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.

“We’re all domestic terrorists”

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.

I don’t even care if I’m not rewarded. I just don’t want to be punished. They have made it impossible to have a simple life.

When I first moved in to my apartment, I became friends with one neighbor because I could hear him coughing through the wall and asked to buy some weed off him one day. He would occasionally ask me to take care of his dog when he was out of town. He has since moved and a nice old lady moved in. On the other side of my apartment is a special needs adult with care workers constantly coming and going, so not so much making friends anymore.

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 hereby nominate “The Adjuster” for president. He now can not be prosecuted and all investigations against him are no more than political witch hunts.

And then one of the strangers approaches you to tell you how they also lost their child recently and gives you a lot of support resources. The joke is no longer funny and you feel like an ass.

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.

Still better than every other option.

Most of the Taylor Sheridan shows and movies. I don’t know if he writes the dialogs, but there is a lot of cringe lines and scenes.

Yes and he only cited the Bible to show that jews lived there thousands of years ago. He wasn’t citing the Bible to make any kind of religious claim, so this guy’s comment is completely missing the point.

I remember a story back at the beginning of the war of a Russian helicopter pilot defecting. He had other Russian soldiers in the helicopter with him, but they couldn’t do anything because he was the only one there who knew how to fly it.

Maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about but wouldn’t starlink know the serial numbers or Mac addresses of the dishes they gave to Ukraine? Couldn’t they easily filter that region so only those work?

Some issues really don’t straight up exist. Outrage TV will always come up with something to stir people up. Other issues are pretty complicated without any promising solutions, so it may just seem like they’re being ignored. Conservatives will focus on those and claim to have the answer, but then their answer is something like “to eradicate poverty we need to put poor people in jail”.

Then you learn that the “something” they want to do is the exact opposite direction of what solving the problem would look like. It takes 2 seconds of critical thought to realize I’d much rather stick with the “milquetoast centrists” than ever consider voting for regressive conservatives.

People always point to the worst of the worst to justify the death penalty, but it’s not about them. It’s about us. I just picture people who support the death penalty the same as medieval peasants cheering on the gruesome torture and execution of a criminal like its some kind of entertainment. People need to do more introspection about what part of their personality they are feeding when they give in to the desire for vengeance. That’s not even taking into account that no justice system is perfect.

I got a bunch of free Coca-Cola once, and some dude at taco bell overheard me say something about “all the coke I have in my trunk”. He then tried to sell me some of his coke.