tardigrada @ tardigrada @beehaw.org

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3 yr. ago

The petition alone won't change much, but it could be one step in the right direction when we are willing to keep going a long way. That sounds pathetic, and maybe it fails, but being indifferent and doing nothing is certainly not an option as we know. As Biden said in his recent speech, "Setbacks are inevitable, giving up is unforgivable."

Why are so many people still using this platform?

Just stumbled upon a 9-min video (Invidious link) about Twitter's brief history after Elon Musk's takeover. Maybe interesting.

I get what you mean, but Russia is in for a very bad economic future, even if the war in Ukraine ended today.

this is real life and the worst people have the best lives.

What is a 'good' life?

I don't know Donald Trump, of course, and I'm certainly not a supporter (of course), but I don't think he has a good life. Nevertheless, despite his public personality and everything he represents, I wish Trump to be happier in his quiet hours than I suspect. When the crowd has gone and he is alone with himself, I don't think Trump is happy person.

Well, I don't know what his right-wing base would think, but whatever it is, would it be a reason to not put him in jail? Is the judicial system different if a convicted felon's base is energized?

[Edit: fixed typo.]

Thanks, @OpenStars and @Vodulas

@UngodlyAudrey

We don't know each other and I don't know how to help you and others in a similar situation, but I've just read this:

Sarah McBride makes history as first transgender member of Congress

Maybe there is also a faint spark of hope today.

Just a question: Where can you see the voter turn out rate in this and possibly past elections? I can't find that.

Oregon governor Tina Kotek ready to deploy National Guard if needed to combat election violence - (archived)

In an email to the Capital Chronicle, spokesperson Roxy Mayer said any voter intimidation or criminal acts aimed at undermining the election would not be tolerated and that the governor’s office is closely monitoring the situation, working with local, state and federal agencies to ensure Oregonians can safely vote.

Yeah, but is it worthwhile?

This is somehow related:

China and the South China Sea: Tailoring history to propaganda

Yeah, that's not new, but I feel there are still many who are unaware, although I don't understand why.

Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election

• Deceptive Political Ads: Eight deceptive advertising networks have placed over 160,000 election and social issues ads across more than 340 Facebook pages in English and Spanish.
• Harmed Users: Some of the people who clicked on ads were unwittingly signed up for monthly credit card charges or lost health coverage, among other consequences.
• Spotty Enforcement: Meta removed some ads after first approving them, but it failed to catch others with similar or identical content — or to stop networks from launching new pages and ads.

I feel this is too simplistic. There are apparently parallels to Nazi Germany's ideology, and the Nazis represent without doubt one of the worst regimes in human history. But they didn't 'invent' this. Their racism, their hatred, and their view on women whose place is 'in the family' has been here for much longer, and it is by far not limited to the 'Western' world (in China, officials go from door to door urging women to become pregnant, just to name an example, and a recent UN study found that one in eight women and girls alive today experienced rape or sexual assault before they are 18 years old).

One thing I'm missing in this discussion is the role of men in the family. No one appears to talk about that, at least not publicly. (Just stumbled upon this 1 min video.)

But that's just my opinion. Also, I'm not a historian or sociologist, so take this with a pinch of salt.

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (video, 8 min)

"The issue of the day on the campaign trail was the stupidest person who has ever run for president, telling American women… what he is going to do to them, whether they like it or not.”

A scholar from Berkely has been investigating the possible impact of Project 2025 and Trump's pissible second term on the environment:

The plan contains an extensive description of how they would constrain the reach and breadth of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by limiting enforcement and shifting its focus to what we sometimes call compliance assistance. In this role, the EPA would work directly with companies to try to help them reduce their environmental impact, but would move away from enforcement. This model has been tried federally under some Republican administrations and the absence of enforcement has repeatedly resulted in significant environmental degradation.

The effort to break up [NOAA] is part of a strategy of hear no evil, see no evil: If you don’t report on climate change, then perhaps it doesn’t exist.

It's a good Q&A with Ken Alex, Director of Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE).

Here's the whole story if I'm not mistaken:

Hell is Not Hot Enough for Ken Paxton - (December 2023)

Yeah, they say inflation is high in the U.S. But wait until a Trump administration has deported all the farm workers ...

What kind of people are they? I cannot even think something like that, this is not in head.

Another good Q&A with Robinson (2023):

“Transition to democracy is not easy”

We emphasize two things: first, people need a strong state that regulates society, collects taxes, provides people with goods, and maintains order. But the state should be forced to work for the benefit of society. Therefore, political power should be distributed among the population. Thus, if one of these two things fails, extractive political institutions emerge in society. Here we focus on: the political foundations of inclusive economic institutions and how inclusive economic institutions can lead to prosperity.

(Emphasis mine.)