Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, in his first remarks after being elected Wednesday afternoon, told Members of Congress that “Scripture” and “the Bible” are clear that they have been “ordained” by God.

    • GONADS125@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      We’re either almost on the other side of the critical failure of trumpism, or we’re about to fulfill our destiny to actualize idiocracy.

      I give it 50/50 odds either way…

    • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You can do it - I did.

      • Find a skill in need in Europe (preferably richer Northern) or rich places like Singapore where the QoL is worth moving
      • Sell everything or save the equiv of 2-3 months of salary for settling-in expenses
      • Write to headhunters, businesses…anyone posting a job in your field; see if they can assist you with an apartment so you can land with a place to live (note: nothing comes furnished - no carpet paint, appliances…my apartment even needed wall switches)
      • Move there with everything you now own in 2-3 bags
      • Rebuild your life slowly: learn the language, learn to love Ikea - you’ll be there a lot, learn that you can’t get what you used to love to eat so you’ll have to learn to cook to make it, learn to live as an immigrant, with everyone wanting to know why you’re there, without full rights, and with constant intrusion of the immigration services.

      Yeah - sounds like a pain. 25+ years later, it’s been worth it to get the hell out of New Jersey.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Find a skill in need in Europe (preferably richer Northern) or rich places like Singapore where the QoL is worth moving

        Oh is that all? So easy. Just find a skill. They grown on trees.

        • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Oh is that all? So easy. Just find a skill. They grown on trees.

          Well, if you’re looking on trees, that explains a bit.

          But seriously - I hated my job in ‘94, picked up a book in HTML, and within 6 months was able to get a job at a web startup. By ‘98 I was able find a job in The Netherlands and move here literally a month later.

          I know of financial analysts, accountants, designers, plumbers, builders, nurses - all from outside the EU, moving here. About 80% have gone back, but that 3-5 year window gave them plenty of experience and an external view of what they REALLY wanted for their future.

          You can do it, but you have to know what you want, where you want to go and especially, what the market needs.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            No. You can do it. And you know other people who have done it because they live there too. Not because they were able to change skillsets and find one Europeans want.

            This is the same mentality as “if you don’t like your job, just start up a small business.”

            This is not achievable by anyone.

            • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Heh. I was trying to be encouraging but clearly you’re not here for information. Not sure why you decided to stick your nose in and tell the world why you’re so fatalistic, but from the number of immigrants who go to Europe or North America or Asia yearly, and become successful in their moves, it can be done.

              Let’s face it. You just don’t want to bother.

              Edit: moved from NJ to Colorado to here, after nearly a decade, finally invested in an apartment and will sell it at 2.25x what I paid for it, and will in retire soon to Bali.

              But you just keep telling yourself that this can’t be done… 👍

              • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                1 year ago

                To be fair, in your other comment you stated that you got in on Web Development before the first dot com bubble burst. With the years listed you could also have easily made bank with Y2K consultancy work around that time as well, as many in the tech sphere in that time did.

                Defeatism and people who give up before they’ve started is bullshit, but you should also take some time to reflect on the factors external to your own efforts that had considerable impact on your own success.

                The first step is trying, but at least half of the impact of anyone’s effort is dependent on situations outside of their own control. The key is to not stop trying, and to do all you can to pivot into situations beneficial to you and away from those that aren’t. Much easier said than done.

                • HollandJim@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Fair enough - there have been a couple of times I probably could have “made bank”, but I’m not a visionary that way, and I’ve done well enough to be happy.

                  I lost the want to be rich. I’m well off enough and secure enough to not pine over missed opportunities. I’ve also learned to look for less in life, because it became readily apparent that, for me, More was not Better.

                  I think the thing to also consider is that when you enter a new country, you really start all over. When I left the US, I had maybe $10K to my name and I had to rebuild my credit rating, get work papers so I could (after 6 years) leave the job I was let into the country for and go to another one without being tossed out of the country in the process. Getting out from under whatever oppression I felt living in the US was the most massive success I’ve had.

                  Here, I wasn’t bound by conventions, and when people said “we don’t do that”, I still had the freedom of mind to try anyway. There’s a great benefit to reinventing yourself occasionally, and forgetting your own (or imposed) limitations. Once I learned I could navigate my new country, I explored Europe, then Asia and generally on my own - and I felt more confident than I ever previously had.

                  As well, there’s affordable care, a social support system where you can be on unemployment for nearly a year without losing your home or going hungry, and a work ethic that says “work well, not hard - and take time for yourself”. It was an eye opener.

                  You’re right - the first step is trying, but keep stepping after that. Learning to keep adapting and that it will never end - it’s a superpower if you use to better yourself and your goals.

                  TL;DR: I seriously hit the RESET making my move, but the growth experience ended up being far more worthwhile than cashing out. I still work, but I’m more relaxed, have formidable savings and health care and will retire well off enough to never want.

                • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Not only before the.com bubble burst. But even having a PC at a time when most people didn’t have a PC. Let alone access to the internet and even the awareness that learning HTML would be a good idea. Guy has so much privilege that he’s just ignoring. It’s pretty insulting.

                  Plenty of people would never have had that opportunity regardless of how hard they worked. And every one of us that moves away only makes it harder for those that stay. I’ll congratulate the people that do it on the situation that they managed to work out for themselves. But they should rightfully expect ire form others. Flaunting privilege like that.

              • Halosheep@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Dude gave up before they even started. Definitely can’t do it with that mentality.

    • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Depending on how much family/real estate you have, moving out of the US isn’t as difficult as you might intuitively think it’d be. At least not to other english-speaking countries like Canada, the UK or Ireland. Though do keep in mind that with the UK you’re hardly making your situation any better, yes on paper you get public health care and it’s still worlds better than the US, but it’s in such shambles you don’t want to rely on it. Tories! 🥳 🤢

      But even outside of that, moving to some other countries such as France or Germany depending on your language skills isn’t as problematic as it was even 10 years ago any more, either. While these are still largely language dependent, a lot has internationalized in larger cities and having to rely on some english is no longer a big deal.

        • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah I know, Germany is swinging far stupid-right, too. It’s shit everywhere, but it’s still better than in the US.

          • bemenaker@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            The world follows the US’s lead. When the US took a hard right turn after 9/11, europe slowly started following. I can’t believe it has taken the US this long to rebound, (granted gerrymandering for the last 13 years has drastically slowed it). As the US rebounds, europe will too, slowly.