Hard Pass

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that if Republicans prevail in this year’s midterm elections, he would provide everybody with a $5,000 dividend check. People reacted as if he’d said something crazy, like “Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is ineligible to be president of the United States”—by which I mean they dismissed his ravings as one more Trumpian oddity and not what it really was: the disqualifying lunacy of a corrupt jackass. A few brave souls gently raised concerns that this was tantamount to a bribe. Those who wanted to add something substantive to the conversation pointed out just how much this idea would cause inflation to spike. I don’t recall anyone saying the obvious thing: A $5,000 payoff would be an implicit admission that he and his party’s reckless policies wrecked the economy and spawned a nationwide affordability crisis.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose flock of lawmakers would ostensibly be the people who would find this money—more than $1 trillion—and appropriate it, told Kristen Welker in an interview that the so-called “Trump dividend” would be something lawmakers would “process through Congress and talk through and debate and discuss.” That said, nothing is happening anytime soon, because Johnson is sending lawmakers home until the midterm elections so as to avoid having to vote on GOP Representative Thomas Massie’s proposed impeachment of Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth, who, between psychosexual panic attacks about the masculinity of the soldiers in his presence, is currently getting the belt-to-ass treatment from Iran.

So you might have to wait a while for your $5,000 check. But that doesn’t mean that the Trump dividend hasn’t already been paid out. To the contrary, the president and his congressional enablers have been handing out money left and right. They’ve made people very rich, in fact. It’s something that they’re quite good at doing—at least for a few.

watch?v=1m0db23Vuf0

I'll flip a coin and it's heads or tales

Who the fuck wants to eat a sweet flavoured like flowers/perfume? Not a joke.

I've been using Planka (https://planka.app/) for years, to manage my to-do lists and other general lists of things (like gifts given, movies I want to watch and so on). But it's been ages since I looked around for other, better apps. I really like the kanban board / trello approach they use as the lists are easy to maintain, add items to, and I can see the whole list in one glance.

I don't need fancy stuff (teams features, sharing, advanced triggers or other automation). It's just for me, running on my home server. Apps should be FOSS and installable via docker, ideally. I've looked at a few of the apps on selfh.st ( https://selfh.st/apps/?search=to-do ) but nothing stood out as really interesting.

Any apps you think of as new and interesting in this area?

Thanks!

EDIT: I've installed Vikunja and I'm giving it a try. So far, it was super easy to install and get started with. We'll see how it looks after a few days, but thanks all for the ideas shared here. 👋🙂

Should learn more from reading too.

• The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the most active state conducting Foreign Interference (FI) activities in Canada, in scale and scope of activity. FI helps the PRC counter what it perceives as a concerted effort by the West to contain the PRC’s development.
• PRC officials and proxies are likely to continue to conduct FI activities despite increased public scrutiny.
• The PRC is likely to attempt electoral interference over the next year, possibly in the next federal election.
• The PRC will almost certainly continue to engage in acts of transnational repression (TNR).

...

In its September report on foreign interference (FI), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said Chinese officials and proxies are responsible for planning, organizing, and carrying out interference activities in Canada.

CSIS said that China uses a sophisticated system of incentives and disincentives to condition targets to be responsive to Chinese state interests.

"Incentives include financial and status rewards, many of which occur in the PRC," the agency says.

"Disincentives generally involve coercive practices, including visa controls (both to enter and to leave China) and monitoring, harassment and intimidation, punishing friends and family to deter specific activities."

China's goals is to "push Canadian politicians and decision-makers toward adopting pro-PRC positions and policies that run counter to Canada’s national interests."

...

"The PRC will continue to target Canadian democratic institutions to advance PRC strategic objectives to the detriment of Canada’s interests," the agency says.

...

The CSIS report also published its analysis about FI threats posed by India, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea.

...

It is so difficult to find modern electronics without telemetry and ads. Smartphones, laptops, TVs, home routers, security cameras, cars, game consoles, e-readers, projectors, 3D printers, fitness trackers, speakers, and even some printers. Why can’t customers be free from this data collection and advertising? It’s not that we don’t care about it. There simply aren’t many alternatives, and the few that do exist are either more expensive or offer fewer features. Seriously, we need a list of products we can buy and use directly without worrying about telemetry or advertising.

The following list is updated at https://lemmy.ml/post/52706206. Please note that this list may contain errors.

• Laptop: Framework Laptop, System76, MNT
• Anything else that doesn’t come with ads or telemetry built in?

The Government of Canada advises Canadians to “exercise a high degree of caution” while in China and for those planning to visit the country due to the countries new rules that could prevent visitors from leaving. This has been stated in Canada's latest update to China's travel advisory.

China’s latest exit-and-entry rules came into effect on September 15, 2026.

...

Chinese authorities may place an exit ban on specific individuals.

"An exit ban may prevent you from leaving the country if you, your family or your employer and/or business associates are involved in any open civil or criminal investigations, including business disputes," the government writes.

You may only learn that authorities have placed an exit ban on you as you go through customs and immigration controls when trying to leave China. It is difficult to obtain information on bans from Chinese authorities, the advisory says.

...