A few days ago, I was talking to some old friends of mine about the CDC — all of them specialists or senior physicians at clinics in Germany, Switzerland, and Spain— and they all agreed that the CDC is done for: Almost all of its reputable employees have been fired, its very important work has been largely shut down — this organization is now a shadow of its former self and is no longer taken seriously by medical professionals.

This shows once again that the despicable Trump administration is truly a massive problem for the entire world.

Here in Germany, at least something is happening. Recently, for example, the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein decided to switch to Linux (and also LibreOffice), with the change planned for this fall.

Overall, however, far too little is happening in our country. The vast majority of federal states and the national government continue to rely on proprietary software (mainly from US corporations, especially Microsoft).

At the national level, this is hardly surprising, as our Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is more of a US lobbyist than a politician: Until 2020, he was on the supervisory board of Black Rock Germany and was also a long time chairman of the “Atlantik-Brücke”, a German-American lobby organization for economic relations (so on and so forth). Unfortunately, no change of course is to be expected from him — nor from his party, the conservative CDU, that is the most popular party for some strange reason.

In Bavaria, which is also deeply conservative, the federal state government is even considering introducing Palantir.

I don’t understand how all this can happen when it is perfectly obvious how vulnerable all these US products are making us – vulnerable to industrial espionage and worse - especially now that the US is developing into a fascist, unjust state.

But hey, I think we all have to remain somewhat positive despite all this. As I said, there is some movement in terms of FOSS —probably much more in other European countries than in Germany. So, slowly but steady, we’re moving forward! I really hope that’s how it is in the US as well.

Best of luck in these harsh times!

Still far too low, considering that the US is now a police state.

“By the sea’s shore, beneath the sunlight, lay the famed sword, called Excalibur. The knight found it in the sands, and with a brave hand he lifted it up, for so was his fate written.”

Slightly adjusted tale but still totally true.

Some working rule of law you have there, dear Americans.

/s

Well, maybe he can become the modern Brian Boru and kick some medieval ass in the US — apparently, they can’t defend themselves against the tyranny of the savages.

It’s good that this issue is being addressed again, if only for the sake of the victims. But unfortunately, it’s too late now.

It was perfectly obvious who Trump was even before his first term in office. But no, people insisted on having a criminal and rapist as president. Who is surprised that he doesn’t want to release the Epstein documents, when it was also absolutely obvious that they would incriminate him?

Now the US is a banana republic whose leadership stands for nothing but organized crime. That’s the logical consequence.

These things are called “Dübel,” which is also a casual term for joint in German, and can also be used as a verb: “einen dübeln” means to smoke a joint — all things that help humanity progress.

Yes, forum was and is a good term because it also conveys the roots of democracy in ancient times (a physical place where people met to discuss things of common interest). That was precisely the point a few decades ago: to distinguish between interactive communication media and mass media, which were characterized by one-way communication from a central sender to many recipients.

Unfortunately, however, forum is now a term that sounds outdated because it is associated with the internet before Facebook (2004) – and I would classify Facebook today as a mass medium rather than a social medium, even though, unlike classical publishing media (newspapers and so on), it does not produce any content itself.

I mean everything that falls under the term social media as of now, which includes Lemmy as well as reddit.

And this is precisely the problem I see: The internet is a medium that implies mutual exchange - it is a social medium - this was already the case before the advent of so-called social media in the mid 2000s, a term that was coined to distinguish between classical mass media and “user generated content”, meaning posts and comments by people who are not directly involved with the “Host” of the content.

Now, however, we have the problem that the term, at least in the broad sense, describes services that, in my opinion, do not stand for free exchange between equals, but instead function more like traditional mass media, such as television stations or magazines and newspapers - they are centrally controlled and do not allow open discourse just as publishing media of old did.

The Fediverse is structured differently -more like the old internet, but for applications that people would call social media today. I don’t think the difference can be made clear by insisting that Fediverse apps are in fact much more in line with social media than what the term really describes for most people (meta, tiktok, LinkedIn and the like).

So I think the term is burned and we need a new one that is understandable to the general public and clearly distinguishes the Fediverse from todays’s so-called social media.

The thing is, however, that it will be difficult to find a term that describes social media without using this very term, which is likely to cause confusion with services that today are actually more akin to traditional mass media, which did have letters to the editor but were not in the least “social” in a sense of exchange between equals.

This is not a war being waged there, but systematic mass murder committed by a well-equipped army.

It is, of course, commendable that this soldier has the courage to speak to the press, but the fact that this is still necessary speaks volumes about how morally bankrupt the governments of the Western world are: they continue to conjure up tales of terrorism against Israel, of a defensive war against terrorists, and in doing so condemn an entire ethnic group to the most brutal extermination.

What they are saying is exactly what the monsters in Israel are saying: All Palestinians are terrorists, all deserve to die, regardless of whether they are unarmed, starving, and just want to live—regardless of whether they are children or pregnant women.

This is genocide, not war, but the West is making common cause with the monsters and even supplying weapons for crimes against humanity.

I am ashamed that I have to watch my government do this, and I am also ashamed of my fellow citizens who are against it but are frozen in their apathy and do not have the guts to take even the slightest risk and stand up decisively against this unspeakable inhumanity that our politicians actively support out of greed for money and power.

This could be an opportunity for decentralized applications such as the Fediverse, which are not so easy to bring into line. But I fear that the apathy of the majority will make it impossible for people to recognize this alternative, even now. They will not take action on their own, even if it only means showing a little initiative and perhaps giving up some convenience. Instead, people will continue to be lulled into complacency and pretend that everything is fine, thereby forming the widely visible majority that serves as an excuse for their individual irresponsibility.

This vicious circle is the most frustrating thing: All this is only possible because the majority allows it to happen.

Hopefully fax machines, but these things seem incapable of dying.

I’m sorry, Dave…

I find it remarkable that headlines like these are always phrased passively, as if it were a natural disaster sweeping across the country without anyone being responsible.

Because Musk made a lot of money being Trump’s henchmen.

That’s a good approach.

I myself don’t see progress as a technical thing, but rather technology as something that could help us overcome our animalistic traits in order to enable us to live together in a good, forward-looking way. I mean, of all the mammals in the world, we are the best at building tools, but I wonder if we are making the most of this or if, despite all our tools, we are ultimately incapable of overcoming our instincts.

I don’t know the answer any more than anyone else. However, your answer, which I share, suggests that despite all our technological achievements, we are not evolving significantly, but remain trapped in our animal nature.

Since technology would presumably make it possible for people to no longer have to fight over water sources, I ask.

That’s true, of course — I completely agree with you. It’s just that, with all the news from the US that I read every day, I’ve unfortunately become quite pessimistic.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will turn out alright after all.

I don’t think this would poses much of a additional threat, as the US legal system already appears to operate largely arbitrarily.

I think it’s highly likely that Trump will pursue, deport, or detain other genuine political opponents who are US citizens on the basis of their heritage anyway. Therefore, I assume that this will be a thing regardless. The only difference with Musk would be that even the super-rich would no longer be safe - but hey, I’m sure that the courts will continue to make exceptions for people with deep pockets anyway.