Eat well

That is an euphemism for “don’t eat anything yummy”.

It may or may not extend your life, but it will make it feel unbearably long.

I am not absolving people. I am describing a behavioral pattern that has remained for decades, if not longer. If anything, it’s a cautionary tale.

As a Spaniard, I can confirm that this is a great balanced summary of Spanish politics, in my opinion.

Yes, things are tough now. Climate change is a very serious challenge ahead. I vote Green, ride a bike, etc.

All that being said, I’m probably older than most of you. I grew up during the cold war, when we sincerely believed we were at the brink of nuclear annihilation.

It didn’t happen.

I will spare you the countless doomsday headlines I’ve read in the news over the years. The hole in the ozone layer, the wars, the genocides, the natural disasters, the political churn.

The details don’t matter. We were truly terrified of the future, just like you are. Yet, the immense majority of the fears we had did not materialize, either because we took action to prevent them or because they had been overblown. We also faced some challenges that the news didn’t warn us about.

We prevail, like we have always done. People are much more resilient than they imagine. You can handle it and so can your children, and your children’s children. Living in fear doesn’t solve the problem, so why do it?

I understand Martin Luther King’s quote in its context, but I fail to see the parallel to the situation at hand. Can you elaborate?

How are “white moderates” who tolerated racial injustice similar to moderate parties who suffer electoral losses to far right populist parties? I’m honestly not seeing how the situation is analogous.

“How White-led groups quicky moved more than 200 asylum seekers off a Toronto street to shelter” would be gross and weird, and so is this. Good for them to help out people in need and yikes on the journalist who wrote that headline.

There can be no peaceful outcome without the threat of force if demands are not met

History proves you wrong, though. Civil disobedience has worked in the past; it will work in the future. Violence and the threat of violence feeds a vicious circle where nobody wins.

When the middle class struggles, they eventually embrace anybody who promises a break from the status quo.

Moderate parties need to ask themselves what have they done so poorly that these extremists are now becoming popular. We’ve seen these sort of authoritarian far-right movements across the globe and I’m not seeing moderates offer a great answer.

Personally, I would rather see a shift towards a sustainable future where the necessities of life, such as food, housing, education, health care and public transit were enshrined.

Peaceful protests achieve fucking nothing.

Peaceful protests have been pretty successful in India. Ever heard of Mahatma Gandhi?

Everybody understands that a person on a bike is in a very vulnerable situation. 99% of drivers respond to that by being considerate, while the remaining 1% take advantage of that power differential to bully their neighbours.

I don’t have a silver bullet solution, but there are many things we could do to help. Personally, I would start by providing a better cycling experience around schools, which can be done with inexpensive traffic calming measures such as in-street crosswalk signs, raised crosswalks, etc. Traffic calming protects all children, including those who walk and bike to school, and people who grow up riding bicycles are going to be more considerate to cyclists when they drive a car.

If I may…

It is not okay to burn your own book but it is okay to burn somebody else’s building

I don’t know who is downvoting you because you are completely right.

At the same time, I am delighted at the idea of a bunch of speculators being stressed out and losing a ton of the money they obtained while making housing unaffordable for everybody else.

Housing can be affordable or it can be a good investment. It can’t be both, and it is time it starts being the former.

If my family of four can live cramped inside a one bedroom apartment for years, then overleveraged folks can downsize from the large houses they bought during the pandemic. And, if nothing else, it will feel a little like justice.

I suggest choosing your parents carefully. They should be elderly and in poor health, and most importantly they must own a house not too far from Toronto.

“How fucking convenient” that they think the laws don’t apply to them.

“How fucking convenient” they get to pick and choose which country to live in, instead of the other way around.

“How fucking convenient” that you move the goalposts as you are proven wrong.

I am in complete agreement with you. At the same time, information will not be made public unless the public demands it. As long as the public remains docile and continues to laugh at everybody who suggests there may be something here, the public will be kept ignorant.

I am an immigrant myself. I followed the law. I did everything I was asked to do. Excuse me if I’m indignant at the idea of other people getting in illegally after all the effort and years it took me.

“How fucking convenient”.

My understanding is that it referred to his allegations that some programs are being funded without the necessary Congressional oversight.

Either way, the matter of fact is that Congress is addressing these concerns regarding oversight, not the reprisals suffered by this particular person. See the recently proposed regulation by Gallagher.

I want to let people in who will contribute to our social system more than they take from it. This is achieved through a selective process, not by opening the doors to whoever wants to live here. That simple.

I really doubt that PhDs have any trouble immigrating legally to any developed country using the existing channels. I did it years ago with just a University degree and some work experience.

What I’m absolutely opposed to is uncontrolled immigration where anybody who feels like it comes to my country. In the same way that I don’t let strangers come to my home without my permission.

When my neighbor is suffering, I address that problem through means other than inviting them to my bedroom.