kava @ kava @lemmy.world

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then please wise one- assuage my fear by showing me how the purge isn't a purge. release me from this trembling terror by convincing me that the administration is not actually breaking federal law. save me from this horror and show me the light

what does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Enlightenment really mean? explain to me please how these ideologically aligned billionaires (who happen to control the white house) that say they want to end democracy aren't actually planning on ending democracy

Roman history didn't end after Julius Caesar. In fact, Rome would reach its peak a couple hundred years after that moment and then continued to dominate for hundreds of years afterwards.

It just wasn't really a Republic anymore.

Of course that isn't to say the US will get stronger, I think the opposite. Just that the end of democracy doesn't necessarily mean the end of the country.

we're watching an unprecedented purge in only a couple months of an administration. led by people who have openly admitted they want to destroy American democracy and institute a dictatorship.

me personally I think Trump already crossed the Rubicon. but in the very near future there will be an order by the Supreme Court for Trump to stop doing something. He won't stop doing it. And then it will be abundantly clear to everyone we're in a new stage of US history

Kava

this was actually a key part of Hitler's strategy. early on in the Nazi meetings they would try to pin down and give an exact agenda and set of policies.

he would yell at everyone that they're missing the point. it's more about the vibe than the logic. being vague and ambiguous keeps your options open.

"It is not truth that matters, but victory." Adolph

By refusing precise definitions, you are able to retroactively decide what the ideology "always meant". so when it's convenient to hate against health insurance CEOs you are "against the swamp". when it's convenient to dismantle the government you are "against the swamp"

it can mean whatever you want it to. similar with the "enemies of the state"

nazis would use the word marxists or "degenerates" very loosely. makes it very easy to shift blame to a specific target or another when necessary

berlin's degeneracy is because of gays, somewhere else it may be gypsies, another it's the jews, etc.

today we see phrases like "radical leftists" "cultural marxists" "woke ideology" etc

a federal judge blocked some of Trump's orders (Trump ignored it of course) and what does he call him? a radical left judge. something that couldn't be further from the truth- radical left would imply some type of communist or socialist. but it doesn't really matter because the term is vague enough it can work

i think it's cause 2 story homes are much less common here compared to up north

i live in a pretty new apartment building and the AC/insulation is very efficient. although to be honest I don't even know what I pay in power, my girlfriend usually pays that one

In my opinion the only times I'm ever uncomfortably hot is when I'm choosing voluntarily to be in the sun. For example going to beach.

99% of the time I'm in 67 degree AC in a hoodie lol

That's true although it's quite impressive regardless.

First, the Florida state government is actively hostile to solar. Just a couple years back they passed a law that made it so you couldn't sell your excess power back to the grid- a huge benefit of installing solar.

This was at the request of FPL (Florida Power & Light) because just like in the federal government, the Florida government is essentially bought and paid for.

So I don't know the specifics in CA, but I'd imagine their government is more friendly to renewable energy.

And we also need to consider CA has a little less than double Florida's population and a little more than double Florida's GDP.

So the fact that Florida surpassed California's solar usage is actually quite impressive, especially considering CA had a significant head start.

It's really a testament to how useful this technology is. Solar is not growing in Florida because it's renewable or has lower carbon emissions, etc. It's growing because it's economically feasible.

And I think it's a good sign for the future of renewable energy. Also goes to show Florida is rapidly growing. Few years back we surpassed NY as the 3rd largest state (in terms of population).

Right now Texas & Florida (and certain states in the SE like S or N Carolina) are the fastest growing states. Meanwhile states like New York, California, and Illinois are stagnating.

In the next couple decades, Florida and Texas will eventually surpass NY and CA as the two most important states. And I predict they will both turn blue just like what happened to California.

but they’re checking off demographics at an alarming rate.

yeah those two arab protestor students that are getting deported- they're essentially getting detained and eventually removed because they spoke out against Israel. it's an attempt to put a damper on speech for the whole country. sort of sending a message to immigrants- you better watch what you're saying or we will get you

Vast majority of immigration detention centers are privately owned

It's a sharp contrast to private prisons where it's less than 10%.

The federal government’s countermeasures will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 13. The 25 per cent tariffs will hit steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion.

In addition, Canada is hitting another $14.2 billion worth of imported U.S. goods with fresh tariffs, totalling $29.8 billion in retaliation.

I wasnt aware new ones from yesterday. It was for $30B, though. Combined with the last set of tariffs its $60B total out of $350B of US exports to Canada

So about 17%. So let's say Canads is at a conservative 3 generous 4

pretty much. we all grew up in the US being taught it's a country of immigrants and the "bring me your weary your hungry your whatever masses to be free"

it's actually kind of fascinating to see that ideology shift so fast it's giving whiplash. turns out we actually kinda need these people for our economy otherwise we'll end up like European countries with stagnating economies until we eventually get overrun by China

if you look at the numbers, Canada's not that far from Australia. they've only instituted a tariff on like 10% of American imports

it's very common in colonial societies like most of the Americas. without this type of law there wouldn't be any American citizens. even before the 14th amendment we had birth right citizenship by common law precedence

you don't just become friends with people to become friends. there needs to be some glue that brings you two together.

so for example back when you were in primary school, you had that glue- you took the same class as someone or rode home in the same bus, etc.

as an adult, if you want to make friends, you need to find some glue. it could be working together, or playing dungeons and dragons, or a deep appreciation of black and white cinema. who knows

so i will suggest one thing and it will only really work if you live in Florida. go to kava bars. just go with your laptop and hang out there drinking kava and doing your own thing. go every once in a while and you will meet people and make friends. it's one of the few modern "3rd place" locations.

i got this spam too. i think it's just someone who wants to grow some type of online community

i think fact that they feel comfortable sharing a picture with drug paraphernalia & spamming hundreds of people says all i need to know about the person

But they are mistaken. Europe is not giving in to that again.

how do you have so much faith? if you look at the Nazi elections it went something like

~2.5% ⇒ ~5% ⇒ 10% ⇒ 20% ⇒ 30something% ⇒ dictatorship

if you look at AfD it's following s similar pattern and we're currently at 20something%

Looking at past history, just one more successful election cycle and the far-right can consolidate and eliminate any democratic opposition

the current stance is fairly mild. Canada taxing something like 10% of American imports (which represents less than 1% of total American exports) when Trump is threatening 80% of all Canadian exports is not the aggressive retaliation the rhetoric would have you believe

Sometimes you have to fire customers

i knew a guy with a cleaning business. it grew to a fairly large size (roughly ~30 employees with an office and secretaries, etc) over the course of a few years, although about 80% of the revenue came from one client. he eventually lost that client and the business had to fire most of its staff. he had to sell two properties he owned to pay off debt he had accumulated- he was spending money at a rate that was not sustainable because he assumed that money would always come in at the same rate.

he ended up giving up and sold the business to a couple of outside guys. those guys hired a sales team and diversified the business and now it's doing great- grew literally 10x bigger than it was under original owner. but it took years.

moral of the story? when all your eggs are in one basket, you are very vulnerable.

you also have to consider that America is not only a customer, but a vendor too. Tariffs placed on American imports will lead to more tariffs being placed on Canadian imports. You not only lose sales but a source of goods. i really think most people in this thread do not fully recognize the severity of Canada's position

but frankly it will be political suicide

It will also be political suicide to trigger a historic recession. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I feel bad for the new banker PM. He's essentially a political lamb to the slaughter. Trudeau is getting out at the right time- his legacy will remain intact.

What would you consider a sufficiently forceful response?

So far Canada has taxed something like 10% of American exports into Canada with threats to increase that if Trump does not remove the initial tariffs.

Trump is threatening to tax all Canadian exports into US. And 80% of Canadian exports go to the US.

To summarize: US put a tariff on roughly 80% of all Canadian exports (there's nuance here, like a few exclusions and certain goods have lower tariffs like oil)

Canada retaliated by putting a tariff on a little less than 1% of all American exports

Canada has a knob they can twist that goes up all the way to 10~12% of American exports. They can't go any higher than that.

They've decided to start very small, even though Trump is threatening virtually everything.

The risk is if you go too high, Trump may increase his tariffs from 25% to a higher number. Amplifying the economic pain and potentially triggering an immediate recession with millions of job losses and the collapse of various industries.

So what's the correct number? How do you stand up to a bully but also avoid an economic crisis?

It's a very dangerous game and I do not envy your new banker PM. That's why Trudaeu was so happy when he was leaving with his chair lol.

Mexico is taking a more muted response. They are in an even worse position.

What are you taking issue with? I said sky is blue and you say "yes you're right but the grass is green".

Canadian trade with America- of which both imports and exports are counted, as you yourself stated- represents a value which is roughly 43% of Canadian GDP.

The US may suffer more than the 0.3% in an overall sense because of trade war with other countries, OK. But the impacts from these specific tariffs- the topic of the conversation- are expected to be -0.3% for US and -3% for Canada & Mexico.

I was pointing out 2 things

A) Canada (and Mexico) are relatively small economies that have become increasingly dependent on US trade and foreign investment.

B) Because of this, they are going to experience a much worse fallout from a trade war- about an order of magnitude.

Mexican & Canadian trade combined don't even reach 4% of US GDP. They simply do not have the leverage to hurt the US in the same way US can hurt them.

Am I making the argument Trump is correct in this decision-making? No he's a fascist who wants to hurt foreigners just as much as he wants to hurt Americans.

Am I making the argument America is going to be immune from trade wars? No, it's gonna fuck all of us. And if we continue to escalate trade war with China and EU we will start seeing much worse effects.