The Convoy being a rights movement was a skin-deep excuse for what it actually was. It did not take long at all before it turned into a general anti-vax fascist movement that saw significant funding and support coming up from the US.

“Tell me of at least 5 privacy laws you’ve violated in the last month or you’re fired”

trying to flush a turd but it keeps floating back up to the surface.

also

X competitors like Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon have so far remained active and accessible, giving X users alternative platforms to jump to while X works on its issues.

Why wait? Jump ship and never look back!

Autocracies are short-lived power grabs by certain people or groups of people. They pillage what they can, oppress who they want, and then run or fall when the walls start closing in.

Many have come and gone during our history on this planet. Many more will rise and fall.

Shenanigans are afoot…

😎

Yes they do. Every living thing does. Even plants do in their own way.

I keep Fish, shrimp, snails, and isopods and they all do too. Fish and shrimp actually poop quite a lot, especially the latter. I don’t think I could ever eat shrimp after seeing how many turds those things produce.

Beautiful news.

That explains all the AI crap they’ve been chasing for a while now. They’ve been trying to juice up the value to make it look appealing to potential buyers because you can basically slap “AI” on anything and it instantly shoots up in value.

Discord is effectively dead if this goes through.

Well, I mean…

It’s considerably better than “Redditor”.

Not going to happen. Not for a long time. As much as we would want it to.

The phone market is brutally, viciously competitive and an outsider trying to jump in without Android or iOS is almost guaranteed to fail. We used to have numerous options from all kinds of companies that came with a variety of operating systems but each one fell to the duopoly.

People are glued to their phones and social media more than ever. I would expect an attempt to get them to move to a non-American mobile operating system and phone would fail very quickly. Blackberry did used to make their own line of phones that ran BB10 and they were excellent. Nobody bought them though, or at least not enough to justify their continued production. Even fewer bought the following Android-powered BB phones and eventually Blackberry pulled out of the market. The same story for Windows mobile phones.

There are plenty of options for non-American cellphones and I’m sure in the coming years we will see Canadian ones too. The problem is that they will almost certainly run Android which means American control over your data and feeds. Getting Canadians to accept a sacrifice in short-term phone functionality to regain digital freedom in the long run is a tall order.

I’m guessing the executives of those companies intended to take the kickback Trump promised them and other rich folk and then flee into the hills with their money.

They’re in for a good shock when the US economy implodes and the USD starts to tumble.

In some ways he already is. I will give a few examples:

• The Conservative party in Canada was set to win a *historic *landslide majority victory in the upcoming elections. Their embracing of US-styled politics combined with Canadians feeling more united than ever has lead to them absolutely cratering in the polls so badly that the incumbent party is polling ahead in some polls. It is now being considered as potentially one of the worst election blunders in Canadian history. Canadians are cheering on local brands and production and are very warm to the idea of closer ties with Europe and the UK.

• President Zelenskyy is being heralded as a leader and hero of Ukrainian and European freedom and is seen as a model of just and honest leadership. Despite what Trump’s supporters think, many Americans still support Ukraine and Zelenskyy.

• Prime Minister Starmer of the UK has united parliament, including their opposition, for increased support of Ukraine and European security and sovereignty. It is a huge shift from where they stood during the Brexit days.

• The EU is currently working on rearmament plans to promote domestic production of arms and security measures. Canada appears to be interested in this and I imagine other countries will eventually be too. The era of everyone buying American arms is coming to an end.

• Expanding on the last point more broadly: The US has shown to the world it is an unreliable partner and ally and the boycotts of American goods and services are spreading fast across its former allies. For example, there is a full on nation-wide boycott of American products in Canada right now and it is costing the Americans billions of dollars.

• The days of tip-toeing around Russia for the sake of political niceties is over. Major nation leaders are now calling out Russia for being a bloodthirsty dictatorship and accusing Trump of being a Russian plant. We need more than this, but this is a good start. Such open challenges to fascism would never have flown 5+ years ago. The first step to fighting fascism is to recognise it exists and identifying it as a threat.

Agreed.

This will flop so hard. AI is largely an investor-bait thing; actual consumers are lukewarm to it at best. Especially if they have to actually pay (hundreds) for it.

This. I am really, really tired of custom battery shapes in the ebike market. They are one of the most important parts of the bike and if they can’t be properly serviced then it’s just an acoustic bike with extra weight.

Fixed.

Firstly, I’d imagine China is pleased to see the US becoming weaker on the world stage. At least, in the long term.

But, secondly, China has its own problems at home right now and the US, which is about to have a lot less spending power, is a huge customer of China’s. Xi is likely going to take a “wait and see” approach and assess the shifting situation. Any amount of China and Russia getting close would likely be purely from an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” perspective and I doubt it would last. None of the major powers mingle for very long before stepping on each other’s feet.

Xi isn’t stupid. I’m sure he’s well aware that Putin would betray him in an instant for power and that Trump is both a Russian asset and a moron.

We really don’t know right now. The US essentially broadcast to the world that they are both diplomatically weak and compromised by the Russians and cannot be trusted or relied on. The meeting with Zelenskyy and the recent trade spats has indicated that the US can and will turn on its historic allies if Putin tells them to.

Beyond that point, everything is pure speculation. My guess? The US will continue to erode from within due to further economic and social disintegration. They are looking at a historic economic collapse which will severely impact the lives of US citizens. I can see them beginning to put increased pressure, possibly militarily, on Mexico and Canada as Trump uses the resources in said countries as a bargaining chip to placate US businesses that will start putting pressure on Trump. Once reality of the situation starts to hit the average US citizen then I think there is a very real possibility of civil revolt.

As for the EU, my guess is they will see a burst of increased unity and solidarity much like how Canada is now. Whether that lasts or will be acted upon remains to be seen, but I think it has become obvious to the EU leaders that Russia is a hostile power on their doorstep and they are on their own; the US will not help them. They will now have to contend with meddling and interference from both Russia and the US as both seek to disrupt and cause unrest in Europe. If the EU plays its cards right they could emerge from this stronger and more prosperous than ever. de Gaulle was absolutely right about the USA.

They have a tendency to be cocky, headstrong, and ignorant of the greater world and people around them.

I have lost count of the amount of Americans I have met and spoken to that think them and their country are the centre of the universe. And I don’t mean that in a mocking or mean way - many of them were amazingly nice people but they legitimately did not know any better.