Well, all I know is that Jerboa seems to hide comments from Hexbear dwellers while Voyager doesn't.
As for Markup, I tried posting a comment with a ... marker in Voyager, and it showed up as some text, whereas it correctly showed up as strikethrough text some text in Jerboa.
The 3rd Reich lasted 12 years and had been 10 years in the making when Hitler took power.
The US had been a crypto-fascist state since 2001, since Dubya started the nazification of America with the USA Patriot Act and Gitmo. That's 24 years ago - 24 years that I've stayed clear away from that dangerous place. So it took 2.4 time longer to turn actively fascist than Germany.
Now it's a fully fledged fascist state. If history is any indication, it might take 30 years to be defeated. Even if it took only 15, I'm old enough that I might not be around to enjoy a return trip to a democratic USA.
Indeed, it's generally true. And the nice thing of being more difficult to pay a visit to is, my less favorite family members always find an excuse not to come so I don't even have to find an excuse not to receive them š
FWIW I have gone back to Jerboa: it works as expected wrt blocked instances and users, but also it lets me post in Markdown - something Voyager doesn't seem to do, and I never noticed before.
I haven't been back. I never want to set foot in that godforsaken country ever again. And even if I wanted to, I have no intention of surrendering my electronic devices, disclosing my online activities or being frisked by the GestapoDHS.
My family comes here to visit - which they're glad to do anyway because the place in live in is much nicer and much more peaceful than their depressing corner or American suburbia.
That's super-weird. I have Hexbear blocked as a whole and I never see anything Hexbear. Likewise, I have most Lemmygrad communities blocked piecemeal (but not the instance blocked whole - yet) and anything to do with those communities too are correctly disappeared.
With such sharp partisan divides, the GOP having unified control and the rich having a vested interest in keeping this dead horse of an economy alive, thatās not a realistic option.
I guess what I meant was, how do even GOP critters stand for this? It's supposed to be the party of law and order, and they behave like servile little yes-men fascist enablers.
I've never had any great love of the Republican party, but even I admit that the staunchest traditional Republicans had 10 times more morals and principles than those MAGA asswipes and would have done something about their rogue fascist racehorse with the Democrat minority. The current crop of fake Republican magats is appalling. That's what's truly unbelievable.
Youāve said that twice now. I was under the impression that if your US tax liability is $X but you already paid >$X in foreign taxes, you file a form saying so and your US tax liability drops to $0. Is my understanding incorrect?
That may be the case today. But when I left a quarter century ago, it wasn't like that. I don't remember the specifics, but I would have ended up paying some thousands of dollars every year.
Thatās an excellent argument for not living within US jurisdiction, but how is it an argument for not keeping US citizenship as an ex-pat?
A country that's gone rogue can't strongarm another to deport their enemy citizens living there back home if they're not citizens no more.
I fully expect the Trump regime - or whichever new Trumpesque dictator replaces the orange buffoon when he kicks the bucket - to come after expats it deems treacherous or enemies of the state or something. I'd rather the US can't legally demand my repatriation.
The fewer ties you have to the US, the better. It was true before, and it's especially true now.
The other reason is, a lot of foreigners - like, a LOT - don't particularly like Americans, even the friendliest ones. It's easier not to be an American than having to prove you're one of the nice ones all the time.
problematic to open foreign bank accounts as a US citizenā¦?
I never had any problem. But remember, it was a long time ago. Things were still pretty chill in the early 2000's. You could literally walk into a bank and open an account in 10 minutes with any ID that looked legit š There was no KYC or anything like that, and banks mostly cared about whether you had money to deposit. I mean not quite 80's like, but nothing like the stringent dystopia of today.
Also, I had citizenship from a EU country, so that helped.
Renounciation costs (or at least used to cost) a few thousand dollars. That's money you quickly recoup by not paying any US taxes.
Besides, I don't see why I should pay Uncle Sam anything of what I earn abroard, living abroad and working in a foreign company, not using any American services or infrastructure. The only rational Uncle Sam has to offer for extracting taxes from US citizens residing abroad is essentially "Pay up or else..." That's a racket, pure and simple: even if it wasn't financially sound, I don't pay racketeers.
What other pros/cons are there?
Not being an American is a big pro. Your conscience is less dirty.
And as of Apr 14, 2025, the safety of not living in a dictatorship where the rule of law doesn't apply anymore is also a big plus.
And while not directly linked to citizenship proper, living abroad offers many advantages: working healthcare, a decent education for your children, publc services that work... Yes, you pay a lot of taxes in Europe, but you know what you get out of it. The quality of life in Europe is much higher than in the US. And - I know it sounds weird but it's true - you don't need the constant background paranoia you need to live in the US. You don't realize the paranoia is there until you leave and then it lifts from you. It's a real thing.
But of course you can experience all that while still being an American. Not being American is mostly a matter of refusing to be associated with - and finance - an amoral society.
Any past POTUS who would have said or done a thousand of what this demented orange peel says and does would have been impeached faster than you can say "Does that guy sound fascist or is it just me?"
How is this madman still in office? How is that even possible?
If you don't have dual citizenship like I had, your best bet is to move somewhere you like, stay there for a while as a resident, then apply for citizenship there. Then depending on your destination country, that either makes you dual-citizen and you have to renounced your US citizenship explicitely, or you have dual-citizenship for that country but not for the US or vice-versa, or your US citizenship instantly becomes invalid. In all cases, if you want to stop being American, Uncle Sam will make you cough up a bunch of money. Because the US is a country of racketeers.
It was easy for me: I had dual citizenship. I simply renounced the wrong one - which cost me a pretty penny: it's a real racket run by the US, this. But it paid for itself many times over in that I never had to pay US taxes for income I generated outside the US, which is also another US racket.
When I left, I went to Canada. Then the UK - which was in Europe back then. Then I lived in a bunch of countries in Europe. Then Australia. Then back to Europe. That's where I am now.
I left the US and renounced my citizenship 24 years ago, after Dubya shat out the USA Patriot Act and I knew the US would turn into a full-blown Nazi state some day.
Well, all I know is that Jerboa seems to hide comments from Hexbear dwellers while Voyager doesn't.
As for Markup, I tried posting a comment with a ... marker in Voyager, and it showed up as some text, whereas it correctly showed up as strikethrough text
some textin Jerboa.