I have to say, I have my doubts about that.

This is the way. Take their words at face value - but just the ones that you like. Repeat them like a parrot. Embellish them. Make up stories.

Facts truly don't care about felings. But a lie repeated oft enough effectively acts like the truth.

Use their weapon against them.

To convince idiots, sometimes you have to play by idiotic rules.

And for the bootlickers out there: No, I'm not saying OC is lying or an idiot by any means. I feel like I have to spell this out precisely because of the unreasonableness of the times we live in. Some bootlicking facehugger is bound to come and take the most unreasonable interpretation of my words and sink thei facehugging claws into my mouth. Maybe not right here or right now, but inevitably time and time again.

Do you think US'ians don't think the US is "America"?

I think non-US Americans are already used to it.

It's easier to screw over consumers than businesses.

Busunesses like to complain. They have long-term contracts. They have a lot of purchase power. They're more likely tp swotch to a competitor. When they threaten, they're more likely to go through with the threats since they have both money to burn and employees to blackmail with pay cuts.

Among other things.

There's a lot of consumers, so those that do jump ship usually don't cause a big dent in profits when they do. Consumers are also less likely to jump ship in the furst place since they have only their extended family and their family lawyer to look out for them (if). They usually have "bigger" problems than the electricity bill: car payments, mortgages, school bills, you name it.

Again, among other things.

It's probably due to legal requirements. It'd be unisex if it could, but if not, pick a random gender for the bathroom to identify as. Pretty ironic.

Bee if you want to get stung, bird if you want to get shat on.

Either way, you're fucked.

Obligatory "If they choose the 'Netflix Quick Picks' route, at least they should recommend 'The Terminal' starring Tom Hanks!"

And here I thought it was almost at boiling point!

I hope Italian dockworkers are determined enough to dock imports for a while. Hopefully without armed intervention from the state.

There's the EU-wide ePrivacy directive, explicitly stating (Art. 5):

Member States shall ensure the confidentiality of communications and the related traffic data by means of a public communications network and publicly available electronic communications services, through national legislation. In particular, they shall prohibit listening, tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of communications and the related traffic data by persons other than users, without the consent of the users concerned

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There's also other EU-wide stuff, like:

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Art. 7):

Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications.

European Convention on Human Rights (Art. 6):

Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

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Then there's the UN-wide Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Art. 12):

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence

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And as if that wasn't enough, most member states have confidentiality of communications codified in their constitutions. They are:

Belgium (Art. 29):

The confidentiality of letters is inviolable.

Bulgaria (Art. 34):

The freedom and confidentiality of correspondence and all other communications shall be inviolable.

Croatia (Art. 36)*:

Freedom and privacy of correspondence and all other forms of communication shall be guaranteed and inviolable.

Cyprus (Art 17)*:

Every person has the right to respect for, and to the secrecy of, his correspondence and other communication

Czechia (Art. 13)*:

No one may violate the confidentiality of letters or other papers or records.

Denmark (Art. 72)*:

Any breach of the secrecy that shall be observed in postal, telegraph, and telephone matters, shall not take place

Estonia (Art. 43)*:

Everyone has the right to confidentiality of messages sent or received by him or her by post, telegraph, telephone or other commonly used means

Finland (Sec. 10)*:

The secrecy of correspondence, telephony and other confidential communications is inviolable.

Germany (Art. 10)*:

Secrecy of the mail as well as secrecy of the post and telecommunications shall be inviolable"

Greece (Art. 19)*:

Secrecy of letters and all other forms of free correspondence or communication shall be absolutely inviolable

Hungary (Art. VI):

Everyone shall have the right to have his or her private and family life, home, communications and good reputation respected."

Italy (Art. 15)*:

Freedom and confidentiality of correspondence and of every other form of communication is inviolable.

Latvia (Art. 96):

Everyone has the right to inviolability of his or her private life, home and correspondence."

Lithuania (Art. 22):

Personal correspondence, telephone conversations, telegraph messages, and other communications shall be inviolable."

Malta (Art. 41):

No person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of [...] freedom from interference with his correspondence.

Poland (Art. 49):

The freedom and privacy of communication shall be ensured.

Portugal (Art. 34):

Personal homes and the secrecy of correspondence and other means of private communication shall be inviolable.

The Netherlands (Art. 13)*:

The privacy of correspondence shall not be violated, [...] The privacy of the telephone and telegraph shall not be violated

Austria, Luxembourg and France are outliers in that I didn't find anything in their constitutions during my brief little search.

Threats of physical violence are the only tool they have in their toolbox. THE ONLY tool.

And actual gun violence. They're the sniwflakiest and wimpiest of the all, bringing an AK-47 to a civilised discussion and feeling "threatened".

It's not even the highest bidder that gets the data, it's all 1278 data partners. Talk about data prostitution!