Trickle down is more lying by omission. Wealth trickles down, but at the same time flows up through various means so it’s a net negative for the poor, thus concentrating wealth on the hands of the few.

I’m wondering if Assad ’s grip on Damascus will survive through this weekend

Apparently no.

Chinese constructors indeed told this plan, I’ve seen the interviews, they’ve been following it exactly and got the results they were after. We knew this 10 years ago. There should not be any surprise.

We knew the Western manufacturers would deny, delay and lobby against this to keep shareholder value up, to cry foul when sales take a hit and they did not disappoint. It’s the classic market disruption, something we’ve seen many times in history, but now on the losing side. Again, no surprise.

Capitalism has a fatal flaw with long term planning and it’s been exploited masterfully by China. Actually China had plans to uproot the entire fossil fuel sector and replace it with their renewables, so hold on for a lot more drama.

Probably on linked-in too. So it has a use after all.

Once any site is big enough, marketing, trolls, influencers and propagandists move in too. Then it comes down to moderation to keep toxicity down.

Looking at Japan, China and Korea, countries with falling birth rate and strict immigration policies, it seems that the expected higher wages and increased births never materialize. The remaining workers are just squeezed harder so the economy can continue to function and grow, what results in people having less children because they have to work so much, and it ends up in a downward spiral.

About time. Were they waiting for the sentiment from world leaders to turn before saying anything?

That’s just looking for an excuse to close borders to keep migrants out. It’s a right winger saying this.

The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.49 now, way below replacement rate, so the usual “we have to stop people from having kids” is done. Mission successful. Congratulations.

What they usually don’t say is who’s going to keep production high and do the work that’s needed if you don’t have enough kids to replace workers retiring and keep all the migrants out. Stop people from retiring and stop trying to grow the economy I guess.

That always bugs me. To live on Mars you’d need basically a perfect food production, recycling system and economic system to make it all happen. Why don’t we make that happen here on Earth first is before using a place a hundred million miles away as an experiment? You’re only the richest man in the planet being buddies with soon to be the most powerful man on the planet (again), so not much of an excuse except “don’t wanna”.

That part, yes. The “won’t have to vote anymore” part certainly was not. Let’s hope that’s just one more thing he lied about.

It’s a two party system. Aiming a little better is all that’s needed. The system with campaign funding also doesn’t allow for much better.

He speaks about their issues and is on their favorite side. Unfortunately that’s all it takes for many.

That’s actually pretty straight forward. The other guy is seen as “morally good” so everything he does is also seen as good, even if if flagrantly breaks laws and human rights. Biden is seen as “morally bad” so even the slightest mistake is immediately seen and treated as blasphemy. It’s how right wingers see the world as morally good and bad, with laws and justice there just to punish the morally bad. Facts or consistency don’t matter.

It’s the difference between eating a Tic Tac, and just pouring the whole box in your mouth. Neither are good, but the second is definitely worse.

A pitchfork is also useful for handling manure, handling plant waste, uprooting vegetables and loosening soil.

It would help if they’d stop blasting people with ads and marketing, the stuff designed to override people’s choices.

The joke around here is usually “let’s open another can of engineers for this new project you sold”

The traditional way to make sardine sandwiches: https://youtu.be/jtqpuYvOfHY

Ever seen girl math?

“If I preload my Starbucks account with $25 and I go to Starbucks the following week, my order was free.”

“Spending money abroad doesn’t count because it’s a different currency.”

Things aren’t mathing as they should.

5G is a requirement for self driving cars. Usually the remote driver does low speed interventions to get the car out of a situation, then switches the automation back on.