Let’s hope the gamble pays out. His minority government failed to have measures on housing pass in parliament. They were to do something and got blocked. If it pans out, maybe they can get the extra reach they need. If not, things can get a lot worse for Spain.

If I may.

My country has a multi-party parliament and after the local flavour of fascists found its way into it, the parties that defined themselves as center, either center-left or center-right and center-center, diverged sharply into authoritarian (even if more or less subdued or veiled) rethoric and strong-arm policy, resorting to the fascist party for support for implementing policies, being those parties currently in office.

The “left” is still what it always was: pro humanitarian, sensible to the plights of the workers, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+, etc, but gets thrown the usual mixed bag of insults and dismissals to keep the public entertained and enraged against those parties and maintain the status quo.

I understand you position but it is an unsustainable one. You have to define your stance on issues and fully reject labelling. As you carry your position it is a handful of nothing. And I do understand and respect your remark on seeing such matter reduced to tribalisms because they are but defining oneself as being right, center or left is equivalent to subscribing to a political horoscope: it’s reductionist, generalist and simply stupid.

The top?

A couple on the side of road, next to their RV, taking a shower, fully naked. Start of July. Old military truck, modified. German license plate.

Yes. As Portugal and Greece. The default reply was “clean your house”. Spain took it to heart and is now in the “We don’t care about your thoughts on house management” category.

Basic Debian

Yes, it is a bit behind the curve but it is solid, it works and can provide a solid environment for the average run of the mill user.

Thus needs to expand globally

“The problem men see with lesbians, is that they do not want to have sex them. But gay men do.”

This phrase is from a book of the early 2000’s, about language, jargon and, in one chapter, prejudice and specifically prejudice on sexuality.

It’s the most destilled explanation I ever found.

I sincerely don’t care about what others want for their life, as long as they are happy and not hurting anyone.

I have a phone in my house that is bordering on ten years, I believe. Still useable.

I have another that is reaching six years old.

The one I’m personally using currently is reaching three and will replace one of those I previously mentioned.

I intend to get a de-googled phone soon and expect that to last at least eight years.

No and I don’t think I’ve writen nothing that hinted in that sense.

What I tried to convey is that a good part of what is holding back women to achieve equality are other women and that is unreasonable to me.

I don’t know.

My concern was always about showing respect to others, regardless of gender. I want for others what I want for myself.

I grew up surrounded by womens and, as a kid, I heard horrible stories about men behaviour but also heard countless dismissals from women to women about those same male behaviours.

As a teen, I became so concerned of my existence as a man, I went so deep into neutral and non threatning territory I had girls telling me I was being flirted with because otherwise I wouldn’t notice nor correspond. I was quick to point out bad attitude/behaviour from guys towards girls as well, which did not make me popular with my peers.

As an adult, I started working under the supervision of women. No concern, no friction. I did became extremely aware how women would easily create and maintain terrible and damaging relations between them, for futile reasons. Even today, where I work at, where the majority of responsability roles are women, the way even polite conversations are held are laced with tension.

I reached a point where I act in accordance to my conciousness. I loathe disrespect, I get revolted by hearing anyone talk less of others. And I am learning to call others on their words and actions, regardless of gender.

I do recognize a lot of violence, of all kinds, is still enacted upon women because they are women, solely, but I am also aware a good deal is still dismissed and even abided by other women.

I’d go for the best dog there is, the Azores Cattle Dog.

Well rounded for guard work, defense, herding and hunting, both on sight and track by scent. Loyal to the death and relentless fighters when push comes to shove. Love the outdoors but will gladly take a comfy spot inside.

I’d also work on taming birds. Corvids, if available, but any song bird is a good investment. Song birds going silent is a good warning sign something is wrong nearby.

If boars are available, having them patrol around my perimeter would be a plus. The animals are fiercely territorial and will attack if cornered or feeling threatened.

You’re right but they are undergoing a middle class blooming, of all things. All sorts of entertainment, consumerist and even vacation venues are being built in the capital. State run and controlled, obviously.

The rest of the people? Well… I guess same old, same old.

Black soldier flies are also harmless and a fun insect to have around. Completely clueless for personal space, will bump into and land on you to rest and investigate what you are.

And that is valid.

I have never subscribed any of these streaming services. The pressure from friends was intense but at the end of the day I simply felt no need and even less appeal to it.

Nowadays, I hear those same friends how expensive it has become to keep all of these services to follow their interests and how the catalogue has been degrading.

I sincerely do not care.

My main concern is the general population. I have nothing against north koreans but I seriously dislike North Korea as a totalitaria authoritarian regime.

I accept the information and background advanced but in no way it justifies why the regime brutalizes, today, their population, while heavily indoctrinating their citizens and keeping them fearful of any outside contact.

We have this tactic very well document and it was used during WW2 to develop an irrational fear towards the Ally troops. The regimes then did not wanted whatever survivors to try to surrender and reach peace; it wanted for everyone to die. Glory in death. That is the proceeding of a cult, not a culture.

Even if a popular hero was necessary at the beggining to raly the people and gain momentum to push back, it does not justify enshrinning such a person and have their power bestowed by proxy, indefinitely. NK is the only necrocracy on the planet. The original president is still the president; his descendents govern in his representation. The dead have no word or will.

Regarding the US action post war, I was stating what it was. End of WW2, the US is heavily industrialized, solvent, militarily capable and became a pivotal figure for the resolution of the war. The great majority of the world is in shambles and wanting to lick wounds and heal. The US take the opportunity to expand their reach and influence on every possible front. It is not correct, under any light, but it was a logical outcome and one nobody really had the power to deny.

Then we get the Cold War and what the world got was just a more or less open display of menaces. Nobody really wanted peace or made strives to achieve it. The USSR turned into a brutally repressive regime; Stalin had countless people killed because he could, out of paranoia. It was meant to establish a regime of terror and ciment uncontested power. China took to that same book and so many other nations. Why have they opted to brutalized their people at some point? What justified it?

It’s more than obvious at this point that we will not reach any point of contact between our views and that is fine.

At no point in this entire exchange I got an understandable explaination of why a regime (several, to take a broader stroke) decided at some point, after having suffered and endured, successfully, an aggression, that brutalizing their people was the way to go.

And I just remembered this: the main foreign investor in NK is South Korea, that builds factories there, within the constraints the international blockade on the country allows for it. In the same sense that it is China and South Korea the main customers for food exports from NK. Food that is badly needed for their own population and often produced and harvested through forced prison labour, like the factory work.

They want nuclear weapons for the sake of deterr foreign threats? Fine. Have them, keep them, enjoy them. May the missiles rust in peace and to peaces in their silos. But why can’t they spare just a little bit of money to actually improve the quality of life in the country? Truly live by their words and actually elevate the people? Can we agree that is desirable and would mean a great deal to every nation that is currently taking them as bad actors?

Have a nice one. We’re bound to cross paths and disagree with each other somewhere in the future again. See yuou then.

I do not care the least about american history and how it is taught in schools.

My own country had its gripe with US machinations, which resulted in the outbreak of several bloody wars because USSR was already doing ground work to create upheavel. The then fascist government opted to try and choke out the independence feelings and many died for that decision, leading to several present day countries being severely late to reach higher civilizational goals.

The same goals North Korea should be striving for instead of developing and maintaining the regime it currently has and will retain indefinitely unless a stroke of fate eliminates the “royal” family.

The rulling family and the better viewed are completely above the rest of the people, which they alledgely serve in order to achieve a strong and better nations. Kids get to be privately schooled in very expensive establishments in Switzerland Source: I have know people in the country working in “invisible” positions, the everybody pretends they are not there. Meanwhile, back in the home country, education is best akin to indoctrination.

Every country in the world teaches children under the most favourable light but only a few actively prevent them from learning more and go beyond what they were originally taught. North Korea is amongst this selected few.

And are we to just automatically discredit all NK defectors? The ONG’s are likewise untrusworthy? They are all collaborators? Poor choice of word; usually, it’s much easily used by the totalitarian side. The country also makes no effort to hide it is a closed nation. Tourism there is not a hot industry and many people going there, with no political afilliation, report the constraints they face while visiting. Close supervision, official guides, a lot of restricted areas, no pictures. People from my country have been there; we are not on the radar for bad PR. Funny as it may be, we still maintain our own communist party and they still get voted to parliament and get to criticize the slew of idiotic governments we’ve been having and push back on the rise of the far right nationalists. I’m supposed to not give credit to people I personally know?

Totalitarianism is totalitarianism. Doesn’t matter in which colour it dresses. Nobody can claim clean hands. The NK regime is barbaric and there are numerous evidences and testimonies on what that country is and how it functions.

The US took a while to take off the mask but they are no better; in fact, in my understanding they catching up on what the other brutal regimes have been doing for more nearly 80 years.

Denying the famines China inflicted on its population because of badly thought through policies is idiotic; the 70’s and 80’s were with those and are very well documented. Denying the brutality of the USSR is laughable. Denying the brutality of the NK regime is ludicrous.

If the goal of all of these regimes is to elevate the people, then do it. Venezuela had a golden opportunity and instead fell for a con artist that seized power from the previous lawfully elected president while witholding the information he was already deceased. The country was on a rising tick, with lawful elections, industrial development and quality of life improving. Then they get a smooth talking dictactor that took the country under the guise of socialism.

Turning back to the original point: NK is a bad faith actor. What is stopping them to reach out and strike open talks for peace? One side has to be bigger and reach forward. Why not them? Why keep an armed standoff that benefits nothing and no one besides a chosen few?

I’ll grant you all of what you said but I have to have an answer to a question: at what point is it legitimate for one figure to turn himself and his family in near demigods in order to take hold of a nation struggling against an invading foreign power and proceed to establish a totalitarian authoritarian regime that lasts to this day and whose acts of violence and brutal control onto the people are very well documented?

The US took their opportunity to take control of whatever was within reach. It was an obvious consequence. The nations of the world were on it’s knees, while the US were highly industrialized, militarily capable and economically strong. It was obviously a wrong thing to do but who had the means to oppose it? And the will, after a long war? Even more with the nuclear menace looming?

Has if the other part of the equation hasn’t been ready to move into the southern part of the peninsula for decades.

The largest number of placed artilery in the world is aimed at Seoul and projections have been made that a few volleys would be enough to nearly raze the city. If an invasion could be done with no concern for retaliation, it most probably would already been done.

The current state of affairs is kept by standing threats, not will to advance to true peace.

North Korea regime is well documented as the most entrenched, closed and secretive totalitarian regime in the world. Testimonies from people that managed to escape the territory are plentiful and grisly.

Where is the line where it is collectively said that such a nation is not a good faith agent?

Why not? To my knowledge, the 3€ surcharge is applied by category, not item. So, if you’re buying electronic components, you pay 3€, once.

I’m not a hobbyist but in Portugal Robert Mauser is a big player. Then there are the specialty shops, as you mention.