The definitions of communism/socialism get very murky, but I think Star Trek comes about as close to the ideal as one could get. Central control by the state that provides an abundance of goods. The problem with real communist countries is that they had to contest with the very real problem of scarcity. Star Trek doesn't really have to worry about that, but if my memory serves me correct a whole load of services like transportation were monopolized by the state. People appeared to have jobs because they wanted to do things, not because of an economic requirement. Seems pretty damned communist.

I want an open phone but it really isn't practical for my needs right now. Also, while my iPhone may be less "open" than an Android, I at least get some semblance of privacy protections. I don't think that makes me a horrible person.

For years I used nothing but Macs. I dabbled in Linux and would dual-boot, but that was just for playing around and learning about servers. Eventually Linux got to the point where I could use it everyday and when my Macs reached EOL, I just went from dual boot to only *nix.

I'll probably follow the same trajectory with cell phones. Once PostmarketOS becomes compatible with an old phone I have lying around I'll install it and toy around with it. Eventually I'll have an iPhone and an "open" phone. Once there's enough feature parity, I'll make the switch full time (for me, the ideal situation would be tight integration with NextCloud—if that becomes a thing I could convince my boss to switch the whole company over).

I think it's pretty unreasonable to expect everyone to use an "open" phone:

– State of PostmarketOS

(I know there are some Android forks out there, but that's like using a Chrome-based browser when I could be using Firefox)

That's because they were already communists.

Because a law passed by Congress actually *requires* what you are calling "the administrative state" to draft those regulations. The executive branch can't regulate something just because it thinks doing that would be a good idea. There has to be a law directing the executive branch to draft such a regulation.

Now if you actually look in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), you will see that each and every regulation in the CFR cites a *statutory authority* -- that is to say a law passed by Congress which compels the executive branch to draft a regulation about such an such a thing. For example 40 CFR Part 50, a regulation written by the "administrative state", cites 42 USC 7401 a statute passed by Congress.

Note that I say the statutes "require" and "compel", not "empower" and "enable". That's bcause the executive branch has no choice in the matter. It *must* issue a regulation if so directed by statute, even if it disagrees with that statute. This is why regulations don't just disappear when an anti-regulation president gets elected. An administration can tweak regulations to be more favorable to business, but if they go too far in undermining the intent of the statute they'll get sued for non-enforcement of the law (e.g., this).

So if you think an adminsitration has overstepped its statutory authority with a regulation, and you have standing, you can sue to have the regulation amended. But if you fail in your suit, you won't be able to fix it by electing a President who agrees with you. You need a Congress which will repeal the statory authority for the regulation.

If your information on this stuff from political news channels, you can be forgiven for thinking government bureaucrats just make up regulations on their own initiative, but it just doesn't work that way.

Ah, shit, you werenâ(TM)t replying to me. Sorry, sometimes in mobile view it is not very clear.

I was referring to the sequels, not the prequels.

The idea that poor folks are the backbone of Trump's base is a myth. In 2016 Clinton won the under $50k income vote by 12% and tied with Trump in the over $100k income group. Trump notched a modest 3% margin of victory in the $50k-$100k group.

The actual backbone of Trump's base is white people without a college degree who are nonetheless doing fairly well for themselves. This is particularly influential demographic in rural states, which have outsize representation in the Electoral College.

3D printed houses do not even need AI. Replacing many laborers is a robotics problem, not an AI problem. The programming is relatively easy.

Most laborers are hired not because they cannot be replaced, but because they cannot be economically replaced. Scales of economy will accelerate the pace of robotic replacement at some point. Robotics will eventually be cheaper than people for most manual labor tasks.

You must be referring to the Scotch-Irish, one of our most violent immigrant groups. Or maybe the Italians and the organized crime they brought to America. Or maybe the Germans. Many serial killers are of German descent.

Every immigrant wave in America was met with racists proclaiming the collapse of society, both economically and morally. Way to demonstrate your ignorance of history, economics, and ethics all at once.

Star Trek is about how humans are destined to become communist.

Your complaints about Star Trek ring pretty hollow for me. It's a franchise that should just die. Of course any new Star Trek is going to suck.

I remember when Deep Space 9 came out and I gave the first few episodes a shot. It was clear that they would have to try too hard to do anything original and the concept had just exhausted itself. I haven't watched Star Trek since. That's why I'm not pissed off about where the series has gone. I don't know and I don't care.

What you see as "woke" I see as pop. "Woke" gives you a convenient political lens in which to criticize film, but it forces you to look exclusively through that lens.

"Pop" is just writing to the times. It's what the majority of film projects have always been and they have always sucked. White hat/black hat westerns sucked because the writers tried too hard to write what people wanted, what studios wanted, etc. Everyone in Hollywood is looking for a formula and the producers and executives who get the final say have always been there to make bad decisions based on what they perceive to be the correct formula.

Making the main characters black or trans or whatever may be part of the current formula, but that's not what makes the formula bad. The formula is bad because it's a formula. Even when you escape the bean counters, there are tons of Hollywood jackasses who believe in the monomyth (it is to literature what Freud is to psychology–influential bullshit). Pop film usually sucks.

I watched episode 7 of Star Wars in theaters and before the film was half way over I decided to never watch another film or show in the Star Wars franchise. But it had nothing to do with "woke." It was just redundant and pointless. It was Disney-fied. It's like they focus grouped the shit out of the original Star Wars films and just copied everything that made the uber-nerds cheer. But if you ask me, the greatest filmmaker of our time is Jordan Peele, and you can't get more "woke" than his films. He doesn't take crappy formulas and insert minorities into them. He makes spectacular genre films with original twists and allegories.

I'm no fan of Disney, but methinks you aren't the aesthete you claim to be. There are tons of great movies and TV shows out there, but instead of finding them you watch childish superhero crap and--here's the kicker--your complaint is about "DEI."

Childish superhero movies have always sucked. It shouldn't require a black protagonist for you to notice their many shortcomings.

As for your nostalgia for the "moral themes of the 60s," I suspect you're not talking about Dr. Strangelove. How about The Graduate? You're definitely not talking about To Kill a Mockingbird.

Catching up? Far surpassed. BMW and Mercedes always had much better chassis and interiors than Tesla, now they have the electric motors, too. Teslas have the build quality of a GM and the price of a BMW.

That is just the status quo. Without a congress and judiciary willing to do something about it, there is nothing the president can really do. If you look at the Biden agency appointments, it is clear he has tried to some degree, but the Supreme Court is now of the opinion that federal agencies have no authority to police corporate malfeasance.

You clearly hold the EU in much higher regard than I do.