I wouldn’t say it is obvious they won’t decline. This particular event could sway it significantly. If they end up throwing the admiral under the bus, I would bet people would think more about illegal orders in the future.

Only if hegseth and trump wanted him to. Which they don’t.

Yeah, that was pretty soft. I guess it was not suitable for many workplaces, but not universally so.

True, america draws that kind of person. So they come here from all over. And the system here is designed to help them.

It says they are on administrative leave. So they do technically still work there is some quasi state. I assume the order would force them to come back or quit. Which is probably the point.

On the visa and Mastercard thing I very much agree. In theory they are a business, and can chose who to do business with. But the free market pressures don’t exist to impact the decisions they make. So instead of them being influenced by customer sentiment, they are actually influenced by large organization with an agenda. That agenda is usually just a BS reason to build the organization and make specific people rich. It doesn’t represent the will of the people. So… they should be treated more like a utility. Places are refusing to take cash these days, so it is an easy argument that they function like a utility.

Totally agree. He doesn’t actualy fix things, just talks about it. Then waffles on the idea after the check clears.

Hey hey. 1 - it’s not all americans. 2 - it is not a uniquely American thing. You don’t see many “poor” poloticians for a reason.

I’m trying to think what NSFW football would be like. They have some very NSFW wrestling videos out there.

This is one of the things people don’t get about trump supporters. Establishment politicians would never suggest such a thing. They stick to the established political crap. The you get a guy like trump who just spouts whatever he hears or thinks. Stuff like how it doesn’t make sense that football is two drastically different sports. That is very appealing to a lot of people. He is saying the quiet parts out loud. He doesn’t actually “do” anything productive about it. But it wins over plenty of voters. Also, he lies so poorly you easily know.

Interesting point. But in general, who are the people complaining in the wrong spot. I suspect people basically are complaining in thier echo chambers… social media. And likely noone cares. But then the media jumps in and picks it up. So is the media to blame? I read a story about a lady in Britain I think who had like 89 followers and made a statement. It went viral. Suddenly her statement to her echo chamber was in the news. It ruined her life actually.
So are we saying the media should be banned on reporting what is said inside echo chambers, or are we saying public posting of opinions should be banned?

People are free to pressure retailers on what to sell and what not too. Saying they can’t would be far worse. And the retailer is doing the job of making money… by following the 2ishes of the populace. This is the free market capitalist society we live in. Completly sucks, but it is consistent.

That is what he is saying while trying not to make it obvious he is saying that. Clearly hegseth ordered it.

The good of the one, or few, over the good of the many. This is a human trait. It is the same trait that allowed homo sapiens to become the dominate species. It will be hard to evolve out of it. Seeing reality is a major cause of depression in my opinion.

Someone who claimed to have played the game said the privates were sensored.
The game concept feels very political, not sexual from what I am hearing.
My guess is the AI just flagged it, and noone actually reviewed it. Now that it is news, they don’t want any bad press, so they are standing by the ban, when otherwise they might have reversed it.

Um, he didn’t say he was deciding for others, he said he could understand how others would be hesitant… sounded like he was supporting your very point that people have a right to have their own opinion.

You don’t get to those high ranking positions without having an abnormal amount of personal ambition. So these decisions are nothing new, they just do what is best for themselves and carry on.

“People”… The majority of us don’t classify as “people”.

Or he knew Hegseth would throw him under the bus for the obvious violation of international law and he just wanted to save his own skin.

Probably also had inside knowledge of the long term plan to land troops on Venezuelian soil, and didn’t want his name part of that history chapter.

I don’t think the bubble will burst like we are used to. AI is part of the arms race between nations. So they will shore the industry up at all costs.
As for the choice to shut down the brand. It will be years before all that infra gets built. Better to sit the time out and revive the brand when prices are reasonable enough that hobbyists and such are willing to pay them.