That’s clever, I’d say that’s a fully ethical way to enjoy Spotify. Actually I didn’t know that was possible before because I’ve never tried registering for Spotify. I’ll be sure to suggest this when someone says they still want to use Spotify.

Thank you so much for everything you do! I understand not all Democrats are perfect either but we have chances to make change there too including using the primary process to remove corrupt politicians.

That’s a tough situation, I really hope things get better for you there!

I agree, we really need to course correct now or it will be terrible!

About nations not having a choice there is truth to that but I want to focus on something nations can do to. Study in particular which companies support Trump the most and work to find replacements for those. For example the fossil fuel industry is a significant backer of Trump and Republicans. This means countries who are rightfully upset about Trump and buy fossil fuels from the US should make switching to renewable energy a huge priority maybe even do it at cost or subsidize the transition. This means fossil fuel companies will have less money and less to give to Republicans.

Also for people who live in blue states contact your state politicians and demand a faster transition to renewables too.

I take it seriously and I encourage anyone to know they have the power to make a difference. If you can find who’s encouraging people to stay out of the way please let everyone here know so we can fight against those people.

Also you’re right if Trump stays in power longer it will be very grim not just for the people in the US but also for the entire world because look at how Trump is terrorizing other countries. Look at how he’s basically a slave to Putin and abandoning Ukraine. Look at how he’s grabbing people on the streets. If we don’t fight this will get worse.

It could come to your country too unless you take action. I see so many other countries making the same mistakes we do here and it makes me so sad knowing that this could be their fate too unless they make different decisions.

The truth is I notice in Europe they too in my opinion haven’t done enough to combat disinformation for sure they’re better than we are but it’s not enough.

What we need is for every child to be taught as much as possible about critical thinking, propaganda and disinformation. The quality of education children get is super important. In addition I believe emotional resilience must be taught in schools somehow.

Please for everyone reading this contact your politicians or your school board and demand more done to combat disinformation.

Also remember we are all in this together. Look at all the Trump copycats there are in the world. Look at how Trump learned from Hungary and Russia. Because they were not stopped in one country they feel safe doing it in another. We as people must support each other and stand up for each other when bad things are happening somewhere because when something bad happens to someone else it could one day be you it happens to.

You say you don’t believe it will ever happen. I know things can feel tough and discouraging sometimes but I learned that if I take action each day I feel a lot better and it gives me hope that things will get better. Each day you make choices and those choices determine what kind of country you want to live in. If you want to live in a country that never recovers from this, that oppresses people, violates human rights and causes untold global suffering you can choose to do nothing or leave comments on social media saying that things won’t change or there’s nothing that we can do.

Or you can choose to make a difference. How you make a difference will depend on the person. But here’s what I can suggest: try to make your daily actions support moving the country into the right direction by having conversations with people, education others how to make a difference and boycott Trump-aligned companies and put pressure on and encourage organizations, institutions, companies and people to stand up to Trump.

Ceasing using Twitter can make a difference. Telling someone who says he/she might buy a Tesla not to do it makes a difference.

Asking a restaurant showing Fox News on their TV to change the channel can help.

Joining a protest can help.

Volunteering to knock on doors for your local Democrats can make a huge difference!

Even choosing to exercise more and sleep well can help because it will help you fight what’s going on better.

Whatever you do no matter how small it adds up. Courage is contagious.

Also super important you vote in every election and primary and make sure you’re registered to vote. Urge likeminded friends and family to do likewise. Offer them a ride if transportation is an issue.

Now I ask you: Which one will it be for you? Will you choose to make a difference or will you not?

Same here, born here too. We have to keep fighting and make the best of things. I don’t blame people for saying these things but I wish people would take real actions instead of just talking among themselves and saying “it can’t be fixed” or “it won’t change”.

What’s at stake is if we don’t fight we’ll risk turning into the next Nazi regime and cause untold suffering all around the world. So for those people who sit in the comfort of their homes in a another country they may not realize that one day the repression advocated by the Trump regime may come to them personally so everyone in the world must do all they can to put a stop to this now.

There’s a lot we can do. The solution is to identify what pillars of support are holding up Trump and what can be removed the easiest. One part of the solution is boycotting companies that donate a lot to Republican campaigns. For example boycotting Twitter and Tesla can make a big impact on this and boycotting right-wing media like Fox “News”, CBS etc. Urge people to exclude right-wing websites from their Google Adwords account.

No matter what we will not tolerate this. I urge everyone to stop “tolerating” meta and boycott their products like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Also install uBlock Origin and block all the ads.

* runs after you as you exit the building

Sir, you forgot your /s.

Well then, time to shut down your Meta account if you still have one. Also do likewise for TikTok and Twitter.

I’m doing all I can to oppose this. I believe that if this is enacted it will create a bad precedence that may result in other countries adopting similar requirements. It must be firmly rejected now so strongly that no other country dares to try it. My goal is to convince hotel companies to oppose the policy because they will be hurt by less people traveling.

I urge everyone to contact hotel companies based in the US and say you won’t be coming if this is enacted or say you’re avoiding the US because of the Trump regime. Also in truth even if this doesn’t get enacted I still strongly suggest you still avoid visiting the US. The more people who boycott the US the more companies will feel pressured to help defeat the Trump regime. Sadly in the US companies can have a lot of influence on politics although so far for the hotel companies I’ve checked it seems like they don’t have much political spending with the exception of Robert Bigelow who’s a right-wing megadonor. If you have no choice but to come to the US please consider avoiding anything he owns although judging from the Wikipedia article I think it’s unlikely you’ll encounter something he owns.

I’ve been sending emails to hotel companies and urging them to oppose this. I urge you to contact your congresspeople and also companies in the travel, hospitality and tourism industry and demand they oppose this policy and more broadly ask them to stand up to Trump because he’s causing people to rightfully boycott the US.

Also to everyone who is boycotting the US thank you so so much, I’m really grateful and as are so many Americans who also hate what the Trump regime is doing. The more people who boycott the more pressure it will put on companies to finally stand up against the Trump regime.

If you want change you got to direct your comments to the HDMI forum. Here we can talk about it forever and if they never see anything they won’t change. I sent the following email to: admin@hdmiforum.org

Dear HDMI Forum,

I was recently saw the news that the HDMI forum was blocking open source implementations of the HDMI 2.1 specifications and I want to express that I really believe this is a bad idea. I hope the HDMI Forum will consider allowing it. I can’t say I understand what the concern is or the reason for blocking it but I really doubt that whatever issue is envisioned will actually come to fruition, instead I believe that allowing open source implementations will be beneficial for adoption of the standard and since if I understand correctly the licensing fees are based on hardware sold so having open source code will of course not exempt anyone from HDMI licensing rules.

Thank you so much for your consideration,

(Name)

Maybe it’s not perfect (I already wished I worded one sentence better) but I think what matters most is just trying your best and using your voice whenever you can. Be sure to send your email too, the more they receive hopefully the higher the chances that this works but of course be sure to use your own wording, I just put that here for an example.

Totally agree with you. Those ideals you mention have been systematically undermined by right-wing/conservative administrations in our government and even some mistakes made by Democrats. It goes back farther than George W. Bush and Trump. Just to name a few:

Richard Nixon - Vetoed the Comprehensive Child Development Act that would have given us what many other countries. Launched the war on drugs and mass incarceration. The Powell Memorandum and Roger Ailes were results of the Nixon administration that really ended up hurting our country far more than I think anyone would have expected. The goal was if another conservative president was corrupt they would not get booted out like Nixon was. Also Roger Stone who was involved in Nixon’s campaign was really involved especially in Trump’s first campaign.

Ronald Regan - Helped undermine the middle class and start transferring wealth to the rich. There are so many graphs where things start to decline under Ronald Regan. Not to mention he sold weapons to Iran to fund the Contra.

Bill Clinton - Sure he’s way better than Bush or Trump but he did pave the way towards media consolidation. We are seeing the effects of this today as the Ellisons buy up media companies for the purposes of turning the companies into right-wing propaganda machines.

Thank you so much for responding with so much understanding.

I can only speak for myself because everyone will likely have different views but for me it’s terrifying especially for people who’ve read history and know that they could one day be repressed if things get even worse. It has a chilling effect and might be part of why you don’t see as much resistance as you’d expect.

The cancer analogy is great! Hopefully we can beat the cancer before it beats us, thank you so much for your best wishes!

Canada has a similar problem to the US, may not as bad but still tons of Russian propaganda. In fact on Reddit it’s really bad according to: https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1hsfxmr/journalists_rachel_gilmore_luke_lebrun_shows_that/. The thread alleges that multiple sub-reddits are under Russian influence. In addition they also have similar propaganda outlets like we have Fox News and Newsmax. For example Canada has “Rebel news” (I put both words in quotes because it’s not really news and being a bootlicker for foreign dictators doesn’t make you a rebel, it makes you an idiot). This is a must see video about Rebel news. A former employee exposes the propaganda tactics they use: https://bsky.app/profile/peipolitical.bsky.social/post/3lnamb4sva22f

Thank you for catching that mistake! I used spell check but clicked the wrong word. It’s fixed now.

Good point about all the arbitrary limitations, I really wish they didn’t do that either.

Yes, Denmark is a great model for support. I’m speculating because I didn’t read this anywhere but I wonder if at some level they understand that a Russian victory is a green light to other dictators to steal land which could make Trump more likely to try invading Canada or Greenland. I will mention I believe one of the reasons Trump made those threats to normalize stealing territory from other countries and to help Putin.

Also on the topic of Denmark and Greenland I can’t help but mention how much I’m deeply ashamed and strongly resent the way my country is threatening Greenland and Canada, I’m really really sorry for this and wish there is more that I could do to help stop it.

Thank you so much for clarifying! Yes, now I understand it’s a powerful thought like they can’t stop me because I live in Sweden, I will keep protesting.

It reminds me of how many countries boycotted South Africa which helped end apartheid.

You got to vote and be active in politics and encourage as many people to do likewise. If more people did that the sum of our power would be far greater than the power of billionaires. We can then have reforms like regulating campaign contributions and lobbying and passing more regulations that protect the people.

For some countries there are things working against us. For example in the US billionaires have a lot of power and contribute heavily to politics in part due to the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC which opened the floodgates for unlimited political spending and has really harmed our country. My solution to this is to encourage people to boycott companies that donate heavily to Republicans and most importantly encourage people to vote for people who will help stop all the corruption.