Yep, I agree. But Putin has held on this long while he has royally screwed the Russian economy, and exposed their bumbling military for what it is. The oligarchs would have ousted him already if it was easy.

If NATO invades, Russia is doomed. Putin doesn’t care that Russia would still exist after a NATO victory, all he cares about is himself and his legacy. Both of which would be destroyed in a NATO victory.

So he would launch the nukes and watch Russia get wiped off the map, because if he can’t have it, no one can. And at least he would go out with a bang, rather than suiciding in a bunker.

The oligarchs would not be able to prevent it. They might hold the political power, but the military order to launch the nukes comes directly from Putin. The best we could hope for is conscientious officers refusing the order.

I have an oddly relevant story.

My wife and I got to do a “swimming with a capybara” experience. My wife forgot about the instructions to not wear anything dangly because the capybara may play with it.

Well, she wore a bikini top that had a big bow in the front.

That capybara motorboated my wife like he was Vince Vaughn after a dry spell.

I just turned to the other (horrified) guests, shrugged, and said I didn’t blame him.

Gotta imagine that ladder was covered in ice for much of the year.

In Soviet Russia, OSHA violates you

I thought MAGA was coined when he was demonizing immigrants and campaigning on building a wall and making Mexico pay for it.

It was a racists dog whistle from the very beginning. It meant expelling the Jews Mexicans to make America White again. After 8 years of a Black president.

Did people really miss this? This was like… the main focus of his campaign.

Many many times. Because I boxed. Nothing more fun than being punched in the face under the right conditions.

We can defederate them now. Content will move as it reaches fewer eyes.

You just described a somewhat progressive leaning liberal.

You believe that the government should stay our of our homes, socially. Progressives have been leading that charge for decades, and moderates have been on board for a while now.

You believe in universal Healthcare and income. Those are very progressive ideals. Those are about as anti libertarian as it gets, because they take away a lot of “individual” freedom, because to fund that, roughly half of your income will need to go to taxes. Maybe more, I haven’t looked at the numbers in a long time, but plenty of current examples to pick from.

You believe in industrial regulation to combat bad actors when necessary. That is a general liberal ideal.

Nothing besides keeping the government away from your personal life is even marginally libertarian. And that’s pretty much the only overlap between libertarianism and liberalism.

This is all from a U.S. point of view.

Will half life 3 be worth the wait?

That would be an interesting combination with my southern California uniform of flip flops board shorts and a tee

Finally! A prosthetic for the Sphinx!

I’ve always wondered. Do you folks just chow on nothing but canned food ands military reasons for a few months straight every couple years when things expire? Or just donate?

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s good to have emergency supplies. But things expire…

It’s $3k+ for small rentals here.

And if you look at buying, pretty much the entire inventory is full of homes that were sold in the last year or two, relisted at 20-100% mark ups.

Fuck these dickheads.

The math shows that a median income cannot even pay a median mortgage, at 100% of income going to mortgage. Mortgage prices translate to rent prices. Not 1:1, but are directly correlated.

Anyone locked into the before times intetest rates is going to sit pretty if at all possible, because they can’t afford to sell and buy elsewhere without a major downgrade.

And returning to the low interest rates will just kick the can down the road, because it was a large cause of the runaway borrowing that led to real estate inflation.

The only way to really fix this is to force the properties out of the greedy corporate / hedge fund hands that are hoarding property that should be in occupier hands. That’s how a healthy society and economy works.

The pain of this crisis is being felt by many. The more discontent there is, the more pressure there is on politicians to pass legislature to address the problem.

I don’t have an A --> B plan on how to push the legislation through, but social unrest generates pressure to do so.

Legislation could also force a lot of homes on the market.

Houses and condos should only be available to be owned by individuals. Ban corporate / hedge fund ownership of everything except high density apartments (that aren’t individually owned).

Ban / cap short term rentals.

Add a tax penalty for individuals after X properties. Ex: if you own more than 3 residential properties, you pay extra taxes.

All of these encourage houses to be occupant owned, while still enabling small scale landlords, because we need both.

I personally would love a crash. I sold my small condo last year in an attempt to upgrade to a house due to getting married and needing more room. I was hoping to time the market, but houses are still out of reach for two middle aged professionals with strong careers, if we ever want to retire.

Edit - to illustrate the problem. In San Diego, where I live, depending on the source, the median home is about $1m.

If you take the estimated monthly cost of leading real estate cites, that’s around $7200/mo.

The median household income in San Diego is $83500.

Do the math.