No toilet rules me - my alone time is ungovernable!
But the last thing I need is a spring loaded giant fish, especially in my toilet.
Yes!
But the covid situation is way worse than you think. The government stimulus was really helpful to the poor and middle class, but they spent all that money.
And who profited from that? The asset owners. Covid stimulus essentially was a direct transfer from the government to company owners and house rentals. These rich guys then used it to buy other assets such as more houses, equities and businesses. That's why the stock market went up - your money went straight into it.
It's suggested that the term "Achilles' heel", meaning a seemingly insignificant point of fatal weakness, comes from exactly your observation of the Dendra Panoply, an armour of exactly the same period as Achilles and the Trojan War.
That is a very profound point you've just made - it made me think.
While I think you're 99% correct, I think there is a serious counterpoint to:
A difference in beliefs ... can be addressed through the inspection and sharing of evidence
This can only be true if both hold values that make logic/reason matter more than emotion or nihilism/postmodernism.
Some people have fallen into the trap of emotionally rejecting other people's arguments and denying what are self-evident facts (if you accept realism is basically true). By denying a shared reality, it is near impossible to jointly reason in the space of beliefs about reality.
Sadly this is important because the right has spent about 40 years denying basic truths (like trickle-down economics doesn't work and children dressed as cats have litter-boxes in liberal schools). In the last 10 years or so they have developed a complete alternate reality on the Internet, and the single most important facts in this reality are that mainstream media is lying, there is a giant conspiracy controlling the governments and science and that the best way to find the truth is to do your own research.
Yeah, but let's consider what happens:
That's why the Dow Jones and S&P are lower - this shrinks company profits and US GDP.
The EU and US standards are very different and products for one can't necessarily be shipped to the other and vice versa. Examples for food include massive differences for colourings, preservatives and the like. Europe will not accept chicken washed in chlorinated water or bright froot loops. Health traffic lights are also going to be different.
While it's possible to have 2 production lines, 1 for each economic zone, that's expensive for producers and shippers.
A full renegotiation of the US Canada trade border would be chaos
But that is precisely what Trump is demanding now. Even though he tore up NAFTA and renegotiated the deal in his first presidency (I am sure I remember him saying it was the greatest trade deal ever signed and the greatest win for ~~Trump~~America).
They don't need to join it as a full member to have trade and economic benefits. Simple (!) alignment with standards and regulations will allow free access to the market and free movement of people.
Well that and the fact the people inside and outside have tremendous difficulty opening a door or window if power fails.
In situations where emergency responders can't open a door, they try:
To smash a window. Which is difficult if the window is designed to stop 9mm parabellum.
Cut the door posts with the 'jaws of life'. Which is difficult if they can't smash the windows, and even more difficult to cut stainless steel bulletproof panels.
Basically the Cybertruck is the only commercial vehicle designed not to be opened.
I acknowledge there are manual ways to do this inside the car, but they are hidden and drivers (let alone occasional passengers) don't practice this, and so don't remember at times of stress.
These are specific points in UK road safety regulations and those are just 2 of the reasons why the UK banned the CT.
To sum up:
Both are rich and well-connected by virtue of being nepo babies, but:
Spotted an owl in the woods in Bishan Park in central Singapore early in the evening. Logically this makes it a spotted wood owl.
Sorry for the low quality - it was at the limits of my Pixel 6 camera.
Here's one that I enjoyed and covers a critical period of modern East Asian history: "The Gate" by François Bizot.
It's him recounting how he travelled to Cambodia and was captured by the Khmer Rouge. He survived ... just ... By forming a relationship with Comrade Duch who
While he covers the history of the Khmer Rouge period, his writing is highly empathic and discusses the suffering of himself and hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens at the hands of other ordinary citizens and how could this possibly happen. It's a highly emotional book.
Best of luck with your reading!