“Back then the amount remained the same” > “Now the amount is growing”. But i get your point and agree cars were always expensive.

Netanyahu & co should be tried for war crimes, Israel should have it’s army taken away like Japan post WW2.

I call fake, no smog anywhere in the first panel

I’m Dutch and only know Scandinavian cities from video unfortunately, but i want to comment and say i personally like Amsterdam aside from the very pretty city center that looks like a festival grounds half of the year. Other cities and towns here that might be worth considering too (some economic activities are very tied to a certain area). Don’t worry about racism in the streets, if you don’t speak Dutch you always have the I’m just a tourist card in your back pocket. You might be discriminated by some small companies that prefer Dutch speaking colleagues though, in certain workfields this is a bigger problem than in others. Public transport is great, if you can afford to move here you can afford PT as well. Owning a car would be a much bigger problem if you want to live inside ‘The Ring’ because parking is crazy expensive and it you’ll have to wait a few years before you can get a residence permit (there is a queue basically). Many people in Amsterdam do not have a car, depending on what kind of work you do you might not need one either. My advice would be to travel to the places that you like, maybe you’ll instantly feel where you would like to settle long-term.

There even is a whole community about exposing people who park without using that button, check out !youcantparktheremate@feddit.uk.

In doing so, the Parliament firmly rejected the error-prone and unconstitutional surveillance practices of recent years. Pressure is now mounting on EU governments to respect the MEPs’ vote and bury untargeted mass surveillance in Europe once and for all.

They (the Greens/EFA and the Pirate Party in particular) did a great job, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the people in favour of Chat Control find a way to strike back. But either way counter balance in politics proved why we the people need it (I’m looking at you USA, China, Iran, Russia, and other countries run by authoritarian regimes).

You guys see New York City?? Mine only shows car crashes :(

I think you’re in denial. If they had changed the name of Homeland Security into the dep of National Security for example, you probably wouldn’t say that media outlets is parroting the us government.

The solution is simple - aggressively fine these people. Scale the fine based on income. If it sits there for more than a minute, call a tow truck to move it like an adult.

They give them fines and might get the car towed, but most places they fail to make the fine an actual punishment if you are wealthy: fines should be based on income and wealth.

Amsterdam is quite ok really, except for the crowded city center because there is barely any space between the buildings. This leads to the same chaos as big cities in developing countries (everybody is everywhere).

They try a lot harder then Eindhoven, which is a shame because Eindhoven actually is roomy enough for dedicated space for everyone.

Shout out to Not Just Bikes, he has tons of video footage on cycling in the Netherlands.

The title doesn’t really represent the content of the article very well if you ask me:

After January brought a warning from EU officials that decades of reliance on U.S. firms could be used as a tool of coercion by the White House, POLITICO surveyed the 27 EU governments to ask how they are handling their relationship with American tech.

The eight countries that responded by the publication deadline were Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ireland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

“In the short to medium term, a full replacement of foreign digital services is neither realistic nor necessary,” a spokesperson for Germany’s digital minister said, even as they acknowledged a “clear picture of critical dependencies.”

Finland revealing it recently gamed out the scenario of a U.S. tech “kill switch” to help it prepare.

According to Jarkko Levasma, government chief information officer at the Finnish Ministry of Finance, “most of the options available are realistically possible on [the] medium to long term.”

“Access to source code reduces dependence on third-country providers, reduces vendor lock-in, keeps value and investment within Europe,” said center-right Finnish member of the European Parliament Aura Salla. “We need to cut our dependencies with hyperscalers as soon as possible.”

In Estonia, the barrage of cyberattacks from Russia has helped it prepare for “literally whatever situation,” Digital Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta said. Estonia has forged a level of digital resilience that is widely praised.

When it comes to where to go from here, “We are not looking for U.S. company dependencies but we are looking for any critical dependencies,” she said, noting that Estonia considers the threat of submarine internet cables being cut to be far more real than a U.S. tech shutdown.

Latvia — one of the EU’s frontline states bordering Russia — warned that sidelining U.S. tech would be an act of self-sabotage. “There’s only a couple of companies in the European Union that are at the level of U.S. companies,” Economy Minister Viktors Valainis said in an interview.

“Our threats are Russian and Belarusian — the threats are coming from those countries,” he said. “U.S. today, tomorrow, and after tomorrow will be the only and first partner for our security, and that’s not only for Latvia but for Europe.”

“A full technological ‘decoupling’ from the United States is neither a realistic objective nor one that would serve Europe’s broader strategic interests,” said Lithuania’s economy minister, Edvinas Grikšas.

France has banned officials from using U.S. video tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, shifting activity to French platform Visio.

Helsinki “has recently assessed” the possibility of a U.S. tech shutdown to make sure it’s prepared, Levasma added. Although “highly exceptional,” they concluded the impact “would be wide-ranging” — including “on the U.S. economy itself.”

“Like France, the Dutch government is researching autonomous communication tools for chats and video conferencing,” said outgoing State Secretary Eddie van Marum.

Van Marum cited the trials of the French-developed platform Visio and a German alternative from Nextcloud, both of which are open-source. The German government is trying the openDesk platform, a solution the Hague-based International Criminal Court also turned to after ditching Microsoft over fears that U.S. sanctions could freeze its work.

All emphasis mine, all quotes text taken from the article but rearranged to make it easier to follow my pov.

1. The article says Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg replied to their questions, but they aren’t mentioned anywhere else in the article.

2. Latvia believes we need the US for security , but also believes there are European alternatives that are equal in quality, which I read as them believing decoupling from US Tech is realistic (unlike the title suggests).

3. France and the Netherlands did not reply to Politico questions, but are mentioned in the article and also believe the opposite of what the title insinuaties. Denmark also didn’t repond to the questions, and is also mentioned, they do not mention whether they specifically consider it realistic but mention they believe it will have a very large impact on the economy.

4. The only two (!) countries that agree with the title according the text are Germany (except the state Schleswig-Holstein) and Lithuania. Denmark, according to the text, is also skeptical of the feasibility of digital autonomy but because of it’s impact on the economy and not because it is not realistic.

Well yes, but it is relevant unless you believe policy makers will only work towards a world that is how it should be. That’s why i started with mentioning i don’t disagree with you. We surely can blame them for the results of their choices, but i don’t think we can play the ‘omg i’m totally surprised’-card is what i’m saying.

no matter what state it is operated from

Not disagreeing, but if Trump hadn’t won a second term there really wouldn’t be a dire reason to avoid the US. Sure they would be better of choosing a local or at least European provider, but most politicians (naively) didn’t see the current hostility coming.

So they still made profit? How?

Not necessarily, TikTok now delete accounts they believe to belong to children under 13. They could have chosen to do age authentication the British way but i suppose they had a big reason not to. Microsoft might understand they could lose business if they force users to prove they’re not children. It’s not like everybody would trust MS with such data.

Humanity is a corrupting force.

There is a reason we put locks on our doors and have insurance in case someone does break in. Sure this is an issue that needs to be addressed but it is one much smaller than getting the people in power to put things in motion. Once that happens (and we’re getting there) there will be funding and a public awareness campaign for sure, especially once the first politician gets hacked because they were using non-proprietary software because he wanted to kick Big Tech out…

Not sure why i commented that way, wasn’t funny or fair. You understand their plans and appreciate them, so there wasn’t a reason for me to say something judgemental really.

• A plane must have two wings, one in the front, one in the bottom and one on all sides.

What an American way of thinking, most people who move in will cycle to work / school etc

When there are road works they tend to close the high way or at least some lanes because a hi vis jacket doesn’t protect you against speeding lunatics.