The fact that this is considered newsworthy is a big part of the problem. A lot of people say dumb shit every day, but they don't have their shit takes broadcast to the world with a huge microphone. Who gives a shit if some asshole said something stupid? Why does anyone need to hear about it? (Directed at BRICS News, not at OP, to be clear.)
We've seen the GOP weaponize the filibuster at every available opportunity; the fact that the dems are letting anything pass without doing the same is irritating to me. The time to respect decorum is long past, but they don't seem to have gotten the memo on that.
Funding all of these things cost every American a grand total of $2.14 each per year (assuming these costs are annual). (729M total cost, 340.1M US population as of July 2024.) He uses these big numbers to make the whole thing seem scary, but the cost is completely insignificant. The average person has no concept of just how much money the government brings in, and how completely meaningless dollar amounts of this magnitude are, and all of these sort of reports take advantage of that to make people angry.
Another way to look at it: The total cost of all of these initiatives is less than 0.1% of the US's annual military budget.
It does, though, because not every instance federates with every other instance. If someone is coming from Reddit, and they interact with a set of specific subs there, and they want to interact with the analogue communities here, they don't want to join an instance like, for example Beehaw, that has very strict federation policies, or (probably) .ml or lemmygrad, where they'll be exposed to stigma they weren't aware of going in and which might not apply to them.
A list of servers with very open federation could solve this problem in theory, assuming new users knew to reference it, but that might not be what they want, either.
The invite code idea is actually solid, I think, assuming they're handed out to people who have things in common with the target userbase of the instance, and not arbitrarily.
There's also some instances that hold united views on specific topics, for example blahaj with trans rights, and someone arbitrarily choosing that instance that doesn't hold those same views might feel that they don't fit in.
Obviously anyone can just choose a new instance and move, but for a new user coming in, that's a 'quit moment' in many cases. Giving an invite code to someone that leads them to an instance that at least broadly fits what they're interested in could help solve for this.
Edit: I think having more instances that have specific themes and topics, like slrpnk or programming.dev (or pawb, for that matter) would help, too. Someone looking in from the outside might not understand federation, but if they see an instance geared towards a topic they're interested in, they might be inclined to join it even if they incorrectly think that's all they'll be able to interact with.
Normally this is where I'd say "They should all tell him to fuck right off when he does find a way to contact him", but that seems like a job we don't want entrusted to some nepotism hire or college freshman.
I'm glad you thought of this, because I was very confused by this post. I thought the question was asking which group of countries you'd want to be allowed to visit.
"I reject and resent the implication that congressional Democrats are simply standing by passively," said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.).
Well, maybe do something to show us what you are doing. My state's rep recently sent out a very encouraging email to his mailing list going into detail on what Democrats in general, and he personally, are currently doing to fight back. Is Richie Torres doing that? (Honest question, I don't know, not on their mailing list.)
The last page of this survey is heavy handed and full of leading questions. It feels like you're less trying to gather research data and more trying to push an agenda; it would not pass scientific review. The fact that I agree with the agenda being pushed doesn't change my feelings on that.
A better method would have been to ask the question in a neutral way (e.g. 'Do you believe that storing game cartridges qualifies as preservation?' or even better, 'Storing game cartridges qualifies as preservation' as a statement, with a Strongly Disagree - Strongly Agree scale), then at the end of the survey provide the information you're providing in the links below each question.
The fact that this is considered newsworthy is a big part of the problem. A lot of people say dumb shit every day, but they don't have their shit takes broadcast to the world with a huge microphone. Who gives a shit if some asshole said something stupid? Why does anyone need to hear about it? (Directed at BRICS News, not at OP, to be clear.)