Are we now in full blown fascist totalitarianism?

[bilby]

And yes, some bottled water comes from outside the US. (and some is just filtered tap water. Where do the filters come from?)

If someone is selling filtered water and claiming that it is distilled water, they need to be taken to court.

Distillation and filtration are completely different things.

Also, most bottled water is neither; And it would be insane to import distilled water from overseas*.







* Of course, it would also be insane to import bottled drinking water from overseas, and that does happen, so that doesn't really contribute to my argument here, and is just further evidence for the unremarkable observation "people are fucking nuts".

 

[bilby]

Some locations of our local supermarket chain have a filtered water despenser, in front. (bring your own jug) I don't know what they charge.

Such things are generally a way to milk the nutters who claim that fluoride in the water is bad for us (Did you ever see a commie drink a glass of water?).

The problem* with crazy conspiracy theories is that they can be exploited for profit, so evil (but not necessarily crazy) people have an incentive to keep them going.








* OK, not so much "the problem" as "a problem", one of many such.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Rump's idea of a trade ballence is STUPID.
Trade doesn't need to be ballenced.

I don't know. I think my life would be easier if my trade balance with the grocery store was more even.

Doesn't need to be ballenced with each country. They are not stealing if it isn't.

The fucktard ass boil is tariffing countries we have a surplus with. So even if we don't have a trade deficit, the mere fact that we are importing anything is something he (or whomever) apparently thinks is wrong.

 

[unapologetic]

Distillation and filtration are completely different things.

I havn't read the labels. I don't know who is doing whitch.

And it would be insane to import distilled water from overseas*

'Fiji Water' brand is imported from Fiji. Probably just filtered.

 

[barbos]

What is that pimple on the top of the police cars?

Mustard gass sprayers and RFID scaners.
(there are RFID chips in passports and greencards)
I can't read Russian. What does the caption say about it?

Apparently these are not police cars, they are Waymo's. And these are lidars. Rioters ordered few cars and then burned them.

 

[unapologetic]

Rioters ordered few cars and then burned them.

People were vandalizing Waymos weeks before the ICE riots.
Some people are both anti-Waymo and anti-ICE.

 

[Axulus]

Trump threatening arrest of Mamdani



All done while participating in the opening ceremony for a concentration camp.

 

[TSwizzle]

lol, the actual question was: the communist said he would not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City, any message president Trump?
Trump, we will have to arrest him (the communist).

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Wow... that question could have been heavier weighted, but it'd require some thought.

Mr. President, NYC might be soon run by a disciple of Mao Tse Tung. He indicated in the Mayoral Primary that he'd personally interfere with ICE arresting any illegal alien who was actively committing a vile crime using a hammer and sickle. Any words regarding his desire to destroy America as we know it?

 

[Patooka]

lol, the actual question was: the communist said he would not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City, any message president Trump?
Trump, we will have to arrest him (the communist).

I love how your takehome for this is petty bullshit semantics and not the head of state considering deporting someone because he's butthurt about the results of a free and fair election. Says a lot about your priorities.

 

[bilby]

Well, any American who ever looked at the history of the Third Reich and wondered "How did ordinary Germans allow this to happen? Surely once the concentration camps started to go up, they must have realised that it was time to overthrow the Nazis before it was too late?", now has their answer.

Check out the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, and then look in a mirror. That's what ordinary people look like when their government starts building concentration camps.

Now, what do you plan to do about it, and how do you think historians ninety years from today will judge your actions (or lack of actions)?

 

[Politesse]

Now, what do you plan to do about it, and how do you think historians ninety years from today will judge your actions (or lack of actions)?

Same as last time, stare dully at their interlocutors and go, "Well I didn't know about it, I didn't do any of it, why are you looking at me?"

 

[southernhybrid]

in a state run by patriots,

Both sides call themselves 'patriots'.

It seems he’s counting on his supporters being more interested in seeing a civil war than seeing the Epstein files.

Hay, I don't even care about the Epstein files.

What an insufferable prick Newsom is.

So are you.

If it costs Wally World 40% more to produce or buy a gallon of distilled water than it did five months ago, I'll eat my hat.

Costs are going up on everything.
If costs go up on secondary suplies for water producers like Neslie, They need to raise wholesale prices on everything they produce. Dito for middlemen/distributers. Ditto for Walmart. An extra 10% all along the supply chain adds up to 40% for you. (obviously I don't know the actual percentages) And yes, some bottled water comes from outside the US. (and some is just filtered tap water. Where do the filters come from?)

but since I'm sitting here watching my favorite liberal pundit on "The Beat', we still have free speech

Do you need to lose your freedom before you'll fight for it?

As a BlueSky noobie, I don't know how to link to the BlueSky post. I could copy the URL, but suspect that URL is personalized for me.

Do not click on suspicious links.
Copy, paste, and edit them.
In a URL, anything after '?' or '&' could be tracking you. It is mostly safe to delete that shit.
'url=whatever.com' would be a redirect or the trail you followed to get there. Use caution.
In this example, "?vurl=vurl_bundle" is the ad they want to show you. '&' and everything after it is the bullshit you should delete.
https://www.usaa.com/ins_bundle_landing?vurl=vurl_bundle&txid=OLV:TX1:HMFRHOPQ... (shortened by me)
In the following example "?v=xaEsni-OgUs" is the vid you want, and probably safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaEsni-OgUs
Both examples are from youtube.

What exactly do you expect others to do to fight what's happening, other than voting, speaking out and giving what we can afford to organizations that do their best to fight what's happening here? What exactly are you doing to fight? I'd be out on the streets protesting if I my soon to be 76 year old body wasn't wracked with pain that only allows me to take a 10 minute walk with my dog every morning after taking a narcotic pain reliever. Is ranting here helping or is it just one more waste of time? WTF do you want us to do! That question is for all of you who have been saying we need to fight. Fight how?

Our Congress members don't even read our letters or answer our phones calls. The only power we have is the ballot and voter suppression is on the rise thanks to the Republican Party, but I would gladly risk my life to vote if that's what it took. In past decades, I've never missed an election, no matter how small. I've helped others register to vote and encouraged non voters to reconsider their apathy. It's those who didn't vote in the last election that gave us this. The members of the Trump cult remind me of the Biblical phrase, "Forgive them for they know not what they do". They drank the Kool-Aide that was offered on places like Fox and Newsmax. Those who didn't vote piss me off the most because they knew better. What else do you expect people to do? Please share your wisdom with us.

I spent plenty of time protesting when I was young, but to be honest, other than lowering the voting age, and ending the draft, I'm not sure we accomplished much. I'm not even sure that ending the draft was a great idea because once is was gone, people didn't seem that concerned about war because it didn't impact them or their friends or family members like previous wars did, so wars went on for far more years than they did in the past.

The Civil Rights Protests accomplished more, but now we are heading backwards instead of forwards. The Religious Right are doing their best to take away the rights of women, ethnic minorities and the LBGTQ citizens, along with immigrants who are here legally, including those with green cards along with those who have applied for asylum. WTF can we do to fight this? Telling others to fight without reasonable ways to fight is worthless.

 

[Swammerdami]

The End of American Democracy

Do we have a list of the greatest and best-governed societies? Babylon under Hammurabi. Persia under Cyrus the Great. Athens' Age of Pericles and the Golden Age of Greece. China's Tang Dynasty. Surely the British Empire qualifies. Whom have I overlooked? And what caused these noble civilizations to collapse?

And, like it or not, the list should include the United States of America -- guiding light for democracies around the world. It was born ca 1776, and died 2025. And with its death, perhaps Western Enlightenment and Liberal Democracy are also in peril.

Poets will be outdoing each other with poignant verses lamenting the Fall of Enlightenment and Democracy. Here all we can do is ask Why?

Was the Great American Experiment overthrown by a narcissist with the character of a bullying toddler? Aided and abetted by laughable clowns like Alex Jones and Sarah Palin? How ironic it would be if America was overthrown by a team of B-list actors whose sitcom proposal was laughed at in Hollywood.

No. While the team of clowns played an important role, US democracy in the Age of Disinformation was especially vulnerable and was easily subverted by Cognitive warfare, honed for decades in the USSR and recently deployed especially by Vladimir Putin.

Institute for the Study of War

Russia is a key player in the cognitive warfare space and a model for China, Iran, and North Korea. Russia has effectively used cognitive warfare to facilitate its war in Ukraine, shape Western decision-making, obfuscate Russian objectives, preserve

www.understandingwar.org

Cognitive warfare is a form of warfare that focuses on influencing the opponent's reasoning, decisions, and ultimately, actions to secure strategic objectives without fighting or with less military effort than would otherwise be required. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea increasingly use cognitive warfare against the United States in order to shape US decision-making. Cognitive warfare can be defeated. The United States and its allies can neutralize adversaries’ cognitive warfare through systematic awareness and by exploiting the weaknesses that drive US adversaries to rely on cognitive warfare in the first place. Cognitive warfare is much more than misinformation or disinformation. It uses an array of tools, including the use of selective and partial truth in messaging, often integrated with economic, diplomatic, and military action up to major combat operations. Cognitive warfare is distinguished by its focus on achieving its aims by influencing the opponent’s perceptions of the world and decision-making rather than by the direct use of force.

Tim McMillan has written a good summary of cognitive warfare, for example

Cognitive warfare might sound like just another word for fake news or propaganda. However, the ISW report makes clear that it is far more expansive—and more dangerous.

“Cognitive warfare is distinguished by its focus on achieving its aims by influencing the opponent’s perceptions of the world and decision-making rather than by the direct use of force,” the report explains.

That means everything, from international press conferences to nuclear saber-rattling, becomes part of an orchestrated campaign to sow confusion, instill fear, or lull adversaries into complacency. The Kremlin doesn’t necessarily need you to believe its version of events—it just requires you to doubt your own.

This is not a short-term effort. Russian cognitive warfare operates across generations and geographic theaters. Some narratives, such as the alleged righteousness of Russia’s claim to Ukrainian land or the moral corruption of the West, have been carefully cultivated for decades. They can lie dormant until a moment of crisis—then suddenly become the foundation of a new political reality.

 

[unapologetic]

What exactly are you doing to fight? I'd be out on the streets protesting

Since I last spoke on it, I did find transport to my local No Kings demo. (and I'm 73)
But massive as they were, the No Kings protests were too easy to ignore.
Burning Waymos got more attention. (not all of it good)

Congress members don't even read our letters

True. But I still wrote to my state's Repuglican US House members.

What else do you expect people to do? Please share your wisdom with us.

Now, if I had some explosive... redacted

Civil disobediance worked for the civil rights movement.

 

[southernhybrid]

What exactly are you doing to fight? I'd be out on the streets protesting

Since I last spoke on it, I did find transport to my local No Kings demo. (and I'm 73)
But massive as they were, the No Kings protests were too easy to ignore.
Burning Waymos got more attention. (not all of it good)

Congress members don't even read our letters

True. But I still wrote to my state's Repuglican US House members.

What else do you expect people to do? Please share your wisdom with us.

Now, if I had some explosive... redacted

Civil disobediance worked for the civil rights movement.

Yes. I think I mentioned that it worked in the civil rights movement, in one of my posts. My problem is that I am terrified to drive in Indianapolis and I'm in too much pain to be able to walk more than a block or two. We are planning on moving back to Georgia in about two months. We lived in a small city there and if there are any protests, I will see what I can do, since I'm not afraid to drive there and it may not involve much walking. I have one younger friend who has attended a protest before. The civil rights protests worked primarily because they were nonviolent and there was a large enough percentage of people involved. At least that is what I've read about protests that are effective.

Getting out the vote is one of the most important things we can do. We have too many apathetic people when it comes to voting and I blame them for a lot of this mess. I worked with them prior to retirement. I met a few at our senior center etc. We must do our best to fight voter suppression. I helped a poor Black friend register last year after she was taken off of the roles in Georgia. Georgia does that if you miss two elections, no matter how small they are. Sometimes people don't even realize there is an election for something very minor so a tiny percentage of people vote.

I did make a contribution this morning to the ACLU. I'm already a member. I also joined Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and will make another contribution to them as well. I might also join an organization called, Rightwingwatch, but I need to find out more about their work first. If I gave to every organization that is fighting this, I'd be broke, but if everyone gave whatever they can afford, it would help. These organizations are working to fight the illegal actions of the president and his cult. Individuals can't do much by themselves.

 

[laughing dog]

lol, the actual question was: the communist said he would not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City, any message president Trump?
Trump, we will have to arrest him (the communist).

I love how your takehome for this is petty bullshit semantics and not the head of state considering deporting someone because he's butthurt about the results of a free and fair election. Says a lot about your priorities.

Actually, his priorities could mean deportation under a future administration if the current administration’s interpretation of the law is upheld.

 

[Patooka]

lol, the actual question was: the communist said he would not allow ICE to arrest criminal aliens in New York City, any message president Trump?
Trump, we will have to arrest him (the communist).

I love how your takehome for this is petty bullshit semantics and not the head of state considering deporting someone because he's butthurt about the results of a free and fair election. Says a lot about your priorities.

Actually, his priorities could mean deportation under a future administration if the current administration’s interpretation of the law is upheld.

I like your thinking.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

We don't often find common ground but this time I fully agree with you. One way or another we have to get along and respect each other better. A nation divided can not stand. And I for one hope and pray for the nation right now.

I believe both sides need to manage their fear better and more clearly understand where each are coming from.

The problem is that the positions are not coherent. People are acting on highly distorted pictures of reality. The left's is far closer to reality than the right's but both are seriously flawed.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Donald Trump directs the DOJ to conduct an opened ended investigation into ActBlue, the main fundraising platform for Democratic candidates:

President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum Thursday aimed at investigating ActBlue, the leading Democratic fundraising platform.

The memorandum directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “investigate allegations regarding the unlawful use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees, and to take appropriate action to enforce the law."

Trump takes executive action targeting ActBlue, the main Democratic fundraising platform

ActBlue is widely considered one of the pillars of the Democratic Party’s digital ecosystem.

www.nbcnews.com

So far she is just investigating. And if she does uncover fraud and abuse, yes I do hope she goes after them just exactly like I know the Democrats would do for the Republicans. Corruption is corruption and we are all better off without any of it.

Investigating? No, witch hunting.

This isn't about truth, it's about suppressing dissent.