The Real timschochet

No. I’m not going to get into a discussion of my background and what led into my current situation. But what you and @Strike think is not accurate. That’s all.

I think you’re being very simplistic here and really ignoring the amount of time, effort and technique most of these polling firms put in, not to mention their integrity. I think you’re overly dismissive.

I think most Americans approve of the increased tightness at the border and that’s the main thing they wanted. But they don’t appear to approve of the mass deportations.

Of course there is bias. But they’re using polls to prove their point, and that’s at least SUPPOSED to be objective. Unlike @supermike80 I generally believe in polling. It’s not always right but it usually is. When polls showed, a few months back, that most Americans supported mass deportation I accepted that. I figured I was in the minority. On the overall issue of immigration I AM in the minority and always will be- I get that. But it’s nice to see a change on this particular issue, at least IMO.

I’m sure you can. People are intolerant. Fearful. Some are racist. These are realities we all have to deal with. Human beings can be ugly. That doesn’t mean, however, that we need to change our ideals. I believe that ultimately a multicultural society is preferable to a non multicultural society. At least put it this way: if we are to survive as a species, it had better be.

Lol the description of me as a “nepobaby” isn’t accurate, but in any event what I wrote you about our state isn’t based on my own personal experience. Again, I have no argument with your critiques. But you seem to think they define us. That’s where we differ.

Australia, Israel, the United Kingdom off the top of my head. There are probably more.

To answer your question: yes I do. We certainly have many problems here and you’ve stated some of them quite succinctly. Yet despite all those problems we remain the richest state, the 5th largest economy on Earth. I would argue that the good easily outweighs the bad.

Great question. Probably the various Eid celebrations. They can be beautiful to watch. I have been to several Muslim dinners. The love of family is really special.

You’re living in one. There are several others.

This is the point where, if I had written something like this, you would call me a liar.

I think some of you are celebrating just a little too early. The main effects of the tariffs have not been seen by the consumers yet. We ARE seeing them at the ports. The port of Long Beach is currently at 40% capacity. It will take months to bring it back to full speed even if the tariffs on China go back down to what they were before Liberation Day (at 30% they’re still significantly higher.) So I still think we’re looking at some immediate grim times ahead (and I still hope I’m wrong about that.) In the meantime I’m glad inflation has slowed. But it’s important to note that whenever this happened under Biden, all we heard was “it doesn’t matter if it slows, prices aren’t going down!” That argument resonated with the public and I suspect it will continue to do so.

I didn’t accuse you of racism. I accused you of xenophobia, which you’ve certainly shown yourself to be guilty of. And nativism. It’s really ugly but unfortunately it’s a contagious thing like Covid. Obviously the PM of UK has a case, and Trump, and you have a really bad case. As for discussion, your side has proven yourselves incapable of it on this topic the moment you started blaming liberals for every violent crime committed by an undocumented immigrant, and acting as if ALL undocumented immigrants are guilty for the acts of a tiny few. At this point there’s no talking to you about this subject; you guys have become completely irrational, in the exact same way as you’re irrational about transsexuals. The only thing for it is to beat your politicians at the next election, and hope that in the meantime your guys don’t fock things up too badly (it’s probably already too late.)

Your ugliness becomes contagious after a while, unfortunately. Seriously your xenophobia is simply awful. I really feel sad for so many of you here that are so afraid of other cultures. How miserable you guys must be to have these views.

The west is awesome. And aren’t you part Asian? What a moron you are.

We are largely responsible for the problems of both countries. And they ARE your problem and one way or another you’re going to focking pay for it. Too bad so sad.

Liar. And wrong on both counts.

I like you Jerry, you have good intentions. But I really do think your views on certain groups of people (Muslims in particular, but also some Latin Americans) are way too collectivized, simplistic, and based largely on tropes that have their roots in ignorance, fear and bigotry.

Nope. But it can’t be worse than those fleeing the Taliban, or the mess we made in Venezuela or Mexico or the rest of Latin America.

Thank you. I was going off the top of my head. Still you get the point. South Africa’s history is not parallel to ours despite some similarities mainly because the native population didn’t die off. Try to imagine a United States in which 93% of our population was Native American tribes, yet white people still dominated all businesses and owned almost all of the land. Thats South Africa.

I know some Afrikaners. They’re salt of the Earth, wonderful people. But they’re not victims, never have been. Their main complaint is not terrorist attacks, (that happens to less than .1%) but land seizures. But what’s important to remember is that white people own something like 90% of all the land in South Africa despite being less than 5% of the population, and that this land was mostly taken during a time when black Africans were not legally allowed to own land. So of course after Apartheid there’s going to be some redistribution. I personally believe in open immigration, so all the Afrikaners who want to come here, welcome! But if you’re not going to have open immigration, if you’re going to force me to choose who to prioritize, then sorry Afrikaners are last on the list, way behind all the REAL refugees and anyone from the countries we focked up in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

He hasn’t cleaned up anything, and he is defying the Courts and the Constitution.

You’re wrong about the skin in the game part. Not gonna spend my time bragging here about stuff I’ve done; all I’ll say is you’re wrong. You’re also very much misguided about slavery but that’s nothing new. I will repeat again what anyone who actually studies history already knows: at the time of the Civil War, the Democrats were conservatives and the Republicans were liberals. Some Republicans, like Thaddeus Stevens, were extreme liberals; they were known as “Radical Republicans.”

Well first off when it comes to immigration I’ve always been on the “wrong side of history” and proud of it. Incidentally the USA has mostly been on the same “wrong side of history” and this is the main reason we live in the greatest nation that’s ever existed. As for the Prime Minister of the second greatest nation ever, shame on him. He’s wrong. His comments are not racist but they’re terrible all the same. 99% of the people on this Earth want nothing more than to feed their families and be treated decently. There are NO major religions, or ethnicities, that are inferior or incompatible with human freedom and decency. There are NO large groups of people that we can’t accept and make a part of ourselves and vice-versa. And there is absolutely NOTHING wrong or dangerous about open immigration and globalism. Someday the majority may come to accept these truths, who knows? Until then, if I am in the minority so be it. We fight the good fight.

I think the Democrats are overplaying their hand with the airplane story. Demanding investigations, talking about it non-stop for two days etc. It’s an embarrassing story for sure. But compared to the main stuff that Trump is doing (the tariffs and the deportation mess) it’s chicken feed, a distraction. Opponents of Trump need to keep their eyes focused on the big stuff; this is minor.