That’s awesome. As long as they are the ones doing the recycling I have faith it’s being done. Shipping it to China (although I think they stopped taking trash) or India or wherever. I don’t trust that. But in house in Sweden, good on them.

Where does Sweden actually do the recycling? Like do they have their own recycling facilities, or do they ship it to China or somewhere like most countries?

Check nekandro comment history. It’s like wumao talking points 101.

So, you’re close but wrong country. Russia tried to get rid of religion but failed. The Russian Orthodox Church just kind of became part of the government. That’s why you see the priests blessing Russian weapons and stuff.

China on the other hand did get rid of religion pretty successfully. The reason communism strives to get rid of religion is because when people aren’t arguing over who’s imaginary supernatural friend loves his people more. It’s easier to get them to agree on things.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that this is a perfect plan. After all successfully getting rid of religion comes with a whole new set of pitfalls. But, I personally think the pros outweigh the cons.

So, I’m not a psychiatrist. I am, However, a parent to a child who receives disability for autism. The hacker has also been reported to be autistic. Now I’m not going to talk about how different autism can be from one person to the next, but one of the first things you are taught is to try and redirect their negative behaviors into something more positive.

In this case that could look something like. “Hey, instead of illegally hacking companies. How about you come to work for the government and have a high paying job hacking for us.” You know that sort of thing.

The kid is talented. Sitting in a prison of any kind is wasting those talents. He would still need a lot of supervision in the above scenario. But he’d still be doing what he loves and presumably contributing to society.

I said pretty much the same thing to my partner the other day. This poor kid is a god damned genius, and now he’s just wasted potential. I can think of several ways to redirect that energy for the good of mankind and I’m an idiot. So for his potential to be wasted like this seems malicious to me.

This reminds me of that old story. One, I have tried to live by.

There was an old man with a huge watermelon patch. Every day a group of kids would come over and steal a single watermelon. The old man was furious about the kids stealing his watermelons and devised a plan. He went out and posted a sign in his patch that said “One of these watermelons is poison. KEEP OUT!”

So, a day goes by, and no stolen watermelon. A week goes by no missing watermelons. The old man is just so pleased with himself and his success. But, then he wakes up after about a week and a half and goes to pick some watermelons, and notices that someone has put a smaller sign next to his. He walks over and the smaller sign simply says “Now there’s two”.

I’ve been a fan of megadeath over the years. Countdown to extinction was a great album and euthanasia was pretty good as well.

But the best part of megadeath is Dave Mustaine. Dave was once in Metallica but was fired for allegedly getting too fucked up. However, the other story about Dave being fired was that James Hetfield was just being the piece of shit he is and kicked Daves dog. Dave, just like any self respecting human that has formed a great friendship with their dog would do. Punched that dog kicking piece of shit James Hetfield in the face. Some say that Dave got fired for that. Which I really hope is true. Not because the dog got kicked, but the face punching part.

I used to beg for money. I was a homeless heroin addict. I learned some interesting stuff begging for money. Being white myself. When I asked white people for money they would often look at me with disdain. Ask black people and they’d usually help ya out. It always seemed crazy to me that the white guy with a suit would treat you like garbage, but the black guy with gang tattoos on his his face and a car that needs work would throw ya a couple of bucks. I’ve heard black people say it works the other way around for them, but I had no way to test it heh.

I’m completely opiate free now for better or for worse. I say it like that because I suffer from crippling depression. Life is not enjoyable to me anymore. But, there are a lot of homeless guys where I live. I give them money, and blankets in the winter. Honestly, I give zero shits what they spend that money on. I don’t care if it’s drugs, alcohol, toothpaste, or socks. The money, once it leaves my hand is theirs to do with as they please. As long as that money brings them even a moment of happiness. As long as I make their life a little more bearable. I’m fine with that.

China is super racist, but Han Chinese men are being offered money to marry Uyghur women. Ya know to expedite that whole genocide thing. So, I could see them doing that.

George Carlin was ahead of his time.

https://youtu.be/CgxDdsiXf8U?si=xpjBYt9nKqpXinqS

Normally, I wouldn’t do this, but I’ve had some time to sleep and I think I may have misinterpreted something you typed. First off though there are a few things that I follow pretty close. Shitty religious stuff, and shitty CCP practices are probably my top things. I’m definitely not saying I’m an expert but I find those things equally interesting and infuriating.

Anyway, last night you called me out for the way I worded my first comment. It was perfectly understandable in its original form. Though I do admit I could have worded it better. So, I fixed it.

But before that comment you had shown a lack of understanding of how basic transactions work. Also, you made it sound like China was the one really helping Afghanistan and China was receiving little in the way of payment for this infrastructure. Now I won’t get into China debt traps because that’s a whole thing unto itself. But I first learned about how China treats African mine workers where similar deals have been made on gore websites. Granted it’s not as bad as what the Belgians did, but they aren’t kind.

Which brings me to what I think I probably misinterpreted. Because of acting like you don’t know how basic transactions work. I just assumed your statement that started with “Yeah, I’m sure…” was sarcastic. Like you were actually saying that you believed the CCP was just doing it to be cool. Which is ridiculous.

Anyway, maybe in the future don’t start off a conversation by critiquing someone’s grammar? Ummm wordage? I don’t know, the proper word escapes me at the moment. But, I feel like we could have had a very constructive conversation.

Also, I should work on my own pettiness. Like, if you insult me by calling me out on something unrelated to the topic. Even if the topic wasn’t my thing. For the next several hours it will be. So, I should also work on that.

I hope you have a good rest of the week.

Are you ok? Do you smell toast or something? If you don’t even have a basic understanding of how life works, never mind, the CCP. I can’t help you.

Are you implying that China is doing it out of the goodness of their little hearts? Are you suggesting that the CCP signed off on a project like this because they are such nice guys?

I bet you believed your mom when she said you were special too. Get the fuck out of here. Hehehehehehehe

Because the copper will be worth way more in the long run than the tech it’s funding. Plus China is notorious for putting their own people in charge of mining operations who are abusive to locals.

I’m sure it’ll be a little more complex, but it doesn’t have to be. If China can secure cheap raw materials it helps to ensure that they can make things cheaper than anyone else.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/744071/manufacturing-labor-costs-per-hour-china-vietnam-mexico/

That link shows how China’s unskilled labor is now more expensive than a lot of their competitors. They need a new edge to stay relevant. The raw materials in Afghanistan is just one of many ways they are attempting to stay competitive.

You’re right about my mis-type on the last thing I’m headed there to fix it. Thanks for pointing that out.

Not all debt can be satisfied with money. A debt that is being paid, whether in money, natural resources, or the blood sweat tears and labor of your countrymen is still a debt.

I read that as “Ona hole goes large again”. I think I need to go back to bed and start this day over.

I’m very well aware what the federal reserve is, and what it does. But, previous to the federal reserve banks printed their own money. The further from that bank you got the less that dollar was worth because it became a huge pain in the ass for a bank to transfer the required assets from far away.

So, if I had a dollar printed in Birmingham, Al. Then I caught a train to California, but not that far was required. That dollar was damn near worthless. Because the bank in California would have to have the bank in Al to send them a dollar worth of “assets”. It was ludicrous.

I agree that the federal reserve is A problem. It is one of many problems. But to blame the federal reserve for the problems plaguing the poor is incredibly narrow minded, and a weird hill to die on. After all we have enough money to spend on tons of other things that certainly seem superfluous. The “federal reserve” hasn’t eaten the money for those projects. From a multi-trillion dollar war on terror to giving out millions to people for ppp loans for farms that don’t exist.

So, keep on with this federal reserve nonsense. Yes the fed sucks, but it wasn’t really better before they came along. Just different. While we still have money to spend. We just “choose” to spend it not helping poor Americans, because that doesn’t play into our narrative of “if you work hard enough you can be whatever you want to be”.

If you’re lucky enough to live close to a charity hospital you get normal healthcare. Otherwise you have to rely on the emergency room. Which only gets you help if you’re dying.

If you aren’t dying, but it’s bad they’ll send you to a specialist. That specialist will charge you basically a co-pay to see them. Here it’s $60.

But I wasn’t just talking about healthcare. Homelessness, drug addiction treatment (which should be healthcare but in America is separate), food help, mental health.

The bankers only have the power they do because they’ve paid for the US government.

That’s the thing. The USA is doing fine. The dollar is the world’s currency. The USA is the worlds police. If the USA fails we all go down. If the USA’s military stops militarying we all go down. Global trade stops. The Western world’s functioning, largely depends on the USA doing well.

It’s a large portion of the USA’s population that isn’t doing well. Which for a country as rich and powerful as the USA shouldn’t be a thing. But, that’s a feature not a bug. See, if they keep us hungry, and desperate then they save money on social services and have cheap labor and soldiers.

Back when Obamacare was being figured out. Some top military official said that if we gave free healthcare to all Americans no one would join the military. I can’t find it anywhere now. But, it was all over the news when it happened.

Generally they are a pretty good news source for anything not Middle East related.