Why did the Romans fail?

I remember learning that the Romans fell because they were too gay and debauched and woke, so they lost their manly vigors.

Nevermind, history doesn’t like copypasta

I suppose its worth noting that the Roman Empire lasted centuries (millennia, if you see the Byzantine/Ottoman Empire as a continuation of Roman history). The UK is more comparable than the US, which flourished after WW1 and made it barely a century before fumbling.

But also, the book is hardly closed on the US as an empire. China, India, Persia, Rome, France… they all had their ups and downs.

The US writes the history books, runs the universities, and manages the international media networks.

Like tankie never really meant anything before

I mean, its historically described Soviet policy in Eastern Europe and Chinese domestic policing (Khrushchev putting down the Hungarian fascist revolt with armored infantry and Deng sending tanks into Tienanmen Square).

Now it just means whatever the opposite of neoconservative policy is, updated daily.

Being against tanks makes you a tankie at this point.

Everyone knows that if you’re against US tanks, you must be in favor of non-US tanks. You’re either with US or you’re with the Tankie-rists

They are so understaffed these days that they are no longer fast anymore.

The food itself is pre-prepared and re-heated on the spot. Go when there’s not a rush on and you can get your food in minutes. Go during rush hour and you’ll still be in and out much faster than at a sit-down establishment (that’s also inevitably understaffed).

They’ve got people addicted to 7,000 times the amount of recommended daily sugar, fat, and salt content.

I’ve heard this line and I think there’s an element of truth to it. Food really does taste differently if you’ve been eating the high salt/sugar junk for an extended period.

But you can get junk food anywhere. You don’t need McD’s to make it for you. Gas stations have soda fountains. Grocery stores have microwaved meals full of preservatives and sweeteners. You can just make yourself a hamburger at home, it doesn’t have to come from a store.

It just takes time, a certain degree of skill, and a kitchen with functional appliances that you’re going to need to clean up after you’re done. McD’s just goes in the trash afterwards. Far faster to buy a burger than cook one.

Historically, it was one of the cheaper items on the menu. In college (20 years ago) I could get a large fries for under $1. Back in the 80s/90s they were practically free. Like, loose-change free.

Also one of the tastier meal items given that they went so fast you could safely assume they’d be fresh, why the sandwich options could be sitting in the warmer for half an hour or longer depending on the speed of business.

I don’t get the point of fast food chains anymore.

It’s all in the name. You can get through a fast-food drive through in about 5-10 minutes. Dining in and cooking tends to take thirty min to an hour.

With 15€ i can go to an actual restaurant, why would I go to a fast food place?

Because you’re fighting traffic on your way home to feed your spouse and kids.

Absolutely crazy to think Trump isn’t aggressively contesting the entire Pacific Rim, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. FFS, how many times does he need to bomb Iran or Yemen before this shit is settled? How many times does need to send Steves Banon and Miller out to Germany, Poland, and Hungary to whip support within the fascist parties? How come the common denominator between every banana republic fascist in Latin America is their Austro-Hungarian parentage and their avowed support for Israel?

Might be closer to say he’s ceding the African/East Asian Global South to the Israelis/Saudis/Qataris/UAE. But even that gives him far too much credit.

Crazy to see people smile benignly while US Presidents shake hands with Saudi Kings and Egyptian Dictators, only to discover their love for democracy when a socialist they don’t like secures a 7-pt election lead.

If the J6ers had all been Venezuelan, I wonder if liberals would have stood back and let the US Congress get lynched?

It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.

Liberals will go on and on about how any defense of the Venezuelan government marks you out as a “Tankie”, then clap like seals as US tanks and helicopters obliterate homes, massacre civilians, and snatch people up as political extortion.

These are the same tactics used time and again by ICE Agents within the US’s own borders. They’re the tactics used abroad, to quell dissidents in The Philippines and Haiti and Gaza and Yemen. These are the actions of a fascist government for the purposes of genocide of native peoples, seizure of lands, and generating capitalist profits.

Anyone who endorses it has picked a side. Just a shame they can’t have these decisions carved into their foreheads for all the world to remember.

https://www.sexylosers.com/comic/219/

How is targeting dissidents a revenue source?

States with large pools of disposable income and businesses with big PR budgets will pay top dollar to squelch activists and opponents.

Not in most countries surely?

How much is Palantir getting paid? How much is Black Cube getting paid? There’s always a pricetag on this work and plenty of organizations - especially fascist governments - are happy to outsource the work to friendly contractors.

If y’all don’t want it slapped, leave that cake in the kitchen. Men just asking for it. We see how you’re dressed.

And in some of the stories Lex Luthor loses his hair because of his kryptonite experiments.

In Smallville, the spacecraft carrying Superman brings a kryptonite meteor swarm with it. Lex’s exposure to the meteors is the cause of his premature baldness and a partial reason for his resentment of The Alien.

In fairness, Doomsday beat Superman in a straight knuckle dust up, no kryptonite required. So that’s also a Superman weakness.

First Amendment was always a polite fiction of the regime. Americans get to pretend they have it until they upset someone with actual power.

But you’re always free to run scams, to slander the weak and vulnerable, and to rally bigots into a lynch mob. So the idea of Free Speech remains valuable to demagogues and unscrupulous marketing goons alike.

Cunnalingus appreciators win again

I mean, the title may be true, but I’d hardly call this a crazy law. Draconian censorship is routine and endemic globally. It’s the Free Speech policy that’s “crazy”.

As more media is heavily monetized, the real appeal of censorship is as a revenue source. Surveillance, draconian administration, and targeting of dissidents all become income streams for the platforms.

Nothing unusual about that, either

Any decent business wants dependable people who will follow the processes and work in a team.

I mean, they want people who can do the job. And most businesses don’t need a guy who can program fantastically complex solutions in obscure languages at a breakneck pace.

They also don’t want to pay above the “going rate”, which is inevitably less than what the market actually demands.

So while programming contests are fun, they don’t do much to improve your pay scale. Much better to climb the management chain and lead programmers than excelling at the actual work. Then you get to take credit for whole teams and land an outsized bonus as a result.

Intel implemented significant layoffs in 2025 as part of a major restructuring under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, aiming to reduce its core workforce by about 25,000 (roughly 15-20%) by year-end to streamline operations and cut expenses

Then you’ve got Kalshi… paying $110-140k, then working you to the bone on Christmas Eve.

Like, you’re better off as some schmick front end developer at a midcap company than a “top tier” developer at a code mill in Silicon Valley.