the_rosentotter

The slow ethnic cleansing and land theft being perpetrated by a close American ally, supported by many of the biggest American corporations and capitalists, seems a comparable situation.

The whole LGBTXYZ discussion is somewhat weird to me. How about letting people's sexual preferences be their own business? I would rather be free from knowing what goes on in people's bedrooms, I don't think this is an unreasonable request.

Your example of the HR person who has to make decisions about medical issues obviously falls in a different category, but even in this case discretion could be assumed to be the default.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned: 'Friends' in your teens and twenties are often really about having someone to hang around with while looking for a mate. So you won't look like a lone loser at the club, or in social situations, or so that you get to meet members of the opposite/preferred sex through the group.

Once people get married and have kids, all of that falls away, and so do the 'friends'. You don't hook up with new people, because either they want partners to ride shotgun with them while hunting for a mate, or they are set up too. What's left are people you have a real connection with, usually people you were friends with since you were kids, and those few family members you can stand being around. For many, that is a small to non-existing group. What's left is your wife and kids, and honestly? The best company there is, IMHO. And I am not worried about what I will do when the kids leave and my wife divorces me, silly me.

To paraphrase Steve Jobs, self-driving is a feature, not a product.

I'm pretty sure once LIDARs become cheap commodity hardware then every line will have self-driving, just like it has happened with every other new thing in automobiles since forever.

> The idea of labeling "fake news" often emboldens believers of fake news to think of some grand conspiracy to hide the truth.

Well that's what it is - an attempt to bully media into self-censorship, or provide a fig leaf for actual censorship.

It's good to know both sides of the story.

I don't know that the editors and writers profit directly, beyond their salaries. More like the companies are run at a loss in order to control the conversation. Of course seats are filled with people that push the line the owners prefer.

I think the big papers (New York Times, Washington Post) have always been the voice of the establishment. I remember reading their editorials broadly condemning the labor movement while it was fighting for basic rights (and being slaughtered by public and privatized law enforcement) in the middle of the 19th century. Perhaps at times more humanist than others, but nevertheless.

I also think it is really obvious that it would be this way. There is hardly any money in selling newspapers, even well before the internet completely obliterated that business. But shaping public opinion? That is valuable beyond measure, for the right (moneyed) interest groups.

Since this is a very politicized topic, as a Muslim I feel it is worth pointing out that there is nothing in Islam that promotes having many children per se (this topic is even omitted in the linked Wikipedia article).

On the contrary, Islam does not forbid contraception or even abortion, up until four months of gestation.

The trend described is highly socioeconomic.

I found the information about haplogroups interesting. It shows the migration paths out of Africa for both your mother's and father's ancestors (only men show the father's haplogroup). Not only was the background information about human migration very interesting, but the results also tallied well with our own speculations about parents' heritage.

Another tidbit:

Questions have also been asked as to whether Danske received special treatment from its regulator, which was until May headed by the bank's former chief financial officer.

I.e. the body that had sole responsibility to enforce anti-money laundering on the bank was its former CFO. SMH...