It really should matter. If we can just decide the text means whatever we want it to mean, what's the point in writing it down?

Yes! This is the way. Unfortunately, our system is so dysfunctional we can't even pass normal laws now, much less enact and ratify constitutional amendments.

Your statements were factually incorrect. What is your issue with the NYT article? Are there any facts in it that you dispute? If so which ones? Do you dispute Mossadegh held a sham referendum that got 99.96% of the vote to give himself powers he was not constitutionally entitled?

There is no definition of coup that includes someone with the constitutional right to do something legally doing that thing. This would be like saying had Nixon not resigned and was impeached and the removal vote succeeded he was ousted in a "coup". That isn't a thing and makes no sense. The king always had the power to remove Mossadegh and he exercised it on Aug 15th 1953. This is an indisputable fact. A coup is when a member of the state exceeds their authority to gain power they are not legally entitled. Nothing like that happened.

As for the CIAs involvement it is way overblown. There was real popular support for the king and this at is how he won the legitimacy contest with Mossadegh who was convicted and jailed for three years for his illegal coup attempt. The CIA absolutely had plans and tried to help the king but their role was minimal. The real power came from a coalition of Iranian supporters who won the day.

Surely not that. That would be dumb. And awful. And utterly corrupt.

Sigh.

Didn't China demand access to the Windows source code? I can only imagine how hard they have their LLMs working to find flaws in that. Things are likely to get much more interesting.

The difference between Windows and Linux in this area is that Linux generally takes security flaws seriously, addresses them quickly, and leaves the fixes in place. With Microsoft, there's a common pattern to slow-roll the whole process: deny the flaw exists, then when it becomes undeniable, claim that it can't be exploited, then once a PoC is released, diminish the severity of the exploit. This process usually spans months and meanwhile Windows users are left with their pants around their ankles and puckered assholes.

It doesn't have to be this way. Vista cleaned up many of the worst architectural flaws in Windows and provided a much more secure foundation for Windows. All Microsoft has to do is prioritize security issues as soon as they're reported and they wouldn't consistently be reduced to a laughingstock in the industry. But I guess it wouldn't be Microsoft if they took security seriously.

Your ignorance is beyond words. The Iranian regimes raison d'etre is literally "exporting the revolution". It has wreaked havoc thought the region for decades doing exactly that. The fact Iran is the worlds leading state sponsor of terror is not merely an empty slogan.

The regime has the blood of the entire region on its hands in addition to oppressing and massacring its own people while severely lacking any internal legitimacy. I hope they get wiped out.

The Iranians are Trumps and BiBis biggest fans.

If you can't beat em might as well join em. Everyone should just create a network of spy cameras /w opencv or something and let anyone browse the database. That should piss off enough people to end this madness.

No. There are settings to turn it off entirely.

Musk was "in government" for about four months, as part of DoGE. He was busy tearing stuff down, not building anything up.

The only relevant difference between thinks and claims is whether or not he [Trump] vocalized his thoughts. And yeah, he does that a lot.

Hmm....only up to about $4 or so here where I live in the New Orleans area...maybe a bit more...I bought at Costco yesterday and didn't really look that close at the pump, but was in the $4 range...

Is WHO willing to admit Taiwan is a place, yet?

You do have a point. The suave self-parody of Austin Powers and the ruthless assassin of Jason Bourne are good, but owe credit to the Bond franchise. (Arguably Austin Powers also builds on Our Man Flint.)

However, it's interesting to note that there are examples of the influence going in the other direction, specifically from Indiana Jones. Before Raiders of the Lost Ark the film-version of Bond didn't face perils at nearly the same frequency in a single movie as he did after.

The only goal that matters is regime change.

A master's degree in my personal experience simply denotes someone who was willing to pay an exorbitant amount of $ for 2 more years of "school time" (I'm not going to say learning) in exchange for the ability to claim a "higher" degree.

Aside from my own experience, I know many people with masters degrees. None of us can point to anything meaningfully learned in those 2 (or more) years. It's a ticket punch for cash.

Setting aside my own knowledge from inside, I have worked with *many* MBAs over the years. I've generally found them to be highly talented at presenting themselves and their ideas as brilliant, no matter how intrinsically stupid either may be. I've yet to meet an MBA that was successful, that (in my opinion) wouldn't have been just as successful without the MBA. Most MBAs I've known are merely the business equivalent of highly polished turds.

Note I'm not hashing on academics; I wouldn't say this about PhD's who have to work fairly-to-incredibly hard and demonstrate meaningful knowledge to earn that degree. I generally admire PhDs.