Stepping on Stepien

"We are the melting pot." - You are A melting pot. Multiple countries are melting pots and have done it was better: Canada, Brasil, New Zealand, Australia...

And it's hard to find an equally nationalist state as the US...

There is nothing like the EU: Independent nation states, mostly distinct culturally with various languages, decided to unite politically, economically around a common goal.

It is a unique and wholly different animal.

The United States was never a pannational country, but an immigrant country consisting of semi-independent provinces (states) formed mostly on the basis of a ruler.

The states are culturally very similar. It's like Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Or most Latin American countries.

He's probably attacking the EU but the EU is so much more than an economic. It's probably humanity's first push at a truly pannational government.

I would honestly much more prefer to fight for the values of the European Union than the imaginary national pride of Poland.

Yes, I would fight for the EU before I would fight for Poland.

None of this is normal

The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering

The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory

Ice Hockey - Tomorrow's women's semifinal game between USA and Sweden seems like the premature final...

But the solution is screaming in the face of EU decisionmakers...

Invest in battery hard... They untangle the grid issue, allow for quicker solar buildout and quickly kill gas & coal dependence. The EU could limit exposure to coal & gas from March to September to virtually zero within five years.

Not necessarily. It would be the end of the USA in NATO. NATO would morph into a USA-less entity.

It's also a question to how well adapted you are to the conditions. Nordic and Inuit soldiers are well adapted and well trained to the tough conditions.

Think Afganistan but vs an army of comparable tech and sophistication. This isn't theory, US army men have had it handed to them in war games.

I do agree that NATO allies would give USA Greenland without much fighting (a strategic retreat) but then nuke the NATO alliance with the USA and accelerate economic + military countermeasures.

What would make Greenland hard to take back isn't reclaiming the land but the sea dominance of the USA.

Not really. You are under the false impression that a lot of American army personnel could withstand Greenland weather and condition and that you could house a lot of military.

No occupying force would be large. And 1 Scandinavian is like 5 Americans over there. 1 Inuit is like 10.

He increasingly reminds me of a caricature of an aparatchik

All of Lorca, Georgiou and Pike were superior captains.

And Michael Burnham is hands down the worst captain ever in Star Trek.

Okay, seems like its just Tig Notaro as Jett Reno. One of 2-3 staple characters in Discovery that weren't irritating and/or cardboard cutouts.

The others were basically Saru, Stamets. The other cool characters never made it out of season 1 & 2: Christopher Pike, Gabriel Lorca and Georgiou.

Good to know.

Discovery should have been called Star Trek Messiah Complex. Galaxy ending events every season... terrible shit. Season 4 big bad aliens were pretty cool though.

You have characters from Discovery in Starfleet Academy so I was wary (thankfully the better ones).

In theory Greenland should also trigger NATO.

Damn, autocorrect or what?

I meant seemed like such a chore...

Sort of gives away the lie that they're arresting hardened criminals who are drags on society when they're setting up traps to lure in Good Samaritans

As a child protection professional, I can tell you the death penalty is NOT an awesome solution to child sexual abuse. Most children are abused by family members; they will not report if their family members will die as a result.

If anything this will actually help Magyar's chances... It's like... If this is the worst you have against him, he seems like a bang up man...

The reason I can't get around to Starfleet Academy is the sense that I would need to finish watching the atrocity that is Star Trek Discovery...

Made it to season 4 and boy... never has a Star Trek show seemed like such a baliur...

I keep getting reminded how the US lose almost all war games with European allies...

Having voter ID isn't the issue.

The issue is making sure that such a requirement doesn't disenfranchise anyone.

The more I read about how it functions in the US, the more it seems like voting is made hard on purpose...

A majority of which were perpetrated by Republican voters.

On the one hand yes, but on the other hadn't Russia been stopped they likely would have come knocking within the EU and we would have been living in even scarier times.

And the Ukrainian sacrifice in people alone is tangible.

I can't, for example, imagine Democratic states just going along with USA attacking Canada. I might see them let Greenland slide, but not Canada...