Deflation in a modern economy is terrible. It means people stop spending, because why buy today when it’ll be cheaper tomorrow? Except that just means more deflation, and pretty soon economic activity grinds to a halt. That’s the short version. There’s a much longer version but I’ll leave that be for now.

You’re placing the blame in the wrong spot, sport. What else has happened since then? How about attacks on unionization, and resulting decline in the power of such. How about massive tax cuts, trickle down economics, and policies to benefit the investor class over everyone else? Sorry, but the people peddling the line…

Because the alternative of deflation wrecks the economy in ways you can’t even imagine. Yes, inflation is policy, but in small amounts it’s not a problem. The problem is that productivity is rising AND WAGES AREN’T. Ahem. Wage earners are doing more valuable work, but not getting any more for it - the extra is instead…

Yes, can’t have kids who might be gay or transgender thinking that it’s acceptable to be that way. Books like this might undermine the social repression that traditionalists want to enforce. Back in the closet with you, you icky LGBT sorts! /snark

Classic case of projection there, sounds like.

My experience has been that the McDonald’s in Japan are definitely higher quality, on a number of levels, including ingredient quality, though a lot probably just comes down to Japan being Japan.

Oh, we notice it. But we figure we can wait a bit, and stack things up even when it gets taller than the rim of the trash can, like a game of trash Jenga, until it falls over. Then we wait another week or so, maybe putting the excess into a grocery bag next to the trash can or such.

Well, he does have a point about incompatible places. The Martians can’t even survive in our atmosphere unaided, and don’t even get me started about those Alpha Centaurians...

They wouldn’t need to wiretap Trump’s campaign. They could simply wiretap the Kremlin itself.

Blue, then yellow with black top, then blue with white stripes.

Japan today is really not like it was before/during WW2. That isn’t just in the attitudes of the people, but also in the economic incentives. We no longer live in an age of imperialism where economic capability is tied intrinsically to control of territory. There is little incentive for Japan to pursue a more…

Not necessarily. If they sign a contact, then they’re bind by the terms of that contact, so long as it doesn’t demand anything illegal, and requiring that they hold reviews until a certain date is entirely trainable as far as conditions for providing units for review go.

I think we should separate the issue of inclusion of diverse models, and the issue of cultural appropriation, because I feel that the two aren’t write the same thing. There is certainly a need for more diversity of models, absolutely, and cultural appropriation is a big problem, but we should also be careful not to…

I’m due to join the EU it seems. There are certainly worse fates!

But does anyone else claim them? If not, then it’s pretty much not an issue. Nobody would care if China was claiming islets that weren’t in dispute - it’s that China is claiming ones already claimed by someone else.

That’s the reality of military service. Paperwork, training, waiting, more paperwork, maintenance, briefings, then wait some more. The amount of time you actually get to do the cool stuff tends to be sparing unless you’re in an actual war zone (and even then, there’s still paperwork and briefings and maintenance and…

It does seem like a lot of the budget fights have gone to the big ticket boondoggle stuff, while the basic funding for non-sexy stuff like readiness take it on the chin.

I feel like its use, especially in the British sense, isn’t bad, since it’s entirely on par with male genitalia related insults (e.g. calling someone a dick or a cock). The one that I don’t get so much is calling someone a pussy to allege weakness, while balls are considered tough, because it’s really quite the…

One, Jeff Merkel from Oregon later read the full letter but wasn’t stopped. Guess it’s only bad if a woman does it, huh.

It’s important to note that Virginia has only recently shifted into the “purple” category, largely thanks to the northern Virginia DC suburbs, on top of the urban areas in Richmond/ Norfolk/etc. However, Virginia is also home to such gems as Pat Robertson, Falwell’s “Liberty” university, etc.  You still have parts…