Honestly, the thing that made me the maddest about the Sequels was how they treated Kylo and Poe.

Yes, in the first movie, Kylo was an emotional brat who got beat by Rey the first time they fought. But because I was naïve still at the time and thought they knew what they were doing, I thought it was being set up that that was the point. And come Episode 8 they would have him getting dressed down by Snoke for his failure, have him bring up how he claims to be the heir of Vader and yet lost to a novice, and then have him start undergoing Dark Side training to be made into a threat the next time he faced Rey. Not only did that not happen, they kept nerfing him to appeal to the Shippers.

And Poe made what was objectively the correct call as a military commander, was abused by his commanding officer, and the movie treats it like he is the bad guy here. I spent the entire god damn movie utterly convinced "Hyperspace Tracking" was a myth and that Holdo was a traitor because she was doing everything you would expect a traitor to do. And I was gobsmacked when it turn out she was wrong and the movie was making it out like Poe was a brainlet for thinking what any reasonable human and soldier would think with an officer liker her.

Have I mentioned that Ep. 8 holds the unique "honor" of being the only movie that has ever retroactively ruined my enjoyment of another movie? Because at the time I actually really liked Ep. 7 and wrote off all of its issues as "They are just getting back in the game. Ep. 8 will fix some of this funk." Meanwhile....

There is a part of me that wonders if part of the reason that the Puss In Boots did so well is because it did have an actual villain, who openly admits he is a villain, and famously has a scene where when someone finally admits "You're evil!" He just says "Oh, you are only just now figuring that out?!" Which is so unheard of for a lot of movies, and now it gets done in a kids movie of all things.

"You just wanted to see a heroic Luke"

No fucking shit?

Why dont you want to see a heroic Luke?

The people who say stuff like this are probably the types who say that you can never have heroes and that everything must be anti-heroes and grey morality, because its more "realistic" and "true to life" since "heroes dont exist". Also usually stuff about how wanting heroes is "childish" and that you just need to grow up.

Personally, while I used to like anti-heroes (and still do for ones like Punisher and Judge Dredd), I have been getting burned out on this whole "edgy anti-hero" shit and just want heroes and villains again. Because, to quote an old song I like, "The genre's called 'Fantasy'! Its meant to be unrealistic you myopic manatee!"

To further illustrate this point: I work in an iron-based machine shop. The lathes and fabricators are entirely controlled by a computer, and do all of the cutting of the metal entirely on the basis of their listed job. According to official stats, that job has been automated.

But it still takes an operator to actually punch in the instructions for the job. It takes an operator to replace drill bits as they wear out. It takes an operator to actually load and unload the metal. And it takes an operator to do fine detailing of the metal once it has come out (removing burrs, polishing, checking for defects, etc).

And at least on the gearbox line, they have to come to me and I have to assemble them by hand. Since there is no machine that can fit seals and ball bearing rings. There is no machine that can fit gears and axles. There is no machine that can slot and wrench the bolts. And we air test the gearboxes for leaks, which requires a human touch. And if we got something that could automate the air test? Cool, now I am spending about 30 seconds to find the defect instead of running through a check list for 5 minutes, which lets me do more work.

The only jobs getting automated are ones that dont matter in the grand scheme of things. Which is why you have so many white-collar workers suddenly freaking out about AI.

Even then, I would argue the problem is localized to some specific cities rather than a general one (Atlanta, Chicago, NYC, and LA being the prime examples). At least locally for me, you still have some ghetto trash types. But they are largely outnumbered by the ones who are reasonable people who are still Pro-US and live like everyone else. But most around here are Exodusters who came up with the end of slavery to be farmers.

And when they tried to have BLM riots in Kansas City and Omaha, the local police responded by beating them to the ground. And the overwhelming response from the locals was "You bastards got what you deserved."

I like how you think 1 stupid political appointment by an old hair sniffer to a junior position in an agency represents the whole world outside of Russia. lol.

It's also at the General level, which has always been an American weakness. Its why our army relies so much on NCO's and delegation of command, while Generals have historically made plans little more complicated than "Advance in this direction and kill anything that looks at you funny." Which is why US Generals tend to stand out when they do something other than that (see: Grant, Bradley, Patton, Schwarzkopf, Mattis, etc).

As for the actual soldiers and NCO's, I can say this: I live near a military base. I see soldiers around town all the time. And you want to know what they are? They are still the same corn-fed, beef-eating, "Sounds like something a soy-cuck would say", gun-nut loving Americans they have always been.

Let the Generals become fools. They havent really mattered to our military ability.

Double? You sure?

I stand corrected. I was going off of my older knowledge and didnt realize they had downsized the amount of warheads they had significantly to be more on par with the US (RU: 5,977, US: 5, 428). Either way, there is no reason to be so much less on the nuclear upkeep.

Doesn't sound impossible or even that illogical. Russian salaries are lower, the technology is way different.

Ah yes, because if there is one thing I want to skimp on, its the nuclear engineers. Chernobyl was a fluke after all, its not like Russia has a history of nuclear incidents and destroying their own nuclear submarines through incompetence.

Either way, I can believe a lower maintenance cost due to the reasons you mentioned. But the wild difference? No, that cant be explained by simple differences in salary. My theory that they are skimping on warhead maintenance is also not without merit, considering the carrier that is falling apart at anchor (it cant move well due to bad engines), the cargo plane just spotted flying with significant amounts of fouling, their various vehicles in Ukraine with shoddy maintenance work showing, etc. And when you consider their newest ICBM suffered a catastrophic failure on not one, but two separate test launches? Something tells me some of those nukes are long past their half-life and will probably be several megatons short on their blasting power if detonated.

and clings to its nuclear arsenal as a sort of "prestige" expense that supposedly proves it is a "great power".

Also, fun note on the expense front. The expensive part of nuclear weapons isnt the warheads themselves. It is the maintenance on them to make sure they still retain the ability to actually go critical and create the nuclear boom. It is the single most expensive part of the US Nuclear Program. Now consider that Russia claims to have double our warheads...but half of our budget toward their nuclear program. I will let you work out what that riddle means for yourself.

Not really. This is like when they tried W. Bush for “war crimes”, and the US response was “Lol. Lmao even.” About the only thing they have ever actually done is prosecute Serbian Genocide criminals.

I mean, I only saw it through the typical "Reviewer giving breakdowns of episodes" treatment (Disparu in this case). Who watches the CW anyway?

Did you see the Gotham Knights one where one of the main characters is Trans, the police go out of their way to avoid offending them (even though they think he murdered Bruce Wayne)? And the only cop who engages in "dead-naming" and "misgendering" turns out to be the villain of the episode and the leader of a corrupt band of Gotham cops working for the overall villains of the series?

And of course, he gets beheaded by the end of the episode.

I say let them keep it up. This man has probably turned more people against the Trans movement than anyone except the people attacking VTubers over Hogwarts Legacy.

For what its worth, its not something I feel strongly about. But if Florida thinks its a good policy for their state, then they can do as they wish. Call it whatever you want, I can see arguments in any direction.

I am merely contesting the notion that Disney got off with just a slap on the wrist when the guy who is an expert in those laws says they effectively got as bent over the table and their ass slapped as is possible.

But then you are responsible for paying for the upkeep of the public infrastructure in your district. So you are basically giving up paying taxes in exchange for paying for roads, storm drains, and other public works.

Just from what I have learned from Andrew:

It can create public utilities, like a water treatment plant and sewage system

So can all Special Districts. The entire point is that a Special District is supposed to handle the public side of private areas like that. That Reedy Creek and Disney were effectively the same group where one hand washed the other was actually illegal, its just that no one really cared. At least until Disney stuck their cock in the beehive and pissed of the Florida Government by trying to imply it would make them do Disney's will.

or build an airport without state intervention or the usual bureaucracy.

They used to be able to. That was one of the abilities they lost when the District was reorganized after being seized by Florida. In fact, now Disney World is going to be getting a special tax charging it directly for the infrastructure used to support it (like the actual Orlando airport.

nor can they impose on neighbouring land through eminent domain.

Another one they lost with the reorganization. Now it has to be approved by the oversight board, and that board is picked by the State of Florida (since the district covers multiple counties).

I'm not sure about tax exemption, but certainly the magnitude is unique.

Because the scale of Disney World is unique. But they are going to get dinged for it other other places, like the aforementioned infrastructure tax, and the Disney Brand Name being used as a value when assessing the district for taxing purposes (which Disney had wiggled out of before).

Furthermore, several direct competitors are not part of special districts at all.

That would be their problem in this case. Anything in Florida could become a special district, all it takes is paying the fees and paperwork. Plus their biggest rivals (like Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens) are special districts. So now Disney is having to play ball with them instead of just doing its own thing.

I am not saying you are a bad person for believing wrong information. Just like how he pointed out several people who he likes and agrees with a lot not knowing what they are talking about in the video (like Robert Barnes). But as Andrew pointed out, some of those special district contracts are ones he wrote, so he actually knows what he is talking about one the subject.

If you are talking about things like exceptions to sales and property taxes, that is stuff the all Special Districts get, not just Disney. They are just hoping you don’t know that. Andrew lined it all out here.

More importantly, Japan has already said they will consider an attack on Taiwan as a threat to their national security and invoke Article 9.

And the simple fact is the vast, overwhelming majority of US citizens are not only in favor of arming Ukraine, but arming it with heavier weapons. People on here can think whatever they want about that fact, but you have to operate in the facts as they exist.

What was imperfect about it? At least according to Legal Mindset (who’s area of expertise is Florida Special District law), DeSantis pretty much did everything he could have to Disney, and didn’t really miss any beats.

Not necessarily, but they have engaged in gross ballet stuffing that is probably on par in terms of faked votes. The issue with with trying to pull that sort of stuff outside of smaller local elections in the US (which is partly why places like Chicago and NYC have been Dem for 100+ years) is two-fold historically speaking:

1. Its EXPENSIVE to pull of that much bullshit, so it has a tendency of "It works until it doesnt." And the bigger the gap they have to overcome, the more expensive it gets.

2. There is actually a tendency of the person who got screwed to come roaring back and win their next go around because they and their supporters are pissed by being cheated. Both Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon were screwed out of the presidency by cheating, and both of them won their next elections in overwhelming landslides, after their supporters won Congressional seats and raised hell against the ones who screwed them.

Incidentally, on that note, if we are going with my "Nu-70's" timeline, we are already doing better in that regard. Because Carter and the Dems gained seats in the 1978 midterm, even in the face of Carter's historically low approval and a general distaste about the direction of the country. At least with 2022, the Republicans actually got a [narrow] House majority.

JFK and the mob say "Nixon was properly paranoid." Tammany Hall says "Are we a joke to you?" The Dems even back in the Civil War era say "It's just that easy."

The Democrats have been stuffing ballots literally since their founding. They have never stopped. Its just a matter of getting someone so overwhelming popular it overwhelms their attempts to rig it.

I am sure some on here would not agree, but I still stand by the theory of the world going forward that was laid out in a video I watched about a year ago. The TLDR is here, but I believe it because many of those have already started happening.

As for the culture war itself, I think we have already passed peak woke. With the lag that exist in the movie industry, most of what we have been seeing come out was done in 2018-2020, at the height of TDS and Woke Outrage. But according to people in the industry (like Chris Gore), many of these companies are starting to walk back their policies.

They cant keep denying the success of things like Top Gun, or that Disney has lost ground to Illumination and Dreamworks (who had successful animated movies while Disney bombed last year). They cant keep denying that foreign entertainment like Manga, Anime, and even foreign movies are starting to make a dent if they havent eaten significant chunks (apparently RRR being a financial success rattled them). And no matter how much their PR and Marketing teams try to tell them otherwise, they can no longer deny that Woke is failing. Or did you think it a coincidence that PR/HR/Marketing are the ones getting slammed in the current layoffs. Think of the upcoming D&D movie: Yes, we know that everything they are doing is woke, no matter how much they are trying to deny it. But that they are desperately trying to deny it (including by name!) shows that they realize being called "woke" is brand poison, and they will try to avoid it. We arent at the point yet where they know what it means to avoid it, but they are trying.

Meanwhile, you are starting to see more and more "anti-woke" appearing spaces. Not necessarily "based", and dont expect that to change yet. But consider that one of the biggest songs on the radio for a significant time was an explicitly anti-woke song, and its not the only one.

Until I see solid evidence to the contrary, I stand by my theory that we are living in the "History doesnt repeat, it rhymes" version of the 1970's. We have Black Nationalist movements in ascendance thinking that they can go genocide Whitey and implement their tribal utopia (with growing resentment towards blacks from every other race due to that fact). We have unrestrained crime and drugs in the big cities. We have domestic politicians and business leaders trying to sell us out to our enemies for their own personal gain, even though the people dont want that. And on and on. The only difference is that in the '70's, film had started moving out of the Hayes Code era into an era of Classics, so we are behind the ball on that one. But I think 2020 was, much like 1976, their last shove they could do. And now 2024 will be the pushback. Who will be Reagan in this theory? Dont know, but personally I think its leaning toward DeSantis with Trump being the "Nixon".

EDIT: I would like to say though: This theory all applies to the United States. The simple fact of the matter is Europe never recovered mentally from the World Wars and has been in the equivalent of civilizational-level depression since, and it really does seem like they want to die. Meanwhile, the US has been characterized by going down kicking and screaming and actually putting up a fight to where they might take back the power.

that Curly was a symbol of awful management and George and Lennie were average put upon workers.

The other fun one I remember hearing about was that the Soviets believed the same thing, and had the play presented in Russia. It was intended to be done to show "Look at the decadent Americans, and how poorly they treat their workers that they must be in these conditions! Remember yourselves as the new Soviet Man!"

Meanwhile, the Russian citizens saw it and thought "Holy shit, they own their own truck! Lucky bastards."

See also: Romania allowing the TV show Dallas to be broadcast in the country, with similar attempts at a message and outcome among the citizens.

There are also lots of little things that most normal people dont think about but are actually extremely important for a proper fighting machine. For instance, the Sherman had some of the best optics for any tank in WW2, and they only got better as the design got more advanced. So for all of the old myths about how dangerous it was, actual combat stats show it was a killing machine because it almost always got the first shot off due to actually being able to see. Even in Korea, Shermans usually won against T-34's, because as it turns out the T-34 was actually not a great tank (it just fit the Soviet "Brute force them to death with numbers" doctrine).

This is before we get into the data about how for all the "deathtrap" talk, the Sherman was hands down the most survivable tank of the war unless you were in a British-crewed Sherman (British Shermans being responsible for a ton of the myths around it, that didnt carry over to American Shermans).

She was claiming the Soviets won WW2 because they lost millions of people.

They always forget (or chose to not remember) that Russia was a huge recipient of Lend Lease. Almost all of their aviation fuel, the vast majority of their trucks and trains, and most of their uniforms were made in the US. They also got a lot of US and British tanks and planes, and in some cases even preferred them over the Russian gear, like preferring the P-39/63 fighter as well as the Sherman and Valentine tanks (even though their propaganda obviously wouldnt talk about that).

And look at the war now, and you can see what that does with even just a fraction of Lend Lease, on top of Russian logistics being perma-fucked like it has been for their entire history (meanwhile, the US is learning how to weaponize its logistics, since logistics has always been the secret weapon of the US).

I need to go back and find the specific video, but the two sources I use for insider stuff like that are Valliant Renegade and WDW Pro for my sources on that.

Valliant has his opinions on culture war stuff (he leans our way), but he is far more concerned with the financials since he thinks all of the woke and ESG last as long as they think they can stop the bleeding. And since he does financial work as his day job, he knows a lot of companies are starting to kick it to the curb, and Disney is actually the oddball for trying to go full ride or die on ESG.

Pro is a guy who has insider sources at Disney, but unlike a lot of others he only makes a point if he can back it up. So on multiple occasions he has thrown cold water on people running around hyping up rumors that he already knows arent true (including calling out Doomcock by name for always jumping at every shadow instead of doing research, as much as he likes him).

Both of them have typically been ahead of the curve on some of this stuff. They were also my primary source (including Legal Mindset) for what would end up happening with Reedy Creek, and everything Mindset said would happen did (almost like his dayjob is "one of a few dozen lawyers in Florida who specialize in Special District Law.").

EDIT: Found a clip of them discussing it. Essentially, it would allow people to start getting some money flowing in since they arent doing anything with it right now, and lets them get around issues with their in-house talent being so terrible. Then they can still take all of the credit. It wasnt brought up by them, but just look at the fact that Star Wars: Visions (which was all independent stories that were just licensed under Star Wars) was one of the first immensely popular things Disney did with it in a long time.