Not depending on the US for defending them. (NATO)

Yup. Europe needs to become self sufficient again and move on from WW2 and the Cold War.

Other countries are learning how to separate themselves economically from the US more.

One of my favorite bumper stickers says “Tell your cat I said pspspsps”

Pub culture is definitely a thing in the UK though and I wish we had some of these neighborhood meeting places in the US too. They aren’t necessarily a place to get shitfaced but to get a simple meal and a beer.

Fraternal/Sororal organizations used to be a big thing up to the 60s with the Elks clubs, Odd Fellows, Shriners, etc. We’ve lost a lot of that community glue.

These neighborhood bars in Boston were real. I had a GF who worked in a university lab where they would go to a bar after hours and she would bring me along. It was an old school Irish bar (even had pics of Sinn Féin members on the walls). I kept going after we broke up and ended up dating one of the woman who bartended. She would pass me free drinks. I was always a light drinker though, I just nursed them. This was mostly in my 20s. I did visit another Irish pub after night class in a different part of the city and the guy working there remembered what my usual meal order was. lol

I wouldn’t say the “entire US economy” is AI based.

Gov jobs still have them

Buy low when everything crashes and wait for it to recover in 3-5 yrs.

It seems hostility is the norm across most social media.

I seriously considered it and quickly ran into a technobabble of networking, no clear direction on plex vs jellyfish, no clear idea of what hardware to buy, etc.

Extra long kitteh

The US has always had an anti-immigrant streak. Whoever the last group are they are unhappy with the next group. The Irish were not welcome, except by Tammany Hall, then the Italians were suspect. The Chinese have always been seen as suspicious and we all know what happened to the Japanese in WW2. Interestingly those of German descent haven’t been suspect, probably because they formed a large chunk of the US (PA, OH) and Eisenhower had German ancestry.

I doubt any country has never had an issue with someone seen as outsiders.

“They made fun of my router settings!” sobs

My cat is good about no touchy but sits and gives me the eyes until I give him a bit of it, usually some chicken.

So close…almost touchy…

He said he’d get off the train in Harlem and people would look at this super pasty redheaded white guy like a leprechaun had shown up.

He married a black woman. You should hear his stand up talking about going to her place in Harlem. lol

And he did marry a black woman so he is far from conservative.

He’s from the Boston area. We are all needlessly aggressive.