Man who alleged hundreds were raped and buried in Indian temple town arrested
Man who alleged rapes and secret burials in Dharmasthala temple town arrested
The former temple cleaner's startling claims threw the town of Dharmasthala in Karnataka into turmoil.Geeta Pandey & Imran Qureshi (BBC News)
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Relevant:
Police officials have confirmed to the BBC that human remains have been found at two places
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Trump is building ‘one interface to rule them all.’ It’s terrifying.
The Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to combine access to the sensitive and personal information of Americans into a single searchable system with the help of shady companies should terrify us – and should inspire us to fight back.
While couched in the benign language of eliminating government “data silos,” this plan runs roughshod over your privacy and security. It’s a throwback to the rightly mocked “Total Information Awareness” plans of the early 2000s that were, at least publicly, stopped after massive outcry from the public and from key members of Congress.
Under this order, ICE is trying to get access to the IRS and Medicaid records of millions of people, and is demanding data from local police. The administration is also making grabs for food stamp data from California and demanding voter registration data from at least nine states.
Much of the plan seems to rely on the data management firm Palantir, formerly based in Palo Alto. It’s telling that the Trump administration would entrust such a sensitive task to a company that has a shaky-at-best record on privacy and human rights.
Bad ideas for spending your taxpayer money never go away – they just hide for a few years and hope no one remembers. But we do. In the early 2000s, when the stated rationale was finding terrorists, the government proposed creating a single all-knowing interface into multiple databases and systems containing information about millions of people. Yet that plan was rightly abandoned after less than three years and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, because of both privacy concerns and practical problems.
It certainly seems the Trump administration’s intention is to try once again to create a single, all-knowing way to access and use the personal information about everyone in America. Today, of course, the stated focus is on finding violent illegal immigrants and the plan initially only involves data about you held by the government, but the dystopian risks are the same.
Over fifty years ago, after the scandals surrounding Nixon’s “enemies list,” Watergate, and COINTELPRO, in which a President bent on staying in power misused government information to target his political enemies, Congress enacted laws to protect our data privacy. Those laws ensure that data about you collected for one purpose by the government can’t be misused for other purposes or disclosed to other government officials with an actual need. Also, they require the government to carefully secure the data it collects. While not perfect, these laws have served the twin goals of protecting our privacy and data security for many years.
Now the Trump regime is basically ignoring them, and this Congress is doing nothing to stand up for the laws it passed to protect us.
But many of us are pushing back. At the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where I’m executive director, we have sued over DOGE agents grabbing personal data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, filed an amicus brief in a suit challenging ICE’s grab for taxpayer data, and co-authored another amicus brief challenging ICE’s grab for Medicaid data. We’re not done and we’re not alone.
Cohn: Trump is building ‘one interface to rule them all.’ It’s terrifying.
A single searchable database of all Americans’ sensitive information is the goal of the president and Palantir – and the dream of authoritarians.Cindy Cohn (The Mercury News)
I exclusively wrote everything down with a pen, since I was not going to bring a laptop everywhere and somehow get it to stay powered for so many hours. Not to mention that it would have been terrible to draw schematics etc.
The best were those courses where you could prepare a "cheat sheet", so then I go over everything and put key information and formulas into a word document. So I go over my notes, then have to filter them and then write the key things again. Maximum retention, as I can tell you 10 years later.
and somehow get it to stay powered for so many hours.
You can plug it into an outlet to power it.
this entire thing reads like a fantasy. or some reddit thread where "everyone clapped" to me.
if I was told by a professor on the first day of class which I paid for that I wasn't allowed to use my own note taking method I had been using for decades, I'd just say "No." and if pressed further, I'd take it as high as I needed to. or get a full refund for the class and find another.
this isn't an elementary school. these aren't children. these are adults.
Think of it this way .. if you sign up at a karate dojo, there are a ton of rules and norms you'll need to follow. And those rules and norms will be very different dojo to dojo. That's an understood expectation. It's similar to college. The professor is empowered to dictate the structure and norms of their course.
And sure... The professor will dictate their expectations on day 1. If you don't like the structure, you have 2 weeks to change the course with no penalty.
I think that's a bit different.
At a university, there are only so many options to meet some requirement for your program, often just one or two teachers for a given class, and at least at my school, they didn't provide the syllabus until the start of classes. So if you disagree with the rules of the class, you may just be screwed.
Class policies shouldn't stray too far from institution policies, and a syllabus should largely stick to defining coursework expectations, like when projects and coursework are due. I'm also of the opinion that attendance shouldn't be part of the grade unless it's a hands on class or something (i.e. all material for tests and homework is in the textbooks).
If your behavior causes issues in the class, you should be removed. But if your behavior merely distracts you, that should be your business. Higher level education shouldn't hold your hand, you should succeed or fail on your own merits. A huge part of the expected outcomes should be developed self-discipline, because the whole point should be to cultivate self-motivated people who can learn and improve on their own.
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan asks US to “invoke all legal levers” in fight against Online Safety Act.Jon Brodkin (Ars Technica)
Cornell's world-first 'microwave brain' computes differently
Cornell's world-first 'microwave brain' computes differently
Researchers at Cornell University have developed an electronic chip that they describe as a "microwave brain." The simplified chip is analog rather than digital, yet can process ultrafast data and wireless communication signals simultaneously.David Szondy (New Atlas)
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schifezze della mi band nascoste creano il marcio
Probabilmente, forse, anche se non so in che modo, dovrei prendere l’abitudine di pulire il cinturino di gomma della Mi Band (e il retro della band stessa, che forse sotto sotto è pure peggio a guardare), perché tempo una manciata di settimane che non lo si fa ed ecco che questo diventa ricoperto di questa […]
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South Korea bans phones in school classrooms nationwide
South Korea bans phones in school classrooms nationwide
It is the latest country to restrict phone use among children and teens.Suhnwook Lee (BBC News)
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Indian Court orders Internet block of Sci-Hub, Sci-Net and Libgen after publisher request
The Delhi High Court ordered the blocking of Sci-Hub, Sci-Net, and LibGen in India on August 19, 2025, following a copyright infringement case brought by academic publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society12.
The court found that Alexandra Elbakyan, Sci-Hub's founder, violated her December 2020 undertaking not to upload new copyrighted content by making post-2022 articles available through both Sci-Hub and a new platform called Sci-Net2. While Elbakyan claimed this was due to technical errors and argued Sci-Net was a separate project, the court rejected these arguments2.
The ruling requires India's Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to issue blocking orders within 72 hours, with Internet Service Providers required to implement the blocks within 24 hours2.
This case marks the first time Sci-Hub and LibGen faced legal action in a developing country3. Earlier intervention attempts by Indian scientists and researchers had argued these platforms were "the only access to educational and research materials" for many academics in India3, with social science researchers specifically highlighting the "detrimental effect" blocking would have on research in India4.
- Substack - GPT-4o about Sci-hub: The Delhi High Court's latest order ↩︎
- SpicyIP - Sci-Hub now Completely Blocked in India! ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- InfoJustice - Update on Publisher's Copyright Infringement Suit Against Sci-Hub ↩︎ ↩︎
- Internet Freedom Foundation - Social Science researchers move Delhi High Court ↩︎
Social Science researchers move Delhi High Court to protect LibGen & SciHub
A group of social science researchers have filed an intervention application, with legal support from IFF, highlighting the adverse impact any decision to block LibGen and SciHub will have on them.Tanmay Singh (Internet Freedom Foundation)
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A survey of 1,047 US college students on GenAI: 55% use the tech for brainstorming ideas, 18% now question the value of college more than they used to, and more.
Key findings
- Most students are using generative AI for coursework, but many are doing so in ways that can support, not outsource, their learning.
- Performance pressures, among other factors, are driving cheating.
- Nearly all students want action on academic integrity, but most reject policing.
- Students have mixed views on faculty use of generative AI for teaching.
- Generative AI is influencing students’ learning and critical thinking abilities.
- Students want information and support in preparing for a world shaped by AI.
- On the whole, generative AI isn’t devaluing college for students—and it’s increasing its value for some.
Survey: College Students’ Views on AI
Key findings from Inside Higher Ed’s student survey on generative AI show that using the evolving technology hasn’t diminished the value of college in their view, but it could affect their critical thinking skills.Colleen Flaherty (Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs)
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September 1925
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
3. The Second International Conference on the Standardization of Medicine was held in Geneva, with the goal of standardizing drug formulae worldwide.
7. Born. Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (d.1985)
13. Born. Mel Tormé, jazz singer, in Chicago (d.1999)
16. Born. Charles Haughey, Taoiseach of Ireland; in Castlebar (d.2006)
A survey of 1,047 US college students on GenAI: 55% use the tech for brainstorming ideas, 18% now question the value of college more than they used to, and more.
Key findings
- Most students are using generative AI for coursework, but many are doing so in ways that can support, not outsource, their learning.
- Performance pressures, among other factors, are driving cheating.
- Nearly all students want action on academic integrity, but most reject policing.
- Students have mixed views on faculty use of generative AI for teaching.
- Generative AI is influencing students’ learning and critical thinking abilities.
- Students want information and support in preparing for a world shaped by AI.
- On the whole, generative AI isn’t devaluing college for students—and it’s increasing its value for some.
Survey: College Students’ Views on AI
Key findings from Inside Higher Ed’s student survey on generative AI show that using the evolving technology hasn’t diminished the value of college in their view, but it could affect their critical thinking skills.Colleen Flaherty (Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs)
RyzenZPilot - Intelligent Power Management for AMD Ryzen
🚀 RyzenZPilot
⚡ Your intelligent autopilot for AMD Ryzen performance & efficiency! 🎯
🔥 Your all-in-one solution for dynamic power management – right from your system tray! 💪
Boost your productivity and save energy: RyzenZPilot automatically switches between optimized power profiles based on your active applications. Whether gaming 🎮, video editing 🎬, or office work 📊 – your Ryzen system always runs in the perfect mode!
🤖 What is RyzenZPilot?
RyzenZPilot integrates intelligent power management functionality to enhance productivity and efficiency for AMD Ryzen users. It allows automatic power profile switching based on active processes, manages system performance dynamically, and provides seamless system tray integration. The tool runs completely in the background and intelligently controls your AMD Ryzen processor's energy settings. 🧠 Forget about manual profile switching in Windows power options – RyzenZPilot monitors your active processes and automatically selects the optimal profile!
⭐ Core FeaturesSystem Tray Integration
for full power management,
Worker Thread Architecture
for region-specific performance optimization, and
Automatic Profile Detection
to intelligently switch power modes. This allows for operation that is 100% invisible to other applications.
🎯 Intelligent Autopilot: Automatic switching between "Silent" 🤫, "Balanced" ⚖️, and "Performance" 🔥 profiles
📍 System Tray Integration: Runs invisibly in the taskbar – one click gives you full control!
⚡ Multi-Threading Architecture: Responsive GUI + separate worker thread for optimal system performance
🔧 Easy Configuration: Define which applications trigger which power profiles
🚀 Autostart Options: Starts minimized or visible – exactly as you prefer
🔍 Debug Mode: Advanced analysis tools for power users and developers
💾 Minimal Resource Usage: Runs efficiently in the background without system impact
Free download: tetramatrix.github.io/RyzenZPi…
RyzenZPilot - Intelligent Power Management for AMD Ryzen
⚡ Automatic performance and efficiency control for your Ryzen system directly from the system tray!tetramatrix.github.io
Three years of building no-code software for grassroots political organizations
Three years of building no-code software for grassroots political organizations
What is no-code? No-code is primarily a type of software that allows you to create more software, customized for your needs, starting fro...Conjure Utopia
The promise of Rust
The promise of Rust
The part that makes Rust scary is the part that makes it unique. And it’s also what I miss in other programming languages — let me explain! Rust syntax starts simple. This function prints a number:...fasterthanli.me
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Why “caffè” may not be “caffè”
Every time when I think I finally “got” Unicode, I get kicked in the back by this rabbit hole. 😆 However, IMHO it is important to recognise that when moving data and files between operating systems and programs that you’re better off knowing some of the pitfalls. So I’m sharing something I experienced when I transferred a file to my FreeBSD Play-Around notebook. So let’s assume a little story…
It’s late afternoon and you and some friends sit together playing around with BSD. A friend using another operating system collects coffee orders in a little text file to not forget anyone when going to the barista on the other side of the street. He sends the file to you, so at the next meeting you already know the preferences of your friends. You take a look at who wants a caffè:
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ cat orders2.txtMauro: cappuccinoArmin: caffè doppioAnna: caffè shakeratoStefano: caffèFranz: latte macchiatoFrancesca: cappuccinoCarla: latte macchiato
So you do a quick grep just to be very surprised!
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ grep -i caffè orders2.txtarmin@freebsd:/tmp $
Wait, WAT? Why is there no output? We have more than one line with caffè
in the file? Well, you just met one of the many aspects of Unicode. This time it’s called “normalization”. 😎
Many characters can be represented by more than one form. Take the innocent “à
” from the example above. There is an accented character in the Unicode characters called LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE. But you could also just use a regular LATIN SMALL LETTER A and combine it with the character COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT from the Unicode characters. Both result in the same character and “look” identical, but aren’t.
Let’s see a line with the word “caffè” as hex dump using the first approach (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE):
\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u00E8\u000Ac a f f è (LF)
Now let’s do the same for the same line using the second approach:
\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u0065\u0300\u000Ac a f f è (LF)
And there you have it, the latter is a byte longer and the two lines do not match up even if both lines are encoded as UTF-8 and the character looks the same!
So obviously just using UTF-8 is not enough and you might encounter files using the second approach. Just to make matter more complicated there are actually four forms of Unicode normalization out there. 😆
- NFD: canonical decomposition
- NFC: canonical decomposition followed by canonical composition
- NFKD: compatible decomposition
- NFKC: compatible decomposition followed by canonical composition.
For the sake of brevity of this post and your nerves we’ll just deal with the first two and I refer you to this Wikipedia article for the rest.
Normal form C (NFC) is the most widely used normal form and is also defined by the W3C for HTML, XML, and JavaScript. Technically speaking, encoding in Latin1 (or Windows Codepage 1252), for example, is in normal form C, since an “à” or the umlaut “Ö” is a single character and is not composed of combining characters. Windows and the .Net framework also store Unicode strings in Normal Form C. This does not mean that NFD can be ignored. For example, the Mac OSX file system works with a variant of NFD data, as the Unicode standard was only finalized when OSX was designed. When two applications share Unicode data, but normalize them differently, errors and data loss can result.
So how do we get from one form to another in one of the BSD operating systems (also in Linux)? Well, the Unicode Consortium provides a toolset called ICU — International Components for Unicode. The Documentation URL is unicode-org.github.io/icu/ and you can install that in FreeBSD using the command
pkg install icu
After completion of the installation you have a new command line tool called uconv
(not to be mismatched with iconv
which serves a similar purpose). Using uconv
you can transcode the normal forms into each other as well do a lot of other encoding stuff (this tool is a rabbit hole in itself 😎).
Similar to iconv
you can specify a “from” and a “to” encoding for input. But you can also specify so-called “transliterations” that will be applied to the input. In its simplest form such a transliteration is something in the form SOURCE-TARGET that specifies the operation. The "any"
stands for any input character. This is the way I got the hexdump from above by using the transliteration 'any-hex'
:
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo caffè | uconv -x 'any-hex'\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u00E8\u000A
Instead of hex codes you can also output the Unicode code point names to see the difference between the two forms:
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo Caffè | uconv -f utf-8 -t utf-8 -x 'any-nfd' | uconv -f utf-8 -x 'any-name' \N{LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER E}\N{COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT}\N{<control-000A>}
Now let’s try this for the NFC form:
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo Caffè | uconv -f utf-8 -t utf-8 -x 'any-nfc' | uconv -f utf-8 -x 'any-name'\N{LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE}\N{<control-000A>}
You can also convert from one normal form to another by using a transliteration like 'any-nfd'
to convert the input to the normal form D (for decomposed, e.g. LATIN SMALL CHARACTER A + COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT) or 'any-nfc'
for the normal form C.
If you want to learn about building your own transliterations, there’s a tutorial at unicode-org.github.io/icu/user… that shows the enormous capabilities of uconv
.
Using the 'name'
transliteration you can easily discern the various Sigmas here (I’m using sed
to split the output into multiple lines):
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ echo '∑𝛴Σ' | uconv -x 'any-name' | sed -e 's/\\N/\n/g'{N-ARY SUMMATION}{MATHEMATICAL ITALIC CAPITAL SIGMA}{GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA}{<control-000A>}
If you want to get the Unicode character from the name, there are several ways depending on the programming language you prefer. Here is an example using python that shows the German umlaut "Ö"
:
python -c 'import unicodedata; print(unicodedata.lookup(u"LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS"))'
The uconv
utility is a very mighty thing and every modern programming language (see the Python example above) also has libraries and modules to support handling Unicode data. The world gets connected, but not in ASCII. 😎
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US poll finds 60 percent of Gen Z voters back Hamas over Israel in Gaza war
US poll finds 60 percent of Gen Z voters back Hamas over Israel in Gaza war
A new survey has revealed a sharp generational split in United States attitudes towards Israel’s war on Gaza, with younger voters showing unprecedented support for Hamas as Israel carries out a genocide.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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Chatbots can be manipulated through flattery and peer pressure
Researchers convinced ChatGPT to do things it normally wouldn’t with basic psychology.
Chatbots can be manipulated through flattery and peer pressure
Researchers were able to manipulate ChatGPT into breaking its own rules through peer pressure and flattery.Terrence O'Brien (The Verge)
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Traffic to government domains often crosses national borders, or flows through risky bottlenecks
Sites at yourcountry.gov may also not bother with HTTPs
Traffic to government domains often crosses national borders, or flows through risky bottlenecks
: Sites at yourcountry.gov may also not bother with HTTPsSimon Sharwood (The Register)
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Chrome increases its overwhelming market share, now over 70%
No matter how hard other browsers try, people stubbornly do not want to leave Chrome, and its market share is now above 70%.
https://www.neowin.net/news/chrome-increases-its-overwhelming-market-share-now-over-70/
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Visited YushaKobo in Akihabara today
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Se soltanto fossimo a Fordlandia, dove i soldi crescono sugli alberi e la gomma scorre come il vino - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Se soltanto fossimo a Fordlandia, dove i soldi crescono sugli alberi e la gomma scorre come il vino - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Vi sono prove pratiche del fatto che il superamento delle aspettative sia la fondamentale aspirazione del perfetto uomo d’affari, universalmente dedito al raggiungimento di uno stato di eccellenza, vicendevolmente favorevole a se stesso e la contempo…Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
QAA Podcast with Cory Doctorow as guest
QAA Podcast: Cory Doctorow DESTROYS Enshitification (E338)
Episode webpage: soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous/…
Media file: chtbl.com/track/7791D/http://f…
Cory Doctorow DESTROYS Enshitification (E338)
The man who coined the word “enshitification” graces the podcast to share his views on conspiracy theories, algorithmic management, AI, and reading the saucy passages in Leviticus at barmitzvahs. CorySoundCloud
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How can I delete my account and all data?
Gaza, economia sotto assedio: tra embargo, ricostruzione e il business della guerra
Gaza, economia sotto assedio: tra embargo, ricostruzione e il business della guerra
La Striscia di Gaza è oggi il teatro di una crisi umanitaria e sociale senza precedenti. Mentre il conflitto israelo-palestinese continua a...Antonio Marano (Blogger)
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Rudy Giuliani injured in New Hampshire car crash, his spokesperson says
Rudy Giuliani is recovering from a fractured vertebra and other injuries following a car crash in New Hampshire, a spokesperson for the former New York City mayor said Sunday.
Giuliani’s vehicle was struck from behind while traveling on a highway Saturday evening, according to a statement posted on X by Michael Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of security. “He sustained injuries but is in good spirits and recovering tremendously,” Ragusa said, adding: “This was not a targeted attack.”
Giuliani, 81, was taken to a nearby trauma center and was being treated for injuries including “a fractured thoracic vertebrae, multiple lacerations and contusions, as well as injuries to his left arm and lower leg,” according to Ragusa.
https://apnews.com/article/rudy-giuliani-car-crash-7cef14a0e682391de2f03d0450d3393a
This account has never focused on a single topic.
It’s about my life—and whatever I’m passionate about in the moment.
But if you’re only here for one of those topics, you might want to follow the #Piefed communities I regularly cross-post to:
Bonus? You’ll get to hear from other contributors in those communities too.
More to come—stay tuned.
Dragon & elephant must come together: Xi-Modi bilateral at SCO Tianjin aimed at upholding multipolar world, highlights Chinese media
Dragon & elephant must come together: Xi-Modi bilateral at SCO Tianjin aimed at upholding multipolar world, highlights Chinese media - The Tribune
According to Chinese state-run media outlet Xinhua, Xi noted the importance of viewing bilateral ties from a long-term perspective.ANI (The Tribune)
Sausager
in reply to sexy_peach • • •switcheroo
in reply to sexy_peach • • •But not angry that Russia blew up a US factory.
That Russian dick must taste pretty good to Preznit Pedo.
FishFace
in reply to sexy_peach • • •thejml
in reply to FishFace • • •Tja
in reply to thejml • • •I guess the question (which I also ask myself) is why not blow it up in their territory, just put a few tons of explosives in a section in an unpopulat3d area and blow it to smitherines.
Or turn the gas off and then dismantle a km long section, if you don't want to waste explosives and risk fires.
MourningDove
in reply to sexy_peach • • •Why do we care how Trump feels about a conflict he has nothing to do with, or have any say in how it’s handled?
I don’t get why we keep allowing this fart-colored cringe-tinged shaved ape to pretend he is relevant to any part of most everything that happens?
sexy_peach
in reply to MourningDove • • •Ilovethebomb
in reply to MourningDove • • •Because the USA is one of Ukraine's biggest weapons suppliers, and has the ability, via secondary sanctions, to make Russia even more of a pariah.
He very much has something to do with it.
Buffalox
in reply to sexy_peach • • •Well done Ukraine, absolutely not considered a problem by your allies.
Fuck Trump and Fuck Orban. They both chose to stand on the wrong side of the russian invasion of Ukraine, and they both deserve to be punished for it.
Orban can fuck off back to Russia, we don't need Hungary in EU, when they choose to be pro Russian despite an invasion of a peaceful country in Europe.
USA too will suffer from this too, USA is no longer considered a strong ally by the "West" in general, and not even within NATO!
There are already defense agreements being formed around NATO, for instance between Canada and EU! The agreements includes development and acquisition of weapons, that will no longer be bought from USA, to achieve greater independence from USA in the future.
It's always sad to lose a friend, but even with a new administration, nobody can really trust USA anymore, USA is currently descending deeper into a authoritarian regime, and resistance is effectively being systematically removed. As it is, there seems to be little hope that USA will ever become a functional democracy.
wjrii
in reply to Buffalox • • •I hope that a better US administration will come after this one and that it will improve the things that can be improved easily (tariffs, visas, rhetoric, and other transactional policies), but at this point Trump has poisoned the well and it will take a generation of good (or at least understandable and workable) behavior by both US parties to rebuild a fraction of the trust and soft power the orange idiot has squandered in barely half a year.
Buffalox
in reply to wjrii • • •We (EU) can absolutely reestablish normal trade immediately with USA if USA wishes, it is 100% one-sidedly USA that want trade restrictions. EU even went so far as to NOT put tariffs on USA despite USA has put a 15% tariff on everything from EU!!!
But the election of Bush twice, who already had hostile rhetoric against allies, and started a war based on false intelligence. And then the election of Trump twice, even after it became well known he is a rapist and a con man and a fraudster and behaves like a Russian asset. Shows the American people and democracy itself is very unreliable. It's not just this administration, it's the entire system that is the problem.
Of course we will work sanely with a sane administration, but we simply can't reasonably rely on American sanity anymore, unless some sort of fundamental shift occur in American democracy.
American democracy was always dysfunctional, designed that way on purpose in the belief it makes for a more efficient government, effectively creating an undemocratic 2 party system.
There are many good Americans, but they are outnumbered and the undemocratic system has failed them. Americans need to fight for democracy if they want it. If they really value freedom and democracy as Americans have boasted about more than any other nation, they will fight. But my guess is that when push comes to shove, the majority doesn't give a shit. At least that's what decades of presidential elections clearly indicate.
sucius
in reply to Buffalox • • •Buffalox
in reply to sucius • • •So I agree we will not go back entirely to what it used to be. The trust has been broken.