We spend a lot of time reading books. Some of them, maybe a disproportionate number, we like. Others, not so much.

Disproportionate because, at least for me, it's difficult to get through 500 pages of something I dislike.

This is one of those occasions where you are encouraged to be constructive in your criticism. Hopefully, with some wit.

Leave a review for a book you didn't like and tell us what to read instead.

The dumb shit this guy did. Dereliction of duty. Dishonourable. Dangerous. Damnable. Downright devious. His department of deathsquads.

Dirty tricks, details fixed, denials done.

Source

"a bright visitor passing through the inner Solar System. Now, the orbiting satellites themselves only appear as streaks because of the long camera exposure, over 10 minutes in this case. On the contrary, to the eye, satellites appear as points that drift slowly across the night sky and shine by reflecting sunlight -- primarily just after sunset and before sunrise. The featured image was taken just before sunrise two weeks ago from Bavaria, Germany."

I guess the only ways to access the natural sky is to leave the atmosphere or to use AI to remove the trails.

My first foray into onehundredninetysix and the basic rules of engagement for reality.

It is NOT 85 seconds to midnight.

It is 60 seconds to midnight.

In a week: Russian energy ascendant despite Ukraine invasion, because US and Israel attacked Iran — who closed the Strait of Hormuz — limiting fuel exports to Asia.

In a month: New Start is over. Nuclear testing will start again, ASAP. Bunker buster, suitcase, low-yield, and mini-nukes are going to be tested. Then deployed. Will MAD theory keep preserving détente?

In 2 months: Venezuela "liberated." Deals made. Maduro captured.

In 6 months: Domestic crackdowns. Authoritarianism, posturing, threatening, criminality.

In just over a year: Bolsonaro and Duterte and Yoon captured, imprisoned, tried, and convicted*. For official acts. In the end, despite the charge, for betraying their nations and people. For treason.

*Duterte just had his charges confirmed.

Gaza, Yemen, Sudan. All bleed profusely.

G7 nations dither, posture, and state.

Bolsonaro, Yoon, Duterte, Maduro. Next, Netanyahu? Like Louis XVI, would Trump fall?

International order is a mental disorder.

They, the US administration, are scrambling. Desperately, desiring to Wag the Dog. Its not working. The dog's dead. The dog died when "No Kings" & "Fuck ICE" became Americas rallying cry. "Free Palestine", "Palestine Action", a keffiyeh, sees you bound, gagged or shot. The 0.01% holding all the cards. See also:

Oh, and the Jeffery Epstein-didn't-kill-himself files.

Cities in ten countries are burning. Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Cyprus. Add Russia, Ukraine, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Congo. With flare ups in Central and South Asia, Taiwan, and South America. So, too, do the vice wars rage. Drugs, racketeering, humans, counterfeits.

It's dubbed "World War" only after.

Loan sharking has taken a downturn. Banks generally take clients for extortion.

This timeline crashes. Few will survive.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists should reset the Doomsday Clock.

It is 60 seconds to midnight.

If you've seen these, which do you think?

Pictured: a young, wrathful Frederick Douglass.

Comparing America's racist immigration control and enforcement measures to 1930s Germany is... inaccurate. 2026 America is now emulating what it was before 1860. The

When:

• Indigenous, black, tan, brown, Asian, and people are arrested because the look like 'the other,'

• lies are written off as memes,

• the Monroe Doctrine is foreign policy,

• cities are terrorized by secret police,

• non-conformists are shot in the streets,

• political opposition is met with federal investigation

all of America's episodes of villainy are back in play.

Genocide, colonialism, plunder, militarism, more plunder, expansionism, Manifest Destiny, white supremacy, even more plunder, hypocrisy, calamity profiteering, segregation, McCarthyism, monopolies, interventionism, propagandizement, dumbing-down, and a lot more plunder — this is the "great" some in America seek.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41402945

By "Erik Prince", I mean belligerently and dramatically overreact to an attack — actual, perceived, provoked, planted, or otherwise. They could do what Blackwater did in Fallujah in 2004. Or, in Nisoor Square in 2007. Or, in Kabul in 2009.

They could are terrorizing a population. At home. In Minneapolis.

They could kick-in home, school, and business-place doors, lurk in public buildings and streets, employ flash-bang grenades, tear gas, body-armor, fully automatic weapons, SUVs, trucks, and tanks in the streets, terrorizing a population into submission.

ICE is being funded at the same rate as the military of Poland. Or, the entirety of US military spending in 1917, on entering World War I. Nice work on that big, beautiful bill.

Btw, have you seen Civil War? Yes, you have, yeah, that A24 movie.

They could prod a population into employing IEDs, RPGs, and assault weapons. From bats, to boards, to bricks, to and bottles alight. We've seen this before. Inside America, and outside America. This is a wavefront of a war.

The world, meanwhile, burns. Storms rage. Fires consume. Ice recedes, collapses, and melts.

Please. Prove me wrong. Peacefully, impeach, convict, jail, try, and imprison the President who is trying to have the American people pay — in taxes, tariffs, and blood — for his coup d'etat.

Please.

note: Erik Prince is the CEO and founder of the private security company Blackwater, now Akademi, once XE.

By "Erik Prince", I mean belligerently and dramatically overreact to an attack — actual, perceived, provoked, planted, or otherwise. They could do what Blackwater did in Fallujah in 2004.

They could terrorize a population. At home.

They could kick-in home, school, and business-place doors, lurk in public buildings and streets, employ flash-bang grenades, tear gas, body-armor, fully automatic weapons, SUVs, trucks, and tanks in the streets, terrorizing a population into submission. They could be funded at the same rate as the military of Poland. Or, the entirety of US military spending in 1917, on entering World War I. Nice work on that big, beautiful bill.

Btw, have you seen Civil War? Yes, you have, yeah, that A24 movie.

They could prod a population into employing IEDs, RPGs, and assault weapons. From bats, to boards, to bricks, to and bottles alight. We've seen this before. Inside America, and outside America. This is a wavefront of a war.

The world, meanwhile, burns. Storms rage. Fires consume. Ice recedes, collapses, and melts.

Please. Prove me wrong. Peacefully, impeach, convict, jail, try, and imprison the President who is trying to have the American people pay for his coup.

Please.

note: Erik Prince is the CEO and founder of the private security company Blackwater, now Akademi, once XE.

Right, I'm a masochist neck-deep in figuring out who, what, and why. Except for Wings of Fire; that's my connection to my young'un.

Searching for my people, I guess.

My partner hates it when I say that Die Hard is my favourite X-mas movie. Or, that I only want socks, underwear, and egg nog. She's lactose intolerant. Maybe I'm just X-mas intolerant.

Anyway, have at ye scallywags! Vent your frustrations! Build me an anti-X-mas list! I'm already celebrating New Year's over here.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19799305

At the top are corporations and the well-to-do. In the middle are judges and police. At the bottom are the couch-dwelling viewers beholden to all above watching TV.

I know I've seen this online somewhere, but I can't remember where. It may have been a cut-scene from a video or a standalone .GIF file. I'm not certain.

If anyone in the community has seen this same image, I'd love to know the source.

At the bottom are the couch-dwelling viewers beholden to all above.

I know I've seen this online somewhere, but I can't remember where. It may have been a cut-scene from a video or a standalone .GIF file. I'm not certain.

If anyone in the community has seen this same image, I'd love to know the source.

They're all the same. Rotated 90° for each one. Except for the 'e', they flipped that one.

Trelawny, Jamaica. Not sure what's happening on the southern side of the island.

Being at a resort during a hurricane is peak boring dystopia. The staff calmly fed us breakfast and handed out pack lunches — sandwiches, cereal, and bananas. Fresh towels delivered just in advance of the lockdown. Gas-powered generators provide lights, TV, and Internet. The same fuel the earliest Cat-5 hurricane in Atlantic history. We stay in our room, entertaining two kids and exchange messages with friends back home and the family we travel with. The mattress for our king-size bed covers the patio doors. The staff residence we see below has its windows boarded up.

We've used two streaming services to watch movies.

The false alarm two hours ago showed that our go-bags are ready, and we can head to shelter in under 30 s. They ever actually confirmed it as a false alarm.

The Secretary General of the legit United Nations, said this.

Are there any adults in the rooms where decisions like "bomb Gaza" are made? Why are so few saying what defeated Jamaal Bowman are saying, "permanent ceasefire now". And remember how Bowman was defeated. $17K/hr.

Also, cute story, Lebanon is the only other country in the world to feature a plant on its flag. The Lebanese are beautiful, Mediterranean people. LEBANON is at the crossroads of empires, and now — as is often the case — Lebanese are victims of outland calamities; Syria, the dock, and econonic collapse.

Hezb. are based there. Lebanon is thus remade like Afghanistan. Isr. reserves the right to "defend".

I've seen this meme before. I have two questions:

1. What is this meme called?

2. Is there video of the outcome?

There are only a few books that I've experienced both ways. I'm wondering if this is an area for exploration.

BMO IFL in Toronto. Rumored to be coming to its end.

Democracy dies when any administration can laugh off a 4-word rebuttal of a central plank of the world's most pernicious, deadly conflict(s). Regardless of public opinion, America can't be seen to undermine its own interests.