“Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.”

If you cannot identify this line…

“Obviously, you’re not a golfer.”

I’m hardly surprised - just seems like a US thing. I mean, who else would leave it up to Trump of all people to decide whether the Epstein files should be made public?

The US is a failed state. There’s no other way to put it.

There is a Canadian movie called “Beans”, but it’s a drama…

Based on true events, Tracey Deer’s debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 Quebec.

And of course there’s the documentary about Lemmy Kilmister that is called - lo and behold: “Lemmy”

That’s how it was in 1933, when the Nazis seized power in Germany.

Yes, it’s frightening.

Yes, I see it the same way. But it seems that implementation is now imminent, and I fear that resistance will be necessary, because soon it will probably be too late.

I’m from Germany, and the actions of the US government remind me eerily of the rise of the Nazis in my home country back then - almost as if history were repeating itself.

To me, this looks like yet another sign that the current regime is striving for tyranny. That, in turn, would probably mean civil war, unless US citizens are willing to accept the end of democracy.

At least, that’s how it looks to me, a European. Do you feel the same way?

I mean, it’s pretty obvious that the US government doesn’t care about the law. And then, to top it all off, there’s this ridiculous military parade for Drump’s birthday … only someone with dictator ambitions would do something like that.

Am I obliged to sacrifice my time to correct nonsense? I don’t think so.

Do your own due diligence if you don’t believe me.

I just don’t feel like responding because it would take some effort to refute all of that. I think anyone who does even half a decent amount of research will quickly realize that it’s either simply wrong or cherry picking. It’s pointless anyway to try to convince people who are so entrenched in their opinions.

But hey, it’s good to know that people are impressed just by mentioning a few random sources.

You’d be better off reading the Wikipedia article about Orwell instead of forming an opinion based on random social media comments.

Not sure if we are talking about the same George Orwell here or how you came to the conclusion that he was a “right-wing POS” - he was definitely not.

I wonder what George Orwell would have to say about all this… nvm, he already said everything there is to say.

Yesterday, I finally talked my parents into canceling MS356 and switching to LibreOffice and Thunderbird.

Now, the excessive subscription fees for MS365 goes to them instead.

If Microsoft keeps this up, I might even manage to persuade them to switch to Linux at some point.

It has become abundantly clear that the US is now run by organized crime. How else can one describe all this?

Yes, that’s true. I just find it funny that Amazon named this line of business after a fraudulent device. For some of the things you can do with it, it’s probably quite the fitting name.

A perfectly legitimate question, especially since this misleading approach is precisely why Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is named like that.

The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Automaton Chess Player, was a fraudulent chess-playing machine built by Wolfgang von Kempelen in 1770. It appeared to play chess autonomously but was actually operated by a skilled human chess player hidden inside. (Source)

I don’t know the answer, but I assume that it probably has something to do with money and power…

Yes, that’s true. I’m more concerned with whether US citizens, whose past administrations more or less invented the term, can now recognize for themselves that they are no longer on the side of the “good guys” with this administration at all, but are now the “terrorists” themselves - the very thing that past US administrations denounced (at the time, of course, already completely speciously).

Edit: Trump himself has even brought the term back to a certain extent - and he is not only the personification of evil for the governments of other countries. I just want to make it clear that it’s the same here as with almost everything he does: it’s projection - whatever he accuses others of, he and his corrupt gang are the ones doing it.

Edit 2: Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this because I believe that Europe, for example, would be much better - I’m saying it because I’m from Germany and we have the history that you all know. It’s not too late to put a stop to Trump and his Nazi colleagues, but it will take civil resistance. If there is no vehement resistance, I fear that history will repeat itself. Nobody in their right mind can want that.

Probably not unimportant even for you: the fact that women’s right to self-determination regarding abortions has been effectively abolished in the US. This of course contradicts any civilizational progress and cannot be interpreted as anything other than a severe violation of human rights - I would never have thought that this would be possible in any Western country, but what do I know.

It doesn’t stop there - not by a long shot. I don’t even want to go into the illegal circumstances under which the USA operates a barbaric torture prison in Guantanamo Bay, or the numerous crimes against humanity that the USA has committed over the years. For the moment, let’s stick to the things your fascist government is up to.

The Trump administration’s policies have raised significant concerns regarding human rights both domestically and internationally. Key areas of restriction include:

• Immigration and Asylum Rights: Policies have dismantled protections for asylum seekers, expanded immigration detention, and criminalized immigrant communities. Refugees have been blocked from entry, and asylum applications by undocumented migrants have been banned, violating federal law[1][2][4].

• LGBTQ+ Rights: Executive orders prohibit transgender individuals from serving in the military and deny federal recognition of transgender identities, mandating recognition only of binary sexes[1].

• Birthright Citizenship: Efforts to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents could render many children stateless, affecting access to healthcare, education, and identity documents[1][5].

• Policing and Civil Rights: The administration reinstated “no-knock” warrants and choke holds, increasing risks of police violence disproportionately affecting marginalized communities[2].

• International Human Rights Engagement: Withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, defunding UN refugee agencies, and sanctions on the International Criminal Court undermine global human rights frameworks[3][7].

• Humanitarian Aid: Suspension of development aid and humanitarian assistance worldwide impacts vulnerable populations dependent on U.S. support[1][5].

These actions collectively erode protections for marginalized groups and weaken international human rights systems.

And that’s just a glimpse. If you think the US does not suppress human rights you are plain wrong.

Sources: [1] Trump’s Executive Orders Threaten Broad Range of Human Rights https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/22/trumps-executive-orders-threaten-broad-range-human-rights [2] What Trump’s First Moves Mean for Health and Human Rights - PHR https://phr.org/our-work/resources/what-trumps-first-moves-mean-for-health-and-human-rights/ [3] The Targeted Chaos of Trump’s Attacks Against International Human … https://www.aclu.org/news/human-rights/the-targeted-chaos-of-trumps-attacks-against-international-human-rights-law-and-justice [4] The Trump Administration Human Rights Tracker | Helping … https://trumphumanrightstracker.law.columbia.edu/ [5] Ten Harmful Trump Administration Immigration and Refugee Policies https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/20/ten-harmful-trump-administration-immigration-and-refugee-policies [6] Trump Administration Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks https://civilrights.org/trump-rollbacks/ [7] What do the Trump administration’s sanctions on the ICC mean for … https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2025/03/what-do-the-trump-administrations-sanctions-on-the-icc-mean-for-justice-and-human-rights/ [8] President Trump’s Alarming Human Rights Agenda at Home and … https://www.americanprogress.org/article/president-trumps-alarming-human-rights-agenda-home-abroad/

Ah yes, the usual patriotism…