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Europeans are effortposting on X right now, centering around a reported $140 million fine apparently for how X changed the blue checkmark and restricted API access to researchers. But this comes at a time when Europeans are bearing down on Musk for not curating feeds based on the opinions of paid 'misinformation experts', an industry effectively invented post-2016 election.
It is a terrible look for Europe. They are falling behind China and the US economically while acting as the global regulators for industries they are no longer capable of building themselves. Their posture has become so hostile to business that Apple is now withholding major features from the European market. Jamie Dimon just sounded the alarm on how their hulking regulatory regime is dragging down their ability to innovate, warning that they’ve effectively driven investment out.
My impression of European bureaucrats in the last 24 hours is of a body staffed by a bunch of snooty has-beens. The economist Robin Brooks has been noting the deep hypocrisy here too: their moralizing doesn't match their actions on things like Ukraine, given they are still buying endless amounts of Russian oil via backchannels and refineries in places like India.
The free speech thing is really annoying too. I was actually surprised to see Trump hold back on this when meeting PM Starmer in Scotland. There is a real and serious difference in free speech between our nations. As an American, I can express myself without fear that some busybody will knock on my door.
It’s upsetting because while things might have been less turbulent under Harris, I’m truly glad that the attempt to codify a global regime of 'acceptable' online speech has met resistance. It’s odd to think that we nearly saw a unification of US/EU efforts on this front, importing their safetyism to our shores.
Europe is and always will be our friend, but they’re not on their game right now. The reactions aren't principled—they’re distasteful.
I am not the biggest fan of European attitude towards free speech, but it's amusing to see how it just displays the ignorance of Americans to think that something has fundamentally changed in Europe in relation to the treatment of free speech when it has always been like this in Europe. Nowadays the issue is just that speech is increasingly online. I think it's far to criticize Europe, but I think most of the dunking coming from US actors are in terribly bad faith and nonsensical. You have the most brazenly corrupt president in the history of US and country full of non-White immigrants (with VP's wife being Indian for god's sake), and we get lectured for seemingly failing to be democratic and preserving our cultural identities. As far as European weak military goes, this is has been fully devised by US policy. I think dunking on economy is fine, but even there when Musk makes snide remarks about how EU should be dismantled in favor of sovereign nations, you know he is full of shit. EU is the best thing that could've happened to a business wanting to export into EU with the exception if you favor Putin-style cronyist regimes where single people can be paid off. I am self-critical of Europe as an European, but most of the criticism I'd take as fair if it came from a country like Japan, not US.
A) If AfD wasn't facing bans and there weren't firewalls against anti-immigrant parties across most of the continent you could make this point without looking like a left-wing journalist.
B) it's highly disingenuous of you to fail to acknowledge the historic break in attitude to wholesale imports of aliens represented by the Trump administration. Prior to Trump, USG was a huge promoter of moving the 3rd world into the first.
a) Firewalls so hard that one of the most actual effective anti-immigrant parties is leftists? Also if you actually familiarized yourself with actual policy as of latest for whole of EU, illegal immigration in and refugee entries in particular has decreased significantly due to measures taken by current EU governments. Getting in legally isn't too easy of a feat either. b) What is this historic break represented by the administration? Crackdown on illegal immigration and putting a pause on some 4th world countries? Won't move a real needle on legal immigration.
Denmark is pretty much unique in Europe. It's the single place where social democrats didn't outright sell out their previous base. Germany has a firewall. France has a firewall too. If those two countries came to their senses, it'd be possible to start doing something about the millions of people who were told to leave but didn't leave.
You sure about that? 5 years back even debating whether H1B is desirable was totally beyond the Overton window. Now it's up for debate. You need to pray that US doesn't get wise, because if it reformed its immigration to be pre-1965 pattern, it could do to Europe what EU did to Bulgaria - drain most of the productive people away,
Look at that chart. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Asylum_applications_-_annual_statistics
Oh yeah, brutal efficiency. They got it back to half a million per year, wonderful. It was at 130k in 2008. They fucked it up and did the bare minimum - stopped fucking it up progressively more because they're all getting scared 'populists' will slaughter them in elections. Wake me up when per capita, EU is deporting as many undesirables as USA. Then I'll admit Trump admin admonishing its vassals about this is baseless.
Have you awoken from a coma perhaps? 5 years back, USG was all over George Floyd. Today, USG is officially angry at the government of South Africa for its wilful refusal to even pretend to care about the farm murders. Which, sure, aren't wholly ANC's fault but they deliberately made the situation worse.
Insane Civil Rights Act related judicial decisions are getting cancelled by supreme court. DoJ is suing businesses for discriminating against native Americans (by that I mean the sort of people who founded the US, not the tribesmen it conquered and grudgingly made citizens decades later). Overall, very positive and notable changes. Wake me up when EU stops kissing the ass of the 3rd world and starts deporting illegals the way it was done in 19th century - arrested, marched to the border under police guard and ejected.
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