@roknrol There's a lot not taught in American schools, but the allies working with the French resistance is something most American citizens over the age of 30 know about. @benroyce
sure but in 2003 we got "freedom fries" because france opposed invading iraq
right wing media filled with "surrender monkeys" hate and memes on the french
the resulting deluge of stupidity represents the average content of "french history" knowledge in the average american chud's cranial cavity, and any previous knowledge has been replaced with that crap
@CStamp Like many "Americans" at the time I too was manipulated by propaganda. I joined the military because I thought "freedom and democracy" were threatened. Within a year of joining, I realized the sad imperialistic reality. @benroyce @roknrol
@josuex @roknrol Lots of young people join the military for employment, travel opportunities, educational opportunities, to get out of their small towns...there is a reason why they like to recruit 19-yr-olds. Most don't expect to actually have to fight.
My father joined the Canadian Armed Forces for most of those reasons. He was lucky that he never did have to be deployed into a war zone. I have an uncle that was part of a peace-keeping trip, got shot, ended up with lifelong pain.
@CStamp I was a Navy Corpsman (medic) with the 1st Marine Division. I never shot at anybody, my job was to care for those who've been shot. @benroyce @roknrol
@taschenorakel ... But as they don't know much about 1776, the Declaration of Independence, and deny the separation of church and state in the US constitution, it's probably not that much of a surprise... @josuex @CStamp @benroyce @roknrol
@BackFromTheDud Actually, I wonder weither this veteran is talking about the storming of the Bastille or about the Jacobins' Great Terror in 1793/1794.
@BackFromTheDud Not necessarily. Before that terror the French were on a good way to convert their absolutist monarchy into a constitutional monarchy. The 1791 constitution was strongly inspired by the U.S. constitution.
If the people around Marie Antoinette wouldn't have been that eager to launch a counter revolution probably nothing of the terror would have happened.
@roknrol @josuex we also remember the Nazi party filling up Madison square garden for rallies in the 30’s and early 40’s. We remember that a good part of the US wanted Hitler to win. We didn’t “forget” history, it was ripped out of our social subconscious by long planning racists.
Today, Senator Chuck Schumer agreed to allow a huge wooden horse into Troy. He explained, "Yes, there is a risk involved in letting the horse in. But if we don't, there is the danger that we might corrupt the gift-giving process."
@jm101 @xs4me2 Elmo messed with our votes!! That and Russian interference aren't helping. However I agree wholeheartedly that people need to fucking vote!!!!!!!!!
@otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 We have a big election here in District 6 Florida on April 1st. Many more Reps than Dems because they gerrymandered it that way. If all the Dems and a good amount of Independents VOTE, we could pull it off. If they stay home again, we will lose.
at least hateful pieces of shit maga show the fuck up. they're evil but they *act*
acting is the only way you ever change this world
what can one say about this large lazy indifferent mass of americans who see what the fuck is going on and voting is too difficult for their precious feelings?
@otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 It’s as if the people who don’t vote are intending to do self harm in order to hurt others. I don’t think it is a case of misunderstanding or lack of intelligence. They really don’t care if they get hurt as long as they make other people suffer as well. Find the cause of this mindset and maybe we can figure out how to change it.
@otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 I have long rued how appalling the low voter turnout in the US is. (And also why it isn't a holiday so more people vote - I understand why that's the case tho)
@georgetakei@universeodon.com It's really hard to grip how low voter turnout (generally) is in the US! I guess people take things (and the "good life") for granted.
"To change the dragon's heart, you will have to spend four years climbing this mountain. This gives you a 10% chance of changing the dragon's heart. Oh, and in addition, pushing this button gives you an additional 1% chance."
"Got it, thanks." starts scrabbling up the mountain anddoesn't bother to also push the Goddamn button.
With respect (because I'm a poll worker and take this stuff seriously): I wish fewer people would joke about this stuff.
Elmo didn't do shit. I sat behind the table and looked at people coming in, then saw the returns that night. Even with anonymous votes, at the level of an individual polling station you can gauge the vibe of the room by the familiar faces you see and the familiar faces you don't.
People just didn't show up to vote for Harris. Period. I thought lefties had learned their lesson in 2016, but apparently I gave them too much credit and they needed to be told twice.
@mark > People just didn't show up to vote for Harris. Period. I thought lefties had learned their lesson in 2016, but apparently I gave them too much credit and they needed to be told twice
Funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing about the Democrat leadership and their candidates choices. The left didn't turn up, because they didn't have a candidate on the ballot. Period.
> as an american i got really angry because they have ranked choice
With you on this one. If the US gets a second go at creating a democracy, a proportional representation system for major elections is a must-have. Having voted in both MMP and ranked choice elections, I definitely recommend the latter.
> and we get that change. BY SHOWING THE FUCK UP AND VOTING
No, you don't. What get by voting is Clinton and Obama. To get electoral reform you have to make a credible threat to tear capitalism a new one, so radical changes to the electoral system seem like the lesser evil. The idea that voting in effectively rigged elections changes anything is magical thinking.
That's a lot of piss and vinegar there buddy. Hold into that, you're going to need it. But if your strategy consists entirely of voting more you don't even have the first clue about electoral politics. Let alone the revolutionary politics that is clearly required in your current circumstances.
The one that made the US the envy of the world, and which the Chinese emulated to lift millions of their people out of poverty. Clinton II was a neocon war criminal;
As Donald Trump assumes office today, he inherits a targeted killing program that has been the cornerstone of U.S. counterterrorism strategy over the past eight years. On January 23, 2009, just three…
Has Hillary Clinton been accused of war crimes by any body with the authority to level such an accusation? If not, why not, given that the ECCHR has a criminal complaint filed against George W. Bush?
"Widely loathed, for this she had a snowball's chance in hell of beating Drumpf. "
simply isn't true, is it.
That election was not quite as close as the one that could usefully - for the world - have returned Al Gore, but it was so close that only the oddity of the electoral college system failed to deliver the candidate with the majority to office.
She didn't win it by a wide-enough margin to overcome the state-based bias against raw popular vote, but any assertion she wasn't popular is objectively, as-measured false. She wasn't popular enough.
@midgephoto @strypey @mark @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 We have proportional representation in Ireland too and feel about it the way the NRA do about guns (cold dead hands). Benefits include every vote counting and more consensual politics - because everyone wants a preference vote. Demonizing a rival is a sure way to lose votes.
Also
No gerrymandering (boundaries decided by independent body)
&
Strict limits on political donations & public funding for parties w 2%+ of votes
> you don't get your candidate, and then you show up
So in a parallel universe where the candidate choices were reversed, you'd be dressing down the left for not turning up for Drumpf, and blaming them for Harris and her techbro mates demolishing the federal government? Spare me.
> lazy entitlement is the problem
Sure is. The Democrats think they're entitled to the left's votes, however right wing their candidates. Turns out they're not 🤷♂️
Sorry, I don't think I follow your hypothetical. Parallel universe where the candidate choices were reversed in what sense? Where Trump was running as the Dem candidate and Harris as the GOP?
Seems you're fundamentally incapable of understanding how right wing neocon candidates like Clinton and Harris look to most of the left. Just like the Democrats. Which is why they keep losing, and blaming literally *anything* but their unelectable candidates 🤷♂️
Concur that the party has a problem where it thinks that continuing to front centrists as the center runs to the right will maximize their odds of winning.
However... If the voters respond to that by not voting, they get the country they deserve. All of them. And the Left's flavor of "The country they deserve" is they knew things were bad and they did not step up to do the easiest thing about it.
Same statement regarding Russian elections as China's elections, friend. We're talking about the US. Different country, radically different system and history.
@strypey @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 False premise along several axes. You're pretending voters (and the parties) are spherical cows.
Trump switched to the GOP because he was unelectable in the Democratic party process. The GOP is more populist than the Democratic party by its constitution.
You can shoot the messenger all you want. But the hard truth is that nobody was excited enough about voting for Harris to get their friends out to vote for her. That's on the muppets who thought anointing an heir was a better idea than holding a primary 🤷♂️
Also, Orange Stalin wouldn't have even got a first term if Dem plutocrats hadn't screwed Bernie out of a nomination he arguably won. So there's that.
@strypey "That's on the muppets who thought anointing an heir was a better idea than holding a primary " That's some Russian troll talk right there. 😀 @benroyce @mark @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2
@mfennvt > That's some Russian troll talk right there
Please explain the logic underlying that conclusion. Lots of people argued for a primary after Biden stepped down, even in the liberal centre. In hindsight, I think it's pretty obvious wr were right. How does pointing this out make me a Russian or a troll?
There was no chance for a primary after Biden stepped down. "That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works."
Elections actually cost money, volunteered space, and sub-minimum-wage-paid time of under-compensated volunteers (hello!) and when they are held is encoded into state law. There is no state with a contingency plan for "If the candidate chosen by the primary process drops out of the race."
Traditionally, the contingency plan is... That candidate nominates someone else they support to run in their stead. Everything was done correctly, and if American voters don't know how their own system works, that's on them.
Ben's right about heart... Leftists really didn't demonstrate anything approximating a high intelligence or comprehension of the government they propose to provide answers for in this election.
And if they don't even understand what's already here enough to be effective, why the fuck should anyone trust them to provide a better alternative?
Right? As if these are mutually exclusive or one isn't a years-long commitment and the other is literally an hour-ish twice a year.
They aren't competing objectives.
But on the plus side, he did get a chance to lecture a poll-worker on the interface between parties and states regarding the state-taxpayer-funded election machinery and how we could just run that multi-million-dollar process one more time, illegally, with money that just poofed into existence from fairyland.
no man, we can wear cool revolutionary cosplay and spout college sophomore cringe sophistry and look cool flexing, accelerationism is totally cool man!
@strypey If you don't get how that makes you a Russian troll, you haven't been paying attention. Take your sealioning bullshit somewhere else. @benroyce @mark @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2
Does this guy really think shouting at people and calling them names is how you convince them to change their mind about political strategy? His rudeness is matched only by his total inability to defend his position with logic or evidence.
This is why the Democrats keep losing. Anyone who questions their obviously failed centrist bullshit is a Russian troll, or whatever other story they can tell themselves to justify sticking their fingers in their ears and chanting ya ya ya.
LOLOLOL We’ve still got Bernie bros who think voting for anybody but Bernie is sacrilege, and that Bernie would win everything except he was CHEATED out of it???
Gee, isn’t there another candidate whose brainless followers insisted the same thing when he lost an election? Anybody who is Bernie-or-nobody is de facto MAGA.
right but describing how codependency on an abuser works just supports the opposite of your assertion
if people are abused until they don't fight, they still need to fight. nothing escapes that need. so you can't validate the assholes who don't vote, because voting is literally the tiniest easiest fucking thing
in other words i agree with your asseessment, but i will not therefore think of learned helplessness as authentic
Not validating. Observing. It's looking out the window and seeing it's raining.
Have you ever struggled to help the abused? Common sense assertions have limited value. They'll do a lot for a fix though. As addictions go stable housing, work, healthcare, transportation, market and safety are not bad things to offer. The line goes up people will mostly choose fascism over less power and income growth to offer any of this though.
Yes. Even a long standing alternative may not be an option. In Canada the federal NDP can partner with another but are unlikely to win. They did manage to bargain with the liberal party to get things that wouldn't have been done if Libs had a majority. They also provide promises the people like for liberals to promise during elections but only deliver if forced by lack of majority.
> because the usa is fptp another party will divide the left
The election result makes it pretty obvious that most of the US left now see the Dems being controlled by the neocon right. They only look left wing by comparison to an openly fascist GoP. The two would split the right vote if there was a genuine left option. Especially in ranked choice elections.
But that's fairytale logic. Ranked choice elections require a constitutional amendment, friend.
The left gets none of these things if they won't even show up to vote enough to get Congress and the Executive on their side, how does one imagine we get to either two-thirds agreeement in both houses of Congress or a 3/4ths-of-all-states ratification?
(If the answer is "tear it down," that's not an answer; that's rolling the dice and hoping what comes along after isn't "The KKK is explicitly and Constitutionally in charge of 340 million people and one of the largest nuclear arsenals on the planet").
So is expecting the left to keep turning out for increasingly right wing candidates. Also, I note that you've commented at length on my ambitious afterthought, perhaps to avoid responding to the main argument I made there? Which is about a strategy that only needs determined grassroots organising outside the dead end of Dem BaU, not constitutional amendments.
@strypey @kneworldodor @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 I mean, I'd be in favor of determined grassroots organizing from the left. That's not what I see; I see people who can't even organize enough to show up one day of the year, let alone often enough to enact long-strategy policy change.
"THIS WILL BE THE LAST ELECTION UNDER FIRST PAST THE POST!"
Last regime is a decade in the past. 8 year olds then are voters now with little connection to that parties abuses. Time allowed nostalgia to soften memories of shit Harper did. Years of coordinated international anti LPC propaganda twisted the worldview. Now we're playing chicken with Handmaids Tale partnered with Incorporated.
@kneworldodor > With politics so dependant on money a better option requires a benevolent benefactor
Or maybe a grassroots campaign to expose the bought and paid for candidates on both sides of the aisle, and enact constitutional changes to prevent Big Money from buying elections.
That'd be cool, but what'd be the point if people don't show up to vote anyway? It's just wasted time and effort if the Left responds to what's learned by staying home.
@mark I'm not sure how to parse this. It doesn't seem to take into account anything else I've said in this conversation. Because my point all along has been that people will vote when there are candidates they are excited to support. No amount of hectoring and badgering will convince them to show up otherwise.
I'm not arguing this is how it "should" be. I'm observing that this is how it is.
What a dark money investigation will reveal is that every candidate is getting dark money. How do you imagine that will spur the voters who already don't show up?
"Oh, good. It's exactly as bad as I thought. Well, my Netflix queue isn't empty, so..."
And there's no hope of any group who already won't show up to vote for President enacting Constitutional change. That's fairyland thinking. If they can't even find common ground with enough voters to elect a President, in what Marvel Comics Alternate Universe do they find enough common ground to alter the Constitution itself?
Since they don't, there's a harm-reduction choice and a harm choice, and I thought that after living the harm-choice from 2016 to 2020 the left got that when they voted for Biden and then we had four relatively-peaceful years.
Tax the rich and shut down Citizens United. Take care of our vets, children, seniors and disabled. Expand Social Security. Save our National Parks and the Post Office. Stop demonizing entire groups of people. Codify an enforceable codes of ethics, for all branches. No felons on Capitol Hill. Stop weaponizing government departments.
> plutocrat controlled media: "sounds like woke communism"
Let's not pretend the whole mediasphere is on Orange Stalin's side. That's what his mob do ("liberal media"), they're equally wrong.
You're right that media is a key battleground though. We have tools now for parties to build their own media and communicate directly with members and supporters, yet they're still doing it via platforms that have a dog in the race. Why?
traditional media is dying. so plutocrats move in via vulture capital and take over the managing editor positions
all top legacy tv and newspapers are now outright maga or controlled opposition going "well gee trump has some good points, and the left needs to calm down", etc
and of course social media is edgelord bigots and tech bro algorithms
@Darkphoenix > I read those same oligarchs are buying up Canadian media
They're trying to do the same here in Aotearoa, presumably in preparation for next year's election. See the recent news about NZME, one of our biggest media companies;
> all top legacy tv and newspapers are now outright maga or controlled opposition
Maybe now. But not the case before the election.
> are you in new zealand?
Yes.
> you really have no clue how bad it is over here
Maybe not. But given that NZ has basically been a vassal state of the US since Britain got smashed by WW2, I don't think the differences between there and here are as great as you imagine.
We know these are good things. What we don’t seem to know is how to get them implemented.
I had what I thought was a decent idea for getting some of these, but not enough people wanted to do my idea so it didn’t work. This was back in November.
You're kidding yourself. Harris had no intention of taxing her rich SillyCon Valley mates, and had no plan for overturning Citizens United and ending decades of structural corruption benefiting individuals on both sides of the aisle, at the expense of the public good. I'm not sure she could have delivered anything in that policy shopping list, even if she wanted to.
oh ok, so now we're onto "well harris isn't perfect, so don't vote. so can we get trump. who is 100,000x worse on the concerns i just stated about harris" level genius
Please point me to the post where I argued this. If you bothered to check, I actively encouraged voting for Harris once she was confirmed as the candidate. By talking about the ways Orange Stalin would can the few good things the Biden administration had done for internet and media regulation.
But they didn't, and unlike some, I'm not deluding myself as to why.
@strypey If you are interested in structural corruption, consider if, instead of exhausting everybody's attention by wrecking the stuff that sometimes used to work, they could have followed up on this, which was actually on the Democrats agenda to do: iaccseries.org/the-21st-iacc-v…
In June 2024, over 2000 people from more than 140 countries, working across a wide range of sectors, convened in person in Lithuania to participate in the 21st International Anti-Corruption Conference.
@hakona @strypey @CStamp @mark @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 A lot of GQP are going to be aging out, and the younger ones are a bunch of sloppy, ignorant bullies, who, for the most part, rode in on the 🤡 coattails, and have no idea how to work within the system, are completely unwilling to actually do the job they were elected to do, and have absolutely no international reputation for anything except unreliability. Without the 🤡, most would never have been elected.
Action points: I don't know. Why you did not hear about it: US does not want to hear about UN, or international treaties. Commitment to first steps was there, gone now. @CStamp @Darkphoenix @mark @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2
@Darkphoenix @mark @strypey @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 I have to admit being shocked by the election results. I have an ex-American friend who was really worried and I kept reassuring him that folk wouldn't actually vote for a doddering, rambling old felon and sex offender who talked about sharks, electric boats, and Hannibal Lecter and retribution.
So much empathy for those of you who did fight for what's right.
@mark @strypey @roknrol @otownKim @jm101 @xs4me2 I forgot one really big one. Honor our treaties and obligations, regardless of who signed it, to our allies, our friends and our Indigenous peoples. And treat them with respect. Ukraine gave up their nukes because WE swore that WE would protect them. It doesn't matter whether others break their word, OUR word should, and one time did, mean something.
> so people need to show up in the primaries in 2026
... and the Dem leadership need to be restrained from interfering in the primary process if it doesn't look to be producing the results they want. The Democratic party needs constitutional reform, just as much as the country and the GoP do.
> then you argue against what you most do to get that power: vote!
Is this really the limit of your political imagination. When I lived in China I observed the elections they hold there every year. Would you tell dissidents there that the way to achieve democracy begins and ends with voting? In order for voting to make any difference whatsoever, there needs to be a policy platform worth voting for.
> If you're going to make serious comparisons between the US and Chinese party or electoral process
My point is that voting is only significant when there are candidates you want to support. As I said to Ben, before he threw his toys out of the cot and blocked me, I argued for a strategic vote for Harris. You can literally go back to my late 2024 timeline and see for yourself. But she wasn't a candidate the US left wanted to support 🤷♂️
My point is that voting is only significant when there are candidates you want to support
Yes, it is. And my point is that's not how it works in a two-party system, never has been, and if American leftists keep pretending it is in spite of all evidence to the contrary, they will lose their rights in their own country.
Do you think fundamentalist Christians actually love billionaire hedonists? They don't. Somehow, they found enough common cause to build consensus in a party. But the Left is so good at finding reasons not to work together that they are, right now, likely to lose everything they want to hold dear.
Well, seeing that dark cloud in the (near) future is what I meant with “not going to end well and normal”… something needs to happen and it will not come for free.
Hope the constitution still means something to SCOTUS, judges and the military so the wont side with the current evil bunch. This needs to end, and I hope soon. Preferably by ousting the whole bunch for high treason. And a full reform of the political system.
@xs4me2 Shine a light, illuminate the wrongs, support justice, defend the Constitution, refuse to bend to tyranny, defend your children. Stand for freedom.
{reply redacted for the sake of the precious feelings of those who can't tell the difference between understanding the inevitability of violence in response to abuse, and an endorsement of violence just for the hell of it}
@xs4me2 I am a Danish citizen somewhat at a somewhat safe distance in Denmark, but since the threats from the USA towards Greenland (and thus the rest of Denmark) my patience and sympathy with the USA has ended.
I think it is morally right for US citizens to stop the Trump regime with violence.
Just as it would have been for Germans to kill Hitler before he committed all his crimes against humanity.
i'm just keeping my mouth shut because i can say things that will get me in trouble
as an american all i can say to you is i deeply apologize. denmark was always a friend, and this orange shitstain pisses on your good will, a vile betrayal
I've been trying to work up the guts to wear my pro-EU lapel-pin in my staunchly anti-EU neighbourhood, *far* away from the action in the US or Turkey. In Spain they're still excavating mass-graves. Norway too (WWII) , for that matter, but that seems different. @xs4me2
Spain is NOT a good example, tho. their dictatorship only ended because Franco died and they restored the monarchy right after, having been a Republic before.
I'm merely looking at this from the point of view of "was civil war and fascism... but now stable and democracy"
That is, I'm merely using the example of Spain as an antidote to mindless pessimism and cynicism, and thus preemptive capitulation, to the USA currently going down the toilet
@cairobraga @xs4me2 I'm interested in learning lessons from Spain during the civil war, too. Imagine the world if Western democracies had supported the Republic despite its socialism, and if the dominant center-left party (at the time, weirdly, the Communists) had cooperated with/ taken the lead from the more leftist parties instead of suppressing them!
@cairobraga @xs4me2 I mentioned Franco and the Spanish Civil War as an example shortly after the election to some friends, who all thought that was very depressing, among other horrible things, because it took almost 40 years from the end of the Civil War until the post-Franco constitution and elections in 1978.
oh, you got me. Pointing out that typo clearly invalidates my entire point. And the name calling...anything but name calling!
My post...didn't attack this man at all. It attacked the knowledge of global history that most Americans seem to possess. I even elaborated on why i think that's the case.
Tell you what, I'll agree to work on my spelling if you promise to work on your reading comprehension.
i do agree though if someone spends all of their time dividing and conquering for the right, by attacking dems only and ignorinng maga, they're not even on the left, they're fake left, they're agent provocateur from the right
but that's not the guy in the video
anger at schumer is acceptable: he's completely out of touch
@oliverboehme Do not forget the main architect who gave the shitbag the keys to everything with his 'immunity' and 'official duties' bullshit: #JohnRoberts is the primary villain. He and his cohort of rancid cunts #Alito #Gorsuch #Thomas and #Kavanaugh
@kristen_d @oliverboehme I agree. Just like I don't blame Biden for being unwilling to be a monster I don't forget who the real monsters are.
But when someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes. And when the chief judge in your country says you are not a president, you are a king, you have a choice. I like to think I would have made a different choice than Biden did.
You can be frustrated at the Dems as much as you want. (I can be pissed at Biden for not using his royal powers as much as I want.) But if you start and end at shitting on the Dems... You're part of Trump's team.
Don't give me that shit about Trump's team. He's been elected twice over there. I went to London (100 miles away by train) to oppose his first visit here. You've got Schumer, for Christ's sake. You're better off with independents.
@linuxgnome @Amoshias @kristen_d @oliverboehme hate what they stand for, but Maga/TeaParty tactics were bloody brilliant. they achieved everything they wanted, all the impossible things.
... after years of primarying the GOP candidates who wouldn't ban abortion (but voting GOP in generals regardless), they got the ones that would, and then it happened. For instance.
@linuxgnome @Amoshias @kristen_d @oliverboehme i wonder if one day we'll discover what we probably only suspect for now: That those pushing the "it's not worth voting" lines were active agents for the far right. Hm. agents devocateurs? can that be a word, for agents that promulgate apathy in their targets?
plenty of maga trolls, russian trolls, trolls from all sorts of domestic and geopolitical forces put up their fake leftist bonafides and preach not voting
right here on mastodon
then the troll in the cubicle next to them puts up their fake american flag and preach voting to MAGA turds on twitter
it's psyop
it's not *all* a psyop
because unfortunately spineless toxic idealism on the left is a real thing. that's why they do it
@StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @Amoshias @kristen_d @oliverboehme I hope that people realize now the consequences of those actions and change course. I blame the corporate media 100% for being part of team MAGA with relentless attacks on both Biden and Harris. Even Biden's economy didn't get credit. I can't think of one positive article they wrote in the last year of Biden's presidency. I'm talking CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC except for a few shows. Their owners wanted MAGA.
@StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @Amoshias @kristen_d @oliverboehme This is what my original post was about. Billionaire owned corporate media. People were propagandized but regardless of that I agree with your statement about voting. You must vote for the candidate most aligned with your beliefs. If you voted for a felon or didn't vote at all because Dems didn't do this or that, don't complain about the current situation. We knew what kind of a nightmare it would be if #DonTheCon won.
@lin11c @StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @kristen_d @oliverboehme you realize biden's economy - which did well for the top tiers, but left millions feeling like they were completely drowning economically - is a big part of the problem here?
I HATE when Dems tout "biden's economy." It shows that they don't understand what happened and haven't learned anything.
so on the left there is a huge schism, rightfully so
and on the right you have poor and middle class chuds licking the boots of the oligarchy shitting on them, as long as trans people and immigrants are abused
time to take over the democratic party from the corporatist shit
@Amoshias @lin11c @StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @kristen_d @oliverboehme I think the problem is partially that the Democrats would rather lose every election forever, including the most important elections they can conceive of, if it means the corporatist shit gets to flow from the sewers of capitalism right into their wallets.
It's just that those of us in other countries watch our leaders try to be more like the American ones.
@Amoshias @StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @kristen_d @oliverboehme I disagree. He brought inflation way down after the covid pandeminc. There were so many infrastructure programs that brought unprecedented job growth. He was a big supporter of unions. Now inflation is much worse and is only going to increase. The MSM never gave him any credit. MAGAs are claiming infrastructure money for themselves. Bullshit.
Your statistics say the economy was doing great. People said differently. And you're saying "these dummies just didn't understand what great shape they were in" as people couldn't afford housing.
You can tell people spending 60% of their income on housing they're doing great. Or you can listen to them and try to fix their problems. Which do you think is more likely to win an election?
@Amoshias @StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @kristen_d @oliverboehme It was an amazing recovery after the pandemic. Somehow Biden was supposed to make everything immediately better? Ridiculous. He was supposed restructure the entire housing market? He was dealing with stopping the pandemic for the first year. When FOX tells you daily how high prices are you forget prices were high during #DonTheCon's first term. Are egg prices higher now? I rest my case.
@lin11c @StrangeNoises @linuxgnome @kristen_d @oliverboehme right. And if your indicators say the economy is great, and the top.01% are capturing the majority of that economic recovery, you are using the wrong indicators.
@Ben Royce 🇺🇦 They don't have a spine since most (not all) of the Democratic politicians have been lying to you for years. They never really supported women, LBTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities. Those were just the voting blocks they thought they could manipulate into voting for them using identity politics and victimhood. Just look at their past bills in Congress and their voting history. They are not the allies they claim they are, and as soon as they figure out which voting blocks will win them elections, they will drop the ones that don't fit their strategy. I hate to say it, but unless we replace the corrupt politicians with people who really care, we will be in a whole world of hurt.
@Ben Royce 🇺🇦 Note that I said "not all." There are good Democrat politicians out there too. But if you go back to some of their older speeches and older voting record in Congress, especially for the career politicians, you will notice that it changes based on who they think will vote for them. Until people realize that at least some of them are screwing everyone over, there is no hope. Get rid of the corrupt ones with no backbone, and elect some good ones who will stand up for people. That will solve the problem.
@Ben Royce 🇺🇦 My priorities are electing politicians that really care about women, LBTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities, rather than reelecting the ones who say they care about you but don't. So that means voting out both racist Republicans and corrupt Democrats, and getting some good people in there.
@Ben Royce 🇺🇦 Right now we are in a conversation with Democrats and those on the left. I am not talking to swing voters here. So you have to consider the context. I would tell a swing voter something else, like to pick the better of two evils.
But Democrats can vote in primaries, which is something that swing voters cannot do. That means that Democrats have the power to get better Democrats on the ballots.
So what I say to Democrats is different than what I say to swing voters.
the result of your attacks on the dems is to suppress the left vote, thus helping MAGA win
Not true. I am telling Democrats to get their butts out to the polls during primaries so they can select better leaders who have a better chance of winning. If you select better candidates, then MAGA loses. If you put your collective heads in the sand and keep picking the same corrupt leaders, MAGA wins.
I am encouraging people to vote, especially in primaries.
Except that, unlike certain politicians that have no backbone, I stand up for women, LBTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities. No one should be abused. Period. End of story.
and i'm glad you stand up for women, L>G<BTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities
and MAGA on that topic?
the problem i have with you is these endless rigged lying stultifying purity tests. you attack your side, and ignore genuine radioactive malice. it's deeply dysfunctional and it's also a psyop used by agent provocateurs at the left to defeat us
i don't think you're psyop
unfortunately this self-destructive toxic idealism is real
@Ben Royce 🇺🇦 I am not a idealist. Both parties have major problems. You complain about Democrats that have no backbones, and then you attack me for saying we need to get rid of the Democrats with no backbones. WTF. I was agreeing with you. Yet you attack me.
We need people who stand up for women, LBTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities. MAGA is attacking. If your elected leaders are not protecting women, LBTQIA+, immigrants, and minorities, then get new ones.
I disagree it's bullshit what you said but "democrats aren't perfect so i don't have to vote" is bullshit. Which isn't what you said. But what you said is the gateway to that kind of thinking
It doesn't matter how much the democrats suck. You still vote
@Amoshias @kristen_d @oliverboehme Yes, he could have jailed Trump, jailed the Supreme Court. Or assassinated them. But he didn't want to the one to end America by making himself king. And sure, that only gave us a couple more months of America before Trump ended it, but I understand Biden wanting to go out still the leader of a democratic nation.
biden was banking on the american people showing the fuck up and voting
biden didn't abandon america because he didn't bring a machine gun to the supreme court
americans abandoned america because "well biden should have done this and that and blah blah blah and that's my rationale for not doing shit, even the easiest fucking thing"
@cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme I'm going to diverge from you here. (Not the last line though, we're in lockstep there.)
Simply sitting around and expecting Americans to vote for responsible kings until the end of time is not a rational plan. Biden needed to take action to make himself NOT A KING. That would have required him to do horrifying things, and he's not the man to have met that challenge.
We also need to recognize that to date, there is no personal financial incentive for Democrats in Congress to BE the opposition. They’ll keep doing what they’re doing, as long as the cash continues flowing into their pockets.
The only exceptions are people like Bernie Sanders and AOC, who don’t take corporate payouts. And that group is a truly minimal slice of the Congress pie.
@chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme I get that, but knowing Trump/MAGA was a bombshell that coopted the conservative cause creating an Orange Rhino, something similar needs to take place on the Dem level to compete. Everyone seems to be jockeying for the Presidency rather than changing from within. If people like Pete Buttigieg are willing to sit out, who's stepping up? The squad can't go it alone.
@chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme it's all so complicated in a nation of immigrants, a nation of diversity. Something I don't see a whole lot of in any other country I've visited. Getting more people to vote is imperative. Absolutely. Too many don't care, or have just given up because no candidate has ever vibed with their ideals. Centrist Dems are what peel centrist Pubs away from Maga. Hard left energizes the progressives, sure, but also incentivises conservatives to lock arms in their higher cause. Some kind of biblical purity.
@cmthiede @chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme Yes. Take over the Dems, & start by ousting Schumer. Universal public Healthcare. Taxes on billionaires. There are a whole quiver full of good progressive positions.
The discussion about getting non-voters to vote is worth the ether it is written on. Paid time off, election day holiday + compulsory voting might get more to the polls. Abolish Citizens United. Get pacs, high dollar donors & corporations out of politics.
@cmthiede @chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme I've knocked on tens of thousands of doors for my own campaigns, and for other candidates. I did not knock on doors where registered voters had not voted in the past 4 presidential elections, and had never voted in local elections. With a universe of 18k out of 27k, I only talked to those likely voters. Overcoming non-voter inertia is a big problem. I can enumerate the excuses I've heard, if you like.
@CStamp @cmthiede @chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme I think overcoming non-voter inertia is a Party problem. Individual candidates don't have the resources to persuade people to vote. Precinct Party level outreach can work - repeated encouragement from a known neighbor. Debunking myths like "voting doesn't matter" or "...but I don't want to be called for jury duty", or "I don't have time".
@CStamp @cmthiede @chessert @Amoshias @cherold @kristen_d @oliverboehme Yes, talking at the door can work. Phone outreach can work. GOTV (Get Out The Vote) workers need to be persistent. I started precinct walking & GOTV about 35 years ago.
If you listen to this, it will explain why voter turnout is so low in America. But it should also anger you so much that you NEVER skip an election ever again. I think it’s a must-listen.
Although I have to wonder in some red locations, if running Independent and caucusing with Dems is the way to go. Some places don’t even have Dems running. Idc how it’s done as long as come election time there’s only one sane person running against a Republican, so votes don’t get divided.
Yes, we are definitely in agreement. The most important thing is to unite against Republicans. We keep saying it, and the urgency of it grows all the time. The GOP is not just corrupt. These people are deliberately trying to rush us along towards the end, either for the rapture, or to capture all resources and create their own little bizarre states, complete with secure bunkers. They’re all nuts.
@Itchy Agreed. Democrats in Congress have proven themselves short on spine.
Signing petitions and going to protests are fine and all, but to this regime, that means nothing. They don't care about paper and people in the streets.
\ Yes sir, I do believe the opposite of love is indifference. Hate is passion but indifference is non existence. Samey same. Yes.
I think people have become extended so far and stretched so thin with time and money. It can be a challenge to give a care about anything more than laundry.
Shame on me for faulting anyone for doing the best they can. One at a time I try to rally souls by letting them know that it would be a better party if they were there.
@Remittancegirl Does he need my praise? He seems to be doing fine on his own.
And honestly, if my words were capable of shutting down his fire, he wouldn't be worth listening to. How weak-willed you must believe him to be; shameful.
From you? Some random internet user whom I've probably never engaged with and probably won't again? Not really. You probably would have had better luck addressing my point if that's what you disagree with.
He's right about Trump. I told my friend in Detroit, if you want to make something fail, collapse or go bankrupt, Trump is the man you want in charge. Elon Musk chose his sock puppets well.
you have to admit "americans don't know history" under the top post can seem to be an attack on the subject of the post you were responding to, even though because i know you i saw "{he's spitting fire but it will fall on deaf ears because} americans don't know history"
but if someone doesn't know you, you can see how there is an honest misperception of your words
Perhaps he doesn’t need it. But he deserves it. Considering how many people in the world live with their heads in the sand, I believe he deserves our praise and our respect.
I guess you don’t. And it’s all about you. And your enjoyment.
There’s a LOT of you.
And there are so few of him and his courage to speak out.
They are all important questions And we could discuss its implications for days but to make it short envy, the needs to bring back order, and the arrival of a populist figure who backed by the army removed 'the breath' from the revolutionary anarchy,
@chiamaluca I find that among my American countrymen, there's a deep lack of understanding of the French Revolution that is disquieting as people on this side of the pond begin considering their options for their own deeply-divided national and class interests.
We teach it as "France had a revolution, and then they had liberty." And that is a mistake. It's really important to confront that belief with "The king was executed... And then what happened?"
There's a reason the UK is still a monarchy, and it's not because they never tried anything else. And there's a reason America isn't a monarchy, and it isn't because we were smarter, braver, or more egalitarian than the French or the British.
Eh, there's a dude from New Zealand below who I had to block because they kept digging into "don't vote, then enact massive constitutional change by {waves hands}" bullshit. Then got angry because I'm apparently chasing away leftists because I hurt their feelings.
You and I are in agreement: the fastest way to enact real change and obliterate Nazis here in America is for the majority of eligible voters to get out and do their civic duty EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I'm not willing to cede my kids/grandkids to the current status.
ManyRoads’ Mostly Irrelevant Thoughts The writings you’ll find here are about things that bother me, interest me, or make me think. And at my age… thinking doesn’t come as easily as it used t…
The U.S. will impose 25% tariffs on countries that buy oil and gas from Venezuela, as the United States seeks to increase pressure on President Nicolas Maduro and China.
Countries that buy oil and gas from Venezuela will face tariffs on any trade they have with the U.S.
The tariffs take effect on April 2 2025.
Venezuela exported about 660,000 barrels per day in 2024. China was the largest destination for the South American nation’s crude exports, purchasing 270,000 bpd last year.
There a lot of spam accounts right how on mastodon.social and newly on mastodon.world
@ mft72127 @mastodon.social @ dixie_jayceey67im @mastodon.social et al...
For all users, these are spam an fake accounts. Harm can have gentle face and a lot of 💗💗💗. Keep track on these accounts and report them to your admins.
@Matteo Zenatti tra gli informatici sono un bel po' di anni che ci si raccomanda di andare negli stati uniti senza i propri dispositivi (telefono, portatile) veri, ma comprandone da viaggio apposta, ma prima era più una questione di proteggere eventuali dati sensibili che si hanno sugli stessi.
e guarda a caso, una legge che sotto un'amministrazione, boh, vabbé, nella media, era già problematica ma gestibile, sotto un'amministrazione fascista diventa N volte più pericolosa.
"On the same day that the researcher was denied entry to the US, Baptiste published a letter calling on American researchers to relocate to France. “Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States,” he wrote. “We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them.”
The next day, Baptiste posted a photograph of himself in a virtual meeting with a researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who had decided to take up an invitation from Aix-Marseille University to welcome researchers who wish to leave the United States."
@bbacc sì certo che lo è ma insomma la tendenza era già presente, ora sperimentano con le nuove tecnologie e sui grandi numeri… però i cattivoni dittatori sono sempre gli altri e loro hanno venduto per decenni la favola della democrazia liberale e della superiorità morale derivante
Come raccontavo stanotte — mastodon.cisti.org/@GustavinoB… — a inizio anni '50 mia mamma dovette andare a Vienna a una conferenza sindacale internazionale come delegata FIOM, ma all'epoca Vienna era ancora divisa tra gli occupanti alleati¹ e per attraversare il settore americano dovette fare il giro dalla Svizzera (in treno).
I remember when members of the Italian Communist Party (I guess it was the same for all the other countries) weren't allowed to access the USA, and that was asked on the visa form.
In early 1950 my mom had to go to an international trade union conference in Vienna, still occupied by allies until 1955, and she had to travel there through Swiss (by train) to avoid stricter controls.
@GustavinoBevilacqua @bbacc che mamma tosta, massimo rispetto! che poi a quel tempo fare delegato/a sindacale non era uno scherzo, rischiavi il reparto confino!
Mia mamma riuscì a tirare uno schiaffo a Gianni Agnelli (nel 1934, perché le toccò il culo quando faceva consegne per una sartoria di Torino¹) e a Giulio Andreotti, perché a fine anni '40, in birreria, le tolse la sedia di sotto mentre si stava sedendo.
Sono soddisfazioni…
~~
¹ e la titolare della sartoria telefonò alla moglie del sen. Agnelli dicendo che se non insegnava le buone maniere al nipote non l'avrebbe più voluta come cliente.
If you're critical of the US government and you are planning to cross the US border any time soon, today is a good day to review EFF's border search pocket guide: eff.org/document/eff-border-se…
The Kyiv Independent's Alisa Yurchenko went undercover as a representative of a Russian defense manufacturer to try buying American chips through Russian suppliers.
Wladimir Klitschko wirbt auch um Unterstützung für sein Projekt, nach Russland entführte Kinder in die Ukraine zurückzuholen. Einige der Kinder würden auf dem Schwarzmarkt angeboten, berichtet er.
Drei Jahre Krieg in der Ukraine sind Vitali und Wladimir Klitschko deutlich anzumerken. Auf einer Konferenz in Bayern sprechen sie über das Telefonat zwischen Trump und Putin und einen möglichen Frieden.
Ukraine-Invasion, Tag 1120: Trump-Regierung beendet Programm zur Verfolgung entführter ukrainischer Kinder Datenbank über verschleppte Kinder gelöscht #FCKTRMP Monster
💥 “Tax our wealth” – that’s the message from millionaires across the UK whose campaign is hitting the road ahead of the government’s spring statement...
“Apparently, seven out of ten millionaires agree that taxing wealth is the way forward – and not surprisingly, three quarters of the British public support this too”
We've updated the rules of our flagship server mastodon.social today. Most are the same with some clarifications, but one rule is new: Content created by others must be attributed, and use of AI must be disclosed. Profiles that only post AI-generated content will not be tolerated.
How does this affect subtoots? That's a case where you are responding to text content created by others but purposefully not attributing it. Do you have to be careful to paraphrase it?
US Bluesky users should be careful with what they post: all posts are archived. And I guess European social media users planning to visit the US should be aware that their posts can be used against them by the Trump regime too. 404media.co/the-200-sites-an-i…
404 Media has obtained the list of sites and services that ICE contractor ShadowDragon pulls data from. ShadowDragon sources data from all over the web and lets government analysts easily search it and draw connections between people.
@CodieneC Speaking as a recovering American, I'll second that. It's not safe for y'all right now. (If I *did* have to go, I wouldn't not take a device, but I *would* keep the VPN on at all times and make sure my access to it was NOT biometric.. no finger-swipe or face-unlock... and get in, do your thing, and GET OUT.)
I was never going to set foot in the US again after my experience in 2005. Waiting for my flight home I got pulled aside and stripped to my boxers by a guy who threatened to keep the jewellery (irreplaceable; the maker died) that I'd arrived in the country in seven weeks before. That was BEFORE the TSA.
So basically, fuck the US as a place to ever set foot, as far as I'm concerned.
I was only there to help someone else manage their wedding...
And it was very clear that Farage is connected in some way to the Kremlin. What's even more flabbergasting is that there are now almost open KGB agents in the House of Lords. Russian citizens seated in the HoL!
@Eetschrijver Putin is just another billionaire trying to strip our planet of all its resources and let countries fail, let them go “bankrupt”, exactly like private equity does to corporations.
He’s no different from any other billionaire, except that he has an army of poor people fighting for him.
Putin has a great talent for finding and exploiting the weakest links in a society. The West has proven to be hopeless at recognizing the strategy, let alone countering it.
A very ambitious European High Speed Rail network planned by the Commission. One ticketing app, one Railway Area. This would be amazing. From Lisbon to Luhansk with one ticket
@resl I would love this in the UK and linked to the EU and beyond. Sadly our railways were destroyed by the Beeching Cuts to encourage road building for cars. Then Thatchers privatisation making rail too expensive. Still we live in hope of better things
There is some Dutch pride here , from a time that was still possible. Mr . F.Q den Hollander was leading Dutch railways soon after WW2. He was able to set-up the Trans European Railways. The famous TEE. A network of quality-trains over Europe. It all crumbled down in the '80's, thanks cars and planes. Nice to see it coming back again . Wiki only in Dutch, sofar, sorry.
@janeadams I see it as a bit of harmless engagement farming and hope the real railstodon nerds (who are NOT fans of fantasy maps, but I'm trash, I love that someone posted the VIAE ROMANE one already) don't find it.
tldr: there's some sort of legislative proposal on single ticketing coming out this year definitely/maybe. It does absolutely not build all the stuff needed for that map and we have no idea to what extent it will even fix ticketing.
French state owned rail operator SNCF will not sell me tickets for Italian state owned rail operator Trenitalia’s trains. Trenitalia will not sell me tickets for SNCF’s trains.
this does not look serious as it misses Luxembourg and the surroundings entirely. There is still no link from Bruxelles to Strasbourg. BTW, even after a promise made 30years ago, the Germans haven't managed to renovate the rails along the Rhine. So for Germany, those are plans for 2090 or so..
@tastapod yeah the plan is demonstrative only this map i mean its not the definitive edition its just an idea for now. it needs a lot of cash to be done also
"Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia's capital on Saturday to protest over the deaths of 15 people in a railway station collapse.
While the government put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade, an independent monitor said 325,000 - if not more - had gathered, making it Serbia's largest protest ever."
That's good news. We need this in every European Capitol, week by week, for strong democracy based on collaboration instead of supression and parasitism.
Everyone should live free and save in the Schengen area
The good thing, every country who overcome its corrupt elites will make EU stronger.
@pascal_f @schengen @europeans Exactly, yesterday there were big demonstrations in Bucharest, Belgrade, Budapest and Tbilisi. They were all a bit different, but broadly had the same theme of being pro EU and anti Russian. It's a good sign.
We talk a lot about our enormous dependence on American clouds, but what exactly are we talking about? And is Europe equally dependent on all types of cloud? This article is aimed at policy makers, but it may also provide some clarity about the broader landscape to actual cloud users. The six levels of cloud: berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-…
We have extensive discussions about our enormous dependence on American clouds, but what exactly are we talking about? And is Europe equally dependent on all types of cloud? This article is aimed at policy makers, but it may also provide some clarity…
@graaff fixed, thanks! This post is actually a draft that accidentally got published, but I decided to roll with it cuz I thought it was good. Apparently not 😀
Just a minor editing issue it looked like. Happy with the article including some of the statements about private cloud being some different to everyone. Always a joy to get this as a checkbox on a survey…
Still confused by the contractual issue. We offer a SaaS service and I couldn’t image not giving that data to our customers end-of-contract, but apparently that’s not a given then.
@tijl I suggest actually working with government policy makers and developers. These definitions mean nothing to them. And tbh they also mean very little to me. I can’t buy anything like this. But I’ll add a link at the beginning. These silly “official” definitions are why we have this problem.
Apologies, I didn't understand your context. The problem with simplifying for policymakers/devs is that they then actually believe it is that simple... I'd advise finding a rich metaphor in a domain most people are already intimate with, like transportation: taxi (SaaS) vs multi-modal public transport (PaaS) vs leasecar (IaaS).
We’ve been anticipating it for years,1 and it’s finally happening. Google is finally killing uBlock Origin – with a note on their web store stating that the extension will soon no longer be available because it “doesn’t follow the best practices for …
Dump Brave. The company behind it is utterly untrustworthy. Founded because the dude behind it is a homophobic asshat who got ousted from Mozilla for big donations to take away gay folks' rights. Integrated shitcoin. Original idea was to make money by not *blocking* ads but *replacing* them with ads he gets paid for. It's an utter clowncar.
@desatyr Firefox is better than default Chrome for privacy. Chrome collects more data than Firefox. Firefox does collect some data now, but it's still less than Chrome.
It's similar to comparing Apple and Android. Stock iOS collects less data than stock Android, but GrapheneOS is the better option for privacy.
Firefox forks like Librewolf and Zen Browser aren't affected by Firefox's data collection changes. Brave, a Chromium fork, also offers better privacy than Chrome.
This is just my view on the hole Firefox vs Chrome thing!
I mean, even ignoring politics and crypto scams - they were literally rewriting URLs to add their affiliate links, and when caught, they tried to make fool of everyone claiming it was a mistake.
There are degoogled chrome forks, there is Vivaldi, Brave is just bad.
Same. I generally refuse to use anything Chromium based unless necessary (one of main reasons to start such browser is WebUSB support). But when it comes to Brave, my trust in them is so low, that I'd still prefer browser that is in a small part closed source over them.
@cbontenbal Vivaldi is built on Chromium as well, so they'll be unable to support those extensions in the near future either. They even use the Chrome Store as their source for extensions 😅
I have been using a de-mozzillad Firefox called Librewolf for a few months now on Mac and l Linux and really liking it. Zero issues that aren't FF core related.
Zen Browser is built for speed, security, and true privacy. Download now to enjoy a beautifully-designed, distraction-free web experience packed with features.
For me workspaces are for different aspects of my life - Default (personal) - Pharmacy (work) - OSM (Openstreetmap) - FOSDEM (staff member stuff) - Kagi (any consulting work for kagi)
So it'd still like tab groups to actually bundle things together.
But i love having Essentials and Pinned tabs being things.
Essentials being across workspaces and pinned tabs being workspace specific
@martijndevrieze I've been using LibreWolf on my desk for about two weeks now. Since it doesn't save cookies by default, I have to log in sites regularly. I kind of like it, it's been making me more thoughtful about what I'm doing online. I have pretty much abandoned Amazon except for searching for items I then buy elsewhere, but because I have to log in and use 2FA every time, I avoid it even more.
We hope that the inter-relations between Huawei's lobby office in Brussels and the offices in key EU member states like Germany are taken into account in the ongoing corruption and bribery investigations, too. For market access in Europe, Berlin is a key lobby hot spot for chinese tech. #HuaweiGate
A Canadian friend's perspective on US behavior since the Trump regime was installed:
---cut here---
One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what's going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this. So, against my better judgement, here's a timeline to explain why we're here, and why we're angry.
Nov 30th, 2018 - The United States, Canada and Mexico finalize a trade agreement. Trump personally negotiates the terms and signs the document, celebrating it as 'the greatest trade agreement in history". (This is important.)
Nov 29th, 2024 - In a face to face meeting, Trump threatens the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, that he will be imposing 25% tariffs and that if Canada wants to avoid that, it should join the US as a state.
Nov 30th, 2024 - Trump publicly calls our Prime Minister 'Governor Trudeau' and instructs his staff to only address him as Governor going forward. He again suggests Canada should
... show more
A Canadian friend's perspective on US behavior since the Trump regime was installed:
---cut here---
One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what's going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this. So, against my better judgement, here's a timeline to explain why we're here, and why we're angry.
Nov 30th, 2018 - The United States, Canada and Mexico finalize a trade agreement. Trump personally negotiates the terms and signs the document, celebrating it as 'the greatest trade agreement in history". (This is important.)
Nov 29th, 2024 - In a face to face meeting, Trump threatens the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, that he will be imposing 25% tariffs and that if Canada wants to avoid that, it should join the US as a state.
Nov 30th, 2024 - Trump publicly calls our Prime Minister 'Governor Trudeau' and instructs his staff to only address him as Governor going forward. He again suggests Canada should join the USA. Dec 3rd, 2024 - Trump remarks that he would split Canada into two states once annexed.
Dec 10th, 2024 - Trump posts that the majority of Canadians support annexation, despite public polling that only 13% of Canadians would consider the idea.
Dec 18th, 2024 - Trump again falsely states that the majority of Canadians support annexation and that one of his lapdogs, Wayne Gretzky, should have a leadership role in that new scenario. Jan 7th, 2025 - At a press conference, Trump says that he would use economic force to destroy the Canadian economy to annex it.
Jan 14, 2025 - Trump again claims that most Canadians want to be American, despite new polls showing only 10% of us are open to the idea.
Jan 20th, 2025 - During his inaugural address, Trump says that the U.S. will 'expand its territory' during his second term.
Jan 23rd, 2025 - At the World Economic Forum, Trump says that Canada can avoid tariffs and economic collapse if it joins the US. He says this in front of representatives from most countries in the world.
Jan 24th, 2025 - Trump states publicly that Canada 'will' become a state
Jan 31st, 2025 - Trump announces a 25% tariff
... show more
Dec 10th, 2024 - Trump posts that the majority of Canadians support annexation, despite public polling that only 13% of Canadians would consider the idea.
Dec 18th, 2024 - Trump again falsely states that the majority of Canadians support annexation and that one of his lapdogs, Wayne Gretzky, should have a leadership role in that new scenario. Jan 7th, 2025 - At a press conference, Trump says that he would use economic force to destroy the Canadian economy to annex it.
Jan 14, 2025 - Trump again claims that most Canadians want to be American, despite new polls showing only 10% of us are open to the idea.
Jan 20th, 2025 - During his inaugural address, Trump says that the U.S. will 'expand its territory' during his second term.
Jan 23rd, 2025 - At the World Economic Forum, Trump says that Canada can avoid tariffs and economic collapse if it joins the US. He says this in front of representatives from most countries in the world.
Jan 24th, 2025 - Trump states publicly that Canada 'will' become a state
Jan 31st, 2025 - Trump announces a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports to begin the next day.
Feb 2nd, 2025 - Trump refers to Canada as its 'Cherished 51st state' and that it should join the US to avoid tariffs.
Feb 3rd, 2025 - A one month delay is agreed upon. Trump, in a conversation with Trudeau states that he doesn't think existing border treaties with Canada are valid, and need to be revised.
Feb 7th, 2025 - In a closed door meeting with his cabinet, Prime Minister Trudeau is recorded, without his knowledge, telling everyone that he believes very strongly that Trump is serious and that he stated his reason for annexation as Canadian resources.
Feb 9th, 2025 - In a Super Bowl pre-game interview, Trump says that he's serious about his threats, calling it a 'viable consideration for expanding US territory'
Feb 10th, 2025 - Trump announces an additional 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to come into effect March 12th.
Feb 24th, 2025 - Trump publicly remarks that whoever signed the USMCA agreement is an idiot. He was the one that signed it.
March 4th, 5th, and 6th 2025 - Tariffs come into effect. Canada retaliates with it's own tariffs. Tariffs are again postponed until April 1st after a huge market backlash.
March 4th, 2025 - In an address to a joint session of congress, Trump states that the US will own Greenland 'one way or the other'.
March 5th, 2025 - US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc that Trump "had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon."
March 7th, 2025 - Unconfirmed Memorandum and maps leaked on twitter reveal Trump is allegedly planning to annex the entirety of the great lakes and Southern Ontario, home to 13,491,332 Canadians. This amounts to 35.25% of Canada's total population and includes its largest city, Toronto. This region accounts for 38% of the Canadian economy, and its loss would make Canad
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Feb 24th, 2025 - Trump publicly remarks that whoever signed the USMCA agreement is an idiot. He was the one that signed it.
March 4th, 5th, and 6th 2025 - Tariffs come into effect. Canada retaliates with it's own tariffs. Tariffs are again postponed until April 1st after a huge market backlash.
March 4th, 2025 - In an address to a joint session of congress, Trump states that the US will own Greenland 'one way or the other'.
March 5th, 2025 - US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc that Trump "had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon."
March 7th, 2025 - Unconfirmed Memorandum and maps leaked on twitter reveal Trump is allegedly planning to annex the entirety of the great lakes and Southern Ontario, home to 13,491,332 Canadians. This amounts to 35.25% of Canada's total population and includes its largest city, Toronto. This region accounts for 38% of the Canadian economy, and its loss would make Canada's independence functionally impossible.
March 8th, 2025 - Canada's foreign minister warns European allies that their government considers Canada to be under existential threat.
March 9th, 2025 - Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, in his acceptance speech, states that Trump is seeking to destroy Canada, and its way of life.
March 11, 2025 - President Trump threatens to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” if Canada does not drop a 250% to 390% tariff on U.S. dairy products, which he doesn’t state only kicks in after a certain quantity of tariff-free U.S. dairy enters Canada, a quantity that was originally negotiated and agreed to by Trump during the USMCA in 2018.
In Trump's own words, "The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.
Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!"
March 11th, 2025 PT. II - Peter Navarro, a Senior Advisor for Trump is interviewed by MSNBC. When asked about the tariffs he responds with "Just tamp it down, please, over there, ok? They're throwing down the hockey gloves. Stop tha
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In Trump's own words, "The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.
Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!"
March 11th, 2025 PT. II - Peter Navarro, a Senior Advisor for Trump is interviewed by MSNBC. When asked about the tariffs he responds with "Just tamp it down, please, over there, ok? They're throwing down the hockey gloves. Stop that rhetoric...we're not going to tolerate anything but them stopping killing Americans", insinuating that this situation was caused by Canadians killing Americans.
March 11th, 2025 PT III - Trump again publicly muses that Canada, Greenland, and the US should be one country, and questions the validity of the Canadian and American border.
To my American friends, I know most of you are amazing and generous people. You didn't ask for this, and I understand that. I hold no ill will towards you, whatsoever. But I must stress, with as much seriousness as I can, the amount of damage this has done.
We have viewed you as our closest friend and ally for a century. We thought of you as brothers and sisters. We answered the call, again and again, for any support you needed from us. Most of Canadians visit the USA so much that we've seen more of the US than we have the rest of Canada.
American products have been taken off our shelves. Canadians are cancelling travel plans to the US. Photo after photo has been shared on social media of empty flights from Canada to the USA.
This isn't a joke to us. We're not overreacting. We don't think he's just saying this shit to cause chaos or negotiate a deal. We wholeheartedly believe that our closest ally and friend is about to bring violence across our border, economically destroy us, and eliminate our way of life.
The main driver for Canada's creation in 1867 was SPECIFICALLY to not be part of America, and to end America's very public threats and plans to annex our territory.
We're angry. We're really, really fucking angry. Open your eyes to what's happening because we're tired of trying to make you understand why a
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We have viewed you as our closest friend and ally for a century. We thought of you as brothers and sisters. We answered the call, again and again, for any support you needed from us. Most of Canadians visit the USA so much that we've seen more of the US than we have the rest of Canada.
American products have been taken off our shelves. Canadians are cancelling travel plans to the US. Photo after photo has been shared on social media of empty flights from Canada to the USA.
This isn't a joke to us. We're not overreacting. We don't think he's just saying this shit to cause chaos or negotiate a deal. We wholeheartedly believe that our closest ally and friend is about to bring violence across our border, economically destroy us, and eliminate our way of life.
The main driver for Canada's creation in 1867 was SPECIFICALLY to not be part of America, and to end America's very public threats and plans to annex our territory.
We're angry. We're really, really fucking angry. Open your eyes to what's happening because we're tired of trying to make you understand why and asking you why it seems like none of you care. **
I still hope that there is time to repair this. I still believe that this is the result of one man's plan to burn it all down. But time is running out, and fast.
A Canadian's Perspective On US Behavior Since The Trump Regime Was Installed
(The following are not my words, but from a Canadian who prefers to remain anonymous.) One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what's going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this. So, against my better judgement, here's a timeline to explain why we're here, and why we're angry.
Nov 30th, 2018 – The United States, Canada and Mexico finalize a trade agreement. Trump personally negotiates the terms and signs the document, celebrating it as 'the greatest trade agreement in history”. (This is important.)
Nov 29th, 2024 – In a face to face meeting, Trump threatens the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, that he will be imposing 25% tariffs and that if Canada wants to avoid that, it should join the US as a state.
Nov 30th, 2024 – Trump publicly calls our Prime Minister 'Governor Trudeau' and instructs his staff to only address him as Governor going forward. He again suggests Canada should join the USA. Dec 3rd, 2024 – Trump remarks that he would split Canada into two states once annexed.
Dec 10th, 2024 – Trump posts that the majority of Canadians support annexation, despite public polling that only 13% of Canadians would consider the idea.
Dec 18th, 2024 – Trump again falsely states that the majority of Canadians support annexation and that one of his lapdogs, Wayne Gretzky, should have a leadership role in that new scenario. Jan 7th, 2025 – At a press conference, Trump says that he would use economic force to destroy the Canadian economy to annex it.
Jan 14, 2025 – Trump again claims that most Canadians want to be American, despite new polls showing only 10% of us are open to the idea.
Jan 20th, 2025 – During his inaugural address, Trump says that the U.S. will 'expand its territory' during his second term.
Jan 23rd, 2025 – At the World Economic Forum, Trump says that Canada can avoid tariffs and economic collapse if it joins the US. He says this in front of representatives from most countries in the world.
Jan 24th, 2025 – Trump states publicly that Canada 'will' become a state
Jan 31st, 2025 – Trump announces a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports to begin the next day.
Feb 2nd, 2025 – Trump refers to Canada as its 'Cherished 51st state' and that it should join the US to avoid tariffs.
Feb 3rd, 2025 – A one month delay is agreed upon. Trump, in a conversation with Trudeau states that he doesn't think existing border treaties with Canada are valid, and need to be revised.
Feb 7th, 2025 – In a closed door meeting with his cabinet, Prime Minister Trudeau is recorded, without his knowledge, telling everyone that he believes very strongly that Trump is serious and that he stated his reason for annexation as Canadian resources.
Feb 9th, 2025 – In a Super Bowl pre-game interview, Trump says that he's serious about his threats, calling it a 'viable consideration for expanding US territory'
Feb 10th, 2025 – Trump announces an additional 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to come into effect March 12th.
Feb 24th, 2025 – Trump publicly remarks that whoever signed the USMCA agreement is an idiot. He was the one that signed it.
March 4th, 5th, and 6th 2025 – Tariffs come into effect. Canada retaliates with it's own tariffs. Tariffs are again postponed until April 1st after a huge market backlash.
March 4th, 2025 – In an address to a joint session of congress, Trump states that the US will own Greenland 'one way or the other'.
March 5th, 2025 – US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc that Trump “had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon.”
March 7th, 2025 – Unconfirmed Memorandum and maps leaked on twitter reveal Trump is allegedly planning to annex the entirety of the great lakes and Southern Ontario, home to 13,491,332 Canadians. This amounts to 35.25% of Canada's total population and includes its largest city, Toronto. This region accounts for 38% of the Canadian economy, and its loss would make Canada's independence functionally impossible.
March 8th, 2025 – Canada's foreign minister warns European allies that their government considers Canada to be under existential threat.
March 9th, 2025 – Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, in his acceptance speech, states that Trump is seeking to destroy Canada, and its way of life.
March 11, 2025 – President Trump threatens to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” if Canada does not drop a 250% to 390% tariff on U.S. dairy products, which he doesn’t state only kicks in after a certain quantity of tariff-free U.S. dairy enters Canada, a quantity that was originally negotiated and agreed to by Trump during the USMCA in 2018.
In Trump's own words, “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.
Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!”
March 11th, 2025 PT. II – Peter Navarro, a Senior Advisor for Trump is interviewed by MSNBC. When asked about the tariffs he responds with “Just tamp it down, please, over there, ok? They're throwing down the hockey gloves. Stop that rhetoric...we're not going to tolerate anything but them stopping killing Americans”, insinuating that this situation was caused by Canadians killing Americans.
March 11th, 2025 PT III – Trump again publicly muses that Canada, Greenland, and the US should be one country, and questions the validity of the Canadian and American border.
To my American friends, I know most of you are amazing and generous people. You didn't ask for this, and I understand that. I hold no ill will towards you, whatsoever. But I must stress, with as much seriousness as I can, the amount of damage this has done.
We have viewed you as our closest friend and ally for a century. We thought of you as brothers and sisters. We answered the call, again and again, for any support you needed from us. Most of Canadians visit the USA so much that we've seen more of the US than we have the rest of Canada.
American products have been taken off our shelves. Canadians are cancelling travel plans to the US. Photo after photo has been shared on social media of empty flights from Canada to the USA.
This isn't a joke to us. We're not overreacting. We don't think he's just saying this shit to cause chaos or negotiate a deal. We wholeheartedly believe that our closest ally and friend is about to bring violence across our border, economically destroy us, and eliminate our way of life.
The main driver for Canada's creation in 1867 was SPECIFICALLY to not be part of America, and to end America's very public threats and plans to annex our territory.
We're angry. We're really, really fucking angry. Open your eyes to what's happening because we're tired of trying to make you understand why and asking you why it seems like none of you care. **
I still hope that there is time to repair this. I still believe that this is the result of one man's plan to burn it all down. But time is running out, and fast.
@ZDL Well, that way lies madness because as with pickup trucks and yachts somebody always has a bigger gun.
Here we have a rabble vs. state national guard and federal forces, the latter two being the "well regulated milita" envisioned by the drunken dilettantes authoring founding documents as a guard against tyranny and now under the command of a tyrant.
Here money rules all. A general strike is to talk with money as a weapon, peacefully.
I love my Canadian neighbors, have deep affection and respect for Canada, and am sick and disgusted at the things this president says and does. It is disgraceful and frankly disgusts me to see Canada treated so poorly by this administration.
it makes me infinitely sad and fills me with anguish to see our relationship soured by this damned fool and his bellicose idiocy.
@cross This American is in complete agreement with you, Dan Cross. If Canada would take me and my small family, I’d move there in heartbeat with my very nontrivial assets and spending.
But let me tell you a story… When I "landed" in Canada, a camper from TX was also being interviewed. The people had not declared their guns, because they had the right to carry.
In the USA.
Canada is not the USA, never has been. Its laws are different. Its culture is different. If a Canadian becomes very polite, they are likely angry.
That difference alone - that they become **more** polite when angry - is just how different it is.
@Nick_Stevens_graphics @cxj @cross Yes! Exactly! This is one of sources of the Canadian version. Plus a wonderful dose from Québec stating the absurd in a jovial fashion. And let me tell you, the Salish around here… 👩🍳 💋
Most of us USians completely miss it.
May I strongly suggest the film "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" dated, but… some prescient (and trenchant) social commentary.
@Amgine @Nick_Stevens_graphics @cxj @cross We went up to BC from Florida back in 2017 and were interviewed including search of the camper and truck.
When asked if we had any weapons or ammunition or other prohibited items said no. When asked again with him saying are you sure told them if I did they would be about 3000 miles away.
Guess our reputation as the Gunshine state is well known up there.
@nerb @Nick_Stevens_graphics @cxj @cross Yes. As far as I know there are no countries which welcome weapons at the border, including the USA. They can be brought in, but under very carefully controlled circumstances. Ifyou are going to another county you should know their rules.
My (also US citizen) partner was nearly arrested at the US border, coming across to bring me tools for boat repair. That included an undeclared crowbar. This was too dangerous for US CBP.
Heh. It is one two events which are regularly trotted out to induce guilt. The other involved my rigging knife discovered in the bottom of my computer bag, which she had borrowed to fly within the USA in early 2002, about 6 months after 9/11.
@charette thank you for setting out so clearly. I've been watching this from the UK, with not a little fear for us and Europe, but confess I'd not realized just how serious it is. All strength to you all.
@charette Thank you. A good read for our global friends too. Canada is on the northern side of the longest undefended border in the world, with integrated supply chains and a longstanding connected economy with the US, and we haven’t had to even think about militarily defending ourselves in over 200 years against our closest neighbour and friend. Unless you’re actively working against the US’s lecherous orange leader, you’re complicit in ending our sovereignty.
@vrandecic @Walrus @segfaul7 and the democratic government of Hawaii was overthrown by the U.S. military because some capitalists got butt hurt about nationalization.
Well, if we are splitting the U.S. back to previous borders, then all the border states go to Mexico (see the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848), where the U.S annexed about 55% of Mexico's territory (California, Nevada, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, New Mexico AND Texas)
@herhandsmyhands @Dianora @segfaul7 I say Mexico should take back the west and Quebec should be reverted to its previous borders including Ontario and Detroit down to Louisiana. Hell, Louisiana is named after the French king.
@segfaul7 Thank you, that's probably for the best. Last time the USA attacked Canada, it did not end well for the USA. This time, Canada has NATO and the Commonwealth behind it, and honestly pretty much every member of both of those would seize the opportunity to both help a friend, of course, and slap that fool as a special bonus.
I'm sorry, where are you seeing all these other countries "behind" us?
Starmer said there's no light between him and Trump on Canada. Rutte pretty much laughed off Trump's Greenland talk in the Oval Office and did not challenge him on Canada.
There is no chorus of condemnation for Trump's words from world leaders, nor is there a chorus of support for Canada.
All of our allies will happily accept our destruction if it keeps US guns from pointing at them.
This is not one of those cases. Public statements, reports of direct conversations with Canadian officials, and the creep zone of Technocracy and American Imperialist enthusiasts around him are not hard to decode - in many cases they are perfectly explicit.
He is telling us all exactly what he plans to do.
It is not a joke. It is not a bit of random weirdness.
If what it takes to make I clear is a full spectrum invasion, we are doomed.
@Captain_Jack_Sparrow @hatter @segfaul7 I am certain there is deep reluctance to take it seriously. Contemplating it requires completely rethinking all aspects of current military strategy.
I would like to believe the Joint Chiefs would balk and/or the JAGs would make a stink about legality. He has already removed likely impediments in both those institutions. Hegseth is clearly a "how high" yes-man.
@AlexanderVI @Captain_Jack_Sparrow @hatter @segfaul7 Trumps playing the same plan that Hitler used, down to the beer putsch, sentenced in court, won the election, instituting lebensraum, erasing LGBTQ (pink triangles), othering foreigners with extreme prejudice, and more.
And I don't believe he'll willingly leave the presidency after 4y. Hitler didnt, likely for similar 'emergency reasons' with ongoing wars with Canada and Greenland.
The only way he's leaving is the following:
Congress grows a pair and kicks his ass into prison.
An assassin actually does it right, and not that staged ear shit.
@pierat I cannot add anything to what you have written, you have covered it quite precisely.
The phrase comes in this case from the entertainment business - when producers want creators to make changes to their vision, they provide comments that are referred to as "notes".
@AlexanderVI @hatter @segfaul7 Canada can handle itself to a certain point at which point we will need our allies support, it won't be pretty BUT CANADA WILL NEVER BE THE 51st STATE.
If you really believe the rule based order no longer exists your as oblivious as the convicted felon currently leading the USA.
@AlexanderVI @hatter @segfaul7 I think we're all in the same boat here, I'm in New Zealand, we have a tiny military and not much money, and our two biggest trading partners are China and the US, either of which could wipe us out militarily or economically without even trying.
I know it doesn't help, since you're right next to the threat.
I also don't know what our leaders would do if the US really did try to squeeze you. And I'm sorry about that.
@mu @AlexanderVI @hatter @segfaul7 I actually can quite well imagine Luxon and Hipkins in that situation and there is only one person who I'd suspect would do the right thing. #NZpol
@va2lam @AlexanderVI @hatter @segfaul7 I think he is more likely to do the right thing, but it would be a place of immense pressure, and I don't know if anyone could guarantee that they would do the right thing.
And yeah, would be a nice move to join the EU (or just thinking about it and starting talks). This would make the orange man explode. And one good thing is: you can leave the EU again - in contrast to the US, because you still would be a souvereign country...
What Trump has said is actually covered by treaties the USA has signed. That means he is violating the US Constitution.
And the Charter of the United Nations.
And the Charter of NATO
And treaties with Canada, the UK, and others.
That is why the **world** is sitting up and taking notice. He is violating international law, which is the web of treaties - many created by the USA - to preserve the peace.
@realcaseyrollins It has a lot to do with your president saying that he wants to make Canada the 51st state. Repeatedly, in social media, in press conferences and in meetings with international leaders. He has been directly questioned about it, and has not backed off on the idea. We HAVE to take him at his word.
@realcaseyrollins That would suggest that we are for sale, we aren’t. Canada is a sovereign Nation, not just a chunk of land someone has laying around. So far he has started an economic war, and we have to prepare for when that doesn’t work.
@acouturier I personally think that #Trump isn't seriously interested in taking #Canada, at least by force, but to each their own. That certainly isn't the most shocking or unreasonable take I've hard this week.
@realcaseyrollins Here is the thing, serious or not, people do have to take what a world leader says at face value. And it is not a rare take up here. Here is link to a couple polls that just released thestar.com/politics/federal/e…
Y'all are definitely not overreacting. And right to be angry. He does mean it. And he'll keep focused on it because he's senile and it's one of the things he remembers.
My sincere hope is that no one here who might follow through will listen to him.
@Kathmandu We know you do, but we also know how many Americans (and Canadians, even) are not really paying attention, or hearing about it in passing from Bill Maher or something as the butt of some stupid joke. There are so many people who do not understand what annexation would mean, or how serious this actually is, on both sides.
We would get no benefit from joining the US, we'd just be opening ourselves up to being robbed
@Kathmandu and having a US-supported puppet government, would be virtually the same. Which is why we have to be extremely careful who is representing us, or conveying the situation to Canadians, they can not be US loyalists, and if they are, they need to be taken off the board.
great thread- although I’m shocked to see the number of people who still don’t understand what’s happening. At the G7 meeting Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, had to explain that Trump’s threats are no joke. Marco Rubio said it’s a difference of opinion between Trump and the govt of Canada. No wonder we’re so pissed off. I don’t want to hear people apologize for trump anymore. I want to hear what people are doing to fight his tyranny.
@mgrahamwoods What's laid bare here is that the US government isn't controlled by the American people, and doesn't work in our interests. It's controlled by approximately 1,000 rich families, and works pretty much exclusively in their interests. Historically, when societies are this far gone, it ends in stuff like the French Revolution.
@mrundkvist “reasonably” is doing some dangerously heavy lifting there when talking about a country drowning in propaganda across all media, with increasingly blatant barriers to electoral access for populations inclined to vote against reactionaries, in a political system that is structurally and operationally antidemocratic at every level.
The Constitution was never ratified in a democratic vote. States were added in an explicit manner to maintain slaver control. Political redistricting and the mechanisms of voting have only been put to popular question in exceptional cases (and the people have uniformly voted for more democratic control at every such occasion).
@mgrahamwoods does it though? The French revolution was a very historically significant even. Assuming America will get there is more American exceptionalism, imo.
Why wouldn't America end up more like China or Russia or Belarus or North Korea? I don't that it will, but I think Americans have tolerated violent repression, starvation of necessities, but withering inequalities and a significant level of double-speak propaganda for a long time.
Said this elsewhere just tonight, but it seems relevant:
> The One Percent's propaganda and tactics to stave off the next revolution have been quite effective here. They've created multiple generations of idiots and it's become inbred now. Epigenetics is a harsh mistress when the result is for the worse.
I don't think you comprehend what I said. That's a bold and incendiary accusation to make without any effort to confirm your interpretation. Further, your inclusion of "my friend" addressed to a complete stranger suggests a preemptive degree of derision or condescension that you'd probably rather not cop to explicitly.
@VulcanTourist @mgrahamwoods I was trying to be a bit gentle rather than going off on you about it, but OK.
Calling a population of people epigentically stupid is much more likely to be used against people who have lived for generations through oppression, stress, poverty and pollution than who's grand-daddies burned crosses. It's a very dangerous game to play loosely with, and casually using it as a way to explain the bad choices an electorate had made is bad discourse.
@VulcanTourist @mgrahamwoods it also makes the same mistakes that politicians have made repeatedly. Seeing opposition voters as stupid is counterproductive and more about soothing your own wounded pride. It does nothing to win you the next election, and rather unsurprisingly even stupid people bristle at being called stupid.
@VulcanTourist @mgrahamwoods meanwhile, I'd truly like to see a study that examines the epigentically effects of propaganda. If that's something you've come across, please do share. No sarcasm.
As I said moments ago in another reply, I've read of research that hints that such a thing is more possible than we previously believed. My memory is diagnosed capricious and I can't cite anything specific. I can't even recall a useful ballpark when I read the articles. If I find something in my browser history I'll share.
First, "stupid" is an inaccurate too-brief stand-in for a more involved discussion of the roots of self-delusion, a wonderful feature - not - dependent on the limbic brain and its degree of dominance.
Second, some recent research in epigenetics has highlighted just how much potential there is for behaviors of one generation to predispose future generations to the same behaviors. American propaganda has been a LIFELONG exposure for every American of multiple generations. It's not a trivial thing. I've been considering the effects of epigenetics for decades, and my experiences with raising cats with common mothers but different fathers has made me all the more curious.
Third, I wasn't referring to the choices made in one election, but rather choices and behaviors from no less than the last 50 years. Is there a culmination now? Possibly.
We can argue about whether that is too speculative, but I'm neither a eugenicist nor a Nazi.
@VulcanTourist @mgrahamwoods I didn't mean to imply you were a eugenicist. I said you were lining up to dance with them, because the assertion that people are genetically 'idiots', which sounds a lot like stupid to me, is the kind of thing Nazis like.
Anything I've read about epigentic intelligence has been exploring why IQ has increased in the last 100 years. I would genuinely be interested to read what lit this interest for you, if you do ever happen to come across it again.
Re: epigenetics and IQ, the first question I conceive is whether one generation's experiences with standardized IQ tests or perhaps just that form of testing more generally might lead to adaptive synaptic changes that then get subtly encoded as a predisposition? I'm not historian enough to know how testing in education and elsewhere has evolved over centuries or millennia, but I suspect most of what we recognize as "tests" is a fairly recent phenomena, perhaps even less than a century old?
@VulcanTourist @mgrahamwoods oh, it's all so loaded. Better off observing it from a distance without taking any of it as gospel, and certainly without drawing big conclusions from it.
I would be far less worried if it was just the plan "of one man", in reality there's a whole cabal of billionaires trying to finally realise their dreams behind him and this is dangerous AF. There's a very frightening video about this, not specifically about Canada but about the powers and ideas behind his general actions, I will put a link in my next post with a CW, because you should bring all your spoons for watching it. Sorry if this sounds weird, but it stresses me out.
@monkeyborg as an US citizen, I endorse all actions to put the hurt on our businesses and authoritarian gov. Those of us who give a shit and can are doing the same thing from the inside.
Keep it up!
We hope to call you brother and sister again, and as an independent country.
The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.
Let's say this does somehow happen - no violence, no armed conflict, now Canada is a new state. Or maybe a couple of states.
This means 2 or 4 more senators in the US senate, and a bunch more members of the house of representatives.
Canada in general is way more diverse than the US and much more left leaning. The US senate is already pretty balanced, adding 2 or 4 more senators will shift it strongly to the left, which in the US means democrats. Same for the house of representatives.
There is no world in which the republicans will allow this to happen, and the democrats will not participate; plus they're in the minority now.
@pq1r I am sorry you are wrong, because liberal voices will instantly be shattered by Musks minions through blackmailing and suppression. The USA are a ruthless and mercyless dictatorship run by a mighty lunatic and are n o t to be trust anymore in anyway. Compassionate greetings from Germany, where after the recent election some elected politicians consider to copy Trumps behavior. This is proprietarism and fascism!
@pq1r You're making the assumption that the USA, "expanded" version of not, is going to continue having free and fair elections. Revise this assumption.
@beecycling well, you're right. The entire premise of Canada joining the US as a state hangs on the US being democratic. There's no meaning to states and representation if there US federal government becomes a dictatorship. That would just be one country conquering another.
By the way, the US doesn't have a lot of good experience doing that either. Lots of bad experience though.
There is only faint hope of repairing the damage The Donald has done to Canada-USA relations. I don't think even if the next #USA President were an Obama or Biden that it would move the needle of Canadian public opinion. After seven decades of living in Canada, I've never seen such cool determination to see this through - decoupling #Canada from the USA. I believe the damage is done, and it's permanent. Canada will come out stronger, but it will take time...🇨🇦
@joetourist I doubt if it will be permanent just because of a crazy man in the white house, but It will be if they let it continue. I think Trump has aligned with Russia to help start a world war. Trump has been bought and paid for by Putin. I shutter to think about war with the USA.
@Scienceisnotopinions There's been a lot of those, actually, but for "some reason" the "free" press in the USA hasn't exactly been rushing to report it.
"I wonder why that might be?" she added while tapping at the ownership list of mass news media.
@the5thColumnist @joetourist please stop with Bernie. We don’t need another old white guy, especially one who has never done much. He talks a good game but what has he accomplished?
@joetourist @gemelliz Only if we are united and willing to fight and suffer through this, will we come out stronger. We can not cede an inch to the Americans. And as I wrote in a separate post, my family arrived here from the US, decades ago -- I don't want animosity towards the american people. But keeping the border where it is is non-negotiable, and we must be willing to fight to keep it.
@joetourist Agreed, but I'm more pessimistic than you on this. I've said a few times that I believe it will take at least one generation, and possibly more, to restore the goodwill that Canada has traditionally had for the USA and its people.
So, ~25 years, or 6 presidential terms for one generation. And that clock doesn't start until the USA's leadership becomes reliably sane again and starts treating us properly. As long as the political landscape in the USA remains "the very next election could bring back a MAGA lunatic", that clock doesn't run.
There's no way this damage can be repaired with just an election of one sane president - i.e. your "faint hope" I don't think exists at all.
@cazabon @joetourist I think an important factor is what is to become of the former US? Is it going to descend to gangsterism like Russia? Will it even survive as one entity? What will happen to its refugees?
@NovaNaturalist @joetourist The film Civil War (2024) had a pretty concrete idea of what could happen to the USA. Other than the bizarre narrative choice to have Texas and California united in one of the secessionist movements, it seems a pretty realistic portrayal of a possible direction.
@joetourist Yes it's permanent. Canadians will never trust America again. Considering it is trade that enriches a society, Trump's war on trade will permanently crippled America's ability to establish profitable trade relationships.
time has run out some time ago, the US as a western nation is gone, and it certainly won't be back while this GOP exists. boycot is ok but not sufficient, fascism needs to be combatted, if not it'll destroy everyone, and their ex-allies first, history knows, do the US people know ?, it doesn't look like it, they're too nationalistic to know, they still think the US is "the greatest country" - they are our enemy now, better accept that quickly and try not to perish
And you have every right to be, we've allowed a Russian Asset to become prez, not once but twice. I hope Canada joins NATO. At the rate we are goin, civil war ain't far away. These rich Cocksuckerz-n-their A.I. Drone/Robot Super-Dooper-DOOMSDAY SHELTERZ. So when it all collapses under the weight of this runaway train called capital"ISM" they can retire to shelterz-n-emerge master race???
I agree...and I'm an American. I never voted for him. I saw him and Muskrat coming 20 years ago. I really did, and people didn't understand what I was talking about.
The reason Trump keeps throwing around mentions of World War III isn't actually because he believes anyone else is going to cause it but because Project 2025 has coached him to cause it.
@oneiros For my part, I would happily swap my US passport for either a Canadian or California one. I haven't moved politically. The US just keeps moving farther and farther away from me.
Many people in the US ended up here by accident. When my family fled the Russian Czars, my grandfather came through Canada to the US. He could have easily stayed in Montreal.
This is not a struggle between nation states. This is a struggle between fascism and democracy. Many in the US want Canada to lead the way to resist the rise of fascism and your resistance helps us. Democracy and liberty depend on Canada standing up against the criminal and sex offender in power in the White House.
I follow news closely and half of these statements were new to me—imagine how badly informed the Fox news crowd must be? or those who only get their news from certain podcasts or YouTube channels?
Can confirm. There's almost universal outrage. The psychological damage to the relationship with the US is extreme and personal.
Example: I was in an elevator with a number of people and a young delivery person was wearing a jacket with a us flag patch on it. After he got off someone remarked "He's brave wearing that around here" everyone replied in agreement. Six months ago no one would've noticed.
holy shit, i only knew half of that and still thought the anger was totally warranted. Respect from the states. Fuck us up. Just remember to take us good ones in as refugees if we collapse over here plz
„Anstatt mit Zöllen auf amerikanische Waren und Dienstleistungen zu antworten, könnten die betroffenen Länder aufhören, das geistige Eigentum amerikanischer Unternehmen in ihrem Hoheitsgebiet zu schützen.“
THIS IS MASSIVE. Portugal has cancelled the order for F-35s from the US and will replace their F-16s with European fighters. “We have to be able to count on the predictability of our allies, which is no longer the case with the United States." More EU states to come. Winning
Share this post on reddit and also promote Mastodon for Europeans to join this platform
@tuga @skyfaller @Algae_X To be fair, Russia Bad is true (and has been since the Tsars), it just doesn't mean America Good.
All Empires Bad is something I can get behind.
(And note: the EU isn't an empire, because countries only join it voluntarily, and even if it's a terrible idea they're allowed to leave without hindrance)
The Portuguese Air Force is no longer expected to acquire the 5th generation F-35 fighter from Lockheed Martin, all due to the review of the US position
@jrp agree but unfortunately when there are stupid and psychopath people in power in US(A)SR our choice are limited and we should be prepared to defend ourself by any means. We have to follow the Ukrainian example.
The statista article states that Europe has 178 weapon systems and USA has 30, their variety can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the context, but it doesn't replace their sheer number.The sipri article shows that Europe imports a lot and Russia exports less. The military might lies mainly in the sheer number of weapon and the cannon fodder available for the slaughter, whatever is the tech level or the variety of the weapons systems.
Europe scrambled to send few spare F-16 to Ukraine. The weapon production lines are so underpowered atm that the whole EEA+UK struggle to send enough ammo and guns to Ukraine. Totally unprepared for a long war now, totally.
Of course Europe needs weapons to avoid being consumed by fascism (maybe too late for you in Saint Petersburg).
Without arming, Europe will either be invaded by fascist Russia, or, in the weakened rump of Europe, have a fascist government imposed upon it by Russia.
Given that Ukraine is currently suffering from an unprovoked invasion after disarming, your pro Kremlin talking point is even more ridiculous than it was historically.
Independence through continued weakness is as ludicrous as it sounds. Peace through deterrence is and always has been the correct answer.
As Carl von Clausewitz said “To secure peace is to prepare for war.”
@Chowderman 🍴 You are obviously reading things into what i said, and not reading the links i sent. I am generally not into starting flame wars with unknowns on social media. I do think, that this is the wrong way to discuss things, especially when the discussion partners involved tend to take dogmatic view points. Dogmatism isn't going to solve anything. At last, to conclude this: Fascism is a social problem at first, not a military-related one. We're having lots of issues with this in different states of Europe, and we'll have to deal with that on a society level, and between exactly the people involved there. No arms are needed for this. Have a good day with it 😀
Even if the USA weren't becoming the most evil version of itself, and even if every jet fighter weren't stealing food and other necessities from the poor and oppressed...
The F-35 is a garbage fighter jet, isn't it? Does anyone even like it? Maybe it has modern capabilities that an A-10 Warthog or whatever doesn't, but that doesn't mean it's well-made. Features aren't all that matters in a product.
Why did everyone agree to buy this junk? Are other options just as bad?
No the F35 is inferior in close combat, has a quite useless but impressive vertical take-off feature included in one model, but it dominates on stealth and long range lethality. One-on-one with good intel, the F35 wins before you know it's there, it's a good fighter jet. But it is now unreliable, so it's worth shit. The problem now is selling back this shit and getting rid of the contracts.
Ministro da Defesa e líder do CDS diz que o seu partido está ao lado de Montenegro “de corpo inteiro” no caso Spinumviva e espera que não haja interferências da Justiça durante a campanha eleitoral.
@6d03 He didn't really take it off the table, only stated that with recent geopolitical developments and situation in the US maling them unreliable partners they have to carefully consider what plane should replace F-16 (if I understood the article correctly, that is). The post is clickbait at best, fake news at worst. Mastodon and fedi were supposed to be better, not biased the other way. But humans be humans, not reading carefully, not checking sources. *sigh*
This is generally been reported on the last few days? The EU is creating an initiative to issue euros specifically so EU members purchase military equipment within the EU.
Which is going to hurt the American military industrial complex. Arm sales in Europe help maintain a consistent revenue stream for them. They won’t have it anymore.
The Portuguese Air Force is no longer expected to acquire the 5th generation F-35 fighter from Lockheed Martin, all due to the review of the US position
this is an excellent time to live in a country with a massive investment in two catapult-less aircraft carriers totally unusable by any fixed-wing aircraft except the F-35 STOVL variant
Think you should be careful here. It does not say that they 'cancelled an order'. Rather that they have decided not to purchase F-35s as was their plan.
@mastodonmigration Effectively it is the same thing. Lockheed knew that order was in the pipeline, even if it wasn't signed, sealed, and delivered yet.
@espanabizarra Estos días, en algún hilo de tw, comentaban un artículo sobre los contratos leoninos para la compra de los F35. Pruebas que sólo se pueden hacer en EEUU, no se puede poner software propio, repuestos que trabajan just in time, sistemas centralizados en redes propias que pueden desconectar y dejarte con un pisapapeles volador carísimo. Un chollo.
The Portuguese Air Force is no longer expected to acquire the 5th generation F-35 fighter from Lockheed Martin, all due to the review of the US position
"Portugal has cancelled the order for F-35s from the US and will replace their F-16s with European fighters".
And so right they are. Today we have a US president who is a Russian asset, because what happened in 1987. Support for the fighter planes we bought from US is no longer sure. They already stopped support for the F16 in Ukraine. Donald wants to attack Canada and Denmark. Europe must build it's own military force, independant from the orange painted idiot in Washington.
The Portuguese Air Force is no longer expected to acquire the 5th generation F-35 fighter from Lockheed Martin, all due to the review of the US position
@deirdrebeth @chrisod Bombardier doesn't really exist anymore. The rail business has been sold to Alstom, the C-Series to Airbus (now known as the A220)
given that all the American tech buddies fall in line behind #Trump , to me #Mastodon is one of few choices left. It’s independent and it’s #European. Hopefully more people keep joining.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @yacc143 @Stefan___ In an interview with Portuguese media outlet Público published on Mar. 13, 2025, Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo dismissed the possibility of ordering the fifth-generation fighter, aligning with other European nations reconsidering their defense procurement strategies. theaviationist.com/2025/03/13/…
Canada still thinks the USA is an ally, despite its daily claims it intends to take over its northern neighbour. So we still intend to buy US warplanes from our declared enemy. That will work well…
@d_mayhood dave ita takes time to change things but the process can start. Here in EU not many countries dropped the F 35 contracts. But if we demand it many more will especially because there are alternatives for example the Euro planes.
Even if they are not as good as an F 35 overall they are close and that is all it takes. Also to have reliable weapons, if USA holds the buttons, not good
Ministro da Defesa e líder do CDS diz que o seu partido está ao lado de Montenegro “de corpo inteiro” no caso Spinumviva e espera que não haja interferências da Justiça durante a campanha eleitoral.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Stefan___ remember that trump is working for putin, who will be perfectly happy to see the US military industrial complex disintegrate.
Will be interesting to see if those industrialists get angry enough to fix the situation.
@ArchaeoIain it depends on sources but its like around 1 bil Euro for cancelation paid to France. Australia lost a lot and EU eventually won because i understood those submarines were sold to Holland? have to research more
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Stefan___ I expect that the White House will be quiet. The rage that is displayed is for television, and I doubt that Trump is going to want to publicly acknowledge the harm that he is wreaking on the US defence industry,
Good! Hit the US where it hurts the oligarchs most! As a US citizen, I'm ready to pay a heavy price for the many morally indefensible decisions we've made over the years, with electing Trump to savage our nation and the world being the latest and perhaps fatal moral injury.
Europe, please keep this up. Call his bluff every single time. Humiliate the orange one. Show the world that his strong-arm tactics simply reveal his deep insecurity and weakness. Give our spineless politicians an example to follow.
I'm not completely convinced that a Eurofighter can shoot down an F-16 or an Su-35, but at the same time we're not in that world any more. Also anything can shoot down an F-35.
The F-35 program has had numerous problems since its inception. It has also been an enormous financial drain. There have been proposals to replace it with a new, lower-cost (and hopefully simpler and more reliable) fighter. nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz…
Keep it coming world, our idiot voting population need to be reminded repeatedly that their stupidity and ignorance has consequences. Consider throwing a lot more tariffs that monetarily affect our simple friends in the south and middle of the country 👍
@chowderman @Stefan___ Oh, don’t you worry I have faith in her ability to indulge in outrage especially for their base. In this area, they are particularly genius.
@yacc143 @GhostOnTheHalfShell @Stefan___ EU probably not going to be wanting to export steel all that eagerly either, might need it. So much for tariffs.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Stefan___ I expect Trump will paint this as a betrayal by an ungrateful ally and all the more reason to withdraw from NATO. He’s intentionally isolating the U.S. just like he’s intentionally ruining its economy. Abusive boyfriend behavior on a geopolitical scale.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Stefan___ yeah. But my stupid country has right-wing leaders right now, and they insist that they have use the big loans to buy from abroad still!
The Air Force has showed interest in acquiring this type of aircraft but no decision was ever taken by government. Considering operational costs, it would never be more than a small squadron, if ever.
Mind here that when the interview was made the government was already in care-taking status, after failing a confidence vote last Tuesday. No actual decision was made.
The U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff wants the service to develop an affordable, lightweight fighter to replace hundreds of aging F-16s and complement a small fleet of sophisticated F-35 stealth fighters.
The F-35 is also a bit of an upgrade mess, being nearly 20 years old and with an airframe that is prone to cracking. At any one time the majority are stuck in the maintenance hangar. It's designed to only use US ordnance, which has availability bottlenecks.
Sounds optimistic! But maybe "semi-fake" news: No contract was cancelled, and the coalition government that made the suggestion not to buy US when the time comes might not have a say anyhow - just lost a vote of no confidence.
Strengthen our European community by choosing local brands and services. Our platform makes it easy to discover and support businesses that contribute to our shared livelihood.
Thanks for sharing! Do you know if there are also similar websites for ethical UK products/brands? I guess the Ethical Consumer Magazine is one, but it's subscription-only.
@ClaudiaTranslates Unfortunately I don't know about one, but I want to include UK products on my website europeanmade.eu/ because I focus on the geographical Europe, rather than just the union (excluding Russia though). I also feel it's only a matter of time till we have some kind of treaty back in place and the UK and EU will come closer again.
Strengthen our European community by choosing local brands and services. Our platform makes it easy to discover and support businesses that contribute to our shared livelihood.
A business journey I'm doing soon can either take 1hr 45mins by public transport (in and out of Dublin), or 25mins by car. It should be easier and faster to use public transport. #mastodaoine
Is it a direct journey or a cross-city/multi mode journey? I agree with your point but I guess some journeys will inevitably be quicker by private direct transport. To me the problem seems to be that people see even the direct journeys as taking a lot longer!
I'm Irish living in Limoges, I'm lucky. I walk to work, as does one of my sons. The other and my wife take the bus and my daughter takes the train twice a week because she is a boarder in another town. We are so lucky. When I lived in Dublin I took the train, later the dart except when we had a week of snow in the 80's and I walked 13 km to work. Public transport or cycling is the only answer to the climate changes. Campaign against the car and for public transport.
Maybe some of you are interested on #politics of all European countries or Canada.
Offen I can follow everything except which #politicalparty stands for what. Expect Volt and Greene in Europe, who is the far right, right, left, far left, liberals. Has the country this bandwith of parties?
Is there a table for comparation? Currently I've read about elections and maybe New election in Portugal.
What are austrian Neos stand for? Neos means something different in germany (neo Nazis).
the "Neos" in austria are a neo-liberal party. They target progressives, argue like liberals, but act like conservatives (at least in terms of economic policies)
Years ago at this point i thought there were an actual progressive party and even voted for them. I was pretty disappointed when i found out how they voted in Parliament.
Mostly when I read about these parties there's some sort of (editorial) comment about where they sit on the political spectrum. After reading about them a few times I can even remember what their political bias is without prompting. So it's not a big problem for me.
The place on the spectrum depends wildly on the electoral system. You might present yourself as left/liberal/green / conservative in campaigns, but when forced to forge coalitions, this might shift and soften and gravitate towards the centre. Whereas in FPTP systems you can basically do what you want with your victory.
The European search engines (and competitors) Ecosia 🇩🇪 and Qwant 🇫🇷 are joining forces to build their own European search index!
And the best part? It'll be open and available to all of us!
This is great news for other small search engines, start-ups and the AI industry, as they'll now have the chance to use this index instead of the ones offered by Microsoft and Google.
You had me until "the AI industry", which is already stealing anything it can get hold of. No need to pander to them as they burn sucker money to produce nothing of value.
Some people asked about the deadlines of the project, and Qwant blog gives some ideas about it.
Quotes:
"Ecosia and Qwant reveal a new joint venture, European Search Perspective (EUSP), to develop and build search engine infrastructure in Europe.
Starting in 2025, the venture will aim to serve improved search engine results in both the French and German language, based on Qwant technologies that have been totally redesigned since 2023.
The firm has plans to start serving Qwant and Ecosia’s France-based search engine traffic by the Q1 in 2025, and Germany by the end of the year."
i work in LineageOS support. And i relatively often see that talk about "root". For many it feels like rooting, when they unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery. Or do they think it is the android analogue to jailbreak?
@librewolf @fdroidorg @kde @LineageOS For installing lineageos, you need to unlock the bootloader. In these terms, as I'm just user and no contributer, it is called rooting. And that is how people will find tutorials.
I also need root for some apps like Magisk. With magisk one can pretend Apps the phone is still locked.
@tomtom Can you fill it in a copy and paste text? I primarly use Motorola devices, like the brand. I guess there is some progress as I started with cyanogenmod and inofficial do it yourself updates. Let me know, how I can improve and simplify it.
"We are concerned, given reporting of prior Russian attempts to recruit groups of people in the UK willing to carry out criminal acts here, that this network is designed to recruit people to carry out acts of violence, and that they may already be in the process of grooming people for it" Gregory Davis, Hope Not Hate
Lower energy costs. Stronger competitiveness. A more secure future.
We are taking action to make energy more affordable for all Europeans.
Our Action Plan for Affordable Energy will: ⚡ Lower energy costs 🔌 Integrate our energy market 💼 Attract investments and delivery in clean energy and infrastructure 🛠️ Prepare for potential crises
Driving energy prices down and Europe’s economy up.
The EU is at a crucial turning point for its competitiveness, decarbonisation and security, with a clear need to act. Structurally high energy costs are hurting our citizens and businesses.
Nuclear power is extremely costly, mind you. Invest in renewables. Kick asses where new nuclear power plants are planned (they will be operative when it‘s too late anyway).
@TeachrDigital Well, to be fair already built nuclear power plants don't cost much, it is cost effective. But they are outdated, fragile, spread intolerable waste, war, and represent an existential threat (accidentally and hypersonically). New nuclear plants should be banned plain and simple, the old ones should be progressively dismantled and replaced by 'cleaner' stuff. Related lobbies should be muted and punished.
We have oceans, a moon, magma, cytochrome, and a damn STAR !
@TeachrDigital The European Union is formed ultimately of three components : the Common Market, the Coal and Steel Community, and the Atomic Energy Community. It is a fundamental responsibility of the EU to promote the development and use of atomic energy for the economic and political benefit of Europe.
Fortunately, despite what you think, fission energy has proven very economical and quick to deploy. Renewable energy? The short lives of the facilities are a serious limit.
It is a bit annoying that the currently biggest (25%) source of electricity in the EU, which also happens to be clean and sustainable with low operation and fuel costs, and dispatchable, enhancing the grid stability, improving grid use efficiency, and reducing the system costs, …
… is only mentioned in passing deep in the actual REPowerEU documents.
Existing #nuclear power. It already works. SMRs are nice for their niches, but LMRs are more important for the bulk.
If you really want to lower energy costs, make it easy for American scientists who recently were arbitrarily and illegally fired from the USA Department of Energy to find equivalent jobs in Europe! I know many, and all of them were passionate hardworking people who wanted to serve humanity.
🚀 Morning check-in: Still dreaming of roaming, research funding, and real influence in #Europe? Me too. Let’s stop dreaming and start doing. Let’s #RejoinEU and take our seat back at the table. 💫 #FBPE
By tagging I created a group for europeans and one for Schengen members.
If you want to get in touch with some people assiciated with these groups, Collie the group and tag a group on and post. It is another way to follow like following hashtags for people Tagung problems using # in federation.
A screenshot of a tweet from user "puddle" with the username "[@]Erinnwilken08". The tweet reads: "This shits beyond disgusting. The richest man in the world rejoicing at cutting off necessary support to the 'parasite class'. He's saying that the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, the elderly are subhuman compared to him bc they lack his wealth and privilege and therefore they don't deserve vital services. This should make you angry. This is class warfare, and there's a very big chance you (like most people) and him aren't on the same team."
Bulgaria claims it is fully ready to adopt the euro.
The EU's poorest country has met most of the Maastricht criteria for joining the eurozone, keeping public debt low and making huge efforts to keep the budget deficit below 3%. Reducing inflation was the last condition to be met.
The final assessment of Bulgaria's readiness lies with the European Central Bank and the European Commission.
I wish the EU would offer an accelerated path to membership for Canada, that would be swell. And maybe nuclear umbrella protection from France (we have lots of uranium btw 😉 Heck if the UK and Ukraine joined it would be something like 600 million people, that's a heck of a common market with LOTS of natural resources.
@mark Don't forget all the knowledge and skills people have. It's as valuable as natural ressources or a big market. And don't get me started on culture...
Canada has to become an EU member, asap. Donald ̶d̶̶u̶̶c̶̶k̶ Trump would be history in the very moment. I am not sure if he will die from a heart attack or stroke, but he will just collaps for sure.
Of course; but with all those resources PLUS energy PLUS German auto industry/engineering and Dutch semi fabs, dude look out. Global economic and tech super power and beacon of democracy and hope overnight. Trump, Putin and Xi's worst nightmare.
And don' t forget, that the battlefield in the Ukraine is just the loud one. Your post refers to an only little more silent one at the border from Canada. Edit: Actually, I was triggered by the comments. The original post is completely different. Sorry for that.
SamuelJohnson
in reply to Martin Seeger • • •camwilson
in reply to Martin Seeger • • •