortgage, the case officer was asking me questions about the ins and outs of my financial transactions relating to my investments, because I made multiple deposits in a short period of time. I felt like I was being interrogated and I was annoyed on why the need for that level of scrutiny. Then I remembered that criminals have used buying properties for money laundering, or their initial capital came from criminal activities. There is a posh neighbourhood near where I live, and I saw couple of rough looking families having a gathering in a restaurant. I’m pretty sure they live in that area as well, and if they are, there is a likelihood that they may have bought or are renting properties using dark money (not that rich, suit-wearing people don’t do this either).

I wasn’t expecting that from Levi Strauss of all people.

Martin Luther King Jr’s similar quote is that the moral arc may not be straight, but it bends towards justice. I’m far from being an optimist, but i think humanity generally progresses to better moral values. The hiccups and backlash we see are typically from people who are resistant to changes because they are more comfortable with what they grew up to be familiar in, even if it’s wrong.

LGBT representation today is like the interracial representation in the 1970s and 1980s. On-screen Interracial relationships are now non-issue, but it was fifty years ago. The On-screen LGBT relationship is undergoing the same phase from backlash to eventual acceptance. I mean, people don’t change overtime and still operate on the values and assumptions they grew up in. Millennials and Gen X are said to be the forefront in lgbt advocacy; but as a millennial, many of my peers are still homophobic because of the things they picked up upon growing up. Twenty years ago, declaring something “gay” to express dislike is 100% normalised. I’m sure many kids who said that and didn’t realise the error of their ways now as adults, have become far right.

Plus, companies will abuse you.

Violence is only the last resort, but Americans should learn to make DIY weapons in case another civil war breaks out, because it is unlikely that Donald will concede power when the time comes.

That explains a lot. Although I never had to restarty phone, my Mullvad occasionally just crashes for no reason and there is no indication.

There is an episode about robot dogs in Black Mirror…

At this stage, I am willing to go to Mars. There is less chance of techbro oligarchs wanting to destroy the world and killer robot dogs wanting to kill us. Matt Damon has also provided us with a basic manual on how to survive Mars.

Capitalism is only efficient if it’s highly regulated. See the Scandinavian countries being successful at controlling capitalism.

I feel like the antivaxxers are more concentrated in the developed north because of privileges; from having better access to healthcare, better economy, and less prevalence of deadlier diseases because of colder climate. So they get treatment more easily if they need one, and don’t see nasty diseases. Meanwhile, the global south tend to believe more in vaccinations because diseases in warmer climate are more common and deadlier.

Munchausen syndrome.

The French have been refining protesting since 1790.

I don’t want a pony. Could I get a Batmobile?

Different system, same problem.

It’s regulatory requirement to use calculators in my field to make calculations, so that has been saving me.

I won’t go too specific but my background is in biotech.