https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_production_in_Afghanistan

I’m sure there were other things/resources to extract/control there, but this is the one I know and remembered off the top of my head.

It’s also a good place to do a real life test of (actual) weapons of mass destruction. A showroom of violence for potential buyers across the world.

I’m not from there but I’ll say that The US doesn’t intervene overseas in order “to spread democracy” or “to protect the world from the evils of communism” but to protect its economic interests, to increase the profits of capitalists through industries such as weapons and oil, and to make sure that no socialism occurs that threatens the stranglehold of capitalism.

Some books to check:

• Major General Smedley D. Butler - War Is A Racket
• Tim Weiner - Legacy Of Ashes: The History Of The CIA
• William Blum - Killing Hope: US Military And CIA Interventions Since World War II
• Noam Chomsky - What Uncle Sam Really Wants

The issue is when it is done publicly, it is almost always done in bad faith to try and shame/put someone down and dismiss everything they said due to a mistake. If you want to teach someone you should send them a private message. Don’t put them on blast in front of everyone. It shows a lack of empathy and depicts you as someone who wants to appear superior/better than them. Of course, there are ways to do it publicly but courteously, for example something like “just fyi, it’s they’re not their :) but anyway, I do agree with what you’re saying [or] it was interesting to read your take on this”

COINTELPRO never went away

I doubt it but I hope it somehow signifies a lasting slowing down of imperialism, of protecting the interests/profits of foreign corporations over local populations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d'état

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_involvement_in_the_Iraq_War

Would he even arrive in hell? To my knowledge, God (at least of the old testament) never really condemned sexual assault/rape or hurting children (the latter is even encouraged - “spare the rod, spoil the child”, the binding of Isaac, etc.). A rapist could marry his victim as a “punishment” (as long as she’s single, otherwise if she was another man’s property, both her and the rapist should die)

y’all need to stand up against racism and discrimination

I concur, I think they should push towards a more positive internet. Though I think they are a bit wary of doing it ever since the toxic backlash to this blog post

https://blog.mozilla.org/blogarchive/blog/2021/01/08/we-need-more-than-deplatforming/

After they had gotten ahead and were in charge

Chiming in that I do agree with this specific sentiment. I think the issue with your overall statement is that it seems to imply that all boomers did this, while it only applies to the ones that got ahead. The system we’ve been living in for ages has been creating and rewarding cutthroat psychopathic/sociopathic tendencies - so it absolutely makes sense that the people that rose up in the economic ladder abused their position accordingly.

What’s needed is a program that analyzes and pinpoints the conditions that create violent behavior and uproots them (for example, living in scarcity with no economic security and feeling marginalized, having no empathetic communal support system, etc.)

(cc: James Gilligan)

This is heartbreaking. The psychopaths at the top are actively sacrificing human lives. Cutting back programs like FEMA/disaster aid.

The population. This theoretical organization would need to be safe guarded enough that the people would believe they can be frank in expressing their wants without being afraid of repercussions from their regime or external forces. (so for example, if the people say they want socialism, with things like cooperatives and local gardens, then the people from the international organization would help them achieve that)

The problem is that the people at the top don’t want informed citizens. There should be a citizenry(?) class through 3 years of high school, and there should be a sort of public access channel (including online) that disseminates all relevant political information (local and general).

Iranian people need to overwhelmingly decide to do it

The issue with this is that it’s terrifying for the vast majority of people to try and resist a murderous autocratic regime, especially when you’re not sure if enough other people in your vicinity will (successfully) have your back to make sure that you’re not kidnapped and tortured or shot right in the street.

Ideally, we should have an international nonviolent organization that could arrive wherever needed to help a population get out of the shackles (with no strings attached)

They will not use their massive amount of money and resources to create a society that eliminates the conditions that generate criminal behavior (scarcity, no communal support systems, etc.), but they will do this shit.

Though not a single word, I’ve always loved picket fence

Or send their goon squad to your IRL location to beat some sense into you

lending any of your texts, voice, image, writings, etc. to any AI tools

I would think an even worse scenario would be having your entire brain mapped and uploaded, with everything you ever said/experienced/thought/felt/seen/etc. available to whoever. We should be able to take stuff to our graves.

I can only add my own personal experience - generally I can only stomach water in small amounts. It just doesn’t go down as smoothly as other drinks (juice for me). It feels like my mouth/throat rejects it a tiny bit.

(for reference, I drink some filtered tap water after every cup of juice)

In my wild dreams I see them carrying out a positive version of the Business Plot

Concrete Buffer Gone Wild