Obviously due to recent events [both epstein files and iran war], posts discussing why Americans haven't been more active in trying to stop all of this have been recirculating

I'm going to offer an alternative explanation given what I've seen both personally psychologically and also what makes sense. I dislike answers which are just "they're stupid lol," they're uncreative and unexplanatory.

There's this phenomenon teens can go through, which I went through, where instead of fighting back they essentially shut down into survival mode. With normal parents, or those teens perceive as normal parents, they will have a tendency to rebel, slam their doors, etc. They'll be angry and make it known, because they want the parent to change whatever is upsetting them [I know portraying the state as a parent is a common right wing point, that's not my intention in this case].

However, with emotionally abusive or negligent parents, teens will do something else. They'll essentially not do anything besides the bare minimum. As long as they aren't being actively beaten, they'll just go through their day and not interact with their parents more than they have to. They won't cry or scream or demand xyz, they simply live. It looks obedient, but they're actually just trying to keep their head down because they know that fighting back makes things worse.

So my hypothesis is that Americans are in this sort of state. I've seen a lot of people in my life like this. They don't go out and protest or try to make things change because they think nothing can or nothing will. So they stick their head down and try to live their day to day life.

I feel it makes some sense. Besides the mobilization in Minnesota, the protests against the double murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good didn't have the numbers or intensity of the George Floyd protests in 2020. Why? It's not like Americans have better material conditions now then they did in 2020 [Besides covid, but I'm unsure if that would make it much worse than today]. So why the change? My two explanations are that the democratic party (who had a large hand in the George Floyd protests, to my knowledge) no longer works as a mobilization force as it did before, both because the leadership doesn't want to and because people have lost faith in them, and also my "survival mode" explanation above

Crosspost from https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10958558

Ukraine's state-owned Oschadbank has launched a two-track international legal campaign to recover assets still held in Hungary after the 5 March convoy seizure, the bank stated. (...)

The incident occurred on 5 March, when Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Centre (TEK) — a force under the Interior Ministry regularly deployed for government political operations — intercepted the convoy [which was transporting money and gold from Ukraine to Austria] and hid the vehicles on TEK's closed compound. Budapest then released the seven employees on the evening of 6 March, but the vehicles and valuables remain in Hungary.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44241262

March 8, 2026
from +972’s Sunday Recap
+972Magazine [published in Israel]

Also:

• With West Bank under total Israeli closure, settlers are seizing the moment
• Pahlavi? IRGC? What’s next for Iran after Khamenei
• ‘Compulsive repetition’: How permanent war shapes the Israeli psyche

And this ever expanding horrific war, and the possibility that Israel might use nuclear weapons, will just make global warming intensify even more.

Rented a car from booking in the name bob, for example. Name on ID is bobby, and they didnt rent us the car, called booking asking to change the name, impossible. Company then offers 10x the price reservation. Similar things happened to other people, is their any avenue I can complain about this? Thanks people.

A sustained disruption of traffic through Hormuz would not simply constitute an energy crisis. It would also represent a fertiliser shock (where prices go up dramatically and supply goes down) – and, by extension, a direct risk to global food security.

Reddit.

The March 8 election of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader by Iran's Assembly of Experts following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli attack marks the first time the son of a supreme leader is succeeding his father in the Islamic republic.

Mojtaba Khamenei has rarely appeared in public and has never addressed an audience beyond seminary classrooms, yet he is widely seen as a shadowy behind-the-scenes force with influence over those closest to the supreme leader's office and Iran's security institutions.

In January, Alberta premier Danielle Smith issued an extraordinary threat. Unless Prime Minister Mark Carney gave Alberta more influence over judicial appointments, her government would withhold funding from the courts. In an open letter, Smith argued she wanted judges who reflected Alberta’s “distinct legal traditions”—though what those traditions are is unclear. Canada’s system is straightforward: provinces run the courts, Ottawa appoints the judges. This left many observers wondering, “Can she even do that?”

Smith is no stranger to that line of questioning nor to the idea that Alberta should play by different rules. Since becoming premier in 2022, Smith has made it her mission to carve out greater independence for the province, and her demands are only getting bolder. Her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, passed in December 2022, allows the province to refuse to enforce certain federal laws it considers harmful to Alberta. Critics have widely condemned the measure—unprecedented in Canadian politics—as unconstitutional.

On February 19, Smith unveiled a slate of referendum questions for an October vote aimed at expanding provincial autonomy. She proposes unilaterally tightening immigration and access to services in Alberta—restricting benefits for temporary residents and requiring proof of citizenship to vote. These powers aren’t exclusively within the purview of the province, but immigration lawyer Randy Hahn told the Globe and Mail Smith’s position should be understood as a “negotiating tactic.” She also proposes sweeping constitutional changes that would shift power from Parliament to the provinces, including scrapping the Senate, opting out of federal programs with funding intact, and giving provincial laws priority over federal ones. To be sure, these changes require consent from other provinces to implement and could very well set up a showdown with the federal government.

President of Antwerp court says international drug crime is posing danger to social stability in Belgium

International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.

Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.

“The amount of money that is involved – to influence people, to corrupt people and to bribe – it is so big that it is really a danger for the stability of our society,” he told the Guardian in an interview at his court.