It’s not “gone”, but the notion of it being “acceptable” is gone:

Using ‘retard’ as a slur, not only for people with intellectual disabilities but also just for people or things you think were stupid.

I can’t help but think that there’s a Broadway musical first act closing song somewhere in there…

I vote we put the United States on a time out.

Every night, we turn off their power for half an hour until they smarten up. And increase the time if they continue to act like toddlers.

And I want Trudeau to announce it exactly like that. “We are putting you under a time out every night because if you’re president wants to act like an unruly toddler, he’ll be treated like one.”

Enter a homeless shelter each morning. Do my thing. Walk out a richer man than I was when I walked in.

Not all gain is monetary

The rich don’t stay rich by letting other people join their club

No matter their performative differences, politicians will always protect each other regardless of party affiliation.

In a perfect world, I would be independently employed from home (a writer, or something similar), living on a small acreage just outside a small city. Not too far away that I can’t go in for supplies or things on a regular basis, but not too close that I’m bothered by the city lights on the horizon. Maybe 10 kilometres or so outside of a medium sized city.

On that acreage, I’d strive to be as self-sufficient as possible. Have a garden, for example. Solar Panels, Geothermal, etc… I’d develop relationships with my local neighbours. purchase a half a side of beef from a rancher to my left. Some eggs and fryers from a farmer to my right. Spend my evenings in my woodworking shop making furniture and other things that strike my fancy.

If a banker is what it takes to keep an under-educated career politician who has literally never had an actual job in his life…I’ll happily take it.

Zebra F-301

Dreams are basically simulations of our lives that we run

I rarely ever feature in my own dreams. Nor do people I know. My brain invents completely fictitious stories and characters, like watching a movie or a stage play.

I get what you’re trying to say. But the truth is, a red light doesn’t stop anyone from doing anything. It just tells them that there will be consequences if they choose to do so and get caught.

For the sake of the metaphor that you were going for, we can say that some people know that they’ll face no consequences if they’re caught. So they feel entitled to not bother stopping. While some people know that, based on previous history, that they’ll be stopped even if they just managed to squeak through while the light was still yellow.

I still game on my desktop. But it’s never been the primary use.

Graphic Design, video editing, 3D modelling, etc… has been the reason for my upgrades over the years. The fact that each of those upgrades allowed my games to perform better was a side-effect instead of being the primary reason.

“in government” refers to being part of the governing party

It most certainly does not. Outside of campaigns, there is no such thing as “liberal” government, or “conservative” government. There’s just “the government”.

The official opposition is a part of the government. And ESPECIALLY in a minority parliament, all parties negotiate and compromise to get shit done because no one party has the votes to pass something on their own. That’s literally how government works.

For the same reason most politicians get into it; Its the best position to be in if you’re looking to get your palms greased.

He’s not interested in being a part of the government unless he’s the one in charge.

• The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman would be top choice.

• An extremely close second would be a mini-series based on the novel Imajica by Clive Barker (second only because I don’t think anything would be able to truly do that book justice on screen so I’d be hesitant to even try.)

• A longer miniseries of L.A. Confidential that tells the whole story of the novel rather than having to chop and streamline it for a movie runtime. I love the movie and I think how they chose to cut and edit the story down is actually really brilliant, but I’d be interested in seeing the whole thing play out in a mini-series.

Yeah. I worded that wrong for sure.

The policy of American intervention began in South America going as far back as the early 1900s, followed by the middle east after WW1 and Asia-Pacific after WW2.

“Ramp up” was the wrong choice of words, for sure. “Emboldened” to not try to hide it anymore would be more accurate.

My apologies. Thanks for clarifying.

I’m not going to go into too much detail, as I don’t really have the time for an in depth explanation. But suffice it to say from a sociological perspective, organized religion formed along with more complex societies because complex societies need more rules to manage a higher population that came about because of agriculture and the rise of city states.

it’s not a coincidence that hunter-gatherers worshipped fertility goddesses and totemic gods, and that actual “organized” pantheons came into being alongside the concept of “nations”.

Organized religion was a tool that was invented to exert control and prevent chaos when societies were in their infancy and still figuring out how to live together and share resources. (ie. who are we and who are “others”. Who gets to share our wealth and who doesn’t, etc… etc…)

We don’t need it anymore, and yet it sticks around causing all kinds of trouble.

There has to be more than one superpower. Humanity is too immature to behave itself without the threat of mutually assured destruction.

Most of the bullshit American hegemony really started to ramp up after the fall of the USSR when the US found itself unchecked. It could basically go in and fuck up whatever country they felt like. At least during the cold war, they had to consider the possibility of a power equal to their own countering them. Without a check and balance on the world stage, the U.S. has proven itself repeatedly to be without a doubt, the villain of the story.

simplest answer ever.

No. No. And no.