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.

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.

Yep, that’s what we see. No one is a villain in their own mind.

But it does describe an embattled hero surrounded by villains on the snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Heroes kill people all the time in stories. We don’t disparage the hero because they killed because it was for a good cause. And like imagine if the hero didn’t kill the bad guy and next week you’re dealing with the bad guy again. Clearly RFK and friends are fighting the good fight and have to defeat the bad guys once and for all.

Obviously to me it’s BS but the point is that they might see the bad stuff and justify it because of the greater good or whatever. We’ve learned through countless tales that ends don’t justify the means and doing bad things for the greater good is usually bad and often terrible. But we also have an imagination and empathy. And know how to read.

Fiction is full of stories that teach you right from wrong. The distinction gets more complicated as we get older so we use stories to explore the ideas. WE do that, our current leaders do not. And because of that they are lacking in empathy and didn’t see the patterns that they are following. And don’t see the history that they are rhyming with.

Peanits

Power Ranger

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Okay so hear me out, public, neighborhood car parks but also a network of car free streets.

Like my neighborhood is surrounded by arterials, what if you had a car park that was free like within 5 blocks. Is it a waste of space that could be used for housing? Yes. But it also moves cars to the periphery and opens up like 25 blocks to be car free neighborhood streets where people can walk, children can play and we have less noise pollution and can easily build community.

We can designate areas of on street parking for disabled people and allow services into the neighborhood but we could limit the entrances and have more clutter and places to sit and vibe instead of having to maintain vigilance.

I heard about Notebook LM recently. I couldn’t tell you what it’s trained on but I’m order to use the LLM you need to provide it source material.

So say you’re writing something for school. You can gather 50+ papers on the subject you’re trying to write about, upload them, then ask the LLM about what you uploaded. Sounds like turning research from a search for info to an interview with an “expert.”

Again I can’t speak to how it was trained in the background but this seems genuinely useful.

Wait it’s not supposed to be two people with 1 apple each and me with 4?

Damn! That’s pretty cool. Mine are definitely coins, mixed in with a bunch of coins from other countries I’ve been to…I just need to find the yogurt container they all live in.

I’m pretty sure I have some Kuna around somewhere

Nah the take is:

Often times in media the only queer representation is a villain.

It’s actually difficult to find characters that are gender non-conforming and good or at least neutral in any media before like 2006. Only having queer people show up as villains subtly hints at your brain that something is wrong with queer people, that you should be wary, that they are bad. This is held out in scientific studies and also applies to bipoc representation in media too.

I’m all for queer and bipoc villains but we also deserve to be heroes.

Currently looking at Australia or NZ.

NZ seems like a pretty good bet although I’d love to know what I’m getting into if anyone has more thoughts. And I’ve been to Australia. I know what I’m getting into there but god I like Brizzy. The most racist people I’ve ever met have been in Australia.

Ireland has been of interest, my stepsister lives there and is trans.

And France, Spain, Portugal all come to mind also.

I think most important part of this is being open and informed on a new set of challenges. Everywhere has their own problems and I need to know about them but frankly we have the luxury of picking. Some of my friends do not and will not. We are all scared of what the future brings.

Thanks for the quick reply! I’ve wondered about Canadian citizenship through family ties before, but my mom would have to assert her citizenship first and that’d never happen!

Also thanks for your well wishes. It’s a pretty trying time. We’re good, my partner and I, for now since we live in a liberal city on the West Coast. But I’ve read books. How long will that last? Nobody knows right now.

I hope your daughter’s friend is okay and stays safe!

I’ve seen a couple of your posts. Is your daughter trans? I only ask because as a trans person I’m needing to get healthcare wherever I move to and my needs seem tog globally be getting more controversial. Any tips for getting out?

“Shooting death.” Can we not say he murdered the homeless man?

Like oh no, the gun shot and this man spontaneously died! Fucking passive voice bullshit.

No idea for the US but a few years ago South Korea dealt with a similar situation. It was revealed that the president had a friend who was acting as an unpaid, unelected advisor making decisions for the president, seeing classified information, and helping set national policy. They had million person protests in the middle of Seoul that culminated in the impeachment of their president and her removal from office. The advisor was also arrested and sentenced to 20 years or something.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_South_Korean_political_scandal

Any chance you could link to this or help me find more stuff from Robert? I am always interested in his takes.

As an American I agree with everything you said after your BTW. It’s fucking wild that Trump is as awful as he is. It’s wise that he seems to be genuine about the Canada stuff. I’ve lived close to the border for a long time and America’s hat stuff is common… But like it’s a meme, it’s not supposed to be real life. What a fucking lunatic we voted for. I’m sorry, I’m setting up to get out as soon as anti-trans stuff gets rolling.

I just looked at that books by the foot website and their example of reversed books is really gross looking. I’d rather have all white books than have them reversed. It just looks closer and gross.