I’m imagining this might come from way back when it was common for buildings to just be walls and a roof, and the ground floor was literally just the ground. Then the second level, if there was one, would be the first time they actually built a floor.

The word “terrorist” has an incredible power to shut off people’s brains.

I can’t trust a car no matter how Japanese it is, but… I watched a lil docuseries on dangerous roads, and it seemed like at least 80% of the vehicles (outside of heavy trucks) were Toyota. I dunno if it’s because they’re the most reliable, or because Toyota just has the market in many of these developing countries, but it was interesting.

‘danger to US security’

Oh yes that’s one of his finest qualities.

Canada is killing it. We added Nunavut a while ago to make 13 provinces/territories and continue to have a Prime Minister.

This is a list of people “to monitor and potentially groom”. You can’t exactly charge someone with “being monitored”.

Not to say collaboration isn’t happening—it sounds like it absolutely is, but this is not the list of collaborators.

Well, I am always looking for book recommendations… I’ll put this on my list 🙂

I wish people didn’t have such a tendency to think of things as binary, when basically nothing is. It’s super unhelpful.

When I worked for a guy who kept chickens in the back yard, the eggs came out in every shade from dark brown to white, and some had freckles. I don’t know how they get them to be just two uniform colours (brown/white) in the grocery store, but I assume the white ones must be bleached. Some are naturally brown, others may be dyed.

But I agree that we should be suspicious whenever marketing is involved.

May he have pineapples shoved up his arse in hell, right next to old hitler.

Oh interesting, I’ve never really delved past the movies.

They did also choose to humanize a storm trooper with Finn in the new films, but I don’t remember him going through any “deprogramming” or anything, he just kinda realizes he’s a nice guy one day.

It would have been much more interesting to see him struggle with his changing worldview.

That’s exactly what my interpretation was.

You’ve leaped to the notion that Chinese trains are somehow an untested technology. They’re using technologies that have been developed and tested around the world for well over a century. No one is perfect, but they do seem to be implementing them quite well.

The funny thing about your car analogy is, guess what? China makes cars too! And they’re getting solid safety ratings: https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/byd/seal/50012

Nuh-uh, Xi pressed the big red communism button and now all the capitalism is gone!

[is joke, obviously that’s not how it works]

“It’s just never worked” is ignorant though. Every nation that has tried to dump capitalism has has successes and failures, and there are many factors that contribute to each. Economies are extremely complex and you simply can’t say anything intelligent without getting at least a bit more in-depth than “works/doesn’t work”.

You’ve seen the tracks so smooth a coin doesn’t fall over at 300km/h and you call that “awful at building infrastructure”? Curious.

But they’re fast, so it must be poor quality, right? The appeal to “just think about it” without seeking actual information is a classic.

The USA and the international institutions they control have done an impressive job making it look like open markets equals prosperity, but when you look just under the surface, a different picture emerges.

Vietnam, for example, was denied access to IMF loans, while trying to rebuild after an absolutely brutal war that basically set them back to the stone age. Only once they agreed to certain liberal reforms were they allowed access to the funds and resources they needed.

If you’re not really paying attention, it looks like you’re right.

That’s true, the storm troopers and stuff are basically presented as automatons. I guess some audiences like not having to think, but it would have been much more impactful to show them as people with their own beliefs and motivations and stuff.

Sadly true. And most people aren’t aware that they did pretty much the same thing to Laos, who they weren’t even at war with. They just carpet bombed the whole country, “just in case.”

Fuck the USA. They’re literally the evil empire from star wars.

Oh interesting, so you know they’re extremely good at building infrastructure, but they still have some that’s not great, so choose to act like that’s all that exists, and it’s definitely going to kill you. Totally not a fed. Nope, just a regular guy here.

Also, communism is when natural disasters? Really, that’s a stretch.

You could probs add Burkina Faso to that list too.

Mostly this, although Vietnam is doing quite well, especially considering their circumstances.

Cuba is also really interesting…not thriving, to be sure, but you have to end the US blockade before you blame them for their own hardships. And in spite of everything, they have democracy like we’ve never seen in the west.

Edit: also what beejboytyson said about Cuba.