Better Future Possibly 🇵🇸🇱🇧🏳️‍⚧️

Paddystinian-American. Revolution and Rugby. What else is there?

[Better Future Possibly 🇵🇸🇱🇧🏳️‍⚧️ @ElectionFrenzy]

All it takes for Evil to triumph is for Good people to only be given Evil choices.

[jasmine sun @jasminewsun]

Uber driver told me SFPD officers make $600k/year for “driving in circles & sleeping in their car on graveyard shifts”

I was like “oh I bet it’s tough” & he was like “nah cops don’t do shit in SF.” he's joining the police academy bc his cop friend just bought a Lambo

[noah kulwin @nkulw]

Every time I see this image my heart breaks a little

[monica @waystarroyhoe]

scrolling through her filmography to figure out what could have possibly warranted this lmao

[whoops @vodkasnowflake]

SLOTKIN, THE FUCKING PERSON WHO GAVE THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S JOINT SESSION VOTED FOR HIS PICK DAYS LATER LOLOLOL

[annie… @macabreb0b]

this vermont cop ran over and killed a cyclist because he was watching youtube on his big dashboard TV

the video he was watching at the time of the crash:

[GoliathFan1952 @ByYourLogic]

This is making me laugh so hard. You think I have it easy? You think my life is just some picnic? Every day, bubble bath fans call my 52 year old son a piece of crap

[Alec Karakatsanis @equalityAlec]

In my years as a civil rights lawyer, I’ve never seen a more clear cut First Amendment violation, or a more flagrant government declaration of intent to violate blackletter law. Part of the point here is to dare the courts to uphold longstanding precedent.

[Prem Thakker @prem_thakker]

SCOOP—Emails obtained by @zeteo_news show Mahmoud Khalil reached out for help from the Columbia administration *one day before* ICE detained him.

He said he couldn't sleep from threats he was receiving.
He even wrote he feared ICE "might come to my home."
https://t.co/3rsGPahSMb

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

I've seen relatively little coverage on this topic but geo-strategically speaking Starlink is one of the most important developments of the 21st century so far.

Basically what we're talking about is a private American firm - whose owner is now part of the U.S. government - that could single-handedly own the world's communication infrastructure, put traditional domestic telecommunications providers out of business and render terrestrial communication infrastructure obsolete.

The implications of this are staggering, and we've started to understand some of them in Ukraine: Musk is undoubtedly right when he says that Ukraine's "entire front line would collapse if [he] turned [Starlink] off", and as a result he knows he can afford to call the Polish foreign minister a "small man" and ask him to "be quiet" when he suggested Ukraine might seek other suppliers: to date, there aren't any!

Marco Rubio added that Poland should "say thank you because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war long ago, and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now"... Which again is probably true (at least the part about Ukraine losing the war) and highlights both how much strategic leverage this provides the U.S., as well as how easily they threaten to use that leverage.

This is without a doubt why China, which always understands strategic implications of new developments extremely early (which I would argue is one of the primary reasons for its success), started developing its own version of Starlink since early 2020 (Starlink itself was launched in May 2019). This is when China's National Development and Reform Commission included satellite Internet in the "new infrastructure" for the first time (https://t.co/cEWvl93I0u).

China's primary goal is undoubtedly to give its own population a Starlink option so that it can maintain sovereignty over its information environment. Without its own satellite constellation, China - as all nations - would face an impossible and possibly existential choice: either accept Starlink and lose sovereignty over information flow, or reject it and fall behind technologically. Plus, it arguably wouldn't even have the option to reject it given it can't exactly stop satellites from flying over its territory or block transmissions from orbit.

And since satellites by definition orbit around the earth, China with its own satellite constellation is now in a position where it can compete outside China with Starlink, which is what this news 👇 is about.

Honestly, the world can thank China on this one because this considerably reduces the U.S.'s strategic leverage it has with Starlink: it creates competition in a domain that would have otherwise been a monopoly with all the geopolitical implications that entails. Countries can now negotiate better terms with both providers, in particular terms that better maintain their sovereignty: the leverage shifts from being with the supplier to the customer.

Still though, as a European, this is yet another domain of extreme strategic consequence where we're pretty much nowhere to be seen. There is a planned European Starlink alternative called IRIS² but it's years behind with "initial services expected to start in the 2030s" (https://t.co/45JOKe1AVn)...

As just mentioned it's great to now have competition in this domain between the U.S. and China, but it's still infinitely better to have sovereign control over your own communication infrastructure. Which is why China ensured it did just that, and which is another very painful illustration of Europe's strategic myopia and inability to execute.

[The Onion @TheOnion]

Trump Says Recession Unfortunate But Necessary Step To Get To Depression
https://t.co/lsDNVDtvq5

[Evan O’Connell @evanoconnell]

Imagine giving this news to someone from, say, 1985.

[aaron from queens 🇵🇸 @aaronnarraph]

The House just voted to pass the "Emerging Innovative Border Technologies Act," which requires the Border Patrol to develop a plan to use technologies like AI, machine-learning, and...nano-technology???

Only 7 Democrats voted NO:
Casar
Dexter
Lee (PA)
AOC
Omar
Ramirez
Tlaib

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

i dont know much about stocks. are they supposed to go down all the time?

[James Tate @JamesTate121]

So much for Chic-fil-a traditional Christian values.

[Better Future Possibly 🇵🇸🇱🇧🏳️‍⚧️ @ElectionFrenzy]

@DudespostingWs If he saw a squirrel, she'd have to chase after him.

[Better Future Possibly 🇵🇸🇱🇧🏳️‍⚧️ @ElectionFrenzy]

@Brocklesnitch Guy thinking like a dog.

[Megatron @Megatron_ron]

BREAKING:

Massive $1.7 trillion in value wiped out from US stock market today