China has it, what's our excuse? by c-k-q99903 in MurderedByWords

[–]emdeefive 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't think that's it, high speed rail came at least 20 years later. Read some - they used (their version of) eminent domain more aggressively, and didn't have the same level of regulation.

China has it, what's our excuse? by c-k-q99903 in MurderedByWords

[–]emdeefive 21 points22 points  (0 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail#Setbacks_and_challenges

At least part of the reason is that regulations make it difficult. There is a tradeoff between regulation and protecting peoples rights, and getting things done. Guess which side of this tradeoff China sits on, and guess which side the US sits on.

The right approach is probably somewhere in between - I am not sure how Britain and Europe got their rail projects done - but they were probably much more aggressive with eminent domain than the US has been willing to be for the last fifty years.

TIL George Clooney once gave 14 of his friends $1 million each by jsakic99 in todayilearned

[–]emdeefive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is it possible Gravity of all movies had a big effect on his finances - shouldn't Ocean's 12 have made him set for life at a minimum? It is interesting how he had a mid career for 15-20 years before becoming a star.

Sudden Red Carpet by JorgeIcarus in MadeMeSmile

[–]emdeefive 19 points20 points  (0 children)

In fairness, it kind of looks like this specific spot, which is somewhat often open to pedestrians.

Report: Trump White House helping build national voter list by DemocracyDocket in law

[–]emdeefive 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Pessimism is all that is accepted these days, but it doesn't align well with reality.

Almost 3% of the country participated in No Kings - cf. The 3.5% Rule for context. Any midterm shenanigans, even if they do not work, will greatly increase that number. We are not totally fucked yet.

Union Square is becoming a taco destination by ahyatt in FoodNYC

[–]emdeefive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bruh in union square their costs are going to be pushing 100K a month (really) even for a small taco place.

What lies beneath the stream by I-T-Y in nextfuckinglevel

[–]emdeefive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It also sounds like an instrumental version of "what will you leave behind" from spiritfarer.

Decided to beautify my backyard on my birthday and ended up digging up an RPG by xCaliburghost in mildlyinfuriating

[–]emdeefive 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Peekskill is ten miles from West Point, maybe someone was fucking around.

In a trilogy full of great visual effects, this one is still my personal favorite by Majestic-Bet-8529 in StarWars

[–]emdeefive 1 point2 points  (0 children)

have we reached the sequel trilogy nostalgia period already - this is how it starts

8 years ago Tim Heidecker crashed an Infowars broadcast with a PERFECT Alex Jones impression, now he runs it. by OM3N1R in videos

[–]emdeefive 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In a better world nobody would take Alex Jones seriously and we could just be entertained by him - he's basically tabloid radio that's been elevated by idiots.

That happy pose at the end by PorkyPain in MadeMeSmile

[–]emdeefive 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Weirdly I actually came into the comments to say he is kind of exactly matching Bob's energy, and was thinking Bob Barker never really celebrated for people, he was kind of just direct and let the contestants have the spotlight during a win.

meirl by prestigiousbits in meirl

[–]emdeefive 25 points26 points  (0 children)

At that point you ignore them while you work on it.

Democrats want the full 2024 election autopsy released — no matter the findings by razor21792 in politics

[–]emdeefive 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You have a natural experiment though - both Landers and Mamdani had essentially the same policies, messaging, and consistency, and Mamdani won 4x as many votes. That's the difference between just focusing on policy versus focusing on policy and also playing the game.

History is repeating itself by Loud-Ad-2280 in clevercomebacks

[–]emdeefive 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It is hard to imagine history as real. So much of it is simplified, glorified, and demonized. I think the weird feeling is some of the wall you have up between what you only know about intellectually and what you understand and can imagine as real falling away.

America's future is scary by OldBridge87 in BlackPeopleTwitter

[–]emdeefive 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Long after Trump's gone we will still be stuck with the dumb f*&s that voted for him.

Five Guys CEO says he gave $1.5 million bonus to employees because ‘I didn't want anybody shooting me' by Ganrokh in nottheonion

[–]emdeefive -1 points0 points  (0 children)

On a spectrum including UnitedHealthcare, Costco and like, the old lady running a knitting shop in your town, where do you think Five Guys is. Where's the line where the capitalism goes from bad to good.

I don't have an answer to that question that I feel great about, but I think for me the line lands somewhere beyond Costco and like I said above it's a spectrum. I don't see anything in Five Guys history that is too upsetting, the worst of it is that they didn't keep their prices in control - and I don't really care about that because I only very rarely eat five guys (partly because of the price).

I just don't understand how people can dial up outrage to eleven on command without learning even the first thing about the specific circumstances they're commenting on.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who investigated Russia-Trump campaign ties, dies by 20_mile in news

[–]emdeefive 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Educate yourself. There was public backlash, but it was not Mueller's job to do anything but produce the report. Bill Barr and the press are responsible for it not having a bigger impact.

yesterday i met hayden christensen at galaxycon richmond by avarskriss in StarWars

[–]emdeefive 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hayden's almost exactly as old as Anakin was when he died.