The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Wasn’t Always Celebrated
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Tunisian court hands opposition figures lengthy jail terms
Tunisian court hands opposition figures lengthy jail terms
Dozens of defendants found guilty of “conspiracy against state security” and given sentences of 13 to 66 years.Al Jazeera
Israel strikes tents full of children
Before dawn on Thursday, 17 April, Israeli airstrikes across Gaza targeted displaced families living in tents in three separate places – in al-Mawasi Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Deir al-Balah in the center and in Jabaliya in the north.
Journalists and eyewitnesses reported that the tents were engulfed in flames and the victims, including many children, were burned alive, with bystanders desperately trying to put the fires out.
A physician in northern Gaza, Dr. Ezzideen Shehab, who has been narrating this genocide on social media while caring for his patients, stated earlier this week that “after 556 days, Gaza is no longer a place. It is an experiment, a question posed to humanity: How long can a population be bombed, starved and displaced before it ceases to exist? And how quietly can this be done before the world looks away for good?”
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israel-strikes-tents-full-children
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Mahmoud Khalil asks: “What does my detention by ICE say about America?”
Mahmoud Khalil asks: “What does my detention by ICE say about America?”
Khalil pens op-ed from prison; filthy conditions for Rümeysa Öztürk; US citizen detained by ICE in Florida as "illegal."World Socialist Web Site
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This kind of shit dates back to at least the aftermath of 9/11.
Some of us were paying attention when the rightous indignation following 9/11 was weaponized to lead America down the path of Authoritarianism.
It says that most Americans haven't been familiar with US' domestic and foreign policy for 25 years at least, because the US has been caging kids, renditioning citizens, and dumping them in cages and black sites for more than two decades. (such as Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, among others.)
Disappearing people into torture chambers was standard operating procedure during the War on Terror. The major difference was that the government had to go to a secret court and get a warrant to do it.
End Slavery in Minnesota Bill Advocates for Fair Wages in Prisons
End Slavery in Minnesota Bill Advocates for Fair Wages in Prisons - UNICORN RIOT
Minneapolis, MN — On February 25, 2025, the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee hosted a panel discussion on Ending Slavery in Minnesota led by Marcia Howard, Vice President of the Federation of Teachers Local 59 and ex-prison labor w…akicita (UNICORN RIOT)
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Trump Has Exposed the Fragility of the Global Dollar System
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But of course these fools in media can’t help but run cover for Trump, like he’s still playing 4D chess or some such nonsense, providing his actions with totally fabricated legitimacy.
Trump is a moron of epic proportions, full stop, and he does not know what he’s doing.
Trump Has ~~Exposed~~ ~~Exploited~~ Created the Fragility of the Global Dollar System in order to exploit it at the expense of the United States' long-term economic prosperity
I think you're wrong: the problem in the US is that the dollar is far too strong in relation to industrial output. The reason for this is that it is bought by other nations as a reserve currency through US government bonds.
This is a major problem for the US industry, which is nowhere near as strong as the strength of the currency would suggest. The problem is that a disproportionately strong dollar makes US products so expensive on the global market that they are barely competitive.
Trump's plan (described in the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Accord") now envisages forcing the partner states in particular, all of which are creditors of the USA, to suspend their claims (basically as if it were a national bankruptcy).
The only two explanations for this behavior I can come up with are: Either the US is actually bankrupt and Trump is trying to forestall the inevitable, or he is trying to impose an economic system on the world that favors the US even more than it already does, in an excess of hubris.
Either way: I believe that neither of the "solutions" for these two scenarios are realistically feasible with this plan. And I also don't think that the Fed will go along with this, without which Trump cannot implement this plan - but he can't force the Fed to play along either because he has no direct control over this institution as it is independent of the state administration.
The only two explanations for this behavior I can come up with are: Either the US is actually bankrupt and Trump is trying to forestall the inevitable, or he is trying to impose an economic system on the world that favors the US even more than it already does, in an excess of hubris.
Really? You really don't think "sow chaos in order to pump-and-dump the entire economy in order to enrich himself and his cronies in the short term, everybody else be damned" is within the realm of possibility? Or, Hell, even "intentionally crash the US economy at the behest of Putin," for that matter?
Oh, absolutely. I am totally convinced that Trump's main goal is to line his own pockets and those of his criminal friends.
I was merely trying to reflect what Trump's official plan is - especially in light of the fact that the US economy actually does have some problems. These include among other things steadily rising interest payments to creditors and the strong dollar, which has very obviously been at odds with weakening industrial production for quite some time.
However, the Mar-a-Lago Accord (not an accord yet by the way but merely a strategy paper) was drawn up by his main economist, Miran. This guy is apparently convinced that the problems that the US economy has could be solved in this way.
But still: even if Trump wasn't a criminal who is only interested in his own advantage, I still don't think his economist's plan could work. Even without Trump, this would be pretty absurd. But with Trump I think it is impossible, because this moron even makes it worse - for example by not introducing the tariffs gradually as planned, but immediately at the maximum percentage (prolly to make more on insider trading). This is disastrous even in the context of this already crazy plan.
So in short, Trump's economists want to fundamentally reshape the global economy (by pure force) with a pretty absurd plan - but Trump's greed and stupidity makes it even less likely that this could ever work.
Oh, and: In any case, all of this is very much at the expense of US citizens - except for the usual 1 percent, of course.
Edit: Probably a misunderstanding: I didn't mean that you were wrong about Trump jeopardizing the long-term prosperity of the US economy - I completely agree with you. I just wanted to say that the US economy was indeed already fragile before him, but that's not because of Biden, but because of a long-term development that led there.
Fair enough!
That said, as a general principle I don't think it's all that useful to talk about what Trump and his cronies (accomplices? co-conspirators? henchmen? whichever has the worst connotation) claim is the intent of their plans. Instead, we should relentlessly redirect the discussion back to what they actually do. People need to understand what's actually happening and stop giving them undeserved benefit of the doubt.
Yeah, like you can 'expose fragility' in a lot of things if you swing a sledge hammer.
It needed an extremely dumb move to damage it.
The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
The College Essay Is Everything That’s Wrong With America
Ban it. Banish it. Burn it to the ground.Yascha Mounk
Gonna hard disagree that the purpose is useless, the problem is the advice we give kids. I work at a scholarship competition that has an essay requirement. We're p vague with what we ask for in the essay, the prompt just asks student's to share a meaningful story about themselves or someone who has inspired them. Thousands of kids every year write in with their "oh woe is me, I faced such adversity" essays, and pretty much all of them get ignored because they all look the same. I'm still young enough to remember high school, so I know that they're getting coached to write this drivel, because I remember getting coached the same way.
The kids who end up receiving scholarships are always the ones who use the essay for it's actual purpose; to give us an insight into who they are. Usually they write about something they're passionate about, like the research they're doing. Some students write a beautiful work of metaphorical prose. Once, we received a poem, and I wish we got more like those. These students ended up having far more unique and interesting essays, essays that ended up earning them scholarships, and they completely broke the "rules" of a good essay.
It seems that what the author of this article really has a problem with is the image that American high schools teach of what a "good college essay" ought to be, rather than the essay's purpose as a tool that ultimately allows students an opportunity to define themselves outside of the standardized methods of measuring intelligence we employ. I agree that it's an issue and schools should probably focus more on telling kids to highlight what they've done rather than lament their circumstances, but it's also not even in the top 25 greatest issues with American high schools.
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The goal of the instructions is to be vague so students feel like they can write about really anything without being penalized. We could have very specific criteria that would likely produce better essays on average, but the goal isn't for us to receive good essays; again, it's just to get an idea of who the student is. Otherwise in addition to "no sob stories," we'd need "no sports essays, no writing about your parents, no religious trauma etc." We don't want to be dictating what students write.
It's also not to say that every student writing about the circumstances they've gone through is a bad essay. I read an excellent one this year from a student who immigrated from the Dominican Republic and faced a lot of racism. They linked their experience to the broader cultural decay that America is experiencing though, and the real topic of the essay was the hypocrisy present throughout the messaging of the American hegemony; how we often preach diversity while actually hating it. They didn't try to focus the essay on themselves and their circumstances, they just related what they experienced to a larger topic they were clearly passionate about.
If we had a big warning that said "No sob stories," we might not have received that essay, and that student might not have received an award.
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This is an insanely long walk to a pretty weak point.
There's lots of problems with America. This isn't even one of them.
I mean, it is a problem... It's literally filtering higher education by main character syndrome.
If you force someone to victimize their self history, that doesn't just go away - it's recontextualizing your life. That's not something people generally do outside therapy or psychedelic trips. It's deep introspection, it's something the average person only does a few times in their life
If privileged people think of themselves as victims, that instills a lack of empathy. They look at those less fortunate, and think they had it harder, because they don't know the details of their lives but their narrative is as a victim
They're fucking disappearing people in my county, and there's no problem that measures up to that... But it is a real problem
What in the fuck are you even describing right now?
If you force someone to victimize their self history
???????
Has English completely left your brain? This sentence makes no sense, but maybe I'm in the wrong here. I'd love for you to break it down into a digestive format that myself and everyone can understand, because otherwise, this sentence is absolute bullshit and nonsense.
Please allow me to respond to your comment first in the context of the article so we're on the same page:
1) Your assertion is that college-aged kids are being FORCED into an essay. K
2) These college-aged kids are both privileged AND victims somehow? Cool
3) Because they don't know what these "college.aged.""kids"" are saying, that something must be wrong.
And then in the last single sentence you get to the heart of the matter.
Seriously fuck off with this nonsense. Personal essays have been a mode of education for hundreds of years. Now you take issue with their subjective nature? My fucking LAWD.
They aren't agreeing with you dumbshittery. It doesn't mean they are wrong.
If they start spouting stats and facts that are fucking DEMONSTRABLY wrong, then come on back and have this argument.
All you're espousing right now is they don't agree with your stupid bullshit. Fuck right off.
These college-aged kids are both privileged AND victims somehow? Cool
This is the heart of it. I don't know what else you're going on about, but but yes - this is the problem
You can be both. You can go through abusive experiences and decide they're normal - and vice versa. You can be both a victim and a predator... To insist otherwise is fucking brain dead
Wow... For real?
"College essay is the worst thing in America because you could be perfect in all the tests, but then straight up just be an unlikeable asshat that nobody wants anything to do with."
🙄
Kneecap End Coachella Set With Pro-Palestine Messages After Censorship Claims
Kneecap End Coachella Set With Pro-Palestine Messaging
After claims of censorship, Kneecap's pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel sentiments at the 2025 edition of Coachella have generated controversy.Tyler Jenke (Billboard)
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Outrage as Trump’s coal expansion coupled with health cuts: ‘There won’t be anyone to work in the mines’
What is this guy talking about?
You'll get 5K to have more kids and they can work the mines as Republicans are looking to bring child labor back.
Seems like the Republicans have a plan for you guys.
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'Evil is being defeated by God': Marjorie Taylor Greene celebrates after Pope's death
'Evil is being defeated by God': Marjorie Taylor Greene celebrates after Pope's death
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) celebrated following the death of Pope Francis on Monday. "Today there were major shifts in global leaderships," Greene wrote on X just hours after the pontiff died. "Evil is being defeated by the hand of God.David Edwards (Raw Story)
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Oh, absolutely, I know Protestants who don't consider Catholics to be Christians at all. And a large part of the current religious conservatism in America is based on these Protestant Evangelicals.
Catholics who are rooting on the Christofascists just because they are currently anti-abortion don't realize that it won't be too long before Catholics are targeted. The Christofascists never liked them anyway, they just liked their votes. Once they no longer need to rely on votes to stay in power, they don't need the Catholics anymore.
When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong–faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thought of obstacles and forget that a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it’s too late.
In 1933, Hitler signed the Reichskonkordat (Reich Concordat), a treaty with the Vatican that required the regime to honour the independence of Catholic institutions and prohibited clergy from involvement in politics.[158] However, the regime continued to target the Christian churches to weaken their influence. Throughout 1935 and 1936, hundreds of clergy and nuns were arrested, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or sexual offences
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph…
LOL "trumped up charges."
The Catholic Church has been a political institution for almost its entire existence. It is probably the *oldest * political institution in Europe, having existed since AD 30 according to its own history (though as you get further back in time, history starts turning into legend and mythology; it's really not clear where that line is).
During the Middle Ages, you could very well be burnt at the stake for heresy or be sent to die in the Crusades, upon the orders of the pope. And for over a millennium, the Church directly ruled over a pretty sizeable piece of territory in central Italy.
A political institution in Europe in AD 30? The year Jesus began his public ministry?
That's a pretty bold claim, lol. I assume they're just saying "the Catholic church" has been around since then, since that's when christianity started?
AD 30 was the beginning of the papacy of Peter the Apostle, which according to the Catholic Church, was its first pope. Catholic teachings state that Peter's successors form an unbroken line of Church leaders from AD 30 to the present day, though historic evidence is somewhat incomplete. This is the canonical start date of the Catholic Church as an organisation. "Christianity", broadly speaking, is just a label affixed to anyone who identifies themselves as a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Catholic Church names Jesus Christ as its founder. If you accept this claim, then you could definitely say that it was a political organisation as well as a religious one from the beginning, as Jesus was notoriously put to death by the Roman state for political reasons. The Jewish Sanhedrin which had condemned Jesus for claiming to be the Messiah had no legal authority in Roman Judea; legally speaking, Jesus was put to death on the orders of Pontius Pilate (prefect of Judea) for sedition and for being "King of the Jews". The legal veracity of this charge is questionable, of course, and Jesus famously preached for his followers to "render unto [the Emperor] the things that are [the Emperor's]", i.e. to respect the state and the laws, but the Roman Empire wasn't known for being an egalitarian state with strong rule of law.
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The year Jesus began his public ministry?
Do you think he was crucified for being apolitical?
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He finally defeated this evil man... after he rose to being the fucking pope, led the church for 12 years, and died at a ripe 88 years old...
Idk, I feel like God didn't do much at all. But if he's striking down evil, I'd get to painting your door in sheep's blood real quick, Marge.
I've met Mormons who don't consider Catholics to be Christian, which is pretty fucking hilarious.
ETA: Speaking of Catholics who try to cozy up to the right-wing evangelical Protestant movement because they have common causes but don't realize they are being used... The Mormons are even further up the enemies list of the right-wing Protestants than the Catholics. And they too don't seem to be aware of this. Basically if the likes of MTG get their wish to crush gays, trans, feminists, atheists, and liberals under their boot heels, they will turn on themselves. Starting with the non-Christian religions, then the JWs, then the Mormons, then the Catholics. They will go with the lowest hanging fruit.
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In my experience, Catholics tend to be pretty moderate, since the Catholic Church is strictly hierarchical and all dogma originates from the Vatican. The size of the Church, it seems, has a moderating effect on its dogma since they have to appeal to such a large group of followers, and the views of its members tend to average out with a bias towards conservatism (because the Church is so unbelievably old that the inertia of 15th or 10th century doctrine still holds sway).
Protestants, meanwhile, span the whole political spectrum since the label is pretty broad in general. There are plenty of Protestant churches in my area that espouse very liberal and accepting social views, and probably at least a dozen will even marry same-sex couples, something notoriously disapproved of by the Catholic Church and many other denominations. But there are also many, much louder, Protestant churches that are basically full MAGA.
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Marjorie Trailer Queen is a member of some evangelical megachurch (but raised Catholic oddly enough) and so she probably also thinks Catholics are not "real" xtians.
She's also a xtian nationalist, so it's only a matter of time before we find out she is a member of the KKK - another xtian group which is also against Catholics. Imagine that.
And soon you may ban books and newspapers, and turn Catholics against Protestants, and Protestants against Protestants, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other, because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy and needs feeding.
Inherit the Wind, 1960
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Careful, the Catholics are by no means a homogenous group either. There's the whole "Trad Cath" thing going on.
Small mention in Folding Ideas'
So you'll forgive me if I dont care about what mormon clowns say about much of anything.
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American Catholicism right now is a mixed bag. On certain social issues, they are quite Conservative. We know their stance on Abortion, and even though Pope Francis said some encouraging things about same-sex relationships, nothing substantial has changed.
Where Catholics worldwide are much more liberal is in their relationship with migrants and other marginalized people. Where this administration sees "shithole countries", the Church sees places where they can go and actively work to improve the lives of people there. They see their future strength in administering to the spiritual needs of the poor in those countries, and will always aim to help migrants. And in fact, this Pope spent a lot of his final days on earth reminding American bishops (and JD Vance) to show mercy to migrants and treat them with basic human dignity.
Vance visits Vatican after papal rebuke over Trump's migrant crackdown
U.S. Vice President JD Vance has met with the Vatican’s No. 2 official as they the sides spar over the U.S. crackdown on migrants.Nicole Winfield (AP News)
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Marge is one of AM's creations that escaped confinement.
Not even human. Just angry protoplasm.
Nah, given what we know about Drumpf and his cohorts, Slaanesh is the one being worshipped. Tzeench likes change, but the debauchery and depravity that is currently happening with this administration fits more.
Khorne was G.W., Nurgle was the first trump term, Slaanesh is the current one, Tzeench will probably be the redeeming god. The Materium can only handle so much.
Tzeentch sees the other three ganging up and goes "bet"
ETA: he's been known to see this happen and just... win. Like. He could've at any point, he just doesn't because it's fun.
I fuckin love Tzeentch. Love of the game right there, literally.
Oh, they absolutely still exist and they are breeding more of them.
And they talk about Catholics - the OG xtians - as not being "really real xtians".
Which is SUCH a wild take. But
Yeah, their stance on abortion, contraceptive, same-sex marriages, etc haven't substantively changed for as long as I've been paying attention, despite this pope nudging things in the right direction. As for marginalized people I know they've done good work, but I'm not sure 'Hey we could convert these poor people and have even more people giving us money' is for the benefit of the poor so much as it is for the benefit of the church. People like Mother Theresa had some pretty abominable attitudes toward suffering, for example, suggesting that it's good for people and shit.
So, the whole thing is a mixed bag from where I sit.
Which is why I used words like 'tend to be' and 'in general'. The only way I know to qualify my statement more explicitly as a generalization involves the use of big flashing neon signs, but that seems impractical in a text forum. :P
Also ❤ Dan's videos, been watching them for years.
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Are there still Protestants who are assmad about the “papist” Catholics?
Yes, there are.
I strongly suspect right now the stuff we just saw with Vance and now MTG is an attempt to exploit existing American anti-Catholic vitriol that's been in the USA since forever. Basically, a further attempt to "divide and conquer" the USA using existing religious divides. I don't think this is just some variation of Republicans being hypocrites, I think all of this is to purposefully further an agenda to divide America further to prevent unity, this time between white Catholics and white Protestants.
The Catholic Church has absolutely done lots stuff that is wrong, in modern times and historically, but at the same time, in certain Protestant households you still have folks putting Catholics in the same sentence as Muslims and Jews when they go on their bigoted and racist screeds. They see Catholics in the same way they see black folks, Jews, Muslims, immigrants, etc. But since it's "white Christian against white Christian" people don't talk about it much, it's more acceptable to hate Catholics.
And you also get ex-Protestant/ex-religious folks who were raised like that, to see Catholics as pagan, who don't seem to realize that while there's definitely stuff the Catholic church has done wrong, there ALSO is a whole shit-ton of Protestants in the USA who simply hate Catholics because they were taught that from childhood, along with all of the other racist stuff.
They might have started to de-clutter their mind of other stereotypes or biases or racisms they grew up with, like the ones against Jews or Muslims or whatever, but don't stop to wonder about how much shit they were told about Catholics is wrong or right. So they're still susceptible to dog-whistles even if they consider themselves atheist.
And that's what Vance and MTG are doing right now, dog-whistling against yet another group in the US to prevent unity with them.
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Extremely old and sick person eventually dies
Yeah, that wad all MY God's work!
These people are so sadly simplistic
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He was still conservative AF, but the MAGAs think he’s “evil” because he was advocating for helping those who have less than you, helping refugees, and treating people with compassion, even if the look or love differently that you.
Being a selfish asshole is MTGs entire brand.
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The thing is that religion, like conservatism want to just "be a little assholes", but being an asshole attracts bigger assholes and pretty soon your movement is all massive assholes. So you, little asshole, feel betrayed, because you just wanted to hurt some people, but now your being pushed out because the assholes in your group want to hurt everyone.
When you make deals with the devil, sooner or later the bill comes due.
See, there are three kinds of people: dicks, pussies, and assholes. Pussies think everyone can get along, and dicks just want to fuck all the time without thinking it through. But then you got your assholes. And all the assholes want is to shit all over everything. So pussies may get mad at dicks once in a while, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes! And if they didn't fuck the assholes, you know what you'd get? You'd get your dick and your pussy all covered in shit!
Edit because apparently I butchered the quote to hell
I thought it was an onion type article from the headline. I was all "You're not going to get me this time"
Then the comments made me realise it wasn't satirical. Christ.
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good catch yeah. I dont beleive in much that christians say either, but I try to keep that to myself because I dont want to fight about it. The bible is an absurd and terribly written document. The Torah is even worse. And I dont know much about the Koran, but I dont have high hopes considering its another Abrahamic religion from the same time period and philosophies.
I'm not about to make the time to read holy books, I'd sooner shove bamboo up my own fingernails.
..The benefits of a catholic school education, all the way up to undergrad. So many years wasted to get to the conclusion that none of those people had any idea what they were saying, and what they did say they didnt actually believe or adhere to. I do consider the bible to actually be a founding document of the US, insomuch as it teaches "rules for thee and not for me" and "ask too many questions of authority and you get beaten". And not much else.
Ok you can call me an edge-lord now.
God has been killing popes for 2000 years, and this was nr 266. And there’ll be a nr 267.
It’s almost like it’s an institution.
Really? "Oh pleeeease, you dunce, I know it's difficult for people like you to understand, but powerful people are powerful".
You are defending engagement with what equates to a soap opera for politics. You are actively defending people memeing about what some politician said - in this case even about something that is completely irrelevant to anyone but deluded religionists - which is just a lot of lies in every instance anyway.
Why don't you promote engagement with shit they DO instead?
Are you deliberately fueling this pointless meme bullshit about political theater to make people feel better about themselves, in order to prevent them from doing something about the actually bad things that are going on outside of their doors right fucking now?
Or was that just some masturbatory eruption to satisfy your condescending impulse to snortleingly correct the defective thinking of some mentally inferior fool on the internet?
Why is my reply so heated? I see two possibilities:
* you do not know what you are doing
* you are doing it exactly because you know, and possibly because you are paid to do it.
And I give you the intellectual benefit of the doubt and say you are doing it deliberately.
People like you have been distracting the public discussion like this for as long as I live, and you try to make people criticizing the distraction look stupid, while elevating yourself.
"Pleeeeeeeease don't be a dummy, my dearest friend and buddy, pleeeeeease!". FUCK that.
We see preparations for concentration camps, actual genocides, the implementation of total surveillance states, the enactment of police state enablement laws, dismantling of human rights of every level, a burning planet, techno-oligarchs, so called "centrists" buddying up with fascists, territorial-/resource wars... and you defend people talking about SOME CUNT TALKING ABOUT SOME DEAD ASSHOLE WITH A TALL HAT? IN A POLITICS SECTION!
What the fuck!
If you say "Hey buddy, don't harsh on our stupid time, let us only talk about dumb stuff this year", I might just think "sigh Ok..." and dejectedly walk away, having my lack of faith in humanity validated once again, but your way of defending it is actually revolting to me.
International aid fell in 2024 for first time in five years, data shows
International aid fell in 2024 for first time in five years – and is expected to get worse
Foreign aid spending by 24 countries, including the US, UK and European Union, fell by more than $15bn last year – before the impact of huge cuts by Donald Trump have taken effect.
Spending on international aid by wealthy countries fell in 2024 for the first time in five years, data shows.
Funding from the Development Assistance Committee – a group of 24 territories that includes the US, UK, Australia, and EU member-states – fell by 7.1 per cent year-on-year, down $15.7bn, preliminary 2024 data published by the OECD on Wednesday shows.
This trend is expected to increase significantly as the US cuts huge swathes of its aid spending and other countries, including the UK, redirect aid money into other areas including defence
International aid fell in 2024 for first time in five years, data shows
Foreign aid spending by 24 countries, including the US, UK and European Union, fell by more than $15bn last year – before the impact of huge cuts by Donald Trump have taken effect. Nick Ferris reportsNick Ferris (The Independent)
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Official development assistance (ODA) is government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.DAC member countries’ bilateral ODA to Ukraine fell by 16.7% in 2024 compared to 2023 and amounted to USD 15.5 billion, representing 7.4% of total net ODA (a decline from 8.0% in 2023). Contributions from EU Institutions outpaced those from DAC member countries combined.
The part that is not given in the form of weapons is counted, but looking at the data I don't think the aid offered to Ukraine is a factor in the overall decline.
Edit: I quoted this from oecd.org/en/topics/official-de… not from the article
Instead of aid to developing countries, the headline says international aid.
Aid to Ukraine is international aid, but Ukraine is not a developing country.
Also it's only measured on one organisation, so there os no way to judge whether aid through other channels have compensated.
Basically it's a trash headline, which I detected, so I lost interest in reading the article, except now I read it write this reply.
The article even states that the drop is probably due to an increase in aid to Ukraine. So the headline is decidedly misleading.
Instead of aid to developing countries, the headline says international aid.
Aid to Ukraine is international aid, but Ukraine is not a developing country.
Yes, the headline says international aid because it is not only aid to developing countries.
The article explicitly mentions it is because governments choose to spend their money internally, have you even read it??
Aid to Ukraine fell by 16.7 per cent year-on-year to $15.5bn,
This is decidedly false:
statista.com/statistics/130343…
USA alone helped Ukraine with 114 billion USD over 3 years. So there is no way Ukraine only received 15.5 billion in 2024.
The line should possibly read: HUMANITARIAN Aid to Ukraine fell by 16.7 per cent year-on-year to $15.5bn,
Which is completely different.
The article is so poorly written it's basically misinformation.
Total bilateral aid to Ukraine by donor & type 2024| Statista
How much has each country given to Ukraine? The U.S. provided the highest bilateral aid to Ukraine as of June 2024, at over 67 billion euros.Statista
You are just plain wrong, you would see that if you would actually read what's in the source you provide. To be honest I think you just Googled for something that fits your narrative so trying to get a point across might not be worth my time, but to explain what is in the information you provided:
First of all, this data covers bilateral aid to Ukraine between January 24, 2022 and December 31, 2024. In other words, the data covers nearly 3 years while the article writes about 2024 only. Since the data you provide isn't about the same time period as the article I posted, it is not relevant to your argument.
Second of all, you can see in the graph this is about 3 kinds of aid. Of that $114 bn, 64 is in militairy aid and 64 is financial aid. Both of those are not included, as i explained to you in my previous post. The actual humanitarian aid the US provided over the time period in your graph only 3.4 Bn is actually humanitarian aid.
I don't disagree that the headline would be more precise if it specifically said humanitarian aid instead of international aid when the article would be about aid from the us (or any other country) to another specific country, as it would be about bilateral aid. International aid in this case can also mean the aid that is given internationally, as in, multiple nations giving aid to multiple nations. But I don't care about your argument about the preciseness of the headline.
You're point is that the article is wrong and so poorly written it is basically misinformation and I do not agree at all. But I'm not going to explain why that is bullshit, I've wasted enough time. If you want to believe your own truth, be my guest.
Trump Aides Solicit Ideas to Raise Birthrate, From Baby Bonuses to Fertility Planning - The New York Times
Trump Aides Solicit Ideas to Raise Birthrate, From Baby Bonuses to Fertility Planning
Baby bonuses and menstrual cycle classes are among the ideas pitched to Trump aides as they consider plans to try boosting the birthrate.Caroline Kitchener (The New York Times)
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5K bonus isn't going to pay for the 300K it will take to raise kid.
If they were actually serious they'd be looking at the root cause of inequality, which progressives have been pushing solutions for, but we know they aren't, they just want more poor, uneducated, and desperate people and keeping people in their place.
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why would someone willingly choose
So you're pro-choice then? \s
I think, generally, the more economically comfortable people get, the fewer kids they have.
Poor and uneducated is a better recipe for unbridled reproduction.
Russia launches cash incentives to boost birth rate - Global Government Forum
The Russian government has launched a new set of initiatives designed to boost the country’s birth rate, offering cash rewards and mortgage subsidies to poor families in a bid to […]Anastasya Manuilova (Global Government Forum)
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Raise the minimum wage.
Offer universal Healthcare.
Offer free childcare.
Offer longer minimum, mandatory family leave time.
People would be humping like rabbits.
Fertility rate in England and Wales drops to new low
Just over 591,000 babies were born in the UK last year - the lowest number in four decadesPhilippa Roxby and Amy Walker (BBC News)
You could actually pay people what they're fucking worth, and give us the healthcare that our taxes pay for instead of spending a million dollars a pop to vaporize an illiterate brown kid on the other side of the planet.
But you know what would really help? A good old fashioned blood orgy, and we've got plenty of MAGAts that can supply the blood
Jesussssss fuckin christ. Maybe create hope for the future? Strong economy, good wages to inflation, healthcare, programs and policies designed to help people, yada yada.
But noooooo "let's solve this by giving people a lil cash one time!"
The programs you mentioned will encourage the highly educated to have kids. Those who are making the decision not to precisely because of the things you mentioned. Those people will provide their kids with a strong education which makes them less likely to fuel the conservative capitalist shit show.
By creating a baby lottery, those with lower economic prospects who are less educated and informed will actually have more kids. And under the current economic pressures, those kids will be raised hungry and less informed creating a new army of wage slaves.
Dow tumbles 1200 points as Trump knocks Powell, investors await trade deals: Live updates
Edit: now down 1100
Edit 2: 1200
Dow slides more than 950 points as Trump rips Fed Chair Powell, reigniting investor worries: Live updates
The moves come after each of the three major averages saw a third weekly decline in the last four trading weeks.Lisa Kailai Han (CNBC)
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Trump claimed that the economy would slow unless Powell — who he referred to as "Mr. Too Late, a major loser" — lowered interest rates immediately.
An amazing statesman.
Trump ramps up attacks on Powell, demands 'loser' Fed chair lower rates 'NOW'
President Donald Trump ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.Kevin Breuninger (CNBC)
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Another move to cause a dip to buy in.
Or he's just stupid.
It's like Poe's Law, I can't tell anymore.
Is it time for the biweekly stock crash? I wonder if it'll bounce or plummet next week.
Eventually the pump and dump scheme will have to become unsustainable, wouldn't it?
We’re already at the post where the rest of the world is sick of this bullshit and is thinking about other trade alliances and alternatives to the dollar as reserve currency.
That’s not a great sign for growth in the US.
alternatives to the dollar as reserve currency
What's the one used by like 30 countries in Europe already? Can we use that one for, I dunno, international trade?
Powell and his team single handedly kept the country out of what would have been the worst depression in our countries history and made Trump look like a somewhat decent president for the economy. (Even though actual numbers show trumps policies were horrible)
This time because Trump is attacking international markets there is nothing Powell can do to bail his ass put like during Covid.
PS: this coming from an anti-thiest
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So the completely unqualified, dog-killing, trump-butt-kissing, hateful, ignorant, worthless, lying, and corrupt piece of filth - who happens to be the secretary of homeland security got her bag stolen?
I think this reaction sums it up best:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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youtu.be/7LVcI-DQdYA
Also handy for person to person transactions, where cash is impractical.
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Who the hell still carries around paper checks?
Old people who wish to punish everyone else in line at the grocery store.
Meth campaign in South Dakota
Is that where it was so bad they had Gators on it? Or was that Kentucky? (Suddenly I have no idea where your provinces are)
Hopefully she reported it quickly.
Why? Any rando wandering in can't be worse than the people who are already there.
Joke aside, the access badge can be revoked immediately (unless Elon somehow fucked that up too).
Elon Musky definitely fucked it up.
Idk, one time I had $20k in cash. It happens.
Typically when you're moving money, such as buying or selling something.
No, its tied to my belt and inside my pants right next to my dick.
The fact that she has $3k isnt surprising. What's surprising is how they stole it from her without having to mug her with a weapon.
The head of Homeland SECURITY doesn't have good enough security to keep her bag from being stolen?
Probably stolen by a member of her own security detail.
Fucking hilarious.
Sadly, you're giving them too much credit.
Don't forget Trump is on tape giving away confidential information to reporters for free to make his dick seem bigger
And here in Australia, one of our billionaires confirmed he also showed them confidential information about the submarines.
And these are the cases we know about.. There's no chance the confidential docs at Mar a lago were safe.. In fact, the only guarantee there was that there was no cameras installed in the bathrooms (which is likely why he did it)
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“Trump took in $240 million in bribes under ~~the guise of being for his inauguration~~ his pay to play scheme”
For the inauguration, huh? Where's the accounting of costs for this one time event? I don't see how it would reach $240 million, and if it does, we need to fix that so we spend the bare minimum for the swearing in of a single public official.
Is it irony that Robinhood donated $2 million to this event, presumably harvested from far, far poorer people?
Of course because this pattern has been established, if even one dollar is raised for inauguration a future Democrat it will be harped on as corrupt until the end of their term.
"An inaugural committee spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry Sunday about the spending and the size of leftover contributions."
" Records show the committee for Obama’s first inauguration collected roughly $54 million — money that Kerrigan said adequately covered the costs of “the biggest planned political event in US history.”
Obama’s first inaugural included 10 official balls, an expanded parade and a star-studded concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Trump’s second inauguration featured three official balls. Other Trump events included an inauguration-eve rally at an arena in Washington and a celebration, complete with fireworks, at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia."
Well there you go... At least 200 million for Trump to keep, and some of the potential 60ish million spent already went to him through his Virginia golf club...
But tell me again how this piece of shit isn't corrupt Magoos. Oh right, he so graciously gives up his $400,000 salary... I forgot how 400,000 is actually more than 200,000,000.
Trump ramps up attacks on Powell, demands 'loser' Fed chair lower rates 'NOW'
Trump ramps up attacks on Powell, demands 'loser' Fed chair lower rates 'NOW'
President Donald Trump ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.Kevin Breuninger (CNBC)
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Someone tried telling me the other days interest rates won't go down because that would be a stupid move...
That's not going to factor in Trump's decision at all, either Powell caves or trump seizes more control and Republicans refuse to stop him.
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"Actually anyone who was paying attention in Economics 101 would underst..."
gets punched in the shoulder
"Oh, right...yeah, nobody knew it was this complicated."
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The idea behind lower rates is to promote investment. But investment is being severely discouraged by the absolute dumpster fire of a political environment the country is in right now where nobody knows if a "good" investment will suddenly turn into a terrible investment at the whim of the irrational toddler in charge. As a result, lowering the interest rates would most probably do nothing more than promote inflation. Powell knows that and this is why he refuses to lower the rates.
The president throwing a tantrum and trying to pressure a position that can only properly do its job of regulating the economy if it is shielded against political influence will only push investors away even more.
Buckle up Americans, looks like a great depression is coming. And it was entirely manufactured by your president's incompetence.
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What's hilarious to me is that the Fed did cut rates at least twice I can recall in the months leading up to the inauguration
Then this dumbass comes in and fucks everything up
Buckle up Americans, looks like a great depression is coming
So that's what all the MAGA idiots are going for
Whole lot of so-called "leftists" have been saying and continue to say that Kamala/Biden would have been just as bad because something something argle bargle, "centrist" and "status quo".
I would say most of the stupidity is confined to the right and a whole lot of permission structure given to them by the "liberal media", AKA corporate media bothsiderists, but there is a small sliver of both-siderist idiots on the left, too.
When Trump finally falls the people that raised up that useful idiot will all get to keep the insider trading money they made by yo-yo'ing the economy.
The issue the OC is talking about isn't something you can just walk back and take your winnings. Owning the husk of a once great economy isn't really a great outcome.
I don't think anyone understands that if he ousts Powell/gets his interest rate lowered, we're looking at a depression or worse. That kind of economic crisis has the potential to ruin literally anyone, including the wealthy/elites.
I don't think anyone understands that if he ousts Powell/gets his interest rate lowered, we're looking at a depression or worse.
Um, I think everyone except his hardcore followers understands that.
The Republicans who could and should hold him to account (senators, representatives, and Supreme Court justices) are too afraid of his rabid base to do anything. If they oppose him, Trump will start raging on truth social that they are communist America haters that need to be “dealt with”. Stochastic terrorism is a real thing, and these people are cowards.
The oligarchs that put him in power thought they were smart enough to control him. I think they are just now realizing that they can’t, and they are freaking out.
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This is a relatively gentle “find out” from them too.
Well, the US is majority-white.
Not the same at all like Covid. The difference between then and now is our recession was caused by reduced spending due to Covid and closed ports, again due to Covid.
Our current situation is caused by idiotic foreign and international trade policy. No amount of reduced rates will cause foreign entities to spend more. Covid was reduced domestic spending. Now is reduced international spending.
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I'm glad that, for now at least, donvict cannot unilaterally set both tariffs AND interest rates.
FFS.
"Everyday I think people can't get any dumber, and everyday I'm proven horribly wrong."
I have no idea who originally said this, but it rings true every day.
Four House Democrats travel to El Salvador despite GOP refusal to authorize a trip
After House Republicans refused to allow Democrats to organize official congressional delegations to El Salvador, four of them are traveling to the Central American nation anyway, Axios has learned.
Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) and Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) arrived in San Salvador, the country's capital, on Monday morning, their offices said.
Why it matters: The lawmakers' offices said they will meet with officials at the U.S. embassy there to advocate for the release of Kilmar Armando Ábrego García and receive classified briefings.
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/21/democrats-el-salvador-trump-cecot-abrego-garcia
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Cool...
But have any libs made it to LA? Or they doing the usual collaboration with fascism?
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mahmo…
What's next for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student facing deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism?
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student who faces deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism, continues to battle the Trump administration over his arrest and detention.Chloe Atkins (NBC News)
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if people show up to the polls
Pangea size if there, buddy.
El Salvador offers Venezuela prisoner swap involving US deportees
El Salvador offers Venezuela prisoner swap involving US deportees
El Salvador proposes exchanging 252 US-deported Venezuelans for the same number of "political prisoners" in Venezuela.Jaroslav Lukiv (BBC News)
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El Salvador's president has offered to repatriate 252 Venezuelans deported by the US and imprisoned in his country - if Venezuela releases the same number of political prisoners.Later Venezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab criticised Bukele's proposal. He demanded to know what crimes the deportees were accused of, whether they had appeared before a judge or had access to legal counsel.
The Venezuelan government argues that it has no political prisoners - a claim rejected by rights groups.
Fash support fash.
Ofc Venezuela is the target. Good thing genocide joe normalized relations and stopped the sanctions. \s \s \s
vegeta
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