Came here to say this. All through the piece and the comments they act like it's American culture or "tipping culture", when it's actually just a lack of labor protection regulations that allow for business owners to exploit their labor and customers that should outrage everyone. Especially on top of the exorbitant cost of Cisco frozen foods and tasteless produce that get sugar/fat/spice-bombed in order to bring it to life. Talk about successful propaganda. Corporations and the landlord class have picked this country clean.

American in Italy here! I am not justifying this, just explaining it from an Italian perspective. First, the paper is not mixing up her Indian heritage here with Native American. They took the idea that she is seeking a white male VP running mate and wrote "hunting for a white man", which conjured up a "funny" homage to native Americans in spaghetti westerns, while giving a nod and a wink to the racism inherent in making the VP pick race-based. Second, this paper is a sensationalist rag sold in grocery store checkout lanes, with no expectation for the stories to be good, or free of any number of unsavory isms.

If only we actually applied the "public good" principal, then government would also cover healthcare, dental care, eye care, cognitive-behavioral care, education, internet, phone, electricity, and gyms at least.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/waltmonk?

I wonder if they had to exclude farm equipment from the bill to get it passed.

A Roman Emperor joined a Levantine cult, and now you can't get an abortion because the Supreme Court makes decisions based on Near Eastern mythology from the Iron Age.

Fresh 15 year old news

Wealth concentration is bad for everyone but the wealthy. https://inequality.org/facts/

All of the Yakuza games are basically, collections of well made mini games that turn each beat-em-up campaign into a hundred hours of fun. But among those, the Cabaret Club and Pocket Circuit RC race-car games from Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, are probably my favs.

The feds give the states more than $16b per year to build and run shitty, custom made IT systems for their Medicaid programs. It's basically a subsidy to IT companies. There are thousands of examples like this, where spending money on fundamental science is clearly a better investment.

I did. Way less content, but higher quality content.

This shouldn't happen unless you overcook your pasta. When the water starts boiling, toss in some salt and then the pasta. Wait for length of time on the pasta package. Then remove from heat and drain. If it still gets sticky, buy a better quality pasta.

Now make one with an elephant in the middle to put next to this one. It will be equally trite.

It's a resolution not a bill, only Republicans voted on it.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/18/charlie-kirk-national-day-remembrance-senate

Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway all had a culture of gun ownership, went through a mass shooting, put severe restrictions on gun ownership, and had dramatic drops in gun violence. All those other countries have similar mental illness rates and other things people blame mass shootings on.

Incredible example for others to follow. With Inuit winning most local elections, the area is much closer to self governance by the indigenous people there, while active participants in the Canadian state.

I don't understand how letting players pay money to avoid grinding for items isn't a douchy move. It either means they think you will have less fun if you pay less (otherwise people wouldn't be motivated to buy shortcuts) or that they are making you pay extra for an easy mode.

Make a small spray paint stencil or vinyl sticker that represents your crew, or inspires people to think differently, and put them around your town or natural areas in subtle, cleverly inconspicuous locations.

Explore your area with Alltrails, or a similar app, finding new hiking or biking trails.

Urban exploration: creep through abandoned buildings, climb fire escapes to reach the rooftops, use catwalks under bridges to cross roads and rivers, scurry through large water drain pipes and abandoned steam tunnels.

Start a lucid dreaming competition with your friends, and share your experiences every morning. As you all develop more dreaming skills, you can share them with each other, and slowly become the masters of your dreams.

Come up with scavenger hunts that guide people into the coolest, hidden areas of your town, using clever clues, and share them online, similar to geocaching.

Pick up rubbish off the ground, one area at a time.

If it doesn't exist publically in your country, get equipment to either test air or water quality at several spots around your community, and then share them online through posts, or by hosting an Ushahidi map. Encourage others to chip in.

Get your gang to volunteer together to help homeless, elderly or disabled people once or twice a month. You will both bond with your buds and gain new perspectives from the people you work with.

Arrange spontaneous dance parties in public with little flash mobs made up of your mates. Try to get strangers to join in on the fun. Disperse after one song, so you don't get in trouble.

Learn to identify the 10 most common trees in your area, then the 10 most common flowers, the 10 most common weeds, the 10 most common birds and the 10 most common insects.

Explore local theater, try to find weird niche performances at churches, swingers clubs, primary schools, corporate retreats, futurist festivals, government events, and street corners. Make sure to cheer loudly and throw flowers.

Is this Winamp for Finns or a financial amplification device?

A society requires governance. Staff to set and enforce rules, staff and supplies to execute services which provide social and physical infrastructure.

Certain things every community needs: Healthcare, education, transportation, utilities, support services for special needs, safety, rehabilitation for rule breakers, etc.

A government can figure out how to provide these services (with in-house or out-sourced expertise) and provide you with one bill (taxes). Or they can privatize a service, meaning you still need it and they may regulate it, but you'll be paying someone else for that service.

The value of taxes should be considered in this light. How much do I pay for all the services me and my community needs, and what portion of that is taxes. Then compare to other countries to see how well our governance system is functioning.

Does privatization save cost? What balance of regulation keeps things affordable vs driving up expenses? What balance of in-house expertise vs outsourcing is the most functional? What is the cost to quality of life having to pay bills to 15 organizations vs one? Where is there an extra heavy burden of cost and what can we do through regulation to fix it? These are the questions we should be interested in when it comes to governance, an elected official's personality or opinions should be negligible factors.