I'm probably older than you: Nazis held a rally in Madison Square Garden once. Gitmo held people in cages, set dogs on people, did water boarding torture, then even more extreme torture was done via extraordinary rendition. The patriot act changed people's rights, invaded people's privacy, as did PRISM. Obama killed American citizens, as did the Move Bombing. America has done lots of stuff like this before, lots of it's been ongoing since before Trump... For instance Border Patrol existing in a grey area of legality, and having basically no oversight.

You make it sound like optical mouses were a no-brainer, but they were very much non trivial: it required both ingenuity and fairly sophisticated tech to make them work well.

Teenagers have always challenged the social norm. For example the work OK originated from teens purposely misspelling words in letters to one another to annoy the older generation. Do I feel like teenagers today are worse behaving than when I was young? Yes, just like the older generation probably thought my generation was behaving when I was a teenager. The internet just let's it spread faster, so maybe in that extent the answer would be yes, but I don't think their behavior is the Internet's fault.

2.5k€ for a house in Italy still sounds like a pretty wild deal tho ::: spoiler Tap for spoiler ~(its probably not, unless you are very aware of what you are actually getting yourself into!) :::

There are other examples of possibilities than the USSR. Western Europe gave up most of their colonial possessions after WW2. They ended up fine. Arguably better off, even. Ancient Rome went through many periods of crisis and getting their shit back in order. The Eastern half of the Empire went on for about another 1000 years after the split--it lasted almost long enough to see Columbus get completely lost and stumble on some land. At one point, it held almost the whole territory of the original Roman empire, albeit briefly. There are a million ways this can go. Liberal America could reassert itself more or less as it was. It could break into coalitions of loosely affiliated states kinda like Prussia. It could undergo great reforms and fix a lot of problems with its structure of government. I couldn't even guess which is more likely right now.

On top of the world As far as I know, it is just a whole lot of ice there....

Asked students what we wanted to spend our time in his class doing, actually followed through, and was then fired.

bans due to differences of opinions... although I've already seen that here pretty frequently. People should be allowed have different opinions. sure you can call them a dummy for having a stupid opinion, but don't just ban them. That just creates echo chambers.

I read that in Trump's voice.

Vagina dentata!

Tubthumping by chumbawumba

Gold isn't a feasible world reserve currency. It might be handy to have, but most people don't have it. Where as the number of US bills in global circulation (M0) is so large, that any country wishing to print/distribute enough of their currency to replace it - would automatically depreciate that currency many times over. The world uses the US dollar as the reserve currency because it already got everywhere, it's already out there in people's hands in the strangest of places. Mostly where borders meet, and instability exist. America's hard power would have to decline far far far faster than it currently is... and I can't think of what would make that happen. Maybe if Trump passes a law that all US military vehicles have to be dismantled and destroyed? Outside of that, the US dollar as the reserve currency will likely remain. Also BRICS may not have enough gold in reserve to back their currencies, and it's unlikely so many countries would all agree to risk that instability all at once. So I don't agree with your idea that "it can happen fast". ...all that said, America's real problem is that it probably doesn't have a democracy anymore. Like, unless participation and protest numbers go through roof - that part of America may be.... damaged beyond repair. That's what citizens should be focusing on.

As pointed out, I didn't say anything about brave. But your later reply also doesn't really explain why people choose nonstandard browser A over B... Regardless... That tinkering is all you.

Lesbian and bisexual women are different. They have learned telepathy from all their pet cats. They have also learned the stand-offishness from their cats so sadly, it still doesn't help them make the first move.