Are you suggesting that there are narratives out there that aren’t false?
Well, there’s our own personal narratives that we tell ourselves. My truth!
Then there are the ones we tell others. Their truth! (Or at least we hope they believe it.)
Then there’s all the other stuff.
So no. They’re pretty much all false. Its really just a matter of degrees.
I always respond to myself, “who are you kidding?”
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I cannot comment on that, since I haven’t enough information on the subject, but I understand the frustration of seeing people rally up for a cause that’s completely bollocks.
A simple search by the police caused this in a high crime area. What should the cops do, not search them because they’re immigrants?
https://www.instagram.com/portalswipe/p/DExSO4KPkeJ/
I mean, police should be able to do something about this, no?
Used to be that to be a racist you had to be, you know… a racist. Now you can only arrest those who aren’t minority, or else - racism.
This was the image that shocked so many people. No one give two shits when they do this to brits in the pub areas but now it’s a problem.
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Not me. Im stuck between my ears with a continuous cacophony of dirt bike sounds and cartoon sound effects from the golden age of animation.
The only time I’m introspective is if somebody asks me a personal question.
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Well, you could say the same about Trump.
(I’m running for cover now 
).
I don’t think the same case is there at all. First off, he’s actively working to extract less wealth from the population. Second, his policy ideas are comparatively concrete and ideologically consistent with core American ideas that are easily-understood like equal protection under the law. To contrast with Socialism, apparently years of postgraduate study are necessary to understand the true essence of a concept like “equity”, and even then the actual government policies shaped by the concept are never explained in clear terms, not until the trap is sprung like in the U.K. They have finally explained what “equity” actually means, a two-tier society, like all forms of Socialism.
Nobody in MAGA wants access to kids to tell them about their fetishes. Nobody in MAGA is trying to enshrine sexual indoctrination into law. That’s a pretty significant difference, too.
Trump is also not suggesting that society can be improved if only we extract more money and funnel it through a vast constellation of politically-connected nonprofits with little or no government oversight.
I could go on all day with the real, concrete differences.
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Its weird man. Self subjugation, as if autonomy were a zero sum commodity comes to mind. Like the citizens have to treat them selves as less than to be equal, then they get upset when they see others being treated normally.
They’re all miscalibrated and out of fucking whack!
See? This is why I try not to think a whole lot.
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Perfect description.
Which then leads to self congratulation, for ‘‘standing up for what is right’’.
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Hundreds of protestors is not many given the size of Lisbon. You also probably had immigrants among the protestors. If this had bothered a significant number of Portuguese, there would have been thousands of people marching.
It’s silly.
I would agree the protestors had a point if police were targeting immigrants just because of them being immigrants, but that’s just not the case.
It’s a lot of self-righteous indignation, with political parties taking advantage of the situation for political points (not just on the left but the far right too - obviously with a different agenda).
Regarding the number of protestors, it was significant. you have to consider that this is a fairly indolent population when it comes to protests. People here are way less likely to take their dissatisfaction to the streets than, say, the Germans or the French. People might be bothered but they’d rather talk about it over a coffee or a beer. No need to ruin the whole Saturday over it.
Within that context, it’s like everyone was there, except maybe me and like two or three more persons.
Parliament was entertaining too, with the parties demanding to know if the centrist PM condemned or supported the actions of the Police.
Storm in a teacup.
Edited to add:
There were, actually. That site for English immig…, I mean, expats, got the number wrong.
''Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in Lisbon against racism and xenophobia. The protest sought to condemn the political instrumentalization of the PSP following the police operation that took place last month in Martim Moniz, marked by the image of several immigrants lined up against a wall during a search. At the same time, a Chega vigil took place in the capital, with a few hundred participants.
Left-wing parties participated in the demonstration against racism, with several politicians present recalling the importance of defending democratic values.
…
Chega demonstration less expressive
At the same time, there was a Chega vigil in defense of the police, but it was much less significant, with a few hundred people in attendance. In his speech on a stage in Praça da Figueira, André Ventura accused the prime minister of having given in to pressure and of having lost his courage.
" We want more operations like these as long as the numbers keep rising ‘’
Ok, I’ll stop now. This is a thread is about Trump and Lewinston, Maine, and I don’t want to derail it.
My post wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, but I did think of Trump when you mentioned ‘‘wealth extractions schemes’’, namely the things he sells, like those Bibles printed in China, the autographed guitars, the ‘Swiss-made’ watches (is he still selling those?) or the TrumpCoin thing.
The whole candidacy came off like a big infomercial.
His ‘‘Stop the Steal’’ fundraising seemed not that dissimilar to the BLM, as in, part of the money that was raised went to things that had no connection to its stated goal - a vote recount or any other legal efforts to contest the 2020 election results.
(I will admit that the media here is more alligned with your more liberal one, but is this not true?)
It seems like wealth extraction, if not a scheme.
Regarding predatory sex stuff, I dunno, there are a bunch of claims about him, but you could say the same about Clinton. Bill, too.
I wasn’t thinking about this, but yeah, the whole gender thing is looney tunes.
I figured, but a LOT of people take the idea very, very seriously.
Broadly speaking, you’re equating selling a product you find unnecessary and or ridiculous with the nonvoluntary system of Socialism. That they must “subvert power structures” here and abroad to achieve one party rule is just one major cultish aspect we’re dealing with. They never explain what their lofty ideas actually mean until they demonstrate it for you. Nobody ever campaigned on trafficking migrants to Maine and empowering them to vote in our elections, for instance. They campaigned on vague platitudes, then did that.
I don’t know much about “Stop the steal”, but again, it seems like it was voluntary in a way that Socialism is not and never has been. Trump’s PAC certainly wasn’t being funded by the federal government or any state government, like so many of our left-wing activists are.
I don’t think it is “tin foil hat” territory anymore to clearly conclude that we, as a population, have been being taxed so we can fund our own indoctrination into the cult of Socialism. That seems rather obvious to me at this point, especially here in Maine.
The basic difference is that Trump isn’t passing laws that require people to purchase his products or funneling massive amounts of taxpayer money through nonprofits he’s set up. He’s clearly not in this for personal enrichment, and neither is Musk.
Maine is now the 5th highest-taxed state in the nation, and all we’ve gotten from the increase in wealth extraction is dramatically worsening conditions that have driven out real wealth, i.e. long-time middle class residents with in-demand skills, and brought in state dependents from distant lands and needy people nearby lands.
Locally Maine Dems are in full-blown propaganda mode, in addition to calling Trump supporters fascists. That’s all they have. There are no improved socioeconomic or education outcomes under their six years of dominant governance. Just the dysfunction by design while the wealth gets extracted and distributed according to the principles of “equity”, which conveniently means whatever they say it means at the time.
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IMO we’re LONG past those kind of guardrails, and what’s happening in Europe is of particular significance to what’s happening in Maine. There are so many parallels and all of the contributions from Europeans to the thread have been positive, not counting Karl Marx.
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I agree that there is no nefarious, hidden thing going on here, on the contrary. No one needs to buy that crap, people who do so do it voluntarily. I do think it’s a bit the cult of personality that leads people into buying that stuff, but that’s not either here or there.
I don’t know even close to enough about how your institutions or how they interact with one another, or your ‘‘checks an balances’’, but Trump has been accused, very much so lately, of “subverting power structures” by a good chunk of your fellow americans. While I’m confident that those ‘‘checks an balances’’ would prevent such thing, he does come off as someone who would try to.
I mean, he has been floating the possiblity or running for a 3r time, what do you make of that?
He’s certainly not the most altruistic person in the world, everything he does seems to be about him. Who knows what goes in his mind, but to me he seems to be in this ‘‘all for the glorification of his massive ego’’, as George would say.
Is he making your life better, though? If I were a citizen, that’s what would matter most to me.
That can be said of any charismatic leader.
It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, although I’d prefer to just have Vance run and formally end the era of boomer leadership.. Obama got his 3rd term, or at least someone who wasn’t Joe Biden got their chance at the helm.
I don’t see how anyone can say that after he was shot.
100 percent yes. Border policy alone clears that hurdle for me. The insanity needed to end. That hasn’t instantly improved the conditions locally, but it put a stop to the Dem’s plan to “subvert a power structure”.
Getting challenged by the courts is part and parcel of being President, for all Presidents. He’s not subverting federal law or the Constitution, talk of 3rd term notwithstanding. Maine Democrats are actually subverting Maine law, which requires US citizenship to vote in all Maine elections. By making that impossible to know with our system of elections, it has successfully been “subverted”, with enough non-citizens voting to swing the results.
I did not like his “He who saves his country breaks no law” post, but I also suspect he’s “poking the bear” to bring out the absolute worst side of the Dems. It appears to be working very well, with Democrat approval at all-time lows. We’ll see what the tariff announcements mean for that this week, but something tells me the Democrat are losing more supporters than their silly theatrics are gaining.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/5224072-democrats-low-approval-rating/
There are indeed many parallels, yes. I think we’re still very far from becoming Maine, but shit, Miss Portugal 2023 is a trans. You’re telling me no woman was more atractive than a former dude?
These things go slowly but surely.
Isn’t there still a swimsuit part of the contest? Never mind, I just googled the images and there’s a bulge. You guys are probably going to have the biggest dick in the entire Miss Universe competition, which has to count for something nowadays.
Even the author can’t keep up with this crap.
Meanwhile, in the UK…
I think you’d be outraged if, say, Obama floated that very idea. Come on.. you know you would.
So was Paul Castellano, I don’t see the connection of being altruistic and getting shot.