Okay gang, I need you to think a bit more critically than 'China Bad.' First, why was the term "debt collector" used? China lent money, now they're taking payments. Is that debt collecting, or just the second part of lending money? Is a mortgage lender a debt collector? That's a loaded term meant to give you a negative impression, cuz no one likes a debt collector except perhaps an American hospital.

Second, the countries agreed to the loans. Paying them back was expected and predictable. If payments can't be made, then the debt will be restructured, meaning the payment schedule will be modified so the debtor country can make payments.

Third, the money was often used to build a potentially money-making asset, like a port. If used correctly, the assest should pay for a decent chunk of the loan.

Forth, I see a lot of half baked comments like 'China will take the port back' or 'China will take the hospital.' You must first ask, with what will China take back an African port, or hospital, or whatever? They don't have the means. They're not going to park an aircraft carrier off the coast and drop bombs until the loan is repayed, because they can't. So what does China want? China doesn't want the fucking port, they want resources and friends with benefits.

China's basically going here's a loan, build a port to import goods for your people. Import from whoever you like, it's your port. Oh by the way we make the cheapest and best everything (cuz they do), we'd be happy to sell you whatever you want, like solar panels or EVs. We also need colbalt and the finest silicon sand to build you these awesome EVs and solar panels you want, so we'll buy that from your mines and use your cool new port to ship it. Here's the loan payment schedule. No payments for the first 5 years, then afterward you pay X per year for 20-30 years. Oh no, you're having trouble making payments? Well we benefit from you having that port too, so let's restructure that debt so your people don't revolt and get cozy with the US.

There's no fucking debt trap. That's just racist and moronic. 'Those sneaky Chinese tricked the backwards brown people with a loan they can't repay.' Plus you can't repossess a structure on the other side of the world without a credible threat of violence. China does not have the means. Economic coercion, sure, but the debtor agreed to that and they're not stupid.

But Canadian money isn't real money

Let's assume for a second the developer isn't corrupt and is only spending the money on actual development. Is it even possible to spend that much money making a game from scratch?

What does this mean:

If you're a green card holder, do your research. "You have to have a good understanding of what the visa category that you're coming in allows you to do and does not allow you to do," Heubel said.

Once you have a green card what visa categories could you fall into? I thought once you were a permanent resident and could do whatever you want except vote.

but they have a different goal: they want drivers to feel like they're making progress instead of actually improving things.

Sorry but I want a source for that claim.

Just some life advice. I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish with your comment, but a fairly awful person once said: however beautiful your strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

Really, there's nothing wrong with being an idealist but at some point you need to work with what you have.

No one really knows how osmosis works.

Critical Appraisal of the Milwaukee Protocol for Rabies: This Failed Approach Should Be Abandoned

Well you got a better idea?

I looked, and they don't.

You have a strange definition of fascism. I've poked around in those instances to see what the fuss is about. They're super far left and very much ideologically opposed to fascism. They're something weird, but they're definitely not fascists.

Why have a target at all instead of just saying we gotta do this asap? Is there a psychological reason? I feel like having a target and missing it may be worse than not having a target. I'm probably wrong, someone correct me please

I read the report you mentioned and I don't think this accident is a good comparison because the people in the Titan went from 1 atm to 400 atm while the victims of the Byford Dolphin accident went from 9 atm of pressure to 1 atm. Three (possibly four) of them were intact and died because all the fat in the blood suddenly precipitated, completely stopping circulation. Another guy was blasted through an opening that was much smaller than he, and was very much discombobulated as a result.

There's an order of magnitude difference between the incidents in pressure differentials and it was more like an instantaneous compression in the Titan than an explosive decompression like the Dolphin. So whatever happened in the Titan probably left an entirely different mess than that seen in the dolphin autopsy.

Even if the USA was to start a massive federal level HSR program tomorrow, it would likely be several disconnected networks which may never connect across the Rockies.

So what? You gotta start somewhere