It’s more just that while they’re calling Mamdani a communist, at the same time they’re doing the thing that is literally the single most Communist thing a government can do: have the state gain direct ownership or control of the means of production. Communism is many things depending on where, when, and who you ask. But the bare minimum, the common denominator under all forms? State owns of the means of production. And here’s Trump literally seizing the means of production. Not just giving out grants or loans, but literally taking a permanent equity stake in a major international company. That is the literal, most basic definition of a Communist action. If literally seizing the means of production isn’t Communist, what the hell is?

Yup! Catholic Church has long had an opposition to assisted suicide. This would have been back during the time when [Dr. Kevorkian](Jack Kevorkian) was a subject of national discussion. So it’s understandable why the priest would have been talking about it. Meanwhile, I was just a dumb kid in a pew wondering why the hell this priest, who had never been heard being racist against anyone, had this sudden inexplicable hatred for Chinese kids. And not Asians in general, but specifically the youth in Asia!

You know, I was raised conservative Catholic in the Midwest. Grew up really sheltered in that regard. I specifically remember driving with my family back from church when I was a kid, and my parents had the radio on. The news story mentioned the rising popularity of Latin music. I thought it odd that Gregorian chants and Latin hymns were apparently having a surge in popularity among the general public.

Oh, and then there was the time I got really confused when the priest started talking about the evils of the Youth in Asia. I thought it might be anti-Chinese communist thing. But I couldn’t figure out why the priest would have an entire homily talking about the evils of specifically the young people of Asia. Just so oddly specific.

Meanwhile, Trump is over here practicing literal state socialism. The government now owns 10% of Intel.

Future generations of students will study the political philosophy of Locke, Marx, and Oda.

So your defense of Israel is that “well aktually the laws of war don’t technically apply to them!”

Fuck off with this genocide apologia. If you need to split hairs on the technical definition of the laws of war, you’re obviously doing something indefensible. Only Nazi trash feels the need to equivocate on something as unforgivable as genocide and war crimes.

Seriously, you need a therapist or a priest. Your soul is clearly broken.

It’s not a war because Israel doesn’t acknowledge it as a war. If it were a war, they would be treating Hamas as an actual military and be following the Geneva convention. Israel does not treat the thousands of Gazan hostages it’s abducted, who it nominally labels as “Hamas,” anything like what is required by the Geneva convention.

It’s not a war because Israel has chosen not to treat it like a war.

Coordinated for all the centrists except Biden to drop out at the same time, while Warren and Sanders split the vote of the progressive wing. When it looked like Sanders had a decent shot at actually getting the nomination, all the centrists except Biden dropped out simultaneously and endorsed him. Biden won the nomination due to a giant DNC-coordinated rat-fucking.

It’s important not to think about the transporter too much. The transporter should be able to make everyone immortal and cure any disease. But they don’t tend to use it for that for some reason.

Yeah, except that new Tuvix won’t want to die either!

I want to see the chaos Janeway solution.

Dilemma: Tuvix doesn’t want to die. He can do both Neelix’s and Tuvok’s jobs, but he simply doesn’t have time for both, and Janeway is in a survival situation. She needs them both.

Solution? Just Tom Riker Tuvix! We’ll just have two Tuvixes!

Though honestly, this comic is genuinely beautiful, a real love letter to TNG/DS9/VGR era Trek.

Current building codes allow the construction of wood frame buildings up to 18 stories tall. You need to expand your knowledge of wood construction beyond what you learned reading The Three Little Pigs.

No. Back up and read the original problem. How does using dissolvable containers help this problem? How does this let people bring in their own containers? You just saw a discussion involving plastic and decided to shoehorn in a reference to a completely irrelevant plastic product.

I agree. Wood is clearly the superior material.

What are you talking about?

So instead of selling the food in thin containers that eventually become planters or paint buckets, why not let people bring their own Tupperware or plates from home?

Food safety reasons. The restaurant then has to clean any random container people bring in, because it represents a contamination risk to the kitchen.

If you think buying multiple penny stocks is diversification…

It’s called an index fund. It’s not that hard. Just buy a cheap low cost index fund that aims to match the market performance. You get instant diversification by investing in every single company in the stock market simultaneously. Then you achieve further diversification by investing in a domestic index fund, a bond fund, an international index fund, etc.

Buying individual stocks is a fool’s errand.

The key difference between all previous civilizational collapses and the one we potentially face is that most people in the past were farmers. Even in the grandest empires like Rome, less than 10% of the population actually lived in cities. Most people lived in the countryside working the land. The city of Rome lost something like 95% of its population. But those people didn’t just crawl in a hole and die. They abandoned the city and joined the vast majority of the population that was living in the countryside. Many in the countryside actually saw their quality of life improve substantially. Many who had been slaves found the old legal system enforcing their slavery no longer existed. Rome collapsing just meant the end of the grand cities; political and economic systems could fragment, and people would just live more locally.

But today? Less than 5% of the population actually works on a farm. The vast majority of the population lives in cities. If the political and economic system collapses, the countryside can’t just absorb all those extra people. Hell, the farms can’t even operate without the equipment, fuels, and chemicals produced by the larger economic system.

Historically, when civilizations collapsed, the common folk just left the cities, abandoned the corrupt elites to their madness, and returned to small villages and rural life. But now there is simply nowhere for people to retreat to.

It’s not even about needing to exceed the speed of light. Once you cross the event horizon, spacetime around you is so warped that “out” doesn’t exist anymore. Point your ship in any direction and fire up your FTL engine; it doesn’t matter. No matter which way you try and fly your ship, you’ll be getting closer to the center. Once you cross the event horizon, there is literally no way out.

These devices exist as aftermarket ad-ons and are frequently added by used car dealerships.