In other countries, malls are still alive and well. In Philippines, that is where people literally chill in a hot tropical climate because of 24/7 air conditioning!

Malls are also seen as a sign of progress and modernity for many developing countries, so there is some cultural expectations to building and maintaining malls.

gerrymandering only works due to the whole first past the post voting system you have for districts.

In addition, the commission who draws up the electoral districts in the US are not independent, but appointed by whichever party is ruling in a given state. John Oliver covered the topic.

Same in Ireland. Over ten years of underfunding services and lack of affordable housing and then over time many refugees are coming in, which competes with the already strained infrastructure. Then in the recent local election, the far-right have gained more influence than before. And yet the media narrative has always been about these working class riff raffs giving the Irish bad name; or Russia amplifying discontent in social media. No one mentions that the working class and homeless have been made to compete with immigrants and refugees, through no fault of their own, are coming from regions wrecked by war, corruption and climate change. This has been a boon for the elites-- having more people create demand for artificially-made scare resources to increase the material value. Hotels are paid enormously by the government for taking in refugees and the owners are all too happy to do so.

Then fuck him as well.

Because fuck you if you are tankie apologist.

Assuming you’re in UK or Ireland, most of the world still pays for SMS.

I read an anecdote from Reddit about a protestor’s experience in Occupy Wall Street. Some people just went along to the protests for the sake and experience of it. Many people didn’t know what they were doing. I think this is why protests require some sort of organisation and leadership. The civil rights movement was so effective because they more were organised and had focus. Any movements after that haven’t gained more momentum because of disparate structure and factionalism.

He’s just going to say invest in stocks to amplify your income.

Not to be apologetic for John Cena, but it is technically correct that Taiwan is not an independent nation. I’m not going into too much details but I think the broader implication for not supporting Taiwan at any capacity is that Mainland Communist China’s dominance in Asia will get more credence, and signaling that the world will not support a democracy to sustain their way of life.

Thank you for sharing. This corroborates with what I have heard that he can be arrogant.

I have less respect for Neil then.

I love listening to Neil’s podcast but I can see why some might find him insufferable as you say. Some scientists chided him for getting some things wrong but I don’t mind him as long as he doesn’t say or do anything egregious.

He started dating Demi Lovato when she was 17 and him at 29. But Wilmer never got any reprimand for this unlike others. Her song “29” is dedicated to him about grooming…

Kevin Spacey probably wasn’t acting as he often portrayed psychopathic characters in TV and films.

Same with Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama as they played as creepy guys in “That 70s Show”.

I definitely hope Tom Hanks isn’t a perverse person!

I don’t know about the other cases, but one of Kevin Spacey’s case ended up in a settlement.

However, the fact that so many came out accusing him of sexual misconduct and how Kevin Spacey reacted after being questioned is itself a charge of guilt. Once or twicely accused is questionable. But I am a firm believer that “where there is smoke, there is fire”. A genuinely nice person would not be defamed by so many just like that, especially with serious allegations. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was accused once, but the charges were dropped when the accuser proved to have made false allegations. We haven’t heard anything egregious about Neil before and after that scandal.

Pretty much anything from Adele.

“Masamang damo”, or weed, as in unwanted grasses in your garden, not the marijuana. You call that to someone undeniably evil (or to just someone whom you hate) but just won’t go away or die, especially old corrupt politicians.

“Huwag kang pilosopo” which literally means “don’t philosophise” but its casual meaning is “don’t be a smart ass”. However, knowing people in my country especially after electing the son of a former dictator thanks to “Facebook researches”, this expression implies to someone not to think critically.

Change your server to another location. ISP blocks VPN addresses that have been tagged.

You mean to tell me, people have “you can’t tell me what to do” attitude, especially among men?

I only torrent if the show or movie I want to watch is unavailable on Netflix, and I don’t want to pay for subscription to another streaming service if such shows are available in those. I’m not made of money.