A USB DVD Reader/Writer costs 15 bucks. (I’m too used feel like that meme, and then at some point I needed to find a way to get a Mini-PC to read CDs, and as it turns out it’s quite simple - I reckon it was more a case of “can’t be arsed to do it” than a case of “can’t do it”).

I still remember well how the New Labour faction, in order to attack Corbyn, deemed him an anti-semite by association because in a conference he sat on a panel with a guy who compared the actions of Israel to those of the Nazis. Turns out said guy was a Jewish Holocaust survivor, so they they were saying that a Jewish Holocaust survivor was an anti-semite in order to slander Corbyn by association.

Also quite a lot of Israel-linked “Jewish” associations cooperated in that whole campaign of slandering Corbyn and Labour as “anti-semite” (remember how the Labour Party was said to have “many” anti-semites, and they turned out to be in a lower proportion than society in general and way less than the Tories) to bring Corbyn down and replace him with somebody from the New Labour faction, which succeeded.

The New Labour leadership has quite the debt to the Zionists for that, so don’t expect them to be any less unwaveringly supportive of a genocidal ethno-Fascist Israel than the Tories - at best it’s going to be like Biden in American: claim to want Bibi to stop all the while by action de facto supporting him.

Not the previous poster but I think the “dirty translation” is because in Portugal some things weren’t translated at all (we use the actual word “copas” even though it’s not a Portuguese word) and others are translated differently (were the Spanish use “bastos” - clubs - we use “paus” - sticks).

It doesn’t even need to be alone to gain energy and still works fine with just one or two people who you’re close to.

It’s the “lot’s of people” and the “people I barelly know” that are exhausting.

Well, since I will also browse Lemmy quite literally “at Work” it makes sense to check the Profile option that blurs the Not Suitable For Work stuff even if having the Show NSFW content also ticked.

Explicitly going back and forth changing the option depending on where you’re accessing Lemmy from is a recipe for mistakes, at best embarassing but, depending on where one works, which can go all the way up to being fired for cause.

It also depends on the sorting used under All.

In my instance you generally need to scroll a lot before finding NSFW stuff when sorting by Top for anything longer than Day.

Ticking the option in user settings to “Show NSFW content” because of scientific curiosity…

You were supposed to have an antenna.

Belgium has an unusual constitution that lets its regions have veto power over some of its decisions in the international stage and adding a member to the EU is actually a change to a major Treaty that Belgium is part of.

For most EU member countries, there is no such thing, though I believe some (Luxemburg, Malta?) are actually smaller than Walonia in terms of population.

It’s my impression that it’s actually a lot more about national pride for Spain than about Gibraltar’s fiscal paradise status, since Gibraltar as not part of a member country can just be treated the same as any other offshore fiscal paradise, such as the Bahamas, which includes it being added to black lists. In this day and age, it’s not geographical proximity that matters when it comes to fiscal paradises.

This makes sense since Britain too doesn’t really gain much from having possession of Gibraltar so holding on to it is mainly a question of national pride for the UK - it would be strange if Spain’s motivations were wildly different.

PS: Also it’s funny how during the Leave campaign a lot of the “reason” why the EU would give Britain quasi-membership rights (without the responsabilities) after leaving the EU were a lot like this, about how those other countries or interests inside those countries would do it because they stood to gain monetarilly from it in the short term. All that turned out to be mainly wishful thinking and a serious misreading of the motivations of the leaders and people in said other countries.

Just found it funny how there are still people around thinking other countries are mainly motivated by the short term gains in sovereignty affairs, even whilst Britain itself again and again keeps doing things motivated by national pride when it comes to such affairs - one would’ve expected that “they’re a lot like us” would somehow been figured out by now.

I’m sorry but the UK is the entity we’re talking about, not actual persons - individuals can’t join or leave the EU on their own hence it’s the actions of the actual formal nation state that get judged when it comes to joining or leaving the EU.

Consider the possibility that it’s your nationalist feelings (and given the huge role of British Nationalism in Brexit that’s not actually a good thing) that are making you confuse the country and the actions of it by the hand of it’s elective representatives, with you yourself and people like you - the actions of the nation never really represent all people in that nation and it’s not really healthy (IMHO) to identify yourself with The Nation.

People being critical of a country seldom means they’re critical of everybody in that country, unless they’re nationalist far-right morons, in which case their problem is a lot bigger than merely talking in an acerbic way about a nation.

Indeed.

As the vote for new EU Members is one with veto rules, my bet is that it’s going to be an opportunity for all manner of EU members to make demands, such as Spain demanding Gibraltar back.

If I remember it correctly, members of the EFTA such as Norway have a vote with veto, and during the Brexit Deal negotiations they weren’t at all keen on having the UK joining the EFTA because it’s far bigger than all the others and would likely dominate.

The “conservatives” nowadays are just another far-right party, only they’re led by posh twats instead of rabble rousers and unlike in most of Europe (with noteable exceptions being Hungary and maybe Austria), in the UK are mainstream rather than fringe.

Nowadays they don’t really do “conserving”.

All it takes is for one member country, no matter how tiny, to say “No” and it’s no, and in some countries like Belgium even a single region (say, “mighty” Walonia) can block it.

For example, I expect that Spain will want Gibraltar back as a condition for a Yes on a UK Membership vote.

Only apparently in the EU power circles nobody wants yet another “special deal” like Norway or (even worse) Switzerland.

I’ve lived in a couple of countries of Europe, including the UK whilst it was an EU Member.

The spirit about the EU in the UK was always different, no “stronger as a group” mindset, always “what’s in it for me” and trying scheme after scheme to see if they could swindle the rest of the EU.

Then on top of it all there were all the many insults to the EU - and by extention the people in it - during the Leave Referendum and even afterwards, coming from amongst others top people in party in government, including the PM.

I remember how even the Remainers were running around with delusions of national superiority: for example one of their arguments were “We should stay and change the EU from the inside”, as if Brits knew better what the EU should be than the other 470 million people in it.

The EU doesn’t really need that kind of member nation, more so when we’re dealing with another one like that in our midst: Hungary.

Respect is earned, not due, and the UK has a lot of work ahead to earn it.

Euro, Schengen and no special exceptions.

The Leave Referendum and what happened during it and afterwards to the Tory party is a great lesson of what happens when a mainstream rightwing party starts adopting policies of the far-right.

(The present day Tory Party is far-right by continental european standards, only headed by posh twats rather than the more traditional rabble rousers).

Should be a lesson for similar parties in the rest of Europe, IMHO.