Yeah honestly I was completely baffled by that move

How can I be certain that you’re not a banana, though? Am I supposed to just take your word on it?

Or - hear me out -

Maaaaybe they’re throwing Albanese a bone behind the scenes? Who knows. I feel like this wouldn’t just be thrown out - back channels would be used first. This might be performative, for the audience of one (orangeboi), since he’s a giant fucking malignant narcissist. In fact, that’s a new lens that people should evaluate geopolitical actions through, going forward, if they’re not already. It’s convenient, because you can just swap it out for the clearly nonsensical lens labeled “orangeboi as a rational actor”.

And China will not blink first, because at the end of the day it’s running a command economy. This is like having a stare down with a bullet train while standing on the tracks.

Sounds an awful lot like a shakedown

So what happens if you’re a litigator for the DOJ and you straight up say “fuck you. That’s insane. I won’t do it”?

-eel-on-musk, probably

I honestly never thought I’d be rooting for the PRC over the USA… but here we are.

These are very fucking weird times, fellow meatbags.

As a neurodivergent engineer, I will either respond to half of your email, or 115% of it

I tend to answer them all, but I’m weird that way

I’m going to be unsurprised when they raid some commune and the commune residents decide “fuck you” and start shooting. Also, I think that’s the point. I think they’re doing this so they can provoke a violent reaction and then say “omg it’s a war!” on OANN et al, and then invoke the insurrection act.

Yeah, can’t say that I disagree

It’s satire. Check the post history.

And that, friends, is why it’s important to understand that when you travel to other countries, you’re a guest, and you need to fucking act like it.

Edit: my point is that not all countries have freedom of speech, and the consequences for violating it in some places are quite severe. I’m not saying freedom of speech and expression is bad, or not worth defending. Im saying you need to understand where protesting and civil disobedience will make a difference, and which countries will treat you as grist for the mill. You wouldn’t want to do something like this in the PRC or Russia, for instance, either.

Realistically? The breakup/balkanization of the US. Which is a nonzero and growing possibility by the look of things here.

…that nobody will buy because of retaliatory tariffs

I’m buying local as much as I can, and am avoiding buying stuff from red states as much as I can.