My goodness, that article was quite the ride. Capitalism needs to be put in its place and the sooner the better for all.

I believe the antivax movement was able to take root because the US has cultivated an intense distrust of the medical system.

• You pay high medical insurance premiums only to get denied when it’s time to cash in.

• You avoid calling for an ambulance because the ride alone will bankrupt you.

• You go to the ER only to get hundreds of dollars in fine for over the counter Tylenol.

The public was trained by the medical institutions to look for any excuse to reject them. The antivax movement was a way to express that distrust, even if unconsciously. Politicians simply lit that major oil spill and gave it a voice.

Likewise, we live in a capitalistic hellscape where no one can afford homes and cars to take them to jobs where they’re underpaid and can be let go in an instant, not due to performance, but because an executive wanted another tax break on the dragon money hoard they refuse to put back into the economy.

Like with the antivaxers, we have been conditioned to expect the worst and that impacts our gut reactions.

Boothby sang the praises of Lorcano, fulfilling the roles of leader, parent, study manager etc… so I could be lead to believe that Lorcano managed to earn the undying loyalty of a few key members of each ship that he managed to place as heads of the respective ships.

But I have a hard time believing he’s got the loyalty of the entire crew, sans the commanders left on the glass rain planet. That’s not the sort of thing you can keep under wraps… and certainly not the sort of thing intelligence would manage to overlook.

There’s also some evidence that the crews weren’t in on it. The male Romulan admitted that Nova 1 wasn’t his scheme, suggesting it was the female’s. The Orion crew all seemed oblivious aside from the plagerist, who was focused on his console. And in the Ferengi ship it seemed to be one saboteur in particular.

That aside… it’s pretty amazing how he’s gotten all those species to cooperate. We have the opening credits battle to remind us how little they all get along-something the Federation itself has failed to accomplish.

But the mystery ship is already built… implying they’ve had him for quite a while now. Why search for something they already have?

Each season we get some key art that mimics the movie posters for the original movies. Season 1’s was a homage to the Motion Picture, 2 the Wrath of Kahn etc… the connections are extremely loose and rarely impact the plot in any meaningful way, but they’re there. (For instance, in S4 we have the whale probe in the opening sequence)

Considering V was a quest to meet God, and the Koala is the closest thing LD has to that, baring Q or Trelane and the like, I think it’s safe point of conjecture.

But, for realsies, the only things we currently know about S5 is that it’s in production, T’Lyn is sticking around, and we’re visiting Orion again.

I mean, to be fair, we got a LARGE info dump with the first ascension. The secrets of the universe, omniscience, the meaning of life… what more is there?

That said, Lower Decks extremely loosely follows along the original movies… considering V is up next, we may get the answer to “What does a Koala need with a spaceship?” and all it entails.

The cutscenes feel like they were inspired by something like “Lady Lovelylocks”… which isn’t a bad thing… but the game itself seems devoid of personality.

It seems very Ferengi to have a museum gift shop with museum coming soon.

I wonder how binding Freeman's contract with Rom was. Say, in the Disco era… Ferenginar brings Kronos into the Federation. What will unfurl?

You could, of course, argue that Freeman's contract was invalid when Rom called for the original papers… but rule of acquisition 239: "Never be afraid to mislabel a product." would suggest that the validity is a mere minor detail.

Mmm… I can kinda see the argument. DuckDuckGo may not be collecting your info, specifically, but anything remotely loaded certainly is.

Still, shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Well… when Teddy Roosevelt failed to gain the support of the Republican Party, he formed the Progressive party and republican voters were split between him and Taft, leading to Woodrow Wilson gaining the presidency.

That kinda makes sense.

Sanctions only work because of pre-existing trade with unscrupulous powers. Similar logic.

I mean, those are good ideas… but isn’t that already arguably covered by the FBI?