pachrist

If they wanted to, they would do it. They aren't doing it, which means they don't want to.

Well, you have to drink the kool-aid because there's lead in the tap water.

I feel like saying it's normal for empires to fall due to external causes is not accurate? It's usually the exception. Maybe the external factor is the final kick, knocking over a rotting house of cards, but the cause is almost always division, internal conflict, or unsustainable growth. An empire is much more likely to collapse under its own weight than it is to have Alexander the Great kick its teeth in. The Ottoman Empire was called "The Sick Man of Europe" for a reason.

far better military protection

From whom? Polar bears? Santa Claus?

I think a lot of American breweries confuse "interesting" beer with "good" beer, because in the US, as long as it doesn't taste like Coors, you're fine.

It's the chicken bacon ranch pizza problem. It's good. I like it. But I don't want it every time I have pizza. I definitely can't eat a whole chicken bacon ranch pizza, even if I spread the leftovers over the week. But a slice every now and then is great.

"Good" American beer is generally pretty fatiguing to drink. Good European beer isn't. That's how it is for me at least.

Nazi Germany persecuted a wide variety of people. While the Holocaust specifically refers to the atrocities committed against the Jews, there were up to 5 million more Slavs, Roma, LGBT, disabled, communists, and political disadents of any kind who were killed.

Particularly leading up to the Nazis sizing power, much of their initial rhetoric was absolutely targeted at Jews, but much of their initial action was targeted at communists, since they were political rivals.

Somewhere, John Green is just raging.

There's no way I believe that Deepseek was made for the $5m figure I've seen floating around.

But that doesn't matter. If it cost $15m, $50m, $500m, or even more than that, it's probably worth it to take a dump in Sam Altman's morning coffee.

E pluribus unum, baby.

Now that we have an executive order stating that everyone is a woman, this gets more interesting.

I am a little confused by this because I think they're kind of technically right?

Democrat corporate interest will absolutely keep them from going after big tech. Maybe they think and ponder about some antitrust stuff, to save face, but it comes to nothing. Any significant change we've had recently has come from legislation in the EU.

Republicans are absolutely more likely to go after big tech than Democrats. But it's not because they're altruistic or down to help the scrappy little guy. They're petty. They hold grudges. They're still mad tech companies clamped down on them over Covid. But, they haven't been bribed yet, but once they are, this goes away.

That's why all these contributions are coming into the inauguration fund. There's more to come.

But that only works on the Republicans who haven't drunk the Koolaid, and there are more and more Republican politicians who drink as much Koolaid as they possibly can. They're not the classic grifters taking advantage of their constituents, they're diehard believers, and that's way scarier. They're the most likely to retaliate against big tech.

I guess the "Trump supports the little guy," take is bad, but the "Republicans are more likely to hurt big tech," is not. Never underestimate pettiness.

She's also the one who has fought any attempt to curb it, tooth and nail, for the past couple years.