Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. Have a seat next to the comically large Lenin head statue over there. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread!

Matrix homeserver at genzedong.xyz. See this thread for information about our Matrix space. Discord here.

Short reading list for new MLs here. To find theory, try z-lib, libgen, or Sci-Hub (for scientific articles). If an article is unavailable, try the Wayback Machine.

  • DankZedong
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    1811 months ago

    Neoliberalism is so effective that the Dutch neoliberal parties privatized the public railways and made it a company, with the Dutch state as only shareholder.

    The railway company then did its’ best to make up a shady construction in which they managed to evade taxes they owed to the Dutch state. They did so to pay more dividend to their sole shareholder, the Dutch state 👍

    Meanwhile a ticket for a one way trip to Amsterdam from, let’s say Eindhoven, will cost you around 23 euro, or like a third tank of gas which will take you even further.

  • @sparkingcircuit@lemmygrad.ml
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    1711 months ago

    Update on opiate epidemic:

    My mother, (who has been clean for a few years now,) broke down crying yesterday. Upon asking, she said she is tired of burying people. Five people our family has been friends with for years overdosed in the past week. I’m so fucking tired of this shit.

  • SovereignState
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    1611 months ago

    Got a job. Did 6 hours today. Fucking hurt.

    It’s a fuckin’ cashier job. I’m so sick of hurting so much from shit that others seemingly just walk off.

    Better than having -$30 in the bank I guess… which I still have right now and I’m not sure when I get paid.

    We live in hell. Amerika is hell and I was a dick in a past life to deserve being born in this shithole.

    • @Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml
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      1111 months ago

      We live in hell. Amerika is hell and I was a dick in a past life to deserve being born in this shithole.

      Look on the bright side. You could’ve been born into one of US-backed comprador regimes, bled dry by the parasites half across the world

    • @redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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      911 months ago

      Getting a new job can be exciting but it always hurts at first. Sounds like yours is worse pain than for others. But it’ll get easier as you get used to it.

      Do they let you sit while you work?

      • SovereignState
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        1111 months ago

        Nah. Have to stand at self-checkout and make sure the machines work properly and scan IDs for liquor etc. Could very very easily add a stool or fuckin anything, but nowhere I’ve worked like this lets you sit.

        Kinda ironically the worker who trained me today is in a wheelchair and they’ve given him some special accommodations. I’m not visibly disabled but maybe I should ask about getting some kind of accommodation anyway. It’s jading because I “received accommodations” in college and my other workplaces, insofar as they all gave me some paperwork and then practically laughed in my face without giving me an inch. “Sure bud, we’ll get right on that” type shit.

        • @redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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          1311 months ago

          It’s a shame that reasonable adjustments aren’t the norm. You should wear a step counter or use an app if that would work on your phone and you can keep it with you. I bet you do several miles walking backwards and forwards like that. This might help your argument? You shouldn’t have to make an argument, of course, but if you do have to make your case…

          • SovereignState
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            1111 months ago

            Absolutely. My workplace is unionized as well, so maybe it’ll be easier to get… something.

  • @Bl00dyH3ll@lemmygrad.ml
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    1611 months ago

    Liberals need to stop blaming Russia for everything. Why would Fox firing Tucker be anything related to Russia? They need to realize the conservative psychos in America will exist by themselves.

  • @CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
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    1511 months ago

    I became the meme:

    Jokes aside, compared to the phone I was planning on getting it’s much better specs at much lower cost. I’ll reserve my judgment for when it arrives on the mail and I set it up, but I’m optimistic.

    • Quite a few Chinese brands have great value machines in the lower mid tier price range lol, $200-$300 for something that would last 4-5 years for most users.

    • @knfrmity@lemmygrad.ml
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      711 months ago

      I picked up a Huawei phone in 2018 and it’s still going strong. Best smartphone I’ve ever had. The others (LG, Samsung, iPhone) all lasted maybe a year at best.

      • @CannotSleep420@lemmygrad.ml
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        411 months ago

        Tbf phones going to shit after just a year hasn’t been a big problem for me. I guess Samsung puts all the care into their flagships and leaves their other offerings to rot.

    • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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      111 months ago

      bruh i got a huawei phone and so far it lasted me twice as long as iphones or samsungs did. Still going strong, and the battery hasn’t gone to shit after six months.

      Best phone i have ever bought.

  • @Mzuark@lemmygrad.ml
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    1411 months ago

    A thought just occurred to me: All the buzz about Russia “abducting” children from Ukraine is doing a fantastic job of covering up the actual child trafficking that was going on in Ukraine prior to the war.

    • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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      11 months ago

      i’ve been saying this since the beginning. A lot of people, specially students, have been rushed out of the country. Several of them, specially girls, are to this day unaccounted for. They were rushed into trains to be shipped either back to their country or to western ukraine, some of them definitely never ended up where they were supposed to.

      straight from wikipedia: "The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and aid organizations such as the Human Trafficking Foundation and World Vision warned that refugees are at risk of falling into human trafficking, exploitation and violence, including sexual violence.

      Concerns about human trafficking and sexual violence have been realized during the refugee crisis, with spotty documentation and identification, language barriers and the large numbers of refugees creating opportunities for traffickers. A Ukrainian refugee who stayed to help at a border location told reporters of calling the police on three men holding transportation signs, who were later arrested for looking for women for the sex trade. Another refugee spoke of men who attempted to coerce her and her children into a van full of only women, and refused to show her proof of identification and attempted to intimidate her from other travel options. At least one man was arrested on suspicions of raping a 19-year-old refugee after promising her work and shelter."

      When the dust settles, western europe is going to see a looooot of ukrainian women on the sides of the roads. Just like it happened with weapons, with Nigeria’s president complaining that Boko Haram is trotting around with state of the art NATO gear that was, in theory, supposed to be handed to the UAF.

  • @frippa@lemmy.ml
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    1311 months ago

    Merry 25th of April to all! This is the day the Italian partisans kicked the fascist state’s ass

    • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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      411 months ago

      the one thing that makes me proud about my family is that we are called out BY NAME on wikipedia as having aided and hosted italian partizans in Ticino

        • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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          311 months ago

          cosa non darei per poter contrabbandare armi alla repubblica partigiana dell’Ossola di notte e minacciare i fascisti di giorno come fece mio nonno

          • @frippa@lemmy.ml
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            211 months ago

            Chissà che non riusciremo a farlo nelle nostre vite hehehe, godrei sparando ad un meloniano, solo che stavolta dovviamo andare fino in fondo, se sai cosa intendo

  • @frippa@lemmy.ml
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    1211 months ago

    Idea for new fiction genere

    Xi fi, fiction about Xi Jinping

    Most produced genre in the west

      • pinoinha (he/him)
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        11 months ago

        oh, sorry, I wasn’t notified before

        we had a confrontation at the university, they wanted to promote some fascist event bs and we did not let them do so

        it didn’t get physical, since we would be fucked by the cops who were eventually called by them (even tho we did nothing but agitate the students lol) and also because in 15 minutes they gave up, ran away to their mommas and posted pictures and videos on their social medias about “how the commies are anti-democratic and don’t want to let differente views into the university”

        anyways it was a win

  • DankZedong
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    1111 months ago

    Exciting week ahead with a meeting with my youth group, I’m invited to join a panel of politicians, social workers and regular people on poverty and in the weekend my team will play the Dutch Cup final, which I will attend.

    Hope you all have a good week.

    • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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      111 months ago

      lemme tell you, social work is the best professional field to recruit from. Everyone is at least progressive and has people skills

  • Oppo
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    1011 months ago

    I hope you all have a nice week :D

  • DankZedong
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    911 months ago

    Tomorrow in Normalland we celebrate the birthday of our führer monarch leader. Rotterdam, the hosting city this year, spent nearly four million in making the city ready for the parties. This comes after closing down several tram stops in the city because of budget shortage.

    So, fuck the king and fuck monarchies

    • @Navaryn@lemmygrad.ml
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      411 months ago

      Istg i can’t wrap my head around how people are still tolerating burning literal billions into feeding and celebrating monarchs.

      Like literally. At least a president runs the country.

  • @Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml
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    911 months ago

    How good is lemmy with metadata of photos? I have some that I would have liked to share, but have concerns about doxxing

  • @Darkerseid@lemmygrad.ml
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    811 months ago

    First there was chip shortage and now there is overproduction

    Samsung Electronics reported a 95 per cent drop in first-quarter profits on Thursday, as tech demand remained sluggish in the face of inflation and higher interest rates.

    Again, rise of interest rates in US is affecting companies 😆. Even more reasons to de-dollarize