When I started my "mastodon-experiment" I always heard "there's hardly anyone there", "noone knows it" ...
Almost 2 years later I'm spending a considerable amount of time here with you and I enjoy it WAYS MORE than on any other platform before.
Thanks all of you for being here. And welcome to all the new people around!
Sources: DOGE staff were ordered to stop using Slack while it transitions from the OMB to the Executive Office of the President, which is not subject to FOIA (404 Media) https://www.404media.co/email/dc4f2fa1-e993-4f30-aea1-b985998bd90a/ http://www.techmeme.com/250205/p37#a250205p37
Why I don't have faith that Canada won't go the way the US is.
Open corruption.
There are lots of examples, but here are some recent ones regarding the Premier of Ontario who just declared a snap election to avoid scrutiny over the Greenbelt probe. He's likely to win another majority despite the broad daylight armed robbery of our provincial treasury because people simply don't care.
If we don't care about this, why do we think we will care about going full on Nazi? Anything to stop women and minorities from power.
Greenbelt Scandal
The Premier promised he would maintain some protected land that's been protected for a couple of decades now. He then waited for his donors to take out loans (one of them $100 million at 22%), buy the "protected" lands, and then declared that he was removing the protected status and they were fair game for development. - OPEN CORRUPTION
Ontario Place
This is a beloved tourist attraction. It's on Toronto's waterfront and though it is not right on transit, it's still considered fairly prime real estate. Rather than putting in money to fix it, he signed a contract with a foreign spa to put a gigantic spa there denying Ontarians of what was once our shared, public space.
BROAD DAYLIGHT ROBBERY OF THE PUBLIC PURSE
Ontario Science Centre
The building itself is a few decades old and in need of a few bucks of repairs. A new tram line is about to open making the once hard to get to centre for education much easier to access. He intentionally denied the institution said money for repairs. Then got an engineering assessment done that said that roof really needs repairs. Now that the land has transit to it, it is worth a lot more and the properties around it are already developed. He intentionally misinterpreted the engineering report, used it as an excuse to condemn the building, closed this amazing institution in preparation for his developer buddies to come in and build on the land.
DAYLIGHT ROBBERY OF THE PUBLIC PURSE.
These are just the most recent from this acknowledged drug dealer (yes, there is evidence of him dealing drugs back in his younger days). None of these are costing him votes. The first past of the post system keeps him in power with about 30% of the vote and that 30% will vote for any white man who also hates women, gays, and minorities.
So yes, we have a parliamentary system that makes turning into the Byzantine US a little harder... but no... we are absolutely not immune.
😳😳😳
Via Fred Wellman:
The United States Military Academy has just eliminated all Cadet clubs and activities for POC. Most of these have existed for decades like the Society of Black Engineers. They were there when I was a Cadet in 1987. All of the religious ones remain. This isn’t DEI. It’s white Christian Nationalism.
Finally some good news. One of the fines is for: “Acceptance of contributions from outside of Alberta and Canada.”
TBA is foreign funded.
3rd-party advertiser Take Back Alberta fined more than $100K by Elections Alberta | CTV Edmonton
Reminder: Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre & his deputy leader, Melissa Lantsman met with a far-right Israeli property developer who has advocated violence against Palestinians and believes there are ‘too many Arabs’ in Jerusalem.
#cdnpoli #GazALargo #poilievre #MapleMAGA #canada
https://ricochet.media/justice/far-right/canadian-conservatives-meet-with-far-right-israeli-leaders/
Protests against Trump and Project 2025 are planned in cities across the US
https://apnews.com/article/50501-protests-project-2025-trump-state-capitols-ddd341171a54ba9b498cbfe7530e18ab?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into U.S. News @u-s-news-AssociatedPress
Demonstrators have gathered in cities across the U.S. to protest the Trump administration’s early actions. They're decrying everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Protesters in Philadelphia and at state capitols in Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond on Wednesday waved signs denouncing President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and the hard-right playbook for American government and society called Project 2025. The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day.
Franz Graf
Lesley Carhart 
Chu 朱
Laffy
Chad 
GG
Associated Press
Rev.Hans 
David Ho