That’s why i always forbid access to my microphones by apps. Many AI apps will also remember what you discussed long ago.

Well, UK birthed the US after all. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Trump is handing over influence economic influence on China with this one. With China championing free trade, the (soon to be former) allies of US will become closer to China when it comes to trade.

Depending where you are, there are tax benefits to legally married couples.

If cost is an issue, you can have cheap wedding. But I think the concern is more cultural in which there is an implicit expectation to have a grandiose wedding, like in a church and have a huge gathering and party with dozens if not hundreds of attendees.

They really want Fallout to happen.

You are quite right. There is a tribe in East Africa which makes a hole on their lower lip and place a huge disk into it. It is theorised that the practice started to prevent lockjaw disease that may have been prevalent in the area eons ago. I am not sure how this prevents lockjaw but maybe for them it works.

He’s been obsessed with it since the 1980s.

The old testament did not even mention hell and thus Jews don’t believe it. Hell is a Christian invention to control the masses through threat of eternal damnation for disobeying the authority.

It was quite big in Latin America and perhaps the Philippines. The biggest left wing groups and anti-dictatorship movements in the 20th century was influenced by the Catholic church. I am no longer religious, but I would not be the person I am today had I not been brought up in a Catholic environment.

You will hardly find any theists in Lemmy, let alone staunch Catholics.

You have to give credit to where it’s due, Pope Francis did his best as the leader of one the biggest religious organisations. And I am not defending where the gap of his leadership had been, but leaders never have absolute authority because this is an often false notion they always do. Keep that mind, as he still have to contend with his subordinates. I mean, a leader is still just one person versus the aristocrats and elites who lend support and authority. The subordinates actually have the power if you think about it (like, who elects the pope after all?) That being said, I am no longer religious but I have read over the years of court intrigues of friction between conservative and progressive Catholic clergies. Many conservative clergies complain about Francis and said they miss Pope Benedict XVI. Francis had to play a delicate balance of court politics.

You joke but there is a genuine possibility that the Vatican might elect someone who is more conservative, if not very so. The Vatican under Francis had been the most progressive it had been in decades. And it ruffled the feathers of many conservative clergies.

My guess is that they will elect a conservative pope to replace Francis. It is no secret that there are court intrigues and in-fighting in the Vatican between progressive and conservative clergies. Pope Francis openly went toe to toe with many ultraconservative, MAGA clergies in America, de-frocking one of the priests.

You know Trump and co. got offended when they were called weird during the presidential campaign? Why won’t international politicians call him as he is-- a weirdo. He’s genuinely a weirdo with all the tariffs and threatening American allies; alienating him and the country. There is really no overall rationale other than to serve Putin the advantage.

Then you just found out about the Russian mindset. Fact of the matter is, Russians developed learned helplessness and rely on authority figures because they have gotten used to it since tsardom. They will only complain if their means for livelihoods and pensions are touched. The only times Russians had seriously challenged the authority was Imperial Russia losing World War 1 causing inflation, and Putin tried to implement pension reform. It is general rule that people only rise up if their means of livelihood become affected.

The longer the war drags on, the more it is to Russia’s detriment. At some point, Russia will be in Chinese orbit, contrary to Russia trying to re-forge their own empire and influence.

You never know…

What a weird timeline that we are rooting for China on this.

If you have watched The Fallout TV series, the billionaires might be on to something. Or rather, the writers know something that we don’t!

He knows this is BS. I wonder what he’s been up to say something he knows is farcical as smoke and mirror cover. The Republicans could be trying to pass an evil legislation, like allowing to fuck couches.

Not trying to disagree with you, but many things can be true at the same time. The theory of Trump’s tariff is still conforming to his close ally’s, Steve Bannon, view of “economic nationalism”. But at the same time, Trump may well be getting signals from Putin. After all, Putin still indulges the right.