You could just as easily make the argument that OPEC has the ability to manipulate our elections in such a manner, too. Biden is really concerned that high gas prices might hurt his reelection chances, even to the point that he's considering tapping the strategic petroleum reserve again. Funny how nobody ever wants to suggest banning foreign oil, though...

Except that TikTok isn't even analogous to a foreign broadcaster broadcasting foreign speech. TikTok's US content largely consists of videos produced by American creators. The potential ban would deplatform an entire social media network of American users. How the free speech implications of such an action managed to slip past the minds of so many elected representatives, is a truly disturbing revelation.

That's because it's not really about foreign manipulation. It's that Meta and YouTube's short format offerings aren't as popular with the young kids, and they see a potential future where something like WeChat comes along and dethrones them in other aspects of the social media sphere as well.

Nobody wants to be the next "MySpace", and these days the established social media players spend enough lobbying money to make sure that never happens, so they can keep legally buying up domestic competitors, and getting any foreign competitors banned (or bought out - hey - it's even in the damn bill!). It's so blatantly corrupt.

Last I checked, there's still "Made in China" ibuprofen at Walmart. So, we're trusting them to manufacture our drugs but can't trust them with a short form video smartphone app? I think we've got our priorities backwards.

Okay, so now America has a "great firewall", just like China. Who gets to decide what goes on the blocklist? The party currently in power. Sooner or later, that'll be the team you're not rooting for and they might want to ban something you actually like.

Therein lies the problem.

(emphasis mine)

You're not doing it by proxy with your vote even if you wanted to, because both candidates are firmly on the "China = bad" bandwagon.

That's not really the flex you imagine it to be. China bans western social media apps because they believe it is a corrupting influence on their populace. Or, in other words, their government sees the citizens in much the same way as a parent sees their immature children.

Don't worry, I'm sure the affect will be cancelled out by Russia's meddling on our domestic social media networks. Besides, what's China gonna do anyway, convince people to vote for the anti-China candidate or the anti-China candidate? Yeah, I do realize Trump now claims to have had a change of heart about TikTok, but I think that's mostly just because he hates the idea of Biden getting credit for something he tried to do first.

Cow burns and farts only matter because we're collectively unable/unwilling to cease all man-made sources of carbon emissions. By itself, the impact of shuffling existing atmospheric forms of carbon around between CO2 and methane by breeding a whole bunch of cows, would be negligible.

Tell me you've never actually swapped an engine or transmission without telling me you've never actually swapped an engine or transmission. The bulk of the process of swapping a battery on a Chevy Bolt is physically moving the very heavy battery packs around. There certainly are some specific tools needed to swap a battery (again, mostly due to it being a big heavy unwieldy thing), but otherwise it is a lot less labor intensive of a process than swapping an engine or transmission.

The main reason a new EV battery is expensive is the cost of the replacement battery itself.

And when the capitalist system decides that it's more profitable just to sell $50k gas guzzlers, because fuck everyone who needs something more affordable or better for the environment, then what?

If you really think capitalism can always do no wrong, then you should take a long hard look at freemium gaming, too. Sometimes the absolute quest for maximum profit leads to an absolutely terrible result. Capitalism requires a certain amount of regulation, otherwise it can easily turn just as foul as other *isms.

I've got two EVs in my household and don't know what the OP was on about with maintenance costs. Fuel savings absolutely is where you see your ROI, especially with longer commutes.

Oil changes have always been cheap if you do them yourself, so I've never considered that to be a major expense of owning an ICE vehicle. It's an unpleasant and messy job if you're not the type who actually enjoys working on vehicles, but it's not expensive. Both types of vehicles need tires, and realistically you'll go through tires slightly faster in an EV, but last time I did the math on it, it's roughly about what you're saving on not needing oil changes, so it's a wash.

Being a natural part of the carbon cycle, cow methane wouldn't even be an issue if humanity wasn't also digging up and burning fossil fuels.

Yeah, they're catering almost exclusively to people who have $50k to spend (likely bought on credit) and who also don't mind dumping an extra $150-$200/mo into gas.

There are many people without that sort of budget who still need a set of wheels. I suspect cheap Chinese EVs would sell very well here, and US automakers are rightfully spooked.

Dear EU,

My servers aren't plugged in on your soil. Kindly fuck off.

Much love,
[INSERT NAME OF PORN COMPANY HERE]