The whole notion of 'Murica borders on being a religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_civil_religion
Boy howdy when I found this the first time I was in high school. What an eye opener! It explained so much of what I experienced in school and the beliefs my peers carried.
It looks like this article first popped up in 2006, that tracks, I first read it before 2011 and after 2007.
I genuinely hope that there's a movement among vets to just this. What a good way to get something back from the gov for the trauma they put them through while protecting their fellow Americans. Just be a wrench in the gears of the immigrant crushing machine.
Oh another RT article... Again nothing obviously non-factual just the least generous take again. Zelenski's former associate... Wasn't there a big conviction in Ukraine recently about something very similar. Is it possible that no one is talking about this because Ukraine is actively handling it? Hmmm?
Thanks RT, glad to know you have no anti-ukraine, pro-russian bias.... Wait shit, that's backwards!
RT comes out swinging. I'm not saying they're wrong but this is firmly the most negative view possible. And it's full of glass houses shit. Like yeah Russia, the US is pretty good at sewing chaos abroad, how's your chaos going? Your 3 day war still going on?
Oh has US leadership fallen short of the goals and vision of the people? Really? I wonder who supported Donald Trump in getting to the presidency. Surely no one in Russia. I definitely didn't see articles from RT talking about how good Trump will be for global stability. Nope definitely not RT.
Fucking Russian media, I suppose it's fair to kick us while we're down. We've always done it to the rest of the world. I still would rather live here than China, or especially Russia, but I'd also rather not live here.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I'm going to go look it up right now.
It's a ridiculously fucking crass thing to say huh? But like it comes from a place of that's not my country, my country supports and actively participates in the genocide of Palestinians. This feels worse because I feel partially responsible because I'm a citizen. I don't have the power to change anything but I feel like I'm failing by not succeeding in changing anything.
In this regard it's hard to rank any country participating in a genocide as particularly worse than another. There still is a ranking, like I would still rather live in the US than Sudan, but it definitely levels the playing field between the US and China. It's not flat but it's so much closer than before 2023. Both seem pretty damn shitty right now.
Yes, at this point genociding Uighurs doesn't seem like the greater evil... Maybe the same level of evil as genociding Palestinians. But somehow when it comes to the question: where is it better to be LGBTQIA+? China keeps making themselves less appealing than the US. How? Shockingly easily. Why? No idea. It feels short-sighted like everything the US has been doing since the second coming of the pedophile in chief.
Just a heads up, the Washington Post is considered the an oligarch paper over here. It's owned by Jeff Bezos and rarely is anything published which might try to push back on a finances first narrative that puts money before people. The people who still follow it are already million or multi-millionaires or believe that some day they will obtain that much money, and they might with the way inflation is going.
It's "Liberal" only in that it pushes for business liberty which I think is the simplest definition of Liberalism in Europe. As a USian I read that and think, "Why would anyone think WaPo is Liberal?"
I would consider WaPo a conservative paper. But like with the definition of conservative we used until I was 25. Meaning a tight fisted, push for no spending, fewer taxes, if YOU want your kid educated YOU have to pay for it YOURSELF, but we're cool with gays and blacks and other minorities, type of conservative.
But that type of thinking is now "Woke" according to our far right which currently controls our entire government. And that somehow makes WaPo a Liberal paper on comparison. Advertising works I guess.
If you want to know what progressives or really just what our big cities think I'd recommend googling smaller papers or magazines. I'm not saying there isn't some crazy right wing stuff out there too but here's a smattering:
Seattle: https://www.thestranger.com/
Denver: https://www.westword.com/
Chicago: https://chicagoreader.com/ https://blockclubchicago.org/
NYC: uhhh I never lived here so... Wikipedia has a list of print media! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_City_newspapers_and_magazines
I'm not sure Westword is the same as it once was or frankly any of these but they're all smaller than Jungle Oligarch Daddy's paper. Possibly owned by less agent oligarchs, I don't know but it's a place to start.
I am fully expecting an attack on sovereign Venezuelan territory. Maybe not this week or next but rump is flagging, his dementia is catching up, it's obvious and the people behind big boy rump are nervous. Classical political thinking in the US is that you cannot attack a war time president. They've been attacking random fishing boats and killing people and causing international problems. But we know that Venezuela is no real that to our country. Like fighting them would suck but it hurts them more than us unless a global power joins in.
So someone orders a strike inside of Venezuela. It's a direct provocation and Venezuela has to make a show of defending itself. rump and friends say this is a declaration of war, scramble the birds, America is under attack! Or some bullshit but it's just the US army invading a poorer nation with a small military where the general populace doesn't want us there and never wanted us there.
Suddenly rump is a wartime Pres with all the social and political cover that provides. It allows the crackdown in American cities because now protestors aren't just dancing in costumes. They are dancing in costumes protesting a country at war... Clearly that's too far and we need to crush these Venezuelan funded terrorists.... Or whatever the headline from our gov will be.
I dunno, we're so cooked. Anyone know groups in other countries that'll help trans people move out of the US?
Yes. Yes they are, we have many reports of them hauling off citizens, tourists, and especially legal residents.
It's actually the reason people are upset. Obama deported way more than trump but he used courts to do it and you know what, no spectacle! It was methodical and systematic and sometimes I'm sure it was cruel and shocking but they followed a well documented legal procedure which gave people some guidance on the process.
rump and his administration on the other hand don't give a fuck. Chaos and cruelty are the point. The rules and proceedings that we have built up are out the window because they give people too much warning. They allow people too much understanding of the process. There is not enough fear involved if they follow procedure. They like fear and people being afraid of them. It's part of why the inflatable costumes piss them off so much. Protestors being ridiculous and silly juxtaposed with ICE treating inflatable frogs and unicorns as a violent threat. It makes ice look small, weak, jumpy, and most of all, in the wrong.
But yes they are hauling off tourists and legal residents to answer your question. They then revoke whatever visa they're on including revoke permanent residence without due process.... It's what we in the business call really fucking awful.
You can have proof that you live here, have lived here for 20 years, legally although you might have arrived without documentation. You have a spouse, children, maybe even put together money for a house. And then ICE shows up to at you claiming that a DUI you received 18 years ago is justification for removal from the country and your family and your life. Oh and we're shipping you back to the country where you're on a hit list.
It's just cruel for the sake of cruelty.
I can't know for sure but I think it's a safe bet that you lose everything you can't get friends and family to rescue. There is some logic to this beyond cruelty, the US government is cruel to be sure but this is not just for extra cruelty. The extra cruelty is a bonus!
So just to frame this, if you commit a crime and are wanted by the police. They hunt you down and arrest you. Do you get to bring your stuff? No. Do you lose it? Also no. ...Unless you don't have a home in which case it's considered litter and removed, throwing all the blankets, tent, and any knick knacks you might have acquired into the landfill. There's a story about this happening to the ashes of a man who's widow had become homeless. Just heartbreaking stuff and it feels like the point is to break people down... But that's editorializing.
We are supposed to have a cool thing called Due Process in this country. That is the process of law, searching for facts and going through a fair and unbiased review from someone taught to be good at reviewing things, a judge if you will. And you should because that job is titled judge.
Anyway, that judge overseas a process in which you are told what you are accused of and given the space and time to defend yourself. People aren't guilty, they are found guilty by systematically laying out all the evidence and facts. This process usually takes a fair amount of time and many people are allowed to return home during this time. Usually on Bail. We can argue the merits of bail but basically you pay a decent chunk of money and you get to go home with a promise to show up for your court date.
Now while doing court stuff you also have to find time to plan for your stuff or money for fines or whatever comes next.
Anyway, all this stuff doesn't matter because ICE, DHS, the Trump admin. they don't work like that. They are supposed to. The law says they must do it that way. They are not. If you get abducted (detained is the word they will use but without due process your not being detained.) by federal agents right now I would expect to lose everything, maybe not right away but quickly enough unless you can get friends and family to help.
This is because of government has revoked three right of due process for people it deems "illegal." This is crazy because how do you prove whether you are legally allowed to be somewhere if there is no process for showing your documents? Like I could show you my driver's license, my passport, but if no one verifies them, and there is no process to make sure I get released once they are verified....you can see the problem right?
Anyway, once you're in their custody they want to deport you, period. Wife at home? Kids to feed? Pets that rely on you? Work and friends wondering where you went? Doesn't matter to these people. They just want you give and will try to do it asap. You can try to fight it but there few stories of it being successful. Those that are successful take months and months of work and money. Most people however just can't do that. You file a petition or two and get the boot anyway.
So much like the Japanese Internment during WWII much of the stuff not saved by friends and relatives will be repossessed, stolen, and eventually thrown away. Cars and homes will be sold and if these people ever get to return to their families everything in their lives will be different and they and their families will be much poorer for it.
In my opinion, it's kind of like we all have paid taxes so the government can take the dreams of hopeful immigrants looking for a better future for themselves and their families and smash it on the ground before grinding it to dust beneath jack booted heels. But maybe someone else has a different take.
Or, alternatively, getting gunned down in classrooms!
Low bar. Kent State is a low bar. Not openly murdering students protesting them is a low bar that so far the trump admin is managing to jump.
But I do wonder how many students have been kidnapped and died while ICE calls us terrorists for having the gall to be angry that they're terrorizing our country.
Don't forget me dork
Send like a cool thing to attempt.
Like even if someone still wants to sleep outside, a safe place to store your shit so it stays dry seems pretty dope. A place you can show up to when the temperature drops and your shivering and just sleep at with no strings attached....
Shelter is one of our basic needs, kind of like food and water.... Seems like our basics shouldn't be driven by profit.
I'm a millennial, the last time this advice worked for me was in 2019. I applied to the job online and went and sat in their office for an hour and a half waiting to talk to the manager for the position I wanted.
Eventually we chatted for like 5 minutes, I told him my name, that I applied on line, and that I'm ready to start as soon as they're ready to hire me.
I got the job. The next one was a bit less dramatic but still involved some extra bugging after applying online.
But all of this in a county of 30k people for a labor job that I was overqualified for. I think this would still give you a leg up in the right environment or job search. But I haven't looked for a job in 4 years and my wife is a programmer and you can't do this stuff for those jobs. We're at least 50 applications deep at this point with no contact from companies.
Hey I remember these Epstein files.... Those were pretty cool, let's get some of those. Weren't they going to be released in 2 weeks, where are the Epstein files King child rapist?
I do not love it at all. In fact I think it's an actively bad things for everyone. Like everyone, globally. Our country still is rich for now and our people travel all over the world being obnoxious and now we will be bringing all sorts of novel diseases not to mention what it means for the world to lose a whole country of researchers.