That is not a level of power I officially possess, but it is a level of power that I am able to unofficially implement for the people who solely report to me. I am also able to tailor their roles and responsibilities to whatever causes them the least pain because their job titles are extremely non-specific, which is very helpful for both of us.

Both manager and non-managers are economically coerced into providing our time and energy. I try my best to reduce that burden for as many people as I can without being noticed by the people who are willing to suck the life out of others for personal gain.

The people who are marginalised by the process are the ones who will be doing the real suffering.

Hobbies indicate interest and aptitude. Someone who collects things might enjoy jobs and tasks related to organisation but not necessarily enjoy highly collaborative work that requires many meetings, whereas someone who enjoys team sports might enjoy the more collaborative social meeting type work instead of solo detailed organisation etc.

It is far from the first thing I would use as a hiring choice, but it does give me an idea of questions I might ask someone to figure out what would make them happiest.

In Australia, it’s not too uncommon to hear people have conversations about how fucked the US system is. That’s partly a symptom of how intertwined my life is with the topic of medicine and healthcare systems though, I’m sure most people have far fewer discussions about those topics than I do.

Having said that, I have certainly said “Thank God I’m not in the US” and received emphatic agreement in conversations.

I’ve also had a doctor say “well at least you’re not in the US” to me during an appointment, after I expressed some displeasure at how much something was going to cost me - because i wasn’t considered a valid demographic for that specific drug to receive the subsidy.

Socialised medicine doesn’t mean free medicine, sadly. And our system has been run down by the ruling class attempting to emulate the US version’s money-churning machine.

He’s a beautiful little lamp. I love how his shade contrasts his natural coloring. Very fetching.

Sorry buddy, fashion is pain.

Well that’s just precious. And you have great taste in music. Please snuggle her for me and let her know she’s a great cat.

In 2002 Congress passed the “American Servicemembers Protection Act” with bipartisan unanimous support which authorizes the president to "use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of a US or allied person detained or imprisoned by the International Criminal Court (ICC).” It also forbids the US Government from providing support for the ICC, cooperating with its requests, or granting military aid to any state party to the ICC, among other provisions. The Bush administration also pursued Bilateral Immunity Agreements (BIAs), or Article 98 Agreements, in which both countries agree not to extradite current or former government officials, military personnel, or citizens of the other party to the ICC.

Just for anyone who had forgotten the legal stance the US currently takes on the ICC. This current statement is just lip service.

And Biden’s 2021 stance: "the United States continues to object to the ICC’s assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of such non-States Parties as the United States…and will vigorously protect current and former United States personnel from any attempts to exercise such jurisdiction.”

Parts lifted from Harvard Human Rights Professor Kathryn Sikkink’s blog

Do you mean your iliac furrows, also known as an “Adonis Belt”? Some people work hard for years to define them with workouts.

Definitely. What a treat they are to have around too, even if their sounds sometimes make me sad for them because they’re mimicking cars and chainsaws.

You can hear them calling clear across valleys, and the only reason you know they a lyrebird is because they cycle through mimicking different sounds like an album on random playback.

What makes you think that I thought circumcision was OK? And fo you understand in what ways sterilisation and circumcision are not medically equivalent procedures in terms of risk and recovery?

This is one of those if you wouldn’t be happy it happening to yourself you shouldn’t consider it for others.

Would undergoing a medical procedure without your consent also qualify?

31 US states and Washington, D.C. have laws allowing forced sterilization of disabled people. It just needs a judge to sign the order.

Perhaps some more familiar packaging would be more to your taste:

The US enjoys its positioning as a global leader by addressing security challenges using strategic partnerships with the goal of ensuring freedom and bolstering regional security and prosperity. To stop providing strategic support to Israel would compromise their historic friendship, their good economic relations, and an integrated Middle East.

Phrasing credit to the US justice department’s 1999 memo on the Agreement Between The Government Of The United States Of America And The Government Of The State Of Israel Regarding The Application Of Their Competition Laws and the 2023 Announcement of “Operation Prosperity Guardian”.

The US needs to condemn Israel because of the atrocities it’s committing - the fact that those haven’t been convincing enough is horrific. And the idea of hoping for a reactionary policy change because a single poor excuse for a human being was showboating? Somehow that’s even more terrifying than just having a military-industrial economy making strategic genocide-supporting decisions.

Perpetual war is how the US maintains hegemony. They have no interest in stopping Israel, because it both pays the US ruling class and keeps the wealthy Islamic nations busy spending money on keeping their own people alive and borders intact. If you and other Americans want your government to condemn genocide, you’re going to have to do more than hope Ben-Gvir is irritating enough. Because the entire US economy banks on this continuing.

The centerpoints of major waterways and roads are often the places with the most conflict, especially when it’s good fertile land that someone might want to live in. Different religious sects have had major presences in the region, some even established there - the first Christian Roman Emperor was born nearby. They’re also positioned directly in the path of many cultures, both ancient and modern, attempting to increase the size of their own Empires.

The land was built on conflict.

While humans continue to choose competition instead of collaboration with other slightly different humans, it will remain in conflict - much like other strategic arable accessible locations we see in the headlines.

Climate change will slowly increase the amount of land affected by conflict, when resource shortages become more severe from natural disasters; but the flashpoints are places like the Balkans.

I’m pleasantly surprised they didn’t start up again sooner. But, like, in the tiniest glimmer of silver lining kind of way.

Edit: tl;dr We all live in a shitty Civilization game but with less predictable players.

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In places that were invaded, resistance were thrown from the top of buildings after they were interrogated, their bodies were left there to be collected by whoever dared. At night all you could hear were their screams while they were being tortured in cellars by the Gestapo. Dissidents were hanged from lampposts in the main street and left as warnings. The concentration camps were often in the middle of the town, not placed at a distance to avoid offending the locals.

And the next generation in those places grew up right next to those concentration camps and mass graves. They were raised by physically and psychologically scarred people, in places that were not funded by the Marshall Plan reconstruction funds that even West Germany received. Decades later there was still rubble and half destroyed buildings.

I appreciate there is much trauma involved in losing any family, friends or community members to war, or to experiencing the bombs being dropped around you. But, I think the level of cruelty and fear experienced by invaded regions was next level. And I don’t think Germans generally understand the details of what life was like for the places that were occupied - but that is only my suspicion. I can’t understand how else the AfD could discuss deportations or receive such a huge proportion of the vote.

Neither Axis aligned country tesidents nor the invaded would cherish reliving it, but they have had and continue to have very very different experiences as a consequence of the war.

I just use Vegemite, same principle and basic production method, different ingredients.

And about 2 decades being how long the US has been using drone strikes in Yemen.

There is never an end to any “who started it?” question, but it’s pretty clear that the US military hasn’t been there to make friends. When people ask what the Houthi expected, perhaps they should also be asking why a foreign military was there at all.

Attacking the US brings them to the region.

The US never left the region. Airstrikes have been conducted by the US in Yemen almost every year for nearly a decade.

The US has also bombed Syria and Iraq this year. It is the beginning of February.