German, only having been there once some years ago, so no idea if it still is that way:

Not knowing what I will have to pay in the grocery store until the cashier tells me what to pay. Here the price on the shelf is THE price. I might have a voucher that reduces the price in the end, but nothing is ever added only subtracted, all prices on the shelf are easily comparable, because no matter the weight of one package there is also given the price of 1kg or 100 g for everything.

No kids on playing grounds without parents standing around. No kids just playing on the side walk (often there is no side walk anyway), no kids walking to school. It made me aware of how much freedom kids have in Germany, how independent even 6 y.o. are in Germany compared to kids in the US. They walk to to school alone or use public transport alone, they buy groceries alone, they visit friends by foot or public transport, three y.o. already having a bike and cycling besides their parents to kindergarden…

On the other hand seeing so many very young people having a job, like a really hard job for many hours besides school. It broke my heart, they should be free to be young and having all the time, working comes fast enough and goes on forever. Also I saw very old people doing jobs that should be able to retire because you could see them being in pain and barely able to function, definitely not a “choice” for them.

The amount of medication, especially pain medication, people take in the US compared to Germany and how much of it is freely available while it is needing a subscription from a doctor here. Every time I was feeling unwell I was offered pills that I found to be numbingly strong and switching my brain off? Hard to explain. I found them scary, but was told that they take them on a daily basis and they are harmless … nope.

“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
Voting Trump is the only way to save democracy”
George Orwell, 1984 Elon Musk, aspiring propaganda minister of Trump

Weird moms for liberty for themselves not for anyone else.

Come on, it is not an attack on poly it is an attack on hiding anything related to gender and sexuality from kids, terrorizing them with guilt and punishment for everything related to gender and sexuality while doing what they want and need and expecting not to be called out for their hypocrisis. You know that.

Empty the schools, fill the prisons.

I only read the first one. Isn’t Reacher just a swole ex-Marine turned PI?

Yes, but you have to look at whose nose he’s breaking. The typical villains in a Reacher novel are evil corporations or greedy tyrants. In “Gone Tomorrow”, the villains are the post-Patriot Act feds who represent a country where civil rights are a myth.

But the people on the right who love Reacher for his mighty masculinity are the same people who were shocked that Rage Against The Machine “went political”. I wonder how long it will take them to realise that Reacher usually kicks the butts of people they would like to vote for.