LOL, your reading comprehension lacks. That's usual for kids today. If you look back what I got from SiriusXM was the NFL radio for a season. Those are all big words so I can understand your confusion. Don't stress...maybe some affirmations and an ambien would help.

Buying groceries with a check?! Look at this rich guy. The rest of us have to fill out a credit application and take out a mortgage when we want to buy a Christmas roast.

Yea. your friend's line of reasoning is pretty common but it is a bit of a head scratcher to me. There's less transparency in private business, so there's corruption and unethical dealings that most of us never find out about. The point of having services under government control is that it's the people's money and the organization should ideally be answerable to the people.

The anti-union shift has been a bad strategy for the Dems. Unions can get their members showing up to the polls or even for political action far better than Act BLUE can by just sending upper middle class donors a panicked email begging for donations.

  Some people don't like unions because it's an extra layer of politics. It seems inefficient to have dues and voting and people getting paid just to be reps. But taking a step back: if you want to walk into a room with your boss to negotiate something, like a job or raise or working conditions. You, as the worker, are standing alone and your boss has an entire organization (and legal team) behind him/her. Without unions every person is negotiating under a serious imbalance against some of the richest and most politically connected organizations in the world.

I bought an HDTV too early and it quickly became obsolete because it didn't support 720p only 480p and 1080i. That's what happens when you buy technology, someone doesn't bother supporting it because it's too much of a pain, there is too little money to make, and ultimately they know that people are just going to buy new hardware when their old hardware stops working.

Steve Mann apparatus was medical, nothing to do with Meta glasses which no one needs. And it was 12 years ago and nobody could corroborate any of his claims. Not saying he is a nutjob here, but he may have blown this thing way out of proportions.

I get it when an organization outsources something when they don't have enough work to sustain a team. Like a small town government isn't going to operate their own roof repair division just to repair government roofs (rooves?), you instead would hire a local contractor that has plenty of private work to keep their crew busy.

But some things the government does all the time and it doesn't make sense to outsource, like most office work. Of course outsourcing some temp staff can be practical if one can anticipate things like seasonable demand, but hiring local students if the job and time frame fit (summer job) is better still.

At the end of the day an organization can pay an employee, work out benefits, etc. Or it can pay a for-profit business to take a cut for management, owners, etc and try to cut corners on quality or benefits for the employees. I know how the neoliberal "third way" think, and they'd rather reduce the number of government employees, even if that amounts to giving taxpayer dollars to a private owner and gutting good paying union jobs in the community. It's no wonder the working class is struggling under skyrocketing housing prices, high tuition, and low wages. It's all symptoms of an unhealthy economic system that is the direct result of our political shift in both parties in the US. (and a general trend in much of the West with neoliberalism, especially the anglosphere)

I think I will cancel a few streaming service and Amazon prime to compensate.

LOL you made a decision entirely based on hearsay and inuendo. All good, it is your choice.
I've never had an issue talking to an english speaking person after a quick pickup, and like the cable company I find they will give me discounts, or vouchers for tickets. Heck they even gave me a season of NFL. I just complain about the price or consider leaving every 6 month or so.

The only ads they run are for their own stations or shows. That always cheesed me off because it IS STILL and ad. They have a partnership with Pandora so I get both. I BT in my phone at home on my stereo, and in the car all the time.
Spanish Flamenco guitar has been this weeks rage. Ottmar Leibert, CUBA, and Rodrigo y Gabriella.
Of course YMMV and everyones' tastes are different.

India ruled a huge empire once. Give them half a chance and they'd do it again. Life under an Indian regime would not be nice...

Privatization was always part of the grift.

Even the 6 year old Broadcom BCM7218X supports AV1. I think we're at a stage where picking AV1 by default is viable for HD streaming, with standard def fallback for other codecs. (even if those other codecs can do 4K, maybe the older devices aren't up for doing it)

Ring wing operatives have long been trying to prove that government doesn't work.

People have been making their own substandard parts long before 3D printing. I've seen things made from wood, resin, plaster, and even papier-mâché

To clarify my own statement. I mean not going to yield results proportional to the amount put into them. You can double the investment and not get double the return. I think this is reflected in the wacky P/E ratios we see in the market for AI related stocks.