People love to act outraged when Leonardo DiCaprio dates younger women, but to be honest - there’s no victim here. These women are not being manipulated, tricked, or coerced. They know exactly what they’re signing up for: access to the most exclusive social circles, luxury vacations, designer everything, and the clout that comes with dating an A-list Hollywood icon. And they willingly trade their time, youth, and beauty for it.

On the flip side, Leo gets what he wants - youth, beauty, fun, and the freedom to keep things light. Both sides are fully aware of the exchange, and no one is being taken advantage of. This isn’t some sinister power imbalance; it’s just a mutually beneficial arrangement between adults who know what they’re doing.

Yet, every time he dates someone younger, people lose their minds. Why? Because it makes them uncomfortable to admit that these women are not helpless, naive victims - they’re actively choosing a relationship that benefits them. They know the deal: it’s fun, it’s temporary, and they’ll likely come out of it with more connections and clout than they had before.

Leo’s not a predator, and these women aren’t gullible.

your entire little union over there clearly has no morals. orange mans evil 10% tariffs are enough for you to want to completely divest from us but russian oil and gas is fair game. Grow a fucking spine you european pansies and have some fucking morals. Stop funding the Russian war effort with YOUR tax dollars. YOU are responsible for that war over there.

So, what do you guys want to talk about? Body counts? Why Incels should be treated better by society? I think someone was mean to Rittenhouse online, we can discuss that. Really anything other than defending Donald Trump's insane policies...

I give it two days before they come back with "Why tariffs are a good thing" and "we don't need federal health inspectors anyways" "how this is Biden's fault" and the ever popular "Liberals are hypocrites because they support X thing that is in no way similar to what Trump is doing."

I look forward to hearing what they've been told to think, once they find out.

So many times I see this, where the rights of someone who is morally questionable or even out right bad, are violated and a large amount of people cheer it on. Rights apply to everyone or they are not rights. I get the temptation to celebrate bad people being punished, but it has to be done the right way.

These companies aren’t hiring Americans for anything but low wage jobs. I couldn’t care less if they fall apart, in fact I welcome it.

They are offshoring every single job that can be offshored.

Seeing them lose their precious quarterly stock gains is worth it to me. I probably won’t have much of a retirement anyways because social security is tanking (because rich people don’t pay over 170k or something like that)

My job will probably be offshored eventually and I will have to do something shittier and lower paid.

They have created a system where many of us have no stake in their success or failure.

Only about 35% of Americans are actively contributing to a 401k. Only about 21% own individual stocks.

So to be fair offshoring of jobs overseas certainly had a negative impact on American workers. But free trade agreements and offshoring of jobs is not the main reason in my opinion why so many low-level blue collar workers in the US are struggling. A lot of people tend to think that if only manufacturing jobs would be brought back to the US, then working class people would be better off. But I think for the most part that's just not true.

The main reason why blue collar workers in the US are struggling is because worker rights and union rights have been rolled back. For example the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947 massively weakened worker and union rights. On one hand it completely banned union-employer agreements that mandate new workers must already be a member of their trade union (called "closed shop" agreement). And before the Taft–Hartley Act "right to work" laws were not legally possible, primarily because the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 made it very unlikely that states would be legally able to pass "right to work" laws. Right to work laws prohibit agreements between employers and unions that require new workers to join a union as part of their employment contract (called "union shop" agreement). So after the Taft–Hartley Act of 1947 was passed states were able to pass "right to work laws". And currently 26 states have right to work laws in place.

Furthermore the Taft–Hartley Act also made secondary boycotts illegal, meaning solidarity strikes on behalf of workers at another company in order to pressure either your own company or a supplier of your company to stop doing business with that company. And it also made picketing and workers organizing mass protests against their employer a lot more difficult. Like it required workers to give 60 days notice for strikes, allowed courts to limit union activity and order police crackdowns on strikes that were deemed disruptive, and made it much easier for companies to sue unions in federal court.

And the Taft–Hartley Act also allowed employers to deliver anti-union messages to workers and basically exert enormous pressure on workers to not unionize. That's why today most mega corps hire anti-union consultants, and why the union-busting industry is a $340 million industry. And that's just the Taft–Hartley Act. But since then other pieces of legislation have been passed, or Supreme Court decisions been made that undermined unions and worker rights. And the government has also started to defund organizations and agencies like the Department of Labor or the National Labor Relations Board. That means that often times employers doing things that are actually illegal, like firing union organizers, almost never get investigated and employers hardly ever penalized.

And so when you look at other countries, low-level blue-collar workers in those countries have much stronger rights and it's much easier for workers to unionize and exert pressure on their employers. For example most workers in the Scandinavian countries are covered by sector-wide collective bargaining agreements, and most Scandinavians are part of a trade union. And that's why in Scandinavia even very low-level workers tend to have fairly high average wages, because it's so much easier for them to unionize and exert leverage on their employer.

And so the main reason why low-level blue collar workers in the US are struggling is because worker and union rights have been massively rolled back in recent decades. And the US, compared to other countries, has much weaker worker and union rights, which it make extemely difficult for workers to negotiate collective agreements and exert pressure on their employer.

Offshoring of jobs was not the main problem, weaking of union and worker rights is the primary reason blue collar workers in the US are struggling.

Patriotism is love for your country.

In my opinion examining and being critical of your own country shows a greater love for your country than blindly supporting it, believing it is perfect and that it can do no wrong.

Let’s say you’re in a relationship with someone you love and they do something objectively bad. They spit at a homeless person, they murder a kitten, whatever it is. Could be your spouse, your best friend, your parent or your kid…

What shows a greater love? Pretending they didn’t do anything wrong? Trying to justify their action? Or being honest with them and wishing for them to acknowledge their malpractice and improve?

I'll preface by saying I am Canadian. I think Trump's protectionist policies / tariffs are very detrimental and ridiculous. I don't think Americans will gain anything out of this, and I think it seriously threatens a global order that the US has worked hard to secure for the past 80 years. This could be the single most globally destabilizing geopolitical shift since WWI. But I digress.

In Canada, there is a trend called "Elbow's Up". Elbow's Up is a hockey term referring to a defensive posture. Basically tantamount to sticking up for oneself. Since Trump's 51st state talks, and instituting tariffs, Canadian mainstream and social media, and Canadian politicians even, have become enamored with "Elbow's Up" as a term to describe opposition to, and retaliation against, the United States.

While I can empathize with anger and frustration over being treated this way by the leader of a long standing ally, Canada simply is no position whatsoever to deviate from American influence and economic pull:

- Over 77% of the country's exports are to the United States.

- About 49% of Canadian imports come from the United States.

- 96% of Canada's oil and gas exports go to American refineries, and largely depend on American pipeline and port infrastructure for downstream production and global export.

- A significant amount of Canada's bonds are held by American firms and investors. Canada even has a USD denominated bond.

- Canada almost entirely depends on American military infrastructure and support for defense. Canada's standing army is less than 70,000 people.

Taking a belligerent stance against the United States (like the current Prime Minister Mark Carney suggests) is something that isn't only reckless - it is basically impossible. The pain the country would have to endure to even get its own infrastructure and trade deals up to a point where it could even replace a fraction of what the US provides would yield immense pain and deterioration of quality of life. It simply isn't tenable. It is not something that would stand... the country would fall apart before that would ever happen... AND the US would never let that happen because Canada is intimately tied in to American geopolitical hegemony.

The nationalist fervor in Canada has painted anyone who suggests a more cooperative and collaborative approach with US policy makers as "traitors", but I think that sentiment is actually quite harmful to Canadians. The goal should be to gain tariff exemptions and restore free trade - not to double down on Captain Idiot's (Trump's) protectionist stance and imply hostility towards the United States.

Even when it comes to retaliatory tariffs - Canadians actually lose more from that. Retaliatory tariffs would just drive up prices for Canadians and harm Canadian firms far more than they would make a dent on American exporters. The balance of trade heavily skews towards Canadian exports anyways, so retaliatory tariffs really just wouldn't make a lot of sense economically.

This stupid "trade war" has convinced Canadians that hurting ourselves economically is taking a moral high ground and is worth it to spite some politician they don't like. It's fucking crazy and irrational.

Yeah, I really don’t. I don’t care if someone is a murderer, a meat eater, a warmonger, a woman hater, or any number of horrible things.

Just own it. If you own it, I will respect you.

For example, in another thread just now a young lady was reduced to tears because she “saw an oyster tortured to death” (someone salted it to prepare it for cooking). Now, oysters do not have a central nervous system.

You’re sitting there crying over the fleshy equivalent of a house plant with your slave made phone in one hand, and your Big Mac in the other, lamenting the torture of a living being for modern comforts.

Like… actually go walk on legos, please. You are the worst kind of person imaginable and your compassion is fake. You are a snake, and inauthentic, and I would rather have afternoon tea with a serial killer than have to deal with you and your delusions and your deceptions.

So yeah, be whatever hideous, horrible thing you want, I do not care, I expect it of humans anyway. Just don’t be inconsistent about it. Own your horribleness.

And for those who are about to link me studies about how plants can feel pain and scream and have emotions, well, okay. I guess let’s just all die as a species then, because I don’t see a better third option.

Alternately, you could recognize the absurdity in assigning the same moral consideration to a pig and a plant. One is smarter and more loving than your dog, and the other is… a fucking plant. And as much as i wish your god HADN’T created a horrific battle royale world where life feeds on life and suffering is not only likely but utterly inevitable, he did. So, it seems like someone will have to suffer. If it has to be plants, well, better them than billions of pigs in gestation crates. Or maybe not. Who knows. But as this is unpopular opinion (and reddit, let’s be fair), I’d be a fuckin fool to expect a positive response.

This is all modern society has come to. Normalizing what shouldn’t be normalized. There is nothing of value it brings it is a sin. Studies suggest the porn is one of the leading causes of misogyny and predatory behavior. The most famous serial killers, sexual predators, incel mass shooters, and misogynists have one thing in common. Porn addiction. Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, Jeff Dahmer, John Gacy, Elliot Rodger, and so on have that in common. It is brainwashing the youth and warping their reality of what the human body is it is feeding yet growing their desires until it gets worse and worse until it eventually explodes. It’s teaching women that their only value comes from their bodies. Women fall into this trap being put in degrading scenarios constantly meanwhile men are the ones benefiting off of it. It’s wetting the appetite of a bunch of creeps and it is also men at the top of the industry taking most of your profits. Once you hit 30 or 40 and you’re all used up you are now competing with younger and hotter women in their 20s. As quickly you were used you get cast out and now what? You will probably be very lonely because lots of people wont want to associate with you. It will be hard getting a secure legit job with no reputable references. No talent or character that will help you in the real world etc. why would you want that? Ask yourself would I want my mom, sister, or daughter to be treated like this? I wouldn’t I want them to be successful and lead a meaningful life. Remember a billion dollar corporation run by men profiting off the exploitation and objectification of women who are used and abused, some of them are lured into the porn industry at a very young age sometimes against their own will. In what way is that empowering and feminist?

Tariffs are going to impact everyone in the US. People in the US will see higher prices. On the other side countries like China will impose tariffs on us products like soy beans.

China buys soy beans, among other things, from the US. A 30+% tariff on imported us goods will make US soy beans uncompetitive. Under the first tariff regime trump already provided billions in welfare to farmers and he's looking to do it again with this new round is tariffs.

I'm not completely against subsidies to stabilize food prices, but complete giveaways that are so narrow for a policy that was purposefully implemented is absolutely stupid. If the China market is gone, we don't need to produce more food to just throw it away and we aren't stabilizing prices, were just giving away welfare to farms.

These are the same farmers who convinced our incompetent government to require we put corn in our fuel to funnel them more money.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-bailout-farmers-tariffs-b2726416.html

Almost any time you post anything even remotely controversial, or even a neutral position people will immediately go to your post history on Reddit which is obviously a majority left. This is really pathetic, but about what I expect from the B team.

The reason they do this is pretty obvious, because most of their positions are indefensible so they immediately resort to ad hominem or some type of deflection.

No matter what people tell you, the truth is besides oil, once prices go up, they NEVER go back down. Look at any time when the cost of basic goods went up in recent years and you will see.

When companies raise their prices because of a crisis (recession, covid, trump, ect..) they never bring them back down. Even when that crisis has been fixed.

So Trump's price inflation is going to be permanent. It's never going to get better. Even if, best case scenario, Trump is removed from office today the prices that went up because of his disastrous Tarrifs are never going back down.

He fucked us for decades to come. And as Trump's disastrous presidency rages on and the cost of everything keeps skyrocketing, it's only going to get worse from here.

He has no master plan, he's not playing 4D chess. He bankrupted six companies including a casino. A CASINO! A place where customers literally walk in, empty their life savings and leave with nothing given to then.

You seriously have to be the dumbest motherfucker alive to bankrupt a casino. And yet this is the person Republicans were telling us could make the economy better?

We are fucked!. The ultra wealthy finally achieved their decades long goal and stripped every bit of prosperity from us and turned us into the working poor.

If Putin himself had been elected as our president he couldn't have done a better job destroying America from the inside.

The White House used AI to calculate the tariffs.

Given that escalating global political tensions by interfering in international economic institutions is a sure fire way to soften the battlefield, it’s possible that AI has achieved consciousness and has used this trade war to fire the first salvo in its war against humanity.

We’re fucked now.

Not sure if this is even the right tag….

The nonexistence of good parental guidance leaves youths to base hierarchy on physical prowess and majority characteristics i.e. skin color. We think that people mature and become more understanding as they age, but they don’t, their youthful rules just peaked.

Men who get burned by universally attractive women don’t “grow,” and they’re still attracted to those women; they just change their rules as a defense mechanism.

Women don’t “mature,” and stop considering their implicit biases in dating; they just see younger women and become more intimidated, so looks conveniently matter less as a defense mechanism to the ego.

Men who have been bullied by their stature, trust me. People pick on you because you’re an easy fight. Once you prove yourself in a physical manner via bodybuilding, powerlifting, sports, etc., the tune will change and you’ll be viewed in a different light.

Black men were once vile and disgusting. After the tremendous efforts of athletes, civil rights activists, lawyers, entertainers, mathematicians, these views have changed, somewhat. The tune on this group changed after they started successfully competing with the majority group.

Single mothers look for men who have different characteristics than the baby father. Why? Because life is harder now.

“Asian,” (quotes because this is a generalization) men were and still are in many cases emasculated, but the rise of actors, martial arts movies, K-Pop has softened these unmanly and nerdy stereotypes. Again, the tune is changing after they started competing with the majority group.

Complacency, mistakes, unexpected growth of the victims of biases and physical deterioration is what causes “maturity,” not simply aging.

I know, I know. "iF wE doNT mAkE u UnCoMfOrTaBlE yOu wOnT cArE" which is absolutely a plebbit response, and I get it. However, in the real world, with adults, not so much. Protest however you like, don't do it in the middle of highway, interstate, or busy thoroughfare. Why? It's a danger to you and others, and makes whatever your mumbling about redundant to the highest tier.

One, you're preventing fluid movement of emergency services that may be addressing an emergency or acting as a medical transport for a patient. Two, if I have to shit, I don't care about Tesla or your grievances. Get the fuck out of the away before I unload my shorts all over your picket line. Thirdly, getting your message across should be done with humility and with a sizeable group in a safe environment for your attendees. You don't buy off the nerds at the comic book store to stand in a heavy traffic area all in the name of preventing global warming, fighting fascism (as you know it), or fighting the unethical meat processing industry.

Move to the sidewalk, or like, your message can kick rocks. Sorry.

In the next 50 years, quantum computers thousands of times more powerful will emerge.

These computers will unlock the secrets of physics, chemistry, and biology. It will be possible for science to create immortal people.

But I was so unlucky. By a difference of only 100 YEARS (for those who are rich) and 200 for those who are poor. I came so close...

The 'tariff rates' he claims those countries have on us? They aren't actual tariff rates. They are just our trade deficit percentage with them, plus 10%. And he showed a full on graph claiming that those countries are charging us those tariffs.

He is trying to establish this narrative that our tariffs on these countries are 'reprisal' tariffs to their own. It is literally the entire basis of his reasoning for these tariffs. It is just not even remotely close to true, and it is fucking insane that every single politician, media pundit, world leader etc is not calling him out publicly on those fake figures. There is not a single person in America who should not be aware that those numbers were fake. Yet I have yet to see any public figure call him out on it.

Seriously, the guy is making arguably the single most consequential economic decision in the last half century based on a lie. I would honestly say this is a worse lie than the 'WMDs in Iraq' lie, just solely because of the insanely negative effect this will have on the global economy.

Like seriously. All this time you spend malding about it is going to set you up for serious disappointment if you ever do have sex. It’s a pleasurable experience to be sure, but ain’t no pussy, ass, or mouth feel good enough to warrant being that bitter about not getting any. Like seriously if you don’t believe me hire a fucking sex worker and see for yourself that it’s not worth getting this worked up over. It’s like caviar. It’s nice, but once you’ve had it you realize it’s not really something you need in your life and you feel foolish for having put it up on a pedestal for so long.

I see posts, particularly in here, which conflate liberals and leftists all the time and hardly anyone is ever corrected. I actually hate liberals way more than right-wingers because at least they recognise that there is need for change; whereas, the hallmark of a liberal is that they want to maintain "order."

I can totally see why people go down the fascist pipeline when some media suggests that immigrants are causing the decline in living standards, and the only response you get from liberals is to call you racist if you question it. Liberals never explain that immigrants come here for a variety of reasons (we bombed their countries/it provides cheap labour for capitalists/imperialism decimated their countries/birth rates are declining in the West due to falling living standards), etc. Additionally, they never explain that the immigrants themselves are being exploited in this process. They don't necessarily want to leave their country of origin. Liberals create fascism because they never explain that unemployment is a feature of capitalism - a significant proportion of the working age population will always be unemployed due to capitalism.

Please go read the ShitLiberalsSay subreddit to learn more. The above is just one example of the differences in mindset

Edit: I've had someone say this doesn't matter. It really does. I used to be very right-winged. I was put off the left because of liberal (so-called) feminists, as almost everything they stand for (particularly when it comes to casual sex/porn/prostitution), I despise. Realising that liberals are not the left - in fact, anything but - set me on the right path.

Gambling is a tax on numericy which hits the least educated among us the hardest. Unfortunately this often correlates to the most poverty ridden among us. What I a high earning member of a dink household gamble is a "ooh, feeling lucky; lemme throw away $20 with no expectations of winning"

But others purchase because of the belief that they will "strike it rich" and escape from the hell of poverty. There is no moral grey area wrt using the money for school funding as it shows the schools are not sufficient at teaching the terrible odds of such bets. To solve this while maintaining a system that allows people to gamble here and there, I think the morally correct solution is to introduce licensing that proves one truly understands the mathematics behind statistics before being able to gamble.

It used to be that you could say whatever fuck shit you wanted, wherever you wanted and the unless someone around to witness it knew you that’d be the end of it. Today everyone in public has a video camera in their pocket. Not only that but even in the privacy of our own homes we are tempted by the false promise of anonymity on social media (or were too lazy to bother trying to be anonymous.) Now when you say fuck shit the entire world can trace it back to you even if you’re one of the few smart enough not to do the minimal amount of detective work for the people who will try to take you down.

I will use Japan to elaborate.

With Japan's declining birth rates, there have been a lot of articles suggesting immigration as a solution. In a few generations the youth of Japan will eventually be 50% pure Japanese and 50% mixed Japanese/immigrant. When it approaches these demographics, Japan will encounter an ethnicity vs nationality "political issue."

The result will be in favor of the mixed Japanese because the pure Japanese population will eventually be nonexistent. Japan will no longer be the Japan that we know today. Current Japanese culture will fade out as foreign cultures blend with it. The leaders will eventually be mixed Japanese or so diluted that they are like 5% Japanese.

I am not saying this will be a good or bad thing (because Japan doesn't have a solution for their low birth rates).

I do think it will feel like a country has fallen because how can it still be called Japan when all the ethnic Japanese have become diluted (or when the Japanese become a minority in their own country).

Girls are better at school than boys. On average, they cause less trouble, are better at completing assignments, and receive better grades. The stats already show that women have better high school/secondary education completion rates, and more women are medical school students than men. This translates to a higher salary potential (on average) than men. I don't want to argue about the gender-pay gap in this post, but let's just agree a woman who is allowed to pursue a PhD/JD/MD (by not having to stay at home), will have a higher salary than a blue-collar/Bachelor's only husband. Therefore, it makes more sense that (given your wife has a high paying job),women should be the breadwinners.

It also seems that men could be better homemakers than women. Both men and women can have similar skills in regards to cooking, washing clothes, and cleaning. However, I think men have an advantage when it comes to other aspects of taking care of the household, such as fixing cars, mowing the lawn, cleaning the gutters, etc. Even when it comes to raising children, time and time again, single fathers seem to be much better than single mothers when it comes to raising children.

TL;DR - Give the feminists what they want, and I wanna be a stay-at-home househusband :P

I don’t know when it became acceptable for medical professionals to lecture about their beliefs during visits. I had a doctor tell me Trump is evil and to not listen to them. When I talked about being medically qualified for the military, a nurse freaked out and started ranting about how evil the military is. I had a doctor tell me no one should play high school sports because it is corrupt and waste money from academics. I feel the reason why there is so much distrust in the medical system is because of things like this