One place in the lemmyverse that’s been able to buck US-defaultism a bit is the news mega thread on Hexbear. That was done by seeking out and elevating news and voices that are explicitly not in the US (and the Global North, more broadly). But even then, you need both people who are actively seeking non-US perspectives AND people who have those perspectives and are willing to invest their time. I’m not sure how to replicate this more broadly in the lemmyverse, but it’s worth noting where it’s worked and what was done.

A profession where I’m sure it’s beneficial to be very rigid…

That looks pretty great, actually.

I pay for a Proton account already, this is a great suggestion, I’m going to look into this (can’t believe I forgot this)

My videos already sync to iCloud. My concern is if the cops were to get into my phone, they could just go to the Photos app and delete it from the device and my iCloud account.

OP’s photo is my favorite, so I will have to mention my second favorite (though calling it a “favorite” feels off).

This photo was taken in 2003 in Iraq. This man is comforting his son. They are being held in an American camp. IIRC to this day we don’t know what happened to these two.

I think if I had to explain the last 25 years to a time-traveler, this would be the one photo I would choose.

Unclear what he means at this point, my hunch is it means allowing for a larger US military presence in Greenland but no transfer of ownership, watching a live interview with Trump now and he’s definitely avoiding any implication that Greenland will be “owned” by the US.

People who are saying to just delete Facebook or don’t use it aren’t wrong of course (I say that myself, to be clear I hate FB); but as someone who tries to buy and sell things secondhand (I see it as being environmentally responsible), this is largely becoming impossible to do locally without Facebook Marketplace. I honestly have some grudging respect for Facebook’s ability to survive just when you think they might start to become irrelevant. Things were headed that way for them, then they bought Instagram. And then the last couple years, it was sort of common knowledge that the only people who use it anymore are old folks and Nazis… and then FB Marketplace kills Craigslist and becomes the only app people use for local buying/selling.

Idk maybe there’s some opportunity here for some local buy/sell federated service?

The old Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May. I feel weird watching it because Clarkson especially has become such an insufferable reactionary, and old shows really go hard on climate change skepticism. But when it’s at it’s best, I find watch three friends having a fun trip together to be very relaxing.

I certainly don’t disagree, but I think it’s very useful to highlight how this has changed (IMO) in recent decades. I think there was a time when the boomer generation was earning relatively good incomes that allowed them to live comfortably and accumulate wealth (mainly in houses and the stock market). I think this arrangement between capital and the (predominantly white) working class created a situation where even those workers without much wealth could be “bought off” and swear allegiance to capitalism. This wasn’t sustainable of course, as the postwar industrial boom and then the gains from neoliberalism were never sustainable. Couple that with the fall of the Eastern Bloc and with it the “threat of a good example”, and I would say that this arrangement lasted as late as the GFC at most. I think this helps explain how older people today - even if they are solidly working class - might still be hostile to anything they think is “socialism” while younger generations do not share those opinions, it seems.

I was reading Michael Roberts’ blog the other day, and he pointed out something similar. The official calculations for inflation significantly understate it for various reasons. However, if you look at actual labor hours needed to cover the essentials of life, and you use the median income amount from 1950 (for the US), then that number comes out about $102k per year. Said another way, for a standard of living based on real life, to have the standard of the median American in 1950, you would need to earn over $100k today. But if you take that 1950 median income and just adjust it for official inflation, you only get to like $42k.

“Sadness is a weapon of bourgeoisie” -Iosef Lilianovich Dros

Thanks - I’ve seen Winboat mentioned several times in the comments, I’m going to try that first.

There really are little to no economic concessions Cuba can make, given the status of the blockade on the country. If the “deal” was just to let Trump build his own hotels on the island or something, Cuba might even accept that. Given this and who is in Trump’s cabinet, I think it’s reasonable to assume the only “deal” on the table is to accept being governed as US colony with Rubio as the viceroy.

As brutal as cutting off oil from Venezuela will be, the Cuban people got through the Special Period, I think they will survive Trump.

I haven’t heard of WinBoat before, I will check that out thank you.

It’s been a few years since I tried making my Zune work on Linux, I should give it another try, thanks.

It really is a great little device. I believe there has to be a market out there for a Linux device similar to it, something just for music / radio / podcasts.

“We need to get beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication,” Nadella wrote in a rambling post flagged by Windows Central, arguing that humanity needs to learn to accept AI as the “new equilibrium” of human nature.

I’m starting to notice a recent trend in tech CEOs. They seem to be saying “yes, we know you hate it but too bad get used to it”.

For countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland, et al… what’s the motivation to remain in NATO in the first place? I know it’s a joke to call it a purely “defensive” alliance but those countries do not face a credible military threat from anyone. Meanwhile they are rules falling into place that will require members to really pay up and increase military budgets at the expense of social programs.

The fraud is the cover, racism is the real angle.

There was similar fraud uncovered in New York state I believe earlier this year, which was significantly larger in scope, and that story hasn’t even cracked the news. Pointing out the racism here, while correct, isn’t at the core of the issue IMO.

To actual Stormfront-posting capital W capital N White Nationalists, years ago they made the “issue” of Somali immigration into Minnesota and other places across the northern US stretching from the Cascades to the Great Lakes one of the causes they got the most worked up over. I have yet to see a White Nationalist envision a takeover of the entire USA. What they do advocate for, amongst themselves, is creating a white ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest, possibly reaching eastward across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The reason for this is, take a look at a map of counties in the US with >95% white concentration. If you do you will notice just how white that part of the country is (and how conservative it is, if you overlap it with a voting map). They see that area as “theirs” and the home of a future white homeland.

White Nationalists perceive the immigration of Somalis into Minnesota as the tip of the spear of their great replacement theory. They think Soros et al specifically target the whitest areas of the US and mark them for “replacement”. While this is all obviously ridiculous and gross, these people see it in terms of a life-or-death struggle.

Just like other issues that were only in the realm of furthest edges of the right have been mainstreamed into the GOP and conservative media ecosystem before, this topic and broken containment. It’s a deeply racist idea that no doubt has a ardent champion in Stephen Miller (who I am 100% is a White Nationalist based on pretty much every word out of his weasel mouth) and likely others in conservative leadership. That’s the real story behind this.