I’m not going to start a discussion about liberal versus conservative propaganda, that’s best left for another discussion entirely.

The abdication of soft power though is extremely short-sighted and so on par with the Trump Administration.

As an example of soft power, consider any number of Third World countries that have issues with feeding their population. This leads to instability and easy influence by outside powers. That influences usually used to enrich the elite at the top. The ones at the top see the instability and realize that their political lives as well as actual lives may be shortened by that issue, and so do their best to enrich themselves as quickly as possible.

By using the soft power tactic of providing food for the masses basic foodstuffs, an outsider would provide stability to that country and reduce the possibility of the elite being bought up by another country. In addition, the people in the countryside see food being brought in that has a particular logo or other emblem indicative of the provider. They and their children grow up knowing that their health and future were due to this provider. They thus become somewhat more friendly to that provider.

Ask the Houthis what they think of hard power. Yes, they are being bombarded by high explosives and many are dying. Each time though that a family dies, their extended family says that the one who attacked needs to have revenge visited upon them. It’s a never ending cycle.

I would care, except the muskmelons said that empathy is a sin

Part of it is that women have achieved an educational level as a group that allows them to make better choices. They no longer have to choose which is the nicer wife beater in their town.

The incels seem to have a problem with this. The idea of having to compete based upon personality, likability and in general the ability to treat another person as a human being bothers them.

The Marshall Service is the enforcement arm. The question is, would they refuse to do their duty?

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz reported that the White House circulated a memo to agency heads Thursday attacking the lawsuits as partisan impediments to president Donald Trump’s agenda and encouraged them to invoke a procedural rule requiring plaintiffs to post money at the start of their court case to cover costs and damages if the government ultimately prevails.

I noticed during COVID, I had almost no problems with hay fever. I wouldn’t mind going back to wearing one full time.

What about treadmill-based walking? It’s too freaking hot out during the summer.

How careless do you have to be to just have ammo lying around, unknown to you? Here’s a thought, T&C says they’ll release them if they lose their right to own a gun in the US?

But if he ordered a member of the military to do it, they are required to refuse illegal orders

But the argument is that if the President orders it, it’s not illegal. Nixon tried that and got shot down.

North America was a beautiful place. Then the white man showed up. Been downhill ever since. So, yeah, immigration is a problem. Care to fix it?

Lack of decent bread in the US. Coupled with some good cheese.

There was a discussion a couple of years ago around gasoline taxes and how they are supposed to pay for roadway maintenance. The question came up about EVs. There were discussions about how to include EVs in the taxation system so they would pay for their fair share of the road. One of the options was to impose a tax attached to your vehicle registration based upon the weight of the vehicle. The greater the weight, the more wear and tear it produces on the road surface. This might be one solution to the barrier problem, namely moving the extra cost to the reason for the extra cost.

Motorrad says the CE 02 is good for up to 56 miles of battery range, with a top speed of 59 miles per hour.

All for just $7599. 00 to start!

Some of the comments were going too far down the flamewar route, but a bunch of comments that were neutral were also deleted. I wish we could get a reason from the mods on this.