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Who do you think was history's greatest villain?
The evilest person who committed the most horrendous deeds, propagated the worst ideas, or was responsible for other moustache-twirling affairs.
Anyone who is currently alive does not count.
YSK you can turn off Google's personalised advertising. This prevents them from using things like your browsing history, search history, or personal data to serve you customised advertisements.
It also, consequently, makes the advertisements which they show to you far less valuable. So this feature is not widely advertised.
YSK a US passport card costs $30 and is definitive proof of citizenship. It fits in your wallet like a credit card.
For fellow Americans living in cities where ICE is active, many people, especially those of Hispanic descent, are already carrying around passports on their persons at all times because they're rightfully afraid of being forcibly disappeared or deported to some random South American country.
A passport card can be obtained for $30 from the Department of State. It is considered exactly equivalent to a passport within the US, but it's the size of a credit card. It is a valid travel document for land and sea travel within North America and the Caribbean. It also counts as a Real ID. The card is good for ten years.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/card.html
Do not do this if you are transgender or have an X gender marker. They will cancel your passport and tell you to apply for a new one with your sex assigned at birth.
Have you ever sworn someone as your enemy? What did they do?
I'm talking about personal enemies, politicians or celebrities you hate don't count. Just anyone you personally knew and think of in your head as being your enemy.
U.S. House Speaker calls Portland naked bike ride [protest] ‘most threatening thing I’ve seen yet’
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/10/us-house-speaker-calls-portland-naked-bike-ride-most-threatening-thing-ive-seen-yet.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.worldThe hypocrisy of recognizing Palestine but not Taiwan
(Washington Post gift article)
Selected quotations:
Many Western democracies lining up to recognize a Palestinian state are in the process of conferring legitimacy on something that, legally speaking, doesn’t yet exist. Meanwhile, an economically crucial and politically functional democratic state that Western leaders have vowed to aid in case of outside aggression — Taiwan — remains unrecognized. This kind of hypocrisy invites trouble.
Note: The context of the writer's opinion that Palestine is "unqualified" for recognition stems from the fact that their government is only partially-functional, divided, with borders nobody seems to respect, and ultimately just gets bullied around by Israelis and doesn't seem to be able to exercise sovereignty in any way other than what the Israelis allow them to. The article's author seems to understand that recognitions of Palestinian sovereignty are more to do with being lip service expressing sympathy for the Palestinian suffering perpetrated by Israel rather than real, tangible attempts to establish relationships with a functioning state that exercises sovereignty.
This year, Taiwan’s gross domestic product is set to surpass $800 billion. Freedom House scores its democracy at 94/100 — more free than Britain and nearly on par with Germany. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks it 12th in the world for democratic governance, the highest in Asia. Taiwanese passports grant visa-free travel to almost 140 countries.
This stark contrast reflects a failure of political courage. Western democracies’ refusal to recognize Taiwan stems not from doubts over qualifications, but rather from fear of economic retaliation from China. Yet this diplomatic self-censorship undermines the very rules-based international order the West purports to defend. If and when China launches an invasion and calls it an “internal matter,” any legal and political legitimacy the West would hope to muster in opposing such a move would be hobbled.
Colorado Attorney-General explains why the state is suing a deputy who aided ICE
Selected quotes:
Colorado's law is very clear. Law enforcement does law enforcement. In Colorado, law enforcement doesn't do federal immigration enforcement. The line is when a sheriff's deputy, in this case, actually detain somebody in a vehicle for the purpose of enabling federal immigration enforcement to detain that person.
At that point, you're not operating as a Colorado law enforcement anymore, because there was no Colorado law that was determined to be violated.
...
It's very important to note here, this wasn't about community safety. There was no basis for concern that she had committed any crime, posed any threat to public safety.
When there are people who commit violent crimes, crimes that warrant being deported, Colorado law enforcement routinely will share information, as provided under Colorado law, so that ICE can do their job and deport people who are dangerous. But this was a case of someone who hadn't done anything wrong, didn't pose any threat to public safety.
In that case, Colorado law enforcement shouldn't take it upon an individual to go ahead and start acting as if you're doing federal immigration enforcement solely for purposes of enforcing immigration law, which is totally federal, not for purposes of keeping communities safe. That's what a state's job is.
...
We in Colorado cooperate all the time with federal law enforcement partners. And if someone is here without authorization and they have done harmful, dangerous actions, they should be held to account. But what Colorado law says is, we need our law enforcement focused on law enforcement. We don't have enough law enforcement officers in Colorado.
That's a public policy decision that we're making not to do the federal government's work. It's their job to do that work.
Phil Weiser, Attorney-General of Colorado
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/colorado-ag-explains-why-the-state-is-suing-a-deputy-who-aided-iceOpen linkView original on lemmy.worldDOGE vowed to make government more ‘efficient’ — but it’s doing the opposite
New procedures and requirements — some implemented in the name of improving operations — are slowing down federal agencies.
Excerpt:
...layers of new red tape are plaguing federal staffers throughout the government under the second Trump administration, stymieing work and delaying simple transactions, according to interviews with more than three dozen federal workers across 19 agencies and records obtained by The Washington Post. Many of the new hurdles, federal workers said, stem from changes imposed by the U.S. DOGE Service, Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, which burst into government promising to eradicate waste, fraud and abuse and trim staff and spending.
The team’s overarching goal was in its name: DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, although it is not part of the Cabinet. But as Musk departed government on Friday, many federal workers said DOGE has in many ways had the opposite effect.
Full article without paywall (Gift article)
White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say
Gift article without paywall. Note: For the unfamiliar, "MAHA" stands for "Make America Healthy Again".
The report, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was intended to address the reasons for the decline in Americans’ life expectancy.
Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday.
Of the 522 footnotes to scientific research in an initial version of the report sent to The Washington Post, at least 37 appear multiple times, according to a review of the report by The Washington Post. Other citations include the wrong author, and several studies cited by the extensive health report do not exist at all, a fact first reported by the online news outlet NOTUS on Thursday morning.
White House MAHA Report may have garbled science by using AI, experts say
Gift article without paywall Note: For the unfamiliar, "MAHA" stands for "Make America Healthy Again".
The report, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was intended to address the reasons for the decline in Americans’ life expectancy.
Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday.
Of the 522 footnotes to scientific research in an initial version of the report sent to The Washington Post, at least 37 appear multiple times, according to a review of the report by The Washington Post. Other citations include the wrong author, and several studies cited by the extensive health report do not exist at all, a fact first reported by the online news outlet NOTUS on Thursday morning.
Trump’s immigration ratings turn negative, Post-ABC-Ipsos poll finds
(Washington Post gift article) As the president nears 100 days in office, the survey suggests his administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics are losing public support.
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings on immigration, relatively strong in the early weeks of his second term, have dipped into negative territory, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, a sign that his administration’s hard-line and, in some cases, legally dubious enforcement tactics are losing public support.
A majority of Americans, 53 percent, disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, with 46 percent approving, a reversal from February when half of the public voiced approval of his approach. Negative views have ticked up across partisan groups over the past two months, with 90 percent of Democrats, 56 percent of independents and 11 percent of Republicans now disapproving of the way the president has managed one of his core policy issues.
I tried to bribe voters and all I got was this lousy hat
Washington Post opinion article: Musk’s defeat in Wisconsin is a flashing warning for Republicans in 2026
What's your opinion on Esperanto (language)?
Apparently the language was popular among early 20th century socialist movements because it was of an international character and therefore not associated with any nationality and its use by international socialist organisations wouldn't show favour to any particular country. It was banned in Nazi Germany and other fascist states because of its association with the left wing, with anti-nationalism, and because its creator was Jewish. It has mostly languished since then but still has around 2 million speakers with about 1,000 native speakers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto?wprov=sfla1Open linkView original on lemmy.worldWhat is the smallest city in your country that everyone can still instantly recognise the name of? What is it famous for?
In the United States, I'd probably name Oregon City, the famous end of the Oregon Trail and the first city founded west of the Rocky Mountains during the pioneer era. Its population is only 37,000.
Is the Robert Reich mastodon account actually run by Robert Reich?
I'm talking about @[email protected].
The account says things that seem like they would be said by Reich but I'm not sure it's actually him behind the screen.
Oh boy what a beautiful regex. I'm sure it does something logical and easy to understand.
^.?$|^(..+?)\1+$
::: spoiler Matches strings of any character repeated a non-prime number of times :::
What is one relatively unknown thing that your country does much better than elsewhere, but that most people don't know about?
View original on lemmy.worldWhat are your opinions on Measure 117?
Measure 117 would change the voting system from first-past-the-post to ranked-choice instant-runoff voting for presidential, state executive offices, and Congress.
I believe it doesn't go far enough. They should have it for Legislative Assembly elections as well. That being said, I'm still going to vote for it and tell all my friends and family to do the same.