Phoenix_person

Absolutely agree. I've seen nothing but condemnation for this unconscionable act from like-minded folks.

1. Godwin! 2. Believe me, there's far worse anti-Trump content out there than numbers on a beach. You're reaching.

Then it's a good thing our laws are enforced by courts and not outraged citizens on the internet. Just because I get sued or charged for something doesn't mean I committed a crime.

I agree with your general statement. I disagree with the specific insinuation that James Comey, a man deeply despised on both sides of the political aisle, has been anything other than a bumbling idiot for the last 7 years.

Distasteful, juvenile, and idiotic? Yes, definitely. Grounds for legal action? No.

Comey may not be backwater, but he is an idiot. He's also been out of government since 2017, and I think it's safe to say that he probably doesn't have many friends in this administration's Bureau. He's a private citizen, and if private citizens making juvenile, idiotic social media posts is illegal, then Facebook is the world's largest crime scene.

Oh no, not the sand art!

Yes, he's married to my sister.

A bit of family news, my BIL just got elected to be the new chairman of the Utah Co Dem Party. This is how he broke the news on Bluesky. 😂

ICE is making arrests without warrants and deporting people without due process, and Trump is calling it legal. The actions of the SS were considered lawful actions by the German government, and they didn't start with herding people into trains. They started with things like this: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/10/trump-stephen-miller-habeas-corpus-constitution/83554334007/ You mean like this? https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/idp-and-partners-release-briefing-guide-on-ices-secretive-citizen-academy-programs-with-documents-uncovered-through-foia-litigation/ I agree that there it's important to look for red flags in both major political parties, and my disdain for the DNC shouldn't be a secret at this point. I don't know that David Hogg would be my pick to lead a far left reform movement, mainly because his gun views align more with liberal Dems than leftists, and that could swifly become a problem in today's political climate. Trump has created a lot of 2A enthusiasts on my side of the fence.

It's a rebuilding year. How about an angry charismatic leader trying to capitalize on the xenophobia of his base? I can pull fascist narratives out of thin air too. Recent news stories have offered a pretty clear reminder. https://www.newsweek.com/ice-agents-battle-mom-baby-chaotic-video-worcester-2070027

The entire NY Dem party is a dumpster fire of corruption, so he'll probably win.

I grasp that. I prefer presidents that try to unite people rather than divide them, and who don't joke about trying to subvert the Constitution. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

If she's food insecure, then that's a much more immediate concern to her than a drivers license. People who live like that often struggle to plan past their next meal. They live in fight/flight mode 24/7 and it's exhausting. The best thing you could do for her is try to get her linked up with a social worker if she doesn't already have one. Might be difficult without ID, but that's where I'd start. Social workers exist to help people who struggle to help themselves.

This article breaks it down very well. https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/trump-retaliation-revenge-biden-security-clearance I guess the people who stock his official merch missed that theory, as did his son. I don't think that bullet broke anything in Trump that wasn't already broken.

China's economy is based on ~15% of its exports? I imagine they can make up at least some of that if their efforts to strengthen trade with their immediate neighbors prove fruitful, and the rest can be made up by increasing exports to countries that are on Trump's black list. China has become the biggest exporter in the world in the last 20 years. Trump isn't negotiating from a position of strength, and China knows it. Where? Mexico? Canada? Because those trade talks are going so well? The US has become heavily trade-dependent in ways that can't be reversed in 4 years. I'm more worried about dissent suppression a little closer to home at present. Trump cares about personal loyalty to HIM above all else. And now he doesn't need to worry about winning another election, and he's acting like he has executive immunity thanks to his SCOTUS basically saying he does. There's a reason he wasn't this brazen in his first term. He (or someone advising him) understood that vindictiveness doesn't win elections. I don't want a vindictive Republican in office any more than you (or I) want a vindictive Dem there, especially if Congress isn't going to fill their role in the "checks and balances" part of governing and no one is going to enforce court decisions. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-s-attacks-on-justice-department-independence--then-and-now https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/24/trump-actblue-fundraising-order-investigation-foreign-donations/83250033007/ Again, I don't see where the leverage is with Trump's sweeping tariffs. IF tariffs were to be effective, they'd have to be more strategically targeted. All he's doing is removing the US from the trade market and creating an international rush to fill the void. Because despite what you seem to think, the world economy doesn't revolve around us. How's the Dollar doing, btw?

Spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, posted Friday evening:

FWIW, I tried it because I heard several positive stories from other veterans and people with SSRI resistance and/or substance abuse history. Given the time I spent in the booze business, I know a lot of reformed alcoholics (and plenty of unreformed ones).

Meth is a big problem up here, and I know people who have used MJ to get off of it. It's also popular with reformed alcoholics and opioid abusers trying to get clean (kind of the opposite of a gateway drug). I use MJ medically for my anxiety and the physical pain I deal with as a result of my psychosis episode*. My LDS mom has toyed with the idea of using it medically, but she's on lithium and doesn't want it to interfere. *The only drug I was on was Lexapro, and I was several months sober from alcohol. I had 6 mental health crises during the two years I was on anti-depressants, and zero since switching to medical cannabis. It's true that paranoia and increased anxiety are risks for heavy users, especially if they aren't mindful of what strains they're favoring. Some "cerebral" strains will help with anxiety, others will make it much worse. I favor the pain-relieving strains, and I mostly use in the evening. Day users can be a problem if they make it too habitual.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/whistleblower-org-says-doge-may-have-caused-significant-cyber-breach-us-labor-2025-04-15/ I've been seeing a lot of DOGE cybersecurity concerns in the "Resistance" corners of social media. Usually the citation work is sketchy at best, and I'm not interested in verifying every story I see on the internet, so I usually make a mental note (in case it comes up again) and move on. But this was the second time this week I've seen Russian hackers mentioned, and since there's a whistleblower complaint to Congress involved, it wasn't hard to find an article from a credible source. I hope Republicans are looking at things like this as closely as they looked at Hillary's emails.

Acknowledging that we violated the ONE agreement we made with him, that he wouldn't be sent back to El Salvador to be tortured and possibly killed, isn't the moral victory you think it is. You're right, I should vet my sources better. But I still believe this man deserved more due process than he received before having his life destroyed. And it doesn't change the fact that a directive from SCOTUS seems to have been ignored. That's really the bigger issue here, because SCOTUS is the one chance we have of keeping Trump from doing things like this to US citizens, should he choose to act on that whim. So if SCOTUS doesn't have any real authority over the executive branch, and no one in the congressional GOP will stand up to their leader, then where is the balance of power that has kept this country from falling into tyranny for the last 250 years?

If we're going to potentially send US citizens to this prison, as Trump himself has expressed desire to do, we need full transparency about the place we're sending them to. And yes, it's mostly a dumb photo op, kinda like when GOP politicians from places like Iowa go to Texas to take pictures with border patrol and call on Dems for better border security. And both parties seem to have very selective concern over the Uyghur genocide in China. It's the game of politics and selective outrage, and both parties play it. BTW, I've looked, and I can't find any documentation of Garcia's prior gang affiliation, aside from a single report from a dirty cop. The only gang ties anyone else has been able to make stem from the fact that he fled El Salvador to escape gang violence. He has no criminal record in either country. He was put through deportation proceedings in 2019 and was allowed to stay. So while it's true that he came here illegally, he was a legal resident for the last 6 years. The Trump administration admitted that he was erroneously detained and deported to a prison with a violent reputation, possibly filled with some of the very people he was fleeing in the first place. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know I don't like drug cartels or terrorists. I also don't like when people who preach about "rule of law" and "law and order" disappear people off the street and ship them to ruthless dictators to do the work we're too "noble" to do ourselves. It opens some very dangerous doors, and I doubt very much that it will stop with undocumented immigrants.

Agreed. I also believe that if we're going to send someone to a Central American death camp, we should be absolutely sure that they're actually guilty of what we're accusing them of. And it turns out I was likely wrong about due process not applying to non-citizens, according to the same Constitutional amendment that arguably should have prevented Trump from running a second time. Again, I agree. But again, we don't seem to be bothering to find out if these people are actually guilty of what we're accusing them of. And I don't know about you, but I'm not just going to take Trump's word for it. If we can justify ignoring the rule of law for non-citizens with legal status, how long before we're trying to justify doing so for citizens? Cool. Now imagine you're in your 20s and just started working on your 401k within the last 5 years. I don't think you'd be so confident in your nest egg. I didn't have a 401k until last year (not a lot of employers offer that in my former line of work, and I never had enough to justify trying to start my own). Let's just say I'm glad that the VA has my income sorted out for the forseeable future. You know I'm not one to make excuses for Democrats. Heck, I can't even fully blame Trump for the COVID crash. That would have happened with a Dem in office too.

The cuts at the VA were upsetting, but unsurprising. I'm also seeing a lot of frustration over widespread staff cuts at social security offices. Trump and Elon are playing a dangerous game by messing with the care and income of two of the GOP's most reliable demographics: veterans and seniors. And we haven't even seen yet what will happen to Medicaid under the Republican budget, but I imagine it will be hard to hit the goal of $800B+ in spending cuts without affecting Medicaid and SNAP, and some Republicans know it.