Michael Hardner

They did have to feed people, and maintain armies and roads. Podcast Said that the citizens of Rome itself were leaving to find tax havens if you can believe it. Maybe it's as simple as: the complexities of running an Empire eventually outgrow the empire's abilities to do it.

Bread. Recently listened to a podcast about the decline of Rome. Too many perks for the elites, middle class squeezed... Unsustainable debt... ... We seem to do this to ourselves over and over.

Allen was best at jokey films. Underrated: Broadway Danny Rose, Sleeper Overrated: Manhattan, Interiors

Actually I would challenge that. People vote in a public sphere, reflecting the concerns of that sphere. If people aren't challenged with real subsistence matters, they concern themselves with culture and become busybodies around their personal values, manners, and rules. And key to all of this is that they have an engagement bubble with like-minded folks. And curiosity about what is outside the bubble is actively discouraged as a mark of disloyalty. It's the very thing that the United States worked against... for centuries. So put all that together and you get the MAGA cultural revolution and its adherents. It's actually a rational response for those inside. For those who designed it, it's maybe a little more intriguing and hard to scrutinize what their end game is.

As it is with war. Of course, if you actually post this without irony, you can't expect mercy from your warrior opponents. To think a society as wealthy and evolved as the west descending into this, throwing away all the cultural gains it made over centuries.... As a proud modernist and conservative democrat, and student of history... It's truly depressing.

SO! You got it right 👍

Exactly

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin I was about to say she's wrong, but I saw your quote that it's the 21ST CENTURY. So, yes, but there have only been six so...

How do people become aware of these things though? You have to look into what constitutes a public sphere. It's very complicated right now because the media landscape is bifurcating into two separate spheres. As time goes on, it's almost like they are different countries within a single country or society.

Did I tell you that I went out for dinner with Morris Dancer?

Double blind testing with placebo and with randomly selected subjects. I looked at the White House release though and it seems to have only cited studies that found a correlation, which is not the same thing. Who knows..

1. Your rationale is beyond shaky... Your moral foundation, corrupt and inconsistent. 2. Selling Merch and scraping for money (to add upon a pile of millions) is unkempt and sh1tty behaviour. You are oblivious and out of touch with most people. 3. "Hear ye, Year ye.... STEP RIGHT UP AND GET YOUR OBAMA IS A MARXIST SPECIAL EDITION MAGA HAT ! ONLY $39.99 ! IT GOES DIRECTLY INTO TRUMP'S POCKET REST ASSURED !" 4. It's actually quite specific. I am not going to stay quiet forever about this malodorous horde of incompetent scammers... Allow me to vent my disgust once in awhile, please and thank you.

You don't decide what is something and what is nothing. People push back on this disgusting crew, who are getting more and more desperate as their approval numbers decline along with the economy. The moral sphere of MAGA is unAmerican, and even a Canadian can see that.

You don't give the other side the benefit of the doubt. As such, you will excuse almost anything Trump says - even violent metaphors, as you have framed it. So many examples of Trump promoting violence... against protesters, against prisoners in custody... You will excuse all of it.

No, not NEXT: I'm doing it now. With the money they have, they could have given away mementos. But they had to SELL them. Yes, I will always criticize petty greed. Sorry if you're offended.

I wouldn't have gone for $10,000.

Did they sell t-shirts and merch? If not, then I think that it's great. They soak people for $ at every turn. I'm personally disgusted.

1. They make money by talking about the news. Yes, it's okay. 2. It's pretty tasteless. Fireworks? Merchandising? Who needs the money here?

1.. Yes. 2. I am one. Did you follow politics before 2016?

I don't think that's how he got famous, first of all. Second of all, the Trump supporters are all about.... Winning is more important than being morally, correct.

Maybe people are finally over being sold this family as a band of saints? He, like the other YouTube jockeys made their living p*ssing people off. Maybe people are starting to understand that Trump and his merry men peddle misery without end? Maybe it's because the funeral had fireworks and sold merch? Maybe Marxists aren't behind everything that you don't like?

I retracted my statement.

You're wrong. Trump's. refusal to follow rules of decorum is part of his appeal. That includes claiming he could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and his fans would love it.

I fully expect the FCC to apply pressure on the corporation, to force it to do its bidding.

It's hard to make the case that he's been supporting Trump and crew of late.