The important thing about the trip is not to see more places or take more pics, it’s to spend time with her, it is better to leave without visiting that town that is surely not that good at the end, and spend an afternoon just chatting with her in a nice place.I think that makes better memories than being stressed all day because of a tight schedule.

Well, for them, organizing clean and fair elections is not acceptable, not giving fascists due advantages is electoral interference

Be more concerned about enjoying your girlfriend than enjoying the place.

Yes, I suppose you are right, the most basic thing has not failed but certain fundamental and important institutions seem to be in it, in any case one can have a horrible and dystopian but functional totalitarian state, without being failed, I don’t know if I explain my point correctly .

this is also for @9point6@lemmy.world, I don’t know how to answer both of you at the same time, but what I say is valid for both of us.

Oh, I thought you were an American worried about how you look outside and I was trying to calm you down. I respect your perspective of course, but it seems to me that a failed state is a bit exaggerated for this, Somalia or Yemen are still a little worse than the USA in the comparison. Authoritarian, close to breaking up as a nation, things like that I think are closer to reality, that is my vision also from the outside, I could be wrong and you may be closer to reality.

No, from Europe I tell you, we see you as less democratic than you used to and with many problems that can escalate and screw you up (we are not celebrating here either), but you are still far from being a failed state, there are still police more or less functional, you can still call the fire department if your house catches fire, there is still a clear institutional hierarchy, more authoritarian but clear.

Yes, the speed at which you are flushing democracy down the toilet, when, I don’t know maybe 20 years ago, you were the example to follow in many aspects, it is surprising for everyone.

Yeah, I guess you could be right.

Yes, surely, but there is an underlying problem for this entire system, there is no economically viable alternative to the use of data for advertising sales, without that all those websites cease to be profitable.I don’t think this is good for anyone.

facebook and instagram? I don’t know about the rest of Europe, but in Spain right now practically all newspapers/digital media have copied that model and you either accept cookies or pay

I hope that if that happens it will be the kick in the ass we need to start setting up our own racket.

P.S. I don’t like military gear, but yours are better than the alternative

I am a European who has just woken up and started watching the news. I think it is a good time to look for alternatives to NATO