translation from Russian: they will keep bombing schools and hospitals in Ukraine, but now it’s going to be a “reaction” just because they were provoked

can he swing from a web

no, he can’t, he’s a pig

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Thanks, I hadn’t seen that. To be fair if they really have this itch to bomb a city, let it be Agrabah.

That magical energy they are developing can’t be only for peaceful uses. They must be stopped! We should oust the current government and help Mr. Jafar be Sultan, I hear he’s a very modern and business-friendly guy.

Quick recap for future historians:

• for a really brief part of its history, humanity tried to give kindness a go. A half-hearted attempt at best, but there were things like DEI programs, for instance, attempting to create a gentler, more accepting world for everyone. At the very least, trying to appear human to the people they managed was seen as a good attribute for Leaders.

• some people felt that their God-given right to be assholes to everyone was being taken away (it’s right there in the Bible: be a jerk to your neighbor, take away his job and f##k his wife)

• Assholes came back in full force, with a vengeance. Not that they had ever disappeared, but now they relished the opportunity to be openly mean for no reason again. Once again, True Leaders were judged by their ability to drain every drop of blood from their employees and take their still-beating hearts as an offering to the Almighty Shareholders.

The narrative was that Israel had gone behind his back and it made him look weak. Now it looks like Israel is winning and Trump needs to claim he was part of it. No, not “part of it”, the reason why.

Particularly in foreign politics, he badly needs a win: turns out international trade is not as easy as imposing tariffs and waiting for countries to call him with big offers and Diplomacy (who knew) takes more than a “Vladimir stop” post on social. He needs something quick to show in-between golf games to get his popularity above “get my teeth drilled by the dentist” level again.

I get what you mean and it’s a fair point. But I would still go with Meta as the most immediate threat in a war with the US.

As the ignorant I am, my understanding is that the phone manufacturer has a level of control on the way Android works and so it wouldn’t be as easy for Google to access any individual Samsung or Xiaomi phone as it is for Meta with WhatsApp, an app they fully control with permissions to use (way too many) phone features regardless of brand.

Plus, getting both Google and Apple to cooperate and coordinate sounds harder to me than just going to one company, that is basically controlled by only one person.

They are basically at war with the US and there is this piece of US Tech that nearly everyone is carrying around and that can access their communications, precise location, microphone and camera.

It’s also owned by a company, Meta, that has a history of being used as a tool to manipulate public opinion. I have no particular sympathy for Iran’s leadership but I can understand why they would advice that (and I don’t think WhatsApp is the only way for people to communicate with the outside world).

Trump is good (only?) at “fixing” problems that he himself created by… stopping the thing that he did to create the problem. That’s the TACO way. Enough backlash and he’ll let go and claim he “brought peace to LA”.

The problem is that “clamping down on immigration” is actually too popular (or not unpopular enough). The backlash Trump needs is about getting him to look bad, not shooting on the police and compacting the fuckers who already think they are on the right side. Peaceful resistance might actually be more powerful and effective in showing exactly who the bad guy is.

On the other hand I don’t live in the US and I am aware how easy it is for me to say this from a safe distance…

Who voted for Mother Nature anyway? By executive order, the weather is now under Scott Pruitt’s control.

I can’t tell if it’s “the true cause” of the massive tech layoffs because I know jackshit of US tax, but it does make more sense than every company realising at the same time that they over-hired or becoming instant believers of AI-driven productivity.

The only part that doesn’t make sense to me is why hide this from employees. Countless all-hamds with uncomfortable CTOs spitting badly rehearsed bs about why 20% of their team was suddenly let go or why project Y, top of last year’s strategic priorities, was unceremoniously cancelled. Instead of “R&D is no longer deductible so it costs us much more now”.

I would not necessarily be happier about being laid off but this would at least be an explanation I feel I’d truly be able to accept