Fair point, but I wouldn’t want to be the tallest thing in a field when there’s a thunder storm nearby. Maybe it depends on the area you live in as well. Some areas will be very safe, so letting your kids walk to school in those areas wouldn’t be so bad, but other areas might not be so safe.

As a Brit, I’m in favour of:

• European digital sovereignty, to reduce dependence on the US, given how unreliable they now are
• The UK being part of efforts for European digital sovereignty

I think you’re right that crime rates are lower now. But crime does still happen, so I can understand parents wanting to keep their kids safe.

I find him funny but maybe his style isn’t for everyone. Like when he repeats things a lot. I guess I’m okay with that because maybe the repetition shows how absurd a situation is. But some people might not like that.

Fair enough. I still think the massive, for-profit social media platforms are harmful to many people though. They push stuff you want to hear so you’ll keep watching and engaging, and you end up in an echo chamber. It’s not like real life where you might come across someone with a bit of a different view, and you think “okay, I can see where they’re coming from”, and then your own views become a bit more moderate.

I know it’s a cliche to say it, but I think the tech billionaires bear a lot of responsibility for this. A lot of Brits are consuming hateful content on things like Facebook and YouTube, because a profit-maximising algorithm is pushing that content. It radicalises people to the point where they feel it’s justified to assault a woman because she voiced opposition to the right-wing.

Nobody has mentioned this guy yet

It warms my heart

Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium…

Ah yes of course, the reason I don’t support the tyrannical regimes in Beijing and Moscow must be because I can’t read. There are surely no legitimate reasons to criticise those regimes. I guess they must be flawless.

The point that @robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net was making seems to have been that there is no “propaganda”, yet you’ve mentioned “imperial propaganda rags”.

So I was just wondering how someone from Hexbear would react when it comes to the issue of Uyghurs allegedly being detained in camps without having committed real crimes. The post I replied to said this:

If propaganda is false, say it is false. If it’s true but misleading, explain how it’s misleading.

So is the allegation of Uyghurs being detained without having committed real crimes “false”, or is it “true but misleading”?

Is it true that the Chinese Communist Party detained Uyghurs in camps in Xinjiang, when they hadn’t committed real crimes? Is that just propaganda? Is it false? Can you prove that it’s false?

I see. I think it’s good though that Sadiq is willing to contest this legal case, when the UK’s right-wing politicians probably would have rolled over a long time ago if they were offered some kind of financial reward.

Sir Sadiq: standing up to money-hungry bastards who want to terrorise the British population for profit, even if it means his emails have to be searched

Nigel Farage: licking as many boots of money-hungry bastards as he can, as long as it makes him a little bit richer and a little more famous

I really do not care if they critically support Russia and China, in fact I prefer it to supporting western “democracies”

I think it is surely true that EU countries (just as a sample of “western” countries) are quite a bit more democratic than Russia is

Maybe they’re not unified because they believe in a common good, but instead because it serves the interests of each of them to see Farage make a fool of himself and potentially lose support in the polls

Is he? I don’t think Newsom demonises immigrants as much as Trump does… and Newsom has talked recently about favouring federal taxes on very wealthy people, to fund things like healthcare, while Trump seems to be happy to allow the wealthy to keep getting richer and act however they want towards the American public.

I think it’s fair to say that you shouldn’t blindly vote for someone just because they’re a Democrat. You should definitely evaluate the person. But I think Gavin Newsom specifically is an alright guy and I think he would lead a fairer administration than Trump’s, if elected. But I guess most people, if elected, would lead a fairer administration than Trump’s.

If Newsom is the Democrat candidate in 2028, I think that’s an alright outcome. I think he would be a better president than Trump. Not just because he has a “D” next to his name, but instead because his viewpoints seem more rational and fair than those of Trump.

Some people might think that Newsom isn’t progressive enough, but whoever is the Democrat candidate, they need to have broad enough appeal to win a national election. If the candidate is someone who is very progressive then they might alienate a lot of centrist voters and fail to win a national election.

I don’t think the US blew up Nord Stream. There’s a Ukrainian man in Poland who is wanted in Germany for blowing up Nord Stream. But a Polish judge refused to extradite the Ukrainian man to Germany because he thought a Ukrainian attack on Nord Stream would have been a justified response to Russia’s “bloody and genocidal attack” on Ukraine:

If Ukraine and its special forces… organised an armed mission to destroy enemy pipelines – which the court does not prejudge – then these actions were not unlawful… On the contrary, they were justified, rational and just

As for your claim of a “coup”, I don’t think that can be considered true in any way. Ukraine’s parliament voted to remove Viktor Yanukovych from the presidency. That’s democracy at work.

I don’t like the current governments of the US or Russia, but let’s remember that Russia is currently waging an invasion of a European country while the US is not. I hope Europe can build sufficient defence capabilities to prevent further Russian aggression towards Europe, or indeed any future American aggression towards Europe.