[Derek] When Watts dug deeper, he realized that the network structure did matter. In the more clustered networks, people were more likely 30:27 to copy each other. So if by chance someone started out cooperating, then everyone would cooperate. 30:34 But it was equally likely that someone would start out by defecting, in which case everyone else would defect. 30:40 And over all the games they played, these two effects canceled each other out, which is why it seemed like 30:46 the network structure didn't matter. - [Duncan] It's sort of on a knife edge, right? Where like one person does something selfish 30:54 and everything goes south. In another world, everybody kind of holds it together 31:00 and everything goes well. It's crazy that the world could be like on a knife edge like that, you know, 31:06 could tip one way or the other, kind of just depends on how someone gets out of bed that day. 31:11 But then Watts realized something. See, in real life, you can choose who you hang out with. 31:17 So he reran the experiment allowing players to change who they were playing with. And this time he used the prisoner's dilemma 31:23 so that players could easily identify the defectors. - [Derek] And the finding was clear, the more you allowed players 31:30 to choose who they were playing with, the more likely they were to cooperate
Could federated social media networks enhance cooperative behavior between everyone, relative to both insular and massively popular services?
[Derek] When Watts dug deeper, he realized that the network structure did matter. In the more clustered networks, people were more likely 30:27 to copy each other. So if by chance someone started out cooperating, then everyone would cooperate. 30:34 But it was equally likely that someone would start out by defecting, in which case everyone else would defect. 30:40 And over all the games they played, these two effects canceled each other out, which is why it seemed like 30:46 the network structure didn't matter. - [Duncan] It's sort of on a knife edge, right? Where like one person does something selfish 30:54 and everything goes south. In another world, everybody kind of holds it together 31:00 and everything goes well. It's crazy that the world could be like on a knife edge like that, you know, 31:06 could tip one way or the other, kind of just depends on how someone gets out of bed that day. 31:11 But then Watts realized something. See, in real life, you can choose who you hang out with. 31:17 So he reran the experiment allowing players to change who they were playing with. And this time he used the prisoner's dilemma 31:23 so that players could easily identify the defectors. - [Derek] And the finding was clear, the more you allowed players 31:30 to choose who they were playing with, the more likely they were to cooperate
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.
[Derek] When Watts dug deeper, he realized that the network structure did matter. In the more clustered networks, people were more likely 30:27 to copy each other. So if by chance someone started out cooperating, then everyone would cooperate. 30:34 But it was equally likely that someone would start out by defecting, in which case everyone else would defect. 30:40 And over all the games they played, these two effects canceled each other out, which is why it seemed like 30:46 the network structure didn't matter. - [Duncan] It's sort of on a knife edge, right? Where like one person does something selfish 30:54 and everything goes south. In another world, everybody kind of holds it together 31:00 and everything goes well. It's crazy that the world could be like on a knife edge like that, you know, 31:06 could tip one way or the other, kind of just depends on how someone gets out of bed that day. 31:11 But then Watts realized something. See, in real life, you can choose who you hang out with. 31:17 So he reran the experiment allowing players to change who they were playing with. And this time he used the prisoner's dilemma 31:23 so that players could easily identify the defectors. - [Derek] And the finding was clear, the more you allowed players 31:30 to choose who they were playing with, the more likely they were to cooperate
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.
Greece is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. They don't respect driving laws. They openly throw trash in the streets. They smoke right in front of "Please don't smoke here" signs. The Greek politicians are completely corrupt. But these Greek politicians didn't fall from a sky. They are a reflection of Greek society.
Why do I say this ? Because my country faces similar issues.
Greece is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. They don’t respect driving laws. They openly throw trash in the streets. They smoke right in front of “Please don’t smoke here” signs.
For pedantry's sake, these aren't examples of corruption. In order for it to be "corruption," there has to be someone in a position of power who is misusing their power. ::: spoiler definition [0] "Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain." (wikipedia)). :::
Some examples of corruption would be:
Bribing a public servant to get better service (link)
Mate, I've lived and worked in several countries in Europe and come from a country - Portugal - which in many ways is culturally very similar to Greece, at least judging by conversations I had with Greek friends and colleagues over the years.
In my experience and view, Politics in general, including government, are definitelly the result of what a society considers "normal" and this doesn't apply to just the Southern European countries but also in my own experience to Western and Northern European ones.
Strictly speaking and as you say they are not the same, it's more of one being a reflection of the other: what politicians get away with reflects society's idea of "normal" and things like the cultural view on how strictly people should follow rules: in a country where the idea that "following rules is for suckers" is widespread, Politicians too will not tend to "stay within the rules" with the powers they've been entrusted with.
So for example, Corruption is Portugal is IMHO the natural reflection of a culture where Cronyism is widespread and pretty much standard all over the place (and, if you think about it, the Moral distance from "trading favours with paying strangers using the power entrusted to you" to "trading favours with friends using the power entrusted to you" is a lot less than the Moral distance to "thinking one has the responsability to not abuse power entrusted to oneself for one's own gain directly or indirectly") and the Law is seen as indicative rather than a set of boundaries that shouldn't be crossed (except when it comes to violence).
Interestingly and paradoxically, when things do start to change, acceptance of Corruption falls and and the fight against Corruption improves, the Perception of Corruption goes up because there are many more people being caught and convicted for Corruption and that ends up in the News, so it looks like there is more Corruption than before due to more News about it, when it's actually the opposite.
At the very least, the word can be used figuratively to describe the decay and breakdown of social fabric. Personally I find it refreshing to hear an entire society held accountable, not just a few mustache twirling villains at the top.
That’s not just pedantry, that’s unnecessarily narrow-minded. Ever heard of the corrupted heart? According to your definition, that’s an impossibility, unless the heart belongs to someone in authority, or something, I guess.
The point is, there is more than a single interpretation of things, and there is not a singular definition of corruption. Anyone can be corrupted, and giving examples that show that lawlessness permeates every level of society is a great way of showing that corruption is likely endemic in the culture.
I like how you cast everyday breakdown of social fabric as “corruption.” We usually only apply that word to leaders but you’re right it can pervade every level.
Once "the people" seize the means of production, how will it be run & organized? We might need some people to coordinate between other people. What will these coordinators be called? And what if they abuse their positions? We might need some people that keep coordinators accountable, that audit their behavior, we can call them auditors....
If you aren't getting where I am going with this, I will just say that while your sentiment might make sense to you, this is a real problem for you to think about. Seizing the means of production is meaningless without a mechanism by which to run it. As soon as you trust other human beings with that ability, you create another class with authority, and thus, the road leads back to exactly where you are.
AI will not fix this because it is centralized compute trained on oppressive data. Perhaps if the data centers were publicly owned and the data was vetted, there would be a better chance, but more likely? It would be AI with human oversight....and yes, same problem again. If a human oversight committee exists, that is once again a human authority position that can be abused. And it doesn't matter because the planet has foolishly relinquished control of compute power to a tiny minority.
While I believe we are slated for doom (that isn't so bad, there are much better realities than this one anyway), I'd at least like to see a tiny fraction of intelligent resistance. This has got to be the most disappointing apocalypse I've ever witnessed. All the tools are clearly laid out and we've collectively chosen to be miserable instead.
I was with you for the first half, but then you went off the rails. Anyone who seriously brings up AI in the discussion for what to do after the revolution is completely deluded. You act like it's a viable strategy with some issues, but really it'd be immediately worse than even Trump. Day 1 it'd hallucinate a war and try to release nukes around the world. As for the "better realities," we only get 1 planet and 1 reality. To try to bury your head in the sand with some dream that an alternate reality version of us is doing okay is nothing but a cop out. Maybe another version of our planet is doing well, but we're responsible for this one - it's our duty to protect it.
Yes, when we overthrow the government, we'll need to enact a new government to replace it, and yes, eventually that government will become corrupt and need overthrowing, too. When there exists a position of authority over others, evil people will inevitably worm their way in, but nevertheless, authority is necessary to have a functioning society. Governments are like clothes - you have to change them out every once in a while, ideally before they start to reek of filth.
Did you read what I said about AI? I don't think so, given your response. To simplify, as I skipped some steps, I was addressing some people who've thought about the problem slightly more than an iota. Some think AI systems that govern over humans could help address the human corruptibility / hierarchy problem. It does not.
There are an infinite set of realities. You can see them for yourself, but something tells me you'll continue onward in your lovely little cage.
Not directly, but once the law allows for it, employers start demanding it. Individual workers have very little bargaining power to refuse at that point. So before you know it, the 13 hour day is normalized and labor protections have taken a knock back into 1920.
So people were not allowed to work 13 hours in 1 day up until now? The rule we have here (Denmark) is that we must have 11 hour rest period between 2 shifts. The normal work week is 37.5 hours, but if you want you can work 13 hours per day, since that gives you 11 hours rest.
We have some of the highest wages in Europe, possibly in part because of flexible regulation, mostly negotiated directly between unions and employers. Denmark is also one of the easiest countries to fire people in EU, but we have one of the lowest unemployment rates. The fact that it's easy to fire, also makes it easy to make a decision to try to expand or start new projects. If it goes wrong, damage control can be relatively swift, and not break the company if it fails.
Are you getting paid overtime past 8 hours though? Because there's a big difference between getting double rates for those extra hours (incentivizing your boss to hire a second worker) and demanding everyone work double shifts for normal wages.
Yes of course people are paid for overtime, the article doesn't say anything about not being paid. I know in USA it's normal to not be paid for overtime, but USA is not a civilized country, I thought Greece was. Maybe people need to unionize more.
As a full time working US citizen this made me chuckle. It’s like a fairytale hearing about the kinds of protections and guarantees people in other countries get.
To us, USA is a dystopian example of what we don't want to become. It's really sad, because things were going really well, as in the right direction 50 years ago. And ironically MAGA is pulling even more in the opposite direction, pulling even further away from everything that was good about America in the 70's.
Greece is subject to post-program monitoring (PPM), focusing on its ability to repay the IMF, as a country which owes the fund more than 1.5 billion SDR or 200 percent of its quota.
The IMF's austerity policies were criticized as violating the Greek constitution and human rights.
He should make it interesting. Pledge, say, 300 billion to a number of humanitarian charities if he doesn't succeed in making a highly reviewed AI game in 2026. Put it in an escrow account in the meantime.
Well, you know what they say; Shoot for the Moon and you'll suffocate in space while everyone on Earth is left to deal with the repercussions of your horribly inefficient pollution-producing 'great' AI 'game.'
The 'peace deal' proposed is so bad on nearly every level and theyre only given 4 days to response and they've been threatened if they dont accept.
"Hamas would be forced to disarm and turn over power to a group of apolitical technocrats, supervised by an international body led by Trump and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair."
Yeah just want people want controlling them, right wing technocrats..
Con il repentino ingresso del Giappone nell’epoca moderna, successivamente all’apertura forzata dalle navi nere del Commodoro Perry a partire dal 1853 e la conseguente serie di sconvolgimenti sociali, amministrativi e culturali che portarono alla cad…
While a drone defense system is of course a mandatory requirement of modern warfare, the real solution is to ramp-up Ukraine's ability to strike russia.
Additoanly the EU really needs to implement their own hybrid warfare methods against the russians.
"This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity... to use our privileges, our platforms, to take a stance against this, that is in every way unjustifiable,” Thunberg asserted.
“I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation,” she added.
Thunberg Confirms Abuse by Israeli Abductors, But Urges World to Focus on Gaza Genocide | Common Dreams
Brett Wilkins Oct 06, 2025
"This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity... to use our privileges, our platforms, to take a stance against this, that is in every way unjustifiable,” Thunberg asserted.
“I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation,” she added.
"This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity."
You don't have to do shit that gets on national news to make a difference. Just being brave enough to go outside is the only requirement to help. Part of the reason Greta and others did this is so YOU take action how you can as well.
You don't have to be brave beyond going outside if you can't be. You can come join us at the next protest, vigil, sit-in, or even just learn more on a virtual meetup.
There are countless organizations but if you're in the US the easiest way to find out about events in general will be find your local PSL or DSA on Instagram (yeah I hate Instagram too but it is what it is). They aren't always the groups organizing activism but, in general, they will be promoting the events and that can help you find more specific groups in your area.
Just be aware of where the money you spend is going. Your power is as a consumer...so stop supporting companies, and nations, that oppose your worldview. It works.
She is right! Please focus on the victims and the actual perpetrators - the Israeli government and their army. NOT random jewish people. It's so maddening to see fellow leftists get sucked into antisemitism because they can't hold two ideas in their head like "The genocide in Gaza is wrong." as well as "Genociding Israel would be wrong". We are better than this goddammit!
That's always been their cover. Back 20+ years ago when I was protesting Israel's actions, I got called antisemitic so often, I finally stopped expressing opinions on it.
Yes what makes this different. Israel has been doing this kind of shit for decades and nobody cared. I guess it wasn't as public and they might be killing more publicly now.
See I don't know if you are being purposefully obtuse or maybe you really don't know. The Jewish faith and the Jewish ethnic group are two things that don't have to overlap.
Agreed, but (and I suppose this means Lemmy is smaller than I'd like) I've seen this dude posting similar "both sides", "we're doomed" etc etc etc shit.
Hope is always the last thing to die, but we've gotta be real and take action to fix things while it's still relatively easy to.
The UK just had a high profile synagogue attack on Yom Kippur. Not defending Israel, but a lot of the diasporia are being victimized because of the war.
Violence against both jews and muslims increased but they want you to only care about opposing hate against only one side. The end of occupation is the only solution
The eternal problem of activists: draw attention, but then direct it to your cause instead of your person. Not easy, especially for prominent ones and celebreties.
The AfD has failed to win three run-offs for mayor in major cities in Germany's west, despite other gains. Meanwhile, the German foreign minister is to visit Poland as tensions grow over Russia's aggression.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats emerged victorious in local elections in western Germany. Meanwhile, the German foreign minister is to visit Poland as tensions grow over Russia's aggression. DW has more.
Oh dear, Russia RussiaaAAA RUSSSSIAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Do people like you see anything that isn't caused by Russia? The "Putinist axis", what a wild imagination. Hey on the plus side you're never bored I guess.
It's a well-documented fact that there is a decades-long large scale state-sponsored effort of propagandists in St. Petersburg using bots and tens of thousands of fake accounts to push far-right propaganda narratives online which are aimed squarely at dividing western societies. They are on every platform, posing as concerned citizens, creating the illusion of a silent majority fed up with wokism or whatever the boogeyman is today. They've scored massive wins with their support for Brexit and MAGA, and have only doubled down on this strategy since.
So the question is, are you denying this or pretending it doesn't matter?
I am obviously not saying it's all Russia and things would be fine otherwise, so don't even go there.
What is the quantity of information posted every day to the internet, what quantity of information does it take for one person to just go from one day to the next to shoot up the neighborhood? And how do you know beforehand? Because all this bot Russia conspiracy stuff is all ergo hoc propter hoc stuff.
If there existed such images or text, why didn't Hillary use this amazing technology to get people to vote for her?
It's always some shadowy, unproven, generic bad guy stuff, that somehow never ever applies to your own team.
It's like no matter what happens, it's all Russia. One day they're so powerful they can control the thoughts of an entirely peaceful and uniformly happy and rich country like the USA (insert villain laugh with Eastern European accent, twirling mustache), the next day they're all incompetent drunks with a weak military that uses a single CPU they stole from a washing machine. Oh and backwards technology, except for their brain beams.
You also remind me of all these "sky is falling" types when they find out I run Windows 7. I ask for specific, actionable evidence that my machine is vulnerable, and it's always just circular arguments or it happened to a friend of mine.
"I am obviously not saying it’s all Russia and things would be fine otherwise, so don’t even go there."
So don't go to reality? I see. You're just as bad as any loony 9/11 jet fuel conspiracy nutter, it's your identity.
"Uniformly happy and rich country like the US" ok lmao you're straight trolling with this one, good job.
"If the propaganda supports Trump, why didn't it support Hillary" because she's not fueling right-wing extremism. No one cares about Hillary Clinton or your outdated Windows, jeez. Hope you get well soon.
I think the death penalty is a bad policy overall and particularly bad in a court system that's largely a rubber stamp for the prosecutor.
At the same time, it is hard to pull together sympathy for a cartel so casual in their cruelty and brutal in their oppression.
I would like to believe there's a world in which all these people get the Jack Ma treatment, with varying lengths of time doing rice farming to give them all a taste of humility, and then they come back to society older and wiser and more peaceful. It's a shame we don't live in that place.
Ma is back in Alibaba HQ, ostensibly making executive decisions for the firm. That was all over the news a week or two ago and has been, in part, the reason for the stock's resurgence in price.
The CCP actually executes corrupt politicians quite often. It's one of the few things I can agree with them on. The issue is, if they can be trusted to grant fair trials. And then you have to ask how much can you trust an authoritarian government on really anything.
At least 69 people have been killed and dozens injured after a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines late on Tuesday.
The province of Cebu, which suffered the brunt of the damage, declared a state of calamity early on Wednesday, after thousands spent the night on the streets amid repeated aftershocks.
One Cebu resident told the BBC he was among them, adding that power and water supplies were cut off. He says the voices of crying children could be heard around him, adding that they were "traumatised".
A 40ft Bohemian? A five year old one will set you back €200k in good condition, and cost around 10% of its value in maintenance, mooring and repairs each year.
People have cars more expensive than that on their driveways.
Sweet just point me to that different job. I’m in central Maine. Since we’re being picky please find one that’s over 60k. I have 15 years in management, sales, compliance etc
Your point being? Would you like to mention the average rent of a one bedroom apartment? Or the median wage, or let me know what the available jobs are paying? Are you upset that we managed to raise our minimum wage? We also legalize cannabis. Have you done that in your shitty state yet?
No I’m pointing out that OP I was responding too people doesn’t understand the local economy’s of this nation. Maine had lots of seasonal work, lots of part time work, and lots of bad jobs. Could you please help by finding me a job that pays more than 20k a year??? In Maine????
Yes it’s just like owning a car! Which we primarily use to get to work and earn money to pay for the car!!! What do you do in a boat???? Oh ya!!! Not working and scoot around all day. Must be nice!
Lot's of people have hobby cars. I don't own a second car or a boat but I don't consider everyone who has one rich. Those people still go to work every day and save for retirement. We're talking about good wage job, not being a millionaire.
Right and I’m talking about how the good wage jobs have slowly disappeared over the last 20 years. I’m talking the devaluation of our currency and inflation of our necessities has not kept up with meager wage growth. They’re gonna offshore your job soon enough or replace you with AI. If you are still in the sailboat owning class, you are a demographic that’s getting more unobtainable to the non sailboat class. You don’t feel like you’re rich, but you were the net beneficiary of all of the subsidies and money printing of your own a house and a 401k.
What ever you feel like brother, we’re in a post constitutional law America. If you feel like the system is going to protect you from the people it hurts then I guess fight the poors, if not idk do anything in your power to fight for democracy and decency? I’m just a casual observer for now, but I’m more focused on the food supply chain than the obvious authoritarianism. Remember during Covid when people were hoarding toilet paper? Overcharging for masks? Idk about you but I’m working on my food production lol
Why would I fight for democracy if the masses see me as their enemy? That's what I mean. If everyone with more money they you (even wage workers) is the enemy than I guess I have to side with the system that protects me. What other choice do I have? Sacrifice my life for the good of the common people? Who am I? Prometheus?
Lmao: this country can’t even come together and agree that the richest 10,000 people can afford some austerity with the rest of us. I don’t think anyone needs to sacrifice their life for anything personally. I think we can all probably sacrifice some comforts for the sake of unity and equality, but I really think we can just sacrifice the billionaires, metaphorically I suppose. Or maybe we can just keep holding elections, voting more austerity for ourselves, more debt for our grand children, and more yachts for 0.000001%, and the promise that your kids won’t have to live like the second class citizens you have created.
Ok, so you're saying that it'a enough for me to support higher taxes for the rich and we'll be cool? The poor masses wont kill me in the class war even if I do have a yacht?
My friend. Any sane country should be worried about disenfranchising or starving a large portion of the population(>20%). I’m not going to be angry mobbing anyone. I’ll happily point the mob in the right direction tho ❤️ ya I would start focusing on voting on policy instead of party. I would figure out how to get the school lunches back on the tables. The food banks filled back up, the government oversight committees that protect citizens and consumers??? I wouldn’t sit around until regions have poisoned water supplies and you need nestle bottled water to survive? I would vote to stop accelerating these processes because it’s really fucking dangerous to everyone in the world.
A class war is just a cute thing the commies say. I’m just talking about civil disorder that comes with hungry people who can’t feed themselves. I’m not really talking about eating the rich. I’m talking about mass starvation across this country and complete breaking down of society. Anyone will look rich to a man who can’t afford food and clean water.
I'm noticing pretty much all issues with trade are issues with the management. They want to restrict and interfere with as many steps as possible so they can skim just a little bit 🤏 more off the top every time.
Speaking at a UN meeting on September 26 dedicated to the International Day for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, he noted that the world is once again facing a nuclear threat.: The Doomsday Clock shows less than one and a half minutes to midnight.
According to the minister, Western countries have violated previous security agreements and are arming themselves, ignoring the interests of Belarus. In response, the republic has deployed Russian nuclear weapons and is awaiting the arrival of the Oreshnik to ensure protection.
Ryzhenkov stressed that the measures are defensive in nature and comply with international law.
The putler block are starting to realise that pissing off all all your western neighbours that all have had better economies for a few decades, is not a very good idea
I switched from Chrome to MS Edge and don't have that YouTube ad-blocking issue with uBlock anymore. Other than that, MS Edge works exactly like Chrome.
Tldr: youtube forced ai into video monitoring and it keeps killing videos it shouldn't, so instead of saying Ai is bad they're blaming af blockers because why not lie when there's no repercussions?
YouTube views are dropping because they are using AI to vet and cull age innappropriate content from minors. the problem is the ai is very bad at its job and marks way too many videos as not advertiser friendly, which effectively kills YouTube promoting that video in feeds. this is the default view for new accounts, so you have to specifically turn off parental controls to see a normal feed. this started happening about 4 months ago. a number of channels I watch have made comments about this, including Redlettermedia
the article provides one "official" explanation for views dropping, and i am citing an alternative explanation from the perspective of creators themselves who see the analytical data and the judgments being past on their videos.
Because when you comment, "TLDR" under an article, it's assumed to be a "TLDR" of the article. It also doesn't make sense to say TLDR was a summary of your long comment because you didn't make a long comment to summarize, you just jumped right in with TLDR.
The Israeli military said it will close on Wednesday the last remaining route for residents of southern Gaza to access the north, as it presses its offensive on Gaza City.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X:
"Al-Rashid Street will be closed to traffic from the southern sector area at 12:00 (0900 GMT). Movement southward will be allowed for those who were unable to evacuate Gaza City. At this stage, the [Israeli military] permits free movement southward without inspection."
In figures reported less than two weeks ago, the UN said that more than a quarter of a million people had been displaced from Gaza City in the previous month. Tens of thousands more have been forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive, it added.
Israel has zero interest in ending this war until every Palestinian is emigrated or dead. October 7th gave them every excuse they need for this genocide and annexation. Embarrassing that any world leaders are talking peace when they know damned well what's going on.
The West either allows this to continue or bombs Tel Aviv into glass and ruble. There is no magical "in between" state where this levels out to an ante bellum status quo.
Did I read that article correctly that they accidentally did it on purpose?
Claims it was cut down in error, then a few paragraphs later talks about how it was removed because it was obstructing train drivers view of signal signs.
It was removed on purpose to fix sign visibility. If they knew it was important, they might have just moved the sign instead. The picture makes it look large enough that you might not notice the topiary from the ground.
I didn't even think about that. They cannot turn the clock back, even in their own country. And what do they wish to accomplish anyhow? This is ultimately pointless and only bound to bring even more chaos and poverty. Personally I just hope they will get some sort of Nuremberg Trial in the end. Cruel perverts.
TSMC and Taiwan have all the leverage. If China invaded Taiwan, the US would be fucked and semiconductor supply cripple the states, and all the stuff Trump is investing personal money in (crypto, AI, etc)
If the US wants a robust semiconductor industry, they should break Intel’s chip design and fab into two separate companies, and lean into more chip-act type investments.
As ever, Trump and his pals are bloody stupid. Money is just to make it easier to get cool stuff. You don't get neat things when civilizations die, and partnerships are dissolved.
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Just saying, the Canadian's unwillingess to join the dumpster fire that is the US has only gotten stronger over this year. Also, Canada is a very, very, very big country to occupy even for the US military and it shares a HUGE border with the US. On a side note Ukraine is way smaller and still keeps blowing up Russian military and energy infrastructure deep inside Russia with drones despite having lost so much to Russian bombings...
Yeah we shouldn't lie to ourselves. There's just no way we can match the US's military power in a conventional war, and the geography makes our cities, farmland and resources easily accessible to their forces.
But the guerrila warfare is what would get them leaving. It's just a question of being patient, like the Talibans were.
What does any guerilla arm themself with? Usually firearms, bought or even given to them by foreign groups or governments, or taken from the enemy through hit and runs.
Billionaire Elon Musk and Prince Andrew are named in new files released by Congressional Democrats that relate to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The files turned over to the House Oversight Committee by the Jeffrey Epstein Estate appear to show that Musk had been invited to the financier's island in December 2014.
Separately, a manifest for a flight from New Jersey to Florida in May 2000 names the Duke of York among the passengers.
They will genuinely attempt to explain it away with this reasoning. I'm calling it now. Once he saw the light and was blessed by the republican party it washed away this filthy democrat urge...
"Canada called me a couple of weeks ago, they want to be part of it, to which I said, 'Well, why don't you just join our country. You become 51 — become the 51st state — and you get it for free,'" Trump told the assembled officials.
"So, I don't know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense."
Trump also claimed Canada is having "a hard time up there" because "as you know, with tariffs, everyone's coming into our country." The president then boasted about investment leaving Canada and other countries and going into the United States, pointing to automobile plants.
as you know, with tariffs, everyone's coming into our country.
Say what? Pretty sure there's record numbers of people leaving the country right now, and tourism is down across the board so people aren't even coming in temporarily never mind permanently. If we needed any more proof Trump was delusional this is certainly it.
You're absolutely right, there's no way Canada wants anything to do with the absolute cluster fuck Trump has turned the US into.
I've watched part of this speech, and it made me wonder if his handlers actually sometimes roleplay stuff for him. Like, some stories he tells sound like they're based on things he experienced in real life, but they're obviously absurd, so maybe it was just things that were played for him to make him feel good?
E. g. the part about the leaders of Azerbaijan and the other country (Trump seems to have forgotten its name, once again):
Azerbaijan was — this was going on for 36 years. They said, it’s not solvable, sir. You can’t — don’t do it. I said, I will do it. I will do it. And I got on the phone with the two countries. They were great. They were great. I knew immediately. I knew as soon as I started talking to them, we’re going to solve that war. And we did. Now they’re so happy. Now they’re friends. One said he’s been President for 32 years — 22 years. He said, you know, for 22 years, I did nothing but kill his people. They were in the room together at the Oval Office. And they started off spread like this. They have the beautiful Resolute Desk. And one was here, and one was here. You couldn’t get further away. That’s the furthest I’ve ever seen two people in front of me. And as the hour went by, they got closer, closer, closer. And at the end of the hour, we had it done. And they hugged and hugged and hugged. And I said, that’s so nice, and you’re going to remain friends. And I spoke to them — one of them — the other day. He said, no, he’s now my friend. But for 22 years, he’s been the head of Azerbaijan for 22 years. And the other guy — great guy, too — seven. And you know that war. That was a war that was not solvable. He said, for seven years. And the other one said, for 22 years, all I did was kill his people. That’s all I’ve done. I said, well, we’re going to put a stop to that. So we solved that.
Well ok, maybe he's just completely talking out of his ass here. But look at this story about some tariff billions they found on a shelf:
But the money coming in is, we’ve never seen anything like it. The other day, they had $31 billion that they found. Thirty-one billion dollars. So we found $31 billion, and we’re not sure from where it came. A gentleman came in, a financial guy. I said, well, what does that mean? He said, we don’t know where it came. I said, check the tariff shelf. No, sir. The tariffs haven’t started in that sector yet. I said, yes, they have. They started seven weeks ago. Check it. It comes back 20 minutes later. Sir, you’re right. It came from tariffs. Thirty-one billion. That’s enough to buy a lot of battleships, Admiral, to use an old term.
When he says a "gentleman came in, a financial guy", I really wonder if it was some staffer dressed up to tell him a feel-good story about tariffs.
(0:00 – 0:19) Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of War. Well, you’ve heard from me. So now it’s the main event, our Commander-in-Chief. (0:19 – 0:35) I have the privilege […]
A convenient way for a character to disabuse the idea that they're either gay, too socially inept for a relationship or simply unlucky in love is to claim that they indeed have a girlfriend — but the other characters have never met her because she lives in Canada. She doesn't visit very often, but when she does they just spend all day in bed. Look, here's her entry in his phone's contact list. No, you can't see a picture.
The idea is that since "she" lives in a different country, and presumably would have to get a passport and go through all that hassle in order to visit her "boyfriend", it's particularly tempting to make her Canadian as a way of discouraging others from asking too many questions.
A convenient way for a character to disabuse the idea that they're either gay, too socially inept for a relationship or simply unlucky in love is to claim that they indeed have a girlfriend — but the other characters have never met her …
This idiot really thinks that Canada will just roll over and let itself be eaten alive just because he hurt their economy a little. They'll just bite the bullet, diversify their trade partners and get out of it stronger than they were before.
One of Canada's prime defenses, and America's too, is that it's fucking massive dude. There is literally no amount of troops you can deploy that can effectively cover that much land, especially the northern reaches, which leaves ample space for guerrilla movements to form. Even if the US took the lower 100 miles, they'd have to deal with the fact that Northern Canada would never surrender and Southern Canada would never let it be a peaceful occupation. Good luck trying to find those guerrilla networks in several million square km of forest and mountains.
Yeah it's huge, but like Russia, most of that is empty space. You don't need to control that land. And it's cold continental land, almost tundra, not the dense jungles of Vietnam.
And we know how to live on the land with very little. I will live outside in winter and eat dirt and ice before I cede one centimetre of land to fat fascist yanks. Amerikkkans can’t function without their Starbucks, SUVs, steady diet of McDonalds and medi-chairs to get around. So - enjoy a neverending insurgency fuckfaces. Aunties can poison wells too.
But likewise, while Canadians are able to deal with this terrain, out southern 200 km is very similar to America's northern 200 km, and a lot of us sound and look like a lot of you. Infiltrating America and attacking domestically would be easier for Canadians than just about any other country.
DonOLD Shittler and sycophants have no idea how fucking petty Canadians truly are. If US fascists try to take our land and resources we go full scorched earth without any discussion amongst ourselves. Speaking of FAFO.
If he wants a 51st state so badly why not make it DC? Or American Samoa. For a country that revolted due to taxation without representation, they sure do have alot of "territories" that aren't being represented as their own states.
Actually if I recall, America is having a shortage of Canadian visitors and I, for one, have noticed very little change in my lifestyle due to tariffs.
The tariffs are absolutely fucking up our country right now, and I live in the US, and we absolutely deserve it. It's affecting every single one of my projects (I work in an engineering/manufacturing company). Turns out 10-25% tariffs really cuts out a lot of the margin for people so we've had to significantly bump prices on aerospace components. This in turn will drive ticket prices up eventually as well. It's also affecting our groceries. And then the side effects of all of it, is the boycotts from numerous countries. It's absolutely crushing our trade.
That said, all of the boycotts are absolutely fantastic. Keep it up. Our lead-addled half of the US needs to understand what isolationist policies do to our country. Maybe it'll be the wake up call that people need to understand that international cooperation is the key to success.
So he declares Canada a 51st state, and suddenly the Canadian army trying to defend their country against the southern invaders suddenly is "the enemy within". Now this makes sense!
If you've read the Constitution then I've got some bad news for you. Unless you interpret its amendments, then good news. But then there was the Southeast Asia doctrine by Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon... which is bad news. But then there is good news if you follow the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Oh but then there's some muddy waters about Emergency Powers which goes back and forth with the Supreme Court which ultimately is bad news. Even worse was the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Terrorists passed by Congress around 9/11.
Realistically none of this matters because Trump has never had a precedent of following the law or respecting boundaries with little girls so I guess I just wasted a few moments of your time.
If the US military is your last hope of holding on to a democracy, I’ve got wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam and countless regime changes in Latin America and the Middle East to prove otherwise.
Yeah, it's not just that number of people who'd be insurgents, it's that Canada's a bit more advanced tech-wise than the Taliban, and the US's defense infrastructure has predominantly NOT been engineered for decades to repel any sort of land invasions. We also look, and outside of those crazy newfies, we sound like most generic Americans, making identifying potential threats that much more difficult.
I also think a number of civilians and military would straight up revolt at the prospect of attacking a country with a century of personal and economic bonds.
Western Canada is cutting loose it seems, they've had it with their government. Whether or not they have anything to do with the US is still to be seen. They might benefit a little financially from it, but the land will be better off if they don't. We'll come in and trash everything.
Even if part of Canada wanted to leave and join another country, why the fuck would they join the US? Our job growth is in the shitter, no one can afford groceries, fuck you if you need medical attention because it'd be cheaper to just die. Plus there's the orange cancer toddler-in-chief currently stinking up the white house, brainworms is in charge of health, and the military is run by a moron who preaches manliness to the fucking Generals...
The BRICS nations, originally composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have had many discussions about establishing a new reserve currency backed by a basket of their respective currencies.
The reason that both a lot of Haitians and a lot of countries didn't want another international intervention was because the prior ones tended to wind up with everyone unhappy and complaining about the situation. The most recent one was UN aid after the earthquake. The UN force that was sent included some soldiers out of some country that had cholera, which started a cholera outbreak, which wound up with angry Haitians calling for reparations and countries who felt unappreciated for what they were doing.
Italy said it will stop accompanying the international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, despite concerns by activists that the fleet will be attacked within the coming hours. Italy and Spain deployed navy vessels to assist the boats after they were hit by drones armed with stun grenades last week.
"Many would be happy to disrupt" a peace plan pushed by US President Donald Trump, Meloni said in a statement. "I fear that the flotilla's attempt to breach the Israeli naval blockade could provide a pretext for this."
This is kinda fair enough - Netanyahu doesn't want a ceasefire since he partly started this all to avoid his legal problems.
The notion of a "peace plan pushed by US President Donald Trump" is a farce to begin with. This is nothing but fascists colluding with fascists to piss on us and tell us it's raining.
Yeah. Also, it's a humanitarian mission. Treating it as a political move is just fucked up. These are civilians bringing food and help to civilians. This is peace. Your "peace plan" probably is based on weapon sales
It's worse than that; they're fascists. It took a fucking general strike in Italy to get them to deploy the naval forces to begin with, and their Mussolini fangirl prime minister called them off again as soon as she could bullshit an excuse.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe’s economy is holding up better than expected in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs - in part because the European Union didn’t retaliate with self-defeating tariffs of its own, the head of the European Central Bank said Tuesday.
Christine Lagarde said the impact of Trump’s trade war on growth and inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro currency had also been softened by a stronger euro and by conclusion of a trade deal with Trump. The deal capped tariffs at 15% and took away uncertainty that threatened to delay or disrupt business investment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed for the first time that Israel delivered Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv, adding two more batteries will arrive in the fall after months of speculation and denials
As a finn, I very much want "gifts" from Israel. Their air defence systems are amazing, and they have very nice looking defence capabilities against drones. Which seems to be a growing risk from Russia.
I hope nobody is surprised to hear that I value the people of Finland over the people of palestine.
Honestly I’d rather Ukraine have them than Israel. Am I supposed to be mad that they’ve micro-disarmed by doing this? Fuck no that’s a bit less firepower in Israel’s hands
Keep going! We love your charity Israel, give it ALL to Ukraine! 🥴
No, but I didn’t delude myself into thinking it matters either, and now somehow because Ukraine has weapons that Israel didn’t use in their genocide they’ve got cooties or something.
People in here like “Now Ukraine is guilty by association! Tainted morals! Blood on their hands!” - it doesn’t matter.
Now, what’s fucked up, who does have blood on their hands, is the United Ststes who are obviously going to resupply Israel.
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the central Philippines late Tuesday, killing dozens of people at a sports arena and raising fears of major damage, officials said. The quake hit around 10 pm local time at a shallow depth near Palompon, close to Bogo city in Cebu province, the US Geological Survey reported.
"the Mailiao refinery owned by Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) — a privately owned company — increased its reliance on Russian naphtha from 9% before the full-scale invasion to 90% in the first half of 2025, and has been responsible for importing 96% of Taiwan’s total imports. "
an essential feedstock for the petrochemicals used in Taiwanʼs semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing
but where in the manufacturing process is it used? A DDG search turned up a naphtha cracking plant in Taiwan that was converted in the construction of a new plant, and a bunch of hits for renewable naphtha methods, but no mention of how it's used or why it's needed.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.
The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of display stands Patel presented to at least four senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.
Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license. Law enforcement agencies didn’t specify whether the officials who met with Patel held such permits, but they couldn’t have legally kept the gifts if they didn’t.
It wasn’t clear what permissions Patel had sought to bring the weapons into the country. A spokesperson for Patel told the AP Tuesday that the FBI would not comment.
US FBI Director Kash Patel visits New Zealand, immediately provides local officials with 3d printed, potentially operable firearms...
... which is a crime, that could carry up to a 3 year prison/jail sentence in NZ...
... and would also potentially be somewhere between a misdemeanor and a felony depending on where you are in the US, as 3d printed firearms are generally without serial numbers and are thus 'ghost guns', which are often illegal if unregistered, if not outright banned, though this differs from state to state and city to city.
(Oh also, I guess he is so concerned about properly investigating the death of Charlie Kirk that he is uh, personally looking for leads in New Zealand, or something.)
3d printed firearms are generally without serial numbers and are thus ‘ghost guns’, which are illegal
This is not correct. Under federal law, building them for yourself is legal. However, selling them without a serial number is illegal. Manufacturing them without having a license is even more illegal.
The law in the various states may be more restrictive.
US gun laws are incredible. Short Barreled Rifles are illegal. So they just make them with "pistol braces" instead, and sell them as "pistols." AR-15 with a 10.5" barrel? Pistol.
Yep, and then if you put a 'not a pistol brace but an actual buttstock' on one of those things without registering it as an SBR... probably you are now a felon, maybe?
???
What is it for a rifle, 16 inch min barrel, 26 inch from toe to tip min length?
You would think this would spur bullpup adoption / creation around those exact specs... and I guess the PSA Wolverine, Kel Tech RDB and Springfield Hellion are that, though ... the general gun community seems quite hesitant toward and skeptical of anything that doesn't match their already learned standard AR 15 muscle memory.
Generally, puppies have less recoil simply as function of being a bit heavier, literally having more mass, but this can vary a lot depending on what you are comparing to, and the exact bullpup's internal mechanics.
This is assuming we are comparing a bullpuppy and standard layout weapon shooting the same caliber, of course, from similar barrel lengths.
However, another large factor maybe isn't quite recoil per se, but the overall balance point, center of mass of the weapon.
A lot of guntubers I have seen give bullpups a decent chance say that they are so well balanced, that you can reasonably accurately operate them single handedly, which is fairly important in a combat scenario where maybe you get shot in an arm or shoulder.
They also say that it is easier to get the weapon aimed at a target, and that follow up shots are also easier to aim precisely and get off more rapidly, because of the balance of the weapon, and that it is less fatiguing to hold a bullpuppy in a shouldered, ready to aim and fire position, and you can do this longer without your arms tiring.
As a video game modifier and fps enjoyer, I find it funny that that last part is almost never modelled or simulated by games. Sure, sniper oriented games will have a hold breath mechanic, but almost no games simulate that... just holding a weapon upright, shouldered, sighted in... this is tiring.
Like, grab a 7 pound semi gun shaped object and hold it as if you are just 'iron sighted in', in a game... I'll bet your arms start getting weak and wobbly in a number of minutes, now try that with double or triple the weight to approimate an older /heavier rifle or MG of some kind, and you'll see how silly the notion of just running around with like an M60, and using it as an assault rifle is, unless you are a fucking beefcake.
There are also studies that show that is is significantly easier to train an untrained shooter to be a decently accurate marksman with a bullpup than it is to do the same with a standard layout weapon.
But flip side of that are things like uh, field repairs can be more difficult and time consuming to repair, and widely reported heavier and/or chunkier, less smooth trigger pulls.
==For the record, I've shot a number of different weapons and calibers irl, but never an actual bullpup, so my 'bullpup knowledge' is second hand or theoretical==
Genuienly, maybe I've missed a tac shooter or milsim and could get a new recommendation to check out, but I am mostly dogging on ... the kinds of shooter games that have very realistic graphics stylings, but have rather arcady, unrealistic actual game mechanics.
I am not saying no games do this, but I am saying that such games tend to be less popular, more niche, their own subgenre.
I have played waaaaay too much Arma 3, and from what I remember, to actually get shouldering a weapon to be its own distinct fatigue / wobbly arm mechanic, as if it was its own sort of mini stamina meter... you have to use ACE or some set of massive realism overhaul style mods.
Like, iirc, vanilla Arma 3 will make your aim shitty after you just sprinted a kilometer, but ... the act of shouldering your weapon alone does not cause its own kind of fatigue.
I have played a bit of EFT, but given that it is full of try hards and hackers, and is also basically constantly broken in some way, I haven't played much in a while, but I do not remember if it did or did not have this mechanic... but I am leaning toward no, at least a few years back, it also did not have a fatigue mechsnic specific to shouldering/aiming a weapon.
Maybe it does now?
???
But like.. COD and Battlefield, much more popular, definitely do not do this.
The only other one I can think of is America's Army, maybe 3.0 or later. I know the 2.x versions didn't do aim fatigue. But I think they shut that game down years ago.
Personally I've only handled a bullpup. It was created as a replacement for the old M16 the army used to use. Didn't have much training with it, after a session of virtual training, we were sent to the live firing range to shoot. Managed to get a couple of shots under marksmen. As a video game enjoyer getting to shoot, and throwing live nades, was probably the only fun part about basic training.
So yes I think it's a pretty good weapon for even novices to shoot accurately. Idk about fatigue tho since we were made to carry that thing around all the time and just got used to the weight as my own.
I more mean fatigue specifically in your arms, that makes it more difficult to aim accurately the longer you have the weapon shouldered, different from the kind of general fatigue based basically on the weight of your overall kit / loadout.
But either way, thank you for the first hand account!
Ok, the actual legal status of this is quite complicated, I will ammend that section with more qualifiers.
::: spoiler Long version:
I'll give you that at the Federal area, right now, this is not illegal, to make and possess your own unregistered, unserialized firearm... but if you go by the proportion of people that live in states or cities that have just outright made possession of a ghost gun a crime in and of itself...
Yeah thats uh... at least ~126 million US residents where unregistered ghost guns are specifically some kind of illegal at the State level, and thats likely an undercount given that there are likely a lot of larger cities / counties that have their own restrictions, but are within States that don't have them at that level...
So yeah, it is probably explicitly illegal by local/state law for about half the US by population to self mfg and/or possess a 3d printed gun with no serials / registration
However, selling them without a serial number is illegal.
That's not correct either . Federally it is legal to sell a self built firearm with no serial number as long as you did not originally build it with the intention of selling.
As stupid as that sounds, something a little less stupid may, may hold up as a defense in court, depending on where you are, and if you have a couple million dollars to blow on legal fees and/or can get some kind of gun rights advocacy oriented legal firm type thing to work for you.
Pistols are tightly restricted weapons under New Zealand law and possessing one requires an additional permit beyond a regular gun license.
Restricting pistols (i.e. the type of firearm most useful for crime and least useful for hunting or militia defense) more than long guns makes a ton of sense, and it's a shame the US doesn't do it that way too.
The US does have more restrictions on handguns than long guns in the same way. Youll notice in NZ you cant have a gun in general without a license, which obviously doesnt exist in the US. That said, federal law restricts ownership of handguns more than on long guns. 18 year olds can buy long guns and ammo for them, but cannot buy handguns nor handgun ammo. One has to be 21 or older to buy a handgun. Although legally an 18 year old can own a handgun if they are given it as a gift. But they still cant buy ammo for it themselves
1) I tried to demark a clear difference between the quoted text of the article, and my own editorializing, not in a quote block.
2) If you read the actual article, it does actually describe that the reason why these 3d printed weapons were destroyed by the NZ police was that they were assessed as 'potentially operable firearms'.
From the article:
Inoperable weapons are treated as though they’re operable in New Zealand if modifications could make them workable again. The pistols were judged by gun regulators to be potentially operable and were destroyed, New Zealand’s Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told AP in a statement Tuesday.
I did not change the narrative, I simply read more of the article than the initial subset I presented in a quote block.
Please actually read the whole article, not just the preview sampler.
Doesn't the FBI look into issues within USA borders? And doesn't the CIA look into issues outside these borders? I'm confused as to why an FBI office needs to be in Wellington, especially since NZ is a sovereign country. Unless somehow the NZ government is somehow now a state of the US.
The FBI has like... sub offices, attachés to consulates/embassies... but uh... thats for coordinating with local law enforcement and I guess handling US expats.
Yeah I don't know what the fuck Patel is doing here, unless he is kind of just publically admitting that all those other FBI sub offices and attachés just routinely handle Five Eyes / Nine Eyes / However many fucking Eyes type shit.
Which is, I mean, yeah, duh, but also, you're not supposed to just say that outloud, Patel.
You're supposed to be investigating the globalist deep state panopticon world controllers, not fucking building a new branch office for them...
Oh my god his brain must be the size of a walnut, he isn't even good at what he is trying to be good at, holy shit.
I mean, the CIA has frequently, with documentation, illegally operated on US soil... often by facilitating international gangs and drug cartels...
But yes, the ice gun with puffer fish poison is also a thing too lol.
Anyway uh, the article says:
News of Patel’s visit caused ripples in New Zealand at the time because the opening of the new FBI office in Wellington wasn’t divulged to news outlets or the public until it had already happened. An FBI statement in July said the move aligned New Zealand with FBI missions in other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, which also include the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The office would provide a local mission for FBI staff who have operated with oversight from Canberra, Australia, since 2017, the statement said.
Where are you getting that Patel was there for intl. drug gang investigation?
New Zealand ministers who met Patel, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit New Zealand, quietly dismissed his claims.
A government statement on Thursday emphasised joint efforts against crimes such as online child exploitation and drug smuggling, with no mention of China.
"When we were talking, we never raised that issue," Foreign Minister Winston said Thursday.
Patel said what he said because he is a fucking moron. If Patel lied, he is a moron for creating diplomatic problems for an ally. if Patel didn't lie, he just brought a whole lot of unnecessary attention to a spy base in NZ.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in June that China posed an imminent threat and urged Indo-Pacific countries to increase military spending to 5% of GDP.
Part of the reason for being of the five eyes countries is getting around our laws forbidding intelligence agencies from Spying on their own citizens. They have their ally do it and then share it with them.
No First Amendment rights over there. What a shame. I’m grateful for the ever-so-increasingly-restricted freedom of speech and protest we have here in the States.
France burns the country to the ground when the government tries to raise the retirement age or take away from the 2 months of vacation they have, you all rolled over like dogs and let an incontinent, senile old rapist turn your country out.
And I commend them for it. They can do that because their country hasn’t undergone decades of police militarization like in the U.S.
France seems to be going out by death by a thousands cuts while retaining their right to burn down the city; in contrast, the U.S. retains the right to small oppositions and protest while large-scale ones tend to get the full force of the militarized police state. Pick your poison I guess.
I’d hardly say we rolled over like dogs considering there are regular protests with significant turn-out here — they’re just not covered by the media because it would hurt the oligarchs/corporate overlords in their quest for domination.
Further, there’s more than a little bit of evidence that strongly suggests our election was tampered with and that Russia has been in the mix for a while now.
America is in a bad way yes, but until quite literally this year we were doing decent.
Maybe consider the position of the average good-natured American rather than assume they’re all fat and stupid people who want the leader we currently have?
Maybe you should shut up and think for a second before being so aggressive?
I’d hardly say we rolled over like dogs considering there are regular protests with significant turn-out here
Well your protests/parades are doing exactly zilch, so I'd suggest you learn from the French before it's too late.
America is in a bad way yes, but until quite literally this year we were doing decent.
See, that's your problem right there. (Mostly white) Moderate middle class America was doing decent, everyone else was absolutely not. That's why Trump got elected in the first place and why he has so much popular support.
And what, pray-tell, do you suggest we learn from the French that we currently don’t practice?
I also find it interesting that you insinuate to not be from the U.S. but claim to know the demographics of who is doing decent and how well they were doing. I know plenty of asian, black, and hispanic people who were/are just as wealthy as white people, more righting-leaning than white people, and/or otherwise voted for Trump.
Ignoring that weird tangent you went on, quite literally everyone was doing better before Trump so long as you weren’t the wealthy elite (who are now even better than before), so functionally, by comparison, yes, America was doing decent across the board regardless of race, gender, class etc. What are you even trying to say?
I know plenty of asian, black, and hispanic people who were/are just as wealthy as white people, more righting-leaning than white people, and/or otherwise voted for Trump.
Ah, yes, anecdotes. Everyone knows these are as valid as cold, hard data.
by comparison, yes, America was doing decent across the board regardless of race, gender, class etc. What are you even trying to say?
That this is not what "decent" means. Attempting to ad-hoc in a "by comparison" is a cop-out, because that's literally not what you said. Things going from bad to worse is no excuse to call the bad state "decent." George Floyd did not happen under Trump.
Okay buddy 👍 if you’re incapable of thinking just say so.
There’s plenty wrong with America, but as someone who doesn’t take part in any religion, I appreciate and demand the right to be able to protest or otherwise denounce religions that are morally reprehensible. Islam is one of those, some sects of Christianity as well - namely Mormonism which is functionally the Islam of Christianity lol.
Part of why America has become the way it is, is due to the rampant hesitancy at opposing the fascist/authoritarian nature of religions such as Christianity. Seems America will become a Christian hellscape, France appears to be going down the Islamic hellscape.
Doesn’t change my point that freedom of speech/protest is important to resist the controlling nature of the religious disease.
"How do we make people less extreme and more open to our culture? Oh, I know! We harass and insult them! That's sure to make them want to join us!"
Nah, fuck that. I hate religion more than most, but this isn't how you create change. You change things by making them feel accepted and a part of the culture. French isn't a thing that came from nothing. It's a conglomeration of all cultures of the people before who joined as one into a fairly cohesive group. This is true everywhere.
Muslims aren't better or worse than these groups (in fact, they're part of it already). However, anyone who thinks they are worse is worse than them. You want them to be accepting of your culture, and you can't accept any of theirs? Yeah, fuck you. Maybe you're the extremist who doesn't deserve to be accepted.
This person does not represent me, or what I have seen to generally be considered "internet atheism" (unsure what makes it different than garden variety atheism, but my guess is it was intended derogatorily).
Americans can't do this though, because they're owned little bitches who can't live without the feel of daddy trumps little mushroom inside them.
Edit: vote guys! You gotta vote! And yell at people who didn't so they know how much you hate them–how little you blame the people actually doing this.
For many workers, the membership card mattered less than the struggle, and they did not hesitate to strike even if they were not members of the unions that called the strike.
This is common in Italy. A minor part of the workforce is part of a union (our unions are different from what an American might be used to, btw), mainly because membership has a cost (usually ~1% of your wages), and because many are afraid of what employers may think when they find out.
Non-members still regularly join strikes and protests when they care about the subjects.
I strongly suspect the Israelis were running OPs in Europe similar to the one they ran with Epstein in the US and have a ton of blackmail material on ruling European politicians.
MynameisAllen
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Severus_Snape
in reply to MynameisAllen • • •Greece is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. They don't respect driving laws. They openly throw trash in the streets. They smoke right in front of "Please don't smoke here" signs. The Greek politicians are completely corrupt. But these Greek politicians didn't fall from a sky. They are a reflection of Greek society.
Why do I say this ? Because my country faces similar issues.
Some cultures are just fucked.
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davad
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •For pedantry's sake, these aren't examples of corruption. In order for it to be "corruption," there has to be someone in a position of power who is misusing their power.
::: spoiler definition
[0] "Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain." (wikipedia)).
:::
Some examples of corruption would be:
Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Øπ3ŕ
in reply to davad • • •Aceticon
in reply to Øπ3ŕ • • •Mate, I've lived and worked in several countries in Europe and come from a country - Portugal - which in many ways is culturally very similar to Greece, at least judging by conversations I had with Greek friends and colleagues over the years.
In my experience and view, Politics in general, including government, are definitelly the result of what a society considers "normal" and this doesn't apply to just the Southern European countries but also in my own experience to Western and Northern European ones.
Strictly speaking and as you say they are not the same, it's more of one being a reflection of the other: what politicians get away with reflects society's idea of "normal" and things like the cultural view on how strictly people should follow rules: in a country where the idea that "following rules is for suckers" is widespread, Politicians too will not tend to "stay within the rules" with the powers they've been entrusted with.
So for example, Corruption is Portugal is IMHO the natural reflection of a culture where Cronyism is widespread and pretty much standard all over the place (and, if you think about it, the Moral distance from "trading favours with paying strangers using the power entrusted to you" to "trading favours with friends using the power entrusted to you" is a lot less than the Moral distance to "thinking one has the responsability to not abuse power entrusted to oneself for one's own gain directly or indirectly") and the Law is seen as indicative rather than a set of boundaries that shouldn't be crossed (except when it comes to violence).
Interestingly and paradoxically, when things do start to change, acceptance of Corruption falls and and the fight against Corruption improves, the Perception of Corruption goes up because there are many more people being caught and convicted for Corruption and that ends up in the News, so it looks like there is more Corruption than before due to more News about it, when it's actually the opposite.
scarabic
in reply to davad • • •arendjr
in reply to davad • • •That’s not just pedantry, that’s unnecessarily narrow-minded. Ever heard of the corrupted heart? According to your definition, that’s an impossibility, unless the heart belongs to someone in authority, or something, I guess.
The point is, there is more than a single interpretation of things, and there is not a singular definition of corruption. Anyone can be corrupted, and giving examples that show that lawlessness permeates every level of society is a great way of showing that corruption is likely endemic in the culture.
scarabic
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •survirtual
in reply to MynameisAllen • • •Once "the people" seize the means of production, how will it be run & organized? We might need some people to coordinate between other people. What will these coordinators be called? And what if they abuse their positions? We might need some people that keep coordinators accountable, that audit their behavior, we can call them auditors....
If you aren't getting where I am going with this, I will just say that while your sentiment might make sense to you, this is a real problem for you to think about. Seizing the means of production is meaningless without a mechanism by which to run it. As soon as you trust other human beings with that ability, you create another class with authority, and thus, the road leads back to exactly where you are.
AI will not fix this because it is centralized compute trained on oppressive data. Perhaps if the data centers were publicly owned and the data was vetted, there would be a better chance, but more likely? It would be AI with human oversight....and yes, same problem again. If a human oversight committee exists, that is once again a human authority position that can be abused. And it doesn't matter because the planet has foolishly relinquished control of compute power to a tiny minority.
While I believe we are slated for doom (that isn't so bad, there are much better realities than this one anyway), I'd at least like to see a tiny fraction of intelligent resistance. This has got to be the most disappointing apocalypse I've ever witnessed. All the tools are clearly laid out and we've collectively chosen to be miserable instead.
Stop repeating the pattern. Find a new way.
Signtist
in reply to survirtual • • •I was with you for the first half, but then you went off the rails. Anyone who seriously brings up AI in the discussion for what to do after the revolution is completely deluded. You act like it's a viable strategy with some issues, but really it'd be immediately worse than even Trump. Day 1 it'd hallucinate a war and try to release nukes around the world. As for the "better realities," we only get 1 planet and 1 reality. To try to bury your head in the sand with some dream that an alternate reality version of us is doing okay is nothing but a cop out. Maybe another version of our planet is doing well, but we're responsible for this one - it's our duty to protect it.
Yes, when we overthrow the government, we'll need to enact a new government to replace it, and yes, eventually that government will become corrupt and need overthrowing, too. When there exists a position of authority over others, evil people will inevitably worm their way in, but nevertheless, authority is necessary to have a functioning society. Governments are like clothes - you have to change them out every once in a while, ideally before they start to reek of filth.
survirtual
in reply to Signtist • • •Did you read what I said about AI? I don't think so, given your response. To simplify, as I skipped some steps, I was addressing some people who've thought about the problem slightly more than an iota. Some think AI systems that govern over humans could help address the human corruptibility / hierarchy problem. It does not.
There are an infinite set of realities. You can see them for yourself, but something tells me you'll continue onward in your lovely little cage.
Have a nice 3-dimensional day 😀
doingthestuff
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •ripcord
in reply to doingthestuff • • •Øπ3ŕ
in reply to ripcord • • •doingthestuff
in reply to ripcord • • •ripcord
in reply to doingthestuff • • •Hoimo
in reply to doingthestuff • • •Buffalox
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •So people were not allowed to work 13 hours in 1 day up until now?
The rule we have here (Denmark) is that we must have 11 hour rest period between 2 shifts.
The normal work week is 37.5 hours, but if you want you can work 13 hours per day, since that gives you 11 hours rest.
We have some of the highest wages in Europe, possibly in part because of flexible regulation, mostly negotiated directly between unions and employers.
Denmark is also one of the easiest countries to fire people in EU, but we have one of the lowest unemployment rates.
The fact that it's easy to fire, also makes it easy to make a decision to try to expand or start new projects. If it goes wrong, damage control can be relatively swift, and not break the company if it fails.
Hoimo
in reply to Buffalox • • •Buffalox
in reply to Hoimo • • •I know in USA it's normal to not be paid for overtime, but USA is not a civilized country, I thought Greece was.
Maybe people need to unionize more.
jimjam5
in reply to Buffalox • • •As a full time working US citizen this made me chuckle. It’s like a fairytale hearing about the kinds of protections and guarantees people in other countries get.
Buffalox
in reply to jimjam5 • • •It's really sad, because things were going really well, as in the right direction 50 years ago. And ironically MAGA is pulling even more in the opposite direction, pulling even further away from everything that was good about America in the 70's.
jaykrown
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •A 13 hour work day, what the fuck? You would no time for anything else.
Assuming a 1 hour commute time:
7am leave for work
8am start work
9pm leave work
10pm get home
9 hours until you have to leave for work again, ~7 hours needed for sleep, only 2 hours to do anything else.
I also just learned the word "roughshod", interesting.
winkerjadams
in reply to jaykrown • • •TBi
in reply to winkerjadams • • •1 hour should be enough for all that. Roll on 14 hour workday! 7 days a week.
Otherwise you’re just lazy.
/s
Evotech
in reply to winkerjadams • • •Honytawk
in reply to Evotech • • •Those are part of the chores.
Good way to limit population growth though, maybe too good.
mPony
in reply to Evotech • • •actually it's usually money that forbids you having kids.
so, yes.
TheThrillOfTime
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •vane
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •They can thank IMF and government.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_a…
Greece and the International Monetary Fund - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)sadfitzy
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •Some rulers really are getting too big for their britches.
The french know what to do about that.
And apparently, so do the Nepalese.
Hupf
in reply to Severus_Snape • • •28-Hour Day
xkcd