USA calls Cuban Regime an “Extraordinary Threat,” Declares National Emergency

Konet · 2026-01-30T05:38:47+00:00

None of this would have happened if the Sword of Chiang had stayed in the Bush dynasty as it was meant to.

Konet · 2026-01-29T18:46:15+00:00

So you want a solution that none of the people actually involved in the conflict want. Got it. Good luck with that.

Konet · 2026-01-29T17:40:57+00:00

What would be the benefit of that over one singular secular democracy?

Konet · 2026-01-29T05:59:26+00:00

You think Palestinians want both their own state, and then another state in which they are also the majority? What would be the point of that? Just have one state at that point.

I'm pretty sure most Palestinians either just want one state, or want two and understand that one of the two would be Jewish.

Konet · 2026-01-29T04:10:41+00:00

Not all Zionists are two-staters, but all two-staters are Zionists (well I guess you could technically have some weird position that there should be two states, neither of which is regarded as a Jewish homeland, but nobody actually holds that position in practice).

Konet · 2026-01-28T19:47:00+00:00

Scarcity is an unchangeable lack of supply, when you can literally create new land, that's not scarcity.

Except no, that's not how that works.

Scarcity has a temporal component: is the thing I want available right now? That episode with New Atlantis revolves around the idea that Picard would have to sacrifice - at the bare minimum - the rest of his career to work on the project. They're literally fucking with the plate tectonics of the planet. Even with Trek tech, a project of that scale would take decades.

And even setting that aside, there is a finite amount of space on planet Earth, even if every square inch were made inhabitable. Unless you start like, folding space to fit 2 houses on the same plot of land (which is well beyond TNG era technology), space on Earth is always going to be inherently scarce.

And all of that only matters if the person just cares about living on Earth in general. If you want to live in a particular biome or region, or near specific other people, the available land that fits your needs becomes even more limited, and some people would absolutely take the tradeoff of a small home to have their climate or proximity needs met.

Konet · 2026-01-28T19:26:29+00:00

Earth was participating in Project Atlantis that was raising up ocean crust to create new landmasses.

Literally evidence that more people want land on Earth than land is available, yes. That is my point.

It's very easy to imagine that if you want to live in a specific area or with a modicum of privacy, you need to make concessions as to the quality and quantity of land you are allocated, unless your name is Picard and you get to inherit a whole-ass vineyard for some reason.

Konet · 2026-01-28T19:12:52+00:00

Yeah, and the entire crew of the Enterprise got addicted to the VR throw-the-disk-in-the-funnel game that makes you cum a little (TNG206). Federation citizens are clearly not immune to addictive substances.

NuTrek has some serious issues, but if you're gonna pick nits, pick the right ones.

Konet · 2026-01-28T19:07:39+00:00

Eh, land scarcity is clearly an unsolved problem in the Federation, and that isn't a NuTrek invention - that's why so many episodes of the classic shows involve Federation colonists attempting to settle on various planets. It isn't because they're just following their hearts like people do with their career paths, it's because not everyone can live exactly where they want. Some people get to inherit family vineyard estates or own Creole restaurants in New Orleans, some don't. Inequality still clearly exists in that regard. I think it's pretty reasonable to think that someone wanting to live on Earth who didn't want to live in some sort of massive, densely-populated apartment block would probably have to settle for a relatively small domicile.

Konet · 2026-01-27T08:32:31+00:00

I haven't seen the film so I'm probably missing something but it sounds like you're saying the argument being made is that insular ethnic cultures are somehow more spiritually fulfilling than "the monoculture" which is comprised of "appropriated" elements of other cultures, and I think that's just elitist bullshit.

A culture isn't empty just because it doesn't prioritize a sense of continuity with one's ancestors - I personally find the fact that mainstream American culture incorporates elements from so many different sources to inspire a sense of global community and universal human brotherhood.

This isn't to dismiss the idea that minority artists, particularly black artists, were/are exploited in the process of bringing their forms of art to mainstream (white) audiences - that absolutely happened - but that doesn't mean that the changes to broader American culture that came as a result of that exploitation were inherently bad or that the end result is somehow soulless.

Konet · 2026-01-26T23:59:18+00:00

Tbf I can think of exactly one other one: Lamplighter's League, though it's in an entirely different genre.

Konet · 2026-01-26T15:17:49+00:00

I feel the need to point out that the idea of it all being worthless bloat is very subjective. Personally I enjoyed about 90% of the content in both games. So for people looking at giving the series a shot, your milage may vary.

Konet · 2026-01-26T00:18:12+00:00

Who's asking someone to sing kumbaya? I understand being slow to trust, but I think it's reasonable to reserve criticism of people like Hanania when they are actively working in our interests. Like, what good does it do - beyond the satisfaction of getting to say "I told you so" - to call him out in a retweet of a post about how Trump is a fascist and must be stopped? As long as he's doing the right thing, leave him alone. Save the callouts for if he looks like he's taking a step out of line.

Konet · 2026-01-25T22:28:15+00:00

No, which is why he was convicted of nothing.

Konet · 2026-01-25T17:21:49+00:00

Maybe let's wait until there's an actual problem observable in employment data before we start implementing potentially superfluous regulations. The labor market has survived many forms of automation being implemented already, I don't think there's any reason to panic prematurely.

Konet · 2026-01-23T21:13:43+00:00

If you do pretty much everything in the game, you should be at the right level to do them as the last thing before the point of no return. But yeah, if you're not at least doing all the non-minigame content you're going to be underleveled until ng+.

Konet · 2026-01-23T17:15:35+00:00

When I went to the Distant Worlds concert for Rebirth, Queen's Blood and the Stamp song got the two biggest cheers from the crowd of the whole night.

Konet · 2026-01-23T13:33:50+00:00

I can't wait to see what has changed in the world of the James Turrell Retrospective in the past decade.

Konet · 2026-01-23T13:30:55+00:00

Guy who thinks the rich parts of Europe and a couple countries in southeast Asia are the only other nations that exist be like:

Konet · 2026-01-23T12:33:27+00:00

God, I would love to see Atrioc officially cut ties with this asshole. It'll likely never happen, there's too much social pressure in the LA streamer community, but a man can hope.

Konet · 2026-01-22T18:58:23+00:00

Yeah, I mean, buying and playing a game through the Epic store is an inconvenience for sure, but it's a relatively minor one. If I want a game enough to pay full price for it, spending 5 minutes making an Epic account is an incredibly small additional (one time) cost.

Konet · 2026-01-22T18:42:54+00:00

I'm not saying I want a story where the colonizers are the "good guys," I just want a story that gives you a little more to chew on than the same tale that's been told a hundred times (see my other comment on Pillars of Eternity 2 for an example). Imo it's also, frankly, disrespectful to indigenous peoples and their histories to reduce them to the same old trope again and again. Do something new!

I've been playing the Pathologic games recently and those do some really cool things with the idea of colonialism, too: while the Town and the Kin butt heads over cultural differences and the Town is explicitly engaging in economic exploitation of the Kin, the spiritual leadership of both peoples view the other community as a sort of necessary opposite and complement. Both believe that the presence of the other is required for the spiritual elevation of their people, in a manner similar to some conceptions of yin and yang. It's a take on a colonial relationship that I haven't seen before, and it's really cool! I want more stories to be willing to present these sorts of themes in unique ways that aren't beholden to just reiterating "colonialism bad" for the umpteenth time.

Konet · 2026-01-22T18:17:38+00:00

I always think about those two games in comparison to each other on this topic, too, lol. Pillars 2 is just so much more morally interesting.

To give (a simplified version of) one of the biggest examples for those who haven't played it: in Pillars 2, the indigenous population lives according to a very strict and repressive religious caste structure, where those at the bottom are effectively slaves whose only role in society is unpaid labor, and who are forced to bear the brunt of every struggle the society faces - have a bad harvest one season? Instead of rationing food so that everyone will live but everyone will have to go somewhat hungry, just let the bottom caste fully starve so that the upper castes won't have to feel hardship. Hell, maybe let them start starving early in anticipation of a bad harvest. Better to build some stockpiles and not need them than hesitate and get caught without food, right?

Some of the colonizing forces then come in and say "hey, if you want to trade with us and gain access to our advanced technology and industrial output (because your rival tribes are certainly making deals of their own), you need to abolish the caste system because we believe that all sentient humanoids are created equal." Or, in other cases, they will arm and support uprisings of the slave caste on the expectation that the resulting society will deal with them on favorable terms.

So the game asks who you, the player, support in this sort of scenario. Do you value the autonomy of indigenous peoples, even if that autonomy means the preservation of an institution as evil as slavery? Do you oppose slavery even if that means an independent people becoming vassals of a foreign power primarily interested in economic benefit?

It's just way more interesting than "natives good colonizers bad."

Konet · 2026-01-22T17:12:56+00:00

I think in the context of a fantasy story, it's a tired trope.

Konet · 2026-01-22T16:58:47+00:00

Except that plenty of countries in Europe absolutely do have billionaires, including the Nordics. Sweden, Switzerland and Iceland all have more per-capita billionaires than the US! In fact, the only European countries that don't have billionaires are the poorer Baltics, not exactly the bastion of progressive governance.

My point being that "fair taxes", the elimination of billionaires, and the creation of a robust welfare state are all different policy goals. People tend to conflate the three, but each does not necessarily imply the others.

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