Ice

I can heartily recommend gicing vicky 2 a try despite its' age (kinda clunky and less polished but plays fast, a campaign can be done in maybe 10hrs). It's actually the game that got me back into grand strategy during the pandemic. Pick it up on sale like I did or via yarr, heart of darkness is a necessary dlc and not included in the base 25$ price tag, kinda insane for a 20 y.o game.

EV - europa universalis 5?

Part of the problem with Eu4 is that they in the "later" (somewhere post 2018) updates aimed to make every nation "viable".

Hate is an overstatement, but the game I have most hours on steam in (and likely will never surpass) is Europa Universalis IV.

Back in the day I used to enjoy the semi-plausible alt-history scenarios that would arise. Similar to real life but different in distinct and interesting ways that often could be traced to noticeable deviations.

Nowadays, it is much more arcade-ey and soulless. By the end of the game (1800's), the entire world is basically at the same technological level of advancement, constituted of soulless blob-empires that ends up looking basically the same each time albeit with slightly different flags for the blobs.

Idk, that is exactly how lemmy.zip does it. Fairly straight forward if you ask me.

Yes, I would very much like that. I've always had the vague feeling that I do and enjoyed being with and around children, but started thinking about it more when I was together with my now-ex since we were discussing future plans.

Children are joy, discovery, love, and they are the future. I expect it might be both the most difficult but also rewarding venture one can set out on.

You can use reader mode to bypass it

Still use my 5T. Absolute tank of a phone. Considering replacing the battery and charging/aux port to refresh it for another 4 year run.

Only chink is the glue holding on the camera lens is giving out

Undeclared income is the real bane of organized crime

That would be decidedly tragic. Your history posts are basically the most interesting things on here. I think a lot of people will be more mildly disappointed, including myself, to see you go.

If you do leave, thanks for the time you were here. You have been appreciated!

I'm referring to reasoning here as in the connection to the arguments they use to sell their politics to voters. Countering a dishonest broker is difficult, but if democracy is going to work at all, it is a necessity. In any case, there is a certain irony in the AFD being Russia friendly, considering they began their path to prominence during another admin that was soft on Russia.

The Merkel era of the 00's-10's saw dismantlement of German energy independence, Russian gas contracts "to keep the peace", not backing Ukraine for NATO & "wir schaffen das". Talk about not wanting to learn from history...

This happened to the NPD already and it was the right thing to do.

I thought both the NPD & heimat are still around and kicking in Germany? They're some next level nasty shit.

And the problems you listed aren’t the things they’re addressing.

They claim to (read their party program), and they've convinced millions to agree regardless of how we feel about that.

There is no reasoning.

This is the easy way out, dismissing them outright, simply retreating. Without understanding and addressing their claims, however false they may be, you are fundamentally handicapped in challenging them - it is one of the key reasons that the AFD have managed to become so large in the first place.

Such rhetoric might get clamor and agreement from those who already reject their ideas, but is unlikely to convince many, if anybody in the other camp.

How so?

How is this so difficult to understand?

Did you even read my comment?

Let me repeat the most important part for you:

every citizen should have a right to equal representation, a right to be heard. No ifs’ and buts’ and no “but not like that” if I find their opinions unpalatable.

That is my conviction, regardless of ideology. It doesn't matter how much you highlight what the AFD stand for, because it is fundamentally irrelevant to my opinion on the subject.

Those aren’t real problems.

Which problems?

Decreasing standard of living? Rising energy prices? High home prices? A stagnating economy?

You don't convince someone to change ideology by saying "your problems aren't real". You do it by identifying the real problems, because I promise you that they exist. Then, convince them that a better solution exists than what their current ideology proposes.