Your list is pretty wild. If you’re serious about #2, please talk to a mental health professional if you haven’t done so yet. And if you seriously put #4 ahead of, like, cancer or infectious diseases, you should definitely consider leaving for another country.

As for me, I live a relatively normal life in a relatively peaceful environment. I’d put my money on cancer.

FYI, lichess.org offers the same functionality (arguably better) for free. It’s a crowd-funded, open-source non-profit, free of any ads or trackers.

Technically, there’s a two-week period during which he or others can try to be elected by absolute majority (316 of 630 votes). After that, the requirements would be lowered to simple majority.

So Merz may still be elected in a second vote. If he fails again, we will likely see a snap election, with the extremist right AfD gaining even more.

A big danger about a second vote could be the AfD voting for Merz for troll reasons. They’ve done this kind of thing before in the state parliament of Thuringia. If Merz got, say, 461 votes in a second vote, it would be obvious that he got the majority not from SPD + Union but by the votes of the AfD. This would trigger massive debates about whether the coalition partners should go ahead with government formation or not.

Another possibility is that of a different coalition forming, either Union + SPD + Greens (so including the Greens in the current planned coalition), or Union + AfD. While I could see the former happening in some scenarios (though probably with a different candidate from the Union), I think the latter will not occur at this point in time, as too many Union members and voters are still strictly opposed to cooperating with the AfD. (But I think it is a realistic scenario in future elections.)

Actual beta male

My library offers art! Like, original art pieces (paintings and sculptures) by local artists which you can borrow for up to three months.

Sudan, definitely. (And I’ve visited well over 50 countries.)

I honestly, literally believe that Trump still doesn’t know what a tariff is.

Fun fact, that word is etymologically related to “placenta”.

Very nicely put. This describes my own faith almost to a T.

I’m convinced these events will permanently change the role of the US in the world. I checked all of Germany’s major newspapers (progressive and conservative) and they all agree that Europe can’t rely on the US anymore and will have to fend for itself and/or find new partners. I don’t doubt it’s the same in other major European countries. This might well be the start of the end of US hegemony. I sure hope that whatever new world order we move into isn’t worse than the one we had, and that the changes go over without additional war.

I know the main thing here is Vance and Trump backstabbing and bullying Zelenskyy, but I just want to point out that Trump repeatedly talked about “raw earth” instead of “rare earths”. We’re truly fucked.

There was, 8 years ago. But the second best time is right now.

Agreed.

Well, for now they’re being deported to Guantanamo Bay. That doesn’t necessarily mean they will then also be deported to their home countries. I could very well see the Trump administration keep thousands of people there indefinitely and have them do slave labor (which is legal in the US).

Who says they’re planning to send them anywhere?

Reddit is no longer a safe place for free speech

Friendly reminder of when spez, many years ago, literally just changed a user’s comment, and then went on to not be immediately fired over this insane breach of everything to do with customer relations.

A new colour (visible to humans).

Must be this one, but the downvotes were part of the game in that thread so I guess it doesn’t really count. Other than that I’ve never gotten more than like 3 downvotes on a post.

I had this cake for the first time yesterday and it was absolutely fantastic (and there’s some leftovers I will gobble up tonight)!

Many of them are neo-nazis and/or right-wing extremists. A comparison with the GOP is difficult but I’d say they’re similar in their hatred of non-white people and their disdain for liberal democracy.