This whole DeepSeek freakout seems like an Op by the AI grifters to get more money. “We have to defeat China at the new AI space race!”

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hIFbUBeRyRw/maxresdefault.jpg

The thing is I don’t drive unless I’m carrying stuff, so a car without cargo space isn’t useful.

Minivans are the best. I own a DGC built in Ottawa. Reliable AF. Huge cargo capacity. Gets 21MPG on the highway. Basically use it as a truck, but it’s way more practical than a truck because the cargo capacity is more and your stuff doesn’t get wet when it rains.

Only real downsize is tow capacity.

That’s the thing, Canada is mostly a raw materials exporter and the main importer is US industry.

It’d basically be like when China tried to “Wolf-warrior” Australia and ended up with coal, pork and grain shortages.

• Octopus: Antisemitic
• “Ok” hand gesture: Antisemitic
• Not buying a SodaStream: Antisemetic
• Nazi salute: Hey let’s not misinterpret this one!

Just going to leave this right here:

Dem’s donors are telling them to stand down because they think Trump will be good for business (cutting taxes, eliminating antitrust enforcement, cutting back consumer protection and workers rights, etc).

It’s the old Designated Villain

https://www.salon.com/2010/02/23/democrats_34/

One minute, it’s Jay Rockefeller as the Prime Villain leading the way in protecting Bush surveillance programs and demanding telecom immunity; the next minute, it’s Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer joining hands and “breaking with their party” to ensure Michael Mukasey’s confirmation as Attorney General; then it’s Big Bad Joe Lieberman single-handedly blocking Medicare expansion; then it’s Blanche Lincoln and Jim Webb joining with Lindsey Graham to support the de-funding of civilian trials for Terrorists; and now that they can’t blame Lieberman or Ben Nelson any longer on health care (since they don’t need 60 votes), Jay Rockefeller voluntarily returns to the Villain Role, stepping up to put an end to the pretend-movement among Senate Democrats to enact the public option via reconciliation.

I mean, maybe an interviewer will tell you what they have if you ask, but HR and the recruiters will not, and the company policy is going to be “you will get your employee handbook and benefits selection guide after starting.”

He could just exchange clothes with Luigi…

One has to assume that his original plan was to “buy” it then stiff them on the bill.

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but if we look at the countries on this planet that are the most successful in terms of economics, equality, personal freedom, human rights, etc. then we find countries that made it work through regulation and strong government institutions

Yeah that’s socialism. The best societies were all degrees of socialist, this includes western Europe and the USA at its mid-century peak. These societies all had aggressive, borderline confiscatory progressive taxation, large scale government intervention in the economy (in the US especially aggressive anti-trust), a generous social welfare state, and a large and professionalized civil service.

They also had large and well-organized labor unions capable of wielding power on behalf of their members and disrupting plans of the elites.

Remove those things and you quickly slide into a dystopian fascist nightmare state as the US and parts of Europe like the UK are discovering.

Cope how? I’m not a fan. The worst thing in the world for Lockheed would be if US’s adversaries decided they weren’t going to be designing any new weapons systems. Lockheed runs on fear of what’s next.

Lockheed’s stock price fell because they missed on earnings. It’s batshit to think a new fighter coming out of China would be bad for Lockheed. 🤡

Ghost of Christmas Future bud.

During the Cuban missile crisis Kennedy asked about using a tactical nuke against Cuba.

Kennedy’s generals explained that the only possible options would be enormous first strike against the USSR, or nothing. Because if the US used a tactical nuke Khrushchev would be forced to respond. Then you’d have a nuclear exchange between superpowers anyway, but would also be giving the enemy time to react.

There even isn’t much panic about being caught on the street to be conscripted

Because Russia hasn’t mobilized besides the “partial mobilization” in 2022. The question is why. One theory is that they don’t need to. The other theory is that they can’t. I live in the US and remember the Iraq war. In 2004 one of the biggest things going around was that Bush was going to start conscription.

But if he were to have attempted mobilization the support for the war in the US would have instantly collapsed so instead he tried various things to fill the ranks like using mercenaries, “backdoor drafts” via stoploss, activating national guard, etc. And in the end, let’s be honest, the US lost both of Bush’s wars.

It’s easy to look at the side of a war of attrition where you have more information and say that they’re losing because you don’t have as much information on the other side. Russia has every reason to present itself as still having massive reserves to call upon because it helps their case.

Many people thought that Germany was on the cusp of winning WWI during the spring offensive in 1918.

That being said I think Ukraine’s situation isn’t great. I was surprised at the seeming depth of the Russia’s reserves. They have been sustaining incredible losses for the last year almost, and yet continue to advance. During previous phases of the war we saw them overextend themselves and then have to retreat against Ukrainian advances.

Russia’s reserves are finite both in terms of manpower and equipment. They are demonstrating strain in both categories and will presumably start to have sustainment issues soon. If Ukraine can hold together and stop the advance then presumably the next phase would be a negotiated peace hopefully. There’s always a chance that some shoe could drop though. Putin could die or get overthrown, the west could withdraw all support, China could start providing blank-check support to Russia, Russia could successfully go into full-mobilization mode.