#in tariffs just to get the fucking thing into the country. so that has been refunded and my Dream Venti Cape will have to remain a dream

[seventh-district]

Are you sad? Are you miserable? Is your life falling apart? Is your body falling apart? Does your head feel like it’s full of cotton, or perhaps TV static? Does it feel like the world is crumbling around you? Is it getting harder to force yourself through the daily motions? Is happiness getting increasingly harder to find?

Why not consider making a large, hyperfixation-fueled impulse purchase?

They won’t tell you this, but all of the happiness and satisfaction you’re searching for, along with each of those little chemicals that make your brain feel good, are all hidden within your very next large, hyperfixation-fueled impulse purchase!

So why don’t you go on ahead and grab that credit card, throw caution to the wind, and chase that good feeling? You certainly won’t regret it. No one has ever regretted making a large, hyperfixation-fueled impulse purchase! Never!

[oneiriad]

Dear Americans

I need you to talk about Greenland.

You have a lot on your plate right now, I get it. There's Trump removing your rights with a stroke of his pen, there's DOGE destroying your state institutions, there's tariffs and prices and the rise of fascism.

Trust me, I get it.

But I still need you to talk about Greenland.

(And about Canada and Panama, too, but since you are starting with Greenland, so will I.)

I need you to talk about the US - I need to talk about how you are working to annex it right now.

Like Russia trying to conquer Ukraine. Like China looking to annex Taiwan.

That's you.

And it seems like you're mostly treating it as a joke. It's funny, ha ha, whether you are pro- or against Trump. Conquering another country, that's so absurd, it's funny. Or, hell, it's a distraction from whichever -gate he's got rolling this week.

It's not particularly funny from this side of the equation.

Speaking as a Dane: this is not a joke. This is not funny. Nobody's laughing.

The people I talk to? We're scared and we're angry. We're furious.

A country - your country - you!

We thought you were our friend. We've been faithful allies to you since World War 2, we're in NATO together, we've sent our young men and women to fight and to die in your wars.

And this is what that bought us?

Let's get one thing clear: you don't need Greenland for security reasons, that's a lie. You already have the right to have military there, you can build extra bases, and Greenland through Denmark is a part of NATO.

You don't need Greenland for security reasons.

And the mineral wealth? The mineral wealth that Greenland isn't currently getting rich from, btw, because there's simply very little mining happening? You could have that easily. The Greenland government offers prospecting rights to any company that wants it. Greenland wants foreign countries to invest in mining in Greenland. So far, US companies have been mostly not interested. Australia's far more interested in mining in Greenland than you are.

You don't need Greenland.

But you want Greenland.

You're standing on the global scene and decrying how your friends and allies have "friend-and-ally-zoned" you, like some twisted incel logic writ large on the geopolical scale, like the nice superpower upset that the rest of the world won't just roll over and give them fealty and vassalage.

You are doing that. No matter who you voted for. You are doing that.

And honestly? It's not like we didn't have enough concerns. We've got the climate, we've got Russia - cyberattacks, hybrid warfare against undersea infrastructure, wondering whether they'll target the Baltic states or Finland next.

And now I need to be afraid of the USA invading as well.

So, dear Americans.

This is not a joke. This is not fucking funny.

I need you to talk about Greenland.

[impactrueno]

Hello Spike! I hope your doing well. I had some questions I wanted ask you, since you are from Venezuela. Sorry If I got something wrong, I'm still learning about Venezuela politics and I'm trying to use the resources available to me, but is Venezuela a fascist country? so many sources say its socialist but that doesnt make sense, isnt M*duro a dictator? my other question is, with the US turning into a fascist country, how bad will this affect Venezuela?

don't believe for a second that venezuela is actually socialist, that's a blatant lie from our government lmao. frankly yeah, at times it lines up with fascism better than it does with socialism because this is a government of hypocrites. 🙃 but hey maybe that's just what authoritarian governments aka dictatorships feel like. to give you an example of how little they actually care about actually following leftist ideals, we're still one of the handful of countries in the americas that hasn't yet legalized same sex marriage. something so basic, and yet. i haven't been able to change my legal name either because there's no support for transgender people whatsoever.

(note that same-sex sexual activity was already legal before hugo chavez in 1997. chavez took over in 1998.)

the government took over private companies, meaning they remained private, just controlled by the government. not the workers. never the workers lol. the economy is still more capitalist than anything because pretty much all CEOs are affiliated with the government, and if there's something these people know how to do is steal people's money because they only care about themselves. all government people and their family live like kings while the official monthly minimum wage for the rest of the population is $2. yes two american dollars. i'm not kidding.

opposition is largely suppressed and censored. all news media is government affiliated, otherwise it gets shut down (or blocked in the country if it's a website, for example twitter has been blocked since last june and i can only access it with a vpn) and there are quite a few foreign activists being paid to shill for our government and talk about how great it is.

you know, i've been paying attention to US news regarding trump and it's actually horrifying to see him essentially speedrunning what chavez and maduro did here in the past couple of decades. it's insane how similar they are. and it's scary too because i know where that leads, and it's something i never thought could even happen in the US. idk i just figured people wouldn't let it happen. but they did, because for some insane reason they voted for trump again. and now it's a horror show every day with every news i read.

i still don't know how that will affect venezuela because both trump and maduro act like children and make deranged decisions on a whim. trump's been sending venezuelan refugees back here, the place they literally had to escape from. if you speak up against the government in any way, you are not safe. hundreds of journalists detained and taken to el helicoide (a torture center) for daring to report the truth. hundreds of students detained and killed for exercising their right to protest. last year around the elections i had to deactivate my twitter for almost a month until things calmed down because i had been posting a lot of informative threads about our situation. i had to stop because they were actively hunting people down. it was blatant terror tactics and i hate that it worked on me

the tariffs thing is going to fuck with literally every country in the world, not just us. i guess we'll just get more stuff from china now? i don't even know what to expect but our already shaky economy is gonna tank because of it for sure. btw did you know our currency is so worthless that we all use USD cash now? it's not official or anything but it's all we got lol. we do still use bolivars for some things and you can pay anything in bolivars if you so choose, but when you look at stores, everything is in USD. our country is a joke lol

i gotta stop there because i think this is getting a bit disjointed and talking about venezuela makes my blood boil sometimes lol but i hope that answers your question. be vigilant of sites spreading pro-chavez/maduro propaganda; it will be very obvious once you pay attention to how things are written 🥴 if you want a clear example of what propaganda reads like, check whitehouse.gov LMFAOOO (i'm serious, the articles they've been posting since trump won are another level of insane, what the fuck is this timeline)

anyway i sincerely hope trump gets an aneurysm or some shit before he ends up pissing off the american people into taking to the streets so he can declare martial law. civilians vs military is not pretty.

[nonexistentbeanbag]

not at all my usual stuff but can we please take a second to acknowledge how much Trump has ruined…everything??

Long one so please stay with me

Donald Trump has been in or around the oval office since I was 9 years old. Think about that for a second. Donald Trump. Has been in the running for president for a decade. Reality TV personality DONALD TRUMP was and will be the president of the United States of America.

Before Donald Trump politics used to be that, politics. Politicians were advocates for policy they deemed to be in the best interest of America and the American people. They were (for the most part) educated people who cared and wanted to make their mark on the history of the country. They respected one another and at least outwardly, seemed to care about the American people. Presidential candidates got where they were, not only due to charm winning over Americans, but because of their tangible policy that was in the best interest of Americans. They were intelligent and qualified.

Donald Trump is not that.

When was the last time you heard not only Donald Trump, but really any presidential candidate, concede that the opponent they're running against has a good point, or is a good person? When was the last time you heard a presidential candidate respect their opponent as an individual who wants what's best for the country? Odds are, not since 2016 at best.

Reality TV personality Donald Trump ruined the reputation of the POTUS. He fostered a climate and set a precedent where internet "stars" like Mr Beast can say they'll run for president, and we don't laugh at them. We see that as a genuine possibility, and horrifically, them winning is not outside of the realm of possibility. Fucking Kanye can run for president and could win. That's insane. The president is no longer an educated person with ideas for improving the conditions of the people. They don't have to be that anymore. The president just needs to be a big enough personality to gain your attention for their own gain.

Donald Trump ruined the race for president. We don't base people off of their merit anymore. We base president on who is loudest, who most easily gets your attention. Who can make the most baseless, wild accusations and claims, and rally people to their cause that means and advocates for nothing.

Not only has he ruined the position of President, he's ruined the American people.

We can't agree to disagree anymore. He's gathered a significant portion of the population, straight cis whites, and rallied them together against the rest of us. He's somehow managed to regress the education and tolerance of the American people by decades.

The people who voted for him don't fucking understand what tariffs are yet believe his claims that more or higher tariffs will fix the American economy.

"The colored are out to get you. They're trying to make white people a minority in this country" "The gays are shoving their sexuality in our face. It goes against the Bible and the core traditional beliefs of marriage" "Trans people are mentally sick and trying to indoctrinate your kids" "Immigrants don't belong in this country and they're trying to take your jobs and paychecks".

Whether these are his true core beliefs or not doesn't matter. This is what his followers feel and believe, and he does nothing but fan the flame of bigotry and prejudice.

Each of his campaigns have been built off the backbone of intolerance and hate. People want someone to hate, to rally against, and he gives them someone. Everyone. His opponents, his detractors, anyone who dares to criticize or look into his wild claims and shoddy policy.

January 6th is indicative of what modern day America looks like. Politics is no longer about civil disagreement or difference in preferred methods of reaching Americas goals. It's about winning.

"I want my side to win and I'll do whatever vile or immoral thing I have to do to make it happen. No I won't look into my candidates policies and make sure it's sound and aligns with my personal values, I'll take their word for it. Instead, I'll burn ballots, I'll fight strangers, I'll storm the capital, because I have to win." And he encourages all of it, because it gets him support, it gets him votes, it gets him money, and it gets him power.

Donald Trump is not a politician. He is not a president. He is a felon. An assaulter. A criminal. A terrorist.

He is a man with power who wanted more and used the American people to get it.

[sidequestsinlife]

hey american phannies, listen up

i'd like to interrupt our regularly scheduled program with an important message: "IF WE DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE AT WINNING, THEY WOULDN'T BE TRYING SO HARD TO STOP US." (- dan howell, 2025). it's not just a nice sentiment. IT IS A CALL TO ACTION. RESIST. NOW.

things in this country are fucked up right now. we are in the middle of a coup. an unelected south african oligarch is taking over our government. they are illegally accessting the personal information of hundreds of millions of americans to use for their own ends. they are unilaterally diverting congressionally authorized spending to align with an oligarch's personal preferences. they are listing the personal information of federal employees online as "targets." they are censoring social media - tumblr seems like one of the safest platforms, SO FAR, but who knows what's next. and much more.

this goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for. but it's not too late to stop them. those tariffs? yeah, enough people were mad that now they're on hold and the "concessions" trump is claiming to have gotten from canada and mexico are things they were going to do anyway already, plus mexico actually got an extra concession from trump. no matter how he tries to spin it, he lost. he blinked. and that happened because public opinion was so strongly against him.

so now it's time to say elon musk has no place in our government and may very well have a place in our prison system. are you in or near dc? show up where elon musk and his doge henchmen are planning to violate the constitution today. additionally, there are protests calling for our leaders to take action agains this coup in every state capitol today. if you can't get to your state capitol, i've been back in the country for less than 12 hours and i've already found a group of people going to our senator's local office to demand accountability and that he follow his oath to the constitution (via a local chapter of indivisible) and i'll be there this afternoon, and i'm bringing several other people with me. can't get anywhere in person? there are lots of phone calls that need to be made. write a letter if you can't make a call, but phone calls do get more attention from reps. if you don't have time but do have money, there are many organizations that rely on donations to fight the fascists; the aclu is one of my favorites. if none of these options work for you, for whatever reason, reply to this post; i'm sure we can find something for you to do to stand up to this authoritarian takeover of the united states.

this is germany, 1933. when you learned about the holocaust in school, did you imagine you would have been part of the resistance? or did you imagine you'd be the sort of person to stand idly by and watch while millions were slaughtered? this is your chance to actually be the person you imagined you'd be.

whatever you do, DO SOMETHING. those who do nothing in the face of evil, are taking the side of the oppressor. it's not too late to stop them. but at some point, it will be.

[belades]

Thank you for your long post on Switch 2 prices. It does suck that things are more expensive and I totally get why people are having a knee jerk reaction to it, but there are so many external factors demanding a more nuanced take than "Nintendo just greedy."

Exactly, and part of what bugs me is even "Small" bits of misinfo like a $10 difference can make it that much worse. Hell I'm not happy at the price increase.

But like, yesterday MoistKr1tikal(AKA penguinz0 AKA Charlie) put out a video titled "Nintendo is the greediest company ever" and like

It is literally NOTHING but misinformation, with zero fact checking, and barely any acknowledgement that those are anecdotal reports, and it was posted I believe WHILE the real information was available. And that's, well that's frankly really frustrating because in that video he HIMSELF says he thinks while it's upsetting, the console's price is understandable, and that while it's upsetting, he himself thinks $80 games would be fair, even if it's tough to stomach...... And then goes on to go "But charging $90 for every game and you don't even own it, it's not physical, it's just a download code, is reprehensible"

And literally none of that's true but that video has over 5 million views now and for many people that is their first impression of this.

And the difference is "small" enough that frankly, even when corrected, their opinion's likely to remain very different than it would be if they learned about, you know, the actual price and situation.

And it's extra frustrating because while it's probably ill advised, this is a guy who a fair amount of people get news from, and to my understanding despite how casual he is, he has a reputation for fact checking and people trust him. There are STILL people finding out about this from that and he hasn't made an "oops, I made a fucky wucky, literally none of what I said was true" followup.

You have journalists interviewing retailers about nonexistent price differences (Albeit this is about the European version of said games, for all I know there IS a price difference between physical and digital there for Some Fucking Reason.)

I've looked on multiple websites that claimed that switch games have a price difference between physical and digital or that they top out at $90 and not a single one has issued a retraction and it's just.... It's frustrating and baffling.

I've also seen people go "Nintendo knew people would hate the prices so they didn't include them in the direct" and like..... No? I can't guarantee that had no part in it, but it takes two seconds to figure that out as well. Nintendo kind of infamously bases their base prices for games and systems outside of Japan on USD, I say infamous because it fucks over a lot of consumers in other countries.

And the US has very publicly been on the verge of massive blanket tariffs. Meaning that tariffs could change the potential price of the Switch 2 between the time of the recording and the time the direct aired, or even shortly AFTER the Direct aired. And if Nintendo brought this up in the Direct, lunatics would probably take it as a "political stance", and other people would just be kinda stressed by the reminder of that shit, plus it'd potentially change the length of/amount of content in the direct across different regions.

And one can further infer this from the fact that, according to a video I watched last night from former Nintendo Treehouse employees, at a recent press event (possibly the same day?) Nintendo explicitly said they won't answer any questions about the price "or politics." And the only political question people would ask them would be tariffs.

And then, lo and behold, that very same day, Trump announces unprecedented 10-20% blanket tariffs against every country on earth with the conspicuous exception of Russia, and the conspicuous INCLUSION of multiple landmasses with literally zero human population, listed as if they were countries.

And, well, remember on my post where I said that the Switch OLED costs $350, the increased prices of the dock and joycons (both due to pretty notable manufacturing differences that would absolutely raise the price even just for materials) is $50, and that's $400 right there? Again, the "basic" minimum tariff that was announced that day was about 10% (yes this link is almost pure propaganda but it is an official statement by the US government reading "alright fuckos, 10% tariffs for everybody"), and 10% of $400 is $40 and oh look, there's $440 (technically $446, the dock's MSRP is actually $106. Also there is, in fact, risk of the retail price being HIGHER because most Switches are currently manufactured in Vietnam which has blanket tariffs of nearly 50% what the fuck. Tariffs aimed toward Japan are about 20% if you're curious, )

This is excluding some price weirdness with how the switch 2 is rolling out in Japan (there's two versions, and the US is only getting the Latter, better one) along with the price difference between Switch OLED already being weird between Japan and the US, although I wouldn't be surprised if expected tariffs are the whole reason Japan's even doing that. Shoot, my hyperfocus and need to be thorough crept in again. Oh well, I suppose this covers some notable information I haven't seen anybody else talk about?

UPDATE:

My understanding of the timeline is, Trump announced 10% tariffs against all countries roughly that morning, saying he'd add reciprocal tariffs on top of that for "The worst offenders" (read: almost everyone) that evening. And that evening, he announced, well, the shitshow you're probably hearing about now (not that 10% tariffs against all countries isn't already a shitshow).

Why am I mentioning this? Well:

Nintendo has officially halted all US preorders of the Switch 2 based on those combined tariff while they figure out what the fuck to do.

Whether you think the peripherals increase+10% matches the final price too closely to be a coincidence, or you think this announcement fairly decisively proves that it is in fact a coincidence, I'll leave up to you.

[mariacallous]

I do need to be clear about one thing before we start. “Vatnik” gets used interchangeably with “Russian” these days but it does actually have a definition. It was a pejorative term frequently used in the post-Soviet sphere to describe jingoistic followers of Russian propaganda.

In the contemporary usage this does genuinely describe a very large swath of Russian society. They may not be rabidly jingoistic but Russians are largely supportive of the invasion of Ukraine because it has personally impacted them minimally, I have previously discussed this at length in the context of Russian mobilization.

This is an imperial mindset. The war is “over there” and it’s not their problem and when the war does come home in the form of casualties or the occasional drone flyby, it’s an annoyance and an inconvenient reminder that those pesky little people have the audacity to resist and they could just become subjects and end all of their suffering and make this inconvenience go away.

This may seem very far away even with America’s new administration but Trump 2.0 wasted no time in engaging in delusions of imperial grandeur with his inaugural address referring to taking back the Panama Canal and explicitly using the phrase “manifest destiny.”

The administration has also discussed taking Greenland, military operations in Mexico (with the 82nd Airborne beginning preparations to deploy to the Southern border today) or annexing the entirety of Canada.1 As of recently, it has been reported that the Danish prime minister had a phone call with Donald Trump and Trump was very serious in his intention to take Greenland such that it has shaken many European leaders. Mexico, who has found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over immigration and a completely fucking stupid idea that drug cartels can be dismantled by “doing a Sicario” refused to accept a US deportation flight earlier today. Canada, in response to rumblings of the Trump administration implementing tariffs2 with one of our closest trading partners, has signaled willingness to engage in retaliatory tariffs.

The last of those brings me to why I am absolutely losing it on my fellow countrymen.

The response of many Americans to the idea that Canada could retaliate with tariffs of their own is confused shock. As this thread on Bluesky from Sharon Kuruvilla demonstrates, the response of most Americans to the idea that someone might fight back is slack-jawed bewilderment that other people might want to see them suffer as we will make them.

I understand that this is Tiktok but this is genuinely how many Americans view other countries inconveniencing us by responding to our own actions. (Trade) War is something that happens over there, it doesn’t impact us beyond occasionally someone from your high school coming home in a casket draped with a flag, but for the people that we bring war to, it is unimaginable pain and suffering that Americans have never experienced firsthand.

Americans and Russians are really not so different in this aspect. We are both content to let the imperial wars we wage fade into background noise while we kill people over there. We did this with Iraq and Afghanistan. The Russians did it with Crimea and the War in Donbas and they’d like to keep doing it but tenacious Ukrainian defense that extracts a tremendous toll of blood and a strategic bombing campaign that makes it impossible.

A common retort from Americans is “I didn’t vote for him, why should I suffer?” and this is an abdication of collective responsibility.

We might be a lot like Russians but America is not Russia. We have free elections, we have freedom of speech, we have freedom of assembly. We do not have a state security service that targets dissidents as the Russians do. We also do not have a society that has been subject to the same kind of atomization that Russian society has. Acting like Russians in this context is a disgrace.

Many Americans like to posture about how they protested the Iraq War in 2003 and how that should absolve them of sin. But the question that should follow is “where were you in 2004? Or 2006? 2008? 2010?” This may be an unreasonable standard of collective responsibility but it is not an incorrect one and my fellow countrymen can’t even seem to make it to 2003.

Indifference to our export of violence and suffering while simultaneously being shocked and confused that someone would dare retaliate for having that foisted on them is vatnik behavior.

This is also before we discuss how many Americans have responded to Trump’s imperial delusions with jokes and discussions of how this will actually be a positive for American politics because they do not know anyone who has experienced the violence that invasion and occupation can unleash.

These people will also inevitably deflect from any criticism of this rhetoric with some form of the schrodinger’s douchebag argument in which they were simultaneously joking but also you’re a hysterical dweeb for thinking it will happen or that I was serious.

I understand irony-poisoning is the new cool thing because showing that you care about your fellow humans is cringe but this is not something that should be joked about and it is especially not something that should be joked about given our current administration. I have seen Americans say (claiming this to be in jest) that “Canadians have no real culture” or “Canada wasn’t a sovereign country until the 80s” which may seem to be a stupid joke but this is also how you normalize the invasion, occupation, and forced assimilation of another nation.

“We are brotherly peoples, what’s really going to change for you?” is a genuinely repulsive statement because Russia’s genocide of Ukrainians is based on that exact idea. “We are the same (Russian), we will kill you if you disagree.”

If you spent any significant amount of time on Twitter since the Russian invasion, you’d probably have seen at least one instance of Americans of all political affiliations bemoaning Russian conscripts (who aren’t actually conscripts) being wasted by Ukrainian drones and calling anyone engaging in schadenfreude a disgusting freak.

This is imperial sympathy. A manifestation of Americans subconsciously realizing how much they have in common with Russians.

Americans instinctually sympathize with Russian invaders more than they do with Ukrainian defenders because foreign imperial wars are what American military policy in the 21st century is known for. Americans don’t remember a time when they had to fight to defend their friends and family from an invader who wished to slaughter them and take their homes. Even when we fought just wars, they were wars overseas. Americans sympathize with the Russian mobik making the sign of the cross before a grenade is dropped on him after a failed attempt to storm a treeline because they can more easily imagine a shell hole like that being their final resting place and the guy defending his home being death manifest.

Maybe we are just a bunch of fucking Russians and we haven’t realized it yet.

1

I would strongly recommend against dismissing this as the most powerful man in the world engaging in “we do a little trolling.” James discusses this dynamic in his own piece.

2

Trump quite literally believes that tariffs are a thing you do that makes other countries give you free money so other presidents are stupid for not doing it. Most Americans probably agree.

[something-like-a-heart]

I often reblog political posts, but I rarely make my own. Today… well, I’m right pissed off and I need to say something.

The news has been full of that mouldy Cheeto who once again occupies an office he should never have been given access to. And lately it’s especially been full of the tariffs that he’s slapped on my country and on Mexico for no good reason. Because let’s get real: it’s never been about fentanyl or illegal immigration. He’s been disturbingly clear about this since before he was sworn in again: he wants to annex Canada (I assume for our abundance of natural resources) and he’s using an unjustified and probably illegal trade war to try to do it. When the leaders of my country retaliated, as they well should, he threatened further tariffs on top of what he’s already put into place. And from what I read this morning, one of his cronies has recently made vague allusions to a more concrete form of war as well. It’s hard not to read a threat in that.

Canada’s not perfect, but we don’t deserve this attack on our sovereignty. And most of us are justifiably angry about this betrayal of what had been a mutually beneficial arrangement for a very long time. We’re on the defensive now, but a lot of us are spoiling for a fight. Because nothing binds this country together more strongly than an attack against us from an outside source, especially when that source is America. Just as the Americans never really forgot about Manifest Destiny, we’ve never forgotten about being in that particular line of fire. Most of us are none too pleased about being a target for American conquest again.

Of course, there are some Canadians who would actually quite like to see us lose our independence. From what I can see, those people are either wealthy (or sucking up to people who are) or they’ve got their heads so far up their asses that they think that it’s Justin Trudeau’s fault every time they stub their toes or misplace their car keys. Most of what I’ve seen, though, whether it’s in the news (even the National Post, which at one point ran an opinion piece that stated that becoming the 51st state might not be so bad), on Facebook, or even on Reddit, shows how absolutely fucking pissed a sizeable majority of Canadians are that an ego-driven sickly orange sack of greed and arrogance has decided that he wants our country to give in to his bullying. He seems rather affronted that we have so far refused to do so.

The sheer scale of contempt that I’ve seen for the idea is almost surprising. Not long ago, I thought that Canada might pull ourselves apart among Québec’s ongoing disdain for anything Anglophone or non-white, the Western provinces’ frequent griping about the distribution of federal transfers, Northern Ontario’s eternal frustration with Southern Ontario politicians, and Eastern Canada’s perennially fragile economies. These things have been reduced to family squabbles in the face of the current threat to our existence as a nation. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an outpouring of Canadian patriotism, and I have to admit that I am wondering how long it can last, especially once the inevitable economic hardship really sets in. But Canadians can be stubborn, and maybe we can see this through.

As for me, I’m incredibly angry. That shitheel has no right to threaten us. And as much as several of my country’s leaders have said that Canadians aren’t mad at Americans, I absolutely am mad at every American who looked at their ballot and decided that they’d rather have another round of Prez 45 than an actual sane human being who isn’t, you know, a fucking convicted felon. I am angry at every American who could have voted but decided not to and who might have stopped this disaster of a man from getting back into the White House. And I am absolutely fucking furious at every American who looks at what that noxious bag of festering garbage is trying to do to us and thinks that it’s a great and reasonable idea, and that the path to American prosperity lies in the destruction of Canada. May all of those people step on LEGO blocks in their bare feet every day for the rest of their lives. And if any of them are following me—do us both a favour and stop. I don’t want anything to do with you.

To any Americans who may see this who do not applaud the rancid bully’s behaviour or intentions, I see you and I appreciate you and I hope that you will do what you can to stop him. I have no say in the politics of your country, but you do. Please use that voice not just to defend us, but also yourselves. His policies and that DOGE bullshit are already doing immense damage to your country. Write letters. Organize. Be as much of a pain in the ass for them as you can be. Your protest movements made waves in the past. You can do it again.

And to any of my fellow Canadians who may see this: elbows up, folks. We got through the worst of COVID-19 by working together and watching out for each other. We can do it again. In the immortal words of Red Green, “Remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.”

🇨🇦

[isa-isfruity]

Waking up and seeing that immigration agents are targeting local elementary schools in my city and asking parents for papers as they drop off their children is literally so disheartening. Seeing the creation of a phone number for people nationally to report agents so that immigrants can be ready to flee their homes if necessary is so disgustingly fucked-up. News coverage of immigrants being escorted into military planes and marines being stationed at the border 30 minutes from my house is terrifying.

Just like America is the home of citizens, America is the home of immigrants as well. This land that we live on is literally stolen from Indigenous people, so why are we all of a sudden so concerned about deporting undocumented immigrants? It takes a long time to obtain American citizenship; there are families who have been living with at least one undocumented family member for 20+ years. Some people are fleeing war, femicide and infanticide, and severe government corruption (which... bad timing). This is their home, and for many immigrants and first generation kids the United States is all they have ever known. Their kids–who were born here and have birthright citizenship–are going to be forced back into a country that is not their home, taken out of school and away from all of their friends and forced to live a new life in an unfamiliar place with a different culture. This is their home too.

Immigration is really not as big of a problem as everyone makes it out to be. Immigrants are not making things that much more expensive for you, statistically speaking. Things are getting more expensive because 1) of Trump's tariffs, 2) of oil prices, and 3) inflation happens naturally overtime. Americans are the ones buying drugs from the Mexican cartels. They don't make money from other Latin American countries; they make money from Americans. Immigrants run our country and *cue the meme* do the jobs that most don't want to do. Yet the people who profit off their work do nothing but treat them like shit.

It is so pathetic that this is what the president decides to spend money, time, and manpower on. We could be doing things that would actually improve the country, but nooooo, we need to get rid of a solid chunk of our workforce just because they're undocumented, or their kids are only citizens because they were born here! Let's destroy the application of an entire constitutional amendment!

Let's be honest with ourselves: they're not doing this shit solely because they're undocumented; they're doing it because they're Mexican/other POC.

Seeing my friends worry for their safety and wonder if they're going to be asked for their papers next is so sad. Hearing that the sheriff of our city (by the border) is allowing ICE to come in and check the documentation of a large amount of the city's residents is disgusting. They are asking residents and citizens to prove that they have the right to be in a land of alleged freedom. That sounds like bullshit and an invasion of privacy to me. I genuinely cannot believe that this level of bigotry is what our country has come to. Although I am a citizen, as a Mexican-American I am afraid for my friends and community.

It is not just so you can have lower gas prices. It is not just so that your eggs cost a dollar less; it is because Donald Trump hates anyone who will not impale themselves for him, and because he wants to use POC and the LGBTQ+ community as scapegoats to incite more fear and increase the average American's perception that he is the only viable solution for normalcy and long-term stability.

Do you want to know why Hitler had a seemingly decent economic policy? It's because he lowered prices by forcing out Jewish people and sending them to concentration camps where they would die brutal deaths. Do you want to know why China seems so nice, lavish, and unified? Because they send Uyghur Muslims to be "re-educated" at internment camps, and they never come back. Do you want to know why many people believe that Trump is a good leader who cares about the American people? Because he forces out immigrant families and plasters his "achievements" all over social media and TV.

But all of this is patriotic, right? And the government is turning a blind eye.

"He wouldn't actually do anything! He's not allowed to!" Checks and balances only work when the other branches don't suck you off and agree with you on everything. But when everyone agrees with you, who's going to stop you?

I don't mean to be a fear mongerer, but to keep it 100 with y'all, I'm scared. And I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted of looking at the news, but if I stop looking at the news and educating myself, then I let them win.

Anyways sorry, that's my rant lol

[writerobscura]

The USA

Sorry for the radio silence; I'm still processing how 51% of my country thinks it's okay to elect a bigoted, misogynistic felon to the presidency.

This election is a reminder that half of this country is so fucking hateful that they're willing to elect someone that makes us a laughing stock around the globe while those who bought and paid for his campaign gut democracy.

Are you doing better than you were four years ago? Of course not. You were getting subsidy checks Biden pushed through a Republican congress post-pandemic.

Wages went up for essential workers, and that expense got passed on to you because corporations aren't going to short to their shareholders - and the President can do nothing about that without holding companies accountable to regulation - which our new president has no intention of doing.

The next two years:

My adult children will lose their healthcare when he and his Republican senate quash the Affordable Care Act - but hey, so long as you have a few extra bucks at the end of the month for cigs and beer, what do you care?

Some states will be able to seize the medical records of women and mothers and use those records to fine or put them in jail (abortion, IVF, getting your trans teen the care they need) - but hey, none of those things affect you personally, so fuck 'em and hey, women aren't even human, am I right you newly registered voting Gen Z fellas?

College debt, infrastructure repairs, social programs - kiss all that goodbye because fucking the planet up is a small price to pay so you can get gasoline for under $2.99. Oh, and that Latino spouse? All it takes is one call from a disgruntled 'Murican and our new INS will be there with 'post-citizenship deportation review' papers.

Wars? How easily everyone forgets that Ukraine is at war right now because your guy failed to help him when Russia flooded his country with separatists. You think he's going to stop arming Israel? Where's the money in that?

Xenophobia may have worked when the USA was 100% self-sufficient in the 1900s, but it cannot be done in this day and age - but hey, going back to the old days is what it's all about, right?

Living in a hurricane or natural disaster prone state? You better pray to whatever G*d you worship that nothing happens in the next 2 years because the Pubs have the Senate and the presidency - no more FEMA funds and 'emergency handouts.'

Tariffs instead of taxes on the rich? Zero-sum situation. Guess how many companies import basic things just to make the shit you eat and use daily? Monsanto is no longer an American company, most farmers in the USA 'import' their seed, though because lack of corporate regulation has allowed them to destroy all farms that don't use their seed. While we're on the subject of tariffs, any foreign company can say, "We just won't sell to you, America." What's the backup plan? Oh, right, he has none.

Prices will rise, wages will stagnate, tariffs won't work, so guess who gets billed for that deficit? Not the wealthy—they spent billions electing this assclown, and there's no way they're investing one damned penny in the rest of us.

But hey, they know you can take it because you voted to have all this...You voted for all of the above at the expense of literally half your fellow countrymen.

If Kamala won, you would've lost NOTHING. Your worst case scenario under her presidency is that you would've been running in place financially while those you consider morally or racially beneath you, might've been gotten ahead a few steps.

So yeah, 51% of my country would rather watch it all burn down than suffer anyone they consider less of a human being, be given an equal chance.

[sadgirlglimmeringdarling]

If I recall correctly you live in a sanctuary city. How has it been where you live in regards to the illegals in your area? They removed all of them where I live. They closed all the hotels. It's been peaceful for the first time in a long time. Good job Trump!

Trump said he was going to do it and he did it. That's for sure.

Here, they removed all the dangerous Venezuelan gang members Tren De Aragua. They are in Gitmo now. 80% of the migrant population is gone. The 20% of the migrants that remain are peaceful families who aren't bothering anyone.

It was the dangerous Venezuelan gang members that were terrifying. I repeat - these monsters were running around with AR15's taking over apartment buildings and complexes. They were taking over hotels in Texas. It was terrifying how they roamed the streets so freely with no consequences. They are gone now, thank God.

Now that they are gone, I can do my laundry where I always did it without fear. I literally had to drive 5 miles to another laundromat where I felt safer.

That's is the only positive thing the Trump administration has done - as well as protecting women's sports.

Everything else has been a fucking shitshow, thanks to Elon Musk filling Trumps head with bullshit.

If you remember Trump's first term, he didn't randomly fire thousands of government workers with a snap of a finger.

All these firings were concocted by Elon Musk. The same asshole who fired the entire Twitter staff with a smile on his face. This wasn't thought up by Trump.

Thankfully Judges are stepping in to stop this. This shit is illegal to do. You can't just point and fire 300,000 government workers for shits and giggles. Trump was ordered by a judge to re-hire all government probational workers.

Again, Trump never did any of these crazy firings on his first term. He went after dirty politicians like him.

It tells you who is really running this country. It's not Trump, it's Elon. Elon points and Trump follows.

I might agree with how Trump has gotten rid of all the dangerous illegals from this country. I agree with him as well with protecting women's sports - but firing people with a snap of a finger I don't concent or agree with.

They also need to leave Medicaid, Medicare, affordable housing, Section 8, nursing homes, homecare, SNAP and Social Security the fuck alone. Elon wants to get rid of all of that too.

Then there's all the drama with the Tariffs.

Fingers cross that more judges step in to put a stop to Elon's bullshit.

I'm not excusing Trump from any of this but it's obvious who put this in Trump's head. It's obvious who's really running the show.

[good-fwiend-in-wome]

well i made another post like this after biden's debate but this time there's no kamala twist to send things in a better direction.

it has truly never been more over for the US. americans have once again decided they prefer fascism over women. american friends please make sure your passports are up to date and consider buying guns, cause everything is about to get a hell of a lot worse.

the people who abstained or voted green are all complicit, but hey at least you didn't vote for holocaust harris amirite? congratulations, you'll get to be the smuggest purest people on the trains to the camps.

other people with blood on their hands include every single republican voter, who i don't wish the consequences of their own actions on even if they knew exactly what they'd be, the democrat campaigners who lobotomized kamala after the DNC because god forbid a candidate have energy and bite, and of course kamala herself who just couldn't get biden's and Israel's dicks out of her mouth long enough to do anything, and who insisted on talking about "unity" and such horseshit when half the country was gleefully saying they want fascism. fucking fantastic job everyone real shining city on a hill shit right there.

so what now? gaza is gonna be glassed, with online lefties telling you with a straight face how it's exactly identical to the situation under biden, Ukraine's ability to hold back russia is gonna be severely fucked if not fail entirely, the entire world economy is gonna suffer as trump puts 2d100% tariffs on every random thing and country he doesn't like, many countries are probably gonna follow along with the fascism because the us is the most influential country on earth on top of the fact there's already an international wave of fascism hitting many countries especially in europe, and of course basically every single domestic issue imaginable in the US is gonna be even more fucked and your democracy will backslide as will civil rights of queer people and people of color. and your fucking eggs are sure as shit not getting cheaper. but hey at least the president isn't *gasp* a female.

good luck everyone, we'll all fucking need it

[jewishbarbies]

https://www.tumblr.com/jewishbarbies/768080310343778304/gotta-admit-bernie-sanders-is-getting-ridiculously?source=share

Bernie been pissing me off too but I ain’t wanna say it coz people get real protective of that old ass man nowadays, as if he’s their lord and saviour. Did the Dems do him wrong in 2016/20? Yeah, sure whatever. But Bernie has NEVER BEEN POPULAR BECAUSE HE IS RADICAL. The demographics that vote the most are old people and middle aged people and Bernie ain’t never been popular to those demographics. Maybe now, in the age of radicalism, but not in ‘16 and definitely not in ‘20. He keep acting like he would be the saving grace of America, but he forgets that he failed to capture the support from southerners, especially southern black folk. And it ain’t coz he Jewish, it’s because he has no fucking charisma at all and came off as a stuck up northerner and talking down on people. They’re gonna tell you it’s because black voters are more conservative, but it’s more complicated than that. The Clintons put in the work over the last thirty years and were actual active members of the Democratic Party. Bernie was not an active Democrat for most of his career and served a constituency of mostly white people in Vermont. Add on top of that the endorsements of Clinton by local black leaders, and Bernie Sanders never stood a chance. Also, black voters aren’t afraid of social spending, but Bernie’s specific type of social spending is more appealing to middle income to affluent college students. He had the wrong message and the wrong institutional bonafides. But people gon say it’s coz “black democrats are more conservative than white democrats” THAT AINT THE TRUTH AND YOU KNOW IT. BERNIE JUST FAILED.

But in terms of him talking shit bout the Dems and Kamala nowadays, he been pissing me off because he truly doesn’t get the real problem here. He doesn’t get that he himself aided towards the Dems losing the election.

One thing I will say is that the republicans won because they vote red no matter WHAT. No matter how outlandish their politics are, they vote as a united front, which dem voters didn’t. And radicalism aided towards that. One issue voters aided towards that. All of that shit is shit that Bernie himself largely contributed towards. And now he wanna act all high and mighty, get your old ass outta politics and go play golf. And take McConnell with you.

He keeps pushing radicalism and he doesn’t seem to get that radicalism on either side is what’s destroying this fucking country. Radical right wingers are everybody, but so is radical leftism. Does he not see how radical leftism is harming black and Jewish folk? The two demographics that vote Dem overwhelmingly because we know what’s at stake if we don’t? Maybe he sees it and doesn’t care, idk. “They’re not radical enough” WE DONT NEED RADICALISM.

The way he be talking about Kamala and the Dems on the podcasts and shit, it’s like he wanted them to lose to “prove a point”. And that shit pisses me off. Because at the end of the day, Bernie’s an old, rich, white (or white passing Jewish) guy. Project 2025 and all ain’t gonna affect him like the way it’ll affect us. He’s old as shit. He won’t be here much longer. And he rich too. He ain’t gonna suffer from the tariffs and shit like we will. So for him to act like this knowing how much pull he got… idk man. Shit pisses me off.

Sorry for the rant. I’ve just been thinking this for weeks. Bernie been unpopular with voters for a long time and his bitter ass won’t get over losing.

well said.

Bernie did a lot for activism in his life but he’s doing actual harm to the people he claims to be an activist for now. he should just go back to local politics or get out of the game altogether imo.

[2005noroithecurse]

I don't know if anyone is even still on this blog but I just needed to vent somewhere semi private so hello impromptu return.

anyways I saw this today

and the absolute and utter naivete in that question simultaneously broke my heart and pissed me off. There will not be any help coming. Not now, not next year, not five or ten years from now. Nobody is going to rescue us nor rescue you. And I can tell a majority of other Americans have never been in a position where you are acutely aware of that, it's never been a situation in your life where you've had to stand completely alone and totally aware that nobody is coming to "save you" from whatever bad thing is happening to you. And it's also an incredibly privileged and sheltered line of thought to automatically believe that no matter how awful either your own choices/actions or the collective choices/actions to sit there and go "well someone else/some other country is going to come fix it, it'll be fine. We can all be citizens of idk fucking China *cue forced laughter*" like yeah never gonna fucking happen babe. That is never going to happen. No other country on earth bears the burden of responsibility for America.

This is all a consequence of not bothering to listen, read, or acknowledge anything or anyone around you (if you were a trump voter). This is all a direct consequence of you wanting it to literally be executively excused to walk around and act like a shithead. You wanted presidential permission to call people slurs. You wanted presidential permission to enact and encourage violence against others. You wanted presidential permission to feel superior.

When a majority of the American north has zero power because you elected a maniac that picked a fight with Canada, it's your fault. All those people who will die will be your fault. I do not care, those deaths will come as a direct result of your choice and your selfishness not because of Canada being forced to respond. When people starve to death in the hundreds and thousands because grocery prices will soar as a result of tariffs against Mexico (our main fruit and vegetable importer) it will be your fault. When the unhoused population around the nation explodes as people default on mortgages, rent, ect because they have to choose between making payments or eating that day it will be your fault. People who lived through the 2008 recession have already given us a glimpse of what that hell was like, this will be worse than that. This will be the first step to complete and total collapse, I truly believe that. Do you understand how long it takes to truly recover from economic collapse? Look at rust belt states. The collapse of the steel industry happened like forty years ago, none of those areas have properly recovered. That is a small peak into what it's like to deal with economic collapse. How long did it take the nation to recover from the great depression? Arguably not until our economic heights of the 1980s, a long fucking time. Some could argue we never truly recovered.

Did you know they fired the guy that headed the department that prevented predatory actions from banks and lenders? Oh you didn't know you lived in a state where, legally because of that agency, debtors you owe money to couldn't garnish you or show up at your house demanding payment? Guess what? They will now. Those loans you've ignored? Get ready to have to come up with potentially thousands of dollars or face the consequence of losing everything you have and being either on the street or in jail. Get ready to be even more financially strapped because now your paychecks are getting garnished so you extra can't afford food or rent or insurance or medication or a million other things.

We will all suffer and die together because of the choices of a selfish majority. And none of us will even get to enjoy or gloat over their suffering because we'll be starving and dying right along side them. No help is coming.

That is why it's so important to stop thinking selfishly and hyper individually because it is killing us all. You are not an island, you do not exist independently of the world around you. I do not exist independently of your choices, nor my own. And you and I will pay for that choice together, regardless of the fact that only one of us even made that choice. Fuck you

[snowstories]

I think it's telling that people in the imperial core only start caring if the price gets raised. We've known for decades (centuries even, depending on how you're counting) that basically every single thing we buy from our clothes to our food to our electronics was either made for slave wages or with actual literal slave labour. And the vast majority of people do not care enough to buy fairtrade or even just thrift, let alone engage in meaningful activism against the circumstances under which our products are made. We all agree it's bad and nobody really cares that much.

But when companies start raising prices, when tariffs and other import costs threaten to raise prices, when our standard of living gets threatened, THEN all of a sudden people start to care. Not just with necessities like food, but with fancy luxuries we absolutely don't need. And of course the recent price gauging isn't the result of companies suddenly growing a conscience and paying all workers in their production line fairly, but still. These products have been unfair and made at a great cost since forever. It just didn't cost US very much, so we didn't care very much.

Which is, of course, the biggest reason people don't bother buying fairtrade: god fucking forbid we have to pay a little more. Even when the money IS going to the people who made it.

Watching everyone lose their minds over rising prices and the idea that the standard of living in the west might become slightly lower has radicalised me like nothing else tbh. I thought we wanted the west to fall? Did you think that would happen without it affecting your standard of living? Like these price increases and tariffs and whatever are not going to make the countries we've been exploiting any richer (probably, idk much about economics), but the way ppl are reacting to them makes it pretty clear to me that the majority of so-called 'anti-imperialist leftists' would abandon all of their morals if these increases DID lead to fair wages across the production line. Everyone's anti-imperialist until they have to recon with the fact that their standard of living can only be sustained by imperialism.

[hiccup-queen]

Nintendo announced that it was delaying Switch 2 pre-orders in America due to Trump's tariffs.

The reasonable part of me was surprised when $449 was the worldwide price, not the US price. I expected the US price to be higher specifically because of Trump's announced tariffs. It makes perfect sense for Nintendo to reevaluate now that they've been announced/implemented.

But another part of me wonders, given the widespread "WTF?!" reaction to the price tag, if they're going to lower the price in countries that haven't started a trade war, and keep (or raise!) the US price.

This is also going to get people to give a shit about the tariffs before we see the full effect. People are freaking out that the latest console isn't going to be preorderable in the US the way it will be in other countries, especially people who have already registered to be able to pre-order. (Yeah, you have to sign up, and then they'll email you when you're able to place your pre-order. It's a whole thing to try to avoid what happened with the PS5 launch.)

$449 for a console + $80-$90 for Mario Kart was already pissing people off - seriously, they had to prematurely end a livestream promoting the new Mario Kart so many people were saying was "DROP THE PRICE". (GameXplain has a short up with just a screen recording of that section, and the comments for the official Nintendo Direct video isn't much better.) Announcing that it will probably cost MORE is going to piss people off even further.

Which the conspiracy-theorist side of me is saying was the point. Seriously, announcing a console already getting backlash for its price is probably going to cost MORE? Yeah, a certain number of people are going to turn against Nintendo...but a lot of diehard Nintendo fans are going to be calling their reps like "hey. What the fuck?"

So this is a PSA to call your reps and ask them what the fuck they're doing while Trump starts trade wars with the entire world, including the penguins.

I'll expand on this later but rn I gotta get ready for work.