<![CDATA[A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible.]]>A weird thing about living in is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible.

"You can't tax billionaires, they'll leave."

We have been, and they didn't.

"You can't legalize weed, it will increase crime."

We did, and it didn't.

"You can't make public transit free, it will cost too much."

We did, and it didn't.

And on and on, and the lesson to learn is don't listen to the billionaire media professional whiners and just do what's right for your community AND IT WORKS! But I still have to listen to this stupid shit every day.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/907b98c5-22d5-4ea4-875c-30fe0f04c797/a-weird-thing-about-living-in-massachusetts-is-constantly-having-other-americans-tell-you-the-life-you-live-every-day-is-impossible.RSS for NodeSat, 15 Aug 2026 05:12:42 GMTWed, 05 Aug 2026 23:29:50 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:30:08 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock Below is the flag of the British East India Company. Note its similarity to the US flag. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world and had its own armed forces of 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army. The company tortured people to extract taxes. They reduced populations to poverty, and their policies resulted in the Great Bengal Famine of 1770, during which 10 million people starved to death. We learned from the best.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ohai.social/users/Muse_Lux/statuses/117052578749574562https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ohai.social/users/Muse_Lux/statuses/117052578749574562Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:30:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:13:33 GMT]]>@swachter @andthisismrspeacock I lived in the OG 15 minute city - Paris - for a bit when I was a kid.

Today, living in a sprawly North American city, the walk from the door of our grocery store to the back of the parking lot is further than the walk from our grocery store in Paris to our fridge.

The block we lived on in Paris had more useful businesses, more restaurants, more variety of groceries, than our whole neighborhood has where I live now.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dragonfrog/statuses/117052513562648137https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.sdf.org/users/dragonfrog/statuses/117052513562648137Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:13:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:41:42 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock Like MBTA's chronic underfunding and hole is decades of Democrat establishment neglect and apathy

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117052388336230516https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117052388336230516Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:41:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:39:13 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock I will say MBTA is a disgrace though.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117052378524856747https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117052378524856747Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:39:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:24:17 GMT]]>@cczona @andthisismrspeacock Meanwhile Canada’s prime minister used to work for the country’s most successful tax sheltering organization

https://cictar.org/all-research/brookfield-canadas-largest

https://thewalrus.ca/carney-wealth-brookfield/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://humanwords.party/ap/users/116343620541237842/statuses/117052319847971948https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://humanwords.party/ap/users/116343620541237842/statuses/117052319847971948Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:24:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 03:45:11 GMT]]>@switch same in Germany, we'll have to stop that madness neoliberal crap. @Muse_Lux @andthisismrspeacock

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://troet.cafe/users/energisch_/statuses/117052166083599313https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://troet.cafe/users/energisch_/statuses/117052166083599313Fri, 07 Aug 2026 03:45:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 03:44:07 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock @Christo_459 @swachter
Sounds like our fair city, Manayunk Philly

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mindly.social/users/PhilSalkie/statuses/117052161889780608https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mindly.social/users/PhilSalkie/statuses/117052161889780608Fri, 07 Aug 2026 03:44:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 02:24:22 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock Unfortunately, none of that "free public transit" was permanent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_public_transport_in_Massachusetts

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Axomamma/statuses/117051848275910208https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Axomamma/statuses/117051848275910208Fri, 07 Aug 2026 02:24:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:32:35 GMT]]>@jacksparrow I am assuming you live in the district since every other RTA as far as I know is free, in which case the tl;dr answer is 'racism.'

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051408756425619https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051408756425619Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:32:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:09:59 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock how come i am still paying for public transit in mass?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/jacksparrow/statuses/117051319892753773https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/jacksparrow/statuses/117051319892753773Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:09:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:58:00 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock
I hear you on that. I've talked to people that don't want bike lanes because they can't bike to work. Why? Because there aren't bike lanes for them to ride to work (and they choose to live 30 km from work).

It's madness. I am suffering so everyone should. Nothing should improve unless it improves for me first or all of us at once.
@Muse_Lux

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ottawa.place/users/human3500/statuses/117051272787081637https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ottawa.place/users/human3500/statuses/117051272787081637Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:58:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:40:18 GMT]]>@swachter @andthisismrspeacock Too many people. I've loved the cities I've lived in (NYC,DC, Portland,Seattle, among others) but more than half my time was spent alone (but not lonely) in my own space, decompressing from all the people.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/silver_buttercat/statuses/117051203158684156https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/silver_buttercat/statuses/117051203158684156Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:40:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:18:48 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock
"You can't have public healthcare in a country as big as the US, it wouldn't work"
I'm Brazilian, we are the country closest in size to the US, we have public healthcare despite having fewer resources

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://burnthis.town/users/Kiloku/statuses/117051118635385459https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://burnthis.town/users/Kiloku/statuses/117051118635385459Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:18:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:06:13 GMT]]>@Christo_459 @swachter Idk sounds a lot like my snobby coastal elitist city where I can walk to the post office, hardware store, grocery, 7-11, liquor store, butcher, bakery, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, Sushi, Sports Pub, half a dozen pizza places, barber, dentist, salon, some coffee shops, and a vacuum cleaner repair place.

And everything else I can get to on the snobby coastal elitist bus or train, which I ride, elitistly. 😆

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051069162916499https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051069162916499Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:06:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:58:50 GMT]]>@human3500 @Muse_Lux Something I will never understand is not only not wanting nice things for yourself, but working so hard to make sure nobody else can have nice things, either.

Like the 15 minute city thing. If you want to live in a chipboard-and-vinyl hellscape out by the six lane arterial, fine! Why insist on fucking with the people who don't want that?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051040109055314https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051040109055314Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:58:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:52:35 GMT]]>@guyjantic I dunno what yah tawhkin about guy

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051015548284900https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/andthisismrspeacock/statuses/117051015548284900Thu, 06 Aug 2026 22:52:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 21:48:50 GMT]]>@swachter @andthisismrspeacock
I also live in a 15 min city. Library, GP, dental , restaurants, cafes, everything we want within walking or bus ride

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/Christo_459/statuses/117050764846901068https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.me.uk/users/Christo_459/statuses/117050764846901068Thu, 06 Aug 2026 21:48:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:00:16 GMT]]>@adamvs1

This. So much this.

Our government (US) was terrified of the George Floyd protests and what could happen if people weren't kept constantly scrabbling to make rent.

They chose COVID denial to protect wealth and power structures, and people are continuing to die and become disabled because of it.

@andthisismrspeacock

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/ProcessParsnip/statuses/117050102037444137https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/ProcessParsnip/statuses/117050102037444137Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:00:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:06:06 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock

Even if the billionaires left, would that not be a bonus?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://climatejustice.social/users/chu/statuses/117049889059714792https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://climatejustice.social/users/chu/statuses/117049889059714792Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:06:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:04:40 GMT]]>@etchedpixels

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

The flip side, being poor, is miserable because, in large part, your time is not your own, and what little time you do have, is spent on stupid crap that wealthier people can bypass.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://dmv.community/users/killick/statuses/117049647477083111https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://dmv.community/users/killick/statuses/117049647477083111Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:04:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:58:53 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock I'm not an ecopath by training, but I have been trying to read up on it, and it's still a bit unclear to me what the loss is if some of the previously un-taxed billionaires move away when taxes are imposed?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fribygda.no/users/eivind/statuses/117049624722138881https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fribygda.no/users/eivind/statuses/117049624722138881Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:58:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:49:15 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock a couple months after Malta made public transit free nationwide (it's a small archipelago, so public transit includes buses and ferries), billionaire Peter Thiel applied for Maltese citizenship. He didn't care about the free ferry rides; I'm sure he has a fleet of yachts and speedboats for that. He wanted the EU membership rights. The reality is that billionaires want to be wherever quality of life is high. While they may be annoyed by the fact that socialist policies benefit people other than themselves, because billionaires are by definition selfish horder bastards, they value their own good life too much to go live where everyone else suffers as much as the billionaires think we peons should. It's idiocy to build policy around desperately trying to keep billionaire tax evaders in residence anyway. If they want to leave, excellent. Good riddance to their resource-draining asses.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cczona/statuses/117049586859987613https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cczona/statuses/117049586859987613Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:49:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:32:49 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock I dont live in Massachusetts, but this is relatable (for my state)

Self-fulfilling prophecies

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/Catwoman69y2k/statuses/117049522216306595https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://meow.social/users/Catwoman69y2k/statuses/117049522216306595Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:32:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible. on Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:14:03 GMT]]>@andthisismrspeacock "you can't have an accent out of some movie"

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/guyjantic/statuses/117049448457862362https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/guyjantic/statuses/117049448457862362Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:14:03 GMT