AmidFuror

You’re missing the sarcasm.

They are free to vote for any candidate in the Party so long as that person is approved.

I mean, you’re not wrong. They are full of brave, anonymous invective.

Personal prejudices? I explained why in my comment. Name recognition.

You called them “low information.” If your comment wasn’t prejudiced, then neither was mine.

Too many remakes and reboots. Write something novel, Faulkner.

I’m confused by your comment. Are you saying two thirds didn’t want this specifically, or are you counting non-voters as opponents of Trump?

My guess is that most of the non-voters, if forced to vote, would have voted Trump. He had name recognition. These types of citizens couldn’t name the current Vice President any more than they could find the USA on a world map.

It’s unfortunately a necessary step to protect Mao’s People’s Revolution. At least they are free from the evils of capitalism in Hong Kong now, and part of a shining example to the rest of the world what happens when the workers rise up and throw off their chains.

There’s how you define things, and then there’s how they work in practice. If you’re just going for the tired “Communism hasn’t been properly tried yet” then I will submit that it never will be.

I’m all for regulated capitalism. That’s what’s done in some of the more “socialist” countries that exist today. But the idea that you can have a functioning system where the market sets none of the prices is laughable.

Also common knowledge: Communism is worse. Talk about fast-tracking authoritarianism.

And we’ll know they are fascists because they’re being accused of doing fascist crimes!

/s

I didn’t know that.

You can reduce bot noise on the Fediverse through a mix of server settings, moderation tools, and user-side filtering. Since it is decentralized, no one can stop bots everywhere, but individual servers and clients can limit how much spam actually reaches people.

Server admins can require email verification or CAPTCHAs at signup, use manual account approval for new users, limit posting speed for new accounts, and block or silence servers that are known sources of spam. Many Fediverse servers already share blocklists and coordinate moderation so that problem servers get isolated quickly.

Fediverse software is also adding better tools for detecting automated accounts, labeling bots, filtering low-quality AI images, and helping moderators review suspicious posting patterns. Some servers use anti-spam plugins or machine-learning filters to automatically flag or quarantine obvious bot posts. Individual users can mute keywords, block accounts, report spam to their server admins, or switch to a Following-only timeline to avoid noise from the wider network.

Bot spam will never be fully eliminated, but stronger moderation tools, shared blocklists, and user controls make it possible to keep timelines clean without centralizing the network.

The fertility problem always surprises me. Synthetic estrogens and latex are responsible for low birth rates in almost every developed country, but only religious nuts really ever complain about that.

Globally, infertility impacts about 14% of people. It gets higher with age, and in developed countries, more people are trying to get pregnant at older ages.

The mix of actual reasonable answers and “everyone here despises capitalism, so I’ll just blame it on conspiracies involving the rich” answers is quite interesting.

The simplest answer is that almost everyone is motivated by what they can get out of a thing, and petroleum is cheaper than the alternatives. The infrastructure is already in place, and the downsides (including climate change) are paid for by everyone, not just the producers and biggest consumers.

Conspiracy snuffed out. Or is that what they want us to think?

In all seriousness, the reading comprehension ability of some of the commenters here is quite disappointing.

The first news item implies that the White House official said it was to soften the blow. What do they quote the official as saying?

The correction removes tariffs to being a reason outside of what the official claimed. It also seems to make it more clear that external tariffs are driving the losses rather than tariffs in general (which might be taken to mean US tariffs). The fact that the tariffs are retaliatory should be relegated to the article.

By getting the word out in X about their mastodon link?

Username checks out thoroughly.

Additional tip: if you want to make vinegar or citric acid far less effective, first make a paste of it by mixing with baking soda. This is suggested on many life hack websites.

Here are a few effective, low-drama ways to respond when someone dismisses you as a “bot” just because they don’t like your point:

1. Stay calm and don’t take the bait

Accusations like that are often meant to derail the conversation. You can respond simply: “I’m not a bot. If there’s something specific you disagree with, I’m happy to clarify.”

2. Refocus on the actual argument

Bring the discussion back to substance: “Whether I’m a bot or not doesn’t change the argument. Which part would you like to address?”

3. Use humor if the situation allows

Sometimes a light touch reduces tension: “If I were a bot, I’d hope for better hardware. Anyway—back to the topic…”

4. Set a boundary

If the person refuses to engage: “If you’re not interested in discussing the topic, that’s fine. I’m here to talk about the issue, not labels.”

5. Don’t over-explain

You don’t need to prove your humanity. Over-defending yourself often encourages more trolling.