Takel

Given how much Gannett is to blame for newspaper consolidation and the resulting shitshow, this feels more like a “let them fight” at best.

no

I always figured the real authentication was tied into the comm badges, and the authorization codes were just a fancy “are you sure”

you’re an idiot if you think China is communist

the entire country is just capitalism with extra steps

Regarding the humanocentrism, there was one possible explanation I hit on while playing Star Trek Online and noticing the availability of species-specific ships (such as the Atrox carrier and the Andorian escorts) – basically, most member worlds maintain their own independent fleets, but Earth doesn’t. The human prominence in Starfleet is an artifact of that – there’s no official Earth Expeditionary Fleet, so the people who might join it apply to Starfleet instead.