151–160 of 279 posts
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I still can’t get over that the UK arrests people over social media posts. Is the US the only place on the planet that actually has free speech?
We’re rapidly approaching that reality, yes. Maybe Switzerland?
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The solution to that problem is simple: legalize the sale of all drugs. Extortion is a common practice of drug gangs, whether they sell online or not.
Then you need a system that prevents drug users from getting into vehicles, and also a system that disqualifies them from public healthcare. It's easier to criminalize drug use than to deal with the consequences.
Driving under the influence is already illegal and would obviously remain so in a society where more drugs were legal. I think we mostly all accept that needing to pass a breathalyser test to start your car would be absurd, so why are currently illegal drugs any different?
> a system that disqualifies them from public healthcare
Why? We don’t exclude obese people, those who do no exercise, smokers, alcoholics from public healthcare. In my eyes that is the bedrock of a public service, you get it whether you “deserve” it or not. To say otherwise opens the door to far too many situations where people cannot get the help they need.
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Orban doesn’t need to crack down on political opposition he has a strong majority in his country.[1] I guess you have a wrong opinion about Hungary and Orban because the media doesn’t like him because he is a pain in the ass for many plans of the European Union and gets bad reporting. Hungary has by the way not even 10 million residents. 1. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungarians-vote-orbans-...
I'm not here to claim that Orban is anywhere near the level of a "real" dictator in terms of squashing dissent. But consider that one way Orban makes sure to maintain this - indeed significant - majority is to try to silence/discredit voices that go against his narrative. In fact, his party is spending millions of dollars in public funds to finance a continuous stream of propaganda on many channels. On top of this, t…
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> tries to stop the conflict in Ukraine Afaik only cares about cheap gas, the rest is irrelevant.
If that's what hungarians want, cheap gas, he's working for hungarians, he's their president, i don't know what's wrong with that. I mean.. ask an average american, cut support for ukraine and in turn get cheaper gas.. what would a Billy or Bobby in texas say?
This could be abused in any number of ways and would probably make people and their precious children less safe in the long run rather than more safe. You can be sure Viktor Orban would use it to crack down on political opposition in Hungary, for example. In the wrong hands, could be used to have these precious children or their parents killed or worse. Authoritarian governments often do things, or threaten to do thi…
are there any right hands?
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I've seen a few recent videos out of the UK that made my blood boil. Police visits to your home because of mean posts, and then off to jail in handcuffs. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Ridiculous hyperbole. Log off twitter.
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I still can’t get over that the UK arrests people over social media posts. Is the US the only place on the planet that actually has free speech?
There's not a single place on earth that "has" free speech, it's all shades of gray. The US government will have you jailed, tortured, or just ruin your life in other innovative ways if you dare expose their crimes, e.g. Snowden, Assange.
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I think one real good test of a democracy is to plot a line with years and above the name of the person ruling the country. In the US you will see at least every 8 years a different name on top of the line. I think a good democratic system will not have a new leader every year but maybe every 4-8 years. Anything below won’t be stable enough for mid/long term policy changes. Anything above will be good for the leader…
True. If only these elected leaders wouldn’t be controlled by institutions and individuals who (1) are handlers to the elected leaders and (2) are not even elected in the first place. In the US, who currently has the power over your country? Is it your Biden (where is he?), your Harris? It someone else, maybe unelected?
He's currently at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware and he will be campaigning in Pittsburgh on Monday.
https://rollcall.com/factbase/biden/topic/calendar/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/30/us/politics/harris-biden-...
The worst thing about this is that we the citizens have to fight this every time, but if this just passes one single time we may lose our rights on this issue forever.
Sunset clauses would be great. Every X years they have to vote to re enable the law or it becomes deactivated. 1 year of deactivation gets it wiped.
See "Senate passes bill renewing key FISA surveillance power moments after it expires"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-renews-fisa...
The worst thing about this is that we the citizens have to fight this every time, but if this just passes one single time we may lose our rights on this issue forever.