I started this thread with “I might trade the US government for Cuba’s right now”. In that context, it’s completely fair to compare the two.

You think white people who helped black people had it easy?

Have you been paying attention to what’s been going on in the US? And not just with Trump. Making sure black people lack a voice in the government has been a goal backed by violence for a long time.

Most of the issues with Cuba’s poverty stems from sanctions. Those sanctions are in nobody’s interest except a few Cuban expats in Florida. Who at this point are the descendents of people who were kicked out for largely good reasons.

As for human rights abuses, we don’t even need to make the comparison between the US and Cuba on that one.

At this point, I’d trade Cuba’s government for the United States.

Doesn’t really matter. Trump got a deal. In Donnie’s diseased mind, it doesn’t matter what it says, only that it exists.

Ukraine doesn’t even have significant rare earth deposits. Nothing worth mining.

However, those aren’t the only thing in the deal. Bunch of other minerals are in there, and oil and natural gas.

A 150-200mm drone frame wouldn’t have that kind of range in its battery, anyway. There are useful drones in the war that are even smaller than that.

Initial reports indicate that the site, previously protected by one of Russia’s densest air defense networks, suffered catastrophic damage.

Good chance Ukraine could hit the Kremlin if they wanted to. They have drones with the 500 mile range to pull it off, and Russian air defense has become a joke. The only thing that’s been stopping them was US worries about actions like that causing escalation. Ukraine has had less and less reason to care what the US thinks of late.

Like the sinking of the Moskva, they choose a story that makes them look incompetent rather than giving the enemy a win. If you have to make this choice, you might be losing.

New pope gets elected, and then the believers will say it was misinterpreted the whole time. This is the standard way.

Pretty much. Nobody believes the tariffs will outlive Trump, and he’s very old. Why drop a huge capital expense to solve a problem that will go away?

The idea behind it is that post-2008, low interest rates let the rich run wild buying up real estate and stocks.

I don’t really buy it, though. Trump isn’t that smart, and nobody was really asking for tariffs that are so strong across the board. Even Project 2025 is split on the issue, and what support it does give for them is much more targeted.

This is Trump’s bad idea all on his own.

The depth of stupidity of this Administration will be studied by mathematicians for centuries as a new form of fractal.

Helps when you’re a kid, and not the one paying $2/picture for the flash.

Source. Take the cost based on a 12-pack of Magicubes, divide in 4 because there’s 4 shots per cube, and adjust for inflation.

Doesn’t really matter. Ukraine does not have significant rare earth deposits in the first place. The whole thing is a farce.

Nope, we don’t. This talking point is about a decade out of date. The solutions are all sitting right there without building any new nuclear.

https://www.amazon.com/No-Miracles-Needed-Technology-Climate/dp/1009249541

Historically, groups that have “communist” in their name have been Soviet mouthpieces. Not all of them, and the ideology doesn’t require it by any means, but it happened a lot. Conversely, if they had “socialist” in their name, they were more likely to want nothing to do with that shit.

It’s not necessarily about changing anything. It’s a matter of safety for those visiting.

There are silver linings like this. The good news is that if we fight now, Trump will have destroyed a lot of the institutions (both domestic and foreign) that were holding back real progress. Clears the way to build better ones.