Maybe. But I think it’s worrying if young people are now feeling more emboldened about being racist.

Absolutely true. I didn’t mean to imply that you said that. I was just thinking about people on the left (not necessarily yourself) who didn’t vote for Kamala because she wasn’t critical enough of Israel. In America’s political system, especially in swing states, not voting for the Democrat candidate makes it more likely that the Republican candidate will win.

I hope the US doesn’t invade other countries. But I would say I can be wary of both the US and China at the same time.

Politicians can change their mind though if there is enough political pressure on them. I just think it’s weird logic to think “I don’t like what is happening in Gaza so I would rather see Trump elected to the White House than Kamala Harris”. Since Trump has a history of being strongly pro-Israel and he doesn’t seem to have a lot of sympathy for civilians who are suffering.

If you thought Kamala wasn’t paying enough attention to suffering in Palestine, you could have protested and lobbied her to pay more attention to this issue, while still voting for her as president, on the basis that Trump is even more pro-Israel and even less sympathetic to Palestinians.

You might be right about short-sightedness. I read this article a couple days ago which talks about short-sighted cuts to the F-35 programme, which then add costs in the long run. For example:

A cost-saving move to delay by six years building infrastructure for the naval squadron that operates the F-35 jets means the cost for that construction will almost treble to £154m from £56m.

I think Jess Phillips seems like a decent person, I’ve watched her speak about the issue of violence against women and girls before. Here’s what the grooming survivors who support her have said:

“Jess Phillips has remained impartial to the process, only listening to feedback [and] we want her to remain in position for the duration of the process for consistency,” they wrote.

“Her previous experience and drive to reduce VAWG [violence against women and girls] and her clear passion and commitment is important to us.”

They praised Phillips, who they said had “devoted her life to hearing and amplifying the voices of women and girls who would otherwise have been unheard” and had helped some of them access support.

For some time now, I have written stuff on the internet under the assumption that one day, my identity will be publicly tied to everything I wrote. Surely in the future it will be easy to give an example of my writing to an AI bot, perhaps combined with some facts about my life, and the bot would be able to find anonymous posts that were likely written by me, across the internet.

Probably beyond my hoodwinking skills. Also I’m not northern myself, I was just wondering what kind of person they would consider to have a “socially appropriate background”. Posh accent, wealthy family, and from South East England, I would expect.

I was a manager at Woolworths back in the day, I swear… but this family would probably say my accent isn’t posh enough to tutor their child.

The article says the fine has now been cancelled, but originally someone from the council defended the fine by saying:

We are committed to protecting Richmond’s waterways and keeping our borough’s streets clean and safe.

Pretty ridiculous. Coffee is an organic substance right? Made from roasted coffee beans. I could maybe understand if someone was pouring industrial chemicals into the sewers but coffee surely shouldn’t be a problem.

Also of course big water companies get away with dumping sewage into rivers, but a very small amount of coffee apparently needs to be harshly punished. One rule for big business and another rule for common people.

Interesting. I do think it’s a threat if hostile entities own critical pieces of British infrastructure. But I think Russia is also a threat that should be remembered, and jihadis can be a threat too, and also violent criminals who might be motivated by Christianity, white supremacy, etc.

it was naive to think Trump wouldn’t immediately change his mind if big tech changed their tune, pampered him, and made him feel like a little princess. I personally didn’t expect big tech to cozy up to Trump so hard

Good points. Alas it seems that Trump’s supposed care “for the little guys” was just a ploy for him to gain power. Although I guess there are many “little guys” that he never even pretended to care about: immigrants, Muslims, antifa, etc.

Edit: typo

The biggest threat to national security isn’t jihadis or the Russians, it’s privatisation and global free market capitalism.

Why not “all of the above”?

Wanting to make sure that Big Tech plays by the rules is one thing, but I still think it’s pretty crazy that he said Republicans now stand “for the little guys”. Even in December 2024 I think that’s a pretty crazy thing to say.

Of course there’s the fact that Proton’s CEO praised Trump. Here’s his tweet:

All societies have morals right? In pretty much any country, if you say something that is considered bad in that country, people won’t like you. That’s not censorship, it’s just morals. In many countries, racism is usually considered bad, so if you say something that seems racist, many people won’t like you.

If DHH wanted to make a point about culture in London then it’s possible to do that without tying it to ethnicity.

I’m not a fascist or a troll, and if someone wants to read exactly what DHH wrote, then they can click on the link to his blog post, which is in my summary. I think it’s good that you’re quoting more of it to be honest, so people can see what he wrote, and they can decide for themselves what they think about it. I’m not trying to “whitewash” anything, I just wanted to give people an overview of the situation so they can draw their own conclusions, whether positive or negative.

Maybe the UK needs politicians like they’re starting to get in the USA. If you don’t know this guy pictured, he’s running to be mayor of New York. His campaign is all about making necessities more affordable (rent, food, transport), and his poll numbers are pretty good.

The only issue I had was his police “apology”. I get why. It’s him trying to make sure he can control them as governor. It’s basically him acknowledging the militarized police state and playing politics. It’s not what we want to hear though.

I just watched the interview. I thought his apology was fine. Surely if you want a safe society then you need an effective police force? Obviously you don’t want an unjust police force, and Zohran mentioned that, but I think what normal law-abiding people want is an effective and just police force who can keep everyone safe.