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The MOST inept administration in US history.

'Shocking recklessness': Trumpโ€™s defense department accidentally texted war plans to reporter
alternet.org/hegseth-yemen-truโ€ฆ

#PeteHegseth #Reckless #Trumpkakistocracy #GOPIdiot #FoxNews #GOPRapist #GOPDrunkard #WhiteSupremacist #Racist #NoRepublicansEverAgain #TrumpDidThis #USPol

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Tesla is under investigation in Canada for falsifying thousands of sales to game our rebate system.

What if some of the vandalism at Tesla dealerships in the USA were simply insurance fraud scams?

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Wow. The US Treasury Dept. today announced it is lifting sanctions on Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service that state-sponsored hackers from North Korea have been massively using to launder their stolen billions.

"Based on the Administrationโ€™s review of the novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring within evolving technology and legal environments, we have exercised our discretion to remove the economic sanctions against Tornado Cash as reflected in Treasuryโ€™s Monday filing in Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury."

home.treasury.gov/news/press-rโ€ฆ

h/t to @ncweaver for the heads up. Weaver said: "The US government has just said "money laundering is legal as long as the process is automated."

"Every wei that flows through Tornado Cash, even if 'legitimate,' is helping the North Korean nuclear regime by hiding illegitimate flows," Weaver told me.

Here's Treasury sanctioning Tornado Cash in 2022: home.treasury.gov/news/press-rโ€ฆ

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User interface menu control options. #ui #ux
#ui #ux
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52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons

Stage 12/2025 completed

Cascais - Guincho the only โ€œsafeโ€ route today.
What an incredible wind!
The road became a dune

#52weeks52halfmarathons
#halfmarathon
#running

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Oh, look, Mr Free-Speech-Absolutist is up to his usual tricks when authoritarians ask him to suppress the speech of opposition figures...
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๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ๐Ÿ’ฅ
Via Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"Tonight an unbelievable **34,000 people** gathered for our Denver rally to take on billionaires and win our country back.

This was the largest political gathering in Denver since Obama in 2008.

Also bigger than the 2024 DNC.

And the largest ever rally in Bernieโ€™s career (and obviously, mine too)."

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in reply to Bellison22

  1. People gathering, to listen to politicians.
  2. Politicians delivering speeches.
  3. Politicians telling people to vote for Democrats, in 2026.

That's it.

That's the plan "to take on billionaires and win our country back", while some 80 #DOGE crooks with laptops continue with dismantling the US, this very moment, day by day.

#USpol #elections #Sanders #AOC

in reply to katzenberger ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

I find this pretty over simplified and personally, I'd absolutely much rather see leaders reaching out and talking to thousands of people than hiding from American people and even avoiding town halls
If you read the global responses and see what other countries feel about it, it may (or may not) change your perspective.

I don't profess to know the answers but I sure as hell support anyone working for solutions....but I do see your use of tags to make your thoughts known.

This entry was edited (1 year ago)
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Trump Halted an Agent Orange Cleanup. That Puts Hundreds of Thousands at Risk for Poisoning.
โ€”

Diplomats in Vietnam warned Washington that halting USAIDโ€™s efforts to clean up the massive deposit of postwar pesticides would be a catastrophe for public health and relations with a key strategic partner in Asia.
propublica.org/article/trump-hโ€ฆ

#News #Trump #Vietnam #USAID #Environment #PublicHealth #USPolitics

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More than five years ago, I wrote about the American conservatives who admire Russia dictatorship. Now they run America theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/โ€ฆ

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in reply to Anne Applebaum

@juuhaa can we show them all this? mastodon.social/@j2bryson/1142โ€ฆ


Episode 6 really shows you how and why the Oligarchs learnt to manipulate democracy (towards the beginning). But it's also pretty violent, viewer discretion is advised. youtube.com/watch?v=1YogE8ZAVTโ€ฆ #TraumaZone #democracy #US #Russia #ussr

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I hear people are doing a surprise-pikachu about Discord's new ad push?
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0โ€ฆ

Truly surprising that a *checks notes* proprietary, centralized, VC-funded platform started enshittifying the moment it gained enough market share to make it very difficult for people to flow elsewhere. ๐Ÿคฏ

Nobody saw that coming! :blobcat0_0:

:blobcatcoffee:

#Discord #WalledGardens

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source

Juho Mรคntysalo

@TheDailyBurble
We may be speaking past each other. I was talking of products on saturated markets such as cola-drinks or clothes. Also in general international companies are badly in touch with the needs of local populace, so they find it easier to change needs.

I've worked in marketing as well (briefly), but more importantly have two degrees that border the subject.

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source

Cabbidges

@iju
The fantasy ads are whale-sales, short term impulse buyers. The (far) bigger market is people who are looking for a product that addresses their needs at a reasonable price.

To get from A to B, I'm never going to need a Tesla (simplifying) but a few percent of people think they do, so you can overprice and underdeliver on that. For a short while.

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The incomparable Ceratina cobaltina, a small carpenter bee from south Texas. #nativebees #bees #Ceratina #insects
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On this day, March 17, in 2003 PM Jean Chretien told GW Bush that we would not be participating in their invasion of Iraq, given the flimsy evidence for WMDs and belief that ongoing UN monitoring was effective.

Hindsight showed that to be a solid decision. No WMDs were ever found in Iraq - the war, which claimed between 200,000 and a million human lives (depending on how you count bodies,) was waged under false pretenses.

Then-Opposition Leader Stephen Harper sided with the US.

#CdnPoli

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Rosemary is back at the Federal Building in Pittsburgh,
53 years later
This entry was edited (1 year ago)

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catflyhigh

@FelisCatus @edgeofeurope
I knew it, that I knew the story.
It's from 2017 43 years apart.

""I actually reproduced the sign using a projector and tracing the original onto the new sign," Twyman told PennLive."

pennlive.com/news/2017/03/pa_wโ€ฆ

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For #AncientSiteSunday this fabulous aerial view of the Acropolis at #Athens - a site I would love to be right now!

๐Ÿ“ท Christos Kapoulas

#Greece #archaeology

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Trump wants to deport a legal resident for supporting Palestine, but Jan. 6 rioters? โ€˜Very fine people.โ€™
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Default theme changed


I have changed the default theme for Friendica.World.
It is still the 'Frio' theme but now with the 'Bookface' customisation, set to 'Auto Color Mode'.

The auto color mode means it switches between Light and Dark mode depending on your computer's setting.

If you want to change the theme and/or customisation, you can do so here: friendica.world/settings/displโ€ฆ
You'll find the theme under 'General Theme Settings' and the customisation (Appearance) under 'Custom Theme Settings'

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First post!


So, I'm trying this instead of Facebook. I know it's clunkier right now, but hopefully, I can convince people to start coming over and joining it.

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Customizing Bookface for Yourself


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No File Button In Bookface


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U.S. newspapers should do one giant headline: Trump/Musk Declare War on U.S., Americans.
Then subheads: Tariffs on allies, catastrophic cuts to aid and research, and betraying Ukraine are acts of lunacy.
First sentence: Acting as Putinโ€™s puppet by turning on Ukraine, putting tariffs on allies, destroying diplomacy and scientific research, and decimating the government and economy while resegregating people is tantamount to declaring war on America.
#usa #trump #musk
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Chanced on this one while wandering around downtown Cincinnati at dusk yesterday

Sign story here: bl.ag/meet-chuck-keiger-sam-caโ€ฆ

Sadly, further photography was abandoned after an unsavoury character started making a beeline for me across the parking lot. Maybe I'll get a opportunity to return for some closer shots of the wall...

#Ghostsigns #Cincinnati #Ohio #SignPainters #Painters #Decorators

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Observations:

1. My time poking around facebook has shown me how many people manage to make social media a positive tool and means of staying connected and organized despite the software often working against this.

2. To propose that social media be positive and useful is to insist itโ€™s an effective organization tool. This is why big social media is content with their image as a โ€œviceโ€ โ€” that is where they want to be.

3. The positive uses of social media are basically repressed.

This entry was edited (1 year ago)

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in reply to myrmepropagandist

Social media can be a force for good the fact that so many people see it as the opposite says more about the forces that dominate โ€œthe marketโ€ and the mistake we make allowing human social networks to be monetized at all.
in reply to myrmepropagandist

I could suggest that there are powerful wealthy people who plot to destroy effective social networks. It can seem that way some of the time. But, this is inventing a romantic opponent, an arch villain with more respect for potential power of "ordinary people" than any of the people who cause these things to happen, mostly without even knowing what they have destroyed.

One advantage we still retain? The people who could stop effective social networks don't really think they are possible.

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in reply to myrmepropagandist

A thing I have been trying to do is stop thinking about people's behavior in terms of their intentional motivations and more in terms of "what would this person tend to do, if they act according to the motivations in front of them?"

It is maybe not fair, but I am increasingly questioning how much of what ANYONE does is "intentional". They say "a system is what it does". Is a person a system?

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in reply to mcc

@mcc one of the most useful meetings I ever had was when we were spinning up a new team, and when discussing things like our testing strategy (geomean or arithmetic mean for composite benchmark scores?) and meeting schedule (daily standup y/n?), the manager would ask โ€œwhat incentives does this create?โ€

Vastly more useful way of looking at it than individual preferences

@mcc

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in reply to myrmepropagandist

Totally agree. Back in 2008 I got into a debate with Clay Shirky at the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference. At the time I was very optimistic about social networks possibilities to create change -- mybarackobama.com was hugely impactful, as was the One Million Strong for Barack Facebook group. His take was that they were going to shut it down ... and that's exactly what happened.

But the potential's still there! It's just a question of how to manifest it ... privacy.thenexus.today/if-not-โ€ฆ

This entry was edited (1 year ago)

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Make Diseases Great Again!!!!

#AgentBrainWorm #RFK #HHS #PublicHealth #Vaccines #RFKisNoKennedy #RFKPredator #RFKGrifter #USPol

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This might be the highlight of the year: I got tickets to see Cate Blanchett perform in "The Seagull" at the Barbican in London! ๐Ÿ˜ฑ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

All the tickets had been sold out for months, and they just released few new ones today. OMFG, this is absolutely incredibleโ€”Iโ€™m so excited! ๐Ÿคฉ๐Ÿคฉ๐Ÿคฉ

You might still be able to find a few tickets from todayโ€™s release here: barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/โ€ฆ

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in reply to Marina Aรญsa

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I celebrated my first month in London by seeing Cate Blanchett live in The Seagull at the Barbican.

I didnโ€™t love the playโ€”felt like a chaotic scriptโ€”but being just a meter away from her was incredible, and her performance was amazing.

She and Kodi Smit-McPhee (on her right side) also star in the "Disclaimer" show on Apple TV+, which is set in London, and I recommend it!

in reply to Marina Aรญsa

Theater, museums, concerts, meetups, and cultural activities are my favorite part of London. Madrid has a great and huge cultural offer too, although it lacks English-language theater and shows, they are in Spanish instead.

I've always felt that Barcelona is way behind when it comes to cultural events and museums, which is a shame.

What I do miss about Barcelona is its fantastic public infrastructureโ€”especially the transportation systemโ€”along with its modern public libraries, night safety, and the convenience of having everything packed into a very compact, beautiful and functional city.

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So sad to not see the US flag on the world stage anymore but that is what the electorate chose sadly.

I blame it on Republicans unlike many of you who are choosing to blame what the nonvoting Americans chose to do on Democrats rather than put the blame on your friends who didn't bother voting.

in reply to Kevin Leecaster

๐Ÿค” One's really gotta wonder, whether there's any member in the current administration who's NOT an asset of Putin & who'd have the balls to stand up to Trump & show him (& Vance) the door out to the way to Moscow, where they can share a bed of honor with Bashar al Assad.

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Liverpool Docks from Wapping (Liverpool) by John Atkinson Grimshaw c. 1870
(Private Collection)
I was wondering if the church was still there? I know much of this was bombed in WW2.

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At the behest of Putin--in 1987.

That Time Trump Spent Nearly $100,000 On An Ad Criticizing U.S. Foreign Policy In 1987
buzzfeednews.com/article/ilanbโ€ฆ

#AgentKrasnov #ArrestTrump #Putin #USPol

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If you are living outside of the US, whether a citizen or not, and have plans to visit the US, you should probably cancel those plans.

Itโ€™s possible the vast majority of tourists will be fine. But the risk is no longer just being turned away. The risk is being put into a private detention camp indefinitely. Even if you havenโ€™t broken any laws.

#USpol
mastodon.social/@randahl/11409โ€ฆ


German tourist and her friend wants to make art on a holiday trip in the US, but Trump's goons decide she is probably there for illegal work and throw her in a detention facility, just like MAGA wants it.

I hope the German government helps this couple sue the US to kingdom come.

kpbs.org/news/border-immigratiโ€ฆ

Via @mc


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