Free speach is a philosophical concept. Its not like freedom wasnt invented until the Americans decided to write the constitution.

So is freedom of association, and there is a give and take between the two, and other rights for that matter.

Im not gonna have this discussion rn cos frankly im sick of having it.

You and me both.

But that being said many (socially progressive) nations have done independent studies (for the purpose of their socialised medicine) on the effectivness of said various treatments and found no statisticly significant improvement in health outcomes (self harm, suicide, depression etc).

I've seen the one from Finland? Sweden? in the 80s trotted out over and over again as if science doesn't progress. More recent studies show that gender affirming care is extremely effective in improving mental health outcomes. Here's just one on puberty blockers and hormones that says 60% less incidence of depression and 73% less incidence of suicidality: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35212746/.

I've had some pretty long commutes in the past because my work location changes every few years. I enjoy the work, though, so that helps, but I've still been feeling the OP lately. I'm in my late 30s and I don't have kids and "fun" doesn't really do it for me anymore. More and more I need to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile instead of aimless hedonism. I'll figure it out, though, it's just time to make some, as you say, necessary changes again.

Will definitely file these methods away for the future. Microsoft just keeps getting skeezier and they didn't do this shit the last time I had to install Windows. This new laptop is the start of a transition to as close to 100% Linux as I can get.

emo-stroking

Is that what my girlfriend & I were doing in her bedroom in the early 00s listening to Brand New and Death Cab?

Forgot about that, lol. What a train wreck that game was.

I'm guessing they're referring to Squadron 42.

Yes, this is a region that has been fought over since the dawn of human history. It's centered between the various cradles of human civilization - Sumeria, Egypt, and Greece, so it would have been a strategic location militarily and economically. Jaffa is a port that dates back to biblical times, and during the height of the Roman Empire, Judea would have been a vital trading post on the silk road. It's where monotheism began, so it holds great cultural significance as well. With the discovery of oil it became an indispensable ally for the industrialized world in a region destabilized by colonialism and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It truly is a prize to be won, and has been for thousands of years.

However, Israel is not a center of trade in the globalized economy under American hegemony, and perhaps as our dependence on oil wanes, its military/geopolitical significance will dissipate. The only remaining reason for conflict will be the Al Aqsa Mosque sitting atop the Jewish Temple Mount.

That's not an excuse to allow the wanton exploitation of migrant labor that does, whether you want to admit it or not, undercut US labor on the margins. Not to mention the tolerance of labor violations against undocumented workers undoubtedly trickles up to legal labor and harms a lot more workers than just the migrants.

Illegal border crossings are a serious problem and the proper solution is not to hand wave away conservative concerns about it. All that does is maintain the status quo wherein migrant laborers are kept in legal limbo, facilitating their continued exploitation. That's bourgeois shit and if I wanted to get a little conspiratorial about it, I'd suggest that maybe that's the whole point of the "Americans don't want to do those jobs" rhetoric.

The proper solution is to legalize the migrants, get them documented, and protect them with US minimum wage and labor laws.

Bro that one guy screaming about pronouns who inspired a new wojak literally has a British accent.

And I'm sorry you were born without a brain to wash. How sad.

The right sure seems convinced we're hurtling leftward with communist dictators like Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden leading the charge with the tenacity of the Bolsheviks of yore. I'm guessing the reality is somewhere in between that and perennial fecklessness.

False dichotomy. The US ceasing to exist does not stop those things from happening. Indeed, in the short term, things would probably get a hell of a lot worse, as there would be a massive, global power vacuum.