An obvious and massive problem

This comes up often around here. Someone posts something and demands the rest of us do something about it. The fact that they posted it first proves to them that they have the moral high ground. The problem is, we aren’t in a position to do anything.

I’m not talking about social problems like caring about starving children or global warming, individuals can take action on those. I mean something like Israel attacking Gaza. I can protest or vote in a certain way, but there isn’t a way to deal with a nation that has that much power, or a corporation that has powers that cross borders.

It’s a long article, maybe have more to say later

Makes sense.

Liberalism is dying, and international law is a big aspect of liberalism.

The guard rails are off, and times are going to get tough. Decorum and sense of honor or duty, even honesty is off the table these days. We have a president of the United State, in what used to be (and may still be) the most powerful office in the world, who holds all agreements in contempt. And corporate masters have captured our government,
what could go wrong.

Enough of that yucky news, at least we get by with a little help from our friends.
Oh wait, …

The great friendship collapse: Inside The Anti-Social Century

with Derek Thompson

Today, the average American spends 20% less time socializing in person than just two decades ago, and a record amount of time alone. In this Big Think Interview, Thompson traces how technology, convenience, and culture have quietly reshaped our relationships, arguing that the rise of generative AI will likely make things worse. The good news? The antidote is simple and free.

Didn’t take long for the thread to go off topic.

I already critiqued the book this guy Co-authored. In this one, he again plays loose and free with data. The Amish have been around for most this country’s history and we haven’t taken their values seriously. Same for the suggestion that we all adopt a “Sabbath” from technology. So, “put values first” is pretty empty without a discussion of what the values are.

Okay, your article.

"Trump’s threats to occupy Greenland and Canada and to seize the Panama canal have further undermined the already frayed edifice of international law. “Even raising the possibility of these clearly illegal actions does harm to the legal norm, because it makes them thinkable,” said Oona Hathaway, professor of international law at Yale. Days after the US followed Israel in conducting unlawful airstrikes on nuclear sites in Iran, Hathaway argued that Trump’s actions threatened “to reshape the global legal order, transforming it from one governed by law to one governed by might”.

Well, isn’t that exactly what he promised to Americans and they said great, he pisses off liberals, I’m all for it.

"But the erosion of international law began long before Trump first took power in 2017. The relevance, and even the very existence, of international law has been up for debate since the moment it emerged almost two centuries ago.
Its champions argue that it is the bulwark against another great war, a restraint against criminality and mass violence.
Its critics argue that, far from shielding the world from the worst crimes, it has instead protected states by providing them with a language with which to justify their wrongs.

International lawyers are themselves divided over whether their discipline is alive and well, in hibernation, in its death throes, or long ago deceased, a “moral ghost” that hovers over the world map."

It is what it is, greed is good, it’s been our national anthem since I was in High School and long before.

We still haven’t figure out how to pull our ego’s out of our keisters. What do you want to talk about?

That’s true.
But then we haven’t even figured out who we humans are, so how do we approach values?
Especially considering, “what’s in it for me?” is about all we do value.

It’s a heck of a conundrum.

It is what it is. Or so I’ve heard

Speaking of obvious and massive problems, but try to tell that to those idiot billionaires, and their obsequious minions.

2025 NEOM Update: What’s Really Happening On-Site?

Gigaprojects

Jun 12, 2025 #TheLine #NEOM #Megaprojects

Earlier this year, NEOM announced that The Line will go ‘vertical’. So we went on-site to NEOM, Saudi Arabia, to see for ourselves. This isn’t just a construction update; it’s also a grappling story of shifting priorities, desperate sacrifices, and a tale of two NEOMs. While The Line struggles with no ‘real’ new funding since 2023, its mountain sibling Trojena is blasting billions into bare rock for the 2029 Asian Winter Games. Why such different fates? Join us as we reveal exclusive on-ground footage and expose the harsh realities behind the renders.

That’s the obvious problem. These guys, mostly guys, are untouchable. They’ve written the laws to protect themselves not the planet, not some idea of an international community.

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