@chefsevenn I can never understand these pretentious people who think that just because a dish has potatoes, there’s no need for rice. They’re usually overweight themselves and have just picked up something from some so-called nutrition expert on Instagram 😑
@DrNeilStone 81 yrs old. Had every vaccine available since a child including smallpox. Had every flu, pneumonia, shingles, tetanus, Covid, plus tropical vaccines for travel. Apart from the occasional sore arm have had no side effects. Nor have any of my extended family.
Nigel Farage, "As a part of Starmer's EU reset that effectively he wants us to join the EU Single Market"
"And put us back into regulatory alignment"
"For Starmer to go back to Single Market rules, to accept everything that's news, is easier because Brexit was not delivered in a way that those who voted for it wanted"
We might as well just rejoin the EU instead of faffing about with EU Single Market alignment
There is a video circulating on the internet that is difficult to watch. A woman sits on a pavement in Louisville, Kentucky. She is wearing a hospital gown. It is 36 degrees outside. Her belongings, everything she apparently owns, are in a plastic bag on the concrete beside her. Behind her, through the glass doors she has just been escorted through, the hospital hums along as normal. The security guards who brought her here have already gone back inside.
She couldn’t afford her bill.
This is not a scene from a developing nation or a history book. This is the United States of America.
The country in which it happens has spent decades telling the rest of the world that it has the highest GDP on earth. Which is a bit like a restaurant proudly displaying its bill on the wall. Enormous number. Terrible meal. The lobster was frozen, the wine came from a box.
Europe, by comparison, has spent the better part of a century building something rather different. The food, for a start, is extraordinary. Not in a showy way, but in the way that a simple lunch in Lyon or a glass of wine on a terrace in Lisbon reminds you that eating is one of the genuinely good things about being alive. The wine is the wine that the rest of the world has spent generations attempting to replicate, mostly without success.
Roughly 35 percent of Europeans live with a chronic illness. In America, that number is 76 percent. The difference is not genetic. It is architectural. It is the slow accumulation of decent food, walkable cities, actual holidays, and a healthcare system that does not require you to crowdfund your own appendix.
Europeans work fewer hours. They have more purchasing power on a smaller salary once you subtract the cost of health insurance, medical debt, and the private school their child needs because the local public one has a metal detector at the entrance. They live, on average, about ten years longer. Not ten years of decline and doctor visits, but ten years of being a person in the world.
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of Americans leaving the United States doubled compared to the previous quarter.  Europe was their top destination. Not for a sabbatical or a gap year. Permanently. These are not people who failed. These are people who did the maths.
There is a man somewhere in America right now who has worked fifty-hour weeks for forty years, taken one week off when his employer permitted it, and will, statistically, be dead before he sees seventy. And there is another man, not very far away on a map but an entire civilisation removed in practice, sitting on a terrace in the afternoon sun with a glass of something cold and no particular place to be. He has had six weeks off every summer since 1987. He knows his neighbours by name.
The first man’s country has the higher GDP.
The first man’s country tops the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index. The second man tops the Quality of Life Index (QLI). The better health. The longer life. The afternoon.
MAGA America calls that losing.
Ask anyone.
Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
JD Vance in Hungary: "Isn't it a scandal that middle class Brits, people who are working hard and playing by the rules, can't afford to heat their home? Can't afford to transport themselves to work because their leadership has made energy so expensive? There's just so much wrong with the political leadership."
@Mericamemed@washghost1 I’ve got a 5 yr old LG fridge freezer, a 2 yr old LG door freezer, a 7 yr old LG TV and a 5 yr old LG 12 kg washing machine all never broken down. Before that I had a 15 yr old Samsung fridge freezer that I gave away, and a 10 yr old Samsung TV I gave away. Am I just lucky?
@men_are_human Why are their so many black women judges that cant even soeak English properly? Dei is literally destroying our once great country. This is like ghetto court. Learn to speak English like a respectable professional.
@PhilSledge Love an English muffin! All the nooks and crannies for the butter to go into. Add an egg and ham and it’s perfection! Crunch! Just had ham for Easter! Will have to get some English muffins to toast! Yum!! 😋
@TCNetwork It is true, not only did Netanyahu finance Hamas but Israel actually created Hamas in 1987 to Quell the PLO. It was Netanyaho who let them into Israel on Oct 7th, that's why he refuses to allow an indpendent investigation to be done for what happened on Oct 7th.!
@KosmosNous@ron_m70826@StateDept Marshal plan was a loan paid back particularly by Britain, who when they were struggling to meet payment early 1950’s the US demanded gold depleting Britain’s gold reserves. The US is in debt by trillions to foreign governments, after all the insults they should call it all in.
Europeans are saying that there were about 1000 soldiers from the European Union who died in the United States' GWOT in Iraq and Afghanistan, so the Trump Administration must shut up. Let me say this, though: around 250,000 American soldiers died in the European theater during World War II, trying to protect and liberate the continent from the war machines of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Over the past 75 years, since NATO's creation, the United States has contributed an estimated $21.9 trillion to the alliance’s defense budget, significantly more than the 32 members. An estimated $36 billion was spent on direct protection of Europe, including troop presence and infrastructure, in 2018. What about the aid to Ukraine? As of 2025, the US government had appropriated approximately $187 billion to Ukraine to fund its fight against Russia, thereby lessening the logistical burden on the European Union members and NATO forces.
Right after World War II, the United States, through the Marshall Plan or the European Recovery Program, started an initiative to help 16 European countries get back on their feet and provided around $13.3 billion ( (equivalent to over $130 billion today) to “rebuild economies, prevent communist takeovers, and create strong markets for U.S. goods, offering funds for food, fuel, machinery, and technical assistance.” The Marshall Plan was a total success, given how Europe has become an economic powerhouse today.
Just be quiet, will you please?
SECRETARY RUBIO: The U.S. is constantly asked to help in wars and we have. But when we had a need, it didn’t get positive responses from NATO. A couple leaders said that Iran was not Europe’s war. Well, Ukraine isn’t our war, yet we’ve contributed more to that fight than anyone.
“The call with Trump was 20 minutes long. We only got a 64 word briefing.. don’t you think the Prime Minister needs to be a bit more open in what he’s talking about for 20 minutes with Donald Trump at this time?”
@SophyRidgeSky
@joey_hann@Microinteracti1 NAILED IT!!
We’ve paid their way despite the costs to our own citizens.
Our so called ‘allies’, dependent on our financial and military largesse decided to sit on the sidelines…
As Pres Trump knew they would…
Goodbye NATO…enjoy learning Russian.
10 Countries. 0 Warships.
Trump went hat in hand to the world. The world checked its phone and put it back in its pocket.
France said no. Officially. In writing. Germany said nothing, which is German for no. Norway said no. The UK is “discussing options with allies,” which is British for no. Japan stayed silent while 70% of its Middle East oil supply sits behind a minefield. South Korea watched Washington and Tehran play chicken with its own energy supply and declined to pick a side. China called it a sovereign right and hung up. Qatar didn’t just refuse. Qatar stopped production entirely and declared force majeure. Their energy minister did not mince words: this will bring down economies of the world.
Iran is still there. Still attacking ships. Still laying mines. Still holding the strait.
The most powerful military on Earth sent out the call. Ten countries heard it. The result is a number that requires no commentary: zero.
This is what the end of American power looks like in practice. A request for warships that came back empty. Washington spent decades telling the world that the US-led order was worth defending. The world has moved away from the US.
Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
@Theplastic22645@alpha_brav0@IanJaeger29 You beat me to it. Not only have they not won any wars on their own, they haven’t won any with help so their track record is not their hill for us to die on.
@alpha_brav0@IanJaeger29 All weaponry and fuck all else. Not won a war since WW2. Beaten by a bunch of peasants on bikes in Vietnam and oh fuck. Nomads on donkeys in Afghanistan . And here we are .. Thick fuckers in your administration forgot about Iran closing the Strait causing economic issues
Marco Rubio calls out the European Union directly:
“The European Union does NOT get to decide what international law is, and they don’t get to tell us how to defend our national security.”
🔥🔥
Stand and Deliver turns 38 today.
Edward James Olmos is electric as Jaime Escalante, the East LA teacher who pushed underprivileged students to defy expectations. Olmos became the first Mexican-American Best Actor Oscar nominee. It cleaned up at the Indie Spirits: Best Feature, Director (Ramón Menéndez), Male Lead, Supporting Female (Rosanna DeSoto), Supporting Male (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Screenplay. It's an incredible film.