Yes. The U.S. GDP is around $30 trillion. China is around $19 trillion. California is around $4 trillion.

Maybe, maybe not. What you have to consider is that when you are in the military, the federal government owns you like livestock. They feed you, house you, and can send you to your death. You don’t necessarily need money, especially in the short term. Moreover, there are rules that prevent active duty military from being ejected from housing. You might not be happy about dollar devaluation, but the blame will be focused on the “bad” people of California and you’re there to make it right. It would take a lot for the U.S. military machine to grind to a halt, and a lot of damage can be done while it is happening.

Another common idea is that the good folks in the military aren’t going to shoot civilians, and would rebel if ordered to. While there might be some isolated rebellion, most people in the military are conditioned to follow orders, and will do so, even if such orders are illegal. People will do what they have to to keep the pressure off themselves.

realizing they aren’t gonna get paid or that their money has become essentially worthless.

If California’s taxes suddenly evaporated, it would create a massive budget deficit that would have to be plugged by printing money, would debase the currency and likely cause hyperinflation.

That would break the bank. California is 4th largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China, and Germany. It would probably cause Trump to declare martial law and send troops to California.

It used to be that phone technology improved relatively quickly, and a 2 year old phone was significantly worse than the latest and greatest. Now, not so much. I use a Pixel 6 Pro running Graphene OS, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on the latest tech. The camera is great, certainly more than good enough for me, and the phone is responsive and does everything I need it to do, and it’s 3+ generations old. I see no need to spend $1000+ on a new phone.

They’re also very costly and take a long time to build.

What a miserable person. I can’t imagine having her wealth and using it to try to hurt people.

This is really interesting. As I was reading the article I was wondering how they were going to wring money out of it, as amlodipine is off patent. Then I got to this part:

“While amlodipine shows promise in preclinical models, it is not currently suitable for use in ADHD in its marketed form,” Karlsson noted. “Further optimization through chemical modification is necessary to enhance CNS selectivity and ensure a favorable therapeutic index in the context of ADHD.”

Classic big pharma. Slightly tweak an existing drug in an insignificant way so that you can get a new patent on it and charge exorbitant prices.