This is not unique to Trump. Politicians say “they changed their views” if there is enough oil to grease wheels.

There is a Vietnamese billionaire who is found guilty of scamming her victims. The court ordered her to pay what she stole within a deadline or else she will face execution. I don’t remember if she is ordered to pay either only a portion or all of what she scammed.

Just like with anything, if you put something interesting in your bio, women will use that as conversation starter.

Ironically, for authoritarian communist countries that recorded high rate of newly minted billionaires in the past five years, China and Vietnam are doing something right cracking down on billionaires.

Just as I finally see Chinese culture gaining more global cultural relevance— and it had to be in order to bypass a ban of an intrusive app.

Not specifically about Norway, but richer countries are already providing funds to poorer countries to combat climate change, but it goes to vanity projects and other corruption.

The climate fund is unfortunately a money laundering scheme. Nicaragua is right to be apprehensive of the 2015 Paris climate change accords, believing it doesn’t go far enough. There is no actual legal mechanism to hold countries accountable for missing climate targets. Now that I think about it, Trump pulling out of the 2015 Paris climate deal during his first term is not necessarily a loss, since everyone is doing nothing since the accords were signed. In spite of the small climate wins, every current year is always the hottest year until the subsequent year records the hottest global temperature, always beating the previous year’s record.

That means Norway will sell the fossil fuel they don’t use to somewhere else.

If the next game is as impeccable as BG3, then this media blackout to create hype is the cleverest marketing move I have ever seen.

I haven’t heard of PixelFed, but thanks for informing me and I shall go!

but it has become this… thing.

It’s very appropriate to call Instagram now… a thing. The site just became something to post bragadacious, fake rich lifestyle photos, people wanting to become meme themselves, or scantily clad girls looking for attention for themselves if not for their OnlyFans.

Go on Europe!

In Rwanda, the US pondered to interfere with the signal of the Hutu radio channel that repeatedly refer to Tutsis as cockroaches and promote hating them, but decided against it because of belief in free speech. While it is not what caused the 100 days of genocide, it is a contributing factor. The autumn 2024 riots in UK relating to immigration started with a deliberate fake news.

I also grew up being told not to believe everything on TV, reading materials, radio and now Internet. But it is self-absorbed to assume that others would have been taught the same. “Not everyone thinks like me” is a hard lesson I learned in life. Not everyone would have been taught about critical thinking, nor consume the same information as you and I do. We live in our own bubble with our own set of realities without realising it.

I used to be for absolute free speech, but looking at the historical experience of Europe and Rwanda, I can see why the need for regulation on free speech. The United States is absolutist on free speech, but I think it is because they have not yet experienced atrocities that is fueled by incitement to hatred. I applaud the US in having to maintain a balance since many Americans still counter hateful movements. But from the look of things, the US could be heading on a trajectory that there could be point of no return.

Practically speaking, I’m on the fence, and ultimately I believe the debate on free speech would never be settled. Someone told me the principle of social contract could be applied; that society could decide what is acceptable. However, what is acceptable to some may not be to others. And overall society is not always the good judge of many things.

Edit: wording

This is going to be like Russia, the smart and sane ones leave only for the dumb people remaining to prop up an authoritarian regime.

Idk why people think leaving the EU is going to solve our problems, it’s going to literally fuck us in the ass.

These far right populist parties would probably leave the EU, if majority of Europeans want to leave. But the majority of Europeans want to remain. What the far-right European parties do instead is adopt the narrative of “fortress Europe”, that immigration should be restrictive and Europe remain “largely European”.

If anyone has watched the first season of Squid Game, this is precisely what the show has been making a point of. Both locals and foreigners are exploited by the owner-class. That being said, does Elon watch dystopian movies and shows and actually copies them for the lols?

Tesla sales is down in Europe precisely because of Musk while competitors thrived.

And Germany is the most influential and richest EU country at the moment, so the loss of Germany will be a heavy blow for the EU.

It’s probably quoting the Brazilian authorities. Also, journalists are afraid of being litigated of defamation in case the situation and story turns out not what it initially appears to be.

They will still say “capitalism bad”.

Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it’s the better system we have so far.