Is there evidence sanctions strengthen a regime? With Russia at war right now, sanctions do indeed seem to be helping Ukraine with Russia having a budget crisis.

“ sanctions strengthen authoritarian rule if the regime manages to incorporate their existence into its legitimation strategy.”

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-...

Sanction strengthen the political grip of a regime on society, which can use them as a justification for its repression. They also hollow-out the middle class, which prevents a democratic societal change, which requires it.

In the case of a war, it is of course useful, but it won't solve the long-term issue of the nature of the Russian regime, which has gotten only more entrenched since 2014.

These are often designed by people that don't ever walk anywhere.

If this just replaces steel beams or allows more post frame construction, the walls wouldn't change. Actually, if used in post frame style construction, it would allow for more space for insulation with less thermal bridging.

What does Azure have to do with understanding a codebase? Azure is just a way to host an app.

Here's a solution--in an emergency, you can override it but you get a massive fine that can be removed if deemed to be true emergency.

It's totally established precedent that billboards, signs, etc are limited. Whether they should be or not, I'm not sure, but that's how it is currently: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/billboards/#:~:text=...

Totally agree on taxing undesirable behavior--everyone complains about 'traffic' and the potential traffic impacts of something. If noise/pollution was taxed appropriately perhaps traffic would be less of a concern. A government needs to get revenue somehow and wages are just a very convenient way to do so. However, with all the modern technology that we have now, I think there are options available that are not being taken (such as fair land use tax with computer calculated values)

The higher level story is that the administration deliberately used an app that circumvents records laws, lied about it under oath, and then did not take any accountability whatsoever for their actions. "Carelessness is contagious"

What is a fair trade deal? Levying a 40% tariff on a country that had a 1.5% tariff? There's not much to gain and a LOT to lose

US manufacturing is at an all time high in terms of output. Less people are needed in that sector because it's an area where automation is highest. I agree that there is a national security reason to have tariffs to protect some manufacturing, but that should be a precision targeted tariff if anything.

Your level of paranoia and aggression will vary depending on how hawkish you are. If you’re more hawkish you’ll be more aggressive and make your move as early as possible, and you’ll also tolerate a lot more pain to achieve your goal. Bessent seems pretty determined.

I do think it’s clear that our industrial capacities have eroded. Look at our infrastructure compared to China. We lag on every metric: transportation initiatives, building projects, solar production, new energy plants, and so on. Manufacturing is just 1/10th of the “full stack”.

I’m not making any political commentary as to whether tariffs are the right move or not, I’m only explaining the line of reasoning.

Well, I’ve never said I agree with how the current administration is going about their business. But it’s instructive to understand their perspective.