They took money from Saudi Arabia post bankruptcy if I recall correctly.

They’re making it harder and harder to do so apparently and to download the books that you buy from their store.

I don’t trust that they won’t make a strong push to lock you into the Amazon ecosystem.

And, bluntly, I don’t trust Bezos, especially after all of this election bullshit he pulled with WaPo where he personally got involved. The chances are now non-zero that Kindle could censor books. If a tyrannical regime told Bezos to remove a list of books from Kindle devices I think he’d roll over and do it. And that’s not right. They’re the customer’s books - they bought them and they get to decide what they read without censorship. And to be clear, I don’t care which way the censorship goes. We shouldn’t be censoring books - full stop.

I used to be such a kindle Stan but I don’t think they will let me have full control over an expensive device that I buy and books that I buy on their platform.

I de-drm every book I buy and side load it onto my devices because no company in the future should be able to tell me what books I can read. I’m currently using a Kobo but if they start fucking around too (no signs of this yet…) I’ll find a device that will respect my freedom.

If you want to sideload your own books and continue to be able to do so, steer clear of any Amazon device.

Canadian commentary:

I know it’s difficult with corporate greed and price gouging right now, I’m not debating that.

I’m worried that the food that people gravitate toward is unhealthy, ultra processed and cheaper on purpose. You need to buy MORE of this kind of food to stay full.

The US has, in my understanding, a lot of food deserts where healthier options are not available and people are pushed to eat empty calories.

The late-stage capitalist system wears people so thin that the effort to find and cook cheap healthy meals can be overwhelming if you don’t usually do this.

Portions in North America are HUGE.

There are ways to eat for cheaper but I understand that takes effort. For example, I order a $23 CDN all in produce box to my door of oddly shaped/sized produce that feeds two adults for a week. The largest box at $49 easily feeds a family of 4. It takes effort to find and locate services like this. Only available in big cities too.

I guess what I’m trying to say is it seems like the structure of society and capitalism makes the impact of corporate greed RE: groceries SO much worse.

Not to mention the wars, gas, and housing prices.

I know a lot of people are low information but since this issue in my perspective is aggravated and accelerated by so many factors, it still baffles me that people accept the solution is more Republican trickle down economics and tariffs which seem like they’re just going to make the problem worse for everyone.

Not American but - Freedom From Religion Foundation? Love their commercials featuring Ronald Reagan’s son.

“I’m Ron Reagan, unabashed atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.”

And if they succeed in cementing the Christian theocracy they can control them through religion. They only want freedom for themselves to subjugate everyone else.

Not trying to fight you but I think people should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Abortion isn’t a culture war it’s literally my life at risk as a woman.

The campaign was just not explicit enough and America is ill educated by design on the topic of reproduction.

And I’ve come to the realization that most people don’t want to grapple with horrific things until it happens to them and it’s too late. See the pandemic - all the people who were boasting on fb about not protecting themselves and not getting the vaccine until their families were posting about those same people being dead.

Dropping this here - no woman wants to tell that story.

Well and like… all women were just confirmed to be second class citizens.

If we accept the premise that God doesn’t condone abortion care even in instances where women miscarry or the baby dies then surely dick pills aren’t natural either.

It seems to be that the popular vote in America is saying that women are whores who can die and everything men do gets a pass including sexual assault and cheating on their wives.

Timothy Snyder - On Tyrrany

For my friends in America who did not want this or deserve this.

The ones who supported this can reap the karma that they gave sewn.

Bracing for impact in Canada.

Americans don’t realize we have our own lil JD primed and ready to take over here as well, funded and helped by Republican strategists and think tanks oh boy.

You know what mega corporations say: “If I owe the government $1M that’s my problem. If I owe the government $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, that’s their problem.”

There are Israelis, people of Jewish descent (including Bernie Sanders) and practicing people of the Jewish faith who are vehemently against the genocide being perpetuated against innocent Palestinians.

Your advocating for the side of doing nothing is evil.

So get off your computer and do something about it instead of lording your morality over the rest of us here.

Get involved with an organization and go physically help in Gaza. Go volunteer your time for your local pro Palestine congressperson. I’ll wait.

Oh no but you’re sitting here pushing propaganda talking points, which you somehow believe is helpful but actually tacitly supports the literal Nazi candidate who calls people vermin. Because that’s the thing that is really helpful.

Who exactly do you think is sending arms to Israel? Who is rubber stamping the budget? There are several actors involved in this dance including the Republican House of Representatives and the military industrial complex.

Russia is killing innocent people and will kill many more when Trump “ends the war in Ukraine” by giving Russia Ukraine. Trump will give Gaza and likely Lebanon to Netanyahu. So because innocent people have been killed you’re like whoa, guess I gotta step back and advocate for the terrible perspective of not voting at all, a stance that is supported by propaganda actors backing a Trump win.

Evil includes seeing evil being done and choosing to do nothing, and advocating for the side of doing nothing.

My 13 y o niece had no idea how to uninstall a program on a PC. I was a little stunned.

History is repeating itself and I feel crazy that the news every single day does not point this out.

Women in Nazi Germany:

The ideal woman in Nazi Germany did not have a career outside her home. Instead, she was a good wife (however her husband defined that), a careful and conscientious mother (taking special care to raise her children in accordance with Nazi philosophies and ideals), and skilled at doing all domestic chores such as cleaning and cooking. Women had a limited right to training of any kind; such training usually revolved around domestic tasks. Over time, Nazi-era German women were restricted from teaching in universities, working as medical professionals, and serving in political positions within the NSDAP.

Just like his bestie Putin.

That’s why they have to do this culture war bullshit. Their actual policies are so wildly unpopular that they have to trick people into thinking they can save them from the gay trans liberal cats and dogs or something.

I felt that this 60 minutes interview wasn’t fair AT ALL and heavily slanted toward calling the Harris/Walz campaign on the most trivial shit.

For example, calling out Walz on the few times he’s misspoke and then asking how the voters can trust him.

Fuck allllll the way off with that bush league line of goddamn questioning. It’s not comparing apples to apples to pretend Walz is some huge liar when Trump and Vance lie literally every time they open their mouths with egregious, dangerous and racist lies. It’s disingenuous and ridiculous “reporting”.

Same with saying Harris’ plan would hurt the economy. Trump had Obama’s economy served up to him on a silver platter, tanked it (partial credit to Covid and the war in Ukraine as aggravating factors), and is pretending it’s all the Biden-Harris administration’s fault. Macroeconomically America is recovering from its recent economic downturn, similarly to Canada. Maybe, just maybe, the middle class is not feeling this because of wage suppression, corporate greed, price gouging and purposeful, weaponized incompetence by the Republicans in Congress.