ProdigalFrog

@ ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net

Posts

687
Comments

1650
Joined

3 yr. ago

A frog who wants the objective truth about anything and everything.
Admin of SLRPNK.net
XMPP: prodigalfrog@slrpnk.net

Moderating

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Like the logo! I think it's quite fitting ^^

Also like the frog banner, though I might be a bit biased 😄 Interested to see what others might suggest.

3d ago

House GOP passes sweeping anti-voting bill that could disenfranchise millions, sends measure to Senate

I just can’t understand how it got so bad, so quickly. Relatively speaking.

It's not too different from other fascist takeovers. Hitler and Mussolini went from being jokes to seizing dictatorial control in a relatively short time. Their rise was spurred by the failures of liberal style governments to adequately tamp down the excesses of the capital owners, along with other economic factors.

To a historian, the rise of Fascism in the US probably wouldn't be too surprising. We had a popular Nazi movement here in the 30's that was clamoring for power. That collapsed due to their leader embezzling funds, and it's successors being imprisoned under the espionage act during WWII.

But as for why it's happening again, it starts with FDR finally implementing major economic reforms that provided desperately worker and union protections, high taxes on the wealthy, and social security. Those actions were directly responsible for ending the gilded age as well as finally giving the working class a sense of hope and that life could actually get better (at least... If you weren't a minority, life still sucked for them, hence the civil rights movement a few decades later).

However, starting in the 70's, conservative and liberal leaders have consistently and slowly whittled away all of those working class gains from the 30's to the 60's.

70's: Regulations on businesses and corporate tax rates are relaxed, and wages start to fall behind inflation despite higher productivity.
80's: Unions are once again being busted in the under Reagan, and right-to-work laws in conservative states allow businesses to skirt unions. Union membership declines.
90's: Liberal leaders do little to fix anything in the when they were in power, Neo-liberalism is really taking effect now, manufacturing jobs are drastically being outsourced aboard to take advantage of slave wages. Unions continue to bleed members, wages stagnate further.
2000's: Obamacare (affordable care act) passes. It ensures people with pre-existing conditions are able to purchase health insurance (they could be denied before, so if you had cancer and didn't already have health insurance, you and your family would go bankrupt). Overall it's a shitty band-aid when universal healthcare is desperately needed so workers can actually attempt to unionize without having to fear losing their health insurance if they get fired for doing so. Wages remain stagnant.
2010: Citizens united passes in 2010, allowing corporate donors to go on unlimited spending sprees on political campaigns (they were harshly limited before). They pump pro-corporate candidates and senators full of money or non-monetary 'gifts'
The 2020's: The liberal government does nothing to stop insane housing costs as corporate landlords purchase insane amounts of housing as an investment vehicle, and begin to collude with each other to keep rents unbearably high. Cost of living increases in all areas, with Covid often being an excuse by corporations even after supply chains are restored. The majority of Americans have less than $200 in savings, and would become homeless if they lose their job. Insurance premiums rise to extreme levels in some areas. Most people can barely afford to live, more and more fall into poverty. Less than 10% of US workers are unionized.

Throughout the 90's to the present, we also had hard-right propaganda being allowed to be aired on TV (Fox News is one example), which fermented conspiracy theories for decades to an unfortunately uneducated populace.

All of that set up the perfect environment for a fascist to come in and perform their classic tactics of: blame minorities, promise a bright future, and convince their base that the left is literally evil and that they must be eliminated.

That's glossing over a whole lot, but that's kinda the ultra short version as to how we got here, and why it seemed to rise so quickly.

3d ago

House GOP passes sweeping anti-voting bill that could disenfranchise millions, sends measure to Senate

and what about general strikes and so on.

A general strike is desperately needed, but it genuinely isn't as easy as just calling for one and hoping everyone jumps onboard. Unions need to coordinate together to organize a proper one that won't fizzle out, which I will admit has been an agonizingly slow process, but it does appear to be happening.

The best thing we can do in the meantime is to unionize our workplaces if it isn't already, help a friend unionize theirs, speak up at union meetings about the importance of preparing and organizing a general strike (set up strike funds, contact other unions and mutual aid orgs to plan a date and resources, etc), and joining a local mutual aid group that will help us weather the strike.

I've been spreading this guide showing how to prepare for resistance as far and wide as I can. If you'd like to chip in and spread that as well, you have my full permission to copy and paste it wherever you think it'd get the most eyeballs (that goes for anyone else reading this too, your help would be much appreciated. Just try to make sure you post it where it won't be totally off topic and unwelcome).

You can access the markdown version of that guide by clicking the little page icon with the folded edge beneath it (on lemmy through the browser), so you don't have to manually copy the links or the formatting.

3d ago

Discord walks back age verification fears for most users

We host an XMPP and Movim front-end that's accessible to all Slrpnk members using their lemmy login (it queries the same database), if you'd like to try it out before recommending it to your group. It's mentioned in our sidebar and in the monthly Meta posts (I guess that shows we might not be doing a terribly good job advertising it if you're not familiar with it 😅)

3d ago

Element/Matrix Official Docker Install Method?

ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net 3d ago

I tried a lot, I think it has the most feature parity.

Have you tried Movim? It has most of the essential features, like group video calls, screen sharing, and a better E2EE method than matrix (IMO, anyway). It's also much easier to set up and host since it uses XMPP.

3d ago

I Started Programming When I Was 7. I'm 50 Now and the Thing I Loved Has Changed

Could put [AI Subject] in the title.

3d ago

Discord attempt to put out the fires with a clarification over new age verification

Depends on what you and your friends need.

If you often use text, group video calls and screen share, Movim is probably the best option currently (though there is no application audio when screen sharing yet). It supports encryption too!

If you use mostly text, and just send video or voice files to the group to be played in-app, Deltachat is really slick and encrypted (but it doesn't do voice calls).

3d ago

Splinter Cell series - Chaos Theory, Conviction, and Blacklist

ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net 3d ago

I played Choas Theory's spy vs merc multiplayer before the servers were shut down (though there are fan efforts that got it working again).

I had an absolute blast with it, and as you mention it was extremely unique, I have yet to experience anything like it.

3d ago

Splinter Cell series - Chaos Theory, Conviction, and Blacklist

If it helps, the developers all hated Tom Clancy's books and the conservative politics they pushed. They basically made the first splinter cell as a parody of the tropes in them. (The first game actually casts the US in a pretty bad light, showing that it's propping up dictators who are friendly to US capital).

It's also a running joke in the series that Sam Fisher hates Ronald Reagan with a passion.

3d ago

Twenty four US states are now considering legislation to allow small, plug-in solar power systems that connect directly into a wall socket.

ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net 3d ago

We're also late on implementing good public transport, having universal healthcare, 30 days off from work per year, and more! :D

It sucks.

3d ago

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next

Hm, I get the district feeling you're talking past me at this point since none of that seems to engage with or acknowledge my previous message.

4d ago

I was quite out of the loop, but it sems like TeamSpeak 6 is now a full fledged self-hostable Discord alternative? TeamSpeak 6 Is Back: New Design, Screen Sharing, and More

That looks interesting, and since it's licensed under GPL I do genuinely hope it's successful,

It'll have to prove that it can eventually scale at least as well as the battle proven XMPP protocol (apparently the main Fluxer server is already experiencing lag from the sudden growth its gotten after the discord announcement). And it'll be competing with the Movim XMPP client (which may reach feature parity with Fluxer soon). But I do wish the dev luck. They seem pretty chill, and with more contributors, I could see it taking on Discord.

4d ago

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next

waiting just makes it worse, and your choices are fighting or full submission.

I don't believe it's a simple binary. During Nazi Germany's rise, Hitler was extremely popular with the average citizen. I will agree that in that period, a militant option might've been their only real move, as the Unions, despite being far stronger than they are in the US today, didn't seem to take the threat seriously enough to call for a general strike (or at least, I can't easily find an example of them doing so) before he took power, or after Hitler began attacking the unions.

In contrast, the US unions (besides the teamsters) seem to be aware of the threat, and are actively making inroads to a general strike.

They’re not going to wait for an excuse, or they’ll make one. You’re dealing with a false choice here.

I agree that they will eventually pull a Reichstag fire, but it's not clear to me that accelerating a confrontation is wise. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend checking out the article I linked in my previous response.

which is about exactly the use of non-violence in the US Civil Rights movement

I'm not sure that's applicable, or perhaps we're using the word violence differently. I'm not at all against property destruction or riots, but you didn't see Black Panthers actively going on the offensive and gunning down cops. Had they done so, it would've brought the whole military down on them and they'd likely be wiped out without mercy, which the government was itching to justify as evidenced by the Desire group being shot at with 30 thousand rounds without provocation.

I think the Civil rights movement used property destruction and the very real threat of violence quite effectively, but I'm unsure how things would've gone had Malcolm X openly called for the movement to open fire, as he almost did after the murders of Nation of Islam members. Maybe that would've kicked off a successful revolution, another civil war, or the quick extinguishing of those radical members by the military. It's hard to say.

As to the quote in the photo you left: I agree that a peaceful protest will change nothing without a credible threat to back it up. A general strike is one threat, and a very effective one if enacted (as evidenced by how the government of Chile reacted to one). Property damage is another, as are riots. The last option is the cartridge box, it should not be the first option unless you know you can win, and have a pretty good idea that it will save more lives than not using it.

4d ago

Discord walks back age verification fears for most users

ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net 4d ago

No prob! I'm excited for it too ^^

4d ago

Discord walks back age verification fears for most users

ProdigalFrog @slrpnk.net 4d ago

If you have a link to a discussion or issue where they’re tracking this, I’d love to follow it.

They've mentioned needing to accelerate the development of it on their Mastodon account in light of the Discord blunder, such as here, and they just had a user poll there that resulted in Discord-like grouped channels/spaces being the most requested.

4d ago

ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next

I'm very familiar with it. Matewan (which takes place before the battle for Blair Mountain) is one of my favorite movies.

The difference is in the period where the US labor movement employed violent resistance; The government was not literal Nazis, the US had not yet become the most advanced military on the planet, and the police and strike-breaker thugs weren't as well equipped as the military itself, nor had state funded billion dollar budgets to boot. Hell, the workers at Blair Mountain could've done a lot of damage, maybe even inspire a popular revolt across the US, had they not been persuaded to stop.

We, and the US labor movement, is at this moment facing a problem much closer to the consolidation of power ofNazi Germany, where unions were destroyed by an overwhelming state violence.

I'm not saying that it'd be a bad idea to be prepared if non-violent resistance fails, I've made posts in that area as well. But at the same time, it's quite clear that the regime is looking for an excuse to call martial law, cancel the elections, and unleash the military upon all who oppose it.

I'm personally not super confident that the US military will refuse orders, or that a large enough faction within it would split off and join the resistance if ordered to round up and kill US citizens. Without that, being the initiator in a violent resistance would light off a powder keg that is not to our advantage, as it would then reduce our resistance force to only the most militant. And again, if the military blindly follows orders, it would be open-slaughter in a straight up fight. At best, the resistance could manage a Troubles like reaction.

There's a point where we may be forced into that position regardless, but we're currently dominating in winning public sentiment, and lowering the popularity of the regime, which also doesn't seem competent enough realize that they're speedrunning the violent suppression part (Hitler and Mussolini built it up patiently over a decade), and aren't providing the economic gains to their base to compensate for the violent shock.

It would seem prudent to let the regime continue to hang itself as we further ferment non-violent resistance and educate workers of how much power they can wield with a general strike, and to organize for one before it's too late. And at least in my opinion, it'd be damned foolish not to even try the non-violent path considering how effective its been demonstrated to be, especially when the alternative is a tremendous amount of death, and possibly a new civil war.

4d ago

Discord walks back age verification fears for most users

Piggybacking off this:

XMPP and Deltachat are two excellent decentralized, self-hostable, federated, encrypted communication platforms. Deltachat is limited more to text (though it can send videos or audio files that can be played in the app like snapchat), but with XMPP, we could use the Movim Client.

Movim can do group video calls, screen sharing, differing permissions in groups, and even user blogs! And I believe the devs are working on adding discord-like channels with multiple groups under a single community. It's currently our best option to shift to, and due to being FLOSS, will only ever improve (we'll never need to worry about investment capital enshittification), so it's not just kicking the can down the road, it's a long-term, almost permanent solution.

4d ago

I had a random (probably dumb) idea: Given the whole Discord Drama going on, what if there was a Discord alternative, but in the style of Lemmy?

Movim (an XMPP client) covers most of that. I think it's currently working on having a collection of rooms be in one channel, but it already has group chats, group video calls, screen sharing, and permissions in groups.

It doesn't have forums in it, but it does allow users to have blogs.

4d ago

I had a random (probably dumb) idea: Given the whole Discord Drama going on, what if there was a Discord alternative, but in the style of Lemmy?