"Much as the West overestimated the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ‘80s by discounting its internal problems, outside observers may be overestimating China’s ability to keep rising. Authoritarians don’t have fewer domestic problems than other political systems, they’re just better at hiding it."

The only characteristic of Trump that I find personally relatable is his extreme contempt for evangelicals that support Trump

Lmao I hope all the big pubs are paying attention. Fucking dopes selling out their 100 year old brands for the Anti American Pedo President. Gonna be out of work soon enough.

I am genuinely gutted that Lelek's Andromeda ended up 15th this Eurovision. I had high confidence they'll end up in top 10 and reactions after semi-final made me think girls can win it. Instead it's Croatia's worst performance in the final since 2016. Jury hated us, televote was merely okay.

So my impression from the Expanse Osiris Reborn closed beta are: - combat feels like improved Mass Effect 2, but still shares it's clunky movements - animations, sound, aesthetics and graphics are really good - I like the environments and character design

I disagree with this. The Republican Party (MAGA-Trumpist) believes there is one other ideology, Islamo-Bolshevism. The Republican Party (MAGA-Carlsonism) believes there is one other ideology, Judeo-Bolshevism.

I am genuinely shocked with how many of these war criminals chose to stay in Syria. Assad's collapse was rapid yes, but it took rebels a months to a year to consolidate control across Syria with interim government.

This is literally the logic of Taney, who thought he could use the law to defeat abolitionism

trump and hegseth are presiding over one of the great Ls in american military history.

"Sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions like the chief executive can't forgive loans despite legislation saying he can and sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions like the chief executive can unilaterally dismantle an agency established in legislation. You just don't get it!"

I am frankly tired of being told that nothing can be done in any direction because "Israel will never accept it" when the people saying never seems willing to reckon with reality that Israel currently doesn't seem to believe *any* of their neighbors deserve sovereignty.

Its almost like the liberal international order was...good

Trump's ENTIRE legacy will be be global chaos and destruction.

something we have learned in the last few years is that the final form of capitalism is less evil cigar-smoking string-pulling monsters in back rooms somewhere and more a bunch of dipshits cooking their brains in group chats

you fucked up a perfectly good freedom of navigation is what you did look at it, it's got tolls

there are some people that insist that 2026 will be a redder year politically than 2018. there are some people that insist that Susan Collins is still in formidable shape to win reelection. it’s very important that they see this.

The media is worse in Trump II, by far. There was a business case in Trump I; it was exciting and people really did want to read about him. Now everybody hates him and is bored of him, but the media still loves him even as he's killing their institutions. No one else finds him interesting anymore!

Millennials fucking suck, overly cynical pessimistic doomers who just spew slopulism. Fucking failure of a generation that just whines and does nothing about our problems, very judgemental to those who try to fix things just to feel smarter.

Beyond the hundreds of thousands dead and millions more on the way as a direct result of his actions, you can get a direct view inside Musk's mind by opening his twitter. It's a mix of dumbass takes, boosts of his own companies, Rogan clips and outright white supremacy

“Dooku recognized that the Republic was fundamentally flawed! The Republic was the Empire even before Geonosis!“ “Mothma’s genuine electoralist views were sincere and valid! Dooku accelerated the Empire’s rise and his actions enabled Palpatine! Given time reform was possible!”

Real Outer Rim Patriots know

It's the year of our Lord 2026 and people still glaze Mass Effect 1 at the expense of 2 and 3, especially 2.

I famously described the confederates as a pack of villains so evil that their like had not been seen "Since Satan warred against the Almighty."

[stepping out of the Time Machine into a Know-Nothings meeting in 1857] hey guys slight correction, the Catholics who destroy the Republic end up doing it because they’re too loyal to the anti-immigration President and not loyal enough to Rome, yea I don’t really get it either

“Josh Shapiro believes in nothing but his own ambition” theory stays winning

I still think Ezra Klein's response to the Kirk assassination---specifically the contention that you can't morally or practically oppose ideas once they reach a certain threshold of popularity--is the best window we've gotten into elite political thinking in a very long time.

fundamentally the entire Trump era is one big exercise in proving “it can’t possibly get worse” wrong, day after day after day

These people are just middle school bullies, Jesus Christ.

USAID turns out to be yet another case of projection lol

once again the unbelievable arrogance of roberts et al is going to genuinely destructive effects on the entire country

Absolutely extraordinary. The Democrats conceded *nothing* and got everything they demanded. They said no ICE/CBP funding, and that's precisely what happened. In other words, they did not cave. At all. But the GOP did—completely.

This is what happens when you win more than you possibly thought you could ever win. The American Revolution spurred democratization on both sides of the Atlantic. And, in the long run, it got a true believer in it into the Holy fucking See. And more distant admirers are PMs or titular monarchs.

Gawker's fate was sealed when A.J. Daulerio flippantly joked while testifying under oath that he would find a sex tape of a 5 year old sufficiently newsworthy to publish on Gawker. Peter Thiel funded that lawsuit, yes, but Gawker did themselves zero favors in how they handled it.

This is an unfortunately common sentiment amongst a lot of (younger) left leaning academic types

she apparently assumed that the only way I (Asian dude) could know about these things is if I was actively involved in these organizations or competitors to them rather than studying them to hate them more effectively

I had a mutual on the old site who was on track to be a briefcase carrier and after the full scale invasion of Ukraine she asked a question about Wagner group in a group chat and when I linked a few pdfs about Russian use of PMCs in Syria, Africa, and the War in Donbas she freaked out and blocked me

The man with the nuclear codes: "He’s been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live... He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will."

Nazifurs not be cringe challenge

Red voters are very, very mad today for unclear reasons

End of the day, they are falling back on the left/right facebook slop consensus

> someone tries to kill you in a very public botched effort > everyone hates you 2% more

Well I am sad. 🫠

I kinda forgot about this guy. Sent 3 bombs to CNN and eight years later CNN anchors were dressing up in tuxes and gowns to go celebrate the president that encouraged the bombings.

I once got called a witch by a guy who was so dogshit at arguing, formulating thoughts and generaly reasonning that me making sense when i disagreed with him felt like magic to him (he fucking told me that). So i think everything can be a magic system if you're dumb enough

Honey, Strelkov is doom posting again.

I don’t think it’s much more complex than he’s pushing 80, conscious of his own mortality, and scrambling to build as many monuments to himself (or slap his name on existing ones) as he can.

Tiedrich on fire today