domain:nunosempere.com
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
Sure but when the target audience is <50% of the people (and shrinking) in a democracy, your messaging strategy is kind of stupid
cartman
18hr ago
Perhaps that's not your goal, but you have to agree that that is the goal of many of your counterparts and it's the goal of those in the White House who are implementing the policy directly. Their public statements on the matter are intentionally designed to be both silly and inflammatory
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
I think a majority of leftists believe that their official mission is illegitimate, and borders in general are basically unethical
Does anyone on this site think this? I meant like this argument in this thread.
KMC
lurk moar
18hr ago
Given everything you say is true, who are my alternatives? Where is my better option?
I don't see one, and so I won't let perfect be the enemy of good, I'll take what I can get and ask for more.
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
None of the above. I take law enforcement seriously and I expect the government should too.
AnonymousActuary
18hr ago
...are you on substack? I feel like a just read an article laying out this same point about John Brown.
One could point out that one way to avoid worries of a slave revolt would be to simply not build your economy on the backs of forced labor from an imported underclass that continues to grow...
TeknOShEeP
18hr ago
"Gotta catch 'em [illegal immigrants] all" has long been a mantra of Trump and his his supporters.
You think its retarded because the media bias in this country has led you to believe Anarcho-Tyranny is an acceptable form of government. That montage was a cute little poke at the fact that its not, and times are a' changin.
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
The problem is that we have so many people on the left who are hellbent on pointing out the hypocrisy of the right for not deporting people in certain industries
What is the issue with this? It's a clear sign that the administration doesn't actually want to fix this. If they did, they'd go after the obvious places illegals were working. They come here because they work. Stop the people who pay them from paying them.
Why are hotels being told explicitly they won't be cracked down on? How does that make ANY sense with the stated goals of removing illegal immigrants?
They don't actually want to fix this, which makes the enforcement they are doing feel pointless and stupid
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
18hr ago
You would prefer "Ride Of The Valkyries" or "Bad Boys" or "Paint it Black" perhaps?
cartman
18hr ago
Polls are a lame argument when talking about public opinion and optics???
If you don't accept polls with evidence to the contrary of your views, and you don't accept arguments about shootings increasing being a sign of public opinion, then what evidence do you accept?
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
Just go after American farm owners who pay illegals American money to work for them.
You don't even need to deport them, make it impossible for them to work, make them poorer in America than they are in Mexico, that will solve this permanently.
If you aren't targeting the employers of illegal immigrants, you aren't serious about immigration. If you aren't pushing e-verify, you aren't serious about immigration. If Trump EXPLICITLY says he's not enforcing immigration against farms and hotels, it's clear he's not serious about immigration.
cartman
18hr ago
Was it the mainstream media that put up videos of ICE enforcement with silly music in the background, or was that the administration itself?
Was it the mainstream media, or the administration itself that decided ICE officers should be masked and incognito, while performing arrests unlike law enforcement officials?
Was it the mainstream media or the administration itself that declared that violence commited against ICE was a direct result of Democrat rhetoric?
Perhaps if you ignore all the facts it's easy to assume that the cruelty and unusual nature of this treatment is all an invention of the "mainstream media" but such a perspective is not supported by the facts
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
They literally posted a montage of dudes in masks blowing up doors and arresting people with the pokemon theme song.
No media bias required to look retarded
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
18hr ago
It's also the El Salvadorian prison stuff. The whole vibe sucks.
Why does it matter whether illegal immigrants awaiting deportation are held in an American detention facility or a Salvadoran one? The particular illegal immigrants in question were sent to El Salvador because their proper country -- Venezuela -- refused to take them. That has now been resolved, and they were sent back to Venezuela.
ICE has to act in an "aggro" way, because they're law enforcement, and the people they are arresting don't want to be arrested. There's not really any way around that, aside from either doing nothing or by doing a form of anarcho-tyranny where minor violators (e.g. otherwise law-abiding people who overstay a visa by a few days) are punished but major violators (those intentionally staying indefinitely) are not.
Anyway, the Trump administration basically tried it your way in the first term. It turns out that no, it doesn't help; the news would post pictures of Obama-era detainees and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crying at an empty parking lot, and the optics would be just as bad without actually getting things done.
atelier
Jimmys: unrustled
18hr ago
They're not US citizens, I don't give a fuck. It's extremely sane, and extremely awesome. FAFO, lawbreakers.
Perfect is the enemy of good. When the GOP fields a "deport all lawbreakers except hotel and farm worker candidate" versus a "deport all lawbreakers" candidate, I'll vote for the latter. But so far, we've only ever been offered the former.
This has been my position since the Regan amnesty.
Totalitarianit
18hr ago
I made a comment here that broadly addresses some of these points you're making.
The gamble here is that the optics will have significant utility in deterring other potential migrants. The short term results suggest that it is effective.
"Muh masks" seems to have become a meme here, but it's real. You're Americans, why are you okay being cucked by your government. Masked non-uniformed men are stuffing people into vans. Not just that, they're sending them to third world prisons??? That's insane. Obviously it's nowhere near as bad as the NKVD, but why are you okay taking even a step in that direction? What if the Democrats spin up the "super ATF" who start kidnapping people who fuck up their gun paperwork into unmarked vans to be sent to Romania? Government overreach is bad, period.
We know the potential of the online left to find, doxx, and terrorize people. It's not even up for debate. They will terrorize ICE agents' families. The tools and collective effort that anti-ICE and anti-Trumpers have at their disposal when it comes to identifying, locating and terrorizing these people is massive, and it will be an all-hands-on-deck effort. To them, they would be doxxing Nazis, so it would be for a noble cause.
They made ICE maximally inflammatory, and then you act suprised the Dems are inflamed?
I don't think you appreciate how little "Dems being inflamed" matters anymore. It's not because I, or many other middle right people want to do that. Some do, but I don't want that. That's not the goal for me. It has just become utterly impossible to not inflame Democrats at every stop. Everything Republicans do is racist or fascist, so it doesn't matter. It reminds me of this meme. It may come off as cheesy, but it is nonetheless a great way to convey what the non-left is up against every time they do anything that deviates from kit glove treatment of nonwhites or any "marginalized" community.
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
Well they're explicitly not going after farm workers, even though a huge % of illegals work on farms. I'm sure the Mexican nanny labour market has gotten much tighter, but that doesn't effect as many people.
roystgnr
18hr ago
People were noticing the problem a decade before 9/11 too:
Homer: "That little Timmy is a real hero."
Lisa: "What makes him a hero, Dad?"
"Well, he fell down the well and... can't get out."
"How does that make him a hero?"
"Well, it's more than you did!"
-- The Simpsons, "Radio Bart", 1992
It's silly to claim that victims of natural tragedies are all heroes, but it's no worse than silly. I think the psychology here is a much more concerning problem in contexts like due process and free speech rights, though. Most people really don't like "defending scoundrels", as the old quote goes. For someone who can't get past that, the only ways to resolve the cognitive dissonance are to either abandon the defense or pretend the defendant isn't a scoundrel, both options that can have awful consequences if they become popular enough.
the various minor offences they committed as juveniles
Nah. Either they were guilty of what they confessed to, or they were guilty of implicating each other with false confessions. Even supposing the cops bullied them, and the other half dozen witnesses, including in front of their parents, that would just make the false-accusation offences excusable, not minor.
Instead, I was treated to a bizarre presentation, which felt strangely paternalistic and maybe even a little desperate?
Partially out of laziness, and partially out of paranoia (sharing details could lead to my doxxing) I never written out a longpoast that's been on my mind since AI went mainstream. Basically I am deeply convinced that some dude(s) at Davos or wherever TPTB hang out these days, decided in advance that AI is going to be The Next Big Thing, whether it makes a lick of sense or not. I've seen, with my very own eyes, the very kind of workshops you're describing being rammed through in mere weeks since GPT-3 was published, and this happened in sectors famous for their calcification. There's an entire "Tech in Education" infrastructure devoted to getting kids hooked on chatbots as soon as they learn to read or write. There are incentive programs for public sector workers to sit through these kinds of presentations. It's nuts.
Now, is it a bubble? I dunno, someone recently linked some stats about OpenAI revenues, if they didn't do insane overinvestment, I think they should be fine, but the hype about it reshaping the world (+/-, chatbot romantic partners cooking people's brains, people's ability to research and think going into the toilet, etc.) feels pretty fake.
fmac
Ask me about bike lanes
18hr ago
That wasn't the question. The question is whether he was disappeared
What if we amend "disappeared" to "breaking someone leg and unlawfully holding them in a hospital for 37 days without charging them and while making them hard to find for a month"
Are you fine with your government doing that to it's people? Weird hill to die on lol
DirtyWaterHotDog
18hr ago
We shall overcome, one day
Sigh. Nothing ever happens, until something happens.
I've spent the bulk of my life as a hyper-vigilant survivalist. Am I reasonably cautious ? Am I or a bundle of anxiety ? Idk. I can tell you, my parents are a bundle of anxiety. They've spent every minute of their life with that look on their face. The look of a man who thinks a predator may pounce on him any moment. A life lived in fight-or-flight. We didn't know Murphy's law at the time, but it was my parent's religion. I and my brother joking phrased my parent's motto another way: "Never stop clenching". The culture around us was much of the same. After all, we grew up singing the hindi version of "we shall overcome, one day". It tried to convince us of hope despite the length of the struggle. Yet. something about the the hindi translation of "some day" ("eik din") makes the good days feel even farther away.
I didn't want to become that. I don't want to become that. It isn't in my nature.
By nature, I am carefree, careless, a hopeless optimist. I mean, I did almost fail to graduate because of a paperwork issue. I did almost forget to sign an offer letter for my first job. I did almost get out of a car in neutral while on a slope near a cliff (This one haunts me). I am a famously careless man compared to my people. Maybe I'm just a good self-deprecating storyteller who remembers his cringe moments most vividly. But, god, being able to not care feels so good. I want to not give a fuck. In a way, it's the only time I feel alive.
I'm not being fair to myself. I can retell my story another other way. The elder kid of a large family who did everything right. Studied, good school, good major, good job, good relationships, no debt. Achieved every dream my parents had for me and paid for my brother's education. No fuck ups. I bore the burdens, completed my responsibilities. 100/100.
Finally, I could be my care free self ? Or so I thought. But, upbringing, environment and life have chipped at me. Like Half-dome, the glaciers of cynicism have carved hyper-vigilance into me, permanently. Or so I fear. So, I took a step. I spent 2024 and 2025 soul-searching. I made decisions that would let me care less. Surely, if there is less to worry about, I would worry less. right ?
Last couple of months have been weird. Weird good, weird bad. Aug was big for me. 2 years of my effort bore fruit, and I made the big life change that I'd been working to orchestrate. Switched to a larger company for less stress. Moved closer to my girlfriend. Returned to the city I want to spend my life in, so I could lay down roots. My brother's internship gave him a return off. My parents resolved a major housing issue that had dangled over them for 30 years. Life looked good. My targeted efforts had paid off, the light at the end of the tunnel was there.
I felt vindicated too. I was about to prove my parents way of life was wrong. Detail-oriented paranoia is not worth it. Don't need to live life on the look out for predators. If I do it right, my kids might deem my motto to be: "unclench a little".
Bruh, then my man Trump sends things for a twist. The H1b announcement turned my world on its head. A roommate had to be woken up in the middle of the night in India, so he could drive 8 hours and take a flight back. For 48 hours, I was dead certain I was going to be fired. My coworker took 3 layover so he could reenter the country before midnight. The man shaved his glorious stache to look like his passport photo at the immigration booth. It was mayhem. We were spooked, but Trump reversed the most egregious policies of the bunch. Thankfully, nothing ever happens. Until it does. A few days later, my brother heard back from his future-employer. They are rescinding the offer. Turns out, they'd been spooked too. Company is stopping all immigrant hires until the smoke clears.
Over August and Sept, I'd told my more-anxious-than-me brother: "You have an offer. They know you and like you. It's signed. They don't have financial issues or lay off risk. You've put off every personal goal for the last decade. Self-actualize a little. Spend time at the gym, do side-projects, try out new things". In hindsight, bad advice. Should've kept clenching. Brother's graduating in a couple of months. Those 2 extra months of prep sure would've come in handy around now. Shit's gonna be tight. Market is unforgiving for immigrant new grads. I think he'll make it, but man do things look bleak. The plural of anecdote is not data. I am definitely overthinking this a little. But man, every time we unclench, a once in a decade event trips us up.
That being said, Eh. It's not that bad. Life is still okay. The H1b issue is culture war rocket fuel in the other motte thread. But, here, it's little more than a narrative device. It could have been any other major crisis. I would have reacted similarly. That sense of lingering regret for not having clenched strongly enough.
I haven't given up yet. Optimism is a choice. It may a take a little more time for things to figure themselves out. But, I'll get there. I hit a pothole, but still on the right track. Breathe in. Breathe out. Back in the ring I go.
P.S: There's a silver lining. I've taken inspiration from our great first-lady, and I'm on track to acquire my permanent residence in America as a mail-order groom. Take a few pounds off me, and I'm decent eye candy, if I say so myself. Infiltrating your great nation and stealing your white women at the same time. Seethe incels. Seethe. :)
KMC
lurk moar
18hr ago
You'll sieve out particular haplogroups, and that only if we allow the technicality of a chromosome being one molecule.
Yes, because it actually exists in the real world. You don't have to grind down to the level of molecule when you have chromosome, you can just stop there.
Unlike laws or morality, ethnicity is physically present in the world and can be observed, measured, and isolated.
daguerrean
18hr ago
TheMotte is weirdly averse to admitting the Trump’s administration is often deliberately maximally inflammatory and absolutely does engage in “liberal tears” style antagonism. Yes, I understand that the media will always portray conservatives as the villain no matter what you do (Nicholas Sandman, Binders full of women, etc) but that doesn’t mean you have no agency in being more or less provocative. In many cases it may make no difference in your public perception due to media manipulation, but we shouldn’t ignore that Trump is openly, deliberately inflammatory
Okay, and I'm saying its only "fuck the left" because the left has abandoned any pretense of rule of law and embraced Anarcho-Tyranny. The left could end the controversy tomorrow, if they just said "actually yes, lets enforce immigration law and stop selectively chosing which criminals are good and which are bad. Then we can work on comprehensive reform."
"Fuck ICE fascists!" Is not the own the left thinks its is.
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