piefedderatedd

Senior ministers set to travel in government-owned aircraft after ‘grossly wasteful’ contract axed

Event in the trip-hop pioneers’ hometown of Bristol is being hailed as the lowest carbon-emissions show of its scale ever staged

Former PM said ‘that’s not funny’ when remote-controlled banner was unfurled behind her at event in Suffolk

Last part of the article with a grain of "nottheonion" vibe :

Truss has become vocal on US politics, last month addressing Republican supporters to learn lessons from her brief time in No 10. She insisted: “I’ve learned how powerful the unelected bureaucracy is. You have to win in November … you have to dismantle the leftist state … they are devious, they are ruthless and they are out to get you.”

The former prime minister has previously criticised the Daily Star’s lettuce joke, insisting it was not “particularly funny”, noting in June: “I just think it’s puerile.”

She went on to criticise the British media, claiming it was “known throughout the world for being particularly vociferous” and it is not “particularly deferential to politicians”.

The banner stunt came shortly after Truss voiced her support for Elon Musk, who has claimed the UK has a two-tier policing system. She said on X: “I am appalled by the attacks on free speech in Britain and Europe. We can’t be truly free without free speech. Good for Elon Musk and X for standing up to these bullies.” Musk responded, thanking her for support.

• https://open.spotify.com/episode/7r0bqArA2X3QmAYnlMnuPw
• All episodes : https://open.spotify.com/show/1wr9Zby7ON9HUPoIyTcVEG
• Written piece by George Monbiot : "A record sentence for a Zoom call, arrests for those holding signs outside. This is a blight on British democracy" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/19/protest-democracy-labour-tories-laws

After I'd read that the Trump shooter had looked at photos of Trump and Biden and their upcoming speech locations and the fact that the shooter was a lone wolf and bullied at school, I read part of the Wikipedia page about the Uvalde shooting . The Uvalde shooter also was a lone wolf and also used an AR-15. My thoughts right now are like this :

• The lone wolfs probably have suffered badly from an inferior complex due to bullying and alienation and wanted to do something which made them feel historically "significant" instead of feeling completely"useless".

• The US appears to have a pretty dominant machismo culture (Think about GOP with their MAGA, it is humiliating for women and minority groups) and so-called snowflakes are looked down upon. This is very bad for everyone involved.

• Cops are afraid of citizens having an AR-15 on them.

What can be done ?

• Should vote with our wallets ? Like stop using exTwitter now that Elon Musk has publicly shown support for Trump ? (On Mastodon I've seen many comments about people that did cancel their subscription to the New York Times and that seemed to have some effect. Finally the NYT is posting more critical articles about Trump and Project 2025.)

• Should people talk more often to each other and avoid alienation ? In books of Gabor Maté he talks about the fact that most people in society look down on hard drug addicts but these junkies are still human beings. And the same goes for homeless people and refugees of course. They are still human beings. No need to automatically view them as inferior beings, right ?

• Should we limit our screen time on mobile phones ? Are we silently producing a sort of zombies that cannot think for themselves anymore ? Should tech companies be obliged to make phone apps less addictive ?

• Should mobile phone usage during class in school be forbidden ?

• Should we promote exchange projects as part of cultural improvement ? Like say 50 people from Congo Republic in Africa swap places with 50 people from California for 1 year, and then after swapping back talk about the experiences.

• Should we in our education system or during leisure time educate people more on what happened in World War II and what we can still learn from that ? For example the book by Umberto Eco about how to recognize a fascist ( Ur-Fascism ) could be used.

• Should bullying at school be pro-actively approached and make victims and bullies talk to each other under professional supervision ?

Cressie, Daniel, Lou, Lucia and Roger (the WholeTruthFive) have been sentenced to a combined 21 years in prison, the harshest sentences for peaceful protest in UK history. Their “crime”? Participating in a Zoom call to discuss disruptive protest action against catastrophic new fossil fuel licences.

The UN has already slammed the trial for its persecution and punishment of defendants. At trial, the five weren’t allowed to defend their actions in context of the climate emergency. When they spoke the whole truth to the jury, 4 of the 5 were arrested multiple times in court and jailed.

This isn’t what a fair trial looks like. Sign the petition and demand an end to the imprisonment of peaceful protesters.