Why is non-news like this still so popular in the US when there are so many more important issues, such as the fact that the government is breaking its own laws by continuing to prevent the publication of the Epstein files, that it is executing people in public with no trial and no reason whatsoever, that it is continuously breaking existing laws, that it is betraying and extorting long standing allies, that it is shamelessly enriching itself in a way that is unprecedented even in the history of the US, which is certainly famous for this … the list goes on and on, but still, non-news about Erika Kirk gets upvotes??? Why??? Because the US users need someone to hate instead of themselves?

Even people here on lemmy don’t seem to realize how attention is being siphoned off - because they post stuff about a completely irrelevant person and thus do exactly what the US regime, which is promoting this person, wants them to do.

It really couldn’t be any more stupid.

Why don’t you just focus on the president and his organized crime operation? Why do you allow yourselves to get distracted by his bullshit? Why do you even help with this orange child molester out by doing his very bidding!

Just do the world a favor and participate in the nationwide strike planned for tomorrow.

Rule of law, huh?

It’s almost like something straight out of the Nazis’ playbook back in Germany: seizing power by abusing the law. Hitler first made use of the so‑called “Reichstag Fire Decree” to undermine fundamental rights and launch a campaign of terror - using violence, mass arrests and intimidation to eliminate political opponents; at least formally, these measures were covered by law.

Subsequently, these and all other heinous crimes committed by the Nazis were rapidly enshrined in legal form, backed by police force and intimidation - for example the “Enabling Act,” which stripped parliament of its powers and allowed the cabinet (in practice controlled by Hitler) to enact laws, even contrary to the constitution.

Overall, it was a takeover that used and even created the appearance of constitutionality, in which the Nazis interpreted and applied the law at their own discretion and enforced it with violence and intimidation. The rest is history.

When I look at the US news since January last year, it all seems very familiar - with a rather insignificant difference being that instead of the Reichstag fire, another staged “emergency,” namely illegal immigration, is being used as a pretext to undermine civil rights…

Exactly, and on top of that, there’s always this shady Irish leprechaun at the end trying to peddle you a pot of gold …

The thing is: it is no longer necessary to burn fossil fuels for transportation or energy production. The idea that this is still necessary is a narrative fueled by the money of a few unscrupulous people, which is what this random post is about. It is a lie that will lead us all to ruin.

We simply cannot continue the status quo. This conclusion is not just my opinion, but a proven fact that, to my knowledge, no reputable scientist would dispute.

Unfortunately, the Eppstein case proves that not even this is their downfall.

That’s a really good analogy. Thank you very much for that.

Oh, I enjoy studying history. And I find it terrible that apparently no one learns from history, because otherwise fascism would not be back in vogue.

Of course they do, this is their mindless tactic and it’s obvious to everyone with half a brain because it’s so mindless (it used to be much more skillful).

This can only work because there’s so much money behind it. Otherwise, it would never be possible to maintain such obvious bullshit. It can only work because there are billionaires and because these billionaires are all inhumane monsters - psychopaths by definition. It is the logical consequence of unbridled capitalism, which, contrary to all the narratives that people like Milton Friedman have made famous, is not a free market, but always produces the monopolies we see today.

The civilizational regression we are experiencing today is the direct result of this: of too much money in too few horribly unscrupulous hands.

In itself, it’s simple, but billionaires are doing everything they can to prevent people from realizing that - as in this case: hey, let’s just have our own fascist Super Bowl show. It’s just sooo fucking stupid, but so are people.

I guess this is how it is: Despite its blatant absurdity, all of this is only possible because people allow it - that is just a fact. With all that monstrous shit going on in the word besides better judgement I find it increasingly difficult to attribute this to any other reason than that there is a significant proportion of people who are incorrigible, arrogant and ignorant beyond saving - and then some who are just plain evil. Perhaps that is human nature, which Kant and all other Enlightenment thinkers always denied because they wanted people to believe in the good of the people so they can do good instead of evil.

Well, this shows once again that the right-wing extremists need their own artificially staged reality in order to somehow justify all the outrageous lies of the MAGA leadership: they simply cannot allow people to peacefully celebrate sporting events.

It’s really absurd how blind these idiots are. They just can’t see that the imaginary enemy images that are being mindlessly propagated here simply serve to distract from how thoroughly degenerate the leaders of this “movement” are, from the fact that they are actually the enemies of all halfway decent people.

The stupidity is really only surpassed by the ruthlessness of the criminals responsible for this moronic deception.

Was it already the case before MAGA that it was completely normal for the highest law enforcement authorities in the US to blatantly lie and completely disregard the law, even breaking it themselves on a regular basis, even in high-profile cases?

As a European, I am now so used to the fact that absolutely nothing the White House communicates is even remotely true that it seems like the normal state of affairs in the US.

Is it just particularly extreme with this criminal mafia regime, or was it already common practice before?

Great, great, so once again there will be a nice investigation, after which absolutely nothing will be done. It would save a lot of time and money not to investigate at all, but hey, the whole point seems to be that you can hide under the cosy cloak of the rule of law before letting the worst of the worst get away with all their crimes.

Budweiser originally refers to a Czech beer - Budějovický Budvar - brewed in České Budějovice (German: Budweis). Today there are two separate beers sold under the Budweiser name: the Czech original (often marketed as Budvar or, in some countries, Czechvar) and the US beer produced by Anheuser‑Busch. Trademark rights to the name “Budweiser” are divided by territory after long legal disputes: Anheuser‑Busch owns the Budweiser trademark in the United States and in many other markets, while Budějovický Budvar retains rights in other countries (in Germany for example).

So Budweiser was never really a US beer - it is just sold under this name to give the impression that it is a good beer, which the original is, but its US imitation never was.

Fun fact, which has unfortunately become completely meaningless since the US company Mondelēz (formerly Kraft Foods) has bought the brand: Since around 2000, the Toblerone logo has featured a mountain, the Matterhorn, a well recognized symbol of Switzerland. Hidden in the silhouette of the mountain is a bear, the heraldic animal of the Swiss city of Bern, where the brand was established in 1908.

“Toblerone” is a play on words combining the name “Tobler,” the surname of one of the company’s founders, and “Torrone,” the Italian name for honey and almond nougat. The brand name also includes “Berne,” which is the historical English spelling for the city of Bern.

Yes, that’s probably true. Maybe someone will come along who people can rally behind - someone who will put an end to hatred and exploitation and show people that greed and self-interest are leading the country into the abyss it now faces.

The frustration felt by the undoubtedly countless decent people in the US must be hard to bear. As a German, I can well imagine that, because in my home country, too, the goddamned fascists are on the rise, and here, too, there are unfortunately many people who fall prey to their dull ideology, even though it completely contradicts their own interests.

That is precisely why I think it is important for people to take to the streets, because social media and traditional media are controlled by the same unscrupulous monsters who have resurrected fascism in order to maximize their profits. In such a manipulated media reality, it is easy to get the false impression that the majority supports this inhuman ideology - with all its disgusting hatred for everything it feels threatened by: intellect, humor, empathy, compassion and all that.

This makes it all the more important, in my opinion, for people to come together in real life to reassure each other that there are indeed many decent people out there.

Yes, true leaders are needed for every movement - courageous people who care about the cause rather than themselves. Well, perhaps US citizens will now succeed in giving meaning to the suffering of so many and also to the deaths of those who paid the ultimate price by carrying their suffering and the blatant injustice of their fate like a banner before them, turning it into positive energy to finally put an end to all this. It would be nothing but desirable - for the US as well as for the world.

I think it should be clear to most people by now that you can’t reason with fascists because they don’t listen to arguments but just cling to their evil ideology against all logic. It should also be clear to most US citizens by now that isolated protests in some cities will do as little to stop the criminal regime as the hollowed-out legal system or any of the corrupt established politicians.

The regime is clearly not impressed by this, especially since its propaganda machine continuously obscures the fact that millions of people are taking to the streets to express their contempt for the crimes of their fascist leaders. This is already evident in the fact that its secret police force barely waited a few hours before committing the next murder in open public and for all to see.

However, the question remains, and it will be interesting to see whether US citizens will oppose their oppression with organized and nationwide coordinated resistance. I think the US is at a turning point in its history: Will the American people rise up against the tyranny of the powerful few, or will the masses bow down to it?

Only US citizens can answer this question - through decisive civil resistance, through a nationwide general strike that continues for as long as it takes, even at the expense of their own standard of living, until the criminal regime is removed.

If that does not happen, I believe it is inevitable that the US will soon become an autocratic kleptocracy like Russia, since the orange child molester, his billionaire allies and their henchmen are obviously in the process of replacing even the semblance of democracy with the harsh repressive measures that are characteristic of a true dictatorship.

So the question is: Will the US population allow this to happen, or will they rise up en masse to oppose it?

In some Nazi concentration camps, the steps that forced laborers had to climb while heavily laden were deliberately made of different heights to make the ordeal even worse. This is the same disgusting and abysmal malice. Pure evil for which there can be no excuse.

I find the AI audio translation on YouTube, which Google now seems to be imposing as standard, to be the most absurd thing of 'em all: even the intros are so poorly translated that it couldn’t be more ridiculous.

I’m sure many users don’t realize that this is supposed to be a “feature” and mistakenly believe that the foreign-language video they deliberately clicked on is obviously AI-generated because the audio track is so horribly bad.

Well, another reason for PeerTube…

This development will certainly not end with books - countless other creative and intellectual achievements have long been affected. That is precisely the problem with generative models, whether they involve text, code, video, images, or whatever else. All of this boils down to the fact that the already precarious situation for everyone who creates value by themselves is continuing to deteriorate. Professional work in all these areas will undoubtedly become even more precarious in the future, with artists, designers, and writers, who were already in a difficult position, now being joined by industries such as software development and administrative work.

Please don’t get me wrong: I am anything but a technology pessimist, but the business model of the so-called AI companies is so exploitative and their owners so unscrupulous that, given the status quo (cloud models), I can hardly imagine that this will lead to even halfway fair working conditions or remuneration models for people who create value in the form of intellectual achievements. I mean, this post is a vivid example.

So we can assume that in the future, only slob written by LLMs will be available. I mean, who would be willing to spend hundreds of hours writing a book when even huge corporations that earn billions from it won’t pay the author a single dime?