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MadMonzer

Epstein Files must have done something really awful for so many libs to want him released.

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joined 2022 September 06 23:45:01 UTC 

				
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MadMonzer


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Epstein Files must have done something really awful for so many libs to want him released.

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 06 23:45:01 UTC
				


				
					

					
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User ID: 896


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good point. You can plausibly argue that the US and Iran have been in a state of undeclared war since the embassy siege. (Which was a perfidious surprise attack)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Most normie Americans who have thought about the issue - the denominator already excludes the vast majority. Unfortunately you can't poll "Americans who have thought about Puerto Rico".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, but not because it's terrorism.


Blowing up a cabinet secretary would be an act of war, and if Iran wants a war then "Bring It On" is a reasonable response - doubly so if they start it with a perfidious surprise attack rather than by declaring war.


Ukraine and Russia are already at war, at Russia's choice. It is a defensive war for Ukraine, and if they are successfully defending themselves by blowing up Russian cabinet secretaries, then Russia should either suck less or start fewer wars. As a matter of international law, Ukraine can defend themselves all the way to Vladivostok if they want to and have the military ability to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Then we very much agree.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A drop of 0.3 children per woman in 2 years seems cliffy enough to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
People Aligning Relationships, Employment, Ninos, Toddlers, Sprogs?


Seriously, you don't need a cute term for married parents. They should just be normal.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Anecdotally, the long-term drop is mostly driven by reduction in fertility among the parous but the cliff-edge drop some countries have seen post-pandemic is driven by reduced couple formation. I don't think the paper you linked breaks the trend out by decade.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Quant here, though at a bank and not a prestigious quant firm. Top 1% of intellect is thick as pigshit. The kind of retard you find in your local MENSA chapter. The sort of intellect we are looking for hangs out in the tearoom at CERN. To get hired at Jane Street based on conventional demonstrations of extreme intelligence, you need to be top 0.001%. The actual IQ threshold to do the job is probably only top 0.01% if you go the interesting and visible route discussed by @DirtyWaterHotDog.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Who watches track and field between Olympics? But Olympic track and field is the centre of the sporting universe for two weeks every four years. The Summer Olympics have a cultural cachet that can make obscure sports matter.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I can't comment for the US, but in the UK the Winter Olympics never had any real cultural relevance except during the era when Torville and Dean were competitive in ice dance.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Standing a long way from the windows, presumably.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Mostly, Puerto Ricans want statehood - in  other words formal democratic equality with the 50 states. But statehood doesn't run that far ahead of the status quo in Puerto Rican politics. Puerto Rican independence is a politically marginal cause in Puerto Rico, although Bad Bunny happens to personally support it.


What Puerto Ricans should want is repeal of the Jones Act. I don't know how much of a big deal it is in Puerto Rican politics, but a few CONUS libertarians who support this have said that they think Puerto Rican statehood would lead to repeal of the Jones Act in short order.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


But Scandinavia with their generous social welfare is not really doing much better.




At the margins, Scandinavia (and France, which now has an even more generous welfare state) were doing better than other Europeans pre-pandemic, but Scandinavian fertility took a dive during COVID-19 and didn't recover. (Despite Sweden's successful lockdown-lite approach). France remains one of the highest-fertility countries in Europe.


Whatever the real explanation is, it applies across the west, and even more so in first-world Asia. Feminism has the wrong dose-response profile (within countries, patriarchal subcultures are more fertile, but if patriarchy was fertility-enhancing at a national level then first-world Asia would be doing better than Europe, Hungary would be doing better than the UK, and Korea would be doing better than Japan). Urbanism seems the most likely story on a superficial look, although it hasn't hurt either Modern Orthodox or Haredi/Hasidic Jewish fertility.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Farming in temperate climates is dramatically different from farming in the subtropics and tropics. When you don’t have winter, your growth cycles never really end. A well-run plantation would have fields constantly ready for harvest.




And yet the standard stereotype of climate effects on character is of hard-working Nordics and indolent tropicals. On any other board I could just say lol racism and it would end the conversation, but I actually think there is an interesting question here.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Every culture does "salute to rural poverty" once rural poverty is in its past. As a committed urbanite, I find it strange too.


The Little House books are the Anglo American version.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The point is that the NFL is a full fledged market




It's a cartel, not a market. It participates in the spectator-sport-as-entertainment market, but the competition in that market is the FBS, the NBA, the NHL and MLB (in the US) or real football (in export markets, which do not call it soccer). Not the other teams.


One of the interesting questions in marketing spectator sport is how you handle the balance between sport as manufactured spectacle and sport as a profitable part of traditional culture. When the big team owners in European football got together to propose a US-style European super league with franchise teams protected from promotion and relegation, the hardcore fans mutinied. And the people who market European football think that the commitment of the (very local and traditional) hardcore fan base is part of the product they are selling to the Asian TV fans. Gridiron now has a market segmentation with the NFL being pure manufactured spectacle A/B tested for audience appeal by professional showmen while the FBS tries to stay true to its roots while absorbing a torrent of money.


FIFA and the IOC are as hated as they are because they are the places money is most likely to be able to break the traditional culture of sport - they have enough reach in the first world for the big money to be interested in them, but enough involvement from the third world that they can't resist the money by saying "no" the way UEFA or MLB can and do.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


ruthless capitalist competition




American pro sports, including the NFL, are socialist. Drafts, salary caps, revenue sharing etc. The team that finishes bottom of the league gets a participation trophy in the form of first pick in the next year's draft.


European football (soccer for Yanks) is the ultimate capitalist sport. All players not signed to long-term contracts are free agents. Teams can spend as much as they want as long as the source meets "financial fair play" rules. (Basically, there is a limit on how much a billionaire owner can subsidise a money-losing team - there is no cap on money from ticket sales, merch sales, or genuine commercial sponsorship). The team that finishes bottom of the league gets relegated.


Paul Graham once said that the Europeans know that capitalism works, because when they actually care about winning they allow winners to get rich, but the only thing the Europeans care about that much is soccer. And we do care that much - football replaced war in the European consciousness after we discovered how destructive war could be when fought with the level of skill and determination you see in the Champions' League.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Many such cases. Woke whites lump together ethnic minorities in order to manufacture a political coalition that doesn't exist on the ground, and then act all *surprised Pikachu face* when said ethnic minorities preserve their own identities. Nobody self-identifies as BAME, POC or BIPOC, and as far as I can see the only Americans who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino are the ones who are so well-assimilated that they have lost touch with the specific Latin American country their ancestors came from. The only black people who self-identify as Black first (rather than with a specific tribe or country of origin and as Black second) are ones who lost their roots due to being descended from slaves.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Trump removed support for Puerto Rican statehood from the Republican party platform, which is a step in that direction.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes - I was surprised how well Bad Bunny and the NFL pulled off the "No politics here - this is just a celebration of Puerto Rico's glorious Puerto Riconess." I can't remember the last time the establishment left had an opportunity to go full wokestupid in public and managed to avoid taking it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


That's a definitionally anti-American sentiment




Only if you think America owning Puerto Rico is good for America, which people who want an all-English speaking America presumably don't.


We are in the slightly odd position that Bad Bunny and the people objecting to him agree that Puerto Rico is not America, while the people who booked him, most normie Americans who have thought about the issue, and most normie Puerto Ricans think it is.  "Puerto Rico is not America and celebrating Puerto Rican culture is un-American" is a vote-losing message to send, and the NFL and MSM covering the Super Bowl could easily have ended up embarrassing themselves by endorsing it, but MAGA shouted louder and ended up owning said losing message.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What do you think the post I was responding to meant, if I didn't understand it?


Under normal circumstances, that post would mean that nobody objected to Latin Americans "doing Hispanic activities" (whatever that means, but presumably including singing Spanish-language pop music) in their own countries, which is fine, but has nothing to do with a thread about a Puerto Rican-themed Super Bowl show sung by Americans in America. Either the post I was responding to is off-topic, or it is ignorant (if the poaster was not aware that Puerto Rico is part of the US), or it is racist (if the poaster was aware that Puerto Rico is part of the US, but nevertheless thinks that a Puerto Rican has a "country of origin" elsewhere to return to). Forum rules prohibit me speculating as to which, but my response is on point in all three cases.


Perhaps people who can't say what they mean should shut up. If what aldomilyar meant is "I support Puerto Rican independence because they don't speak English" he is free to say so. For what it's worth, Bad Bunny agrees with him, although a majority of Puerto Ricans don't.




Bad Bunny was representing a defiance towards America




This is clearly false, given what happened on stage. I can absolutely imagine that the NFL intended Bad Bunny to be a celebration of a particular vision of what America should be that is widely held by the Blue Tribe and rejected by the Red Tribe, and which Reds might therefore consider "defiant towards America". But the show Bad Bunny performed was a celebration of Puerto Rican culture with as little politics as possible given the existence of a culture war that Puerto Ricans didn't start.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This. For Trump's new coalition to work, he needs to keep at least a substantial minority of well-assimilated Hispanics onboard. This should be easy - we are talking about a demographic which are default hostile to negrolatry, left-endorsed sexual deviance, and overeducated stick-up-arse-ness; and strongly in favour of big-arse trucks and other symbols of blue-collar affluence.


"Puerto Rico is not America and celebrating Puerto Rican culture is un-American" is the worst possible message for this group.


I agree with @Opt-out that this could have ended up with the NFL and the pro-Hispanic left beclowning themselves, particularly if Trump had shut up and let the MSM brag about how Bad Bunny was successfully shoving Spanish-speaking culture down the NFL-watching normies throats. But MAGA doubled down and beclowned themselves even harder - starting immediately after the announcement with various MAGA accounts including Trump poasting about how Bad Bunny (a natural-born US citizen with US citizen ancestors going back a century) was not American. Bad Bunny and the NFL managed to turn down the politics to the point where Trump and Kid Rock look like the people politicising the Super Bowl, not to mention demonstrating the US right's low culture rating by putting on a mediocre alternative show. It helps that (although Bad Bunny has been outspokenly anti-Trump off the stage) the inherent politics of his act is pro-Puerto Rican independence, which has no partisan valence in mainstream America, rather than being generic-left or pro-immigration. To people who understand the difference, it was very obviously a Puerto Rican show and not a generically Hispanic show.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Nobody at ICE or in MAGA is saying that you can't go do Hispanic activities in your country of origin




Bad Bunny's country of origin is the United States of America. Donald Trump (who I hope we can agree counts as MAGA) certainly seemed to be objecting to him doing Hispanic activities in his country of origin when he endorsed TPUSA's alternative halftime show.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That just returns FALSE. It's IsVacuum = TRUE you need to worry about.