I guess they think that no matter what happens, they can spin it in a positive light.

A reaction from affected countries: “See? We knew Ukraine is controlled by NATO powers, they operate within Ukrainian borders! We must continue and fight the threat!”

No reaction: “See? They know that Russia has the superior military! They don’t date to strike anyways, we can continue in Ukraine without them retaliating!”

Of course, both these statements are dumb, but they’ll use something like these for internal consumption.

I don’t think they’re sensationalist, they just don’t sugarcoat the industry bullshit. And believe it or not, they need to make money from this, it doesn’t pay itself. It’s like saying newspapers should be free, or else informing the people isn’t their primary concern.

“A farmer wants the money. Giving the good away for free would be great if they just wanted to feed people, but that’s not their primary concern.” Can even play that game for nurses etc

It’s been this from the very beginning. But they don’t fit the definition of a protection racket as they’re not the ones attacking you if you don’t pay up. So they’re more like a security company that has no competitors due to the needed investment to operate.

I had a phone without before, that one came with a simple cheap passive adapter for USB-C to 3.5mm headset. You lose out on using headphones while charging, but other than that I was never really inconvenienced…