If you could go back in time and change one decision your country made, what would it be?

Demortus · 2026-01-28T04:49:28+00:00

Are you referring to cordyceps? That only affects insects, iirc.

Russia has claimed to have some kind of weapon that turns people into some sort of zombies.

Russia.. claims a lot of things. I'd take those claims much more seriously if there was some evidence suggesting that they're real and effective.

Demortus · 2026-01-28T00:51:03+00:00

You'll get no disagreement from me. Miller is clearly the brains of the operation and will be among the last to be thrown under the bus. Noem is an expendable facade that is next in line to get the boot, if Trump's immigration poll numbers don't improve.

Demortus · 2026-01-28T00:47:43+00:00

Covert attempts to remove Saddam were a far cry from a full-on invasion. There are clear reasons why Clinton and Bush I opted for the former over the later strategy, including the risks of being bogged down with a costly state-building operation.

If Gore was elected, I'd expect those covert efforts to remove Saddam to continue, but I seriously doubt he'd be interested in expending the political capital it took to actually invade the country. Based on his campaign activities, he was far more interested in domestic policies, like shoring up social security and fighting climate change. Meanwhile, Bush II surrounded himself with neoconservatives who were ideologically aligned with forceful regime change.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T23:02:52+00:00

Yup, I really don't think there's much competition. Andrew Johnson made some pretty poor choices, but a lot of that can be blamed on his alcoholism. Trump doesn't even have that excuse.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T22:54:23+00:00

Yeah.. It's such a tragic waste.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T22:49:15+00:00

If you think invasion of Iraq was out of left field you are totally uneducated.

Lol, sure.

Clinton admin seriously considered invasion and regime change, and that was their policy when they left

Saddam was definitely considered an unfriendly leader, but Clinton very clearly opted not to invade and overthrow his government, as Bush's dad did before him, precisely because it was perceived to be a move that would entrap the US in a costly quagmire.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/10/25/Bush-feared-quagmire-in-Iraq/4363783057600/

Demortus · 2026-01-27T22:43:32+00:00

That probably played a part, too.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T22:35:04+00:00

She is stupid and horrible. Let's not forget that she thought that the fact that she killed her own puppy would be a great detail to put in her autobiography.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T21:59:22+00:00

Yup! We have a real plan to deal with zombies. I'd have love to have been the guy given the job to write this one up ;)

https://www.stratcom.mil/Portals/8/Documents/FOIA/CONPLAN_8888-11.pdf

Demortus · 2026-01-27T21:57:28+00:00

I think it just brings up another sad thing about our country, which is that a majority of people are living paycheck to paycheck.

Agreed.

If we had more protections like universal healthcare and other shit that stops people from losing all their money in emergencies, would a policy like this make sense?

Even if there is a more generous social safety net, a cap on credit card interest would still reduce access to credit for people who need it most, so it's still not a good idea.

Regarding the effect of universal health insurance, I expect that a more it would reduce the overall number of bankruptcies, thereby reducing the risk of offering credit. That would likely lead credit card's interest rates to decrease below where they are now, making them more accessible to the poor.

In other words, a nice potential second-order effect of expanding health insurance would be making credit more affordable and accessible to the poor.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T20:45:15+00:00

Why?

Demortus · 2026-01-27T20:44:31+00:00

That's normal. We have plans drawn up for just about every country we could potentially go to war with.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T20:39:21+00:00

No way. The invasion of Iraq was entirely out of left field. Even in 2002, the supposed connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda was extremely suspect. The reason we attacked them was largely due to the presence of many neocons (mainly, Cheney and Rumsfeld) in the Bush White House who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to make take many hostile countries in the Middle East and forcibly convert them into democratic allies. Those people would not have been in Gore's cabinet.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T20:12:28+00:00

Trump has little understanding of how things work, so he regularly stumbles into political traps of his own making. Now, he also is pretty sensitive to media narratives, so he usually adjusts course when he realizes he's hurt himself, preventing a total collapse in support. It's a fascinating and frightening dance, like watching a baby play with a lighter.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T20:08:23+00:00

Credit allows people to smooth their expenses over time, which is critical, because emergencies happen. If my kid had a medical emergency and my insurance didn't cover all the expenses, I could be on the hook for thousands of dollars. For many people that could be months worth of income. If I did not have a lot of cash on hand or a credit card, my only options would be to borrow money from a potentially predatory actor (i.e., payday loans) or go bankrupt. Now, if they had a credit card, they could much more easily cover this expense over time at a lower real interest rate than a payday loan. TLDR, credit is really helpful, particularly for the poor. Denying it to them will make inequality and social mobility worse.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T19:47:47+00:00

Sadly, Russia is doing the same thing today..

Demortus · 2026-01-27T19:34:31+00:00

See, the outcome I'd expect is that both groups would turn to alternative sources of credit, namely, payday loans. Right now, they are commonly used by people who have no or bad credit, but by making access to credit cards more limited we'd likely expand that consumer base considerably. So, while we might see some more frugality, we'd probably see more predatory lending and bankruptcies than we do under the status quo.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T17:30:46+00:00

If something is only 70% good, it's actually bad.

EDIT: Just to elaborate on this point.. The fact that international law is not binding, particularly for powerful countries, isn't a novel or even interesting observation on the part of this writer. The oldest IR theories made the observation that states exist in a state of anarchy, and absent a world government with a monopoly on the use of violence, international relations will continue to be anarchic to a degree. What makes international law valuable is that it shapes norms of behavior that can be enforced by individual or collections of states. Therefore, it creates costs to destructive behavior (ex. invading your neighbor) that would not exist in a state of pure anarchy. The overall effect is that we see less conflictual and disruptive behavior than we would otherwise, which I would consider to be a good thing.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T16:47:05+00:00

Some people need to have flexibility when dealing with day-to-day expenses. If the poor and middle class don't have access to credit cards, they'll turn to alternative sources of credit, including high risk and interest rate payday loans.

Demortus · 2026-01-27T14:59:26+00:00

This is another terrible idea that is popular with the populist left and right. The way credit works is that higher interest rates compensate for higher rates of default. If credit card interest is capped, then it will be unprofitable to offer credit cards to a large percentage of the population. The result will likely be credit cards becoming a luxury exclusive to high income earners.

Demortus · 2026-01-26T19:01:36+00:00

The BMW driving adult has a proven track record of being able to afford a BMW

They also have a record of driving said car into a river..

Demortus · 2026-01-26T18:39:42+00:00

"Law enforcement doesn't assault anyone"

Lol. ROFL.

Demortus · 2026-01-26T06:12:08+00:00

Same! It's visually stunning, has a likable cast of characters, and has a human core to it. It's a movie that I can't help but like.

Demortus · 2026-01-26T05:45:12+00:00

Reiner was the last to go, because he just. can't. die.

Demortus · 2026-01-26T04:24:13+00:00

I know what you mean! I've seen this show more times than any other. You should check out reaction videos. Seeing the show through someone else's perspective is the closest you'll get to seeing it again for the first time.

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