And this is why people are pissed at Democrats.

Democrats are apparently annoyed that constituents are writing demanding they act like an opposition party, aka FUCKING EXERCISE THE FUCKING POWER YOU WERE VOTED IN TO WIELD. They act like they are powerless to stop Trump and they have press conferences talking about how it’s red alert scenario and then they GO ON TO VOTE FOR THE VERY THINGS THEY ARE SOUNDING THE ALARM ABOUT.

If this truly is a red alert situation as another Connecticut Congressperson called it, then stop voting for this shit! Throw a wrench into the works, refuse to confirm anybody, make use of the shitty procedural filibuster and grind things to a halt.

Because if you are voting in favor of any of this you don’t get to fucking complain.

When you say footage, do you mean like actual combat footage? If so I think that’s excellent. You are absolutely right the US is completely isolated from the reality of unpleasantness that is often in the world, often because of us. Our only exposure to real evil and violence is in movies and TV and everything else is ‘tastefully’ censored. So we debate policy like war and diplomacy completely isolated from the actual reality that those policies create.

How many times did he shoot himself?

I mean there is a pattern to these things.
If Putin doesn’t like you, you shoot yourself and then jump out of a building.
If the Clintons don’t like you, you shoot yourself twice in the back of the head before driving your car off a cliff.
If you have dirt on powerful people, you hang yourself in prison.

It’s frustrating that so many people downvote this sort of thing rather than considering it. It’s like if you say anything at all other than TRUMP NAZI ELON NAZI REPUBLICAN NAZI ALL BAD you are obviously wrong and fuck you.

Trump may be an asshole. He may be a horrible president. But during the campaign he promised to hack and slash away at the federal government, and that’s exactly what he’s doing. It may be a bad idea, it may cause a ton of its own problems, but he is doing exactly what he promised his voters.

Democrats need to learn some hard truths from this. Specifically, that while life may be great up in the ivory tower, the people on the street are hurting. The people on the street are angry that their struggle has been ignored and marginalized for so long. And when people with two incomes are struggling to afford groceries, they will always vote for the guy who says ‘there’s a problem and I want to fix it’ over the person who says ‘everything’s peachy’.

That doesn’t make them racist or sexist or Nazi. It makes them desperate.

Not asking for instruction on the issue, only clarification on your assertion that I don’t understand.

For example, if you argued that video games cause violence, I could say ‘you obviously don’t understand the issue, specifically, the sort of attitude players take toward the game. Nobody plays like ‘yeah I wish I could do this IRL’, rather, it’s just a game and there’s friendly banter between both teams.’ I don’t have to write a page on video game culture or statistics to do that.

Saying ‘you don’t get it’ on a huge broad subject while offering zero detail on what specifically I don’t get or even a counterpoint is lazy debating. If you think I’m wrong, explain why I’m wrong. Otherwise you are just a low effort shitpost that contributes nothing to the discourse. Do better.

Your entire premise is that they are happy taking shit pay and no benefits. And that’s just not true. They’re forced to do that because they have no negotiating power when their employer can just have them deported.

We agree they have zero negotiating power when they’re under threat of deportation.
I don’t think they’re ‘happy with shit’ but I also don’t think they’re as likely to demand more as an American. And if they don’t speak the language, they’re less likely to GET more as they can’t negotiate on equal footing.

I expect the government to do its job. But as an example forget Latin America, let’s say a person comes to the US and they’re skilled but they only speak Tagalog. Do you think they can negotiate as effectively as a native speaker?

That practice was halted and now the vehicle video is under MUCH stricter control with an option to not share any of it at all.
Given the choice, I’d rather have some Tesla employee joking about what I park next to than Tesla Inc selling my driving data to insurance companies like most other automakers do…

That was from years ago.

Tesla used to sell cars rated by pack capacity. For example the ‘P85D’ was the performance model, 85 kWh pack, dual motor.
There was also a 40 kWh (cheaper) and 60 kWh version.
After a while they stopped building 40 kWh packs and just software-locked the 60 kWh pack to only have 40 kWh of usable capacity. I think for a while they offered an upgrade where you could pay to unlock the extra capacity.

I don’t think they’ve done that in some time. I know when I bought my car (model y long range) they didn’t even advertise the pack capacity nor was any upgrade offered. The only paywall thing I’ve seen with Tesla is FSD and they’re pretty transparent about that. I don’t think they’re awful for paywalling it, because if they build the car without the FSD hardware it won’t have other safety systems like lane departure notification.

I’ve done it. I think it might have opened the charge port or something. What do you think happens?

Something to consider…

Elon may be going down a conservative rabbit hole these days, but this is the sort of thing Tesla would never ever ever do. And things like using the telematic system to sell your location and speed to insurance companies. Never happened on a Tesla. You may not like the guy, but the cars are fucking solid.

This, exactly this. The fact that they would even consider this rules them out for me forever.

I have no problem with the migrant, and I’ve no intent to dismiss facts. I did NOT mean that as an ad hominem attack (attack the person rather than the idea). I only meant to point out that your ideas sound nice but run into trouble in the real world.
Expecting government to stand up for people who won’t stand up for themselves (because even marginalized they’re still light years better off and they don’t want to risk that) isn’t a solution, it doesn’t work.

At the end of the day it’s not a story of two groups, it’s a story of what we’re willing to tolerate. … the reality is a large minority will work in minimum wage their entire lives.

And that’s exactly my point. An awful lot more immigrants will tolerate working minimum wage their whole lives. That’s not a dig at the migrant- I have great respect for them. But there’s a culture thing at work. That’s not a dig at any of their culture either, it’s a recognition of the fact that there’s differences. And the simple fact that the migrant who comes here and can let his daughter walk to school without her getting raped on the way isn’t likely to rock the boat too hard. He won’t say ‘pay me $30/hr or I quit’ knowing that if he gets fired that could mean having to go back home where his daughter will get raped on the way to school. I don’t blame the migrant for that- if I was in that situation I’d feel the exact same way. I’d keep my head down and I’d work hard and I’d try to make sure my kid gets good grades so they can have a chance at better. I think most decent parents would.

Because there’s only 11 million undocumented immigrants in a country of about 200 million working adults. That fraction of the working age population isn’t depressing anything.

If it was spread out equally among all industries, it’d make zero difference. It’s not. For the most part, you don’t see undocumented migrants becoming doctors, lawyers, investment bankers, computer engineers, etc. The effect is concentrated in blue collar jobs.

As you say, it’s a story of what we’re each willing to tolerate. And if you have a nation where the laws of supply and demand govern prevailing wages and working conditions, a large group of people who will tolerate an awful lot DOES make an impact.

Where we agree- I 100% agree that we need labor regs to make things better for everybody. Companies should not be allowed to mistreat workers and that IS a legal problem not an immigration problem.
I also believe (and I suspect you would agree) that for someone who wants to become an American- not just come to the country and work, but adopt an American way of life and become a citizen- there should be a clear, obvious, accessible path to citizenship.

Those 11 million people, like I said above those are some of the hardest working mofos on American soil, citizen or not. My problem with them isn’t that they’re here, it’s that they’re not being paid more. If they competed in the labor market on an EQUAL footing, as CITIZENS who fully understand and will stand up for their rights, most of them could easily command a high hourly wage due to high work ethic. I would LOVE to make that happen. I’m open to any way to do it. But if you just give someone a green card or a citizenship and say ‘congrats you’re an American’, you aren’t changing the culture, the mindset, the understanding of their rights and determination to stand up for those rights, And thus nothing will change.

That’s why I say I want an accessible process for such a person to become an American. If they want to truly learn about the country, and that means learning about their rights, take a place on equal footing with other Americans, if they choose us and they’re willing to follow the laws and pay their taxes then I don’t believe it’s the American way to slam the door in their face.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” That’s carved in stone beneath the Statue of Liberty. Those words aren’t lost on me (although I suspect they are lost on a lot of modern day ‘patriots’).

But part of that means actually choosing to be American. I think learning English should be a big part of that-- not because I have a problem with ‘press one for English, para espanol marque dos’ on the phone menu. But because if you don’t speak the native language, then you can’t compete in any sort of negotiation on the same footing as an American native.

If you CAN do that (and for many, I’m not sure you can) the result is the immigrant now has the security of citizenship, knows that getting fired doesn’t mean his daughter gets raped, and hopefully you can instill in him the kind of attitude and culture to DEMAND better of his employer. As far as I’m concerned that’s just as effective as deporting him, because either way the underclass is removed from the labor pool. And a few million more Freedom-loving Americans won’t make much difference either way.
I just don’t know how to make that happen.

I’m open to any thoughts you may have.

Depends on where you live. Not necessarily poverty but if both parents work at that rate you could hit lower middle class in some areas. But you are right in most urban or suburb places it wouldn’t cut it.

Because the man you don’t like got elected we should shred the 1st Amendment right of free expression? Or do I misunderstand you?

I say this with respect- but that’s a bit of an ‘ivory tower intellectual’ position that doesn’t consider how things work in the real world.

I’m not just talking about ABUSE, which DoL should prevent. I’m talking about personal drive and demand of upward mobility.

For example- let’s say you have a company committed to following the rules, who will pay what the market demands and treats workers with respect. You have two candidates for a job. One is an immigrant- lives in a lower end neighborhood, but is thrilled he can feed his family ‘only’ working 60 hours a week and his daughter can walk to school without being abducted and raped. He’ll do the job as long as it’s offered for $10/hr and be thrilled at that. The other is an American who wants upward mobility, they want to do this job for 1-3 years max before being promoted to something bigger, and if he doesn’t get promotion he will leave.
There’s no abuse and nothing illegal happening here. Just supply and demand.

If you’re the corporation, which person do you hire?
Almost every company I know would hire the immigrant, because he’ll work hard, he’s thankful to have the job, his lower-middle-class lifestyle is better than what he had before so he has no need to demand more.
But if the immigrant isn’t there, they’ll have to hire the other guy, have to pay him more, have to provide promotion opportunities or train new workers when he finds something better.

There’s nothing for department of labor to do there, because there’s no violations happening. This isn’t a legal problem. It’s a socioeconomic one. No government agency can force the immigrant to demand higher wages, or force the company to pay above minimum wage.
(Minimum wage should probably be $10-$15 today, but that’s a separate issue).

And that’s all without the macro economic point of view that points out having more consumers in your country means more economic activity which means more jobs.

That only holds if those consumers have disposable income. And those consumers only have disposable income if they’re demanding wages high enough to afford luxuries.
If you have workers who will settle for very low wages, that depresses wages across the board. That means less disposable income for everyone, and can mean overall LESS economic activity because wages will decrease, consumer spending will drop, and money will accumulate as profits for large companies that reap higher profits from overall depressed wages (sound familiar?). I’m not blaming immigrants for that (I blame Congress and the absurdly low minimum wage) but the point stands.

Bottom line- if you have two groups of people, one says ‘I’m happy with what I get’ the other says ‘I want more’, more of the first group means less wages for both groups. Supply and demand.

You’re very likely right. I’m certainly not going to stand up and claim Trump is pure as driven snow. Or at the very least, that’s a part of it, for many of the people who push such a policy.

I think we’d all agree whoever gave the order to have ICE agents dress up in SWAT gear and go door to door wasn’t thinking about humanity.

hahaha I can see the appeal of a free ticket to Dublin and $250 to spend when you get there…

But no you wouldn’t qualify as you’re a citizen (born in the USA).

Still care about MP3- it’s the bog standard, the thing EVERYthing supports. Like the shitty SBC codec on Bluetooth. I’ve still got tons of MP3s and they aren’t going away anytime soon.

Everything I get new though is high-res FLAC.

Then you are serving the needs of people like Trump, Murdoch, and other billionaires / CEOs / shareholders who’d rather have us fighting each other than working together to restore the American dream.

For many, I agree. That’s also the problem with this sort of policy, it makes no distinction between a migrant poor worker who picks tomatoes or whatever for barely minimum wage and someone who settles in, starts a business, etc.

Deport immigrants with DUIs and violent or financial felony convictions. Beef up the department of labor and go after companies paying people less than minimum wage.

Agree 100% on all.

Then it’s not a matter of jobs or services or crime.

I’m not 100% sure. There’s an element of legitimacy to the policy against ‘economic migrants’, I don’t know how big but there’s an element.
Let’s say you have a difficult and strenuous job. And let’s say you have two candidates- a born and raised American, and a Latin American immigrant. If the immigrant has better quality of life here on a minimum wage job than in their home country, they’re less likely to demand higher wages or better working conditions because from their POV they’ve already got ‘better’. And that DOES affect the American- if the immigrant will do the job for $8/hr flat and be happy living in a poor neighborhood (because at least there’s no cartels like south of the border), but the American wants $12/hr and health benefits, merely having the immigrant there as an option affects the salary the American can get. Because if you remove the immigrant the company will HAVE to raise the wage to $12/hr and offer health benefits. Otherwise the company will hire only immigrants and will keep the wage low.

I recognize this is a generalization and you can’t paint all of ANY people with the same brush. You can also flip it around and say forcing the company to hire Americans at the higher wages will increase costs and decrease quality-- say what you want about Latin American immigrants but in most cases I’ve seen they’re pretty much the hardest working mofos around. Thus, having some competition provides incentive for the Americans to work harder.

The problem is, it’s VERY hard to have any sort of real discussion on the subject without it being derailed either by accusations of xenophobia or actual xenophobia / racism.