Michael

My point is that the government doesn’t exist, it’s a facade that veils the reality. Just seems like we are desynced here, which is fine.

Bill Gates could be spending his money to develop Africa. He could put money towards solving the water crisis.

He could be the addressing colonialism, imperialism, and modern slavery - including calling out our companies that knowingly use and support child slavery (e.g. for our cocoa). It is a raw deal for these countries - and the first-world overwhelmingly benefits from their labor, resources, and goods/exports.

Read the edit that I just put in at the end — Trump’s rise to power is bipartisan.

Democrats currently writing strongly worded letters to the White House, while Trump openly violates the law and shits on the constitution and due process, is not sufficient action and shows their complicity. Again, these people represent capital. Human rights and even a hint of democracy is inconvenient to capital.

You’re allowed to disagree and continue getting gaslit. It’s fine, you do you. I know things are complicated.

Do a significant group of people will for this policy, and if so, are they being propagandized into willing for it?

Portraying our modern slaves (e.g. 40% of US agricultural workers are undocumented immigrants) as violent and criminal is a big stretch. We largely rely on them to pick our cotton (so to speak), we subject them to horrible working and living conditions, we don’t give them any rights, we keep them in poverty and lack, and deportation has always been on the table for them.

A large fraction of the country doesn’t vote. I haven’t looked at the polling recently, but most people don’t really seem to approve of Trump overall.

Trump and his administration represent capital. Capital wants to maintain control through fascism and authoritarianism.

You don’t simply ignore your oath to uphold the constitution, openly ignore due process, and also be in contempt of court. This is all being allowed to play out by all of our “representatives”, who also represent capital.

The constitution and its bill of rights is inconvenient to capital, just like true democracy. That’s why corporations (et. al) write our laws and tell our representatives how to vote through legalized bribery (lobbying).

For example, it’s bipartisan to want to limit or control speech and expression. It’s also bipartisan to engage in mass surveillance through private corporations, advertisement firms, data brokers, and through the NSA and PRISM. So, the first and fourth amendments have been under attack for a while. It’s nothing new.

This is their final push. If you remember, Clinton, the DNC, and the mainstream media (which represent capital) pushed for Trump in 2016:

The Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee called for using far-right candidates “as a cudgel to move the more established candidates further to the right.” Clinton’s camp insisted that Trump and other extremists should be “elevated” to “leaders of the pack” and media outlets should be told to “take them seriously.”

He’s definitely not living poorly. His legacy will still be “filthy rich”.

He’s not giving so much that he can’t live a life with more privilege and access to abundance than the overwhelming majority of people. He also wields more power and influence than most could ever hope for.

Yes, I do think it’s important to address the echo-chambers and the centers of propaganda, no matter which side of the coin you’re looking at.

To the side that you’re referencing: Fox News (et. al), conservative think-tanks, and the many conservative influencers spread these perspectives and viewpoints. Responsible individuals and organizations convince everyone that it is a matter of survival that they don’t contribute to their societies.

These groups and influencers convince people that others shouldn’t have it easy because it invalidates their struggle. They also convince them that the government is out of control, that it is interested in taking their wealth and their rights, and that it largely doesn’t serve their needs — that they are getting a raw deal.

So these individuals want a small government. They don’t really care what happens to society at large because they are just focused on themselves, potentially their families, or at best a portion of their local communities or churches. They are in the weeds of survival mode and tribalism — they are warding off invaders and perceived threats and stopping others’ ability to take what they earned, including their status and power in society.

The answer is finding the real cost of capitalism, of ineffective governance, and of not making any forward movement as a global society. What are the real costs of this apathy and inaction? It can’t be something that you simply argue with science — with the costs of runaway industrialization, because they have been propagandized to think our emissions/etc. have no affect on the world at large. They are thinking small, and again, in a state of survival.

Conservatives, under the rule of this current administration, are going to be faced with some harsh realities and truth as this stagnation (and at worse, this regression) continues. They are going to quickly find out the source and human cost of our goods, be it domestic produce or various other items sourced from exploited countries.

It’s relevant to point out that an estimated 40% of US agricultural workers (arguably more) are undocumented immigrants. This administration is deporting workers that we depend on to work our fields, harvest our food, and likely produce the products that go on our shelves. They are doing so at a breakneck pace. When these conservatives are forced to work the fields to survive or forced to go into the factories, they will quickly understand how much blood, sweat, and tears go into their consumerism.

As for Doordash, it is a symptom of our apathy, the disconnection with our communities, and the result of local business being crushed. Just like Doordash being not so great, you can’t go to the grocery store and not support modern slavery. You need to consume food to live. The food on our shelves is devoid of nutrition, it is loaded to the brim with chemicals and contaminants (like PFAs, from the use of biosolids to fertilize our crops), and it is vastly under-regulated and making us ill. Our soil practices are also unsustainable and they will only remain viable for approximately 60 more harvests.

If RFK and some of his proposals (particularly regarding food) resonate with these voters, there is hope yet, especially if these individuals get a wake-up call in the form of a food crisis, facing the consequences of alienating our trade partners, and our store shelves going empty.

They already resonate with the government being broken, and we don’t need to give up anything as a society to thrive and live sustainably. We can accomplish all modern convenience and privilege with our technology and ingenuity without raping the environment.

These individuals are propagandized against green energy and regulation (industrial or otherwise). If we can convince them that everybody can thrive without breaking a sweat, and show them the costs of deregulation of our environments (e.g. their communities and their water tables) and the costs of deregulation on our health (their health and the health of their children), they will probably come around quick.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a63152930/proton-batteries/

If that technology is finished, we won’t even need rare elements to store energy. It is a story that many slept on. Solar panels are very cheap comparatively to make.

The culture is already there. We have a great base called the constitution and its bill of rights — we largely already support concepts like democracy and human rights.

Humans and our units tend to be weak and vulnerable, we are easily manipulated, and we are easily corruptible. Capital has an greater influence on individuals (and especially our leaders and institutions) than forward momentum and the act of working towards solutions — making life better on this planet for everyone. Capital should not be a factor operating at a level above our ability to govern and direct our societies.

Humanity has to start to learn how to thrive and simultaneously learn to live in balance with the planet. Consumerism is certainly out of control, but it’s reductive and unfair to single out any single person, group, or entity. Humanity is largely kept in survival mode (and also in fear, hate, and division), scarcity is artificial with our current level of technology and organization, and the truth of our consumerism (and its roots) is veiled to us.

Nobody besides the oppressed truly knows the extent of modern slavery, of modern child slavery, and of third-world exploitation.

In my eyes, the solution is direct democracy and socialism. Building up our communities and making our society at large (and especially our cities) self-sustainable.

I personally think that an international human bill of rights would be a wonderful goal to have to kick off a golden age for humanity.

Capitalism exists in the form it does because government doesn’t exist. It’s a big lie. We are in the age of modern feudalism, ruled by corporations, oligarchs, and others that concentrate wealth, power, and influence.

I wouldn’t trust the government to reliably redistribute the money or to reliably tax the very rich.

We have a system that rewards greed, parasitism, and exploitation with wild success. Until that is solved, redistributing wealth will be unsuccessful — a temporary fix, at best.

People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them

I’ll just save time for my future self: He died complicit, supporting and enabling the system that creates inequality and blocks progress, and he directly stagnated technology by engaging in monopolistic practices.

Bill Gates quite obviously pays a lot for PR, and giving away wealth to those in need is obviously positive, but if he used his influence to call out Microsoft for using their technology/AI and infrastructure in war, called out the imperialism and destabilizing influence of the US empire, and so on; maybe I would have a more charitable forecast for his legacy.

I would be more than happy to be wrong and I hope I am.

The point is that they forked an older version of Gecko and have been maintaining it with a small team ever since - and it still works reasonably well.

Is its security great? At least in the past they made great efforts to keep up with CVEs, but they don’t pump it full of money and talented individuals - so I’m doubtful that the security is great. Is it actively exploited? I doubt anybody would bother.

Am I endorsing Pale Moon? No, but it’s still an impressive effort even if I disagree with a lot of their choices.

Can you please just apologize to those who were offended and promise to be more sensitive moving forward? That’s the sure-fire way to defuse the allegations accusing you of being a transphobe and put everybody at ease.

Refraining to comment further on the topic is smart until you learn more about the dynamics at hand. Transgender individuals face an unprecedented amount of discrimination and vitriol.

If anything, the bourgeoisie are generally polarizing people against each other, particularly pitting people against others who are different or who are in vulnerable positions.

The best thing to prepare is to not be fearful and to not panic.

I suggest that everybody protest against factory farming and participate in boycotts. Call lawmakers and regulators to take direct action against these companies and their dangerous practices (and hold them responsible).

Please don’t hurt yourself. Not everybody here on Earth lacks hope and a determination to do the right thing and see things through. We can do this and make this all mean something for ourselves - letting our future generations inherit a world better than what we did, and universally improve the conditions for all living beings here on this planet.

I have been in a pit of despair just like you seem to be right now. I know it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there if you seek it out. Start by controlling what you can - help yourself to feel good, get some fresh air and some sun, eat good food that nourishes your body, do fun things and expose yourself to things that uplift you - if it calls to you!

The news often stirs up fear and feelings of helplessness. It’s intentional. It gets clicks and it is exactly what those in power want us to feel - helpless and afraid - small and weak. These violations of human rights will not be able to continue much longer, public awareness is reaching critical mass. Take a break from social media and news if you can. Have a good time with the people that love you, you deserve to be happy and healthy - we all do.

The Solarpunk movement has given me a lot of hope. You can find it on reddit at reddit.com/r/solarpunk and slrpnk.net here on the fediverse. Consider reading about the movement and engaging with the community. But please take a break if there is too much doom and gloom.

We are not doomed! Don’t pay attention to the headlines and articles that reach that conclusion. Even if that is the prevailing feeling many are feeling, we are SO close to being able to expose the artificial scarcity and games of the so-called elite, and start living in balance with our planet and collectively thriving!

I was nothing but polite…? Feeling strongly about Microsoft’s behavior and the enshittification of Windows is not the same as “pushing a cult-like mentality” as I was accused of or as you accused me of - being an asshole. Disagreeing and providing reasoning for the disagreement is not being an asshole. I am not a Linux cultist, I switched in January of this year. I am happy if other people are happy, and I respect their personal choices.

In every response, I merely responded with my reasoning and ways that they could use Linux without sacrificing anything (VFIO setups are viable albeit hard to setup). I did not resort to name-calling or insisting the person switch. In the last response, I reiterated that they were free to feel the way they do (accusing me of mental gymnastics) and to disagree. Re-read my responses with a helpful tone and I’m sure you’d see - tone is often not conveyed well online.

The only thing that I said that could be implied as being an asshole to somebody is saying Windows sucks or calling people in a regular office “tech-illiterate”. I’m not insulting anybody or being an elitist, I’m sorry that came across as harsh or unfair - I’ll be more careful with my language moving forward. I love it when things simply work for people and they are not struggling. I feel bad when people have issues. I don’t take any pleasure in others having problems or think lesser than them. Technology should be easy and accessible to use for all.

Arch Linux is not a beginner distribution, I started using it myself this year and I know with even using archinstall some things do not work out of the box even when selecting a desktop environment. Like bluetooth. CachyOS would’ve gotten you setup much quicker if you need the AUR. Bazzite or Nobara (or simply Fedora) would’ve been much easier if you don’t mind the Fedora ecosystem. PopOS is shaping up with COSMIC and will be a wonderful option for creators, gamers, and regular users when it is fully released. ZorinOS is great for beginners. Ubuntu is great and so is Debian. Linux Mint is used by a lot of people, and even though it doesn’t support Wayland yet, it’s a good option for new users. Almost every option is great for Steam and also Lutris and Heroic Games Launcher, which both help you to run various games.

Wanting a so-called minimal or vanilla setup (which is something I also desire) is hard if you are picky like me. Most people aren’t so picky, a couple extra packages or a little distribution-specific customization isn’t any sweat off their back. There are times when just getting your foot in the door and getting comfortable is much easier on yourself. If there weren’t great options for beginners, I wouldn’t be suggesting Linux to anyone.

If you were to have posted for support, I would’ve gladly helped you out if I saw your post.

And I don’t think we’re fucked. I know the news cycle and current state of the world is a lot to handle. I think we need to continue pushing awareness and other positive action. I’m sorry you are stressed and are seemingly feeling bad and overwhelmed. I would do anything I could to help you - we’re all in this together.

Some people need floaties to stay afloat. Some people need a life jacket. Some people need a solid platform to dip their feet in. Some people fucking melt when they touch water. Whatever accommodation they need or whatever their situation, it’s all perfectly acceptable in my book.

We can help them to thrive without breaking a sweat with our empathy, technology, and ingenuity.

Does anybody think that Mozilla will attempt to win their community back and start being good stewards of the money they are given?

They’ve had ample time to wash themselves of Google’s money. They have been too busy justifying their salaries with useless initiatives and acquisitions, when all people care about is Firefox.

When can we directly donate to Firefox’s development?

Social skills is another way of saying the abilities required to function in a society. You might as well ask why do you need to learn to swim to get in the pool.

Even if one is uninhibited socially, it’s unrealistic to expect them to be able to function how society often dictates or requires.

Last I checked, this world is pretty cruel, especially to those who are vulnerable.

Why do you need to be forced by society to develop social skills? Why isn’t putting your best forward enough? For various real reasons, some people just aren’t able to meet the standard forced upon them.

Trauma plays a big role in some that have trouble communicating. Instead of blaming people for being “raised by a screen”, practice kindness and compassion. Do your part to make this world more inclusive, accessible, and less traumatizing for all individuals, or don’t - up to you.

“Someone stole my laptop and has physical access to state secrets that Hegseth has yet to blurt on Twitch chat”.

Thanks for making me laugh. It’s been a while.

Damn, here you are with all the gotchas. That’s it, I concede the debate. You win. Congratulations to FreedomAdvocate for successfully arguing for the involuntary commitment of individuals accused of no crime.

The article doesn’t specify, it only specifies additional training for law enforcement officers, but I highly doubt it will be the case that educated professionals go on the scene. The various mentions of first responders reads as first responders to me.

Democratic officials nationwide have increasingly embraced civil commitments in recent years as a way to address the colliding crises of homelessness, mental illness and crime in their communities.

You can’t solve homelessness and crime with involuntary commitment. This is woefully ineffective policy, no matter how you cut it.