Well, probably not really first - but my arguably-excessive use of emdashes LONG predates the advent of AI.

I guess I should get around to figuring out how to display an emdash instead of just a dash when I'm posting on Slashdot.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said, except the "just a few short years". It's both easy and appropriate to blame this on Trump - and lord knows there's LOTS go blame him for - but hacking away at the roots of the Tree of Knowledge goes a lot farther back.

Probably far from first, but a convenient many-decades-old place to start: tobacco companies and oil companies hid the results of the science which proved the damage their products were causing. Hiding scientific results is the first step on the road to science denial. What better way to undermine science than to hide the real stuff and peddle the fake?

Not second, but second in my thoughts today: Reagan-era "trickle-down economics" "theories" which were politically expedient and derived from wishful thinking rather than rigorous logical analysis. Economic science took a big hit there.

Third, the "Commie scare" and governance by moral panic. How can science not be damaged when logic and rationality are thrown out the window in favour of political gain? They threw the science right out of "political science".

It may seem as though I'm reaching here - but part of avoiding past mistakes is being aware of the precedents. Thinking of the kind of damage Trump is causing as a recent development works against finding solutions. Trump causes so much trouble, it's easy to forget that he's more of a symptom than a primary problem.

Either? Why not both?

Maybe Trump is eager to do to Americans that which he has already done to Cubans...

Sufficient venting from enough people constitutes "public opinion". In a free country - which, admittedly, America no longer is - public opinion determines election outcomes and shapes policy.

True enough - but it doesn't have to be that way. Get rid of the profit motive, the algorithms that promote any content for any reason, and the advertising. Social media should be a social service, as part of the commons. It shouldn't be a private, for-profit thing.

And the abuse-your-members effect is what has kept me off of "X, Facebook, etc". I wonder how many other folks there are who feel the same way, who might sign up for a re-invented Twitter that promises to behave better.

I've always loved the social network concept, but have never been on any social network other than Slashdot and the ancient Classmates site. I saw from Facebook's early days where all of it was heading and just said "no". But if the new Twitter changes the business model sufficiently, then I'm in; and if a responsible replacement for Facebook came along, I'd probably join that too.

My favourite phone was a Moto G 3G. It was easy to install Cyanogenmod on it - kudos to Lenovo - and it was actually a phone instead of a phablet. I really don't need the huge screens on today's phones.

Motorola is planning to launch a phone in 2027 which is designed in cooperation with GrapheneOS. The phone will ship with Android but can be easily upgraded to GrapheneOS - while maintaining Motorola support - and still end up with a locked bootloader. Specs may not meet your needs, but further research may be in order.

I'm holding on to the two phones I have - one work and one business - until there's more info available. One of my current phones is an iPhone on loan from my wife, and it truly sucks ass in the most spectacular ways. The other is a Samsung with LineageOS; it's still going strong except for battery life, but at nine years old it's not long for this world.

In my experience, revolutionary fervor mostly arises from the "current system" being openly and vigilantly averse to being "fixed".

Many of us saw what was coming in the US 25 years ago and more. My voice - given that it's Canadian - meant nothing when after 9/11 happened I started referring to The Department of Fatherland Security. The incipient Fascism was obvious at that point, and even much farther back than that it was obvious to many folks where all this was headed.

Many Americans realized what was coming and called it out, but they were shouted down. Attempts to "fix the current system" didn't work back then; why would they work now? So here we are at a point where revolution may be the only force that can counter the political, institutional, and frankly cultural rot that is taking down America.

It's cool to know why dead brains don't always rot; but for me the more pressing question is why so many LIVE brains DO rot.

I suspect that being a career politician is a significant risk factor for brain rot among the (perhaps only allegedly) living.

I've had a Pixel 6 for a while but haven't screwed up the courage to install LineageOS because I bricked the last Pixel I tried it on. So it's just been gathering dust - I won't use it with stock Android. I plan to take the plunge when I'm on vacation in a few weeks; fingers crossed...

So my personal phone - the one I most care about - is still a Samsung A5 from 2017, with LineageOS. And the truly ancient Samsung I was using as a business phone died, so my wife handed me her old iPhone. I swear at it every time I use it, and I know now with absolute certainty that I'll never use an iPhone as a primary.

I was thinking of pulling the trigger on a Brax3, but it still seems a bit iffy. I've had good experiences with Motorola in the past, so getting one with GrapheneOS might work out. If I brick the Pixel, I might hold off getting another phone until next year when I can opt for a privacy-respecting phone without having to do sketchy shit just so I can truly own it.

Cool! One Canadian YouTube channel you might have missed is The Rational National. He addresses Canada / US politics, but he also covers Canadian internal politics in a way that you might not see elsewhere. He's very pro-Canada, but he also highlights our political failings, fuck-ups, and internal disagreements.

On the American side, you may want to check out Large Man Abroad. He spends a lot of time on how Trump is screwing up America's relationship with Canada, but he also covers the shocking incompetence, greed, and stupidity which the Trump regime hase inflicted on the US.

We Canadians live next door to a country whose population is about 8 times as large as ours. It's true that America and Canada mostly speak the same language, share the same British roots, and have significant cultural overlap.

But our Canadian outlook on the world is VERY different. CanCon rules allowed our music, TV, and film industries to grow to the point where they are self-sustaining and reflect OUR history and culture. Prior to those rules, our own culture and popular arts were facing extinction, because it was easier and cheaper for corporate broadcasters to import American content. If we hadn't enacted CanCon, corporate and political forces might already have wiped out our cultural and artistic identity.

If it hadn't been for CanCon, there's a significant chance that I wouldn't have been able to write this; I might have a president instead of a prime minister, and I might be in jail or dead for having protested against ICE. Or, I might be bankrupt or dead because the American healthcare system prioritizes profit over health and - in some cases - even life.

So no, those "Made in Canada" laws aren't ridiculous. Similar laws might well be ridiculous in other countries and at other times. History and geography matter.

One thought from this proud Canadian is that you might join us in our "No CUSMA no Boozema" boycotts. Don't buy Kentucky bourbon or California wine, and make it clear why you're not doing so. The Kentucky bourbon boycott probably has more bang for the buck, with the bonus that the pocketbooks pinched will belong primarily to MAGAts.

The other possibility - if you dare risk crossing your own border - is to bring your tourist dollars here. The New England states - along with places such as Bellingham in Washington and Niagara Falls and Buffalo in New York State - are hurting over Canadian boycotts. Make 'em hurt a little more - it might put another nail in the coffin of the Republicans' chances of winning. (Worth noting that news media in those areas STILL cling to the fiction that the decline is because of the exchange rate. As if!)

Thanks for your thoughtfulness. Above all, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"