I think its more likely that the abstaining countries rely on America for trade or military in some way and don’t want to aggravate them politically but clearly aren’t willing to vote alongside them.
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Tell me about it. NZ has the most right-wing neo-liberal pro-American-politicking cabinet we’ve had in a long long time. (The PM is also so incompetent he’s polling the lowest approval we’ve had for a long time, possibly ever). They got in power off the backs of post-Covid economic hardship, despite having no proposed solutions other than funding landlords and cutting environmental policy.
If it had been put to the citizens, I believe we would’ve been for it. But the current cabinet doesn’t want to piss off American partners no doubt, hoping abstaining let’s them sit on the fence a little longer while pretending we’re ultimately n9t the bad guy. That will be the reason for most of those abstaining.
I’m disgusted.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•"Come and join us": The new resistance welcomes apologetic Trump voters13·1 month agoThe reality is that a person in a cult leaves it quietly. At the start of the process, they have doubts and fears but repeat the mantras about how they’re still absolutely a member of the cult.
And we’re seeing that. We’re seeing people upset about what’s happening, yet claiming they still support him. That’s what a person leaving a cult actually looks like – doubt, self-assurance, and then quietly quesstioning it whilst acting to their peers that they’re still believers. They’re not necessarily aware that this is the beginning of them leaving, many want their leader to reassure them of those doubts, and get slowly unsettled when they don’t.
If you ask them point-blank if they renounce their faith, they’re not willing to admit it publicly. That’s too real. They’ll just slowly fade away, and try to live like it didn’t happen.
Which means if you want people to leave a cult, you have to let them do it quietly. Even if its hard, if you’re angry and want to punish them. If they’re giving up a community they know accepts them, it won’t be to join a community that never will.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•As oligarch fortunes soar: The case for expropriating the billionaires3·2 months agoSo a loan of $10 million has like $5mil taxed right away? You get $5mil to spend, and still owe the bank like $12mil? Those interest rates are insane, and will definitely affect the working class more than the ultra-wealthy. Specifically businesses, which will increase giants’ monopolies. And you can’t make businesses an exception, because then the ultra-wealthy will borrow through those.
The money is not the problem. Money isn’t real, it’s just a tool that represents power and resources. There’s nothing you can do to tax or control money itself because what wealthy people have is all the resources, and they can leverage them with or without money.
You can’t tax your way out of hierarchal Capitalism. The rich are paying as much tax as the current system legally asks of them - which is very little, when your wealth is in resources and not money.
The poor and workers are more affected by taxes and costs because most of our worth is in money. Once you have enough to start investing and have resources, your worth can grow rapidly.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•As oligarch fortunes soar: The case for expropriating the billionaires6·2 months agoWell if it doesn’t, sell your stock to yourself a la Elon Musk, who sold X at a loss to XAI (a company he also majority owns). The ‘loss’ of ~6bil in value (iirc) means he can now gain ~6bil from any other sources without paying gains tax.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•As oligarch fortunes soar: The case for expropriating the billionaires22·2 months agoBillionaires technically don’t have much personal wealth. They leverage their illiquid assets as collateral to take out massive loans. Which they can later cover with taking out even bigger loans.
The liquid wealth of the wealthy is very low, technically in debt. This is another way they can avoid paying tax as they technically don’t have much of anything, and the reason why ‘declining to take a salary’ is typically meaningless.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world•I'm a 6'1" man with size 3 feet which means every time they measure my feet at a shoe store, the Brannock device tells me I'm not a man English1·2 months agoIt is more accurate, but for most people it probably makes it more work. If most [Group A] need [Item A], it gets labelled that way so they can be sectioned that way. It probably would be better, especially for more uncommon shapes, to use measurements. But most people don’t want to do that for everything, they want an easy answer so they can go home. A lot of women I know have never bothered to get their bra size professionally measured, and that’s a readily available service that saves so much literal pain.
Reminds me of mens/womens deoderant. IIRC the real difference is that one is creamier (for body hair) and the other is powdery (for shaved skin). So sometimes men might want women’s deoderant or vice versa, and the labelling CAN obfuscate that.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world•I'm a 6'1" man with size 3 feet which means every time they measure my feet at a shoe store, the Brannock device tells me I'm not a man English1·2 months agoI recommend re-lacing. Autocorrect changed it to ‘replace’, but changing how your shoes are laced really helps. I have a very high arch, and found that I didn’t actually need much arch support in the shoe itself, I just needed the tongue not to be pushing down on it. It means the shoes now feel tight and secure around my ankle and toe, I don’t have to go up a size to fit my arch. Much more comfortable!
Manticore@lemmy.nzto Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world•I'm a 6'1" man with size 3 feet which means every time they measure my feet at a shoe store, the Brannock device tells me I'm not a man English4·2 months agoIt’s normal for men to have wider feet, with a wider and longer toebox compared to the length of the foot. Length is only one dimension of several. (Though a lot of people don’t think to re-lace* their shoes for arches.)
It’s unclear how much of that is upbringing. The toebox length is gendered, but toe and foot width go up wen spending a lot of time barefoot, and toe width goes down in pointed shoes that can eve n make toes ‘tuck’ and cause bunions.
A women’s 9 1/2 double-wide fits me about the same as a plain Men’s 7. Women’s dress shoes are rarely in wide, and NEVER double-wide. Though I’ve found success with Aussie brands because going barefoot is normal there and so the shoes are often wider for everyone. We’re also seeing the toebox become a more slanted natural foot shape, instead of the weird point symmetrical one.
Bodies can be complicated, and one size/shape isn’t for everyone. The way we live and dress absolutely changes the shoes we need, too.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•SHOCK POLL: AOC a Close Second Place Behind Kamala Harris in 2028 Democratic Primary3·2 months agoI’m not. Most people are very passive politically and only know what the evening nees mentions. Most of them probably don’t know who AOC is (or perhaps only knows her by ‘AOC’ and the forms used her full name).
Harris is their default poll vote because they recognise her name
Manticore@lemmy.nzto Science Memes@mander.xyz•[Partially incorrect, see comments.] Pens in SpaceEnglish6·2 months agoInflame was the original word for ‘to ignite’ - to set aflame, to set on fire. We still see if in metaphor, ‘inflammatory argument’ or ‘inflamed passion’, for example.
So an inflammable object was one you can inflame (or enflame). The word ‘flammable’ came about later, probably to reduce confusion for people who thought it mean ‘un-flameable’.
These days we use flammable on labels for safety reasons, but inflame is still peppered throughout language in metaphor and medicine, and both are correct.
My cpuntry doesn’t have Craigslist, the ‘eBay’ alternative that used to be mainstream has become a dropseller’s market. Marketplace is the only secondhand market platform here, basically. Warts and all. Though some people will create Facebook groups to buy and trade in, for some reason.
That’s what he said, too.
God doesn’t make mistakes 😇🙏 that’s why butt stuff 🍑🤛💦 feels so good 🥴😩💯
Yeah it feels like a weird way to say that humans still have vestigial signs of a cloaca. It’s understood that evolutionary ancestors did, so humans’ ancestors would need to have separated the functions during their evolution… I guess the news is that there is still genetic evidence even today.
Alternatively, creationists can take this as a sign a creator considers butt stuff to be natural sex also 👍
This feels like somebody tried to recreate and taxidermy a dog after somebody swapped the skull for a crocodiles.
Neat.
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•Arrest Of Elon Musk For Felony Vote Buying Demanded In Wisconsin70·3 months agoFeel like this title should’ve been Wisconsin Demands Arrest of… Because holy shit my heart skipped a beat to think something might change :(
Manticore@lemmy.nzto politics @lemmy.world•42% of Project 2025 has been implemented in the 2 months since Trump took office17·3 months agoMost people vote Conservative because they are afraid, and are drawn to leaders that seem strong, powerful, and promise to destroy or protect them from the things they fear.
They might’ve been dumb enough to be tricked. Now they’re too afraid to admit they were. They’re in too deep, and they’d have to sacrifice standing, community, stability, and their understanding of their place in the world if they were to admit they were wrong.
That’s too scary. Most of them aren’t too dumb to understand, they’re convincing themselves because the alternative is too horrible for them to admit.
Yes, starting getting this with ublock Lite.
I’ve noticed if you click the button to "make an exception’, and refresh the page, you can watch the video anyway. But it’s possible that their server can record you doing that several times and might eventually suspend you.
If it’s a video. I fcuking hate when I’m trying to find a tutorial, or recipe, or some other help and the results are people recording their screens while they dick around with zero subtitles or chapter headings.
I can scan text for the relevant part within seconds. I’m not interested in two minutes of WHATS UP LADIES AND GENTS, missing the crucial step because it looks so similar to the irrelevant steps either side, lack of subtitles for my poor hearing, or hard to see on my tiny phone screen etc.
Videos are easy tutorials/references to prepare because you have all these channels of information you can use simultaneously. They are the hardest medium to find specific information in because they use so many channels of information.
I think that videos are enjoyable to consume, but they’re not good at passing on information, especially if the recipient is resistant already (because you’re asking them to do extra work to support your point).