#USpol #Norway #taxes #tax

[paxil@mastodon.social]

@davidaugust In all fairness, #America has 64 times the amount of annual gun deaths, per capita, than #Norway so take that you Norsepeople. #US firearm death rate is 4.31 per 100,000 people per year, Norway had two (2), total, in 2023. America doesn’t take care of the population so much we just thin the herd, so tech billionaires can buy up broadcast and social media.

[nuwagaba2@mastodon.social]

@TheComfortableSpotPodcast
Who will establish those schools and implement that kind of education?

[billstclair@impeccable.social]

@davidaugust Some people like living in a mandatory GoFundMe state. Some don't. Go figure.

[paulwermer@sfba.social]

@davidaugust
This️

[ysegrim@furry.engineer]

@faliate @davidaugust In Germany, though examination by an ophthalmologist is free, glasses are usually not covered, except if you're practically blind without them.

[faliate@mastodon.social]

@ysegrim @davidaugust
This is why I wish my grandparents never left Germany. Also, one of the reasons why I want to migrate back to Germany. Besides the culture and food, there are many great things about Germany.

[derpumu@mstdn.games]

@LibertyForward1 @faliate @davidaugust that may not last forever. At a certain age you might benefit from new glasses every 2-4 years

[raphaelmorgan@disabled.social]

@nuwagaba2 @nazokiyoubinbou I just wanna chime in that I agree education is (a large part of) our way out of this. If it wasn't an important tool for liberation, oligarchs wouldn't have done so much to prevent and destroy it. I'm not sure exactly what needs to be done, but I know we all need to heal, learn, and prioritize community (local or global or both) over isolation and competition

[thecomfortablespotpodcast@mastodon.social]

@mike @davidaugust to be honest, my original comment was in jest, but history does show that nations built on fragile democratic systems and deep internal divisions can unravel quickly — and when that happens, institutions, including the military, don’t always remain unified. 1)

[thecomfortablespotpodcast@mastodon.social]

@mike @davidaugust Comparing this to ISIS, Al-Qaeda, or the Taliban misses the point. Those weren’t conventional wars, and in the case of the Taliban, the outcome after 20 years is an even stronger Taliban in Afghanistan. The real risk in a constitutional crisis isn’t a militia “beating” the U.S. military in open combat — it’s political fracture and divided loyalties within institutions themselves. History suggests that kind of breakdown is far more plausible than a Hollywood-style showdown.

[pjakobs@mastodon.green]

@davidaugust

For somebody else's benefit
@nazokiyoubinbou

[libertyforward1@beige.party]

@DerPumu @faliate @davidaugust I would love to replace them that often, but I'm generally only able to scrape enough money together every decade or so

[nuwagaba2@mastodon.social]

@raphaelmorgan
That's right. The best way of preventing a prisoner from escaping is by not letting him know that he's a slave. Are the people aware that their freedom is slowly being taken away?

[harrymutt@social.vivaldi.net]

@nuwagaba2

I disagree with the vanishing. Democracies worldwide are under attack from antidemocrats. The US oligarchs. The Russofascists. The Chinese capitalist communists. To name only the biggest fish here.

They all see democracies as an obstacle in their power games. They are funding and supporting especially right wing parties with propaganda and fake news aiming at dividing the EU, to weaken it and to destroy it, the largest entity of western democracy in this world. BUT, democracy is not receding. It's bending like a tree in a storm. The more it is under pressure, the more do people realize how important it is. Strong civil societies can withstand such attacks. But it's not an easy task, no question.

But ironically, here in the EU, and seemingly in Canada and other places, the orange attacks kind of make it easier. Dump is the best helper to revive the silent majority, so to speak. By being so immorally disgusting, by being a vulgar, corrupt idiot, big-mouthed, and empty of moral values, and completely free of empathy, he shows everybody what we HAVE and don't want to lose.

When it comes to the global south, I don't know enough to have an educated opinion. Probably, it all has to start with grassroot campaigning and convincing people that these strongmen I listed are not the solution but the problem.

[nuwagaba2@mastodon.social]

@HarryMutt
It would be easy for people to join together and fight for themselves if they knew that they're being deceived , blinded and brainwashed to an extent of being unable to know that they're being enslaved indirectly within the system. Won't people find out when it's too late to make a change?

[harrymutt@social.vivaldi.net]

@nuwagaba2

Isn't education the best weapon against propaganda? You can only brainwash people who are not aware of the facts, and are unable to differentiate between facts and fiction. The problem is when people have not learned critical thinking and self-reflection.

And I don't mean conspiracy theorists who probably think they were the best critical thinkers available. In a complicated world, simple answers are usually wrong. But understanding the complicated ones is often tiresome and hard. That's why conspiracy theories from UFO nonsense to antivaxxer lies are so en vogue in some circles. In the best case, they are simply misled into believing nonsense. In the worst case, they are purposely led away from more important issues.

What I mean is that the ability to reflect on information and weigh different sources against each other and come to an educated conclusion based on PLAUSIBILITY and KNOWLEDGE is the best antidote against brainwashing. Education!

Take the antivaxxer movement. Their ideas are backed by NO scientific evidence. RFK's agitation against measle vaccination, for instance, has led to an epidemic in the US. Children have died from a disease that was practically eradicated. Even more have permanent damage. But those numbers are CONCENTRATED within those who won't vaccinate their children. QED

[faliate@mastodon.social]

@LibertyForward1 @DerPumu @davidaugust
Right. My glasses broke six years ago, I cannot afford an exam, nor have the funds to get one.
If taxes go towards medical expenses, it should extend to the nearly blind as well. The longer we go without glasses the worse our eyes get. I know that is impossible in the US. However, for the countries that do have a universal health care, maybe petitioning the government departments that run these programmes and asking them to extend the medical benefits?

[nuwagaba2@mastodon.social]

@HarryMutt
You're right and am so impressed by your critical thinking skills. Unfortunately, in placeslike my own country, the government feeds people with the information it wants them to hear. The illiteracy levels are so high where a very big number of people can't be deceived and besides that, people are distracted through entertainment, sports and social media which makes them unable to pay attention to the reasons behind and policy. Can I share with you about my project?

[davidaugust@mastodon.online]

@Stinkie

He doesn’t care if anything works? I doubt that. I don’t doubt he may tell himself that, but I doubt it is true.

[davidaugust@mastodon.online]

@grumpasaurus