Notices by Ben Royce 🇺🇦 (benroyce@mastodon.social)

@tinydoctor @sirjofri @Nigel_Lake @paninid

the idea would be to make #mastodon as easy as #centralized #plutocrat #socialmedia to get into. show them the "explore" page as their initial feed. appoint them to a server round robin, or something else. etc

one could say "why?"

but the changes needed are not profound, so why not?

"i don't want the normies here"

well no, you do

otherwise you're accepting them being mindwiped by lies and #disinfo, and, as we see in the world, that affects you

@Nigel_Lake @tinydoctor @paninid @sirjofri

Ever notice all the trash in the seats after a movie? When the trash bins are right there on the way out of the theatre. Because that's too hard. Same principle.

@paninid @sirjofri

sure, some of us find the bespoke bucolic quirky off-the-beaten-track of #mastodon to be a relief and a refuge

but then, others of us, like me, are like:

(🤭 😆 /s)

"I am not going to accept ultimatums. It’s interesting — if we didn’t accept these ultimatums in our most difficult moment, why would anyone think we would accept them now?"

-#Zelensky

👏👏👏

#Europe:

Give #Ukraine *everything*

This is a war of attrition

Ukraine, alone, will be ground into dust by #Russia

Ukraine, with Europe, will grind Russia into dust

That will take a long time. A big commitment

But war economy Russia emboldened by #USA #betrayal: you're next

https://24tv.ua/ultimatumi-yti-ne-zbirayus-zelenkiy-zrobiv-zayavu-pislya-peregoriv_n2756208

@Anders

completely and utterly disagree

the #nordic countries plus the #baltics plus #poland, alone, outmatch #russia's #economic output. they don't match russia's #military output, but #ukraine has the will and capacity to do that, plus ingenuity #russia lacks. so then let's expand that to #uk, #germany, #france, etc: with #europe's full economic backing, ukraine's performance, already as extraordinary as it is, will be the preeminent military power in this arena in terms of capability

Follow up:

This the #FBI #Academy in #Quantico #Virginia about a week ago

This is the new #USA

This country is entering a deeply, deeply shameful period

This is the visual #artist Jonathan Harris from #Detroit #Michigan

The title of his work is called "#CriticalRaceTheory"

(his website: https://jonathanharrisart.bigcartel.com/ )

#BlackHistoryMonth #Black #USA

@evacide

Doctor: You're complaining of a ringing in the ears?

Me: I facepalmed too hard

Doctor: Why did you do that?

Me: #USPol #USA #Politics

🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦 🤦

"#Russia’s Military Spending Hits $462 Billion, Outpacing Entire #Europe an Continent"

Some nuance:

This is just the nature of a #WarEconomy. The problem is #inflation, borrowing against the future, and that building a tank vs building a house has no lasting value

Frightening observation:

Even if Russia and #Ukraine signed a #CeaseFire tomorrow, the pain of reverting to a peacetime #economy is such that #Putin may just #warmonger against another target to stay alive

https://united24media.com/latest-news/russias-military-spending-hits-462-billion-outpacing-entire-european-continent-5829

@atomicpoet @BeAware

abuse is abuse. but some don't feel that's what they are doing if it doesn't fit the typical modes of bigotry that we are used to

and to be clear, bigotry is the most overarching problem

the fedi middle school mean kid clique is a minor problem in the larger scheme of things

but it's a form of rot in the fediverse. it's toxic. it drives people away

like you said, people get high off power

and the most petty ridiculous forms of power can deliver stunning transgressions

@allancavanagh

yes

and your reaction is right on the bullseye

and after you laugh, if you're like me, you get very sad

because, yeah, none of this is going to end well

ps: added a link, which i should have done

I'll be honest with you folks. I try to be an upbeat guy. Accentuate the positive. I try not to dwell in cynicism

But I see shit like this

SMH

I... I give up

All I'm thinking about is parallels to the fall of Rome. The same absurdity, excess, cruelty

My country is fucking toast. The entire country is an abused toy of incoherent plutocrat bro clowns now

Something is going to give. Something else is going to push back. None of it is going to be pretty

We're going to a dark place

@dansup

harassment of fediverse devs is a rather interesting phenomenon

"we need a world without the evils of centralized social media"

...

"also, let me hound the people that are delivering on the promise of decentralized social media"

This is #YongeDundasSquare, the #TimesSquare of #Toronto (or Times Square is the Yonge-Dundas Square of #NewYorkCity, to fix our perspective away from the #USA)

What we see here is an #advertisement attempting to sell a product

You do that in #advertising by appealing to a feeling or thought the audience has

And what the #ad is appealing to here is a direct result of a #political movement in the USA called "Make #America Great Again" aka #MAGA:

I wonder how that's going?

🤔

#Ontario #Canada

'Stewart told Michigan Public Radio in 2019 that he was moved to tears on a recent commercial flight when he saw who was piloting the aircraft.

“When I entered the plane, I looked into the cockpit there and there were two African American pilots. One was the co-pilot, and one was the pilot. But not only that, the thing that started bringing the tears to my eyes is that they were both female,” Stewart said.'

Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr.

#WWII #Fighter #Pilot

#RIP

#BlackHistoryMonth

bitter followup:

Harry hoped to become a commercial airline #pilot after he left the #military

He was rejected because he was #Black

After helping defeat #fascism in #Europe, he came home to suffer #fascist #American #racism

Now, anti-#DEI initiatives of the #Trump admin means the #AirForce removed training courses with videos of the #TuskegeeAirmen and the #Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) of #WWII

(I heard this was reversed, but anti-DEI remains)

https://apnews.com/article/air-force-dei-tuskegee-women-wwii-pilots-ecdeac68dc7696535d093c7690ab73bc

#BlackHistoryMonth

"Decorated #pilot Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last surviving #TuskegeeAirmen, dies at 100"

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/09/us/harry-stewart-jr-tuskegee-airmen-obit/index.html

Non #Americans: Tuskegee Airmen were #Black fighter and bomber pilots in #WWII. The Tuskegee Airmen lost significantly fewer escorted bombers than other fighter groups

Lt. Col Stewart earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, downing 3 German aircraft in a dogfight on April 1, 1945

He was born on the 4th of July, 1924

Can't get more #American than that!

#RIP

Unexpected #MontyPython

Photo source: me, yesterday

@fedilore @alex

holy shit fedilore

i just clicked your neocities link

i had no fucking clue of the depth of this drama

i'm a complete noob wading into a shadow war i had no perception of

👀 👀 👀 🍿 🍿 🍿

@fedilore @alex

i don't know if you saw me in that drama but i went nuclear in it

i lurk on # fediblock and i saw a dev trying

and there were issues, and there was constructive feedback

good

then this ginny person, who i don't know either, decides to go to personal abuse and bullying

i had to speak up

infuriating

this is why we don't have devs in the fediverse:

this constant fucking harassment on contrived bullshit from a toxic crowd intent on masturbating their sadism

destructive shit