Via Mueller, She Wrote:‬
‪
I'm telling you, they want to tank the dollar and control the replacement.

‪Reuters‬:

#Trump Media to raise $2.5 billion to fund #bitcoin treasury

@ChrisMayLA6 Yess! Do it! Should cause the current showers to buck up their ideas…even if they will have to come up with ideas first…and this will be extremely challenging for the poor lambs!

We've discussed this here before but here's David Klemperer (of the Constitution Society) arguing:

'By introducing compulsory voting here in the UK, we can bring those currently alienated, marginalised & ignored into the centre of our politics, to create first a more equal electorate & ultimately a more equal society'!

This requires a 'none of the above' option & as we've discussed here before a policy for when NotA votes pass a certain threshold

#democracy #elections
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/uk-compulsory-voting-low-turnout-worsening-inequality-australia/

"Convicted for taking bribes..." Trump can relate.

‪Scott MacFarlane‬:

ALERT: #Trump pardons former Culpeper County, Va sheriff Scott Jenkins

Jenkins was scandal-plagued for years and was convicted by rural Virginia jury of taking bribes in exchange for deputizing people w/ badges & credentials

Bribe payors were not trained or vetted & didn’t render legit services

Saying this out loud means the powers that be aren't afraid of upsetting the US anymore.

Quiet rumblings to public announcements. They are sure the US is done.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2025/5/26/ecbs-lagarde-says-euro-could-be-viable-alternative-to-us-dollar?traffic_source=rss

LibreOffice is available in 120 languages – which may be a record for such a large piece of software! And this is all thanks to our Native Language Communities, who translate the suite's interface and help content. Here's what they did last year: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/05/26/libreoffice-native-language-projects-tdfs-annual-report-2024/ #foss #OpenSource #freesoftware

If you're interested in the possibilities & promise of a 4 day working week, you might want to look at the 4 Day a Week Foundation website... they are working hard to expand the notion that the four day working week is not just plausible but actually beneficial both to staff's and to companies' wellbeing.

While not a silver bullet for the UK's productivity puzzle/problem, its certainly one component of a future shift fo the UK economy.

#workers #economics #productivity
https://www.4dayweek.co.uk

Much of the support for renationalising the railways was grounded in the hope that state ownership would reduce rail fares (which are among the highest in Europe);

however, it now seems that will be unlikely, as any extra cash saved by nationalisation will be spent on maintenance, infrastructure & increased services (which in fairness are also what the network needs).

But as fares are what voters most immediately experience, how will this play out?

#railways #politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqg73znzzeo

A couple took out a personal loan for $16,000, and they installed PV themselves. Now they're saving around $500 per month off their electricity bill, which will pay off their loan in less than three years and then will provide them with an extra $6,000 or more per year for more than twenty years.

The Progressive Magazine - Silencing the Voice of America: Donald Trump’s quest to silence the nation’s international transmissions has been met with legal battles, yet many fear the damage may already have been done. https://progressive.org/latest/silencing-the-voice-of-america-rodriguez-20250/ #SaveVOA

#Trump is again targeting #HarvardUniversity, days after his admin's move to revoke the school's ability to enroll #InternationalStudents was blocked by a judge.

In a social media post on Sun, Trump claimed that the home countries of some of #Harvard's international #students are "not at all friendly to the United States" & "pay NOTHING toward their student's education."

#law #immigration #FirstAmendment #education #privacy #authoritarianism #AmericanAutocracy
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/25/nx-s1-5411722/trump-again-blasts-harvard-over-international-students-as-judge-blocks-revocation

@jetlagjen @ChrisMayLA6 @StryderNotavi Yes, I was aware of Docs. I’ve moved to a Swiss copy of Google Docs by a company called Infomaniak and so far, so good. The free tier is almost as good as Google, in some respects, a little better.

@alex_p_roe @ChrisMayLA6 @StryderNotavi this is a pretty good (and short) article mentioning a few initiatives:

https://www.howtogeek.com/docs-alternative-google-docs-notion-france-germany/

More than 200 readers wrote to CNN since Thompson's killing, recounting horror stories from long before the health insurance executive was fatally shot in front of a midtown Manhattan hotel last week
— and showing that Americans have been suffering and dying at the hands of an unjust and greedy insurance system operating in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

CNN tells the story of 26-year-old Arete Tsoukalas,
who was diagnosed with leukemia but denied a drug she needed, leaving her with a massive $13,000 monthly copay.

As a result, she was forced to go off the drug for three months since she couldn't afford to cover her bills until she could finally secure funding through the drug maker's assistance program.

Tsoukalas had some strong words for a system that had failed her when she needed it the most.

"No one should have to be fighting cancer and insurance at the same time," she told CNN.

"It’s such a cruel system. We live in a country where people are truly kicked down when they are at their weakest and most vulnerable, both physically and emotionally."

https://futurism.com/neoscope/americans-unitedhealthcare-tried-kill-first

#GiftArticle

When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100k from a $1k investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks & forced the White House to initiate a review.

#Trump #law #emoluments #corruption
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-money-plane-crypto.html?unlocked_article_code=1.J08.MV12.FMyyoC3z_EI_&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

@jetlagjen @ChrisMayLA6 @StryderNotavi Good to hear that the ball is rolling re finding alternatives to US software. It’s about time but few of us expected this to be necessary, am willing to bet. And yes, it should help. Re Windows - as you say, it comes with the PC so people use it - no surprise and it was fine until #Trump.

@alex_p_roe @jetlagjen @StryderNotavi

I think a Linux-installation party movement would be a great idea... I'd feel a lot more confident in an atmosphere of collective endeavour with tech-adepts than sitting in my office at home trying to do it with only arcane instructions as a guide....

@ChrisMayLA6 @jetlagjen @StryderNotavi Well, you might be surprised to learn that there are quite a few good videos on YouTube that walk you through the process. With a phone or a tablet or an old PC, you can follow the video while doing the install. Actually, this could be done via an online meeting even if face to face would be more effective for those less tech savvy 🙂

Scientists have lost their jobs or grants in US cuts. Foreign universities want to hire them
https://apnews.com/article/trump-research-funding-cuts-brain-drain-f1ac9fe5c8a90f5d5ec9b2726475e10e?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Top Stories @top-stories-AssociatedPress

@globcoco @ChrisMayLA6 @StryderNotavi With a little guidance, you probably could do it. Compared to when I first started messing around with Linux - 20 years ago - it’s become easier. And once it’s there, it’s quite easy to use. Otherwise, getting someone you know to do it or asking a PC shop is another good solution 🙂