Authoritarianism and religion go hand in hand. Both are rising together in the form of Christian nationalism.

Trump’s officials are quietly concerned about his “blatant criminal behavior.”

I don’t buy that for a second. They absolutely love it.

I agree you guys helped stop us from electing Canada’s version of trump but I highly doubt the lesson learned will stick.

Well, maybe it wouldn’t stick if what we’ve seen so far was the worst of it, but unfortunately it’s just the beginning. The lesson will be getting much more intense soon.

Anyway best of luck to the sane Americans we will be joining you guys shortly.

Thanks and I hope not!

Go ahead and laugh but you should thank us. You all were about to elect Pollivierre until we showed you what going down that road will lead to. As the US goes down in flames we can comfort ourselves that we’ve served as an example to others. We celebrate that Australia also sees the light. As you point and laugh, remember that “there but for the grace of god ability to learn from the mistakes of others go I”. I remember in the '90’s when Americans were gloating over the collapse of the Soviet Union I said, “Don’t laugh, we’re probably next.” Yes, it took longer than I expected but here we are.

Very good, take large potato from bin.

Nope, they’re still full-on MAGATizing out there. If they realize anything yet, it’s only subconsciously and they’ll never admit it, even to themselves.

How many times am I going to have to post this? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

They won’t be able to complain because you’ve turned off all the phones and shut down most of the SSA branches.

They did vote for it and they are going to get what they voted for, good and hard.

Kind of a combination maybe? Since Mastodon lets you find new people with similar interests by browsing what’s on your local timeline or hashtags of interest, and you can still follow people of interest without any chatting. I don’t know much about chat apps but don’t you have to already know the people beforehand, or come across them via a mutual acquaintance or invite to a chat room?

Of course, Mastodon can be and is used for broadcast/consume interactions, but not as much, since most broadcasters want a huge audience with little interaction, which means a big platform, while the ones on Mastodon are probably looking for a bit more interactive experience with a smaller audience.

Mastodon is more for people who like to have interactions or conversations back and forth with other people, while the big platforms are for influencers/broadcasters and consumers/viewers-- any back and forth interactions there are more between commenters than with the influencer/broadcaster. Of course there is some overlap and exceptions to that characterization, but that’s how it generally seems to me.

So IMO it’s not a competition, there’s plenty of room for both types of SM. Depending on a person’s preference they may use just Masto, just big SM, or use both, each for different reasons. The problem is when people expect Mastodon to be just like xitter/bsky/threads and get upset that it isn’t. Relax and use whichever platform(s) you like.

You hit it on the head. The unmarked vans, unbadged troops, people “disappearing”–those were their practice drills and how they’ll do it. Uniformed troops will also be used in some situations (like the mass deportations), but the ones doing the daily dirty work against any demonstrators, specific political targets, etc. (“the enemy within”) will be those incognito forces. 😧

Who said electoral victories translate into pressure for a given policy? Voting them into office gets them to where they have power and can then be pressured to wield it for our benefit, which is a different type of political action than an election. Voting in elections is how you try to get people who are closest to the values you’re looking for into office–and the primaries are as important as the general for that.

Organizing around an issue, speaking out with meetings, in the media, with protests, etc., calling attention and building up support for a cause–all those things exert pressure on elected officials. Read about movements in American history – the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, etc. and BTW you want to know a movement that was very effective? The fucking Tea Party movement, which led to the maga takeover of the republican party.

For some reason (lack of proper civics education in schools is part of the problem), people have this simplistic idea that all they have to do is go vote for a president every four years, get pissed that they don’t like the choices, and assume that the POTUS is supposed to somehow magically fix everything, not understanding the other branches of government involved, and when it doesn’t happen fast enough or at all, they get pissed and either vote for someone else or give up and don’t vote or fall for a populist conman or get violent or whatever. That’s not how it works!

No wonder we’re where we are today. I’m sick of even talking about it any more. If people refuse to educate themselves about how our system of government is supposed to work and act accordingly then it’s over, and we as a country deserve to fall into the fascism brought to us by the people who did make the effort to figure out how to achieve their agenda and went out and did it.

I’d rather have a linux OS on the phone that can run Android apps.

Maybe this columnist thinks he’s “shaken”, but I doubt it. The reason he acted in a more moderate way before was that the Christian Nationalist justices didn’t have a strong majority and the ability to impose their agenda with impunity. The minute they had a 6-3 majority, he knew they could do whatever they wanted, and they have.

The only thing we can do about it now is elect as many Dems as possible to the House and Senate and pressure them to impose term limits and expand the Court, things that should have been done a long time ago.

And please, regardless of whether you think your vote for POTUS will count, vote anyway and fill out your full ballot because you have much more influence on your State legislature and local offices, which is where so many things that affect your life are decided.

I see several comments wondering why Stone hasn’t been put in prison. He was, but Trump pardoned him (and a bunch of others)

From his Wikipedia page:

On January 25, 2019, Stone was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home in connection with Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation and charged in an indictment with witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements. In November 2019, a jury convicted him on all seven felony counts. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison. On July 10, 2020, days before Stone was scheduled to report to prison, Trump commuted his sentence. On August 17, 2020, he dropped the appeal of his convictions. Trump pardoned Stone on December 23, 2020.

The devices were for Putin’s personal use, not for the people.

the A/C comment is in reference to the USA in general.

But what we are all saying is that it doesn’t apply to the USA in general, it’s different in different parts.

It’s 93 here today and I’m not using the AC, haven’t turned it on for several weeks. That’s because it’s autumn and the hot days are fewer and further between now, and the lows are getting down into the 50’s so in the house it’s only 78 right now (which is comfortable for me, that’s what I keep my AC set on during the summer). If it was 93 but August instead of October, you can bet I’d be using the AC. The overnight lows at that time of year don’t go below the 70’s and the house would never cool off to 78 without it.

Point is, the US is a very large country with lots of different climates, which the people who live in them are acclimated to. Northerners are acclimated to the cold so the 70’s feel very warm to them, while they feel perfect to me where I live. In even hotter areas 70 may feel cool. Of course that all depends on the humidity as well.

I lived in western Montana (cold and dry climate) back in the 80’s. I don’t know how it is there now with climate change, but most people didn’t even have air conditioners at all back then. There was no need. Even in the hottest part of the summer it got chilly or even cold at night. The house would hardly have time to heat up, you could regulate your inside temp with strategic opening and closing of windows at different times.

No, boomers invented forums (and the internet itself). Millenials invented Web 2.0 (as they called it), the corporate takeover of the internet.