Ahh.. giving him a second state visit didn't work then!! Now who could have told him that was going to happen? Yep everyone who has been paying attention to what 
is like.
It is time to get up off your knees, stand up to him ffs. Have some dignity.
The Israeli #warcriminals and #massmurderers count on western support and spineless political leaders. However in spite of global media misinformation European peoples will not forget nor ignore the #genocide of the Palestinian people nor the war waged on children by the Israeli subhuman beasts. We have a duty to ourselves, our #dignity and #integrity to keep denouncing the abominable ravage of #Gaza, its children and women and their homes, schools and hospitals.
"Sorry if it sounds old-school, but a surgical sex-change is an irreversible intervention, not a “profound certitude” about one’s own identity."—Barcelona Rompe Tacones
I'll Carry False Documents >
https://barcelonarompetacones.pika.page/posts/ill-carry-false-documents
#Catalonia #cisnormativity #legal_sex #social_sex #legal_document #trans* #consulates #hospitals #transmed #dignity #procedure #document_obtention #annoyance #rant #Thailand #EU vs #Spain #Catalunya #ITQBLG #transsexual #surgery #sex_change #institutionalised_cissexism #cissexism
From #AnnafromUkraine @AnnafromUkraine@youtube.com
#RUSSIA WANTS #WAR: #PUTIN, #TRUMP, #WITKOFF, #NORTHKOREA, BELGOROD, KURSK Vlog 1019: War in #Ukraine
Justice delivered to Russian #missile brigades responsible for the deadly attack on #Sumy. From Trump’s failed “#peace” rhetoric to North Korea’s growing role in the war, we discuss what it really means to protect #freedom, #dignity, and #life itself in the world.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme #poverty, #insecurity, #exploitation, #persecution or serious deterioration of the #environment, damages the #dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” #PopeFrancis wrote in a recent letter to U.S. bishops.
“It just got me angry. It kind of got me sad because I knew this person. Because I just finished film school, I felt like I should do something. But I didn't quite know how or what to do.”
(continued from previous post on thread)
This topic is very apropos in the current market. We may be about to enter another recession, perhaps a depression. 401K's are down. So the claim that we could do better investing on our own is uncertain, but is again certainly going to test a lot of ordinary citizens, postponing their ability to retire.
And I emphasize that the choice f when to retire is not just a whim. Even ignoring age discrimination, age wears on a person, and some people do physical jobs (read: ACTUAL hard work, as opposed to metaphorically hard work done by rich executives) that leave them depleted. So delayed retirement is not just an inconvenience, it is in some cases torture and in some cases impossible.
But even as we are potentially entering a depression, the billionaires are salivating. They are looking forward to "buying low". They're treating this roller coaster as a buying opportunity. They plan to get rich on this depression. Even as others suffer and probably many die. They are gleeful.
This is the time when Social Security should be doubling down and assuring people it will increase benefits to cover rising costs (although it wouldn't be terrible if we just impeached the President who's causing those rising costs artificially with tariffs that really no sane business people think are a good idea). Because Social Security is again a contract with the population about what our priority is. And if we need more money, we should be bumping the tax on those gleeful about what a great buying opportunity this is.
They, the rich, would probably whine that this singles them out. That people are jealous. No one should stand for such rhetoric. The ones making the noise did not get their power by dealing honorably with us citizens. This is not jealousy speaking, it is a desire for justice. Be glad I'm not suggesting (as some are) that we just eat the rich and be done with it. Proper taxation of accumulated wealth (not just income) works for me.
No one needs that much money anyway. It's CLEAR from their observed behavior that one can only buy so many gold toilet seats before one starts to wonder what the point of excess riches is, and really it seems the only thing that one can find to spend such wealth on is buying governments. And then, apparently, running them badly and cruelly. No, I'm not going to feel sorry about suggesting taxation.
2/2 (probably the end)
I often hear people say that Social Security should be eliminated, that we'd do better with our own 401K's.
There are a lot of problems with that argument.
First, it turns us into gamblers. The argument is that people could invest their money better. Maybe. But they can also invest their money worse. So it's a very uneven policy. And that is ultimately cruel. That's just gambling, and experience shows that gamblers are often a lot more confident than is warranted.
The sociopaths among us often say, "Too bad. Individuals should take responsibility for their lack of saving. It's not my fault that some people don't plan." Those same people, though, are telling us that we should eliminate the minimum wage, that if the market doesn't want to pay someone enough to even live, why should it have to. So exactly where is the savings supposed to come from? On the one side, people work hard for hardly any money. On the other side, they're told their failure to save is a moral failing. Where is the discussion of moral failing in having more money than God and still being unwilling to help raise people out of poverty? That seems the biggest moral failing.
Moreover, a lot of what makes the difference in who succeeds or fails is one's parents. Dynastic fortunes. Better schools. Better connections. Sometimes even just better health or better clothing. The narrative is spun that the rich worked hard for their money, but in my experience, poor people work much harder for the scraps they are thrown than rich people ever do, and the notion of "meritocracy" is nonsense because the people who get ahead are just those who get to start ahead of the others.
But while on the topic of morality, let's also look at the structure of Social Security itself. People like to compare it to a 401K, but it's not like that. It's not a bank account. It's a very different beast.
As an example, you become suddenly unable to work, it kicks in right away, even if you didn't pay for a long time. That's very different than a bank account. If you live a long time, it continues to pay you.
There may be issues with cost of living adjustments, but the only reason we don't do those more often is that the aforementioned rich sociopaths insist it's better to give tax breaks to the wealthy. They'll tell you that Social Security is intended only to supplement your retirement, not to be the full amount, and yet they'll back penalties for trying to draw money out of Social Security if you're also getting other income. That's not really how supplements work, and it's a disincentive to additional work.
But my point is that the contract is not for a specific quantity of money. It is a social contract, that you pay into it while you're able and you are paid when you're not able. We could do better on the getting paid part, but the point is for it to keep you from falling into poverty, to add dignity.
It's worth noting that Social Security did not arise in a vacuum. While people COULD invest their money, a lot of people didn't, or else were losers in that gambling. Before Social Security, in the 1930s, the elderly poverty rate in the depression was something like 70%. So there is an objective way to understand what this did for the public. Some have called it the most successful anti-poverty program in the history of the US.
And if we were really worried that investing in the market were a better bet, we could arrange for the Social Security trust fund to do that. That's just an implementation detail and has nothing to do with the overall social promise. If DOGE wanted to do something HELPFUL, instead of aggressively dismantling all of the US government's ability to provide value to the public, they could analyze whether there are better ways to manage the funds.
But, ultimately, government is not a business and social security is not a profit & loss center, even if it's popular for some who don't like it to portray it that way. It mostly pays for itself, but from a moral point of view, its real purpose is to say that we as a society need to have a commitment to our sick and elderly, to assure they are taken care of, BEFORE we declare a profit. If we as a nation are able to give tax breaks to rich citizens only by cutting social programs, then the rich are preying on the poor. The health and welfare of all citizens is our first priority as a nation. We should not be preferencing the already-preferenced before we have attended to that.
1/2 (continued next post)
John Cunningham, moderator of the Church of Scotland, describes Covenant theology. He says that the wretchedness or guilt of our neighbor should not repel us, but draw us to alleviate sufferings, and give direction or assistance of whatever nature is needed.
Today, the possibility of wretchedness (body or spirit) existing among a class of persons is deemed reason for the state to keep them away.
How can you provide assistance?
A thing is funny when — in some way that is not actually offensive or frightening — it upsets the established order. Every joke is a tiny revolution. If you had to define humour in a single phrase, you might define it as dignity sitting on a tin-tack. Whatever destroys dignity, and brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny. And the bigger the fall, the bigger the joke. It would be better fun to throw a custard pie at a bishop than at a curate.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1945-07-28), “Funny, But Not Vulgar,” Leader Magazine
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/orwell-george/11849/
I made another foray into the ethics of AI, this time with my colleagues Jan-Willem van der Rijt and Bram Vaassen.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05723
We argue that some interactions with chatbots involve a kind of offense to users' dignity. When we treat chatbots as if they were fellow moral agents, we enter into an asymmetrical relation where we give moral recognition but cannot get any back. This is a failure of self-respect, a form of self-debasement.
Comments welcome!
I will never forget the first time I visited #Ukraine, 14 years ago.
When asked by my Ukrainian friends what I thought of the visit, I thought for a moment and said it gave me a sense of dignity
My #Ukrainian friends couldn't understand why "dignity". They were angry about corruption then. I couldn't explain it either, but that is what I felt.
Euromaidan turning into the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 gave me clues.
How #Ukrainians, led by #Zelenskyy, acted since 2022 confirmed it: #Dignity 
If we could not equate #dignity & #bravery with "balls", & cowardice & surrender with "bitches", femininity, & women in our commentary, it would be nice, fellow #progressives.
About a fortnight ago, a fellow fediversian posted, what I would call supportive advice, but it is now vanished (at least for me). An online search found https://www.truthorfiction.com/daughter-of-mlk-and-coretta-scott-king-posted-this-advice-as-the-next-six-months-are-going-to-get-real/
In the current circumstances the last (unnumbered) pragraph of the post mentioned there seems most important to me.
#politics #regime #government #society #strategy #NonViolence #justice #resistance #awareness #dignity - I hope I didn't go overboard with the tags ;-)
Nazi JD Vance says Zelenskyy 'badmouthing' Trump is 'counterproductive'.
Vance is a coward, which is why he always resorts to boot-licking the bully.
Badmouthing rapist pig Trump is a deeply liberating experience, just as much as badmouthing war criminal orc Putin. Badmouthing Trump/Putin makes you stronger & freer. We all should do it regularly.
#Zelenskyy is an inspirational hero as always, representing the courageous people of #Ukraine who abound in humility and #dignity.
Japanese #Magnolia.
“…its presence in a story can represent a character's refined nature, #resilience, or a moment of quiet beauty amidst challenges, often with the white petals signifying purity and the flower's elegant stance signifying #dignity.”
Cette élégante girafe observe le monde avec une sérénité royale. Chaque tache sur sa peau semble une constellation gravée par le temps, chaque regard un fragment d’éternité. 
Olympus OM10
AGFAPHOTO APX 400 - ISO
It is NOT the collapse of the #transatlanticAlliance.
It is the collapse of #humanity, it is the collapse of #dignity, it is the collapse of diplomatic friendship, it is the collapse of #America.
From the Quakers and Black Loyalists, Canada has repeatedly given safety and shelter to people being persecuted by American Fascism.
Canada will stand up again and help the innocent people being harmed by AmeriKKKa. Please come here safely, which means not walking across in winter.
Canadians are NOT AMERICAN and never will be.
#Refugee #SafeCountry #Morality #Humanity #Dignity #Hate #Fascism
