And that’s why Trump can go on social media and post that “Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down” and his base will believe him. They’ll happily pay twice as much for everything while thinking they’re paying half of what they were a year ago.
For years I tried to reframe those types of statements from “Trump knows you’ll believe him” to “Trump is treating you like you’re dumb enough to believe that” but might as well call it like it is.
The funny thing, at least WRT tariffs, is that I can understand assuming that someone from the shipper’s country (ie the manufacturer, a broker, the shipping company, their government etc) paid the US. Having never thought much about tariffs, that’s what I always assumed as well. The problem is that they seem to think whoever writes the check to the US just, what, eats the loss? Of course it’s going to get passed on to the end user eventually.
Again, not understanding where who’s actually writing that check the US government is understandable and, in the end, really doesn’t matter to the consumer, assuming they’re not going to pass that on to you is laughable.
Be careful. You are likely to have the “nay-saying” folks get up your ass for suggesting DJT is acting like a dictator. Don’t you know this is “boring”?
It’s not until the very very end of the article that it’s mentioned he voted for Trump.
He’s an immigration lawyer and is pursuing legal action against the government. My impression was that you have no legal recourse for being maltreated at the border. But i wish him luck with that legal action.
Bachir Atallah: They handcuffed me. That’s not a way to – I think it’s unconstitutional.
Now I’m not an immigration lawyer, or any other kind of lawyer for that matter, but I know that being handcuffed during an encounter with law enforcement is not unconstitutional!
Hey all you MAGA faithful-- great news! Now you, too, can participate in the Great Deportation, for fun and profit! Just take a picture of a suspected illegal, send it in, and get PAID!
An actual Loomer quote from the article:
“If you’re sick and tired of the illegal alien construction workers making a bunch of noise at the house next door to yours, you can actually call it in!” she said. “Get that cryptocurrency for reporting these individuals. It’s almost like a bounty.”
Yeah! Or do you live next to an orchard, and are sick and tired of all those illegal pickers working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week during harvest season, ruining your pristine views of the orchard? Call it in!
Putting it here, because at some point all these great citizen patriots on snitch patrol are going to start wondering why strawberries are $20/lb. or why they’re put on a 6 month waiting list to get their roof repaired.
I just watched this Wired video last night. One of the things that was mentioned about authoritarian regimes is being asked to report people that are, or that you think are, part of whatever group TPTB are currently targeting.
This app sounds ideal! It shouldn’t take much effort to simply distribute the photographs of the ‘undesirables’ to a list of concerned, patriotic cell phone users, bypassing the authorities.
Jews at temple? Check.
Black people at a concert? Check.
A childless person at a public park? Check.
Somebody protesting Israel vis-a-vis Gaza? Check.
Pride parade? Check.
It doesn’t have to be about money, bounties, or rewards. Why couldn’t it just be about good old-fashioned bigotry and hatred, coupled with classic American violence??
It’s like the Junior Spies from 1984. Here’s a passage from the novel, updated for our times:
Nearly all childrenRepublicans nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the SpiesICE they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the disciplinechaos of the Partytrump administration. On the contrary, they adored the Partytrump administration and everything connected with it. The songs (especially YMCA), the processions, the banners, the hiking(exercise BAD), the drilling with dummy rifles, the yelling of slogans, the worship of Big Brothertrump — it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirtynot MAGAts to be frightened of their own childrenneighbors.
That’s right! And don’t be too concerned whether the people you’re reporting are actually illegals or have done anything wrong. Better safe than sorry! Plus, just the fact that you felt a reason to report them to the authorities is reason enough.
It’s going to be great when somebody uses the app to snap a picture of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz working in their yards over a weekend wearing their grubbies.
Also … and not for the first time:
“People are wonderful. I love individuals. I hate groups of people. I hate a group of people with a ‘common purpose’. 'Cause pretty soon they have little hats. And armbands. And fight songs. And a list of people they’re going to visit at 3am. So, I dislike and despise groups of people but I love individuals. Every person you look at; you can see the universe in their eyes, if you’re really looking.”
First, that’s a fantastic video. I’ve been linking and recommending it to others since it appeared. Everyone should watch it.
Second, by coincidence, I just got back from a two week holiday in Albania. Fascinating place, if complicated and problematic on many levels. But the relevant bit is that they are quite open and forthright about their troubled history during the years of Communist dictatorship.
They had their own version of East Germany’s infamous Stasi, called the Sigurimi (link). Their historical museums include details on their operations, which included wide recruitment of ordinary citizens as informers. They had mockups of some actual operations, including a microphone hidden in a cleaning lady’s broom and a pinhole camera drilled into the wall of a “controlled person,” to be operated by a neighbor.
The money piece, for me, was a contemporary quote from an Albanian priest, who expressed sad astonishment that the population could be revealed to hold so many willing thugs. I stood in front of that display, reading the quote over and over, my skin prickling unpleasantly.
I suspect many people are about to have a similarly unhappy awakening.
