He got a personal burner as well.

He bought new luggage and clothes for the trip, knowing they would be paid for and discarded. He said it wasn’t that big a deal.

It’s not like they surprised him on the way back, telling him to throw his stuff away.

I assume they would sometimes plant bugs and it was just easier to discard than to sanitize.

Yup. Move all the production to China to take advantage of their slave wages/conditions, and instead of passing any savings on to the consumer, they push all profits to the share holders.

That has worked out so well for us, hasn’t it, especially now that we have such a hostile relationship with them.

Companies are the worst.

China’s gonna own us all.

My brother-in-law traveled a lot for work, from the early nineties, to the 20-teens.

He visited, China, Russia, the U.S., India, all over Southeast Asia, Australia. Maybe South America, but not sure. Anyway, the point is he visited a lot of places, and the big ones fairly routinely. China is the only country, where his company had a whole list of requirements. He had to leave his personal phone, any personal electronics, and his work laptop at home. (They provided him a phone and laptop that would immediately be turned over once he returned and he could NOT log onto the company VPN with the laptop/phone they gave him and had to have his work email forwarded. )

They gave him money to buy a new suit before he went over there and to replace his luggage and clothes when he came back, because it was all discarded.

He said it was not so much government spying but industrial espionage. And he just worked in human resources.

I was in the Navy and visited Hong Kong a couple of times and they never said boo to me outside of the usual, “Loose lips sink ships.” spiel we got at every port.

They let him take his phone to Russia, but they did made him take a different work laptop, but that laptop could access the company VPN. He said there is was more about the government spying. I did not visit any Russian port while in the Navy.

Not even sure what this means. Are you carrying over an argument from some other conversation?

That says a lot about you.

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I think we’ve stopped at the “wrong things” part and just refuse to move on.

Same as how they passed prohibition.

It’s actually quite fascinating even as it is disconcerting.

They lobbied state by state, and focused on a few key legislators, threatening their seat, until the rest fell in line.

They didn’t have to fight them all at once, so they could focus their resources.

Can it be any worse than what we have going on right now?

Do you want fat bees? Because this is how you get fat bees.

Ok~maybe I want fat bees.~

Judging me for the words you put in my mouth. You are certainly special.

Agreed. A girl can dream though.

History doesn’t repeat itself. People just don’t change. :/

My dream timeline:

U.S. collapses under a revolution, Israel, losing its support gets buttfucked by Iran.

Then a few weeks after Israel is toppled, the Iranian people overthrow their government too, ending hostilities.

U.S. becomes a non-warhawk, nature version of a Theodore Roosevelt paradise. Iran is opened up to the rest of the world, and everyone loves to visit the beautiful resort country, Palestine, every summer.

Right.

And what do you know about editorial controls or how journalism has worked in the last 20 years?

Wake up. The decline has already happened. It’s now a game of compromise.

You want to complain and whine like these guys are sitting on a beach, sipping mai thais, while telling their AI agents to write an article.

It’s ignorant and inflammatory. Just makes y’all look petulant.

My point still stands.

You can argue that EVERY fucking thing in the world is in the beginning , mid, or late stages of enshittification.

But calling Ars an internet rot site, at this stage, is just fucking stupid.

Are they as good as they were a few years ago? I honestly can’t say. I do know that there was better news a few years ago.

The people at Ars have a tough job trying to navigate this modern world of oligarchs and autocracy, keeping their identity, while being owned by a corporation whose only job is to make money.

They’ve done a pretty good fucking job, all things considered, of staying their course.

A much better job than internet assholes who want to act elitist and whine when the world falls apart around them while they blame their fellow class instead of the controlling class.

Weren’t you whining about other people making comments like this one to you?

Oh yeah!? Well, we caught up to China in fascism, so we can catch up to them in clean energy too!

No, the issue we are talking about today and calling Ars an “internet rot site” is a huge leap. Yeah, they post shit articles from Wired and such, (they are owned by Conde Nast), but their core writers are still great and have plenty of good articles.

You want credit for what? Over exaggerating an issue then whining about it?

You are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and then spitting on the baby. It makes no sense.

I agree, Ben probably would have indulged and not cared about using it to his advantage.

Hamilton and Jefferson were absolutely cold blooded in their political pursuits and use of published letters. They would have used any opportunity to cut the other down. Maybe mutually assured destruction would have stayed their hands on that particular indulgence, though Hamilton did famously out his own affair to clear himself of the embezzlement allegation.