• US negotiators told Ukraine US could shutoff Starlink if minerals deal not reached
  • SpaceX-owned satellite internet service vital for Ukraine
  • Zelenskiy says U.S. and Ukraine working on an agreement
        • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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          4 hours ago

          I’m just going to tell you something very important today. You know, we’ve all heard about impeachment, right? People talk about it all the time, but let me tell you—nobody knows impeachment like I do, okay?

          I’ve been impeached not once, not twice, but three times. That’s right. Three times, folks. And you know what? Nobody else has been impeached more times than me. Believe me.

          It’s an incredible record, a huge record. People are talking about it everywhere. They say, “Donald, you’re amazing, you’re a winner!” And you know what? They’re right. Who else has had such a remarkable impact? I’ve made history. Some people, some really great people, say it’s the most impressive thing anyone’s ever done in politics. I didn’t just get impeached once, or even twice—no, I did it three times, folks. Unbelievable.

          And, you know, there were a lot of people who tried to bring me down, but they couldn’t do it. They tried, but I stood strong. Stronger than anyone thought. They couldn’t break me. No one could break me. It’s a testament to how tough I am. The greatest toughness, folks.

          Let me tell you, other politicians, they wish they had that kind of resilience. They wish they could say, “I was impeached three times and survived!” But they can’t. Only one man, only one—Donald J. Trump—has done it. And it’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing.

          So when you hear people talk about impeachment, just remember—no one, and I mean no one, has done it like me. And I did it better than anyone ever could. Big league. Thank you, thank you very much.

          • Amanduh@lemm.ee
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            35 minutes ago

            Unrealistic he stayed on one topic the whole time it’s way too coherent

  • daddy32@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Nevermind that the terminals were not free and were paid for mostly by European allies. Duo of fuckers will leverage them anyway.

  • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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    15 hours ago

    Jesus fucking christ. If you do this, and exploit Ukraine while they are literally under the gun, the US will be dead to the rest of the western world.

    I cannot express how hard you can go fuck yourselves.

    The literal rest of my life will be spent trying to fuck over America and Americans. Fuck you, you selfish, coward, pieces of shit.

      • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        Come on doc, you’ve gotta help us, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!

        • Nima@leminal.space
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          6 hours ago

          what? you want more? i can turn the socialized healthcare lever on as well. there it is! right there.

          its so simple!

          any other changes you think you want? i can grab a magic wand, if that will make you feel better.

          • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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            5 hours ago

            Oh yes of course, the whole world has of course been watching the mass protests and general strike being organized with baited breath, oh wait.

            • Nima@leminal.space
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              3 hours ago

              what do you think I can do personally? on some level that would satisfy you?

              what would you do in my situation? just one person.

              tell us, mighty canadian of war! one who knows all answers! who rights all wrongs with his witless rage!

              oh won’t the angry canadian man save us with his wisdom??

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      8 hours ago

      American here: hard agree. This is all insane, but it’s predictable, and they told us about it ahead of time, and people still fucking voted for it. We shat the bed, now we must lie in it.

      I’m probably gonna try to leave the country and renounce my citizenship at some point, particularly if the next few months are as catastrophic as I think they’ll be.

    • hornedfiend@sopuli.xyz
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      10 hours ago

      I was planning a holiday in the US this or next year, but decided not to proceed with it. I’d rather go anywhere else now really. Currently for me Russia = India = China = North Korea = USA now. Plenty of european countries I’d rather throw my money at.

      • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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        4 hours ago

        Come visit us in Canada! It’s beautiful here. Better come fast before Trump decides to invade us for our oil and minerals though. I expect it’ll be much less beautiful after that, and we won’t have as much time to spend with you while waging a guerilla resistance.

        • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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          4 hours ago

          That’s true, the spellings are very different.

          But otherwise they’re all countries ruled by petty men trying to project their power and rob their neighbours of their resources, liberty, and lives.

      • Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        I feel this. I would love to see Russia, China and India…but there’s not a chance that I would knowingly give my money to those regimes. Not even through participating in their economy for half a week.

    • overload@sopuli.xyz
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      14 hours ago

      I think a global boycott on US-made goods + services is necessary. Trump can only do this because the US is such a powerhouse.

      • bss03@infosec.pub
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        9 minutes ago

        As an American, I’d like the boycott to be more targeted. But yes, every company that licks the boots of this obviously fascist regime should see no more sales. I don’t have a full list, but it includes at least Meta, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon.

      • Zeoic@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        That is already happening in Canada. Those imperialists threatening annexation was finally what brought us Canadians together on something lol

      • stardust@lemmy.ca
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        13 hours ago

        Would be nice to see global sanctions against the US. Not realistic, but I hope all countries are moving towards significantly reducing American reliance. It’ll be a slow process, but needs to be done.

        • Vipsu@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          Honestly sanctions agains companies like these that can be weaponized politically sounds very reasonable.

          They are national security threat in the true meaning of the word.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        The US is only such a powerhouse, because they generally have the support of their allies. That makes it the unparalleled biggest economic block in the world.
        But without their allies, USA isn’t that much stronger than China economically. And USA wouldn’t be nearly the powerhouse they’ve gotten used to be.

        So China just has to look on and do nothing, while USA is losing their world dominance quickly.

      • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Just relax and let trump continue destroying the USA. He’s doing putin’s work and fucking us all, Europeans and Americans alike.

      • asap@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        I moved all my cloud computing from DO and Vultr to European owned options. It’s a small thing, but it’s about the only thing that I had been purchasing from the USA.

    • Mister_Feeny@fedia.io
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      14 hours ago

      The literal rest of my life will be spent trying to fuck over America and Americans.

      As an American, I’d just like to say we absolutely deserve this.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        No we don’t. Trump deserves to be kicked to the curb, but Americans are absolutely fine, if a bit short sighted.

        A country is not its leadership, it’s the people. And it’s incredibly hard for the people to replace their leadership outside of election season, and even then, there’s a lot of pressure to make poor choices on your ballot.

        • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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          3 hours ago

          it’s incredibly hard for the people to replace their leadership outside of election season

          What have you tried? Have you written any letters? Protested? Marched? Gone on strike?

          There’s a whole lot of defeatism in your comment and I’m getting major “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” vibes.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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        7 hours ago

        All Amerikans deserve this and worse because they sit at home and complain online while a literal textbook definition of a coup is happening to their country. The country that literally screeches at the top of its lungs about the second amendment and right to have a gun “in case of a tyrannical government”. Not a single shot fired. No protests, just complaints. Y’all gave up your country without a fight.

        • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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          5 hours ago

          We’re definitely protesting. It may not make international news, but every day there are angry crowds outside government buildings or in the streets of our cities. The last I went to was this past Monday in NY and there were at least a few thousand of us. Personally I think we need more serious measures but protesting is a start.

          • PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca
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            1 hour ago

            I’ve gone out of my way to look for coverage of any sort of protesting. I saw a single day of scattered small-medium protests called 50501 or something a couple weeks ago. That’s it. Angry crowds in front of government buildings doesn’t sound like serious protests given the sheer amount of what’s been going on in that country.

            • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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              10 minutes ago

              I hear you, and I agree there’s a lot more that needs to be done. I can say with some confidence that the average American doesn’t want any of this in the slightest, even if the average American isn’t as politically engaged as they need to be to truly understand the global implications.

              The truth is that the average American is mostly thinking about immediate problems in their own life, like how to pay both their rent and their phone bill and still afford gas to get to the grocery store where many staples are increasingly expensive.

              Even something as important as voting or protesting can feel like a privilege for the well-off when it’s the choice between that and working a shift to pay bills, and of course voting has been made deliberately difficult in most states. Voter registration isn’t automatic, for example. Likewise Election Day isn’t a National Holiday, so many people have to take off work if they don’t plan ahead to register, apply to vote absentee and meet deadlines for ballot mail-in.

              Basically I’m just trying to encourage you to remember your neighbors are normal people who actually do value being good neighbors. They are oppressed and deceived, however, and a small portion of them are straight up brainwashed by a cult.

              I hope, trust, and believe that when the chips fall, people in this country will answer the call to fight the global oppressors for themselves and others, because deep down they know that we’re all in this together. First they must lift their heads and see, a difficult process which I think has finally begun.

    • marv99@feddit.org
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      14 hours ago

      I understand your feelings, and I share them. Let’s stay strong and united, refusing to let fear or hatred divide us. Remember, we have allies in America who stand against extremism and are working tirelessly to promote justice and equality. There is a growing movement of brave activists, judges, and everyday Americans who are standing up against these challenges. It’s crucial that we support them and let them know they are not alone. Together we are stronger.

      You can find an overview of the current resistance in yesterday’s post on Substack: https://robertreich.substack.com/p/ten-reasons-for-optimism

      • Broadfern@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        As someone who didn’t vote for the Cheeto Nazi, thank you for the nuance.

        That said, comment OP and anyone reading this - please boycott and sanction the US! Starving the billionaire leeches and smacking government into pretending they have an iota of decorum or sense is necessary, and any outside influence on that is helpful.

    • brewery@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Exactly. I’m already thinking about pulling my pension pot out of any US investments. It’s a tiny amount but maybe we can start a movement to keep pension investments in countries and systems you believe in, not whatever mix are typically used

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        That does literally nothing though. Buying a share of a company is like buying a used product, none of that money goes to the company. The only benefit to a company is the share price rising, and your contribution to that is effectively zero, and it only matters if the company issues or buys back shares, which is somewhat rare.

        It’s the same reason that buying “green” shares does nothing.

        Invest based on what’s most likely to give you a good return, even if you don’t agree with their products. And then buy products based on your convictions. If you want to feel like you’re “sticking it to the man,” use the profits to buy from their competitors.

      • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        Canadian. I’ve divested 100% of my meagre savings out of us stocks. USA is not a reliable trading partner, or a leader in anything anymore except deceit.

      • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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        12 hours ago

        Given there is going to be serious economic disruption there is a lot be said for diversifying your assets. If most of your assets are currently in the US moving your pension fund into assets held outside it is a strong de-risking move, particularly if you can move it out of the country totally using a foreign prover provider as well as holding non-US assets(not sure if that last is legally possible, don’t know much about your pension system).

        Note you may get poorer performance - it’s really up in the air just yet what the short term impacts will be economically (depends what King Mango ends up deciding, it’s mostly speculation right now)

        Edit for typo

  • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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    13 hours ago

    the weird cube man has been dicking around the Ukrainians over his satellite service since before he got involved in the election he just won. if you look into the history of spacex, a meeting with russia looms large in its early history. i personally think he’s been a kremlin asset since 2004, at least.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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      13 hours ago

      He may have been a russian asset since 2004 (I don’t know either way) but it certainly was nothing to do with that SpaceX meeting. He went there to try and buy Russian rocket engines, they told him to pound sand. He was forced to do it the hard way and hire a team and they designed what are now the Falcon 9 engines.

      I don’t understand why people keep making stuff up (not just this post, it’s one of many), he’s evil enough on the actual facts

      • Fermion@feddit.nl
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        9 hours ago

        I see it as an extension of the myth of American purity and external corruption. “This person is evil, some outside power must have compromising info on them.” “Immigrants are violent criminals preying on innocent americans.”

        These attitudes ignore the reality that bad people can come from anywhere. There are plenty of villians with very mundane origin stories. What matters is if everyone else has the will and ability to keep bad people in check and hold them accountable.

        The grifters in charge need no other motivation than a sense of superiority and an opportunity to make a buck.

        • Sturgist@lemmy.ca
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          8 hours ago

          What matters is if everyone else has the will and ability to keep bad people in check and hold them accountable.

          Well said.

          The grifters in charge need no other motivation than a sense of superiority and an opportunity to make a buck.

          That’s why corruption is an issue in every political system that we’ve tried, that contains more than a few thousand people.
          Always seems like the people who want to be in power, shouldn’t be…and those that should want nothing to do with it…

  • LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    15 hours ago

    Please, everyone else quickly develop options other than the US. We’re going to need a minute to sort this mess out. :(((((((

  • don@lemm.ee
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    14 hours ago

    I’ve had the great fortune to visit and live among other peoples in their countries (primarily the Baltics, Russia proper and Belorus) many years ago (first when Eesti still used the ruble, and then later again when she used those beautiful Eesti Kroon), when the people of those countries had much to tell me about their lives and cultures. I then had to return to the states, where knowing these things was frowned upon heavily, because they weren’t US-centric stories.

    I’ve lived outside US borders just perhaps long enough to be able to disdain US exceptionalism, and understand that its head hasn’t been cowed enough yet for its population to understand humility relative to the much older and wiser world.

    It’s very sad that I have to live to see it, especially with Canada and Mexico as our neighbors, but it seemed inevitable decades ago, so I’ll watch grimly as the country I was born in is made to fucking reckon… if it ever even learns to understand that fact.

  • Australis13@fedia.io
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    14 hours ago

    Makes me wonder if this was Musk’s plan all along - make Starlink indispensible and then leverage it against Ukraine when the time came.

    • Madrigal@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Modern capitalism in a nutshell. Establish a monopoly through any means, then exploit the hell out of that monopoly to become richer and more powerful.

  • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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    14 hours ago

    “It may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” - Henry Kissinger

  • ryedaft@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    You can do directed WiFi with pretty long range. But you have to set up both transmitter and receiver antenna, and you’ll want to tune the direction of both antenna since radio waves don’t travel in a straight line along the surface of the Earth. Bit of a faff really.

    Long-range Wi-Fi - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_Wi-Fi

    • Kairos@lemmy.today
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      14 hours ago

      The point is that they can’t set up a receiver. Modern warfare uses a lot of land.