SDF Chatter

http://archive.today/2026.02.18-003914/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/nyregion/budget-mamdani-property-taxes.html

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday proposed to raise property tax rates in New York City by nearly 10 percent, a measure he is preparing as a “last resort” to be deployed if he cannot persuade Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise income taxes on the wealthy.

“If we cannot follow this first path,” he said, referring to his proposed two-percentage-point income tax hike on wealthier New Yorkers, “we will be forced onto a much more damaging path of last resort — one where we have to use the only tools at the city’s disposal: raising property taxes and raiding our reserves.”

Ms. Menin, a Democrat, said in a statement that she opposed the property tax proposal, but did not recommend a wealth tax increase.

In his campaign for mayor, Mr. Mamdani repeatedly called for a wealth tax to help pay for a universal child care system. But in January, the governor and the mayor agreed on a plan to expand child care without raising taxes.

Now the mayor has shifted the rational* for raising taxes on those earning $1 million or more, saying that it was needed to address the budget gap — which he has blamed on inaccurate number crunching by his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. (Mr. Adams has said he left Mr. Mamdani with over $8 billion in reserves.)

Mr. Mamdani’s most loyal backers echoed the mayor’s messaging that the governor should push for a wealth tax.

* Sic.

I'm starting S03 and right now my absolute favorite character is Data. But to be honest, Data is often great because of his relationships with and the way all the other crew members interact with and support him.

First and foremost, I love his friendship with Geordi.

Then of course the way specific crew members such as Picard, the doctors (Crusher and Pulaski), and Guinan help him to further his understanding of human behavior is wonderful too. Their tact and warmth in doing so makes me feel good.

What are you favorite characters the first couple seasons, and why is it Data?

• 2vers, Ruby&Python
• אױ װײ
• Can't find the dinocomics vers

(ignore the above massive preview text if you are using the shitty stock Lemmy client)

The bombshell is that Elon exfiltrated the social security records of all Americans and shared it with Cloudflare, DOGE, and an outside advocacy group seeking to overturn election results.

The fuckup is not just SSNs (slave surveillance numbers), it’s the whole 9 yards:

“DOGE team members were given access to databases containing:

• Social Security numbers
• medical and mental health records
• bank and credit card information
• tax details
• work histories
• and home addresses for millions of Americans.”

I suppose getting a new SSN is futile, even if permitted, because all this data is aggregated into the data breach. So change your name, move your residence, new SSN, switch banks... fuck, just leave the country perhaps.

(edit) I accidentally updated an older version of my post and lost a paragraph where I conjectured that the databreach was legal since it only violates the 4th Amendment, which the US tends to brush aside as we know from the Snowden revelations. Hence the correction from @ReptilianCleric@lemmy.zip below. Sorry! No version control on Lemmy.

I feel like I'm kind of alone in this. I was born in 2004 so the two retro computers I tinker with the most (a C64 and a 486 clone) are way older than I am. Are there any other younger retro enthusiasts who never grew up with the hardware but are into it now?

Also this is my first post on Lemmy, so I'm sorry if this is out of place here.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• A tablespoons of White wine vinegar
• A splash of White vinegar
• Smoked salmon
• A tablespoon of Lemon juice (or to taste)
• 2 English muffin slices
• Water
• Salt & pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Melt your butter
2. In a pan, on the lowest heat setting your stove can handle (or do the fancy double-boiler thing, but I've had better results this way), place 2 egg yolks and your white wine vinegar. Whish together
3. Slowly whisk-in the melted butter. The mixture should become thick and custardy
4. Mix-in lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Your Hollandaise sauce is now ready.
5. Get a decently sized pot almost full of water and a splash of white vinegar. Heat to a simmer.
6. Use a spoon or ladle to stir the water, forming a gentle whirlpool. Add your 2 whole eggs (out of the shell) and poach until the yolks are set.
7. Toast your English muffin
8. With the English muffin as a base, top with smoked salmon, poached egg, then finish with Hollandaise.
9. Fall in to a food coma of ecstasy

Story: https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/fox-kits-rescued-from-lake-minnetonka-taken-to-wildlife-rehabilitation-center/89-3ee6ed27-5fa6-4515-88e3-2a7d1794ff0e

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50976930

Jimmy Lai and countless others in China are paying the price for a West too eager to compromise principles for profit.

Archived

Just about two weeks before Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai was handed a 20-year prison sentence, the harshest under the city’s National Security Law, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Beijing. He walked the red carpet at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, met President Xi Jinping, and attended a lavish welcome ceremony. It was widely hailed as a “break-the-ice” visit, the first by a British prime minister in six years, aimed at normalizing relations with China.

The timing, however, spoke volumes. On the eve of Lai’s sentencing, Starmer signaled that British diplomacy was prioritizing friendship with Beijing over the fate of a British citizen, Jimmy Lai. The message was unmistakable: no matter how China treats Jimmy Lai, the normalization of China-U.K. relations will carry on.

[...]

Starmer later told reporters he had raised Lai’s case with Xi, but offered no details, leaving the public to wonder if Beijing even blinked. The answer came swiftly: Lai, 78, was sentenced to what is effectively a life term. To put it bluntly, this is almost a death sentence. Lai now faces a fate akin to Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who perished in detention.

The severity of the sentence shocked observers. Compared with the 2024 trial of 47 pro-democracy activists, Lai’s 20-year term is twice as long as that handed to Benny Tai, who was accused of masterminding the 2020 primary legislative election. Editors, publishers, and editorial writers involved in Lai’s publications were regarded by the court as masterminds and handed sentences of up to 10 years, punished for simply doing their jobs as journalists.

[...]

Ironically, the imposition of such harsh sentences has unfolded against a backdrop of Western governments seeking to normalize relations with China. The reshaping of global politics under U.S. President Donald Trump has nudged allies to engage China. Over the past year, Western leaders who once condemned Beijing for human rights abuses – from France to Germany, Canada to the U.K. – have queued to shake Xi’s hand, sign trade deals, and signal goodwill.

As international pressure eases, the Chinese Communist Party has intensified its crackdown on dissent, acting with a level of impunity not seen in previous years. Beijing’s calculation is clear: if Western powers are eager to deepen economic ties, the diplomatic price of jailing dissidents has all but disappeared.

[...]

Now Jimmy Lai and countless others in China are paying the price for a West too eager to compromise principles for profit. Their suffering is a mirror reflecting the cost of a diplomacy that prioritizes access to China’s market and money over freedom, human rights, and justice.

[...]

29 minute track warning. you will be subjected to half an hour of heartstoppingly beautiful piano