IDB

nephilimcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2017 4:58 pm Wtf is wrong with the police and Europe!? If they get away time and time again, it's not surprising they lose all their inhibitions. The police shouldn't be some invincible bully that can attack unarmed people just because of stress or frustration or whatever. Sure, being a police officer isn't always easy but it doesn't give you the right to be violent. If you can't handle situations like this, you shouldn't be one.
I'm glad you're okay at least

Actually, the Spanish state police (Policía Nacional) and the Spanish military police (Guardia Civil) were literally sent by the Spanish government from different regions of Spain to Catalonia in thousands a few weeks ago. The Spanish government is responsible for this, because Catalonia has a regional police (Mossos d'Esquadra) who weren't violent at all.
All the vehicles in the picture (taken in Barcelona) were sent from outside of Catalonia to prevent the referendum from taking place (as it had been banned by the Spanish government), but no one was expecing such violence against people who were peacefully trying to vote. This was not due to stress, these were deliberate actions against defenseless people to intimidate and spread fear.

On a different note, I've noticed a lot of people from other countries assume that the Catalan pro-independence movement is exclusively right-wing. It is not. 3 Catalan parties support independence. One is right-wing, one is left-wing and one is far-left. A lot of pro-independence people don't consider themselves nationalists (me included).

Also, sending lots of love to people in Vegas. Stay strong!

nephilimcat wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2017 5:34 pmTo lighten up the mood: today is the first day same-sex couples are allowed to marry in Germany It's finally happening, I'm so glad. Took long enough as well.

That's what happens when politicians eventually remember that they're elected to serve, not wield power over those they represent.
Some individuals in Spain clearly need to be reminded of that...

A month ago, Catalonia (as of now, a region of Spain) held a referendum for independence that had been deemed illegal by the Spanish government. I wrote a few posts on the brutal repression faced by peaceful, unarmed citizens at the hands of Spanish police officers that had been sent to Catalonia from other regions of Spain. The result was +800 injured people (elders included).

Since then, repression has escalated, with the Spanish government imposing direct rule, 'sacking' the legitimate Catalan government (together with +100 other public workers) and imprisioning two pro-independent leaders two weeks ago. Today, they've taken things further by jailing eight members of our democratically elected government. They have been charged with sedition and rebellion, which could amount to +30 years in prision.

Sadly, I'm no longer surprised by the lack of democracy in Spain, but I wonder if Europe will ever stop turning a blind eye on how the Catalans are being treated. Political prisioners shouldn't be an 'internal affair'.

An article on the topic:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... dependence

Another article. This one is interesting because it explores why many indy supporters (me included) don't consider themselves nationalists.
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/catalan-ind ... tionalism/

Hey, American IDB-ers! As you might have heard, internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon are trying to threaten net neutrality. You've probably heard something about it going around, but what is net neutrality?

www.battleforthenet.com wrote:The FCC is about to announce a vote to slash net neutrality rules, allowing ISPs like Verizon to block apps, slow websites, and charge fees to control what you see & do online. Once they announce the vote, it's hard to stop. But if we flood them with calls now, *Congress* can stop the vote.

If Congress votes to abolish net neutrality, ISPs will be able to make you pay extra in order to access your favourite websites (such as IDB, social media sites, and especially rival ISPs' sites), block your favourite apps, and make your favourite sites run slower. That is, of course, unless you pay them for some ridiculous premium plan.

Net neutrality means that all sites will have equal access and that ISPs must give all websites equal speed. It protects us from our service providers censoring websites they don't like and is currently the law. People are trying to remove this law, though.

But can't we just switch ISPs?
That would be great, but ISPs are far from a free market. It's centred around a select few cable companies, and all the big ones want to end net neutrality. The logical thing to do is to try and get your representatives to vote for net neutrality.

So why are some people against it?
The people who are against it are rich politicians who couldn't care less about the state of the free internet. It's our job to make them care.

How do I help?
Use this website; they'll connect you and give you a suggested script of things to say to your representatives. Also, if you can, try and meet your member of Congress in person. That's one of the most effective ways to make a difference. Finally, spread the word. A surprising amount of Americans don't know what's going on. Inform people, point people to battleforthenet, let them know how important this is if they want to keep their precious internet.

Soooooo.......about that net neutrality then, eh??

000dia000 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:51 pm Soooooo.......about that net neutrality then, eh??

Yeah.

We can just hope it stays tied up in the courts for a while. At least Americans are good at doing that!

LeftHandedism wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:32 pm

000dia000 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:51 pm Soooooo.......about that net neutrality then, eh??

Yeah.

We can just hope it stays tied up in the courts for a while. At least Americans are good at doing that!

Hopefully attempts to sue such as that of NY's attorney general will stop them from killing net neutrality. I'm hoping to see more higher-up people trying to reverse this change.

I thought I'd kick this thread up to ask if anyone has participated in the March for our Lives today? I was going to go to a nearby one, but our family has been sick and the weather is iffy, so I'm interested if anyone has experiences to share.

Wow, I participated in my school walk out last month and it was just so moving to see so many young people participating and caring. I was going to be at the Phoenix march today but my parents were concerned… I did have friends who went who were blown away by the turn out (~20,000 from a very pro-gun state). I've been watching the streams on and off this morning and crying.