“stick to matters of morality”… That’s exactly what he’s been doing you fat-headed clown! The pope has been talking about the (im)morality of war and the abuse of power. Which is painfully relevant.
I’ve seen some people talk about how Vance is some intellectual titan who we should fear because he’s so smart. But all I’ve seen over the last few years is him being played like a fiddle by scumbags and other idiots.
I’m curious about this too. I know that on the latest version of Ollama it’s possible to install OpenClaw. But I assumed you needed to point it to a paid API (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, etc.) for it to really work. But yeah, maybe it works with Qwen 3 or similar models?
I guess a major factor to this is what your system resources look like, especially howmuch RAM you have. And therefore which model you are hosting locally.
Christian Zionism. If Israel is armed to the teeth and encouraged into a bloody, protracted regional war, conservative evangelicals believe it will force Jesus to come back to Earth sooner than God was expected (because apparently an omnipotent and omnipresent deity can be tricked so easily), and thus usher in Armageddon.
I wish that was a joke. But it’s not.
Of course that’s only one reason. The real answer is a complex series of interdependent pieces. Christian Zionism, anti-Muslim paranoia, subconscious guilt over the Holocaust, wanting to appeal to conservative Christian and Jewish voters domestically, and now many politicians on both sides being deep in the pockets of ultra conservative Israeli power brokers via AIPAC.
And good for Starmer.
He’s not popular domestically. But every time Trump publicly criticizes him it’s like a shot in the arm for his popularity.
I was initially surprised by this too. But the more I think about it, the more expected it is.
Trump’s hardcore base is mostly comprised of evangelical protestants. And they fucking hate the pope in every form (more conservative and more liberal ones alike), and Catholics in general.
His comments will energize their support, which has been slipping a bit due to the Epstein files. And as someone else said he, the hardcore base of ultra-conservative Catholics who also support Trump won’t care about his latest comments, because they hate Leo too.
This really is just playing to his base. Not in a 4D chess way, but more in the form of his latest tantrum unwittingly hitting a strategic sweet spot.
Hard to tell right now. He used to be one of Orban’s buddies up until a few years ago. He’s saying the right things right now - less corruption, more services for Hungarians, closer ties to the EU and NATO.
But we’ll see. From what I understand, Orban was also seen as a progressive about 20 years ago. But then Putin and greed got their hooks into him. Hopefully the new guy is legit.
If he is legit, I wonder his this will shift the dynamic in the EU. Without Hungary vetoing everything Putin doesn’t like, does this clear the path more for Ukraine joining the EU and/or NATO? I know there are a lot of other factors in okay. But the people of Hungary might have just helped others and not just themselves.
Big “you can’t quit, your fired!” energy.
It can be a factor for some. Personally, I think I’m happier now overall than I was a couple of decades ago. Not to say I don’t get cranky and irritable sometimes, because that definitely happens. Maybe moreso now. But I think that’s because I just don’t have the tolerance for nonsense.
But I’m fairly content with life. And my attitude towards people who have different lifestyle to me had mellowed out, because life’s too short. I think that has helped with my overall happiness quite a lot.
I’d be even happier if the wider world wasn’t going to shit. But eh, it is what it is.
I’ve been down this path. Getting people to switch was a mixed bag. Some did and have stuck around using it. But others either refused (“another messaging app?!”) or wanted to but ran into problems using Signal.
I’ve also run into problems connecting with people on Signal. They just aren’t findable, even with their privacy settings relaxed and with me trying several formats of their number. After troubleshooting and having other people try, it seems random and makes no sense.
So the three biggest downsides of Signal are: a) users having to juggle yet another messaging app (because their friends/family are scattered across several and they find this overwhelming already); b) Signal looking a bit ‘ugly’ of not as useable to some people; c) people getting frustrated at not being able to connect with friends who are already on there.
The biggest upsides to Signal are a) it’s not Meta or some other corporation trying to profit from exploring its users; b) it’s a clean and simple UX (IMO) that doesn’t try to do too much extra; c) the organization behind it takes security very seriously.
I’m sure Netflix, Hulu, and similar services will compensate for subscriber losses in the usual manner: by continuing to increase their prices and further screwing over their remaining subscribers. You know, the time-honored cable/satellite TV strategy.
In fact, that’s already been happening for several years. Which is why (along with them offering mostly shit content that I never watched) I cancelled almost all my streaming services a couple of years ago.
Great point!
They got monetized by corporations, just like so many other specialized information sources.
Like you, I remember earlier days on the web where you could find all sorts of stuff for free, if you knew how to search. That included reverse phone number searches, finding people online, etc. Now it’s all trapped behind paywalls. I get that maintaining it costs money. But it’s still a bit disheartening. I guess the silver lining is that it makes it a bit harder for people’s sensitive information to be accessible to everyone (unless they pay for it, of course).
Another information category that’s gone down this route is genealogy information. Most of the good stuff there’s is being held hostage by ancestry.com and similar sites. And most online newspapers now hide their articles behind paywalls of one kind or another (there are ways around them usually, but it’s still a hassle).
The only accident from those bastards’ perspectives is that they got caught.
as he peels off the penis suit, asks Gamble for her name.
She replies, “Aunt Tifa.”
Perfect response. Okay, that lady is a baller (and, apparently, a penis).
There’s been a steady rise in cases in some parts of England where raising the St George’s flag has become synonymous with hostility towards immigrants. That’s why it’s considered as a cause of ‘alarm and distress’, at least in this case. Especially given the background of this guy who’s been doing it.
So this isn’t just a case of an overreaction to a harmless act of national pride (which is what some might come away with if they didn’t read the article or know the context).
It’s a shame that the flag has become a proxy for racism. Not least because a lot of people put up the flag purely out of pride and with no malicious subtext.
But you can usually tell the areas where there’s a racist undertone because they have a ridiculous number of flags up.
Edit: fixed some typos.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Donald. It’s well known that Trump’s current marriage is a sham, and that Melania barely tolerates him.
Working for Nestle? Eesh, no amount of chocolate would make that worthwhile.
Seems likely the only books the members of that Tennessee Library Board read are ones at their level - little kids books. Maybe that’s why these dimwitted dingleberries are so invested in this asinine topic: because it will directly impact their preferred reading material.
I hope that librarian takes them to the cleaners for unfair termination.
I’m actually surprised he converted to Catholicism in the first place. He’s nothing but a immortal opportunist. And it would have made more sense for him to join one of the firebrand evangelical protestant sects. Better voter appeal for his target voter base.