Italian Unification but it’s everything from Hadrian’s Wall to Istanbul.

An end to the war appears no closer, despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts.

Is that what was going on?

They’re some of the world’s biggest landlords. This is just aristocrats rubbing elbows.

Made up ceremony

Wait till the Brits find out its all made up and the nobility doesn’t matter.

It’s not like countries aren’t doing anything. Israel might not be admitted to the next season of So You Think You Can Dance.

Trump backs off

The damage is already done. He got to stuff hundreds of Korean workers in one of his torture prisons while extorting the company and the country for their release. He’s not backing off. He’s pulling his fist back for another swing. Fucking headline journalists are too “TACO” pilled to see the next blow coming.

Imagine sending the president of an allied nation a decked out 747 as a nine figure bribe, only for the president to greenlight airstrikes that killed some of your most senior diplomats.

I’ve never heard any Western journal ask how many Iranian women were killed during the Israeli airstrikes.

If in fact this was a speed boat full of drugs

They were illegally smoking a bowl together off the coast of Venezuela, so…

would not The prudent thing be to follow them let them get to their destination, and perhaps bust the person who’s buying the drugs?

Why is the US military trying to rough up some pot heads 1300 miles south of the border?

It was stated they were on their way to the United States.

In a speedboat that was parked spitting distance from the equator?

Arrest them for what, even?

This was no different than a terrorist attack against the people of Venezuela.

He’s not just a YouTuber, he’s a Republican Mega-Bundler. One of the richest country’s premier bagmen has been slain. How can you be so callous? It’s not like he’s a Palestinian or a Minnesota Congressperson or a Colorado school kid, here. He’s important!

A conservative would ask you why the woman needs to be an adult?

Sure. There’s plenty of variation in their deplorable beliefs.

A legal contract. You cannot pick and choose who gets to make contracts

State legislatures have enormous latitude in deciding the validity of contracts. It’s one of their fundamental roles.

if it doesn’t apply to all citizens it cannot apply at all

The conservative response to this has always been “The law does apply to all people. One Adult Man, One Adult Woman is a universal rule for all marriages.” The libertarian attitude of “Get government out of marriage” doesn’t work in this regard, because marriage is a legal compact with a host of downstream consequences.

Marriage is a political institution. It cannot be depoliticized, only reformed in one way or another.

Because who ever is in power gets to determine what a traditional family value is.

That is the nut of any political system. You can’t just throw up your hands and announce “We need to get government out of X”, because that’s loser talk. It implies you’ve sworn off ever having a majoritarian view and just want to hide in obscurity. Ultimately, you need a popular representative majority. And the good news is…

Polls suggest that there is rising support for same-sex marriages among the Hong Kong public. A survey in 2023 found 60% were in favour of same-sex marriage, compared to 38% a decade ago.

Mass Line politics would suggest change is in the wind, whether the old guard of social conservatives want it or not. But in a system like Hong Kong’s (one pioneered by the British and staunchly championed by American Libertarians until about five years ago) that change has to occur via shifting social attitudes in the municipal mega-corps.

One of the bigger frictions in Hong Kong politics is this stark divide between the (heavily conservative Catholic) ruling class and the (far more Buddhist/secular) working class. Even the handover back to China hasn’t done much to change the dynamic, as Beijing has prioritized loyalty to the CCP over real progressive politics. Turns out Eastern Capitalists are as happy to sell out for a quick buck as their Western Peers.

citizens need to argue that government is a set of codified rules, bound to all, not some morality maker

The problem isn’t that the government lacks a set of codified laws. It’s that the laws are shit and need changing.

Maybe the inertia in the legislature will give the courts more latitude to simply nullify anti-LGBTQ provisions, as happened in the US state of Iowa in 2009 under Varnum v. Brien. Or maybe the public can stir up a big enough stink that Hong Kong corporate heads relent. I guess we’ll see.

The government, all governments needs to get out of the business of giving a shit about same sex, other sex, any sex, whatever.

Marriage is heavily bound up in the ownership of property and the political networks of elite families. If you get under the fold…

The law, which would have recognised some rights for couples who were married overseas

seems to be a broadly unpopular compromise solution, satisfying very few people in practice

the bill had been criticised by both LGBTQ activists - who viewed it as insufficient in creating an alternative framework - and by members of the LegCo - who said the proposal went against traditional family values and paved the way for the legalisation of same-sex marriage

Any country still want to negotiate with USA? Anyone?

Suckers are born every minute. And if they can’t find another team of diplomats to kill, they’ll settle for sniping a journalist or sodomizing to death a hospital’s chief surgeon.

Okay, but it was a “Senior Hamas Leader” so law of armed conflict and collateral damage don’t matter. The important thing is that one less Person Of Hamas exists.

A Hamas official says its negotiating team was targeted

If this wasn’t a genocide, it would be ripe for a Phantom Menace reference.

they literally said they were afraid

And I trust them unequivocally because they’ve been so trustworthy before now.

done with this convo

Bye

the evidence presented for Trump’s impeachment should have sealed any impartial judgement

Impeachments aren’t impartial. Senators have to go back home to their states and explain their decision to voters.

when half the elected officials FEAR the power Trump would bring against them if they convicted him.

It’s not the fear of Trump, but of the fascist donors and organizers who would quickly primary them out.

We’ve had far more presidents deserving of impeachment than ever actually impeached and convicted.

This isn’t a partisan problem nearly so much as it is a systematic one. Countries with Parliaments can oust a PM with a simple singular No Confidence vote. The American system of removing a president is functionally impossible.