A restorative system is the absolute opposite of weak and unsuccessful.
The U.S. recidivism rate is around 70%, while Scandinavian countries typically range from 20% to 40%, depending on the country and measurement method.

A system like theirs is more expensive per convict, but the entire system costs far less overall, because dramatically lower recidivism means:
- fewer people in prison
- shorter sentences
- fewer repeat incarcerations
- lower policing and court costs
- fewer social costs from crime
- less criminals = more productive citizens

Electric and fuel economical cars are more popular again, because of Trump, but cars are only a small percentage of the global problem. It takes decades of directed investments into alternative energy, while simultaneously ramping down fossil fuel subsidies/profits, making alternative energy compete with the short term profits of killing humanity.
Trump is doing the exact opposite of that. He is prioritizing more expensive fossil fuel energy, making energy more expensive for American citizens, and polluting their air and water, and accelerating climate change for everyone on the planet.
I would wish that there was ANYTHING that I could cheer for Trump over.
I could forgive him his toxic character, if he had some general positive effect on the world.

A silver lining like promoting those cars cannot compensate for his onslaught of
stupidity, cruelty, divisiveness, authoritarianism, corruption, chaos, existential threat,
and utter incompetence, in which only the last of his malignancies provides some relief.
If he was competent, his harmful effect would probably have been irreversible already.

I don't either. Your president getting elected is a symptom of a disease, not the cause.
He is 'medicine' for the disease, just as drinking bleach is a 'medicine' for indigestion, though.

They have been stable as a rock.
Your president and his followers are dangerous lunatics.

Your capital attackers were PARDONED, while the suspect in your article was released by the justice system. The difference is that Trump overruled the justice system, to get his supporters out, while you as a Trump supporter are arguing that the justice system should be more punitive. That's the hypocrisy I'm pointing out. You want a punitive system "for thee, but not for me".

I don't want a punitive system, I want a restorative/preventative justice system.
I want criminals to be rehabilitated and suspects to be innocent until proven guilty,
and not to be detained indefinitely because they might commit a crime in the future.
That could indeed cause some harm, but that is the price of freedom.
You accept a much higher price of the 2nd amendment freedom that you care about.

Why then do I not support the pardoning of the capital attackers?
Because it's not restorative/preventative for a president to give a signal that
committing crimes IN HIS NAME is permitted or even rewarded.

You couldn't find anything more recent? This is supposed to be your main villain.

Was Soros responsible?
Most economists and historians would say:
- No, he did not single-handedly cause the collapse.
- The pound was already under severe pressure because of underlying economic conditions and government policy mistakes.
- Soros became the symbolic face of the event because his bet was so large and successful.

The government that was primarily responsible for weakening the the pound was the one under Prime Minister John Major, along with earlier decisions made under Margaret Thatcher, both from the Conservative Party.

$1 billion is peanuts. Several investors made enormous fortunes betting against the U.S. housing market, before the 2008 crash.
- John Paulson probably made the most money personally. His hedge fund reportedly earned around $15–20 billion in 2007 alone by shorting subprime mortgage securities. Paulson himself reportedly earned roughly $4 billion that year, one of the largest payouts in hedge-fund history.
- Michael Burry, famous from The Big Short, identified weaknesses in subprime mortgages early and used credit default swaps to bet against mortgage bonds. His fund made about 700% for investors.

John Paulson and Michael Burry did not cause the housing bubble or the subprime lending explosion. They saw it being fueled by greedy bankers, reckless lending, and investors chasing profits, while the George W. Bush administration ignored mounting warnings.
They bet against the system holding together and made fortunes when politicians and financial institutions failed to stop the collapse, much like George Soros profited from Britain’s flawed currency policy in 1992.

These people are investors, not politicians. They are leeches on the system,
but they are not making the decisions and then profiting from them personally,
like Trump and his cronies have been doing.

More Than a Dozen U.S. Officials Sold Stocks Before Trump’s Tariffs Sent the Market Plunging
only registered users can see external links

Breaking Down the 'Insider Trading' Accusations Leveled at Trump After Tariffs U-Turn
only registered users can see external links

Mysterious trading patterns follow Trump into war
only registered users can see external links

Inside the Trump family’s global crypto cash machine.
only registered users can see external links

Trump meme coin’s creators have already made $320 million in fees as clock ticks toward presidential dinner with top holders
only registered users can see external links

Trump meme coins raise money. They also buy access.
only registered users can see external links

Lobbyists Stand To Make Millions From 'Pardon-Shopping Industry' Driven By Trump
only registered users can see external links

"the right to roam laws"? Never heard of them. I asked ChatGPT, and it seems we don't have that. Wild camping is generally illegal without permission. If there is someone on your property, you can ask them to leave, and if they don't the police comes to take them away.

Our homes are very comfortable. They are generally built from higher quality materials and with higher quality norms. They are built to last, while American homes are built to be cheap.

In a crash, you have a higher chance of surviving in an European or Japanese car, than an American car. Your cars are heavy, but they are poorly designed for safety.
We DON'T have free healthcare, we have health INSURANCE. It's just better and cheaper, because it's regulated better. Your health insurance is just a scam, designed for profit.

"if you work and try, you have a fair chance at a good living"
There is a ratings for that, which is called the Social Mobility Index.
It measures how much people can improve their economic position through work, education, and opportunity.
The US is ranked #28, after Lithuania, the Netherlands #6.
only registered users can see external links

What's your argument? The US is incapable of creating something that works well
in every other developed country?
Most of our trains cross roads through a tunnel or a bridge.

I'm very much a car person, but sometimes we go to the center of Rotterdam or The Hague. It's just quicker and cheaper to take public transport then. Sometimes I park my car near the station or we hop on the bus or tram to the station. Then we get out
in the center or take a subway (Rotterdam) or a tram (The Hague). It beats stopping
at 100 traffic lights and then paying $4/hour for parking.

It looks like they are very careful with those hantavirus victims. I'm not worried.
Hantavirus isn't very contagious. This is obviously fake news.

The CDC says: "To date, no cases of Andes virus have been confirmed in the United States as a result of this outbreak."

The U.S. does normally get ordinary hantavirus cases every year from rodent exposure in the Southwest and western states. But those are unrelated to the cruise outbreak and usually involve different hantavirus strains.

I see you have the similar failing strategy as with Covid; trying to stop it entering
the country, but having no idea what to do when it's already in your country.
You're very afraid for something new, but once shit actually hits the fan, you would ignore all the advise from specialists. Why don't you try it the other way around? Don't panick about things, when there are no actual specialists who say there is
a problem, but listen when they do say that there is a problem.

Nonsense propaganda. What you have isn't 'work ethic', it's exploitation.
Our average quality of life is much higher than yours.
You are now at the level of one of our poorest countries, on healthcare access, vacation time, public transit, maternal mortality, violent crime/homicide, life expectancy, work-life balance, job security, childcare affordability, education affordability. What is true is that you have bigger cars and bigger houses, on average. That's because one of the only things that your government subsidizes is cheap fuel for your cars. That's why gas-guzzling trucks are affordable in your country. Many Americans also have bigger houses. That's because the US overall is 20 times less populated than my country. My country is mostly one big city. Don't forget that Americans in cities like New York City or San Francisco, live in apartments that can be extremely small and very expensive too.
Also, many Americans live above their means; they are more likely to have larger living spaces, cars, air conditioning, more consumer goods, but even if they have a higher gross income, they are also more likely to have medical debt, unstable housing, little savings, high commuting costs, weak social protections, expensive childcare/education and bankruptcy risk. Credit card debt is common in the US,
in my country it's much less common.

We have different values; Dutch people value 'living', Americans value 'having'.

I don't know what you're on about with the law about your yard. Does that ever happen or is it something you have a phobia about? Most of us have a public front yard and a private back yard. It's very much uncommon that someone comes into the private back yard uninvited. If you don't like people coming up to your public front yard to sell you stuff or proselytize, then you put a sticker on your door that you don't like that, which is respected fully. We don't need laws for things that are not a problem.
My girlfriend wanted one of those stickers, and I allowed it. I think it's a bit of a shame, because I actually enjoyed engaging in a discussion with a Jehovah's Witness.

When I know it's true, from thousands of miles away, you know it's true too.
I didn't start the politics talk here, people were already doing it long before I got here looking for people talking about sex. The number of conservatives on this website surprised me. Openly and politically, you guys profess sexual repression and you spit
on the gays and the trans, but privately you're "on a site that features photographs of people with strings tied around their balls".

In the Netherlands we work to live, in the USA you live to work. That's why I have spare time to follow what is happening in the world and take the debate to the likes of you.
If you need to believe that I don't have a job, to be happy, believe whatever you want about me, because that's harmless. However, if you want to believe that Europe sucks because we are all on welfare, then you're not just wrong, but you're actively believing propaganda paid for by the oligarchs to exploit the working class, making your country worse. My state indeed funds the needs of the people more. Your state gives all your tax-dollars to people who already have billions. What do you get back for it? Your country is deep in dept, your people are poor and they are working like slaves. Why do you think that is something to be proud of?

My purpose is making the world better, by trying to convince people to stop destroying it. You are cucked by the oligarchs who care about short term profit so much, that they accept that they are destroying the world. Their greed is incurable.
Being a Renfield to the Draculas who are bleeding us dry is definitely a purpose in life, but unlike you, I can look myself in the mirror. What are you telling yourself, to make yourself believe that you are fulfilling your responsibility as a member of humanity?

Bullshit, the world is what you make of it. If you support selfish cruel people in their act of selfishness and cruelty, the world becomes worse. If you support decent people,
who are trying to make the world better, while following principles of democracy and human rights, it will have a strong positive effect.

The wise man was correct, but you have a very skewed idea of what is moral.

How your government behaves, that boot is much more applicable on yours than on mine. Both your parties SUCK BALLS and never do what they promise. Those parties are not representing you, you represent them, out of some stupid loyalty. When they brake every promise, YOU change your tune to justify their actions. That's because your politics is pushed on you from birth. You only follow the media that tells you what you want to hear and you are friends with people who agree with you. Whole states are divide up to the politics that dominate it. People are proudly proclaiming that they have independent thought, because they only agree with 99% of what Trump is doing.
Or they say "I don't have a choice, because the other side is so fucking stupid!".
If a society is so extremely split into two sides, that means you have a problem.
There are two lists, one for Republicans and one for Democrats. The lists are almost opposites of each other, but they are written in their own terminology. Either side will support their points for at least 90%, often 99% or 100%. THAT IS NOT HEALTHY!!!

The difference in my country is huge. Every person has their OWN ideas. Even if they vote for the same party or are a member (and we have 15 parties in the House of Representatives) people still might only agree 70%-80% with each other. Then we have DISCUSSIONS, in which we actually try to convince the other, instead of score points.
We have a functioning democracy that listens to its people, because our vote still matters. We have more than two pathetic choices. If one party fucks us over, we don't have just one other choice. We can even easily create a new party and vote it into significant power. If they don't do as they promised, the next election they are gone or decimated.

Almost all Americans hate politics and hate their government. Why do you think that is?

If I lived in the US, I would probably hoard guns and ammo, like I was preparing for war and build my house like a fucking fortress. That's on your society turning crazy.
I don't have to do that now, because I (still) live in a mostly sane country.

I am a pragmatic person; I fight for ideals, but I adjust to the status quo.

You never asked this question or in this way, but it isn't applicable.
There will ALWAYS be some evil in the world. The CHOICE is how you handle it; do you choose to minimize the damage of it or do you make choices in which the cure is worse than the disease.
You can turn your country into a police state, in which crime is minimized, by punishing every little offense severely and having cops everywhere controlling every move you make. Maybe that prevents you being robbed that one time in your life, or your bike doesn't get stolen, but the cops will treat you like a suspect and bother you everywhere you go.
Both crime and law enforcement are a risk to your livelihood. You can get mugged on the street or you can get hit my a stray bullet from police officers "handling" criminals. In your country, many people become victims of the police, while doing absolutely nothing illegal. You have justified that by blaming the victim for doing something wrong, but they were NOT breaking the law, before the cop decided to act against them, in most cases.

I am just trying to find an equilibrium between the risk that I'm suffering from evil or crazy people and the risk that I'm suffering from the protective measures. Your priority lies almost completely with suppression of crime, while you accept all the downsides that come from it.

"HOW do you rid the human mind of the desire to steal, harm, hate?"
That's a different question than how you protect yourself from it. Creating a police state will NOT rid the human mind of the DESIRE to steal, harm, hate. It might make rational people think twice about doing it, but criminals are NOT rational people.
The desire to steal, harm or hate are not rational to begin with. In the world we live in, it is rational to build yourself a future by education, self improvement and effectively turning your time and skills into a solid income. Stealing is always a risk, because you are dependent on a criminal economy that pays you money for stolen goods. Dealing with criminals is a risky business; you are always fighting against being ripped of or getting hurt. Harming and hating people is on the same page. That is mostly created by society; there is a culture where harming people for profit is completely acceptable, if you have the power to do so legally or even illegally.
This is propagated by mostly right-wingers, but it is also accepted by corporate liberals. It's only leftists and socialists, who want to reduce that. Hate is also mostly created by the media, that pit people against each other. If you are afraid and angry towards other people without any power, you are distracted from the powerful people harming you.

I'm surprised to see you talk about empathy, because you have always before dismissed it as weak or stupid. Empathy starts with the idea that all people are
the same and have human rights. You are always arguing against that.

Forgiveness? I am not arguing against you, I think. I think you copy/pasted this from somewhere, without reading it. Will you forgive people who entered your country illegally, when they were fleeing violence and chaos, but then did everything they could to follow the law and become a productive member of society?

Your ignorance about my country is stunning.

A police state? When the police has business with you, you have to be
extremely careful what you say or do, because they are looking for a reason
to arrest or shoot you. Our police is patient and restrained as kindergarten teachers.
We have much more freedom than you do.

I hate waking up to music, because my brain is somehow vulnerable in the morning
to picking up songs that play in my head for the rest of the day.

They are highly appreciated by lots of people, but it's not something you always have with you. It has been ages since I used a handheld calculator. There is almost always a PC near me when I need to calculate stuff. If the calculation is simple, I use the calculator app. I always pick a keyboard that has the calculator button on it.
However, I use Excel more, because most of my calculations are more complicated
or there are just multiple of them, and I usually need to keep the results.

It's not a mechanical clock, but a digital LCD alarm clock, with no radio, on one AA battery. I like it, because it makes no light, until you wave your hand over it. The alarm starts with a very soft beep every two seconds, that increases to two beeps, two louder beeps, ever increasing to louder and quicker beeps. It's really hard to find an alarm clock that wakes you up so gently. It changes automatically with daylight savings time and it follows the radio time signal station. I've had it for a long time, because it was the first of it's kind. It wasn't cheap either, but I treasure it.

There is nothing in your whole text that is problematic, except for your use
of the term 'funneling'. Funneling implies:
- concealment
- improper routing
- laundering money through intermediaries
- intentionally obscuring the recipient.

There is NO EVIDENCE of that. The grant was 'granted' by:
- NIH/NIAID awarded a grant to the U.S.-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance.
- EcoHealth then subcontracted part of the work to foreign research partners, including the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
- NIH and the State Department reportedly knew about and approved the collaboration.

Most virology scientists are researching dangerous viruses, because there is a benefit to society to prevent them from causing an outbreak killing any number of people imaginable.

Remember SARS and MERS? Those are both corona viruses like Covid, and mostly occurred in Asia. That's why there were scientists studying corona viruses, in the area that corona viruses are going around the most.

There are virologists studying bird flu. They know exactly the number of mutations
it takes for a very deadly bird flu which at this moment is not contagious among humans, to swap genes with human flu, and become a deadly highly contagious human flu. It takes virologists to determine that, which is very valuable,
if you want to have vaccines BEFORE BIRD SHIT HITS THE FAN.
If that mutation happens, I'm sure you lot will accuse the very scientists who have warned about it for many years.

Damn, how your side has become crazy the last decades.
Everyone used to fear a virus outbreak like in the movie Outbreak, but then
you dumb-asses became afraid of the heroes who saved the world (instead of the virus who was threatening humanity), because of stupid right-wing fearmongering.

Fauci is not my hero, he was just another medical specialist who got the job of informing the stupid people how to not contain a virus and in that way overburden the healthcare system that was trying to save people from dying. We had Jaap van Dissel and Diederik Gommers. People with not much people skills, trying to unstupid stupid people, which is almost impossible.

I also have an alarm clock from decades ago, and I would be very sad if it broke.

"Things from the 70’s that no longer exist"

Calculators that way half a kilo, and can only add, subtract, multiply and divide,
also don't exist anymore. But that I think is progress.

Owning a gun isn't freedom, having no reason to own a gun is freedom.

If you are in danger of people robbing your house, you value the right to own
a fucking mean guard dog. However, it requires food, attention and vet bills,
and one day the fucker will bite you. That's why you're more free if you don't
need a guard dog for your house to be safe.

How about I just say "BULLSHIT!", like you usually do?

In the 1970s, many progressive people in the Netherlands believed nudity and sexuality should be treated openly and without shame. It was considered normal in some circles for families to shower together nude, for children to see non-sexual nudity, and for naked people of different ages to appear in magazines, television, advertisements, and public spaces such as beaches, saunas, and campsites. Open sex education and sexual freedom were seen as signs of a modern, liberated society.
On ordinary public beaches, seeing several women sunbathing or walking topless was common well into the late 1980s and in some places even the 1990s. Open sex education and sexual freedom were seen as signs of a modern, liberated society.

By 2026, Dutch society is still relatively liberal, but public nudity is much less visible than during the 1970s sexual revolution. Topless sunbathing on ordinary beaches has become uncommon, and family nudity is generally seen as more private.
The media has also changed. In the 1970s and 1980s, nudity regularly appeared in magazines, television, and even TV commercials as something normal and non-sexual.
By 2026, mainstream media is much more cautious, and nudity in advertisements or regular TV commercials is now rare. Smartphones, social media, privacy concerns,
and stronger ideas about personal boundaries and consent all contributed to this shift.

$10.20 per US gallon in the Netherlands, last time I filled up.
I'm now driving at 50 MPG, in ECO mode, to compensate.

Fauci could be the worst criminal to ever walk the planet, and personally responsible for creating Covid and unleashing it, that still doesn't make Covid a hoax, the vaccines still work, Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine still don't work, injecting bleach in your veins is still an incredibly stupid idea, masks and even scarfs help (a bit) to prevent spreading the virus when the coughing person wears one, and all of right-wing media was intentionally spreading bullshit and creating distrust, for ratings and political gain, resulting in many deaths in their own audience.

If Fauci is such a criminal, why has your completely right-wing dominated FBI and DOJ not succeeded in finding anything to indict him on?

Nothing you are saying ever holds water.

only registered users can see external links
The future looks promising. If I had a good hiding spot and could spend
the money without my girlfriend finding out...

All of Europe has an interstate highway system. We have alternatives.
You have almost nothing but your highways. That's why traffic is murder,
even on 12-lane highways.

You want to compare yourself with a country that has the lowest population density
in the world, with approximately 0.07 people per square mile.

A simple rural 2-lane road costs about $2M–$3M per mile. Who pays for that?
Who is keeping the roads free of snow, in a country where it snows more than
100 days per year?

Large parts of Alaska are not connected by roads at all either.
Alaska has about 1.1 people per square mile, about 16Ч denser than Greenland.

Sure, walk away. That's what Republican politicians are doing too, they are walking away from their town halls, because they are booed, shouted at and bombarded with questions by their own constituents. GOP leadership, including Mike Johnson, encouraged members to avoid in-person town halls.
only registered users can see external links

Democrats and progressive groups have been aggressively holding town halls in districts where Republicans stopped holding in-person events. In Colorado, for example, Democrats reportedly held 11 in-person town halls in the first months of 2025 while Republicans shifted toward tele-town halls.
only registered users can see external links

Meanwhile, Democrats are holding record breaking rallies everywhere.
only registered users can see external links

Anti-Trump protest movements in 2025 have been very large nationally. The “Hands Off!” protests reportedly involved demonstrations in more than 1,400 locations nationwide, with organizers claiming millions of participants.
only registered users can see external links

It doesn't look like voters agree with you. Democrats have won special elections and are over-performing and winning in red areas like Arizona and Texas, while Republicans are only winning safe districts. You are losing ground, while there are progressive Democratic candidates surging in polls. There is a whole list of progressives, with huge following and surging in polls or having a good chance to even beat Republicans in red areas: Adelita Grijalva, Analilia Mejia, Cori Bush, Donavan McKinney, Graham Platner, James Talarico, Justin J. Pearson, Mai Vang, Nida Allam, Summer Lee and even a fucking billionaire who is winning on a progressive agenda; Tom Steyer. They are winning over lots of Republicans and former Trump voters. Find me anyone on your side who people are actually excited about and who is winning over the other side.

A muslim socialist major, Zohran Mamdani, is climbing steadily in his approval ratings while Trump keeps dropping

Progressives have large grassroots followings, while Republicans have support from billionaire donors and corrupt dark money. Besides Trump, there are hardly any Republicans who get working class people actually excited. People are not even showing up for Trump himself anymore. He's falling apart, on borrowed time, you all know it, and you have no one to replace him. You have Little Marco as the main candidate now.
You know that, which is why you need to project your side's failings on the Democrats.

A real Christian would try to behave like Jesus.
"Feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, welcoming the stranger"?
The idea that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”?
Those kind of things are relevant to Mr Talarico.

Greenland is a quarter of the size of the US, but there's only 56,700 people living there. Who will pay for those thousands of miles of roads? They hunt seals for a living!!!
If they didn't get any subsidies from Denmark, they would freeze and starve to death.
Can you not understand ANYTHING?

Yes, Trump is a stupid asshole for talking about taking Greenland.
Even though they don't have money for thousands of miles of roads
that 2 people per month would use, it's STILL THEIR FUCKING COUNTRY!!

There are 330 MILLION Americans, but you cannot even build a decent train network. When too many trains derail, poisoning villages, you just reduce the speed to 5 mph.
Europe or China should acquire the US, because you obviously cannot decently manage it yourself. Your infrastructure is at the level of third world countries.

Can you provide ANYTHING that isn't based on stupid conspiracies?

Gain-of-function (GoF) research is a type of scientific study that genetically alters an organism, such as a virus, to enhance its biological functions, including transmissibility, virulence, or host range. While contentious, this research aims to understand pathogen evolution, improve vaccine development, and create pandemic countermeasures by "war-gaming" future mutations.

YOU keep parroting nonsense that has been completely debunked.
Nothing that you have predicted has ever come true.
People who used horse paste died, people who vaccinated survived.
They could even see an effect on elections, because so many conservatives
caused their own early demise. Idiots suffocating in hospital beds while crying 'hoax!'.

It's a possibility that Covid was a lab-leak, but it's not proven. In any case, the danger was real and your stupid president was denying it and spreading misinformation about treatments that don't work, instead of preventing those deaths. The US was affected by Covid many months after China and European countries, and still you had 25% of the deaths in the world. That was not because of Fauci, but because of right-wing idiots, who are incapable of understanding science and cannot act like responsible adults, when confronted with a pandemic. Go ahead, cough in each other's faces when a virus is going around, and deliver the world from your stupidity.

"In 1983, early in the AIDS crisis, Anthony Fauci co-authored a commentary discussing whether AIDS might possibly spread through close household contact, based on a small number of puzzling pediatric cases. At that point, HIV had not yet been fully identified and scientists were still trying to determine how the disease spread. Fauci explicitly framed the idea as a possibility needing caution and more evidence, not as a proven fact" How the fuck did that hurt anyone? Better safe than sorry!

When you believe such dumb stories, don't talk to me about critical thinking.

Coddled by our government? They are taxing the shit out of us while gutting our healthcare, childcare and pensions too. We just had more to begin with, because most of us were lefties once. Now most are voting right-wing, so everything is getting cut, while they blame immigrants, just like in the US. Too many gullible people like you.

This is just science! Simple observation combined with brilliant minds.

Prove me wrong then.

Is your Western culture dependent on a fixed idea of male and female?
I think your talking about your conservative culture, not Western culture.

How will accepting transgenders serve the oligarchs?
Better look at the trillions of dollars in tax-cuts they get from Trump.
No administration in decades has been working this hard to bring that feudalistic society closer at this rate, as the Trump regime. Tax-cuts for the oligarchs, tariffs for you, a massive shift of the tax-burden from the wealthy to the working class, while they are cutting healthcare and healthcare assistance, food programs, social security and environmental protections to protect your air, water and food, allowing the oligarchs to poison you for a bit more profit.

"A woman is more than just a mental state. It is also a physical property."
NO ONE is denying that. Still, about 5% to 10% of the population is gay, which is a sexual attraction that doesn't fit their biological sex. About 1.7% of people are born with some kind of intersex trait, ranging from variations in chromosomes, hormones or anatomy, of which some are not obvious at birth. You can deny it, but this is widely documented, and it's not 'something modern'.

Conservative idiots just used to think of these people as demon possessed. Your side has demonized the gays for decades, and now we have some progress on that front, the culture war shifts to an even smaller minority.
Conservatives always need some scapegoat to blame for their failures.
It's the Jews, the gays, the illegals, transgenders, or lazy people.
Anything to make you believe that when you work your ass off for shit pay,
and you cannot afford your home, groceries, healthcare, electricity, insurance
or to stop working when you're old, that's because of 'the others', and not because the wealthy steals 90 cents of every dollar that your labor has created.
And when you are distracted, they steal even more from you. Wake up!

Bullshit, the Earth is warming at a faster rate than ever before.

David Marcus is a political/opinion writer, not a climate scientist.
His work is generally aligned with conservative and anti-progressive commentary.
Fox News opinion content has frequently been criticized by media watchdogs and climate researchers for spreading misleading or dismissive narratives about climate science.
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that human-caused climate change is real and supported by decades of evidence from organizations such as NASA, NOAA, the IPCC, and major national science academies worldwide.

So in short: David Marcus is a conservative columnist and commentator, not a climate expert, and the article you saw is an opinion piece rather than a factual scientific analysis.
He is not even a serious journalist; he's a narrative humper, not a serious arguer.

The MSN link you shared is syndicating one of his opinion columns. The headline
(“the end of the climate change hoax”) reflects his personal political viewpoint,
not a scientific consensus or a New York Times editorial position.

This article has the same value as you saying it. It contains zero arguments that could even start to refute the scientific evidence that is supporting climate change.
There are even less arguments in this article than you have provided. Why post it?
The fact that this is the type of people who are on your side, should tell you something.

A real Christian is one who does what Jesus would have done:
James Talarico gives commencement address at Paul Quinn College
only registered users can see external links

Nice that you know it. I remembered the part that he said he was "intimate"
with Tasha too. And I liked how Maddox called him "He" at the end, after calling
him "it" before. I like it when TV-series, movies or games make me think about
life's questions like this.

I don't know how long away we are until we come to dilemmas like that, or if we
ever will, but that's exactly what we were talking about.

Humans are just biological machines. If an electronic lifeform is just as complex as
a human, why would a human have a soul and why not such an electronic lifeform?
If we had a soul, why would we have problems thinking and speaking, when part of our brain gets damaged? I see it as evidence that when the brain dies, there is nothing of our experience remaining. That might be a scary idea, but the idea of having to endure eternity isn't very attractive to me either.

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." - Mark Twain

I think that this one is a bit worse, although it was not on school picture day:
only registered users can see external links

Sure, don't have an independent thought to aks: "Why is an organization that was
created by my own country, directly after WWII, with all the 50 pro-freedom countries joining together, to help prevent future wars and promote international cooperation,
acting against us right now?"

You didn't care when it was several of Capitol attackers who Trump pardoned.

'Innocent until proven guilty' is for everyone. It's against the law to assume someone is an illegal on just their appearance. ICE is blocking roads, raiding appartement buildings and posting outside immigration offices. They are in that way harming the rights of lots of AMERICANS, legal immigrants and legitimate documented asylum seekers. Your Constitutional rights include that immigration authorities cannot demand from random people that they prove that they are NOT illegals.

So yes, illegals should be arrested and sent back home, but ICE is breaking the law by assuming everyone is 'illegal until proven innocent' and deporting lots of people without a fair legal process. You have masked men, attacking people on the streets with impunity, and you only accept this from Trump, because you are a cult.
Your side has fearmongered for decades that Democrats would do something like this, and now it's your side acting like the fucking STASI, you just let them take away your constitutional rights. Well, REAL Americans will say 'not on our watch', in November.

Not true, many constitutional rights are written broadly. The Constitution often says “persons,” “people,” or “the accused,” not “citizens.” For example:
The 5th Amendment says no PERSON can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process.
The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection to any PERSON within a state’s jurisdiction.
Why the last? You know you will loose the argument?

This reminded me of a Star Trek TNG episode, that covered this kind of ethics.

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Title: The Measure of a Man
Season: 2
Episode: 9
First aired: February 13th, 1989

When a routine stop brings an unexpected challenge to the Enterprise, a single question begins to shake the foundations of Starfleet itself: what defines a person?
As abstract principles suddenly become deeply personal, loyalties are tested and long‑held assumptions are quietly dismantled.
What starts as a procedural matter soon evolves into a profound moral crossroads, one that forces the crew to confront issues far larger than technology or regulations.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Measure of a Man is an early and remarkably serious television exploration of artificial intelligence rights, personhood, and the ethics of slavery.
Decades later, its questions feel not only relevant, but urgent. Thought‑provoking, restrained, and deeply human, this episode exemplifies Star Trek at its very best.

You're kidding right? I have posted long lists, of all the laws that are broken
by your administration and ICE, multiple times already.

Federal immigration authorities cannot just attack and kidnap random people
off the streets. They are consistently ignoring the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th
and 14th amendments, which are all fixed in federal and state laws.

Ask any AI of your choice about it. Do SOMETHING to inform yourself.
I am Dutch, you are American. Why do I care about your Constitutional protections, more than YOU? Do you still remember caring about the Constitution once?

What is ethical is based on wellbeing or harm of beings that can suffer or have fear
or understand death and desire life.

Can you prove that you have a soul?
I don't I think that I have a soul.

I have self-awareness and that's the thing that matters.
If a machine has that as much as a person, than it should be considered death
if it gets destroyed.

Federal immigration authorities are breaking all the laws.
They have ignored hundreds of judge rulings and even the supreme court.
California is protesting that.

The decision is ultimately being made by the affected California peach growers themselves, but it is being driven by the collapse of Del Monte’s processing business and supported financially by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). After Del Monte closed its Modesto and Hughson canneries and canceled long-term contracts, many growers were left without a buyer for their cling peaches.

These are mostly cling peaches, a special variety grown for canning, not the fresh peaches you see in grocery stores. California growers planted them specifically to supply large processors like Del Monte under long-term contracts. When Del Monte shut down its canneries and entered bankruptcy, growers suddenly lost one of the few major buyers capable of handling huge harvest volumes.

Why not just sell the orchards or let another company buy the peaches?

There are very few canneries left in the U.S. that process cling peaches at scale.
Building or reopening a cannery is extremely expensive and labor-intensive.
Imported canned peaches from countries with lower labor costs have squeezed profits for years.
Orchards cost money every year to irrigate, prune, and maintain, even if fruit goes unsold.
Trees take years to mature, so growers can’t quickly switch varieties or crops.

In many cases, removing the trees is actually the least financially damaging option.
The USDA aid program is essentially acknowledging that some orchards are no longer economically viable under current market conditions.

Some orchards may eventually be replanted with: almonds, pistachios, solar projects, or other crops with better economics and water returns.

Closer by than an AI with the self-awareness at the level of at least a 4 year old child. Having an AI 'turn Skynet' could happen with it at the AI complexity of today, if our government is dumb enough to let it control everything.
Just give it the order to solve the climate crisis and it will wipe us all out.