Truth hurts, huh?

I wonder if there’s enough of a sample from this to use for DNA tracing…?

You got the name brand, then. While I remember that flavor, most of those i licked through my life didn’t have such a pleasant aftertaste.

GFY, Elon.

^Sorry, just had to get that out of my system…^

Going out doing what you love to do is great, and all - but not in front of everybody!

Frankly would rather that than coded religious messages that encourage bigotry. At least (some) of the negative effects of violence are usually shown - not so much when it comes to thinking you’re better than others because you were told your Sky-Daddy said so.

War is another major economy driver, so no - it would not “crush” their economy. If you think in the current Internet age the Chinese government can be organized against so easily that it’ll be overthrown by their own people, then you know so little about China that further discussion on this topic with you is a complete waste of time.

China’s MO is to antagonize. They keep pushing knowing that sooner or later some individual they’re antagonizing is going to fuck up and cross the line, and they’ll be able to go all in on a “response” while blaming the other side for starting it.

China’s government likes to play both sides against the middle. With a population the size of theirs, I wouldn’t be the least surprised if they were perfectly fine throwing a few people under the bus on this.

So… they banned social media for a whole 15 seconds?

No, he looks forward to using me as a target for their collective derision.

Sounds like those who’ve seen it still don’t know any more than you do.

Did you even read the article - particularly the part (and a further linked article) about that asshole Robby Starbuck (name now forever ruined for me)?

I think the problem lies in the very heart of what it means to be conservative or liberal. Conservatives tend towards group-think because they’re either bullies, or the bullied. Liberals - by the very definition of the word - are a much more widely varied bunch that understand & respect other people’s right to have a difference of opinion. Therefore it’s much more difficult to achieve a unified front on the left than it is on the right. This is why the right dominates our lives so much despite being in a relative minority.

To be fair, that IS why they exist, after all. That’s why it’s important to have regulations imposed by whatever authority so that they ALL have to honor certain minimum expectations of decency - you can’t reasonably expect any business to have expenses geared towards doing “the right things” that their competitors don’t also have to abide by. This is part of what the government is there for, and these assholes insist upon removing those guardrails just to squeeze out another few million dollars they don’t actually need.

Money. Money changes EVERYTHING. - Cyndi Lauper

That’s actually how I took it at first, seemed highly apropos.

I think you took it way more offensively than it was intended.

There are exceedingly few phones that have them anymore - particularly more powerful ones. I prefer a headphone jack because I don’t have to juggle keeping everything charged long enough for when I want to use it.

A prime example is when I go to sleep. I live on a somewhat busy street in an apartment facing said street. I have noisy neighbors. My spouse is used to sleeping with the TV on (there are reasons for this which I understand) - thankfully, the screen doesn’t have to be on. As such, I use wired earbuds that block out most external sound, along with an audio track I’ve been using for many years on a loop to put (and keep) me to sleep. Show me any wireless earbuds that’ll last the night, block out sound, and not be too big to lay upon comfortably since I’m a side-sleeper (let alone not have controls accidentally activated by laying on them).

ETA: Never mind that my Bluetooth earbuds always seem to develop a problem keeping contact with their charge contacts in the case before long, so it’s not infrequent that I go to use them and they’re dead when they shouldn’t be.

Yet, they can’t win an election. SMDH.