IIRC there’s still an ICANN fee that has to be paid by the registrar per domain registered

I might be wrong, but I seem to recall there’s an ICANN fee associated with registration as well.

Great idea! This will save the taxpayers literally hundreds of dollars in domain registration fees! That’s over 0.0001¢ per taxpayer!!

If you actually bother to read it (regularly, not just once or twice on selected columns that you saw posted online), you would not think that. The opinion column is very neoliberal with a hint of libertarianism.

The Taiwan issue has exactly to do with the fact that sending official diplomatic representatives to it means recognising its legitimacy and sovereignty. Even though most Western countries already believe this, sending the representatives would be to express that they believe this which is what upsets the Chinese government. China doesn’t care what people think as long as they keep it to themselves. It’s when they get “embarrassed” on the world stage that Chinese leadership thinks it demands action.

It’s not about “reforming” him. I’m talking about the fact that if he will at least consider whether a proposal is popular before he does it. If it’s within the margin of error or at least close enough to cover it up and pretend, it won’t stop him, but if it’s overwhelmingly unpopular it will cause him to think twice, but it is not guaranteed to change his mind. Again, this is based on past behaviour which is not necessarily indicative of the future.

There is a small difference though. Musk has shown in the past that it is possible to shame him into changing his mind. He is at least somewhat receptive to what the public thinks of him. Trump, on the other hand, has absolutely no shame and doesn’t care if 90% of the country is against him as long as the 10% who are with him are enough to fill a rally room.

Musk is not constitutionally eligible for the presidency so if we were to come to power then he’d probably assume some newly-made office created just for him. They’d probably make a new prime minister-like role where he has the power to “advise” (i.e. dictate) policy decisions to the president.

That being said, power changes people. Hard to say whether a hypothetical Imperial Chancellor Musk would act much differently from King Trump I. I wager not substantially. Trump, at least, creates a lot of funny memes with his ridiculous fuck-ups. I fear Musk would be far more competent.

Especially not their opinion column but I’m just posting here because it’s interesting to see what the neoliberals think about it and it’s a good discussion point

Washington Post columnists said it would probably just capture the “Never Trumper” moderate Republican voters who currently begrudgingly vote Democratic because they understand that the Republican Party is nominating only yes-men and fascists.

The whole system of formal diplomatic recognition needs to die. Right now, “recognising” a government seems to be tantamount to acknowledging that government is legitimate and representative of the people. This is a very obstructive and unproductive system. It doesn’t matter whether you “recognise” a government and it also doesn’t matter what you decide to call your representatives to it. Refusing to recognise a government doesn’t mean that group of people doesn’t hold power or doesn’t actually control territory. It just prevents you from engaging with them in a constructive manner. It’s just a head-in-the-sand approach to intergovernmental relations.

If there’s a group of people calling themselves a government that holds power over a group of people or a piece of territory that you are interested in, it shouldn’t have to result in this whole game of charades. You should be able to send official representatives to that group without having to worry about offending everyone else. The whole concept of “recognition” is just nonsense.

In the US, what’s more likely is that they find some random accusation to pin on you Abrego Garcia-style and then just keep you in the legal system gauntlet by adding new charges as soon as the timer runs out for trial on the old ones.

The “some registry” they put you in is probably made up. Credit reporting agencies don’t just accept claims of debt or delinquent accounts from any random person who claims to be a debt collector. In many cases, if it isn’t coming from a financial institution, they will need to see a court judgement before entering it on your credit report.

Shocker: financial institutions want to know whether you have a good record of paying people back before deciding to lend you money

Important distinction: it was cited 29 times [by non-parties to the case who filed amicus briefs carrying no legal weight].

It was not cited 29 times in the actual ruling.

Fantastic, when does she plan to move in?

This is a fantastic idea. The brilliance of the 47th president strikes again. Give them work permits, ensure they are paid a fair wage and the labour standards are adhered to, and it will guarantee that they become hardworking honest taxpayers who contribute to the American economy.

Wait, that is the plan… right?

Right…?

No, I go online and just order another one for same-day pickup from a local electronics retailer. Then I restore my files from my backup.

I agree with that generally, but what “methods that work” do you suggest?

Edit: To add, the protest spoilt ballots and low turnout in Hong Kong did exactly what they were supposed to do. It convinced other Hongkongers that the elected Legislative Council is not legitimate and was installed, not elected. This is particularly troublesome for the Government, because Hongkongers have a famous tendency to protest, and sometimes rather intensely.

I’m trying my best not to call you names here, but the point of that exercise was not to exert democratic power but to cause embarrassment for the Government. The Government tried their hardest to make it look like a legitimate election but got utterly humiliated instead with low turnout and large numbers of spoiled ballots.

No, because the spoiled ballots are, in many cases, actually counted. This is what people did in Hong Kong when the Government imposed electoral reform designed to prevent pro-democracy and localist groups from winning. Since it was illegal to tell people to not vote (pro-democracy groups had urged a boycott), people showed up to cast spoiled ballots. That election had among the highest numbers of spoiled ballots in the region’s history.