I helped a family member with their Windows PC a few days ago and, omg, I hate using Windows. It’s so bloated and unintuitive. It’s a mess, and it seems to get worse every time I use it.

No it won’t.

Oh no, this train is not slowing down. It can’t. In fact, it has to speed up. At least, the currency debasement has to speed up.

The Chinese model being superior to the US model is not a revelation, we’ve known this for decades:

…if a country’s goal is economic growth above all other considerations, the truly winning combination would appear to be neither liberal democracy nor socialism of either a Leninist or democratic variety, but the combination of liberal economics and authoritarian politics…or what we might term a “market-oriented authoritarianism.”

• Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, 1992

There’s no better socioeconomic model than the Chinese model IF the goal is economic growth “above all other considerations.” Should we value growth above all else? I don’t think so, but many people do, especially the rich and powerful.

Omg peter thiel is that you?

No.

I think we should fight for reform.

Go for it.

The US Federal government is at best dysfunctional and at worst actively and aggressively harmful. I think it’s time for states to try and become more self sufficient and less reliant on the Federal government. Other nations are trying to divorce themselves from the US Federal government, American states might want to do the same thing.

It seems like automakers would much rather sell fewer premium and luxury units at higher margins than sell more units of affordable cars at lower margins. I suppose I understand why, but it does leave a large consumer segment unserved. That seems like a good opportunity for a competitor to come in and serve the unserved market, but none of the big legacy car brands seem interested and new car companies don’t have access to the capital it would take to build the manufacturing capacity necessary to mass produce affordable vehicles.

Sounds like a great opportunity for foreign car companies, from, say, China, for instance, to come in and serve that under served lower end of the market. But then, tariffs.

The material difference isn’t left vs right, it’s status quo versus change.

Yes, but not everyone who wants change wants the same change, and so not every change candidate is going to appeal to every voter, even if most of them are looking for some kind of change.

I would agree that both Bernie and Trump were change candidates, but their differing levels of success shows which change message spoke more to the American people.

I agree that a political campaign promising change is the way to go (that’s been true since Obama in '08), but which one? I think it’s reasonable to assume that a change campaign built on economic populism is the way to go, but Bernie tried that twice and he lost twice.

Completely agree.

I think any semi-intelligent person knows this is a parenting issue

Even parents who are actively trying to prevent their children from viewing porn might find it a challenge, given the sheer amount of porn on the internet and the proliferation of Internet connected devices.

But what about the kids whose parents don’t take steps to prevent their kids from accessing porn? Do the rest of us just say, “well kid, if your parents don’t care then neither do I. Watch all the porn you want.”? Or do the rest of us have a responsibility to try and protect those kids, even if their own parents won’t?

People just don’t want to acknowledge the real problem here: inequality. When people feel left behind, they are much more likely to break either reactionary or revolutionary. Status quo politics are not going to appeal to either of these groups. At the same time, the people who are doing well for themselves within the status quo are going to be put off by both the reactionaries and the revolutionaries. The people who are doing well don’t want radical change, one way or another. Why would they? They’re doing fine and they don’t want anything to jeopardize that.

So, if a politician moves to the center they will appeal to the pro status quo group, but they will lose both the reactionaries and the revolutionaries. Similarly, if a politician moves to either the reactionary side or the revolutionary side, they will lose the other two groups.

We are divided. There is no one winning strategy because there is no one, single group of American voters to try and appeal to, AND embracing any one group means alienating the others. And we’re not just divided because we watch different cables news stations or spend time in different web discussion forums, we’re divided because our lived experiences are different. Our divisions are not merely ideological, they are material.

I’m sure it is hard being so stupid that you would look at that ridiculous “truck” and say, “yeah, I’ll drop $100k on that.”

They’re doing exactly what they want while blaming the Democrats for all the negative effects, as is tradition

They’re doing it because it works, alarmingly well. Sure, many Americans recognize that it’s all just a dishonest tactic, but not enough of us. Many Americans fall for the con, hook, line and sinker.

Like the current administration gives a shit about what “experts” have to say. As far as Trumpers are concerned, they’re their own experts, and their expertise comes from the fact that they believe they are smarter than everyone else. Or, more accurately, they’re extremely insecure and they try to compensate by pretending - by faking it until they make it - at being smart. They do this by simply acting confident in their positions (even if their positions are complete nonsense and verifiably false) and refusing to back down.

I won’t be watching either of them.

We lost because we never should’ve been in either of those countries in the first place.

The US has put or helped keep more kings in power than they have taken out of power. Also, I would like to point out that King George III did not die in the American revolutionary war.

I know, but I think Cuomo is much more representative of the Democratic establishment that has been in place for several decades now. Mamdani comes from outside that establishment. In any other democracy, the two candidates would not be in the same political party, since they are not ideologically aligned, but, because the US is a de facto two party system, they are both technically “Democrats.”

I feel that establishment Democrats have often used Republicans as a threat in many elections, to basically extort their voters. Specifically, they have used the Republican threat as a way to keep the establishment Democrats in power. “If you nominate a progressive or leftist, you’ll split the party and the Republicans will win, so best just to play it safe and fall in line behind the establishment.” They’re not necessarily wrong, but it nonetheless feels like extortion.

That’s why I’ve often said the Democrats (remember, I’m talking about establishment, neoliberal Democrats) and the Republicans have been engaged in a kind of good cop/bad cop routine for many years. The Republicans being a party of violent lunatics has been useful to the Democrats. Whenever Democratic voters try to deviate too much from the neoliberal establishment, the Democrats have been able to say, “hey, if you’re not willing to cooperate with us, we’ll just send in the Republicans again, and you know those guys aren’t as nice as us,” kind of a thing.

Time to pull this old gem out:

I’m not a Gen Z voter, so I certainly can’t speak for them, but I hate our country. I hate that so many Americans are being left behind. I hate that we are falling so far behind other democracies. I hate that our democracy is so flawed and corrupted, that I’m not sure it’s accurate to even call it a democracy anymore. I hate that so many Americans believe that being greedy, selfish, and indifferent to human suffering is not only acceptable, but somehow “rational.” I hate the manipulation and the misinformation that is very intentionally disseminated to the American people. I hate the violence, I hate the war mongering and war profiteering. I hate a lot of what IS right now, because I DEMAND better for myself and ALL other Americans.