In my state you’re legally required to remove the snow from your car before driving, because it’s a danger to the people around you. So I think it’s rude.

Taiwan’s economy is like 98% reliant on China. China could drain Taiwan dry without ever setting foot on that island. Taiwan will negotiate a deal with Xi. They may like it or not.

Fuck that. You didn’t make that mess, and they will set back any progress you make. Focus on cleaning out your own space that you control and that they can’t ruin. Sneak some trash bags into your bedroom. The day before trash day, bag as much stuff as you can, and try to sneak the bags out early in the morning before the trash comes. If you give them any opportunity to intervene, you’re going to get yelled at for throwing things out, or they’ll try to go through the stuff, or they’ll bring it back in the house. Any bit of their involvement is a no, because they’re not going to help you have a clean and healthy space.

Then do it the next week, and the next week.

Be ruthless with throwing things out. The fact that you don’t have a clear walking path means you have way too much stuff. That the stuff is sitting under piles of clothes and you haven’t touched them for months or years means they aren’t important to you.You can get a job. You can buy more things- things you actually choose for yourself and like. But you can also be intentional about it, fewer things but higher quality things that you actually can use and that make your life feel better.

in my own life, I’ve only met Chileans and Argentinians with good enough English that I could have conversations with them. we VERY RARELY will get news written by Brazilians. with the language barrier, our understanding of the south is pretty heavily influenced by narrative and rumored stereotypes.

but also it’s like, I feel pretty confident that if you asked the average American what continent Guyana is on, there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll get it wrong.

“To strike another blow for freedom allows a man to walk a little taller and hold his head a little higher. And while he can, he must.” - William J Brennan, former justice of the US Supreme Court. I keep it taped to my door to remind me why I’m here.

Communism has nothing to do with resource misallocation. That’s a thing that some communist governments did, as did democratic governments and theocratic governments. Your comment is really doing exactly what the person in OP’s hypothetical did. It’s really not surprising that a populist takeover by mob rule did not instantly create an efficient system of communist government- that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to work out an effective system of communist government. That means they were too impatient to gradually work out a system that would actually improve the circumstance for everyone involved.

the same thing happened during post-colonial land redistribution in Africa, and that had nothing to do with communism. when you take land from the people who know what they’re doing and give it to people who don’t, then you disrupt supply chains, you’re going to get famine. so don’t do that. get the people who know what they’re doing on your side.

!historyphotos@piefed.social is pretty active.

Maybe a book of excerpts or an anthology might be helpful, so it’s less daunting?

They really will not be able to. He has fired 75-90% of many agencies’ employees. This is going to take decades fix, and every election we lose will extend that.