Posts by jumbo@mas.to
(DIR) Post #AJ154asB5JdJSnZEXI by jumbo@mas.to
2022-04-29T18:51:07Z
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@aljazeera You're welcome to each other. Soon anyone still on Twitter is just outing themselves as Q-Anon zombies. Come election time, take down social media, and Far-Right are screwed because all they have is an on-line bot-verse of bogus accounts & auto-generated junk tweets & a handful of rent-a-crowd mouth-breathing goons we can rely on to riot on cue because they trust in & slavishly obey the bots but nothing else because that's mind-control. White supremacy? On what planet?
(DIR) Post #AJAoRXnwVBIweyQIDY by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-06T11:04:49Z
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@aljazeera I suffer this too. You can add England Fatigue Syndrome to the same list. I suspect they are caused by the same pathogen - Far-Right ideology using popularism to roll back every advance made on human rights in the last century up to & including voting rights. Picking on one demographic then another to mask the anti-democratic trend & divide opposition into competitor camps. We are fighting for democracy against Putin, Xi, MbS, Erdogan, Orban but also against Johnson/UK & GOP/US.
(DIR) Post #AJAsjcXM2rGSMmXUDg by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-06T11:52:53Z
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@aljazeera Same playbook as US GOP Trump and UK Tories Johnson - use popularism & campaign built on lies to get elected democratically (by low grade democratic systems not proof against such attacks) then destroy democracy & entrench one-party rule. Democracy is embattled on all sides. I wonder how citizens of threatened democracies do not sense their danger. But decades of neoliberalism undermining democracy has made it seem worthless to poor - maybe they think Facism will be better?
(DIR) Post #AJFKdAtrSbxCGNcYiG by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-08T15:24:12Z
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@aljazeera Assad always looks like a lanky schoolboy who has awkwardly outgrown his uniform. That aside, rapproachment between Syria and Iran was inevitable following MbS/Saudi agreements with Israel, Türkiye and other trade deals, loans, arms supplies etc aimed at entrenching Saud monarchy and Saudi hegemony over Muslim world. Ukraine War sanctions pushed up oil prices. Gulf states are using exrra cash to wage 'cold war' with Iran & its allies. And to increase repression at home. Plus ça
(DIR) Post #AJPWEl9cfmgqUjiVSC by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-13T13:21:17Z
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@aljazeera Spot on! The best summary of Sri Lanka's current mess I have seen in Anglophone media. And the parallels with UK and Tory corruption is uncanny. Sure, there has not been a civil war or acknowledged torture camps or military force turned on UK protesters. But Tories are moving that way very fast - and it already has treated minorities with murderous cruelty so the pandemic/cost of living crisis is just serving to spread the misery to more UK citizens formerly untouched by tyranny.
(DIR) Post #AJPb8vtOKqOVpeAKwK by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-13T14:01:24Z
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@aljazeera Maybe UK will also rethink its 'buccaneer capitalism' and close its 'free ports'. I never understood why brexit voters 'took back control' i.e. tore up EU protections for our rights only to hand control to a moral cess pit like UAE via a nasty operator like DPWorld. Letting them run little bits of Gulf state sovereignty on UK soil was making Britain 'global'? Went well for P&O Ferries (UAE-owned too) employees didn't it? Starmer should study Xiomara Castro's example.
(DIR) Post #AJUB8z0t6bpgUeppw0 by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-15T19:18:51Z
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@newscientist The question is not how. But why?
(DIR) Post #AJUFJN9ebReG4y92jQ by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-15T19:34:24Z
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@aljazeera Erdogan just wants attention. Got his attention. Acted up until given sweeties to shut him up. Will be quiet until he next wants something. Meanwhile, screw Türkiye and, what is it now? 60% inflation and rising? Screw NATO. Screw EU. Screw Ukraine. Erdogan has his so screw the rest. I can't be the only one sad that coup attempt failed... would have done Turkish people a favour and rest of world. Oh well, maybe next time.
(DIR) Post #AJXwGuyxFvMxcy61tQ by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-17T13:59:45Z
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@aljazeera Yeah, cos there is nothing more important than investigate UFOs at this point in world affairs. Let's carry on ignoring climate, biodiversity, hunger, poverty, genocide, war & talk about flying saucers reported in 1953 by a drunk who left his glasses at home. You wanna talk 'cover up' I think UFOs are the least of our worries. (Ouch my green tentacles are aching after typing these earthling words, pretending to be human is so hard, I wish I had never crashed my UFO here...)
(DIR) Post #AJboGl2iBjRNnf6cnA by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-19T10:47:04Z
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@aljazeera Expanding EU is risky if it means *Creating an association so diverse it never agrees on anything - the UN scenario. UN is just a talking shop most of the time because anyone can hijack the process for their own purposes. *Or if EU tries to include somewhere with a leadership that actively tries to subvert the EU - like UK, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Serbia which all have Rightwing and often pro-Putin bias. *Or if EU takes on more economic 'lame ducks' exacerbating inequalities.
(DIR) Post #AJbto3ZEpo2Ua218S0 by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-19T12:23:11Z
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#Dogs #Covid #PublicHealth Fascinating research from #Finland shows dogs can be trained to detect infected person by their smell with 92% accuracy. Passing the dog sniff test could be better than using slow, environmentally wasteful lab tests to clear vistor access to airports, hotels, hospitals, care homes, etc. But how would Tory MPs profiteer from the next pandemic? I'm sure they'll think of a way - plague puppy farms?
(DIR) Post #AJycICXE8AjPm7zZ4q by jumbo@mas.to
2022-05-30T11:42:43Z
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@aljazeera Anyone wanting to learn about politics must follow news from Sri Lanka with avid attention. It is like a textbook come to life.We are now on the chapter where a corrupt government fails, brings disaster, tries to shift blame while RETAINING POWER by bringing in others to share responsibility for fixing the crisis it made. First, Ranil plays fig-leaf. Next, Ranil asks critical youth to join government they cannot control as step to 'renewal'. Good try, but who is that stupid?
(DIR) Post #AKPgtVLAT3VFibL9Yu by jumbo@mas.to
2022-06-12T13:12:37Z
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@aljazeera "Shangri-La Dialogue" sounds bizarre or even racist to a Brit like me. I was shocked this very important Asia-Pacific security conference, bringing together senior ministers and officials of many nations, would be given this name. Research shows it is based on the name of the luxury hotel hosting delegates. IISS are at fault for not finding a better name - but v. interesting agenda, wish I was there!I expect a UK/EU conference would be 'Blackpool B&B from Hell Dialogue'. Sigh.
(DIR) Post #AL63MQ7RavSvz4sBZg by jumbo@mas.to
2022-07-02T23:40:49Z
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@web3isgreat What stays with me is the "$13 hamburger". Is that normal price for hamburger in California or inflated? If inflated, is it driven by link to crypto marketplace? Is over-hyped crypto bubble harming the wider economy (just as crypto-mining is driving climate change)? In other words, is crypto experiment harming more than the willing participants? If so, how is crypto different from fiat money/QI if both make rich richer, drive inflation, & ultimately the poor pay for it?
(DIR) Post #AL64EVlmnl1t9AXFT6 by jumbo@mas.to
2022-07-02T23:51:16Z
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@web3isgreat Pride NFT = new low. Yup.Here in UK, Labour party spent week trashing workers & trade unions striking to prevent wage cuts during worst economic crisis in decades. But same party was highly visible at London Pride. How has Pride become easy to support by biz or MPs but workers rights not? Pride used to be about rights but now its often about fund-raising for charity or 'celebration'. Strikers are seeking rights. Once Pride goes back to defending rights expect zero support.
(DIR) Post #ALU9r6dDkMCJU7srA0 by jumbo@mas.to
2022-07-14T14:34:35Z
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@aljazeera When you see how much global damage has been done by unethical technologies and predatory businesses developed in Silicon Valley, you have to hope USA learns a lesson and shuts it all down. But it wont because digital tech is the new nuclear arms race. And America wants to hold those weapons to everyone's throat. As does every rouge state. Hey, I only have one throat! And does it matter to me if the blade is held by US, Russia, China, India, or whoever? Nope. I resent ANY blade.
(DIR) Post #APVyYPQjX8T9n2aBHM by jumbo@mas.to
2022-11-12T03:19:27Z
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@aljazeera All the reasons to hate the UK (being English, I can think of quite a few) ... and he turned traitor cos British embassy in Berlin flew a rainbow flag? What a shit. I hope they deport him to Russia and he gets conscripted to fight for them in Ukraine. Raw recruits last about 48 hours in warzone. It will be a short sentence for Mr 'Phobe but a kind of rough justice. George Smiley must be turning in his grave.
(DIR) Post #APqPpSTE209QzQ88H2 by jumbo@mas.to
2022-11-21T23:52:40Z
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@james Not sure I want anything to do with #Tumblr or other for-profit social media with its adverts, commodification of everything, the culture of monetisation and cult of multi-level marketing. It is everything I hate about #USA culture. Please do not bring it here! Since #Twitter failed, new people came to #Mastodon and every other toot is self-promotion, advertising, selling, greed, predatory capitalism.This is social space not a market place. Or it used to be :-(
(DIR) Post #APtr2Qx6GdlWHZOZVY by jumbo@mas.to
2022-11-23T14:39:11Z
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Okay, just solved my own .rss feed problem. If you post an #audio or #video file without writing any comment, add a #caption to the #media file, you have a fully funtioning #podcast or #video_channel. You just need to make original content and you are broadcasting to the world. I just did this, previous toot, with a video of Swiss cows. Now I can use this to run a #news service, #art gallery, #community service, or support #activism.Did you all know this already? Have I just been stupid?
(DIR) Post #APvnV7j2ot4pY7AKno by jumbo@mas.to
2022-11-24T14:18:13Z
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@aljazeera Said it before: Taliban claim to be Islamists but their cultish 'religion' is just a useful ideology to deflect criticism. UN reports only govt depts fully working are central bank & ministry of finance so the oligarch kleptocracy can do deals with states and corporations to asset-strip Afghanistan of its great natural wealth while its citizens starve. It is chaos capitalism and naked greed not holy war. Taliban are no different to other oligarchic states like Russia.