Israeli drones drop grenades near UN peacekeepers in Lebanon in what UNIFIL calls a serious attack
The peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL described the Tuesday morning incident as “one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets” since the cessation of hostilities in November that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.
UNIFIL said Israeli drones dropped four grenades close to the peacekeepers, who were working to clear roadblocks that hindered access to a U.N. position along the border line. One grenade hit within 20 meters (yards) and three others within approximately 100 meters of U.N. personnel and vehicles, it said, adding the drones were observed returning toward Israel. No one was hurt in the attack.
UNIFIL said the Israeli military had been informed in advance of the peacekeeping force’s road clearance work in the area, southeast of the village of Marwahin less than a kilometer (mile) from the border line.
Burkina Faso bans homosexuality with prison terms and fines for offenders
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s parliament has passed a law banning homosexuality with offenders facing two to five years in prison, the state broadcaster reported late Monday.
The amended family code was approved by the parliament on Monday in an unanimous vote that puts the code into effect more than a year after it was approved by the military government of Capt. Ibrahim Traore.
Burkina Faso joins the list of more than half of Africa’s 54 countries that have laws banning homosexuality with the penalties ranging from several years in prison to the death penalty. The laws, though criticized abroad, enjoy popularity in the countries where locals and officials have criticized homosexuality as behavior imported from abroad and not a sexual orientation.
The new law goes into effect immediately with individuals in same-sex relationships risking prison sentences as well as fines, Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said during a briefing broadcast by the state TV. He described homosexual acts as “bizarre behavior.”
Officials touted the new law as a recognition of “marriage and family values” in Burkina Faso.
Made for people, not cars: reclaiming European cities
Technology Channel reshared this.
US House committee releases more than 33,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein files
The 33,000 pages included years-old court filings related to Epstein and his former girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as what appears to be bodycam footage from police searches and police interviews.
The files appear to contain information that is already public knowledge.
US House committee releases more than 33,000 pages of Jeffrey Epstein files
Files appear to contain information already in public domain as calls grow for release of all pertinent documentsDani Anguiano (The Guardian)
Pay-per-output? AI firms blindsided by beefed up robots.txt instructions.
Pay-per-output? AI firms blindsided by beefed up robots.txt instructions.
“Really Simple Licensing” makes it easier for creators to get paid for AI scraping.Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
adhocfungus likes this.
Essential Steps to Launch Your Photography Business
Turn your passion for photography into a business with essential tips on equipment, branding, marketing, and managing your services effectively.
Nowadays, professional photographers are needed in multiple industries like journalism, real estate marketing, and travel. If you have a passion for photography and are interested in starting your own business, its valuable to look into integrating both.
If you are looking to start your photography business, first be prepared for the equipment of your studio with certain things like high-quality cameras and other accessories. After preparing this, you will also do marketing for your photography skills, which requires a website, accounting software, a logo, and other things.
Start your own photography business within your ability. Prepared with a detailed business plan, ready to manage your startup expenses and start sharing your innovative photography services with the world. Here are some tips for getting started with your own photography business.
Starting a Photography Business Without Experience: What You Need to Know
Photography Startup Plan
A great business plan helps to clarify your business strategy, recognise possible challenges, find necessary resources, and assess the market potential of your idea. First, take priority in launching your business, then plan to manage customers in appointment scheduling, the type of services you are providing and handling your invoice and payment process.
Next stage, you need to identify your business's targeted audience through research and plan to set up the price list for your services. Then buy quality cameras and accessories from brands that will ensure high picture quality, which will satisfy your customers.
**Choose a Business Name **
Every business needs a business name, and it is important to choose a unique one. While selecting a business, keep this in mind: it should be catchy, easy to remember, may reflect your niche, and relate to your business. Also, choose a name that not only reflects your speciality but also needs to leave a good, long-lasting impression with your clients.
Before finalising your business name, you need to check the domain availability for that name. For that, you need to verify with the business registry that no one else used this same name. After choosing the correct business name, you can create a logo and free business cards making using online software like Invoice Temple, etc.
Registration and Getting Licences
After finalizing your business name, you need to register your business as a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation. You can also register with a less formal structure known as a sole proprietorship, which does not offer many protections. Also, having some specific rules for registering businesses, obtaining a business license, collecting and sending sales taxes and periodically reporting business information.
Getting a business license not only allows you to run your photography business legally but also you need to build trust with your clients, which leads to improving your business. To secure your business license, you need to get in touch with the license authorities and submit the required documents.
**Creating Website and Establishing **
With your business name, buy a domain and create a website for your business using online platforms like WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy, etc. Design and add posts, photos, videos, and blogs to your website. With this information, add a clear call to action and contact forms to convert the visitors into clients. In this crowded market, you need to create an individual name for you to run your business. Effective marketing strategies help you to promote your business in the business marketplace.
Create engaging contents that reveal your best works and offer valuable tips in the form of blogs. Use relevant hashtags, run targeted ads, and regularly engage with your followers to build relationships. Collaborating with other creatives or influencers may help you expand your business growth.
For photography, your business must be well equipped with essential features like a high-quality camera, editing software, a business licence, and marketing tools such as business cards, a website, flyer designs, and a unique logo.
InvoiceTemple
InvoiceTemple is an ultimate invoicing solution designed exclusively for Accounting software for small businesswww.invoicetemple.com
[Solved] Touchscreen and Pen input not working on Surface Book 2 with Linux-Surface Kernel and CachyOS.
EDIT 2: I figured it out! The Nvidia driver was indeed installed, but I needed to remove it and instead install the dkms version.
sudo paru -S nvidia-open-dkms
Once that got installed, the surface kernel and headers successfully installed and now when I boot up the system, the linux-surface kernel shows up for me to choose. My touchscreen and pen input are working perfectly now with pressure sensitivity!
EDIT: I wanted to add some additional information regarding some errors that I've run into. There's a point in the Linux on Surface instructions where you need to run:
sudo pacman -S linux-surface linux-surface-headers iptsd
When I do, I get two sets of errors...although the install appears to complete.
Error set 1:
==> ERROR: module not found: 'nvidia'
==> ERROR: module not found: 'nvidia_modeset'
==> ERROR: module not found: 'nvidia_uvm'
==> ERROR: module not found: 'nvidia_drm'
Error set 2:
Error: mkinitcpio failed for kernel 6.15.3-arch-2-surface, skipping.
I'm not sure if either of these directly relate to the touchscreen and pen not working or if this is a completely different set of issues.
======================================================
I'm hoping someone on here may have some similar issues trying to get Linux running on Surface devices with the Linux-Surface project. I successfully installed CachyOS and got the wireless adapter working as well.
The touch input nor pen input seem to work at all. The screen successfully detaches and reattaches but the touch and pen input don't work with either mode.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
CachyOS tend to offer their own modified kernel, for gaming optimization, if I remember well. You may not be running the correct kernel.
When you look at the installation guide of the linux-surface github, there are steps for several distros. Do you plan to use your surface for gaming mainly, hence the reason to install cachy or do you plan to use it for various tasks? It may be easier to make it working on a fedora or, if you really want an arch based distro, on arch.
So I did try to install their linux kernel but I ran into an error regarding mkinitcpio and nvidia. I updated my original post with the errors I've run into.
To your second set of questions. It's a bit multi-layered. I'm wanting to move my main laptop, a Surface Laptop Studio, off of Windows and onto Linux. The linux on surface project also supports the SLS. I game on my SLS as well so a gaming focused distro is where I'm targeting. Additionally, at some point, I'm going to build a full PC with high end gear. From what I've heard, Arch is good for high end/bleeding edge kind of hardware. So with all that combined, I figured I should probably start learning Arch's idiosyncrasies as I'm coming from debian mainly when I do use Linux. I have an old Surface Book 2 and thought it would make a good testbed for this process which is how I ended up using hardware as old as that.
Arch is also harder than other distros to learn, that's why maybe turning to a more used distros like fedora isn't a bad idea. Fedora is also good for new hardware with it's rolling updates and will have many tutorials to help you installing things. The only thing gaming focused distros do is ship you with packages and software meant to help you. So for the tests you could try others distros to see what's easier for you.
That said, you also said you came from Debian, so you could also install a Debian based distros. With Debian 13 out from not so long, it shouldn't be a problem to run on your laptops as they are older.
it'll help a lot if you can describe the troubleshooting steps you've already taken so that we don't end up going over ground you've already covered.
in shoes, i would have started with lscpi and/or lshw to know what hardware the kernel is aware of and what software it decided to attached to them. lspci -nnk
will show you the hardware and the software module it attached it each piece of hardware and from there you can determine whether or not the kernel recognized your touch input or your pen.
That's part of why I'm here. I've been following linux on surface's installation guide and I've updated my post with the errors I'm currently running into. I'm not sure if the errors have anything to do with the touchscreen/pen issues though.
I did run the lspci -nn -k
command. I can put it in here if you'd like but it's a long list. I don't see anything in there specifically talking about the touchscreen or pen however there are a number of Microsoft hub devices. It could be one of those, I just don't know.
did you identify which stanza's pertained to the touchscreen and the pen? (you're going to need either google's or an ai's help to identify it).
was a module assigned? if so, which one(s) and are they the correct ones. (you're also going to need google/ai's help with this too).
Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites and gave them to cops: it puts everyone into a 'perpetual police line-up'
Clearview AI built a massive facial recognition database by scraping 30 billion photos from Facebook and other social media platforms without users' permission, which law enforcement has accessed nearly a million times since 20171.
The company markets its technology to law enforcement as a tool "to bring justice to victims," with clients including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. However, privacy advocates argue it creates a "perpetual police line-up" that includes innocent people who could face wrongful arrests from misidentification1.
Major social media companies like Facebook sent cease-and-desist letters to Clearview AI in 2020 for violating user privacy. Meta claims it has since invested in technology to combat unauthorized scraping1.
While Clearview AI recently won an appeal against a £7.5m fine from the UK's privacy watchdog, this was solely because the company only provides services to law enforcement outside the UK/EU. The ruling did not grant broad permission for data scraping activities2.
The risks extend beyond law enforcement use - once photos are scraped, individuals lose control over their biometric data permanently. Critics warn this could enable:
- Retroactive prosecution if laws change
- Creation of unauthorized AI training datasets
- Identity theft and digital abuse
- Commercial facial recognition systems without consent1
Sources:
- Business Insider - Clearview AI scraped 30 billion images from Facebook and other social media sites ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- BBC - Face search company Clearview AI overturns UK privacy fine ↩︎
Face search company Clearview AI overturns UK privacy fine
Controversial firm, which acts as a search engine for faces, wins appeal against a watchdog.By Chris Vallance (BBC News)
Our authorities and politicians want us to be vulnerable so they can see everything we are doing, and doing so they make us vulnerable to every other organized actor, groups working for business, foreign government, intelligence agencies, criminal groups, Etc.
That would be a popular reform to offer in 2028 if we could somehow get some candidates that did not live up the back side of the plutocracy.
May I ask what they banned you for?
Most everyone will give the authorities the benefit of the doubt, be it government or business, and assume these enforcement actions are in good faith, and if they were wrong that it was a mistake on their part not intentional misapplication of their rules for ad hoc reasons other than their stated reasons.
Reasons like government agencies sending lists of accounts to ban for reasons unrelated to why you are getting violated.
People look at me strangely when I ask them not to take pictures of me but I'm really insistent about it.
Have been since I got off Facebook a decade ago.
You can try to explain to these chucklefucks until you're blue in the face that as bad as things are now an even bigger issue is what can happen in the future but they just don't fucking get it.
"So what if they serve me ads" says stupid mcchucklefuck as they're rounded up thirty years from now for ethnic cleansing based ten thousand Facebook photos.
Or not. Like - it's impossible to predict the future but that's the whole point - no one has any fucking idea so why engage in a practice which provides you fucking nothing but carries with it full unforgiving weight of that jagged question mark?
An ongoing reign of terror by a one party state run by the worst people in cooperation with the plutocracy is all but inevitable now.
The succession fight to our dear leader is the only real chance to take it back, but we still have the same worthless opposition in charge, chosen to be weak, to not offer reform, and to be constitutionally opposed to building and running a real political machine that could take the government from this Republican machine fixing to rig the elections every way they can.
Clearview AI was founded in 2017 by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz after transferring the assets of another company, SmartCheckr, which the pair originally founded in 2017 alongside Charles C. Johnson.[12][4] The company was founded in Manhattan after the founders met at the Manhattan Institute.[1] The company initially raised $8.4 million from investors including Kirenaga Partners and Peter Thiel
Of course Thiel is involved. That guy should really be not around anymore.
So they pirated data from Facebook for their own benefit?
Well, if the shoe fits...
I claimed my name for my Facebook account when it first came out, but I've never posted anything in it, especially any photos of my face.
I thought Facebook was a bad, creepy idea from the beginning.
I have never posted pictures on Facebook either, and have likewise always considered it extremely reckless for everybody else to put all of their information on there without even any protections in law and mechanisms of enforcement.
The federal government just streamlined purchasing information from data brokers, before every agency bought it piecemeal and they paid for the same information twice oftentimes. Now they basically buy everything and distribute it to the agencies that want it in an end run around the Bill of Rights. No warrants, no judges involved. Let alone probable cause or even reasonable suspicion for mass collection of data. theintercept.com/2025/05/22/in…
U.S. Spy Agencies Are Getting a One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Most Sensitive Personal Data
The government wants to build a centralized platform where spy agencies can more easily buy private info about millions of people.Sam Biddle (The Intercept)
🙄
Confusionism still has a bright future ahead of it...
You should learn the definition of decentralization, and its application in practice.
I feel like I'm talking to a 12-year-old who's just discovered decentralization...
You're on a decentralized network, using an email address that also uses a decentralized network, and you're talking about chaos?
Pathetic.
And who gets to control this new central government?
Will they get to live in lavish accommodations? Will they get to live a standard of living higher than the rest of the proletariat?
Marxism has never been about equality of outcome, Marx himself opposed "equalitarians" in his time. Socialism as it exists in real life recognizes the difference between more diffucult, dangerous, risky, etc labor, and often came with higher pay or reduced working hours. The disparity in socialist countries has always been far less than in capitalist countries, even countries that are still socialist but maintain markets at this stage in development like the PRC and Vietnam.
I don't like the way OP is framing it, though. Centralization gives connotations of removing bottom-up input, which is why I like the term collectivization more. Having all of production under the collective banner of the whole society, and resolving the obstacles towards such a society, is the main process of advancing socialism towards communism. This means centralization in that it reduces private and cooperative ownership to nothing, but it also retains room for local sovereignty and input that ladders upwards.
Japanese town wants to limit smartphone use to two hours a day - Alo Japan All About Japan
Japanese town wants to limit smartphone use to two hours a day - Alo Japan All About Japan
A city in central Japan is proposing to limit smartphone use to two hours a day, in what is believed to be the first ordinance of its kind in the country.AloJapan (Alo Japan All About Japan)
Payment app without Google in Europe?
Speaking as an ignorant American who still happily uses card, I have to ask:
PEOPLE PAY FOR SHIT VIA QRCODES??? O_O
Those aren't exactly qr codes, but rather a scan code, different thing.
Though yes, one could pay using qr here. But I never do it because anyone can make QR codes. With those scan codes you need more additional verification, it's safer.
PEOPLE PAY FOR SHIT VIA QRCODES??? O_O
It's ubiquitous through much of SE Asia. Eg Thailand etc
I'm so sick and tired of being so far behind...
This scanner is for 2-factor authentication in the case that one does not want to use a phone app. When you try to log in, or pay online, the browser displays a unique QR code that the scanner is able to decode.
You would enter your pin into the scanner, scan the code, and the scanner displays a number. You then type that decoded number into a field under the QR code and your are let through.
It can be ordered for free here in the NL: ing.nl/particulier/digitaal-ba…
So, with this scanner as a 2FA method, the app is not needed. One can pay offline with a card, online with a scanner, and check account balances through any browser using the scanner to log in.
In Spain a lot of baanks offers paying apps, apart there are also a lot of free EU paying apps, eg.
You can find more in AlternativeTo, there you can filter also by the country of origen.
alternativeto.net/software/pay…
Wero - Digital payment wallet
Experience fast and secure digital payments with Wero’s wallet, enabling you to send and receive money between bank accounts in under 10 seconds.wero-wallet.eu
Anyway, If I need one day such app, probably I would use one of my bank, not a third party one.
This works for grocery shopping and so, but not so much for last-minute online transfers. You would need to physically move to your bank office every time you need to move money between bank accounts.
If I need one day such app, probably I would use one of my bank, not a third party one.
I think the issue is that many (most?) bank apps in the EU will simply refuse to work if your Android phone runs some custom firmware and/or lacks Google Play Services, as a "security measure". Until not so long ago, my bank's 2FA app crashed just because I was using a non-standard keyboard app.... (now it shows a big red warning, but at least it doesn't crash).
Your ultimate wallet
Curve is a digital wallet that connects all your cards into one physical debit card. Curve is the only digital wallet that doesn't just store your cards - it supercharges them.curve.com
There aren't many available. It all depends in the bank implementing the whole stack instead of relying on the gwallet. I think there is a few German banks I don't recall the name and in Spain BBVA doing so.
As I don't live in either countries, I'm using Garmin Pay for the lesser evil.
I think there is a few German banks I don't recall the name [...]
Maybe N26? Also, do you know Wero? (I'm reading the alternativeto page linked by the other user here.)
MicroG all the way, yeah. They had a version for the latest HarmonyOS on the week it was released in China.
Apkpure wasn't super clear on the dependencies so I was not sure, but I just looked on Aurora Store and they have a delightful system to rate app compatibility. plexus.techlore.tech/
Gives you no GMS rating and a separate MicroG rating.
Crowdsourced de-Googled Android apps status ratings
Remove the fear of Android app compatibility on de-Googled devices.plexus.techlore.tech
My dear friends, I ask for your support. With you, I find strength after God. Please don’t leave us; my family and I live by God’s grace and your help
like this
Maeve likes this.
Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi returns to Columbia University: ‘They have failed to silence me’
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35604047
Anna Betts
Tue 2 Sep 2025 16.33 EDTJust more than four months after being arrested, detained and nearly deported by the Trump administration for his activism, Mohsen Mahdawi, the 34-year-old Palestinian student and US permanent resident, returned to Columbia University on Tuesday and vowed to continue speaking out.“They have failed to silence me, and in fact, now I am more outspoken than before, and I will continue to work for peace and justice. I do this work not for myself alone – I do this for the future of children, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis,” he told the Guardian on Tuesday in his first interview since stepping back on to campus to begin his graduate studies.
Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi returns to Columbia University: ‘They have failed to silence me’
Anna Betts
Tue 2 Sep 2025 16.33 EDTJust more than four months after being arrested, detained and nearly deported by the Trump administration for his activism, Mohsen Mahdawi, the 34-year-old Palestinian student and US permanent resident, returned to Columbia University on Tuesday and vowed to continue speaking out.“They have failed to silence me, and in fact, now I am more outspoken than before, and I will continue to work for peace and justice. I do this work not for myself alone – I do this for the future of children, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis,” he told the Guardian on Tuesday in his first interview since stepping back on to campus to begin his graduate studies.
Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi returns to Columbia University: ‘They have failed to silence me’
Mahdawi was targeted and arrested for deportation due to his activism but the permanent US resident is resuming postgraduate studiesAnna Betts (The Guardian)
geneva_convenience likes this.
Lua script enabled SNES emulator on Linux?
Hey I was trying to set up archipelago to run a Chrono Trigger - Jets of Time randomizer file, and it needs a lua script to run to connect to archipelago. I couldn’t find a single SNES emulator with lua scripting enabled such as SNES9x-rr on windows. I tried just running that through proton but the lua scripts would not function. New to Linux so idk much on compiling shit natively or if I would need dependencies or to add something to wine/proton for lua to work or if there is an app image or something already that I could easily install that I didn’t see with a quick search.
update: Okay, seems maybe with proton can get stuff running but the lua won't work. Seems I can get it to try and run it, but runs into some issue with a .dll and not being able to find "main" or whatever. Can't find any flatpack/appimg for a native emulator with a lua injector, and idk if I can install cuz sudo apt doesn't work on it and idk enough to figure out how I'm supposed to get and compile shit. Soooo, heck.
Edit: forgot to mention incase it matters, running Bazzite 42.
Getting Started
Getting Started General To play Jets of Time, you will need a valid US Chrono Trigger SNES ROM. You can then roll a seed (build a randomized ROM with your flags of choice - if it's your first time we recommend either the beginner or standard race …Chrono Trigger: Jets of Time
Emulators aren't platform specific though. If one is built for Windows with a specific set of features, they're also going to run on Linux with those specific set of features
What you're asking about is an Emulator that does the thing you need, so as I pointed out, it's not a Linux thing, it's an Emulator thing.
WinBoat is a new Linux app to run Windows apps with "seamless integration"
WinBoat is a new Linux app to run Windows apps with "seamless integration"
Sometimes, you really do just need to run a Windows app on Linux and perhaps WinBoat might make this easier with its promise of "seamless integration".Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)
Listen, I only need to know one thing: can it run Paint.\NET?
Because pretty much all my needs are met but
GOOD GOD THE SELECTION FOR GENERAL-USE RASTER EDITING SOFTWARE ON LINUX IS BALLS.
(inb4 anyone says anything: Krita = painting not editing; GIMP = sucks balls; PhotoGIMP = sucks less balls; Pinta sucks balls ever since they switched to GTK4; and pretty much all other options are MS Paint equivalents so also all suck balls.)
Gimp is heavy in my opinion, no matter the desktop I opened it on It always takes a while to fully open. If I want to make a quick change to an image, crop, draw or write on I don’t want to sit for 5 minutes for the editor to open.
iirc gimp tools weren’t all that beginner friendly either.
Okay, so, please forgive me ahead of time for the following rant. To be blunt, you did ask. 😛
- It often doesn't use common UI/UX conventions found in most other editors
- It has no polygon tools.
- The Lasso tool is called "Free Select" instead of, you know, "Lasso" like every other software under the sun calls it. (Though I admit this in itself is merely a nitpick, it is indicative of the larger trends.)
- The text tool is so bad. Honestly, I don't even know how to put how it's bad into words, but just using it is...painful...in comparison to Paint.\NET, Pinta, or even MS Paint back on Windows. Other people can probably word the problems with it better than I can. Sorry I can't be more descriptive.
- It doesn't have Lanczos resampling for resizing images (tbf neither do many others but still Paint.\NET does and so that's a point against it. (If you don't know, Lanczos is visibly superior in maintaining fidelity when downscaling an image, compared to linear, bilinear, cubic, etc.)
- The currently active layer seems to randomly change, so that one minute you're doing something and the next nothing is worked, you wonder "what the hell" and then finally after 10 minutes of searching you find out it's because the layer has changed and now you need to go click on this one obscure option. (I don't remember what it is.
Select > Select None
maybe? Anyway, I've had it happen where the option doesn't even do anything.) It completely throws my whole game off and I've never once, even once had it happen until I started using GIMP. - The default UI/UX is very rough around the edges. Just to make it minimally usable for me, I had to install PhotoGIMP over GIMP and spend 20-30 minutes customizing the layout and keyboard shortcuts. Speaking of...
- The default keyboard shortcuts are kinda wacko. For example, Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Fit Image in Window (basically zooming in/out but to see the whole image in your window) is
+
,-
, andShift+Ctrl+E
, respectively; while most other programs have it asctrl++;
(and/orctrl+=
),ctrl+-
(and/orctrl+NumpadMinus
), andctrl+0
(and/orctrl+NumpadEnter
). Also, you cannot usetab
orctrl+tab
to move to the next or previous tab, respectively, becausetab
is a excluded key for keyboard shortcuts. (I think I was once told it has to do with a limitation in GTK, but that's ridiculous as Pinta has been able to do it for years.) There are countless other inane defaults for the keyboard shortcuts as well, frankly. - You cannot use
LMB
orRMB
to switch between the primary and secondary colors selected. You have to useX
.
These are only a few of the most severe frustrations, annoyances, and hair-pulling-out moments for me with regards to GIMP. I'd never have even tried it out if Pinta hadn't made the ass-backwards decision to move to the stupidly minimalistic and less functional GTK4 adwaita UI and if Paint.\NET worked. (I can't remember why it doesn't wanna work; I think it has to do with a dependency. I know it's not the .NET framework since that could be handled by Mono IIRC.)
I've tried it and it's a little too barebones for my needs.
I also do, unfortunately, care about layers.
But I appreciate the suggestion! ❤
Kolorpaint is decent if you don’t care about layers.
How do you do any kind of work without having layers?
Photopea | Online Photo Editor
Photopea Online Photo Editor lets you edit photos, apply effects, filters, add text, crop or resize pictures. Do Online Photo Editing in your browser for free!www.photopea.com
Because there doesn't seem to be any other way to have line breaks show up. Lol.
See? This line is actually separated after the above one by two lines.
You can end a line with a backslash to have single line line breaks.
Lemmy just uses markdown, so any good guide for that should be able to help you: \
markdownguide.org/basic-syntax…
If you can't find a specific thing, just searching "how to x in markdown" in your preferred search engine should net you an answer if x is supported.
There are also many markdown editors that can be run either locally or through a browser; these can be useful if you want to test some syntax without putting any mistakes in the eyes of the public. I like Obsidian for local editing and usually recommend this one for online testing.
Hope all that helps!
Basic Syntax | Markdown Guide
The Markdown elements outlined in the original design document.www.markdownguide.org
The developer explains it should run basically everything unless "it requires strong GPU acceleration or kernel-level anticheat".
That is a lot of use cases people have for Windows only applications.
SketchUp Make 2017 : Trimble : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
SketchUp Make 2017The last free version of SketchUp Make.English:Win: sketchupmake-2017-2-2555-90783-en-x64.exeMac:...Internet Archive
GitHub - winapps-org/winapps: Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office/Adobe in Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) and GNOME/KDE as if they were a part of the native OS, including Nautilus integration. Hard fork of github.com/Fmstrat/winapps/
Run Windows apps such as Microsoft Office/Adobe in Linux (Ubuntu/Fedora) and GNOME/KDE as if they were a part of the native OS, including Nautilus integration. Hard fork of https://github.com/Fmst...GitHub
I've tried both. WinBoat is on a whole different level of easy. You just download it, click next about 3 times and you have a working Windows VM providing Windows apps that run alongside your native linux apps.
It doesn't get any easier than this.
Fusion is about the only thing keeping me on windows
Autocad Fusion 360 ? Forget about it. Winboat doesn't support GPU passthrough yet, so it will run sluggish as hell.
You either...
- wait for WinBoat to support it (if it ever does)
- learn how to virtualize and do GPU passthrough on your own
- switch to freecad which is very powerful
Check out this comparison of Free and vs OnShape:
it runs a real copy of Windows
then just run windows; at that point if you're going to buy a license for windows, why go through hoops?
it runs a real copy of Windows
then just run windows
umm, running windows in a container is still running windows so . . . . you would still just be running windows
Because I use a paid graphics suite for profit (Affinity, great and pretty decent payment model), and I'm OK-ish with paying (a fair price) for stuff that allows me to make money, but I'd rather live in Linux for most everything else.
I currently use Affinity mostly in a VM, and dual boot for some very specific things, but this seems to be a way to make the experience better.
Also, a lot of people have paid for a license when buying their computer.
I'm OK with people sidestepping the strict licensing terms if they have paid for it.
It's not "you have pirated it", but "you aren't using it exactly as we want you to"
There is a Windows only video confrencing app that I need to use for work. Would this work ok?
I wonder if it can connect to my laptops webcam and microhpone. I also wonder if there would be a delay in the video and audio streams.
The good thing is, it's all free software (*), so you can just try.
(*) Windows is free, because you almost certainly have a license with your pc which you can use in the vm too if your pc runs linux.
While I respect that you want more apps you use into the same package manager. I may be wrong, but its my understanding that they dont accept docker containers on flathub. I don't even know it is possible to run docker inside a flatpak or if its possible if it would conflict with docker on the host. Docker or podman requires kernel features like cgroup which I belive flatpak sandboxes away.
At the very least you need docker or podman and kvm and pass these from the host into the flatpak
I really like having all or most apps in one or max two package managers on my computer. But I think this is a case where you might have to concede installing this piece of software without a flatpak
Instead of running compatibility layers, it runs a real copy of Windows using Docker and KVM under the hood.
I take it that it requires a Windows license then, I'll stick with wine.
A company that lets you use Linux as a main OS might not like if you also want to run Windows in a VM.
My point was rather to be careful when you use it, to not get into legal trouble (especially because it just works with the default settings).
It should work, maybe not out of the box. But if you make sure KVM is enabled. And you have docker, docker-compose, freerdp and iptables installed. And you have added your user to the docker group.
Then the app should work
Weird to compare it to Wine instead of Cassowary
github.com/casualsnek/cassowar…
Since both are just running Windows in a VM
GitHub - casualsnek/cassowary: Run Windows Applications on Linux as if they are native, Use linux applications to launch files files located in windows vm without needing to install applications on vm. With easy to use configuration GUI
Run Windows Applications on Linux as if they are native, Use linux applications to launch files files located in windows vm without needing to install applications on vm. With easy to use configura...GitHub
ehh, tried using it . . . and a
failed to create network winboat_default: Error response from daemon: all predefined address pools have been fully subnetted
happens. I'll create a github issue, but at this point, I could have installed a full windows vm in less time than I spent troubleshooting this issue . . . so there's that
From their FAQ
With WinApps you do the bulk of the setup manually, and there's no cohesive interface to bring it all together. There's a basic TUI, a taskbar widget, and some CLI commands for you to play with.WinBoat does all the setup once you have the pre-requisites installed, displays everything worth seeing in a neat interface for you, and acts like a complete experience. No need to mess with configuration files, no need to memorize a dozen CLI commands, it just works.
But if it isn't dependant on the command line is it really Linux?
(This is an awesome project, thanks for sharing)
- Imperial Stormtrooper 5'11
- Metric Stormtrooper 180 cm
This meme is a reference to different metric systems.
Hmm Good argument, but does Vim also have the ability to support a lemmy client?!?
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ likes this.
U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says
U.S. military strikes drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, Rubio says
The U.S. military on Tuesday struck a drug boat from Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as tensions spike between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government.Joe Walsh (CBS News)
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35600642
By MEE staff
Published date: 2 September 2025
A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.Since then, he has faced criminal charges brought by the state's attorney general, lost his on-campus job, spent time behind bars, and, as of last month, was still being disciplined by the university despite having graduated in May.
All of this was because he took part in a student encampment against the war on Gaza on 21 May 2024. Shapiro was arrested during the police raid of the encampment and was later released on bond.
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
By MEE staff
Published date: 2 September 2025A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.Since then, he has faced criminal charges brought by the state's attorney general, lost his on-campus job, spent time behind bars, and, as of last month, was still being disciplined by the university despite having graduated in May.
All of this was because he took part in a student encampment against the war on Gaza on 21 May 2024. Shapiro was arrested during the police raid of the encampment and was later released on bond.
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35600642
By MEE staff
Published date: 2 September 2025
A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.Since then, he has faced criminal charges brought by the state's attorney general, lost his on-campus job, spent time behind bars, and, as of last month, was still being disciplined by the university despite having graduated in May.
All of this was because he took part in a student encampment against the war on Gaza on 21 May 2024. Shapiro was arrested during the police raid of the encampment and was later released on bond.
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
By MEE staff
Published date: 2 September 2025A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.Since then, he has faced criminal charges brought by the state's attorney general, lost his on-campus job, spent time behind bars, and, as of last month, was still being disciplined by the university despite having graduated in May.
All of this was because he took part in a student encampment against the war on Gaza on 21 May 2024. Shapiro was arrested during the police raid of the encampment and was later released on bond.
University of Michigan still punishing pro-Palestine students after graduating
A little over a year ago, Drin Shapiro was a student programme assistant at the University of Michigan's (UM) English Language Institute, and a student in his final year of a bachelor's degree in history.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
geneva_convenience likes this.
Gaza’s Last Functioning Children’s Hospital
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35598947
[article contains many interviews and photos of mothers at the hospital.]from Drop Site News
Abdel Qader Sabbah
Sep 02, 2025
“This is the only hospital still providing pediatric medical care, after several other hospitals—like Al-Durra Hospital, Al-Nasr Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Beit Hanoun Hospital—have all been put out of service,” Dr. Mohammad Madi, the head of the Pediatrics Department at Al-Rantisi, told Drop Site. “Now only Rantisi Children’s Hospital remains. It is the only hospital providing medical care for children.”
Gaza’s Last Functioning Children’s Hospital
[article contains many interviews and photos of mothers at the hospital.]from Drop Site News
Abdel Qader Sabbah
Sep 02, 2025“This is the only hospital still providing pediatric medical care, after several other hospitals—like Al-Durra Hospital, Al-Nasr Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Beit Hanoun Hospital—have all been put out of service,” Dr. Mohammad Madi, the head of the Pediatrics Department at Al-Rantisi, told Drop Site. “Now only Rantisi Children’s Hospital remains. It is the only hospital providing medical care for children.”
Gaza’s Last Functioning Children’s Hospital
“My child should be in a safe, clean place, getting proper treatment. But here I am, on the floor, with no place to sit.”Abdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)
H1 2025: China installs more solar than rest of the world combined
H1 2025: China installs more solar than rest of the world combined
Solar surged 64% in H1 2025 with 380 GW added worldwide, led by China’s record pace, keeping 2025 on track for new highs.Michelle Lewis (Electrek)
It's possible, but it's objectively not the case. Don't take my word for it though, it's what people actually living in China say.
- newsweek.com/most-china-call-t…
- csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacif…
- bloomberg.com/opinion/articles…
- web.archive.org/web/2023051104…
- tbsnews.net/world/china-more-d…
- web.archive.org/web/2020122913…
Studies have shown that China is more democratic than the United States, Russia is nearby, and Ukraine is “at the bottom”
No matter how American politicians and the media criticize “totalitarian” China, there are far more people among US citizens who consider their country undemocratic.ignatova (English News front)
The PRC isn't weak for not allowing capitalist and other liberal parties to compete, and socialist democracy has never cared too much about multi-party "democracy." The PRC values cohesion and cooperation, not needless competition. Any competing "socialist" party would, in all reality, be used by the west to undermine the long-term socialist project.
Further, they have 8 minor political parties that cooperate with the CPC.
Yeah, those don't count, if they're required to align with the party then they're just subcommittees or something, not actual political parties.
I promise I'm keeping my mind open, but all of these answers seem indistinguishable from authoritarian rule, which was kinda my original point. The same organization has to rule in perpetuity because foreign influence would subvert the interests of the country if there were other options, quite lucky that they locked in the right one. Practically all one billion people are aligned on this and agree that this system is working for them, but no, they will not be allowing that to be tested at the ballot box or in a media environment where people can speak their mind, it might all fall apart despite how unified they are. It's a party controlled by the workers and acting for their interests, with total control of the levers of power, they just felt like keeping some ultra-rich and ultra-powerful folks around for a laugh, not because they're the ones who actually have the power.
Honestly, shit's so bad in the west that I'm kinda open to the idea that maybe a totalitarian government that recognizes it needs to keep workers decently happy to allow them to rule is, in fact, better than what we've got going on now, but it's really hard to go as far as saying that it's an active, ongoing, consensual choice by the workers to never give themselves a choice.
"I want a different party"
There are 8 to choose from
"They don't count"
Unserious af
What kind of democracy does the China have?
Godfree Roberts's answer: The Chinese want the kind of democracy they’ve got. How do we know? Because they’ve told us that they really support and trust their system that is constitutionally, electively, popularly, procedurally, operationally, subst…Quora
I'm not sure I follow, what do you imagine would happen? What's an example? COVID is a quick example I can think of of the central government wanting more strict policies, but folding due to public pressure against it (even though the government ended up being correct).
The CPC doesn't have a mandate from heaven, it has 100 million members in a country of 1.4 billion. It's a party thoroughly embedded in production, local jurisdictions, and gets its policies directly from the people. Five Year Plans are the result of mass polling, as an example. When the party sepparates from the masses, it loses support, and mass protest occurs and production halts. This is rare, because the CPC is good at what it does.
Ah, I didn't see that edit, apologies, had the page loaded for a while before replying.
Isn't that the same leverage that the earliest labor unions used because it was all they had? It seems to fit very well, actually. There's a smaller but more powerful group in charge of them, workers get little to no direct say in company policy or who they are managed by and have to hope they're listened to when asked how things are going. There certainly isn't a second C-suite waiting in the wings to be put into power if the first one disappoints, the current powers-that-be would be insane to allow something as chaotic as that. If the CEO's got a good track record of listening, the pay's pretty good and satisfaction is high, and they're kept in line with picket lines when it's necessary, is this company an extension of the working class like China's government is?
I'm comparing and contrasting quite a bit with my new job, which fits much more closely with what my idea of something worker-controlled would be. It's fully employee owned, so profits go either back into the business or into our pockets as bonuses. There's as little hierarchy as possible, the closest thing to a manager isn't ever going to "put" you on a project, you're free to find one that you like and wants you to join. Company decisions involve everyone equally, and there's freedom to loudly speak your mind about policies and procedures if you disagree with them. That's closer to the country I'd want to live in, not the one where my influence is akin to answering corporate surveys and getting to choose which of 3 approved managers I want to work under, or go on strike if I'm really not happy.
I think you should go and read through the post I linked a bit more. China has a lot of democratic input from the workers. States are representatives of classes, in the US that class is the capitalist class, but in the PRC that class is the working class. It's why the PRC regularly punishes billionaires for stepping out of line.
Further, the working class in China does control who they elect, and since change is initially pushed from the bottom, they have control over what gets passed and what doesn't. There's also a good degree of local autonomy, councils, etc.
Your example doesn't fit, because it's entirely different. The CPC are not capitalists for the economy. The USPS isn't run for Trump's personal profits, as an example. Multi-Party systems create competition politically, not cooperation and cohesion, which is why they generally don't exist in socialist countries outside of minor, supoortive countries.
It's the difference between merely formal democracy and substantive democracy.
Meta argument: charts like this are basically useless.
I was raised in a very religious town. If you asked, the people in that town would say “my religion is a religion of love” “people should be as free as possible because it’s an extension of personal agency” and all the while they beat their kids and would rather die than let gay or trans people be themselves.
They can quote the scriptures and could likely write some pretty strong rhetoric implying they are loving and kind and caring, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near the truth.
Point is that just because you get phrases pounded into your head doesn’t mean you truly believe them or even know what they imply.
If your country’s rhetoric specifically states that the government serves the people and says it over and over, regardless of the truth of that statement, people will have a tendency to select it. (Like if your government called itself the people’s republic…)
If you asked Americans and Chinese if they think personal freedom is important, you’d likely get the reverse pattern in your graph. Is this because America has more freedom? No, more likely it’s because the historical rhetoric we get exposed to emphasizes “freedom” whereas China’s revolutionary rhetoric was centered around “democracy”
If you asked Americans if they support socialism, you’d get lower bars than if you asked it indirectly. Just using the word socialism skews your metric.
People will say they support or don’t support concepts they don’t understand, or that they view in a different light than others. Does democracy mean more than two political parties? Does democracy mean no capitalism? Does democracy require freedom to spread information freely? Etc.
So once again these metrics are useless because I’d imagine most of these countries’ voters would disagree on what the statements even mean.
Why would that have any effect on the point of my argument?
My point is about the ineffectiveness and unscientific nature of this kind of questionnaire.
Doesn’t matter what topics or debates these are used in or who is right in those debates; the point is that these kind of charts are useless regardless of their content.
Sidenote: if you had “various metrics” why’d you post the least scientific one? Like bro, brain-dead “libertarians” could probably pull out some statistic or study that is more sound than this chart to support their idiotic bullshit. If a fellow anarchist tried to use a metric like this I’d call them out too even if I agreed with their point
Studies show strong public support for China’s political system
Conventional narratives in the West hold that the government in China lacks popular legitimacy and only retains power through coercion.Jason Hickel
The only thing the questionnaire does, assuming it is built well, is show that when asked those questions people in different countries answered differently.
Did the Chinese populations sampled by the study respond more positively to those four questions more than the samples of other nations? Yes.
Can you assert that this is proof that china is more democratic and less authoritarian than those countries? NO.
At best, this study shows that public opinion of the government in china is higher than that of the other countries. Which definitely doesn’t mean all that much at all, for example I could ask half my family members and they’d say that things are better now under trump than they’ve ever been before. Is that the case? Absolutely not. Does that change their minds? No.
Now, the original article you linked seems much more soft science but the article it first mentions actually has more concrete data but still that data is on public opinion.
Unfortunately the democracy index site appears to be missing and “for sale”
If you could find me the actual questionnaire in mandarin so we could read it as it was presented and compare with the English version we could rule out some of the bias I presented earlier, but not all.
Lastly, kairos buddy, your argument was that a country (which many of the people you’re trying to persuade think is George Orwell big brother level controlling) isn’t authoritarian. Using polled data, especially that which was “implemented by a reputable domestic Chinese polling firm” is not going to hold much evidentiary worth to your target audience.
I’m not Anti-China, in fact I was and possibly still am thinking about taking a semester or internship out there; I only wanted to point out that you aren’t actually backing your argument up with any solid evidence especially with regards to your target audience.
I really am curious about the test though, especially since the democracy index paper is on a dead site, so if you could find it in Mandarin I’d be interested. If you could find a source on what “reputable polling firm” Harvard used I’d be interested in that too since the report didn’t actually mention the name..?
Oh and one last thing is that the article mentions “Furthermore, China outperforms the US and most European countries on these indicators – in fact, it has some of the strongest results in the world.” Fun statistical fact: outliers are a sign your sampling methodology is flawed, especially when the outliers are a set of samples and not just a singular data point.
From just the “my government serves the people” bars alone, it would appear the Chinese dataset is well beyond 1.5 standard deviations if the other three are so much lower and show such low variation. If this was a single data point, one would throw it out, but considering it is supposedly a longitudinal collection of samples it implies that there is a very strong influencing factor that is only largely affecting the Chinese survey takers.
If the pattern holds for many other metrics, then it implies this singular factor (or other factors) have significantly biased the Chinese samples. This doesn’t necessarily mean that factor is government intervention or bias from being raised in rhetoric from an authoritarian state, but it is statistically unlikely that this factor is simply due to china just somehow having a better democracy than every single country on earth (including all of its allies and enemies alike) by a statistically gigantic margin.
Taking China’s pulse
Ash Center research team unveils findings from long-term public opinion survey.Dan Harsha (Harvard Gazette)
The study in that link is the same one from the last in the report they have the “implemented by a reputable domestic Chinese polling firm” line.
The brief neither mentions the name of the polling organization nor does it list or link to the actual questions asked. Honestly seems odd given that it’s Harvard, then again isn’t meant to be a rigorous academic paper and I doubt the Chinese government would be up for letting more research be done if they had found negative associations.
Still odd that they won’t name the firm anywhere. Like “The work began in 2003, and together with a leading private research and polling company in China, the team developed a series of questionnaires for in-person interviews.” what leading polling company? Wouldn’t they want their name attached to this? Also an in person questionnaire seems both much more qualitative and much less private than I would have expected. If you want to get people’s true anonymous opinions without any coercive bias, having them physically go somewhere and have to answer questions to an actual person is definitely not the best approach.
like this
Skua likes this.
Nice straw man. First, ethos is bullshit man, don’t idolize people or institutions to the point you think they’re infallible.
Second, you aren’t making the same claim as the source. And I’m not contradicting it (Harvard’s research). The source rightfully states that their survey found high satisfaction in government, higher than in most other countries. The original paper is on how those reports seem to be increasingly positive overtime and show that development of rural areas correlates with increased reports of happiness in that survey.
The researchers question the validity of their results because they are abnormally high and list possible other factors influencing the data. One of the researchers states that they believe the abnormally high levels are likely due other factors like the “highly positive news proliferated throughout the country” so I’m not doubting Harvard I’m actually agreeing with it
Lastly, my concern over data collection doesn’t actually apply to Harvard. I’m reasonably certain that Harvard did the best with the data they were given. And the Ash Center used that data to create their little positive promotional brief well too.
The research done by Harvard seems sound, as are my concerns about the validity of the collected data and my statement that this kind of data cannot be used to draw conclusions on the actual state of democracy or the actual workings of the government.
Fuck it maybe I’ll just send the researchers an email about it tomorrow and see if they respond. I’ve gotten responses from physicists and mathematicians before, might be fun
To be fair I doubt that would change your mind since you seem dead set on ignoring my actual argument. If they agree with me you’ll just say they’re producing propaganda for the western elites haha. But hey chances are the researcher will actually engage me in real discussion which would be nice
like this
Skua likes this.
First, ethos is bullshit man, don’t idolize people or institutions to the point you think they’re infallible.
Funny how stuff like this only applies when it's against the western narrative
The researchers question the validity of their results because they are abnormally high a
The western brainpan cannot comprehend a genuinely popular government
Funny how stuff like this only applies when it’s against the western narrative
This stuff applies always. It’s called critical thinking skills and it absolutely applies when someone is speaking “for the western narrative” too
The western brain pan cannot comprehend a genuinely popular government
Clearly you can’t comprehend elementary statistics like the central limit theorem lol
And honestly god damn you tankies give communists and socialists such a bad name with all your braindead bullshit. Nothing talks me out of trusting china more than talking with you idiots
Look I know it’s easy to think that there’s a singular big bad out there. That there’s just this one entity called “the west” and you’ll be able to fight and conquer it. It’s easier to believe things are black and white, that certain countries are innately good and others innately bad at all times. But that’s not reality.
If you give into those kinds of delusions you’re not really better than the people who blindly believe in Trump or God etc. It’s easy believe that kind of blind faith because it’s less scary than admitting you might be wrong. We are driven to cling to the idea that there are hero’s out there, a righteous nation behind us fighting for good, someone we can always depend on, but if you don’t see reality as it is, you’re setting yourself up for more pain. Those feelings are opium not a cure, and often they hurt you and your causes too
If you’re delusional people won’t believe what you say even if it’s true. So if you constantly go around attacking people with ad hominem, or claiming literally everything is western propaganda without actually providing evidence, you’re really just hurting the causes you’re trying to support
Anyway dude, even if you didn’t actually engage my argument you did point me to a fascinating rabbit hole to go down, so thanks for that, but I think I’m going to disengage now
I hope your days go well, and I wish you peace and happiness mate
like this
Skua likes this.
This stuff applies always. It’s called critical thinking skills and it absolutely applies when someone is speaking “for the western narrative” too
A Chinese source claiming Chinese are happy with their gvmnt doesn't hold as much materiality as a western source claiming that Chinese are happy with their government. (And vice versa) Do you even know what bias is? So much for cirtical thinking on your part
Look I know it’s easy to think that there’s a singular big bad out there. That there’s just this one entity called “the west” and you’ll be able to fight and conquer it. It’s easier to believe things are black and white, that certain countries are innately good and others innately bad at all times. But that’s not reality.
And you talk about strawman GTFO shitlib
The commenter was questioning the validity of the organisation conducting the survey, which was weirdly not specifically mentioned in the research article. Saying that the data comes from some „reputable“ source is always very untrustworthy even when it’s regarding western countries.
This just makes the science difficult to control/refute which is a necessary thing for good scientific research
Clearly you can’t comprehend elementary statistics like the central limit theorem lol
What? The central limit theorem states that if you take many averages of a distribution, the distribution of averages will be a normal distribution. What does that have to do with anything? Since the resulting normal distribution has a variance of sigma/n, the central limit theorem supports these kinds of polls, since they get more accurate as the number of responses increases. You know you can't just say the words 'central limit theorem' like it's some kind of magic spell right? Like you have to actually make an argument that uses the central limit theorem to support your conclusion.
Unless you mean that stuff about outliers? But again, the underlying distributions for different countries are different, so the central limit theorem doesn't apply. There is a more general version of the theorem, but that has many preconditions for validity, so again, you have to show your work that it applies here. You are extremely arrogant for someone who doesn't understand statistics.
And honestly god damn you tankies give communists and socialists such a bad name with all your braindead bullshit. Nothing talks me out of trusting china more than talking with you idiots
Even if everyone here did have invalid arguments, trusting China less for someone on the internet having a bad argument is a fallacy fallacy. So much for your critical thinking skills.
Look I know it’s easy to think that there’s a singular big bad out there. That there’s just this one entity called “the west” and you’ll be able to fight and conquer it. It’s easier to believe things are black and white, that certain countries are innately good and others innately bad at all times. But that’s not reality.
Communists regularly criticize China, they criticize the actually bad parts about it, rather than the delusions that only exist in liberal minds, so if you're coming in here with "The ebil authoritarians" commies don't take a 'nuanced' outlook, because the situation has no nuance. What a massive strawman. So much for your critical thinking skills.
If you give into those kinds of delusions you’re not really better than the people who blindly believe in Trump or God etc. It’s easy believe that kind of blind faith because it’s less scary than admitting you might be wrong. We are driven to cling to the idea that there are hero’s out there, a righteous nation behind us fighting for good, someone we can always depend on, but if you don’t see reality as it is, you’re setting yourself up for more pain.
Once again, massive strawman. So much for your critical thinking skills.
If you’re delusional people won’t believe what you say even if it’s true. So if you constantly go around attacking people with ad hominem,
Just saying mean things isn't an ad hominem. If I say 'You're wrong because x, therefore you're stupid' that's just an insult. If I say 'You're wrong because you're stupid', that would be an ad hominem. So much for your critical thinking skills. Also real smart complaining about insults in the middle of a massive insulting screed.
or claiming literally everything is western propaganda without actually providing evidence
They did provide evidence. Not great evidence, but more evidence than anyone provided to claim that China is authoritarian, which is zero. So more than enough evidence for the situation, in other words. If any libs made more specific claims with more specific evidence, more specific counter evidence would have been provided. So much for your critical thinking skills.
you’re really just hurting the causes you’re trying to support
"You're just hurting your own cause" says the person who hates us and our cause.
Anyway dude
You know, getting overly familiar with someone you don't know during a disagreement by saying things like 'dude', 'bro' and 'buddy' comes off as massively disrespectful and arrogant.
I hope your days go well, and I wish you peace and happiness mate
Hell of a thing to say to someone you just insulted and belittled. I might almost think you're being disingenuous.
KimBongUn already provided other sources, I'm not going to go through the trouble of finding a poll in mandarin when I can't speak it. Popular support for the PRC is well-documented, as well as the ability for the people to direct policy in a far more material way than in liberal countries.
China has democracy comparable to other socialist states. The difference is socialism vs capitalism, it's as simple as that.
Fun statistical fact: outliers are a sign your sampling methodology is flawed, especially when the outliers are a set of samples and not just a singular data point.
"This jet's speed is an outlier in this set of planes. Outliers mean the methodology must be invalid, so jets can't be faster than planes."
This is nonsense. China and the euros have fundamentally different political systems, there is no reason to suppose they should have similar outcomes. The whole point of the discussion is that China's system is superior, if you say that any data that supports that is an outlier, and therefore must be invalid you're just presupposing your conclusion.
On your other point about the usefulness of this data: while it is true that there can be many different explanations for the observed results, that just means that we need more evidence to show which system is more democratic, not that this evidence is useless. Saying that people's opinion of their own system is irrelevant is extremely chauvinistic. In the case of China, we can see the massive increase in quality of life of it's citizens, as well as a systematic overview of it's political structures like here. I've also heard the book Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners is good, but I haven't read it yet myself.
Furthermore, your point about manipulation of public opinion goes the other way, too. Where did the idea that China is authoritarian come from? People going to China and studying what life is like there, or media manipulation? Who do you think is more likely to be manipulated like that, the people living there who actually experience the political structures of China, or rando westerners whos only source of information is capitalist media? A simple poll like this is more than enough to debunk the people who think China is authoritarian based on nothing but vibes from capitalist media.
In the PRC, the working class uses the state to keep the capitalists in check
The state used the police to crush the working class when they demanded the money from the banks that invested it in a runaway housing scam.
theguardian.com/world/2022/jul…
You are believing in a fantasy. There are countless countries around the world that are arguably more socialist than China without even calling themselves such. Quite frankly, I trust actions and numbers more than words.
Protest in China over frozen bank accounts ends in violence
Authorities say some customers will start getting their money back after angry crowd in Henan was broken up by heavy-handed security guardsVincent Ni (The Guardian)
What would be a source you deem valid in this case. The only thing I can say is that multiple news sources published about this topic.
And what do you have to say about the problem of half-assed building projects that keep killing people in china because they used the wrong type of sand for concrete for example?
What's important is the framing, and what is left in vs what is left out. Those that were harmed by the government popping the real estate bubble were those who had the extra money to invest in real estate, which is the primary vehicle for balooning your wealth in China. The user I replied to specifically stated working class, which in reality should be more like the petty bourgeois.
Secondly, the scale of violence inplied by the user is the idea that the state sent in jackbooted thugs to crush the protest, but reading the article it seems as though it was only a handful of people that got into a skirmish with plainclothes police officers. That doesn't excuse anything, of course, but now we know "CPC crushes working class protestors with police" is at best an exaggeration of "crushes" and the "working class" part is an embellishment.
Finally, the article says the government worked to address the complaints! This wasn't a protest against the government, but a protest for government intervention. This wasn't because the CPC did something bad, but was a request for the CPC to step into the banking system failing and help people harmed by that.
So, again, we have what appears to be light police skirmishes with upper-middle class people harmed by a banking failure that requested CPC intervention, which they did. What they framed it as was poor, working class protestors harmed by CPC action being met by overwhelming jackbooted thugs in order to squash dissent against the CPC. See how that's dishonest? And that's taking the Guardian at face value, just reading between the lines.
Do you have more information on what the specific banking error was, because most sources I was able to find are focused on the violent intervention and less about what exactly happened in the banks.
If not, the incident doesn’t make china as bad or worse than the us but it does make the perfect image of the chinese government seem a bit more questionable.
Also, what do you think about the issue of things like tofu dreg construction? Why do you think that happens or did it even happen as shown on multiple videos from chine?
I don't personally know more about this single event, but the broader housing bubble has been widely reported on. If you want a Chinese perspective, I recommend searching CGTN.
As for the CPC, it is by no means perfect. As a socialist country, the PRC does a much better job of meeting the needs of the people. Even the linked article was a protest for government action, not against it. The CPC makes mistakes, but the system itself is better, so it's likely shortcomings are resolved over time.
As for "tofu-dregs," they aren't all that common. It has happened, it was a term coined by Zhu Rongji, premier of the CPC at the time. Using insufficient rebar, poor quality concrete, etc has happened because of rapid development and the ability for individuals to cut corners for higher profits or to meet deadlines. However, this is more of a problem of the past, and not a widescale problem, despite how western countries would report on it.
Really, identifying bias within an article and engaging with it critically is good practice in general.
Although state censorship and propaganda are widespread in China, these findings highlight that citizen perceptions of governmental performance respond most to real, measurable changes in individuals’ material well-being. Satisfaction and support must be consistently reinforced. As a result, the data point to specific areas in which citizen satisfaction could decline in today’s era of slowing economic growth and continued environmental degradation.
The CPC does restrict the speech of capitalists, yes. However, the reason the people support the CPC is because of dramatic improvements in living conditions, not fear of the state.
Taking China’s pulse
Ash Center research team unveils findings from long-term public opinion survey.Dan Harsha (Harvard Gazette)
The data from the source I provided on perceptions of democracy is from 2024. The Ash Center Study proves that this isn't a recent thing, the CPC has broad support and successfully maintains it. Here are even more sources on the matter.
You have a hypothesis but no evidence that it actually matters.
Studies show strong public support for China’s political system
Conventional narratives in the West hold that the government in China lacks popular legitimacy and only retains power through coercion.Jason Hickel
Alright, you did convince me that the Chinese people report strong support to the CCP and report a strong perception of democracy.
What I am still not convinced of however, is that PRC IS democratic.
In my book, for a country to be democratic it needs to have:
- Freedom of speech
- Freedom of press
- Freedom of reunion
- Freedom of protest
- Universal access to education
- Political plurality
- Universal suffrage
- Universal respect of human right
My opinion today is that, I highly doubt PRC qualifies to any of this points, but I don't know for sure. If you convince me with credible evidence that PRC is better than, let's say, France, Germany or Norway, on all these points, then I am ready to move to China with you next year.
Edit: I forgot a few important point on my democratic list of requirements:
- Laicity (division of state and religion and tolerance for all religions)
- Division of power (Legislative, Justice, Executive, etc, must be help by different institution regulating each other)
First of all, you have a very liberal-minded understanding of democracy. A lot of these values are really only "valid" in as much as they apply to capitalists in the west. For example:
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom of Press
Both of these only exist in the west as far as they can be abused by those with enough money to buy the media narrative. In China, speech of capitalists and misinformation is cracked down on, but the working class is largely left to speak what they want.
Freedom of reunion (I take to mean freedom of assembly) is partially valid. As China is a socialist country, and the class struggle is very much still alive, creating groups opposed to socialism is cracked down on more. However, there exist many specialty groups, in fact there are 8 political parties other than the CPC that work cooperatively with the CPC when it comes to governing.
Freedom of protest is fine. Protests and public backlash are what caused the CPC to back off on COVID restrictions, even though the CPC was correct. You can't really aim to overthrow socialism or anything, but protests for example are often supported by the CPC against capitalists.
Education is kept extremely cheap in China. Schools are extremely competitive as well, partially because of how many people there are competing for the top universities, but overall education is extremely affordable. It isn't free as far as I'm aware, but it isn't a block for the working class.
Regarding political plurality, there's a saying in China: "let a hundred flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend." I recommend this article on Roland Boer's trip to China.
As for universal suffrage:
As for universal respect of human rights, China does quite well, and unlike the countries you listed, it isn't imperialist. France, Germany, Norway, the west in general, all depend on vast looting and plundering of the global south. China doesn't, it runs on largely its own production, which is why countries in the global south are flocking to China for construction contracts and to join the Belt and Road Initiative.
Imperialist countries in the west use vast exports of capital to super-exploit international labor for super-profits, that's where western safety nets come from. Essentially, you can think of the west as capitalists in country form, exploiting those under their domination, while China is aligned with the global south and doesn't have that private domination of finance capital that enables imperialism in the first place.
I'm not moving to China anytime soon. I can't speak Mandarin, and I have friends and family where I live. I do organize with communists, though, and would love to bring about socialism in my country.
Edit for your edit:
Religion is protected.
As for "separation of powers," this circles back to you having a thoroughly liberal understanding of politics. Government should cooperate in a functional society, not work against itself. Capitalist countries rely on this instability of government in order to keep capital on top, but there's no actual reasoning for it. The churn, the competition, it's all by design to keep society turned against itself instead of cooperating.
Imperialism - ProleWiki
Imperialism is the highest stage of the capitalist mode of production, in which monopolies and cartels become the prevalent economic force of society. Lenin synthesized...ProleWiki
I'm a big defender of China when the "China Bad" crowd comes out, but this graph is meaningless beyond what people's perceptions are.
Real trade unions are banned. All must be part of the party, workers rights are routinely not enforced, and given the lattitude the government has to act, there isn't really much of an excuse.
The CCP enjoy massive support, though, this is undeniable. The reasons for this support is debatable and vary from person to person.
I for one, very much enjoy when the Chinese government does things in line with my socialist ideals. But let's not pretend like they're actually keeping the capitalists in check. There are many, many billionaires in China, something that ought not be possible under an actual socialist country.
It doesn't take a genius to look at their system of voting to quickly conclude that you don't really have a say, the People's Congress functions as a rubber stamp for what the inner party has already decided.
Again, my opinions aside, people in China generally are supportive of the government at this present time.
The graph shows that people generally feel they have more democratic input in China than peoole do in the US, France, and Britain. That's a valuable metric.
Secondly, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions is a real union, it fights for worker's rights against the capitalists that still exist in the primary stage of socialism they are in. Yes, it is affiliated with the CPC, and that's a good thing. If unions were allowed to be independent, then they would be directly supported by western governments against the socialist system. China exists in a world where capitalism is dominant and constantly undermining socialism.
Third, capitalists are kept in check. They exist, including billionaires, because China is in the primary stage of socialism. The point of socialism isn't to make everything equal, in the context of the overall economy China is still dramatically improving the rights and well-being of its working class as its core focus. As China develops, private property is sublimated into public property, if the capitalists had control then this wouldn't really be possible at scale.
Overall, I think you should research more on why China does things you may not agree with on the surface. Usually it's either for an understandable reason, or is something that is bad, but is improving (like LGBTQIA+ rights).
The US killed a million innocent people in Iraq just a few years ago, and is *currently * drone bombing several countries in ME and north africa, and is currently supporting the apartheid state of israel with billions of dollars in military aid.
The PRC has not been in a war since its skirmish with Vietnam in 1979.
The US has a network of > 800 military bases across the globe, and has been involved in regime change in nearly every country.
Which one is authoritarian?
Which one illegally annexed Tibet and Hong Kong?
Both countries are authoritarian shit-holes.
Nope, only one of them is a shithole.
Which one illegally annexed Tibet
I’m pretty sure virtually all of the Tibetan people are happy to no longer be suffering under theocratic feudalism. Happy to no longer be illiterate serfs and slaves, suffering depredation under a god-king. I doubt many of them are sad that CIA asset Dalai “suck my tongue” Lama is in exile. [1] [2]
and Hong Kong?
Entirely legal. In fact it would have been illegal for the UK not to hand it over.
The UK’s 99 year lease to subjugate Hong Kong ended. A lease which had been forced upon Imperial China at gunpoint during the century of humiliation. Hong Kong reintegration after the lease expired was a foregone conclusion. The last minute, US-backed attempt at color revolution failed.
Which one is currently genociding Uhygurs?
Neither, but one of them trained, funded, and organized terrorists in the region, and then made up a genocide narrative, and then imposed illegal sanctions on it using the fabricated genocide narrative as a pretext. Previously.
illegally annexed... Hong Kong
what
Like I can get not agreeing with it but illegally annexed how do you expect to be taken even a little seriously
It's weird to me that this particular law was the one the colour revolutionaries rallied behind.
A Hong Kong resident confessed to having committed a murder on Taiwan. China extradites people summoned for court or with arrest warrants issued by the Taipei rebel government to Taiwan as long as it's for non-political offences. So they would extradite this murderer to be tried on Taiwan.
Different parts of China have different laws, because it's a big country with autonomous regions. Hong Kong, not that big, but for historical reasons have their own laws as well. If someone has an arrest warrant issued by one of the other Chinese governments, they will extradite the person to their jurisdiction. If it's a different country, with which China has an extradition treaty, then they will extradite them to Beijing (the Chinese national government) and Beijing will send them to that other country.
Taiwan is neither a separate country, nor a Chinese government whose arrest warrants Hong Kong respects. But the guy confessed to murder. He should be tried. So new legislation is required to make it legal to extradite him to Taiwan, either directly or through Beijing.
That was the initial controversy.
I keep hearing 'illegal war' in the media.
What the fuck is a legal war? A war faught by lawyers?
There is evidence that China was oppressive to Ughyurs, but currently enacting an active genocide is a stretch.
If you want an overview of someone cutting through the bullshit:
youtu.be/cz9ICFDk8Js
TLDW:
- Likely cultural genocide
- Philosophies that would make Westerner's mouth water - Forced assimilation / "Taming" the natives type shit
- Western sources/"journalists" are dubious, twisting stories out of proportion or making shit up entirely
- However there are plenty of testimonies from the Uyghurs themselves -- the sheer volume of which cannot be ignored
Anyways, from what I've heard, China's dialed this shit back when they were first put on the spotlight. For whatever oppression China may have taken part of, it is not even a tenth of what the oppression the United States and other Western nations have been dishing out for the past few centuries.
US genocided Natives to be born, and historically oppressed its own population (slavery, internment camps, etc) and has continually oppressed others (overthrowing democracies, genocide, crimes against humanity, etc)
UK, Germany, France and other Western nations also love aiding genociders while also oppressing anti-genociders.
France also has an obsession with trying to force Muslim women to undress in public, dictate how they dress. Lmao
take a look at that map and you will notice they are fucking over the entire planet.
not just iraq, although usians like to ignore how much death and suffering they caused there. (all the while they sanction places like cuba)
you couped my country and made it undemocratic to this day and you can't even tell where i'm from.
you couped my country and made it undemocratic to this day and you can't even tell where i'm from.
You can't either it seems since I'm not American. What's with assuming everyone online is American lol
Pretty funny expecting everyone else to behave in a different way or speak some other lantuage to deflect your America centrism. Could just learn that other countries exist too, nah too hard
Do better, friend
so do you.
stop with your chauvinism if you expect people not to take you for a usian pig. shit, that kind of thing might even make you an honorary usian.
wait a second. so you are bothered by being called usian for having usian opinions, but every single other form of us-centrism is ok?
it's like its what you want to be, just not called out on it.
2) Are you an ML? If so, why are MLs so antagonistic to non-ML lefties? American Democrats, I can understand, but why be so extremely dichotomous about who your allies are?
I formulated the general sentiment of that group, overly represented on .world and crying about Trump's america.
I'm not antagonistic to lefties, only the pseudo-lefties.
If you're not one of then don't feel targeted.
You would be part of a small minority here tho.
Nope didn't say that at all, nice try though. You can be authoritarian and not bomb other countries and you can be authoritarian and bomb other countries.
Foreign affairs dont necessarily effect that determination.
The US I'd say is authoritarian and imperialist.
A country like Saudia Arabia or North Korea is just Authoritarian and tend to at least only meddle with boarding nations.
Terms like Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism were defined or entrenched by a lot of western supremacist authors, who needed to twist terminology in such a way that excluded the US (capitalism's worldwide enforcer and the cause of so much death and destruction) from any wrongdoing, while demonizing the colonial world who fought back against the US for their own sovereignty as "authoritarian".
I highly suggest reading Losurdo's - Western Marxism, for an in-depth analysis of some of these white supremacist authors, and how they demonize the anti-colonial struggle.
- dessalines.github.io/essays/so…
- redsails.org/friendly-feudalis…
- historicly.substack.com/p/tibe…
- stalinsmoustache.org/2018/09/1…
- ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/…
Tibet, China, and the violent reaction of a wealthy elite
Too many westerners supplant their fantasy instead of dealing with reality in TibetEsha (Historic.ly)
Ya and that's why they don't let tourists into Tibet without a guide.
Next you're going to tell me Putin isn't the aggressor.
I feel like this is shifting the focus to imperialism, where the US is overwhelmingly and undeniably worse.
However, domestically, if you wanna pretend that someone as a random citizen, has any chance of receiving political representation in China, well you enjoy your fantasy.
The US and China are both deeply undemocratic places. I'm saying this as someone from neither country.
Anyone who's actually been to China would know this. It is authoritarian. It's not even something viewed as bad by most people in China. It's just the way things are there.
There is pretty strong support for the government there, albeit that could be argued as product of censorship, repression and also genuine support. Many see the CCP as having done a lot of good things which they are grateful for, which in addition to the bad things, in fairness, they have done.
I'm getting kinda tired of some leftists knee jerking "China Good", just as much as I'm getting kinda tired of the "China Bad" crowd, when the truth is neither wholly good nor wholly bad.
We can be leftists and not have a hard-on for any country claiming to be socialist, you know
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
I redefine authoritarianism to "when people want things", but when I implement authoritarianism I'll use the more commonly understood description of authoritarianism.
Chinese too, and openly in the US currently not so much.
People in China are heavy controlled by the Gov, but they have more civil rights and services as citizen in the US
Complete list of banned books in the US. (Autoscroll enabled, due to the hugh amount of those, stop/start with mouseclick)
harpersbazaar.com/culture/a450…
US Freedom and Human rights only exist in Fox News.
Experts say attacks on free speech are rising across the U.S.
First Amendment experts say attacks on free speech rights are escalating across the United States. Joe Cohn with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression says censorship is proliferating and putting America's culture of individual freedoms…PBS News
People in China are heavy controlled by the Gov, but they have more civil rights
You guys are completely brainwashed if you believe this. They can't even form a union or strike.
It always amazes me how gringos can just say the dumbest, fakest shit with such confidence then call you brainwashed.
If the State Department said Chinese people can't play guitar you'd call us brainwashed if we showed you a video of one of them playing.
Crazy how you can literally just look this stuff up and find out what's true instead of discarding arguments.
Independent trade unions are illegal in China. The single, state sanctioned trade union is widely criticized by international trade union orgs for not faithfully representing its workers. By most accounts it exists to funnel labor disputes through a bureaucratic meat grinder of mediation to maintain the status quo. With the exception of a handful of actions for international leverage, all strikes are wildcat.
If you're actually interested in labor relations in China I'd recommend this article for starters. It's older but the situation hasn't improved under recent leadership.
China in Revolt
Few in the West are aware of the drama unfolding in today’s “epicenter of global labor unrest.” A scholar of China exposes its tumultuous labor politics and their lessons for the Left.jacobin.com
The freedom to shout into the void and have none of your concerns addressed.
Not to mention the fact that China has far more open discourse than the US and its media organs / capitalist controlled platforms allow.
Never claimed to be any kind of China expert but it's absurd to claim "much more open discourse" if you've spent any appreciable amount of time in the countries being discussed. You can literally just walk + talk in public and see the difference.
Like all these asserted freedoms it just magically happens better and free'er but you definitely can't verify it because "media". The open political discourse I see and hear in major EU/US cities pales in comparison to the uh... hidden... open discourse in T1/T2 Chinese cities? Definitely heard some first/second hand political discourse but it was never, ever, ever a public forum.
By all means, give me evidence to the contrary. Maybe I just keep catching China with a bad case of the Mondays. Have you been? Can you point to any discourse on domestic politics? Where is the asserted diversity of opinion on hotbed issues? Can you show me any strong opposition to the party line on a public stage?
I have! And I have my Chinese friends feed too. Inside and outside of china. There's definitely differences, but that's how algorithms work
Have you seen the coordinated response to genuine spreading political disconten
Yes i have seen it. They solve things pretty fast e.g. COVID lockdowns when minor protests broke out, petit bourgeois real estate protests, etc. doesn't look like you pay attention to things like that
COVID lockdowns when minor protests broke out
"Solve" is an interesting verb for suppression of legitimate mass discontent at being physically locked into their apartments. That "solution" worked so well for those "minor protests" that they decided to do a 180° turn from the Zero Covid policy to no restrictions overnight.
Truly a bastion of free speech, except for any real discontent is labeled capitalist subterfuge so we'll just disregard that.
Your response is very telling.
Considering the uncertainty surrounding COVID at the time, China's approach while heavy handed, prioritized people's lives instead of continuing capitalist exploitation like they did in the west. The infection rates and death toll speak for themselves. Once it was clear that the worst waves were over, and the popular sentiment was to loosen up restrictions the Chinese government reacted. The largest protest numbers I saw a in the lower hundreds of thousands across multiple provinces, which also considering Chinas size (more than hundred cities are 1M+ population with a total of 1.4B people) is indeed minor.
Also nice free speech you got over here where vaccine "sceptics" got to spew their nonsense all over the place and you have disease's coming back that where considered to be eradicated. GTFO shitlib
LMAO.
If the government listen the protesters and remove the lockdown policy is bad, if they don't listen to the protesters and maintain the lockdown is bad. Is impossible to win.
In the end of the day the lockdown was the right call and the "freedom above everything else" just cause death in the west.
Weird way to "listen" by suppressing their voices. Zero Covid was the "right call" in a narrow lens of limiting direct disease transmission, but it was completely untenable as a true long term strategy and had no foresight.
The protests weren't due to solely to the restrictions on personal freedom, it was also the total lack of sane administration and fallback plans. The enforcement, quarantine logistics and vaccine rollout were entirely scattershot. The government had no realistic approach to the problem beyond rigid policing.
When their authority to enforce the policy was stretched to its limits they did an about face and pretended the problem didn't exist, leaving their vulnerable populations in the lurch with no offramp. The core problem of inept administration was completely unaddressed. I wouldn't give them credit for "listening to the protesters" any more than I would give Tsar Nicholas credit for listening to his striking workers.
We have a few Chinese folks in the revolupedia discord so they definitely exist. We're pretty aggressively against modern China.
From what I've seen on Chinese social media, you have two kinda minds. The folks who want a return to maoism, and the folks that are more liberal minded. That's extremely reductive but that seems to be a sentiment repeated frequently by Chinese people so it's likely got some truth to it.
I don't uphold China, but I do think ~95% of what people have said in defense of China on this post is true. There's lot of propaganda that paints China as monstrously worse than it is.
I don’t know what it is about this post in particular, but the threadiverse isn’t sending its best 🤷
Edit to add: Some of them were so angry that they broke out their alt accounts to downvote some more.
old accounts, with maybe 1 comment per month
Isn't that just lurking behaviour?
I'm kind of new to lemmy in general and judging by the other comments I want to ask: is lemmy.ml full of ultras? Or is that what you're talking about in saying they didn't send their best?
If it is full of ultras, do you know of an instance(?) that either critically supports AES countries or at least has more of a mixed set of users? I don't mind debate, but on every single comment it would get tiring.
I have an account on lemmygrad as well so that's good news to me. I'm now thinking that it's more of an issue of me not fully grasping how the instances are organised having come from reddit.
Thanks for your input, my friend 😀
I think some of the Reddit refuges honestly think Reddit sucks because Spez Man Bad. There's no analysis of what creates Reddits and Spezes, and therefore they don't recognize who made this platform and why.
I have to believe ultimately some of these people will come around, so that's good at least.
The Chapotraphouse subreddit was radicalizing a lot of redditors when it was repeatedly hitting the front page of reddit fairly regularly and exposing people to counter-ideologies to liberalism that they never would have seen otherwise. Which is the reason why it (and then a slew of other popular lefty subs) had to be banned*. Despite all the lib-brained nonsense we have to constantly correct on this platform (the fediverse), there are an untold number of lurkers reading these discussions who are getting to see what actual leftist thought looks like when the narrow guardrails on the dominant narrative get removed. That exposure, especially when combined with witnessing the rapid intensifying of contradictions in their irl experiences, is enough to radicalize any thinking, genuinely open person. Lemmy being one of the few spaces on the internet where these things aren't hidden or removed on sight absolutely plays a role in a lot of users' leftward political evolution.
*It's also why the fed instances like .world and piefed preemptively defederate, block, and continuously slander and demonize all of the leftist instances. They are literally trying to mitigate the spread of leftism that is inevitable when exposure to thought that's outside the dominant ideology has a chance to get seen and voiced.
🤣
generally lemmy.ml is known for being a community with strong opinions on the subject.
Responding to a federated comment because I don't have a .ml account:
Okay, but we are talking about a country where you aren’t allowed to form a political party that opposes the CCP, right?
There are eight other parties in the People's Republic of China other than the *CPC
Yes, true
Thank God that in China you can't simply be "disappeared", you won't be sent to reeducation camps, and you won't be slaughtered.
Right?
Good thing you ate the capitalists’ propaganda onion and are now doing their work for free, contributing to your continued exploitation.
Meanwhile people actually are being disappeared in the US right now, and people actually are subjected to forced labor.
I have no reason to believe people are being disappeared, no, but I do have reason to believe that the US and its junior partners will continue claiming that they are. It’s big business.
House passes $1.6 billion to deliver anti-China propaganda overseas
Somehow it’s a crime when Russia does it to us, but good 'information ops' when we want to discredit Beijing’s Belt & Road initiatives worldwideMarcus Stanley (Responsible Statecraft)
How much have you travelled, lived and worked in China? How far outside the tier 1 cities have you gotten?
If you think every criticism of China is just liberal talking points, I assume the answers to those questions are all “not very much”.
I was gonna reply stuff but I don't see how I could gain anything from it ? I was initially saying op's take implied something stupid (note that I'm not saying your scapegoats don't exist; but if they do they're probably a minority), and that yours created a kind of "moderate" persona who's always in between political views to mock that other user's comment about not everything being all black or white. Which I replied to by affirming China already black and america going darker.
And now you're bringing more unrelated shit into athe situation lol. Isolating both china and america they both look like shit, albeit one more than the other. Idk who the fuck is in your "y'all" but it doesn't really matter to me and I don't feel targeted. I don't know enough about the stuff you tried to push on me to properly debate anyways, so I'm just gonna go sleep and enjoy my night lol.
Libs be like "this is a totally organic movement with broad local support"
Take a moment to imagine the absolutely demonic levels of McCarthyism that would be unleashed if it was discovered that BLM or the Green Party were headquartered in Beijing.
All states are authoritarian, in that they are instruments by which one class oppresses the others. What this doesn't say anything about alone, though, is which class is in power. In the US Empire, the capitalists are in power, and use the authority of the state to crush workers when workers rise up. In the PRC, the working class is in power, and the state keeps capitalists in check and appropriates their capital gradually.
The only way out of authoritarian control by any class is to get rid of classes entirely, which requires full collectivization of production. China is actively building towards that, the US Empire is opposing it. Until we get to a classless society, it's better for the working class to be in charge.
In other words, class struggle will continue to exist even after the proletariat takes control. All of the tensions from class struggle continue to exist, only they are resolved in favor of the working class. This is what "authoritarianism" looks like, class conflict expressed in state response.
Yes. Democracy isn't about choosing between parties, but having substantive input on direction that results in the will of the people being carried out. This is true of China, policy is typically driven from the bottom-up, a process called "whole process people's democracy." This is expressed, as an example, through Five Year Plans that are the result of mass polling and suggestions among the populace. The CPC has over 100 million members in a country of 1.4 billion.
The state isn't a class in and of itself, it can only serve as representative of a class. In the PRC, that class is the working class. The communists beat the nationalists in the Chinese Civil War, and from that point on the working class has been in control.
Israeli military chief warns Gaza assault could lead to full occupation, military rule
“You are heading to a military government,” Zamir was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel, citing a Ynet news report. “Your plan is leading us there. Understand the implications.”
Zamir pointed out that after Gaza City, the refugee camps in central Gaza would likely also be taken over, deepening the military's control.
However, as per the news report, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs pushed back, stating that a decision had already been made against setting up a military government in Gaza.
Israeli military chief warns Gaza assault could lead to full occupation, military rule
In a heated cabinet meeting, the Israeli military chief cautions that plans to capture Gaza risk plunging Israel into a prolonged military government, sparking sharp debate among senior officialsTRT Global
OrioleDB Patent: now freely available to the Postgres community
- Hacker News.
:::
OrioleDB Patent: now freely available to the Postgres community
Supabase is explicitly making available a non-exclusive license of the OrioleDB patent to all OrioleDB users in accordance with the OrioleDB license.supabase.com
Technology Channel reshared this.
Spotify adds lossless streaming after 8 years of teasing
Spotify adds lossless streaming after 8 years of teasing
Spotify is finally adding support for streaming lossless 24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC audio to its Premium plan.Terrence O'Brien (The Verge)
like this
BrikoX e copymyjalopy like this.
Arm launches 4 Lumex compute subsystem CPU architectures to improve on-device AI on smartphones, PCs, and wearables, and unveils the new Mali G1-Ultra GPU
Smarter, Faster, More Personal AI Delivered on Consumer Devices with Arm’s New Lumex CSS Platform, Driving Double-Digit Performance Gains - Arm Newsroom
Arm introduces Lumex, its most advanced compute subsystem (CSS) platform for consumer devices, powering faster on-device AI, gaming, and real-time intelligence.Chris Bergey (Arm Limited)
Technology Channel reshared this.
RSS co-creator launches new protocol for AI data licensing
RSS co-creator launches new protocol for AI data licensing | TechCrunch
A new system called Real Simple Licensing would allow AI companies to license training data at a massive scale — if they're willing to pay for it.Russell Brandom (TechCrunch)
Microsoft to lessen reliance on OpenAI by buying AI from rival Anthropic
Microsoft to lessen reliance on OpenAI by buying AI from rival Anthropic | TechCrunch
The move to diversify its AI partnerships by tapping the shoulder of OpenAI’s top rival comes as the AI company also pursues independence from Microsoft with its own AI infrastructure and a potential LinkedIn competitor.Rebecca Bellan (TechCrunch)
Technology Channel reshared this.
Spotify Add Lossless Audio(24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC) for Premium Subscribers
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/37201067
Spotify Add Lossless Audio(24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC) for Premium Subscribers
Lossless Listening Arrives on Spotify Premium With a Richer, More Detailed Listening Experience — Spotify
Lossless on Spotify Premium is here. Lossless audio has been one of the most anticipated features on Spotify and now, finally, it’s started rolling out to Premium listeners in select markets.Lauren.Peterson@groupsjr.com (Spotify)
adhocfungus likes this.
Technology Channel reshared this.
Spotify Add Lossless Audio(24-bit / 44.1 kHz FLAC) for Premium Subscribers
Lossless Listening Arrives on Spotify Premium With a Richer, More Detailed Listening Experience — Spotify
Lossless on Spotify Premium is here. Lossless audio has been one of the most anticipated features on Spotify and now, finally, it’s started rolling out to Premium listeners in select markets.Lauren.Peterson@groupsjr.com (Spotify)
I created a NixOS Install script for Proxmox
For quite a while, I've wanted to try out hosting my services in NixOS LXCs, but it did not seem like there were any definitive one-stop-shop scripts such as the ones on Proxmox Helper Scripts. So, I waited for some clever cookie to make one, because surely this was not something just I was interested in.
But the cookie never appeared, and after a while of waiting, I decided that maybe I should try it myself! A few nights of chicken scratch bash later, and I've got a decent little script to boot up and configure a NixOS 24.11 LXC, with a configuration.nix
file!
Important disclaimer though, this script is still pretty early in development. While it does boot and set up an LXC, there is very little error handling, and don't get me started on the UX. I just thought I'd share, and maybe get some suggestions from others.
GitHub - CatRass/nixos-lxc: Bash script to create a NixOS 24.11 LXC in Proxmox VE
Bash script to create a NixOS 24.11 LXC in Proxmox VE - CatRass/nixos-lxcGitHub
In your Proxmox console, enter the following command:
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL raw.githubusercontent.com/....)
Do not do this. Never run scripts like this directly without inspecting them first. Do not tell people to run your exciting new script like this. Provide a link to the script and encourage users to inspect it first then run it.
GitHub · Build and ship software on a single, collaborative platform
Join the world's most widely adopted, AI-powered developer platform where millions of developers, businesses, and the largest open source community build software that advances humanity.GitHub
Report- Diving into the depths of the global spyware market: US Investment in Spyware Is Skyrocketing
Mythical Beasts: Diving into the depths of the global spyware market - Atlantic Council
The second edition of the Mythical Beasts project assess how the global spyware market has developed and changed over the past year.Nancy Messieh (Atlantic Council)
La F1 si “ferma” a 11 team: Domenicali chiude la porta a nuovi ingressi. Ma potrebbero esserci eccezioni...
Domenicali ribadisce il limite di 11 team e chiude a nuovi ingressi, ma lascia aperta la possibilità a progetti di valore.
quotidianomotori.com/formula-1…
F1 2025: Domenicali conferma 11 team e chiude a nuovi ingressi - Quotidiano Motori
F1 2025: Stefano Domenicali conferma il limite a 11 team e chiude la porta a nuovi ingressi, salvo eccezioni di valore per il mondiale.Mario Roth (Quotidiano Motori)
reshared this
lumieres reshared this.
Cowbee [he/they]
in reply to Stamau123 • • •crandlecan
in reply to Cowbee [he/they] • • •