@cdarwin@c.im2026-04-24 00:48:14
Word of the Week: Backpfeifengesicht
Do you ever look at someone and feel like punching them in the face?
Well, Germans have a unique word for that face: a Backpfeifengesicht
— a face that’s badly in need of a fist.
https://germanyinusa.com/2019/02/22/wo
@Techmeme@techhub.social2026-04-24 09:55:54
As part of the Cohere-Aleph Alpha deal, Aleph Alpha backer Schwarz Group plans to invest $600M in Cohere's Series E, which a source says is set to close in 2026 (Kai Nicol-Schwarz/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/24/cohere-aleph-alpha-germany-ai-euro…
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2026-02-25 11:42:53
In Germany, genocide denial is a crime.
Unless it’s genocide against Palestinians.
How can that be? Easy. Because they don’t see Palestinians as human beings.
Why? Because they are racist fucks.
(And because they profit from the genocide as the world’s #2 arms dealer to Israel after the US.)
Makes me sick to my stomach. Gotta love those “European values” eh?
#germany
@UP8@mastodon.social2026-03-23 22:44:50
🌱 Global greening: Study shows Earth's green wave is shifting northeast
#environment
@primonatura@mstdn.social2026-05-23 12:29:23
"Germany off track to deliver 2045 climate goal"
#Germany #Climate #ClimateChange
@johl@mastodon.xyz2026-04-25 07:57:38
Google Maps in Germany now publishes how many reviews of restaurants etc were removed due to “defamation”, i.e. legal action from the owners of the criticized businesses. There’s now a Chrome extension that adds 0 ratings for every removed rating and then averages that with the provided rating.
https://github.com/Ennui92/…
@malik@Mastodon.Social2026-05-23 19:07:23
@servelan@newsie.social2026-03-24 18:02:15
German President: Trump's "Disastrous War Is Illegal" - Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2026/03/german-president-trumps-disastrous-war-is-illegal/
@hex@kolektiva.social2026-02-25 06:06:41
This is as good a time as any for a thought experiment.
You're in Nazi Germany. You know about the camps, you know what they do, you see the ash fall, you smell it. People who resist alone are killed, some are sent to the camps too. You're afraid to even talk to people about it for fear that they'll turn you in.
You think back to when the camps were being built. You had all the warning signs, but you didn't know how to interpret them. You could believe it would happen. You thought you'd have a chance to vote him out. You thought there might be another way. You thought maybe things would turn out differently if you just sat tight, kept your head down, kept yourself safe.
You see a family being dragged from their home. You know they will be killed. You want to fight, not just for them but for yourself. You opposed Hitler, and at any point you know you could be on the list... Even if you do nothing.
You wish you could rise up, shoot the SS, open the gates, fight it all. You know you aren't alone, but you don't know how to connect with the people who want the same thing.
Using the knowledge we have now, what should you have done in the preceding months and years to connect, to build a community that would open up all paths of resistance?
There were people who resisted. We know it wasn't enough.
Gun laws in Nazi Germany were very similar to US laws in that Nazis were largely free to own guns and everyone else was not. Unlike the US, where "others" have historically controlled using the fear that they might be randomly executed, Germany did codify it. Red flag laws were one more step in the US towards that codification, and there will be more.
When Nazis were taking away those guns, the social networks didn't exist to make resistance possible for most folks. But some Jews were able to resist.
It wasn't the guns that made the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising possible, though they definitely helped. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was made possible by labor organizing in the precessing years.
If there were more uprisings like that, the Holocaust could have been stopped if not prevented. Social networks make resistance possible. Guns are only useful tools to resist authoritarianism *after* you build a community able to support that resistance, and they are only one of many tools made useful by that community.
Getting guns is easy, and not always necessary. Building community is hard. Guns won't keep you safe. Community will.
Single acts of resistance may slow the machine down, but to actually bring down a monster you need to be able to attack more than once. You need a society of resistance. If you are afraid now, build that. Talk to people while it's still safe to do so. Ask them where their red line is. Talk to neighbors. Figure out your network.
Take the steps you need now to keep your neighbors safe, to keep yourself safe.
#USPol
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2026-04-24 07:48:02
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/116458516999245541
“How Nazi Germany’s history has shaped the way it wages war. Why has Nazi Germany chosen such brutal military aggression?”
Are we even serious right now?