Rationally speaking, the whole purpose of sanctions is to sanction the whole population of the country in order to get the government of the country to change it’s policies. And when it comes to sanctions, companies and entities doing business with the sanctioned countries are themselves sanctioned. So Linus had no choice but to remove the Russian contributors.

We’re talking about a real situation, not about what would be better.

It’s not racism. They have to follow the LAW.

This practice is really a banana republic practice. It’s like handing out cash in party flyers in corrupted banana republics.

1984

The new o1-preview model gave me much better and more precise answers than the 4o model.

Not necessarily. In Canada, an independent advisory board reviews applications and provides a shortlist of candidates. The Prime Minister selects a nominee from this list. The nominee may participate in a public hearing before being officially appointed.

That is why it has not been a partisan issue so far.

“Member states cannot continue the race to the bottom corporate tax policies that undermine European unity and social cohesion. Big tech companies like Apple should not be able to exploit their market power and avoid paying their fair share to society,” said EU MEP Kira Peter-Hansen.

Good.

As a Canadian, I find it very sad that schools have to resort to panic alarm systems as if they were living in a Mad Max movie without a government.

China is unique. The one-child policy has only recently been lifted, and the government is actively encouraging the population to have more children. The problem is that because of economic hardship and because this policy has changed the family culture in China, parents still do not want to have multiple children.

Understandable. As others said, they have a demographic decline.

WAS should be the correct verb tense. He saw it was useless as it would split the vote with Trump and now he is behind Trump. He’s trying to get his name off the ballot so he doesn’t hurt Trump’s chances of winning.

Perhaps VPN servers in Brazil (I’m no lawyer) but people can choose to connect to servers outside the country.

Yes. I’m talking about the Talibans’ sick and perverse mind. The Talibans do not view women as human beings.

For the Taliban, women are sexual slaves whose sole purpose is to be baby making machines: they’re not human beings.

It’s easy to explain. You and I are critical thinkers who do our own research and are not easily swayed. As for her, she herself said that she didn’t do any research, but was influenced by her family:

But Hemphill said she usually votes for whoever her mostly Republican-supporting family recommends. Her family, drawn to Trump’s rallies and messaging, drew Hemphill in as well.

“I didn’t realize that brainwashing was happening with Trump in 2016…this is how they would talk to me. ‘Pam, you know, the Democrats…are trying to take over. They’re getting more aggressive.’ I tend to believe them. You know, I wasn’t doing my own research.”

She said coming across facts by researchers helped her gradually drift apart from the MAGA group. Serving time in prison made Hemphill also rethink “who Trump really was” and the misinformation he spread surrounding the 2020 election, she said, to the point where she lost all support for him.

And that’s why skepticism and critical thinking is important for a healthy democracy: you don’t get carried away by these rhetorics and get brainwashed.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Everything is expensive now, housing, food, etc. How can you raise children in this era?

Outside of North America, same-store sales slid 7%. In China, Starbucks’ second-largest market, same-store sales tumbled 14% as both average ticket and transactions shrank. Starbucks has faced stiffer competition in China from local coffee shops that undercut the coffee giant on price.

And that is the problem. Starbucks is not offering anything that doesn’t already exist. It pretends to be a coffee shop for the upper class because it sounds “sophisticated” to say grande instead of medium.

I no longer go there. I know local coffee shops that offer a much better selection of coffees at a good price. And their atmosphere is authentic.

The problem first became apparent to Tesla in March of this year after complaints about unintended hood opening from Chinese customers. By April, it had identified the problem as deformation of the hood latch switch, “which could prevent the customer from being notified about an open hood state.”

Given that China is now an electric car superpower, this situation will not bode well for Tesla in that country.

I assume you are North American, look for small ethnic food shops. You will find better food at a cheaper price.