Well done. Let’s see if it shuts him up.

stop engging. he’s not interested in it. he is just arguing to get a rise. we have dropped enough evidence here for other people to see the truth if they care to look.

that straw man you set on fire is nice and warm.

Only a moron or a dishonest debater would look back and not acknowledge the destruction of millions of steel, coal, manufacturing, furniture making, and textile industry jobs, the decline of unions, the shifting of tax burdens, or the elimination of public support. oh, lets not forget the drug addiction all over manufacturing towns throughout the industrialized states.

bravo!

yeah… you are not seriously engging in search of truth. you are trolling. you will continue to find fault with every study, statistic or fact finding while holding fast to your own conclusions with a vice grip.

I’ll leave these here in case you decide to read them. i won’t wait. bye!

https://generations.asaging.org/older-workers-50-year-high-unemployment-gap/

https://crr.bc.edu/unemployed-and-over-50-need-help/

The oldest Gen X cohort is 60 years old now. we’re not holding on to anything past retirement age… yet.

Note that there are many boomers who are poor and are working because they have no choice. Contrary to popular belief, most jobs were not that cushy over the last 50 to 60 years. pensions were steadily whacked, jobs were sent offshore. Maybe consider listening to the Billy Joel song called “Allentown”.

Gen X is cynical and never believed they were going to get retirement anyway precisely because they watched what happened to the generation before them.

Someone else already got to it before me to show that ageism is really a thing. However, I still want to comment.

The dirty little secret about unemployment statistics in the United States of America is that it only counts people who are considered searching for work.

Searching for work means they’re receiving unemployment benefits. My benefits ran out six to eight months ago. I am not considered unemployed.

Consistently, month after month, the percentage of the population that is in the workforce is decreasing. I believe that statistic is called the workforce participation rate. This is why the unemployment rate is so low. Everybody who can’t find a job and finally gives up drops off the list.

I saw a figure that I can’t get the source for at the moment that states we have about a 14% rate of people who are unemployed who want to work.

I should probably try what the O.P. did as I also have an ASUS router with Merlin. However, in my case, I have a Synology NAS and I set up VPN on that and use that server as my VPN. I have a certificate-based sign-in through a single port on the router.

I use a Public VPN service when I’m out and about and then connect to my VPN when I need to do stuff on my network, Like syncing my Joplin notes.

I see. From what you wrote, it sounds like you’re saying I need to be a revolutionary and go out and fuck with people. I’m not ready to do that on my own.

Further, I don’t have a strong social network of support. Anything I would do would be a lone wolf operation. And I don’t have the training or experience for it. Lone Wolf operations fail and do not change the world.

Plus I have a child who’s not old enough to live in the world on his own. I am not going to take away the support he needs by throwing my life away.

Dealing with a surveillance state like the United States of America requires a whole lot more finesse and sophistication than you seem to think is necessary.

If you’re paying them, why do they need to know your location to accept it? We’re in a capitalist system. Money is money.

Always on although my Phone VPN recently has failed to start up automatically or has shut down randomly lately and I got to get that fixed.

My reasons are just privacy. I’m not using it to get around regional restrictions. Additionally, it helps when I want to use a public Wi-Fi, especially if it doesn’t have any passports on it.

I will not connect to public wifi without VPN.

you mean like elecing progressives, being vocal in my town? well, duh. does not change the fact that the current federal government is actually suportive of the surveillance and is more likely to harass protesters than listen to them.

Which ones exactly? And are they bad things to lack rather than minor preferences? I’m pretty sure it has both the front and back camera, so I guess it doesn’t meet the one camera priority.

maybe it’s the headphone jack? is that really important?

I appreciate the thoughtful reply. I was referring to the current situation with our government when I said no one will stop them. I assure you I am working to elect their replacements. Even then, if they get total control of Congress, there will still be two years before they can get control of the executive.

Once they have that, it will be several years before they clean out the operators behind all of This crap.

We are fighting the flock surveillance. I am not exhibiting defeatism. I am exhibiting resignation. It is a fact that with the powers that are currently in control, nobody is going to do anything. In fact, they are Increasingly helping it to get worse.

…Unless you go for Fairphone 6 Plus.

they don’t even care about PR anymore, do they?

they and the other large corporations know nobody will stop them, and anybody who needs to fly has no recourse. ethics? that’s for us, not them.

It’s all safe, until it is not.

well, i have 30 days of freeze dried, a box of salt, powdered milk and eggs. if i need them for a full collapse, i don’t have nearly enough.

I think Iran just did. I should invest in a popcorn supplier.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody.

Is not their primary mating criteria “provide for me”? Is not the expectation that the man pay for all the dates, and in particularly toxic cases, pay her rent, her nails, hair, etc.?

Money is a requirement to be seen, therefore we need money to acquire a mate. There is a philosophical debate over whether that equates to prostitution. I’m not getting into that here.