Which sports team am I supposed to root for with this map? Do you expect me to make a careful analysis of team history and current lineup? Or do I pick the one in the state I was born in like a normal person?

It was a talking point that Trump had in his first term. He tends not to let go of bad ideas once they get into his head.

At the time, people didn’t take it seriously. With the Ukraine War, Europe feels like it has to now. But it’s going to be domestic production, not paying US MIC companies like Trump was thinking.

China might have a 2 year window coming up where it’s even possible to invade Taiwan. Their military has modernized a lot, but they probably aren’t quite to the point of being able to pull it off. At the same time, they are looking at a demographic cliff from the long term implications of the One Child policy.

It’s possible this window as already closed. That said, authoritarian regimes have started wars before that were terrible ideas.

Eeeeehhh, if you just look at numbers of boats, yes. The US Navy has far, far more experience, though. Drones are also going to change the game in ways we’re only starting to see with the Ukraine War. With that, the answer might be “everyone’s boats are sunk now”.

China probably couldn’t gain air superiority over Taiwan, and without that, an invasion will fail. That will be true even if the US ends up losing more boats.

Cause and effect are a little twisted here. Trump was already undermining NATO during is first term by saying European members should spend more. They didn’t agree at the time, but the Ukraine War proved that Europe really did need a more domestic MIC, and now they are.

Trump wasn’t saying it in the first place because he thought it would help NATO.

Discovery Zone, man. I actually feel bad for the kids that never got to experience Discovery Zone. Lasted for like 2 years. It apparently failed because they had a mountain of debt (all those plastic tubes are capital intensive buildouts) and adults had to sit around while their kids played.

I feel like if you made it work like a gym membership for your kids, and had something for adults to do off to the side, you might be able to make the numbers work.

Some of that is from white balance making the top picture look warmer, but even accounting for that, it’s a tragedy.

Le right generation

Along those same lines, they didn’t put parking lots in Sim City. They tried, but it completely fucked everything.

Grand parent post.

I know this, you know this, GP knows this, and Republicans know it. They’re making the argument because they think they can win with it, not because they think it’s rational.

Well, a plucked bird does look pretty different. Then again, fossilized feathers for dinosaurs have been found, so it’s not like we’re completely blind to that, either.

But we wouldn’t see sunrise/sunset.

Who could have guessed that ahead of time? The industry is famous for seeing a successful new strategy and then driving it into the ground with a list of copycats. The strategy has made so much money before; why would it ever have failed this time?

/s

(Let’s all laugh at an industry that never learns anything tee hee hee)

Tactical nukes can stop just about any invasion.

Sure it does. He’s primarily talking to G7 people, not Trump. He calmed down for a different audience.

The headline is misleading here (big surprise, I know). He didn’t change his mind about Trump. He just calmed himself down so he could advocate more clearly.

Yeah, those are mostly showing off. They’re not really what I’m getting at, either. I more want to challenge people to make useful things simply.

And yes, there are ways that JavaScript can be used to give users a faster and more streamlined experience. The web as it stands is so far past that justification. I swear there’s lots of “full stack” devs that haven’t a clue how to make a site without React.

Ukraine had nukes and gave them up. They were invaded.

Iraq gave up their WMD program after the first Gulf War. They were invaded again.

Iran definitely had a nuclear program, but doesn’t appear to be pursuing it anymore. They’re getting attacked and quite possibly will get invaded.

South Africa had a nuclear program and gave it up. Left alone.

The Great Powers, particularly the United States but also Russia, have shown that your country should just keep going once you start. Chances are, you’ll get invaded, anyway.

This is not the way towards anti-proliferation.

They’re destroying humanity both physically and mentally, so I certainly hope so.