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Been using Firefox for as long as I can remember now. Never had a reason to switch away, and I’m feeling rather vindicated.

I think enshittification is a one-way street.

Totally fair

Where, if you don’t mind me asking?

The U.S. even has a designated area to test all this shit out on before bringing it home.

To the surprise of absolutely no one. Tech companies are going to force this shit down our throats whether we want it or not, and Trump is going to pave the way for it.

AI is the new “smart connected” that they are going to shoehorn into anything and everything. No one is asking for AI on Notepad.

Support from local and state governments does make a difference though. While federal agencies can still enforce these laws, local/state agencies could look the other way. Cannabis is still federally illegal, but some states have basically said “no thanks, we’re good as long as you stick to our rules on it.”

It comes down to how much state governments want to go to bat for their constituencies and how much the federal government wants to press the issue. All else being equal, I’d rather be in a state that stands up for my rights than one that doesn’t.

Especially Israel

Why? They rolled Iran’s proxies, and (if western media is to be believed) Iran itself has been shown to be a paper tiger. Their big ballistic missile attack was neutered, and the big air strike on their soil was reported to be very devastating to air defenses and missile construction.

So we have a situation of Schrodinger’s Iran. They are simultaneously super dangerous, and to quote Kamala Harris “Iran is greatest U.S. adversary.” Or they are no match for Israel’s superior technology and intelligence agencies.

This is why I’ve argued that technology, in terms of actual benefit for people, peaked many years ago. I won’t try to pinpoint a date, but we have past peak technology from this perspective.

After that peak, advancements in technology have mostly just served as means to control the population or extract more from us (see enshittification) and have not been of benefit to the average person.

Technology allows for actual hard power to be concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer. I don’t mean like a dictator with an army behind them, but a dictator and small group with enough tech to control everything. You are right, and it’s extremely concerning.

Translation: U.S. playing kingmaker in the Middle East

It’s good. And the decision to have (or not have) kids is one of the few forms of power that the general population has over those in charge. If people are being squeezed out financially or have no hope for the future (e.g. environmental collapse), they may choose to opt out of reproduction.

The terrorist state of Israel. Anyone who supports the state of Israel’s actions at this stage of things is a terrorist sympathizer.

They seem to go out of their way to do that.

And when I talk about Israel being a direct threat to Americans citizens, this is part of what I’m talking about.

Yes, I know this happened in the UK and not the US, but the principle still applies.

Getting really old and also going to backfire spectacularly. Israel has pretty much completely lost support of younger Americans (can’t speak for UK). Once those younger generations age into politically power, we’re going to see a major shift.

The amount of bias, propaganda, and straight-up misinformation from western media regarding this “conflict” (more like massacre) is truly outrageous.

I don’t have any inherent support either side, and there’s too much history along with bias, propaganda, and outright misinformation to make a determination of who the “good guys” are, if anyone.

However, in such cases I will support the underdog on the principle that you don’t really want one side to have too much power over the other. That’s how we end up with things like ethnic cleansing and genocide. If Palestine (and Lebanon) had powerful militaries, you wouldn’t be seeing the mass devastation and huge loss of civilian lives. I’d prefer to see the sides more balanced so that they can keep each other in check.

Another angle to consider is that I consider the state of Israel to be actively harmful to Americans on the basis of:

• using our tax dollars to commit mass murder against civilians, including a staggering death toll for children

• infiltrating our government, interfering with our elections, and having an undue level of influence on American policy

• corollary to the preceding point: they support getting Trump back into the White House

• training American law enforcement, who then use their oppressive tactics on Americans

• similarly, technology they develop for surveillance and other means of control being used on Americans

• directly attacking our First Amendment rights

Bottom line is I’d say everyone sucks, but in different ways. But I am anti-Israel on the basis of them being way out of control (and without anyone to keep them in check) and due to the threat they pose to the American public.

Housing price increases are actively harmful to those who want to upgrade, since it increases the incremental cost of upgrading.