Cozy dystopia. God help me.

You’re missing the analogy of it being a defence mechanism in cases of abuse in children. Just cleaning the child up will not fix the issue.

Is it still “First Lady” if the marriage is morganatic?

Yes, but the point stands: Lenin wasn’t grown in a vat in Berlin, he was only ever in Vienna because being in St. Petersburg would get him arrested. There are American political factions favored by certain foreign nations, but they are, at the end of the day, American political factions. And I frankly find it deeply depressing hilarious that the current state of the discourse seems to agree that foreigners are destroying the country, but can’t agree over which foreigners exactly. Talk about Overton loopholes.

I have to say, “The evil foreigners are to blame for us becoming fascist” is an onion-level take.

The reality is precisely the opposite.

The weird thing about Putin’s Russia is that it has no oligarchs, really. Specifically, the idea is that an oligarch is someone who’s wealth allows them access to political power, while in Russia, it’s the other way around - political position allows people access to wealth. Conversely, when they fall out of favour, their money doesn’t protect them - it simply goes away.

The USA, on the other hand, has plenty of oligarchs, and thinking they’re taking sides in politics because they fear Trump is idiocy. These are the people buying islands and building doomsday bunkers in New Zealand. These are the people who shoot themselves to space and copy haircuts of Roman emperors. They’re picking sides because Matt Christmann was right.

Through Beijing, in fact.

I’m actually shocked

I’m not. Ever since the war, every single closet xenophobe of the west has been taking full advantage of finally having an acceptable group of subhumans to hate. If any of this surprises you, you haven’t been paying attention.

Frankly that sounds like “OK, I did install a camera in your bedroom, but it’s not like it’s on or anything!”

This, but from the acoustic session.

We cannot allow a mineshaft gap!

Case in point: Yitzhak Rabin.

Exactly! Not doing something to stop a problem is not the same as causing it. Also, if you don’t vote for Harris you’re voting for Trump.

…And just like that, John Bolton gets an idea…

Let me guess, it’s not “boots on the ground”.because they’re wearing sneakers?

…I typed out an answer in agreement, but then I remembered the folks around him, and I’m not even sure that’s a safe bet anymore.

That’s exactly the problem: he’s an anomaly, he’s a one off, he’s a foreign ploy, he’s unique and we just have to get rid of him, and everything will be fine again, he’s certainly not an outgrown of a movement thats been gaining steam for decades and points to deep systematic problems with the American politics and polity, no sir, everything else is fine, it’s just him and him alone.

The concern is legitimate, but it falls into the same “never again - to us” pit Israel fell into. Another potential framing one could take of the issue - one I feel is more helpful - would go something like: 80 years ago, the world got together to help save Germany from itself, and it’s time to return the favor, hopefully before it gets completely out of hand like last time.

I remember a homeless guy who attempted a terror attack by stabbing people in a convenience store, where the FBI came up with the attack, convinced him to do it, bought him a knife, and gave him a lift to the store.

IIRC, most fissile fuel, worldwide, is from Russia. I know most of France’s is.