you can’t eat a fish you catch here without getting poisoned by 20 kinds of chemicals

Username checks out.

If he has dementia, he’s had it since he was a toddler.

Yeah, its more like how sometimes words will randomly appear when you stir your alphabet soup.

I think it’s this:

That’s true yes, but potentially even more impactful is that the Pacific coast of the USA is essentially independent of the rest of the country’s petroleum production and distribution. The Sierras and Cascades historically made overland distribution difficult and expensive, and maritime distribution from elsewhere in the country is also difficult because of geography (gotta do Panama canal or a long haul around South America). Because of these realities, petroleum extraction, refining and distribution in the west developed seperately and even today operate mostly independently - while technical solutions are now plausible, regulatory issues and moneyed interests that prefer the status quo continue to prevent development.

To imagine an IBM 5150 Personal Computer with 5151 monochrome display running a GUI operating system with desktop. Preposterous!

Right you are, Ken.

I needed a replacement for an item hat failed under warranty. The original part was made in Canada, and a replacement was mailed to me free of charge. Except, I got a note from FedEx that i had to pay tarriffs… My tariff was $5, but FedEx was charging a $25 tariff handling fee on top of the $5. And if I didn’t prepay, they would instead charge $40 total to collect my $5 tarriff.

FUCK FedeEx for having the audacity to request a refund from the federal government on top of their blind extortion. These fuckers need to burn.