All have a rich culture, all have kind people (though there will be jerks and how you act will matter), all have some level of govt corruption. Plan your trip around things you want to do or see. Festivals, places, etc.

The only ethical investment is in your community organizations. The return will not be monetary.

Money is better spent on (name anything around the premises that needs repair or upgrade)

Cameras allow the HOA to monitor residents, whether or not they’re technically allowed to

The point is that it’s marketing for ai companies in general and they can sell them to Hollywood

Yeah I deal with despair too. It’s hard, especially with all the terrible shit we’re seeing. I’m trying to alchemize it into anger and action, but I think everyone struggles with that. I get some boosts from being involved in local work and the community around that.

I don’t get involved in electoral campaigns. Maybe local work would be something you’d gain energy from.

1. President and NY Mayor are very different in terms of how much they can be pressured. The right & establishment are fighting, why won’t you?

2. Biden was always a shit, especially on Gaza, so the horizon was different from explicitly demsoc + antizionist Mamdani. Even still, there are pretty major differences between biden and trump on domestic policy.

3. Right now there is a swell of hope and energy on the left bc of the Mamdani campaign – lay the groundwork there to build a durable movement that won’t be demobilized after the election. Get people into mutual aid, ice resistance, abolitionist, etc groups!

Look, no politician is going to embody real change, but we know Cuomo will be a much bigger obstacle. pressuring, as you point out, only goes so far, but you have to start from where you are and develop a movement inch by inch.

It’s psychologically easier to be cynical, but it also helps your enemies win.

Get to the emotional reasons why they hold one or more of the dissonant beliefs, then try to both make them feel heard and to plant a seed for addressing that emotion, while offering a non-dissonant alternative

Life doesn’t come with a meaning, you are free to find one that speaks to you

Yeah. It’s the same playbook everywhere. The only way to hold it back is to refuse to accept it by refusing to allow business as usual to continue, which the French are certainly better than Americans at doing. The lack of investment is also helping the right wing to rise in power.

Faut relançer led manifs

This is an old apologia for colonialism. I would suggest reading some of the works that have come from people from colonized places for the best perspectives on this argument: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4810-colonialism-as-a-system-for-underdeveloping-africa?_pos=4&_ss=r

There are whole course readings from universities around the world that can help you get up to date.

Let the guy govern for a month before giving up. New Yorkers should pressure him from the left, not just sit back and let the right do it’s thing

Things happen and we may say someone “deserved” it, but I don’t believe in any supernatural force making it happen. We have no evidence for that

Why do you think her appearance is meant to attract sex partners or to fool ppl about her age?

Now is an important time to help onboard people to Linux. Bear with these posts or maybe start an advanced Linux users community

We’ve been physically separated by car dependency and the removal of free/cheap meeting spaces; distracted by the internet and streaming media; made to hate and fear each other by propaganda; and made temporary in our neighborhoods by rising rents and the hunt for the ever more rare decent job. That’s why.

One way to meet people is to get a dog and walk them around the neighborhood. Another is to find local activity groups over discord, meetup, etc. Another is continuing ed classes at a local university or community college

Read books, do light stretching, journal with pen and paper, meditate, any quiet activity like that without a screen.

Agreed, its just a bit of a different structure now

We deserve an internet that is not merely a surveillance farm for billionnaires and governments.