or just start a campaign that costs nothing: a petition to each local politician, one to the agency that regulates anti-trust, anti-monopoly stuff. I’m kind of shocked that China hasn’t sold us phones and apps that bypass some of thee American or western things we hate so much. It would seem China would encourage western dissent.

me, too, but it only allows 2GB. If you plan to encrypt it for when you aren’t needing it, then you can only use half that as encryption doubles files. I’ve been wondering if Owncloud, NC’s close cousin, has a free account, too. I could use Owncloud for images, I guess.

On a high quality flash drive, it will be decent. or, you can do the cheaper, more convenient way by installing Oracle’s free VirtualBox program and testing a bunch of distros. Be sure to try out as much of the software that a distro comes with as you can even if you dislike the distro itself. And, makes notes of the themes you like. I’d think an external drive might be a convenient option that can be used at work, at home, while visting your family in Kentucky…But, VMs are the cheapest and there is even software to clone a VM into an iso after you’ve customized it how you want it, then load the .iso onto a driveshaft to permanently install on “bare metal”.

Debian with KDE desktop. I prefer lighter DEs or WMs, but Debian is soooo stable and KDE looks so professional and makes it extremely easy to download packages - much easier than, say, Debian with XFCE which is what I use. When I set up linux on 2 old unused PCs for 2 coworkers after their computers died, I installed Debian with KDE and boss and coworkers were happy. Debian is the base of most distros, so sticking with Debian means more packages available usually and better tutorials and more stability. Even some foreign governments now use Debian as a base for their custom distros - China, too. I never had trouble getting Debian installed or running.

dpkg -l

I keep seeing videos of Youtubers quitting Arch. I love Debian and will probably mostly stay with it, but after using a few distros in a VM or flashdrive without systemd, I wish there was a really stable no-systemd distro.

Right and wrong are relative to some extent and always have been and always will be. Who is to say the religious fundamentalist’s ‘decency’ is better or worse than (the obvious opposite) a Progressive’s? Who is sole arbiter of the truth? Shouldn’t it be more up to the individual? What ever happened to “Live and let live”?

My rights end where yours begin and vice versa. My main point will always be “you do you” or “good fences make good neighbours” or don’t trespass on my property or in my mental space. Values differ from individual to individual - even within close-knit families or within causes. As long as you don’t infringe upon another’s freedom (I include all animals - wild and domestic), you should be able to do as you please. Both Left and Right have one thing in common - both try to shove their values (“decency”) down the throats of others. Fuck you both equally. If that (do as I say) mindset isn’t offensive, then i don’t know what is! Be as this or that as you like, but preaching to me when I don’t wanna hear it is going to breed resentment. That is you wasting my time and mental energies. Live by your own values and if I see that you are content, healthy, and successful in one manner or another, maybe I will adopt some of your ways WITHOUT your saying one word to me. Proselytizing or ‘teaching’ me is so often rude.

can’t you stick to the OS and hardware (facts) and leave politics/opinions outta this? the community does matter if you need help, but how in the hell do they know your race, sex, or politics unless you wear them on your sleeve?

I don’t like cancel-culture, either, but I also dislike hero-worship. If we are sometimes told to “hate the sin and not the sinner”, isn’t it equally as good to love the results of what a person accomplished but not the person?
I think I read his words were twisted, taken out of context anyway, though.