TBH Grok would probably tell them to avoid “femoids” and work on semen retention to activate their redpill powers.

Go bring that sarcasm to Ukrainians - I’m sure they’ll love it.

OK then, but that’s still idiotic.

If so, that’s an idiotic strategy. It would be like Palestinians suicide-bombing EU countries to make them stop Israel’s war.

I think mostly selling Rafales, but I’m not French so I can’t speak to their motivations when choosing who to vote for.

Many on the left are under the misapprehension that being a pacifist must mean being defenceless.

Are you suggesting they simply ignore the defence treaties they signed with allies? Who do you think they are, Russia?

What exactly would they be defending? France is out of range.

I see the geopolitics understanders have logged on…

The carrier is there strictly in a defensive posture. no? I’m not aware of France being involved in any attacks on Iran.

And this is why anybody who made a mistake in the past should be shunned forever, regardless of their current views and actions. They may as well just jump off a bridge and save us the trouble of setting up a firing squad.

Thanks for doing this - it isn’t a proper leftist get-together without some assclown imposing impossible purity tests.

They don’t either, so you’re in good company.

It is really hard. IME the tactic with the highest success rate is buying older luxury goods - something from the 70s or earlier. Obviously this doesn’t work for clothing, but for things like furniture it’s great, or even houses themselves; high-end homes built before the 90s are enormously higher quality than modern “luxury” houses made of OSB and gray-painted cardboard. Clothing is much more difficult, especially outside of Europe, where they still have companies making things with care using high-quality fabric.

I guess the crux of the issue is that luxury used to mean quality, not ostentation. A Mercedes from the 70s doesn’t “seem” luxurious to the modern eye until you start interacting with the switchgear or opening and closing doors. Same thing for the sofa framed with real wood and metal springs and upholstered in outstanding fabric - you can’t tell why it’s better than IKEA by looking at a photo.

Possibly, but the average person is wrong about a lot of things, especially those they aren’t familiar with. The average person is no more an authority on luxury than they are on, to reuse your example, the logistics of running a farm. It’s probably also important to draw a distinction between parvenu countries like the USA and China, where “pop luxury” item are considered luxury, and old money countries like France or Switzerland where that’s much less the case.

That’s perfect, I’m stealing it!

I’m more partial to their early 90s lineup (E38/39/36) but yes, they used to be understated and elegant. Now they’re loud and brash and gauche, the automotive equivalent of a purse with a repeating logo pattern.

No, that’s only the particular type of “luxury” slop that multinationals sell. There are lots of “luxury” items that don’t fit that definition: traditionally-made bespoke suits and shoes, for example. There’s a guy in the town next to mine who handmakes leather boots. They cost about $500 and he sells only double digits per year. Luxury? Yes. Made as cheaply as possible and sold through brute-force marketing? No. The Gucci crowd will never notice what you’re wearing, but it’s luxury nonetheless.

Gucci is “luxury” for people with no taste, so their use of AI is rather on point. Their cutomers are the same kind of people who think new BMWs’ light-up kidney grille makes them look good.

Oh, in that case I agree completely - the root cause is demand in the US.

Do you think the Mexican government isn’t already trying to do that? They clearly don’t have the resources to pull it off.