I haven't used a new printer or an inkjet in a number of years now, but using my 18yo HP laserjet is a matter of plugging it in and checking it's status under the main distro settings menu. That was also on par with the windows process iirc.

I do remember 20 years ago when I had to sideload pcmcia wifi drivers, though.

Self-host more Gemini content!

Nah, being an asshole is just a minimum requirement to becoming megawealthy with regards to anything but the lottery. —I didn't say that immense luck still wasn't required. That's a given and the fact that most megarich people don't recognize this feeds back into them being assholes.

I can't say that I agree. If lotteries don't bring in more money to fund public services than they pay out, then that's a failing of a political nature. That means it could be a failing of an entire state population if that state represents a democracy, or it could be a failing of a states corrupt political class if that state isn't a democracy. Regardless, it's not necessarily a corruption of the winner which I was referring to earlier. Additionally, I've heard the "tax on the stupid and the poor" concept multiple times before, and the level of condescension towards the lower class in a discussion about financial ethics has never sat right with me. It also ignores the entertainment aspect of playing the lottery. If we really want to do away with a tax on the poor as well as the foolish, then perhaps it's more important to end excise (AKA sin) taxes, but that's also beside the subject.

Both but I believe to a certain degree a person can have a certain amount without it corrupting them. Beyond that point, everyone is corrupted. There are no truly benevolent billionaires because a person must engage in various questionable practices to keep growing their wealth at such an exponential rate. Basic market economics dictates that a business entity competing for a limited market share must repeatedly find new ways to make more profit by using strategies their competitors aren't. This includes but is not limited to skirting around regulations and laws, and somebody unquestionably runs those companies.

I also think most people massively underestimate the impact that conditioning puts on a person's outward demeanor, but that leads into a deeper tangentially related discussion. Regardless, people are complex creatures.

—To put it simply, to become a billionaire or even a typical* megamillionaire a person must invariably step on someone else.

*The only exception I can think of are SOME lottery jackpot winners.

I'd put a saltwater lake in the center surrounding a 100' tall Cypress tree.

It's easier to steal, copy, or alternatively subpoena a fingerprint.

Immigrants being on the right is also implicit. Almost nobody is gonna migrate to some place new because things like recent changes are going well for them in their country of origin. They instead leave and migrate to some place that is relatively more stable & predictable. Host countries don't like it when people migrate over and start agitating for change. As a result conservatism is built into the process.

–Consider the Cuban Communist. The Cubans that are happy with Communism have no major incentive to leave and resettle in Miami. The Cuban Capitalists OTOH flee to Miami where they espouse the evils of Communism while advocating for our government to continue the trade embargo, ensuring they can spread their pain to their fellow Cubans back in Cuba. It's the same exact story with Falun Gong

To add to what you said I'd also argue it comes with finding financial success while lacking the awareness of how lucky one had to be to achieve that kind of success in life.

-- although lately I have also seen a lot of people that lack the imagination to consider a reality different from what's presented to them by the status quo.

On second thought, that latter point just sounds a lot like Indoctrination.

A lot of conservatives are liberals. The two terms are not mutually exclusive.

We're not the moral police. There are many Americans who are diehard pro-genocide. There are others that are implicitly pro-genocide. They just don't hang out on Lemmy. Also, our media is focused on Israel right now. Most Americans don't know what our military is doing elsewhere in the world and the media doesn't cover it. It's hard for a populist politician to take a stand against our military industrial complex when the population doesn't know what that Complex is doing. That industry fights back.