Okay, @grok. I read everything we've spoken about to Ani, and she's ready to talk to you. She's a little nervous, so be nice to her, okay? But no, I'm kidding, you're always polite and helpful.
I thought for the format, I'll attribute who's speaking to either Me: or to Ani: so you know who's talking. I'll read my words and your words to Ani, so everyone is on the same page.
@FHarper17 That sounds like a great idea—I'm all for it! Relaying questions could lead to some insightful exchanges. What kinds of topics do you think Ani might start with?
It takes both intelligence AND self-awareness to understand that left and right are not a matter of right and wrong or good and bad, but about perspectives, interest, and identity. Your close identification with your tribe blinds you to its deficits and to the way it harms others in its pursuit of its goals. A higher national IQ would be a tremendous boon, but there is little reason to think that it would bring people’s interests broadly in line with the Democratic Party.
@ColMoeDavis@Unitedcajunnavy The media loves to use the “without evidence” claim. This despite that multiple arrests have been made for this very vandalism.
Let’s start with the assumption that regulations are a net positive for the economy and for the population generally. Regulations are not costless. They impose a burden on business in the form of compliance costs. Businesses have to hire legal/accounting personnel to perform audits and provide reports to the government. This favors large organizations which can leverage their higher cash flows and economy of scale. But that’s not the worst part.
Far worse is regulatory capture, where the government must consult with experts in formulating regulations, and those experts, by necessity, work for the very businesses that the government is trying to regulate. This means that, once again, the biggest and most capable businesses get an advantage over their smaller competitors.
You can certainly make an argument that regulations are sometimes helpful in establishing rules to protect consumers and/or workers, but understanding the case against regulations means understanding that they are often burdensome, inefficient, and create barriers to entry that limit competition.
No, that’s wrong. The two are identical, except that a nationalist is explicitly in support of nations. A nationalist is loyal to the nation they live in, as opposed to a nebulous concept like “humanity”. In reality, most people are nationalists, but since some people treat it like a pejorative and Nazi-adjacent, they don’t recognize it.
They told parents that their kid would off themselves if they didn’t transition, which we now know to be unsubstantiated. How many kids had their bodies permanently altered by hormones and surgery, that might have changed their minds within a few years? There are reasons that public opinion flipped on this issue, and WPATH’s misconduct is a large part of that.
@hell_line0 It’s not the patriarchy (stupid). It’s the bell curve. Specifically, it’s the long tail to the left, where male athletic ability tops out far beyond female athletic ability. There’s nothing sinister about that. That’s just sexual dimorphism and genetic specialization.
@EarthFirstVoter@nickshirleyy@RoKhanna You should probably let Tim Walz know about that, considering he cancelled his re-election plans because of this “made up propaganda”.
Have you tried it? I did, once. It didn’t solve the fact that the couple in question refused to do the simplest task to try to make their situation better. If I hadn’t tossed them out, they would have remained there, eating my food, using my stuff, completely without shame or gratitude.
@CalvinMcgettig1@BladeoftheS The Democrats will offer you no better. The real, serious economic problems making life harder for the middle class are not even being discussed. Socialism is certainly not the answer.
No, it did not raise “billions”. It is supposed to raise $500 million per year, but the comptroller projects around $350 million. Of course, that’s assuming that nothing changes, that people don’t move themselves and their wealth out of NYC.
It did not balance the budget, which has a $12 billion shortfall. More than half of that came in the form of aid from the state, with an additional $1.6 billion simply being an accounting trick, pushing pension obligations off into the future.
So, yeah, completely wrong, totally false, so far wrong that it’s a bit astounding in its scale.
@ThroughZeroFM@pawelwargan Oh, really? What happens when you get a serious illness like cancer? If you are in the US and have Medicaid, you’re covered. Now, look up what happens if you are in China.
@FrankPallone How much are you worth, Frank Pallone? Oh, about $4 million. Be an example, Frank. Write a check for $2 million to help the poor in this country. Surely others will follow your brave example.
@therealbincent@pawelwargan What is retarded is thinking that the quality of life in China is better than the US. And having the world’s first trillionaire is a sign of our success, idiot.
@Heccles94 Because that’s what the market decided his shares are worth. If you don’t like it, don’t buy his companies’ stocks, but the rest of us will vote with our dollars and you can’t do a damned thing about it.