This guy doesn’t seem to have quite grasped yet that it’s no longer particularly effective to try to cover up the misdeeds of fascist monsters with the misdeeds of historical fascist monsters.

It’s ridiculous enough to even try, but now even more so.

Yes, that’s clear. I didn’t mean to imply that anyone here is getting paid, except for the operators of instances and Foss developers—and they presumably get far too little for their efforts.

Yes, ads would be unavoidable, but there would be the possibility of distributing the revenue more fairly. Otherwise, the only option would be to accept donations to accounts, but no one would likely use that. I’ll say it again: ads are not an option in the Fediverse, not even in a transparent way, and not even though ads not only finance the internet, but have also traditionally been a major source of funding for things like quality journalism (subscriptions have never been the main source of income here). Nevertheless, it remains a fact that good content costs time and skill, and therefore usually money. Without monetization methods, there will always be a shortage of content that is more than just reposts from elsewhere. So it seems to me to be an unsolvable problem. But of course, I also completely understand why the Fediverse fundamentally rejects monetization—at least in the form of ads.

That’s the downside of having few users. In terms of basic principles, Lemmy is no different from other social media apps: The lion’s share just consumes, few comment, hardly anyone posts anything. In fact, it’s anything but a community approach, but rather the merit of a few “power users” who provide the vast majority of the content.

In addition, there are no monetization opportunities whatsoever. Many people see this as a good thing, which is understandable, but in fact there are perfectly normal people who try to make a living from their content or at least want to earn some extra money. I don’t think there will ever be any understanding for this on this platform. Therefore, there will never be such content here, because without monetization opportunities, there is no motivation to provide such content here instead of on mainstream social media platforms. I can imagine that the Fediverse could develop remuneration models that are much fairer and more sustainable, but this will fail from the outset due to ideology.

I think that’s a shame, but I think there is 0 chance this could even be discussed in the Fediverse.

Yep, Grok is probably already working on it, or at least getting people excited about it…

Yes, Israeli Zionists have been playing the anti-Semitism card for decades. It is a perfidious, self-reinforcing strategy: the more completely legitimate criticism of Israel’s inhumane actions is silenced with this argument, the more it feeds actual anti-Semitism.

This is supported by the Mossad’s skillful intelligence work, which obviously gathered a lot of dirt on politicians around the world - there is simply no other explanation for how a small, rather insignificant state like Israel has gotten away with the most heinous atrocities for decades.

This is mainly attributable to the US, but also to Germany, my home country, where the anti-Semitism card has an even stronger effect due to its terrible past. As a German citizen with an awareness of history, it is all the more repulsive for me to see how obvious war criminals shamelessly use the Holocaust in order to commit genocide themselves.

Yet it is quite simple: Israel is not Judaism. It is a criminal but sovereign state that commits genocide. This has nothing to do with religion, but exclusively with the inhuman ruthlessness of their criminal regime.

And yes, this is also supported by the population, just as it was in the Third Reich, since Israel is also a deeply authoritarian state, but these are not “the Jews”, but the citizens of a State, the citizens of Israel, a country that commits the most terrible war crimes and tries to justify them by referring to history - it is a scandal that this still works, it is a crime against their own ancestors and has absolutely nothing to do with anti-Semitism; except that it very deliberately promotes anti-Semitism in itself in order to portray Israel’s actions as the views of “the Jews” - which is, of course, not at all the case.

They have even introduced absurd concepts such as the “self-hating Jew” to prevent Jews from insisting that they want nothing to do with the deeply racist, inhumane Zionism of Israel.

It couldn’t be more unscrupulous.

These people are truly the scum of the earth - and by “these people”, I don’t mean a religious group, as these people would like to portray it, but Netanyahu, the Israeli government, and all their henchmen.

The connection to Israel is becoming increasingly obvious. Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, was also involved in setting up this fascist enterprise - with the kind assistance of Jeffrey Epstein!

Many thanks also to the politicians here in Germany who first signed a completely illegal contract with these bastards and then specifically amended the police law to undermine the constitutional rights of citizens after the fact.

It really is a terrible world we live in, because no one is stopping the most unscrupulous of all people. Well, this is what the end stage of the free market economy looks like.

Ah, thank you! I don’t know anything about wrestling - only that the US Secretary of Education, Lisa McMahon, is the wife of wwe wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, who has been tried several times for rape and sex trafficking (and is, of course, a good friend of the orange rapist). I thought that was what this comment referred to.

Yes, that’s why all of this provides such good material for conspiracy theories: the dull-witted MAGA workforce certainly didn’t come up with this themselves, but most likely rather their financial backers behind the scenes. The people in the administration are also benefiting, of course, but I think most of them are more like the front for smarter people who prefer not to appear in public office - people like Thiel and the like.

As I said, this is all conspiracy theory because it cannot be proven beyond doubt, but it is remarkable how well particularly unscrupulous fascists are working together worldwide these days, how visible they are in both traditional and social media, and how respectable their standing is in the business world despite their blatant Nazi rhetoric.

When you consider that it is not a conspiracy theory but reality that the power to bring this about actually lies in the hands of a few billionaires, you have to at least be suspicious.

But yes, all these strange developments could easily turn you into a conspiracy theorist yourself - and probably in a way that is at least some what plausible, despite the lack of evidence. At least it seems to me that there is significantly more circumstantial evidence here than for all the ridiculous fantasy stories that the fascists continue to spread.

Pretty much everything “New World Order”: One of the oldest and most common labels for conspiracy theories that claim a secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world under a totalitarian one-world government.

Edit: Although there are certainly some signs of such conspiracies today, the absurd thing about many of these theories is that they are often used by right-wing extremists to gain support for ideas that are very close to the goals of the conspirators described in such theories.

The best example is probably MAGA with its “cabal” of child molesters. Now that their leader is president, it is telling that MAGA has gone quiet on this conspiracy theory - and no one there is talking anymore about the fact that influential billionaires are becoming richer and more influential under the MAGA regime.

I have always found such things interesting, as they themselves give rise to conspiracy theories.

A quick reminder in this context: The German government wants to introduce Palantir nationwide, even though this violates applicable law - both at the European and national levels. Contracts have even already been signed in some federal states.

Here is a link to a Campact petition calling on the SPD to block the CDU/CSU’s plans.

And here is a petition addressed directly to the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg, demanding that the contract already signed with Palantir be disclosed and revoked.

In my opinion, everyone living in Germany should sign both petitions - it is scandalous that this is even necessary, but unfortunately, conservative german politicians in particular continue to pursue their shady dealings.

Yes, I think so too. And I think that ICE is intended for this purpose, since the regime cannot be sure of the loyalty of the police, let alone the military. I mean, why else would ICE need such an astronomical budget? Further embezzlement of public funds via private prison companies, in which members of the government are certainly involved, surely also plays a role. But when you look at the ruthless actions of ICE and what die-hard fascists they are, it seems pretty obvious to me that it’s already an SS-like secret police force. Maybe it will be renamed once they have seized absolute power.

They are not there yet, but I think it is very likely that the regime will not allow free elections anymore—then it would risk being held accountable for all its crimes, which is unlikely under the US legal system, but not impossible.

Perhaps the Millers will learn their lesson on political terror when ICE comes knocking on their door. Traditionally, the goddamned Nazis end up stabbing each other in the back sooner or later—see “The Night of the Long Knives”.

They are therefore by no means only a threat to their opponents.

Looks like Taylor Greene will probably be one of the first to be dealt with, but of course, no one is safe from narcissistic psychopaths without a conscience. So, like anyone else, it could happen to the Millers at any time.

It wouldn’t surprise me or make me sad in any way—quite the contrary.

Sonic 3: Ice Cap Zone Act 1

You said that philanthropy is not misused to avoid taxes—that is definitely wrong, but if you want to believe it, please do.

You need to be more specific. I’m not going to waste my time refuting your statement because I can’t even begin to imagine how you came up with that.

I’ve seen this news story so many times – months ago. And considering the inhumanity of this administration, the blatant violations of the law it commits, the blatant racism, and how it tramples on constitutional democracy, I am constantly amazed that it seems to be this stirring up American sentiment. That’s probably how it is in the age of social media. Not reason but a sob story with a puppy dog is what it takes to reach people.

Edit just to be on the safe side: This does not only apply to the US, of course—it is the same worldwide.

I can’t say how the tax avoidance strategies of the super-rich work in practice, but in any case, their feigned philanthropy is a key part of it.

I assume that tax avoidance is also a factor.