I have to push back a bit that the core of the proper definition of libertarianism is freedom from the state.

I’m not sure why you feel a need to push back against something I didn’t say.

Depends on how it’s defined.

Current libertarianism is just rebranded reactionary conservatism.

Classically though, “libertarian” simply referred to someone who advocated for maximum individual liberty and minimum state intervention. The term first gained popularity in the US in the wake of the New Deal, when the term “liberal,” which had up until then referred to that position of maximum individual liberty and minimum state intervention, was coopted by leftist authoritarians. Since the classical liberals needed a new term, they shifted to “libertarian.” And notably, at that point, libertarians were at least as likely to be left-wing as right, with the two groups merely splitting on which specific government services should be counted among the minimum.

That started to go wrong when the Libertarian party was established, and finished going wrong when the Tea Party was transformed from a series of protests against the Wall Street bailouts to a traveling carnival of hate.

And there’s also the political compass sense of “libertarian” as simply the opposite of authoritarian, by which I’m as “libertarian” as it’s possible to be. It should be noted though that in recent years, mostly through meme communities, even that conception of “libertarian” has been increasingly characterized as more of an alternate authoritarianism.

So there’s a conception back behind each use of the term “libertarian” that is at least close to mine (I’m actually an anarchist). But IMO not coincidentally, the term has been in all cases warped to refer to some form of authoritarianism, which I unequivocally oppose.

People complain about the evil of landlords, but it’s nothing compared to companies like this.

Landlords at least nominally provide some sort of ongoing services. There are no necessary services a font company could possibly provide - there’s no maintenance, no upkeep, no ongoing costs at all. This is just pure, and purely evil, rent-seeking.

Um…yeah. About ten seconds of critical thinking also shows that language is not the same as intelligence.

I don’t think that internet technological development is even relevant.

Internet sociological, philosophical, cultural and psychological development is about at the level of the Dark Ages, and that’s the problem that needs to be addressed.

The problem is that the ban is one-sided, and generally boils down to “the oppressed are disarmed but the oppressors are not.”

Imitation meats have never impressed me. They get close, but they inevitably fall just enough short of tasting and feeling like real meat that it feels to me like a wasted effort. I think I’d like them better, oddly enough, if they didn’t even pretend to be meat - if they were marketed as something else entirely.

I love the concept of lab-grown meat, and it seems as if it should be without issue, since it basically is meat in all senses, except that it’s grown in a vat instead of inside an animal’s skin. But since I haven’t had a chance to try it, I can’t say.

“Sorry [applicant], our social media evaluations find that you do not meet the standards of rage, hatred and ignorance expected of Oklahoma teachers.”

Of course not.

Since his first attempt at a military dictatorship, in LA, didn’t really succeed, he’s had to pull back a bit.

Washington, because of its unique status, is his best shot at fully establishing the precedent that he can institute a military dictatorship in any city he wishes at any time he wishes.

Once the corrupt and compromised conservatives on the Supreme Court rubber-stamp this takeover then he can use that as a precedent to try again in somewhere like LA.

On investigation, out of my faulty memory.

I have no idea where that figure came from, but it was the one lodged in my brain for the “settlement”/bribe that Paramount paid Trump.

Ah well…

$10 billion including Trump’s $2 billion bribe.

Different reasons for different people.

Some because they expect to benefit from it - they expect to be a part of the autocracy.

Some because they’re angry and stupid and all they know is that people they hate are unhappy about it, so it must be a good thing.

Some because they can’t wrap their heads around it - they can’t believe that it’s really happening.

Some because they think they’re powerless to stop it.

And some because they just want to watch the world burn.

If your party is likely going to lose because it supports destructive and unpopular policies, there are two ways to win instead - switch to supporting constructive and popular policies, or cheat.

Trump and the Republicans have chosen cheating.

That says everything that really needs to be said about them.

The zionists were the original middle eastern terrorists.

Which won’t make the slightest bot of difference because the Trump kakistocracy will just keep appealing until it gets to one of the corrupt courts (the Supreme Court if all else fails) who will, as they do, tell whatever lies might serve to rubber-stamp whatever he wants. And then the treasonous insurrectionists will just keep right on indiscriminately disappearing immigrants, legal residents and full citizens whenever they want for whatever reason they want.

Meaning is subjective and not intrinsic, so there can be no such thing as “the” meaning of anything.

The artist can have an intended meaning, but the audience not only can but will find their own meaning in it. It might be the case that the audience gets the same meaning from it that the creator intended, but it might just as easily be the case that they get some entirely different meaning from it.

None of them are right or wrong - that’s not even a coherent concept in that context. They just are whatever they are.

So the only question really is whether they’re arranging things so that as China becomes the clear world leader in the coming era, the US will be relegated to being a bankrupt has-been, clinging to outdated technology nobody else wants any more because their explicit goal is to destroy the US or just because they’re some stunning combination of corrupt and stupid.

I lean toward the latter, but can’t entirely discount the former.

True.

It’s cynically amusing that it’s reached the point that a focus on one dishonest part of a Trump Republicsns story runs the risk of missing another dishonest part.

Or more precisely, judge blocks administration from human trafficking.

Shh!

Don’t let the Republicans know that their cynical attempt to further depress voter turnout is going to disproportionately affect their own supporters!