Only if words no longer have meaning, or one is speaking without a wit in one’s head, or one is speaking with intent to deceive.

There are many good reasons why a nation might seek ownership of a strategic resource. There are also many bad reasons, and there are corrupt reasons. None of which relate greatly to the efficacy of any given purchase, and all of which are wholly separate as to the economic system at play.

Big jump in the use of poorly written mod bots, annnd the roll out of an AI profiler which gives mods a summary of the personalities & interests & Reddit behaviour of any user participating in their subreddit.

Majority of them will be operating within the law, and advising their clients to do legal things.

Two things are needed: massively ramped up enforcement and reform of the law.

They might want to introduce an exit tax before bringing in wealth taxes, and to tax unrealised gains by taking a % of shares (or whatever).

Most will get back in line in the end, meantime it gives some permission from their own egos to get out.

Have to assume that part of his inability to put this back in the box is because Musk is pouring money into keeping it in front of MAGA’s eyes.

A removal of Trump in favour of some other hyper-authoritarian hazard is not good, but one hopes the replacement fails to capture the ardour of enough of Trump’s base.

Just came across her case now, when trying to find the article by the guy I mentioned (unable to, and had major difficulty a while ago, so suspect it has been scrubbed).

They like to suppress the existence of these laws too, and to shift them around - easing, tightening, easing, tightening, and changing, so neither activists nor whistleblowers nor journalists nor randomers who stumble across horrors can know how to keep themselves safe, or to have any ability to weigh up the level of risk they are taking on with any action, and so it is considerably harder to challenge the law let alone any conviction.

That journalist wasn’t an activist at all at the time or connected to activist circles. He’d been investigating reports about a worsening legislative climate, and had taken care to keep well within the confines of the (publicly known) law.

Remember that journalist who ended up in FlorenceADX in the 2000s without having had access to a lawyer, simply for reporting on the AgGag legislation and being found on a public road taking photographs of an empty feedlot?

He managed to get released, but he was straight up blackholed for a while, potentially indefinitely.

It is very possible, however housing near the better state schools is typically very expensive, so for many families it is considerably cheaper to shell out for private school instead.

Additionally, the high achieving state schools have selective entry, so even if you buy the expensive house within the catchment area, your child isn’t necessarily getting in even if they’re bright and studious.

Idk, politicians seem dirt cheap!

One wonders what, exactly, these fetid ghouls deployed to get their rancid snot-encrusted whinging acted upon.

Yay, boobies & locks!!

Do you think the HRT could be making the feelings you describe in your first comment more intense? Female puberty is often a tumultuous time emotionally until the brain acclimatises, even as it brings great relief and many satisfying changes, and fluctuating levels at any time can have a similar effect.

Be gentle to yourself, and try to do things you find comforting.

The method by which the Crown assents to petitions is via signing bills which the elected government of the day and the House of Lords have voted to bring into law.

In theory, the Crown could refuse to do so, or attempt to bypass Parliament by issuing a royal decree. In practice they’d find such efforts ignored at best, more likely their constitutional role far further curtailed (thence leading to a rapid diminution of their ceremonial duties and privileges, if not outright abolition).

The situations under which the Crown could flex their power and have a reasonable chance of survival are extreme. Even here, they’d de facto be acting in tandem with the populace to defend against a coup and preserve (or restore) Parliament as the source of law within a representative democracy. Whether or not they’d do so in a very clear cut scenario is moot; in the dense fug of populism as a cover to usher in authoritarianism, absolutely not, let alone the drear realities of a clumsily formed electoral system chafing and fraying in a complex world. Against that, neglecting to intervene in defence of the realm from clear attack could also prove fatal to the Crown, albeit far less hazardous to the monarch themselves & their family, having greater opportunity to go into exile beforehand.

Either way, they’d have to be confident that a large majority of the Armed Services, Police and other key institutions, all members of which swear an oath of loyalty to the Crown, were up for obeying orders issued by the Crown against a hostile takeover of democratic institutions.

Whether as a temporary measure to defend the nation in an emergency, or any other cause including those which are malign, a monarch acting as a supreme leader would likely have to use a good deal of their personal wealth to fund their activities. In this they can quite easily outspend many actors.

Broadly, it may be more effective for the Crown or the monarch in their own right to discreetly support an array of resistance groups, than wield regnal power with overt grandeur in the face of grubby onslaught. Meantime… we all best be glad that is vanishingly unlikely that the current monarch or his heir would decide to avail of a severe crisis as an opportunity to seize absolute power.

To add to replies confirming he actually sounds this way, his sister seems to have a similar issue, albeit less marked.

From voice messages between them in the days after the felling, having something they did become a news item may have had some allure.

Though why they’d want that so badly, and why they’d opt for destroying an ancient sycamore & damaging part of Hadrian’s wall to obtain such attention is another matter.

Land wasn’t theirs, they didn’t live near it nor on land which people cross to visit the tree. They didn’t take the wood. Nothing has emerged to suggest they did it on behalf of someone else.

The pair went out on a stormy winter night, making a special trip to fell the tree, and leaving shortly after. Despite the darkness & lashing rain, one made a very grainy video recording of the other felling the tree with a chainsaw.

So far, they are pleading not guilty, so it’ll be interesting to see whether they raise a defence or merely introduce doubts about the reliability of the evidence brought against them.

Idk, I feel it could have been an induction ritual for some group they hope(d) to join, or flagging up their willingness to conduct sabotage operations for hire, but more likely an unfortunate dissociation from reality caused by viewing the world and their own lives through the distorting lens of social media.

Attending the hearing yesterday, one had his face & hair entirely concealed as he passed press photographers waiting outside, which doesn’t fit with a craving for fame. The only footage presented by the news of the other man was taken at a court appearance for an unrelated matter a few weeks ago - it isn’t clear whether he somehow escaped their attention yesterday, or simply hadn’t attended.

Love this, and think it may well do more to raise awareness than more conventional campaigns.

Also giggling at the idea of a real curlew seeing this and believing they are witnessing a god.

Majority view amongst TERFs, and yes, a foot in the door.

Additionally, though the ruling places no onus on toilet* users, it does place obligations on toilet providers, and in any case will be used to harass and bully people who just need to pee in peace. Most of those who’ll be persecuted by TERFs & friends will be cis, many will be intersex, a tiny handful may be trans.

In this sense your landlord is spot on, but he himself may find his business targeted for civil action under this new ruling on the interpretation of Equalities Act, should a TERF learn of his approach.

Worse, toilet providers are now prohibited from abandoning gendered toilets in favour of unisex toilets - if they have a unisex toilet, they must also provide a ladies’ toilet.

Am wondering how best to help our trans & intersex & gender non-conforming siblings, besides writing to representatives, and protests. Could we agree to use our much greater numbers to swiftly demonstrate through our own toilet selection that the law is an ass which must be amended (and reversed to the previous status quo pending that amendment).

*using “toilet” throughout my reply as a placeholder for many single-sex spaces and not only toilets.

Not wild at all - who better to help with intelligence than defectors?

Founder of the school I went to maybe somewhat similar to your idol, having had to flee himself once he spoke out against the regime he’d previously advised on education, then persuaded parents to send their teenagers to him after. It is said the war memorial is one of the few which has British and German in equal measure, so he wasn’t successful beyond keeping his own pupils safe whilst they were still his pupils.

Wake every day overwhelmed with dread, and the clinging stench of death and misery coating my everything.

Yup, there’s plenty of scope for closer ties between Mexico (along with other Central America countries) & the EU.

Tbh, the critical stuff has mostly been sold off to Chinese, Saudi Arabian & Indian companies. No doubt US firms own more than is desirable, but I think the interdependence of defence technologies & intelligence is the bigger issue with regard to the US.

The French State meantime owns quite a bit, but are allies with similar geopolitical needs, and for all that the relationship is often that of squabbling siblings, won’t wish matters to sour with such a near neighbour.

Just as Nazi Germany caused millions to flee Europe for the US, Fascist US is causing the first of millions to flee to Europe.

Here’s hoping all who make it will be safe for at least several generations.

Concentration camps conveniently situated near farms & factories & burgeoning with detained “undesirables”.