Hey fair enough and good on you. Keep up the good fight.

Local government will do very little. Local businesses and individuals of a philanthropic mindset or personal will, that’s what we’ve got. “Civic duty” keeps it afloat, and those sort of businesses and people become more rare by the day. In the places that need it the most, the political mindset is so corrupted, I fear we will never get it back.

If it existed, it’s dead now. Our current situation is my only proof. But I would love for you to prove me wrong.

Pessimism or realism, I don’t know what the difference is anymore tbh. I’m not stopping, but damn it it feels like a losing battle.

The people that work in public radio are like career gov workers or direct care workers. I say that because I’ve been two of those three, and count some career beurocrats as good friends.

. The people that work in these industries will sell their souls to keep fighting the good fight. Underpaid and understaffed. But in this case, the economics will start to eat away at local stations and the people who truly believe will be forced to abandon it eventually.

Economics are economics.

At the end of the day, it’s a public service. The federal government is a necessary part of how it continues to exist. Public services are not very viable through charity as a sole funding source. They aren’t money makers. They provide a free service for the bare minimum.

The most insidious bit is that none of these stations will disappear tomorrow. They are filled with dedicated individuals that will fight tooth and nail to keep them running. And donors that will try their best to keep them afloat.

The true toll, like everything this administration is doing, will take years to unfold. One by one stations will drop out and close. And it will be with a whimper. A death by a thousand cuts. Exsanguinated to death drop by drop.

Many will drop out before this administration ends. And I have little faith in the compitence of their replacements to restore this funding. Even if “my side” wins.

There really isn’t that much federal influence to the public broadcasting sector, other than providing funds and some regulations on what they can or can’t say. And it’s not a ‘can or can’t say’ propaganda thing. It’s a “don’t put a dollar value to products in your underwriting”, or " don’t endorse and sell trump gold coins to the elderly" sort of restrictions. Public radio doesn’t have advertisers. They have underwriters. They get their name out as a sponsor to the programming, not to sell a product. Those are the rules.

They are just stealing funds from nonprofits at this point.

I don’t care about the write off. I care because public radio is something I worked in for a half decade and well afterwards it gave me a connection to my community and the world at large. I’ll give more money to spite them. Fuck their right off. I donate because it is good and true. And fuck anyone that says otherwise.

Most of the funding goes to member stations for upkeep. Don’t wait for the next pledge drive. Donate tomorrow.

I vented on a local Facebook group when that happened. Saying that the continued police abuse of the emergency alert system would quickly cause the alerts to mean nothing. I frequently also got amber alerts for the opposite end of the state, well over twelve hours away.

To say that my concern was an unpopular opinion would be a massive understatement. People were downright hostile. A lot of locals could never fathom that what I was saying was true. And they used all the four letter words to tell me so. A sheriff’s deputy called me a godless cop hater and a disgusting person.

Fortunately that particular cop is unemployed for abusing his power and some domestic abuse allegations. Oh and trying to fight his neighbor while in uniform.

And and I’m still right. They abused the alert system so much it is useless. And children and the elderly and innocent paid that price with their lives.

If the usa turned inward on itself any more it would become a black hole.

I’m no fan of dhs. But on a national scale. On a world scale, This is insane and dangerous. It’s mind blowing how badly our government is behaving and the short sightedness of it all. Multiple countries at war or on the verge of war. Elimination of usaid and most foreign aid. Intelligence organizations decimated by layoffs and budget cuts. Internal conflicts rising and dissent growing. A paramility forming that can ignore our internal rules and arrest people on a whim…

This is what happens when the people in charge have no idea what they are doing.

This will take decades to sort out. Maybe more. And we have years more of exactly this sort of behavior.

The American empire is falling. Torn apart from the inside by greedy madmen.

As an American, I can’t say I’m thrilled about it. But God damn it is happening quickly.

I’m a dairy farmer. A lot of my friends and associates are too. Our community is built on immigrant labor.

This is wrecking shit. The paranoia is at levels you cant imagine. The workers are scared. The owners are scared. Regardless of income level or status, everyone is stressed to say the least.

The only consolation I have had was, just this past weekend, I got to look at my neighbor who was stressing and venting about what he will do when ice shows up. And I looked this man dead in the eyes and told him “you got exactly what you voted for, and exactly what you supported”

And he looked at me and agreed. “Yeah, you are right” he was defeated. To say that to me is an acknowledgement of absolute defeat.

It’s funny It sounds nice to think “I warned you”. That smug superiority sounds good in your mind. It’s vindication. It’s another thing entirely to watch you community terrified to move because they collectively fucked up. Vindication doesn’t help the people kidnapped from your community. The destruction of generations of work and mutual cooperation.

What a fucking shitty consolation prize.

See. I see this as the ceo version of “market research”. It could bring something better.

Tbh, maybe it’s because I just watched ‘Ford vs Ferrari’, but imo I would want the higher ups to acknowledge they are fucking up and then change it.

23:20. To be clear.

Off by a chapter.

It’s a computer program. It doesn’t love you. Not like you want it to.

It would statistically make the housing crisis better through dilution. Just saying…

A real life hydro homie

I mean, one of them is bound to be right eventually…

I was going to say the same. This is not new news. This was revealed decades ago as a way to predict big moves in the Pentagon. Hell, I would be surprised if there wasnt already a tracker website that email blasts upticks in pizza orders. And if there isn’t, someone get on it.

I own a dairy. We pay a fare wage. I’ve never had a white guy last longer than a week. Jobs for immigrants, legal or not, are important to my community, my local economy, and our nation as a whole. Historically, this sort of thing is old hat.

I’m constantly torn listening to the comments and replies on Lemmy that are spot on, but also have no context to how anything actually works.

My " no kings" truck window paint today drew some ire from the locals, but I’ll stand by my employees and friends. It maybe helps that I’ve also been driving around for years with a “Ted Cruz ate my son” and a local NPR sticker as well. They know not to talk politics at the bar with me anymore. But damn it if I’m not trying in my own way.

All in all, we may be staring to make some headway on this immigration/ice thing. But it’s not happening fast enough. It never should have gotten this bad to begin with.

This brings me joy.

Nothing is better than getting under his skin.

Oh the story of Israel’s nonsense over the past 60 plus years is so messed up. I made the comparison in jest, but it’s crazy.

They really are the worst ride or die ally of all time. And the geopolitical math hasn’t made any sense since the cold war ended. Unless you have a secret religious need for the end of days.

Ever heard the saying, “spare the rod, spoil the child”?

This is what happens. Your kid turns into a fuckin bully that punches above his weight because his dad is a cop and no one wants to stand up to him.

And now he’s brought a Glock to school.

Yeah I’m the idiot for not believing I can outlast a United States government spending spree.

Have you seen all the wars we’ve been in the last 25 years? Have you seen our defence budget? Our janitorial budget? Our paper clip budget? Fucking hell. For all the financial suffering you are willing to “suffer through”, most goes to corporations. Not the government.

You aren’t even a rounding error in the feds books. To do that would make you a multimillionaire.

And the people around you? Yeah good luck. Just a fraction of a percent under fifty percent, believe it or not, they voted for this shit. They have been playing the ‘financial suffering for the greater good’ card since the tariffs started. And they are better organized and propogandized. Trust me, I’ve heard it a lot. And they even have hats!

Let’s try to come up with some better reasoning before you think your personal morals and convictions can outlast the united states ability to throw money at literally everything…