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Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 19, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So what's the deal with the National Guard deployments? I've seen a lot of reporting around whether the cities want the Guard, whether Trump will deploy the Guard, whether the courts will force Trump to pull the Guard out, etc.

But I haven't seen much reporting on the impact that Guard is having where it is deployed. Is crime down, even anecdotally? Are the streets safer? Have National Guardsman shot or beat up or detained anyone?

Was it a good idea? What are the early results?

I've heard anecdotally from the national media that the DC NG has made a huge difference.

Less reporting of it being helpful in other areas, the proposed explanation for that is that DC was somewhat open to the idea and coordinated areas for them to be present.

Even some dems have supported it, although usually quietly.

The main difference is that DC is a federal district, so it has no independent sovereignty and the federal government can do whatever it wants. Other cities have overlapping state jurisdiction which the Constitution gives some weight to, so the permitted activities of federal forces is much more circumscribed. If the locals are cooperative of course there is a lot more leeway, but if they are not, then there would have to be some federal nexus in their activities.