Allow me to address the elephant in the room:

The Trump administration is not setting the course for a four-year term.

The Trump administration is setting the course for an everlasting dictatorship.

If Americans don’t want that, the window to stop them is closing quickly.

@Strandjunker

The window closed when 11 million people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 couldn’t be bothered to vote in 2024. Now everyone is up in arms because nobody bothered to read the writing on the wall that’s been there since 2016.

@HamonWry @Strandjunker

@benroyce is probably the best person to comment on this, but I'm not sure it's just that people "couldn't be bothered”. There was an epidemic of #ToxicIdealism spread perhaps primarily by the “G-n-c-d- Joe” brigade leading a non-trivial number to not vote as some sort of masochistic protest.

The left wing must, finally, learn the lesson:
Fight in the primaries, unite in the election

@mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

It's rather weird still encountering people, as I have recently, who think "teaching Democrats a lesson" is more important than {gestures broadly}

It's also extremely entitled

That the bad effects of the Trump administration won't affect them

(Or, rather than entitlement, extremely fucking stupid to think it won't effect them.)

@benroyce @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker Remember when dammit-janet (Susan Sarandon) said she hoped Trump would win because it would hasten the revolution?

@phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

That's an actual thing on the far left and far right:

Accelerationism

Of course revolutions in the real world mean 100,000x injustice and suffering

And then what wins might be worse

Or if good wins, it begins to decay again because... some people still don't vote due to the same whiny toxic idealism- that's the real problem all along

But it's hard to get that across to edgelords vibing to the dimwit cosplay revolutionary fantasy life in their head

@benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I sometimes envy those who think the solution is to take a page from France's history and start building guillotines.

They're optimists.

Specfiically, they think it'll go better for us than it did for France, and I envy them that kind of faith in humanity. Because France is doing great now, but how many generations did it take to get there?

Overthrowing the monarchy didn't lead to a Republic any more than England colonizing North America did. Directly, it led to a purge, a famine, an empire, and a bloody military defeat that saw the men who hadn't starved or been killed in the revolution die for the short-sighted aspirations of a small man.

@mark @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

agreed except napoleon wasn't small, that's just ancient british propaganda

@benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I meant in terms of goals (though I did choose words to play on the old stereotype on purpose).

A whole people behind him in a country with gorgeous land and access to both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and what does that asshole do? Try to take more land? Specifically fucking Belgium?

What a waste of lives.

(Nothing against y'all, Belgium, you are also a beautiful country with a rich and valued history. Good on ya for kicking Napoleon's ass; he deserved it).

@mark @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

we had something going in the USA for awhile. we have our demons but we were making some progress

now a bunch of morons want to learn all the lessons for why participation is the best path after all, despite the flaws, the hard way

@benroyce People always confuse "small" and "short", and, respectively, "great" and "long".

@mark @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

@benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

100,000+? He put a target on 770,000 people and the silence is deafning. He made it so that every single homeless person is illegal. #Illegal2BHomless in #AmeriKKKa but since it ONLY us #homeless people, who cares.

@justbob @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Many do, Bob. Try not to be discouraged, tho I know this must be hard. We see you, we care, we will act on behalf of you and all the homeless to the best of our ability.

I hope you're not in DC, and if you are, that you can get to someplace safe from Trump's goon squad ASAP.

@ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Thanks but what is "discouraging" is the silence. I'm a veteran and even vets are silent. I swore to defend the US Constitution against terrorists and trump is one. Yet the silence is deafning.

https://beamship.mpaq.org/@bob/114910620402829816

Give your sympathy to your neighbors on the sidewalk. I swore to possibly even give my life to defend the people in this country and have been ready to fight for over 30 years. Yet the silence...

Just Bob ♒🇺🇲🪖🐧 (@[email protected])

Make this viral!!! Here we go, more #Illegal2BHomeless in #AmeriKKKa. Still doubting it was coming? I've been telling you since he was elected and you keep ignoring me. Trump signals crackdown on #homeless with order pushing local officials to act https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/24/trump-homelessness-executive-order The federal government is seeking to crack down on #homelessness in the US, with Donald Trump issuing an executive order to push local governments to remove unhoused people from the streets. The order the US president signed on Thursday will seek the “reversal of federal or state judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees” that restrict local governments’ ability to force people into treatment for mental health, and redirect funds to support rehabilitation and treatment. The order aims to “restore public order”, saying “endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe”, according to the order. The action comes as the homelessness crisis in the US has significantly worsened in recent years driven by a widespread shortage of affordable housing. Last year, a single-day count, which is a rough estimate, recorded more than 770,000 people experiencing homelessness across the country, the highest figure ever documented. Cities and states have adopted an increasingly punitive approach to homelessness, seeking to push people out of parks and city streets, even when there is no shelter available. The supreme court ruled last year that cities can impose fines and even jail time for unhoused people for sleeping outside after local governments argued some protections for unhoused people prevented them from taking action to reduce homelessness. #Trump’s action seeks to move unhoused pIn a report last month, the American Civil Liberties Union found that cities across the US have introduced more than 320 bills #criminalizing #unhoused people, the majority of which have passed. The crackdowns have taken place in #Democratic- and #Republican-run states alike. Advocates for unhoused people’s rights have long argued that criminalization only exacerbates the housing crisis, shuffling people in and out of jail or from one neighborhood to the next, as they lose their belongings and connections to providers, fall further into debt and wind up in increasingly unsafe conditions. During his campaign last year, Trump used dark rhetoric to talk about the humanitarian crisis, threatening to force people into “tent cities”, raising fears that some of the poorest, most vulnerable Americans could end up in remote locations in settings that resemble #concentration #camps.eople to “long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment”, according to the order. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told USA Today, which first reported on the executive order, that the president was “delivering on his commitment to Make America Safe Again” and end homelessness. “By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from #addiction or #mental health struggles are able to get the help they need,” she said. The National Homelessness Law Center condemned the order, which it said “deprives people of their basic rights” and would ultimately worsen the problem. “Today’s executive orders, combined with Maga’s budget cuts for housing and healthcare, will increase the number of people forced to live in tents, in their cars, and on the streets. This order does nothing to lower the cost of housing or help people make ends meet,” said Jesse Rabinowitz of the National Homelessness Law Center. The president’s order comes after last year’s US supreme court ruling, which was one of the most consequential legal decisions on homelessness in decades in the US. That ruling held that it is not “cruel and unusual punishment” to criminalize camping when there is no shelter available. The case originated in Grants Pass, Oregon, a city that was defending its efforts to prosecute people for sleeping in public. Unhoused people in the US have long faced crackdowns and sweeps, with policies and police practices that result in law enforcement harassment, tickets or jail time. But the ruling supercharged those kinds of aggressive responses, emboldening cities and states to punish encampment residents who have no other options for shelter. In a report last month, the American Civil Liberties Union found that cities across the US have introduced more than 320 bills criminalizing unhoused people, the majority of which have passed. The crackdowns have taken place in Democratic- and Republican-run states alike.

Beamship

@justbob @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

(think i'm gonna have to fire up the ole vpn to access that link due to #OnlineSafetyAct #UKPol )

@miguelpergamon @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

That is very wise. Beamship is my server but I use a VPN for any links outside our network anymore.

They haven't showed up in Portland Oregon yet but I am absolutely sure they will.

@justbob @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

We've got our government (UK) being a complete pain in the ass more than normal.

A lot more stuff (anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-genocide) has disappeared behind "age verification" gate-keeping just in the last two weeks. It's a mass increase in censorship.

I installed Proton free vpn last week.

@miguelpergamon @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

I haven't heard anything new but a few weeks back, Proton was talking about AI... 😨

@justbob @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

As we say, "Bloody Hell!"

The free-email that comes with the vpn has social-media buttons (usual suspects -- facebook, x, reddit) and in my one there are links to three UK banks.

@miguelpergamon @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

I've been talking with someone about building a global VPN WAN. I'm sure that if they can get it working and we can "partner" it with MPAQ's system, we will be blocking ALL ad systems... I can see how to do it in my mind 😂

@justbob @ginaintheburg @benroyce @phaedral @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

That's way beyond my once meagre techy ability!
👍

I think a banking system not controlled by the military-industrial-spy complex is needed.
Anyone can start a bank.
That's the problem with loan sharks (they just become part of the system).

@benroyce @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I think it's much deeper than just idealism, having 2 choices and having to choose something you disagree with because the other option is... well, unacceptable is a rotten system.

We've seen how a two party system keeps shifting right. Eventually your options will be just far right or farther right.

@Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

yes but you have cause and effect backwards

it's not "this shifts right, so i won't participate"

it's "i'm not participating" and then as a consequence, things shift right

it's a feedback loop that accelerates

the only solution is more participation

you're never going to get perfect, it will always suck in some ways

but if you hold your nose and participate you can iterate on that and proceed left

in fact, that's the only way it will ever happen

@benroyce @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker IMHO a solution is to have more parties, and someone to dares to do far left

@Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

100% no

clarification: i want 3rd parties

but to have them, we need ranked choice voting

currently in the usa we have an FPTP voting system

what that means is if we were to add a new 3rd left party, we divide the left, and we guarantee MAGA wins

we need ranked choice first. so we need to get candidates that support that

that has to come first. without that, we are guaranteeing failure

the left has to take over the democratic party

it is the only way

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

> we need ranked choice voting

False: see Israel. The country with the most parties in the world.

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker you do need to switch from FPTP to coalitions.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Which you get with ranked choice voting

Why are you lying about Israel using RCV?

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I'm not???? What????

Why're you blaming me out of the blue? I explicitly said you DO NOT need RCV. you need coalitions instead of FPTP.

Israel has the most parties in the world DESPITE not being RCV.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

"> we need ranked choice voting

False: see Israel"

😂

Just change the wording of your comment then. You have to admit it is a different meaning then what you're speaking now. I'll delete my comments after it

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker
Ben, what? "The country with the most parties in the world". Read till the end

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

🤦‍♂️

Look I'm constantly not communicating my exact meaning and needing to clarify in order to not create a false impression. We all do. Im not attacking you I'm just saying what you wrote implies the opposite of your meaning. That's all. It's a simple fix to edit your comment

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker people thinking Israel = evil is their problem, not mine. If you hadn't assumed that...

*Well, it is my problem, but differently, lols.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

I'm not attacking you. Please just admit your wording was off. Whether Israel is utopia or hell or anything in between, that has nothing to do with the fact your wording made a wrong impression

That's it. That's all. That's the beginning and ending of what I'm saying to you

Also the issue is israel has proportional representation. We dont have that in the usa so we cant do multiparty. Our shit fptp means were stuck with two parties

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I'm not saying you attacked me.

All I'm saying is that my wording is clear.

My point was that RCV is not the only way to have lots of parties, and I made it.

People on fedi have the tendency to assume what Israel does is bad, and I'm not gonna change my wording to account for that, as a prencip.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Look i got nothing but love for you. And I am saying nothing wonderful nor venomous about israel, thats a whole other thing.

I just had a problem with your wording on the topic of electoral systems with rcv quote and then "false."

That's it. But I'm over it. I see what you intended to say now

Having a single national multi member electorate is certainly a way to get multiple parties. But is that a useful observation? I’m not sure it’s easier to achieve than RCV would be.
@Sh41 @lax @mmalc @Strandjunker @benroyce @HamonWry

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

That's a lie. Israel does not use ranked choice voting

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker shu that's a lie? We have lots of parties, and we don't use RCV.

We have lots of parties because of *coalitions* and because of being a multicultural society, not because of ranked choice.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

"> we need ranked choice voting

False: see Israel. The country with the most parties in the world."

You, a few minutes ago

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker
Yes, you do not need RCV, as I said. See how Israel has a fuckton of parties WITHOUT having RCV.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

da fuq

you should edit your comment and change your wording

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker my wording is perfectly clear, I said "false" to "we (america) need RCV", because you don't need RCV, you need coalitions
@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker 🤦‍♂️ come on. just admit your wording is off

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Also Israel has proportional representation. That's how its able to have so many parties. We can do that in the usa with our current system

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker yeah, that's what I'm saying

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

but you didn't say that 😂

Look ill drop it. I got no hard feelings for you. Im just saying your wording was not clear. That's it. That's all I'm saying to you. ☮️

@benroyce @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker oh, one sec. You *can't* do it in the US with your current system. You gotta have coalitions, which will probably require a constitutional amendment.

@lax @Sh41 @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker

Yeah. Parliamentary democracy is a whole other thing. I wish we had parliamentary

@benroyce @mmalc @HamonWry @Strandjunker I love in Europe, our political party and voting system is quite different, it also changes from country to country 🤷‍♀️