U.S. Politics

[altcunningham]

I wanna play the illegal Irish immigrant game!

It was 4 that had the Irish crime family. Packie and Kate were main characters. Their brother Patrick was the cop trying to do right. I think.

I should replay it. I loved 4.

Packie shows up in 5 in a cameo.

 

[Ru1977]

Huh well shit I may look into that, thank you. I got 5 when it was super cheap but never actually play the game. I just cruise around wrecking my cars.

 

[altcunningham]

4.is NYC. The immigrant experience, ha.

It's one of my favorites to just roleplay and exist in. There are so many systems at play that even 5 dropped. For better or worse, a lot of what that game addresses is relevant now.

 

[docsilence]

Although he did tell me his plan, pre-trump, was to just come in undocumented anyway and pour concrete in Brooklyn. I'm told it's common. Or was.

Yeah, in 1925.

Haw. Well, I used to know a guy from Boston who owned a bar in Chicago where he employed several illegal immigrants from Ireland...

Okay in all seriousness, I worked with an Irish kid in Boston who just disappeared one day and we found out a year later (this was pre-everyone actually having reliable, consistent email or social media. Turns out he overstayed his visa intentionally, got busted doing something stupid, and just sent home.

I also worked in a bar where not one but TWO Irish guys, when a fight broke out, would LOCK THEMSELVES IN THE OFFICE not because they were afraid to get into a scrap but because they were both in the country illegally and if the cops showed up they'd get sent home. One dude even said he'd done it twice and "I'm out of names! I've come in under my English name and under my Irish name, I don't have any more left!"

And my friend's fiance couldn't go home to visit his parents because he was here illegally and if he left the country he wasn't getting back in. You guys know my history of trying to emigrate over there, I think... I know it probably says a lot about my own personal life choices but man, I know so many Irish numbnuts who played chicken with immigration pre-Trump and got caught...

 

[Ru1977]

Yeah, these guys kept getting deported as well but he would take in more.

 

[altcunningham]

Okay in all seriousness, I worked with an Irish kid in Boston who just disappeared one day and we found out a year later (this was pre-everyone actually having reliable, consistent email or social media. Turns out he overstayed his visa intentionally, got busted doing something stupid, and just sent home.

I also worked in a bar where not one but TWO Irish guys, when a fight broke out, would LOCK THEMSELVES IN THE OFFICE not because they were afraid to get into a scrap but because they were both in the country illegally and if the cops showed up they'd get sent home. One dude even said he'd done it twice and "I'm out of names! I've come in under my English name and under my Irish name, I don't have any more left!"

And my friend's fiance couldn't go home to visit his parents because he was here illegally and if he left the country he wasn't getting back in. You guys know my history of trying to emigrate over there, I think... I know it probably says a lot about my own personal life choices but man, I know so many Irish numbnuts who played chicken with immigration pre-Trump and got caught...

Damn, I guess my guy knows what's up from that end.

Before the dark times.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

I'm not going to say that at all. I'm going to say it doesn't even matter. Republicans, particularly in the last 10 years, but certainly in the last 25 years, have so thoroughly broken every institution we rely on that I don't think even smart, well-intentioned people can fix even a third of it before the NEXT big Republican victory comes along and destroys it all again.

I think it's an endless backslide of 1 step forward, 5 steps back. We've been losing for generations and now we're seeing the fruits of that. I don't think it's necessarily even POSSIBLE to fix it all in 20 years, let alone the MAYBE 2-4 we'd actually get. And that's assuming the best possible candidates in every position, which we also won't get, and a lack of obstruction from OTHER Democrats, which we ALSO won't get.

Absolutely true.

Now that Trump has thrown every norm out the window, there's no way to have a functioning democracy, society, government, treaties, you name it. You cannot operate in a world where, potentially every four years, you oscillate between "climate science is real" and hanging the climate scientists for treason. That goes for everything. We've already seen it with the Iran nuclear deal. When other countries lose faith in your ability to uphold your agreements, it's over.

The only way out is an FDR-esque Fuck It president who does not take no for an answer. If you read your history books, you'll find that FDR and Lincoln pulled extralegal maneuvers to make this country what it is today. We need that and then some. Otherwise, the Soviet-style breakup is coming.

My 15 yo step-son asked if we were at the end of Trump's term yet. When I explained we had 3 more years he asked if we'd be able to fix everything he broke. I pointed out that minimally the world's trust in the US to not elect another Trump is broken i definitely. Merry Christmas, kid!

Truth is, president is a dumb fucking idea. I didn't think it'd backfire because Congress willingly handed over its figurative gun and badge, but it was always too much power for one person. Perhaps more accurately, it was too much power for voters.

 

[docsilence]

Damn, I guess my guy knows what's up from that end.

Before the dark times.

It was a more innocent time, when goofy dudes from, like, Dingle could sneak in, work at a bar for five years, and marry an American girl and nobody would care. (Have I ever mentioned the time I almost got deported from Ireland for doing the same thing?)

 

[Goldbug]

Border Protection officers work through Chicago, suburbs in renewed push

Hundreds of Border Protection officers are on the streets of Chicago and the suburbs this week, with Commander Gregory Bovino back in the city.

www.nbcchicago.com

Absolutely true.

Now that Trump has thrown every norm out the window, there's no way to have a functioning democracy, society, government, treaties, you name it. You cannot operate in a world where, potentially every four years, you oscillate between "climate science is real" and hanging the climate scientists for treason. That goes for everything. We've already seen it with the Iran nuclear deal. When other countries lose faith in your ability to uphold your agreements, it's over.

The only way out is an FDR-esque Fuck It president who does not take no for an answer. If you read your history books, you'll find that FDR and Lincoln pulled extralegal maneuvers to make this country what it is today. We need that and then some. Otherwise, the Soviet-style breakup is coming.

Truth is, president is a dumb fucking idea. I didn't think it'd backfire because Congress willingly handed over its figurative gun and badge, but it was always too much power for one person. Perhaps more accurately, it was too much power for voters.

Illinois is making notes hopefully for their eventual trial

https://wgntv.com/news/operation-midway-blitz/illinois-accountability-commission-chemical-weapons-federal-agents/

US suspends green card lottery scheme after Brown shooting

The suspect in the university shooting and the murder of an MIT professor entered the US via the scheme.

www.bbc.com

 

[altcunningham]

It was a more innocent time, when goofy dudes from, like, Dingle could sneak in, work at a bar for five years, and marry an American girl and nobody would care. (Have I ever mentioned the time I almost got deported from Ireland for doing the same thing?)

No. But you should.

 

[Damien]

The only way out is an FDR-esque Fuck It president who does not take no for an answer. If you read your history books, you'll find that FDR and Lincoln pulled extralegal maneuvers to make this country what it is today. We need that and then some.

In fairness... we have that. It's not going as well this time.

Now that Trump has thrown every norm out the window, there's no way to have a functioning democracy, society, government, treaties, you name it. You cannot operate in a world where, potentially every four years, you oscillate between "climate science is real" and hanging the climate scientists for treason. That goes for everything. We've already seen it with the Iran nuclear deal. When other countries lose faith in your ability to uphold your agreements, it's over.

Yup. America is like that dumb Russian kid that killed John Wick's dog. He was dead right when it started. Just took a while for him to fully realize it. America has fundamentally been destroyed. Everything that made it work no longer exists. Congratulations to all the conservatives out there, though. You finally did it. You hated America so much that you finally killed it.

I'm not a total pessimist. I do believe there are things we can do to rebuild a stronger, better America that's far more resistant to fascism, authoritarianism, and Great Man simping. I just think we won't do them.
No...
I know we won't do them.

 

[docsilence]

No. But you should.

I'd fallen in love with an Irish doctor while she was living in Boston and basically followed her home like a stray cat when her time here ran out. We were thinking about getting hitched and I was trying REALLY HARD to get straight answers about how to stay there long-term while we figured it out. I love Ireland but their immigration policies are a bit chaotic.

First person I asked: "ah sure now if anyone gives you trouble just jump in a bush."
Me: Jump in a bush?
Him: Do I look like I'm gonna chase ye, lad?

Then we went to London for a visit. I'd been traveling with ALL my paperwork, showing I was a contractor for an American company, not seeking work in Ireland, and basically "hey look I'm earning American dollars but adding to the Irish economy." But for the London trip I left the paperwork at home because it was like a forty minute flight.

Now at the time, the US had stopped stamping passports when you came and went. So I'm coming back through security in Shannon and this old retired cop running the desk gets suspicious when my passport says I've been in Ireland without returning home for like 18 months. (I'd gone home to restart the clock every 90 days religiously so this WOULDN'T happen.) And he figures out I'd had to have my passport reissued because the US government got my birthday wrong, thinks I'm flying in under a fake passport and is like AH HA I GOT YA, YA FILTHY CRIMINAL!

Was not going to let me into the country. Mind, Mary had flounced off to get our bags and left me there, she was not with me, I had nobody to vouch for me.

But because this was Ireland, and Shannon airport, and this dude was the only guy running security AT ALL, he sees a flight from France landing (literally through the window behind me.) And I realize he just doesn't want to bother with processing me and leave a flight of angry French folks waiting. So he says "ah go on now, get this sorted would you." And I thank him even though I'm basically pissing my pants. Mary comes running up to us, seeing I'm in trouble, and he sees WHY I'm in this wet auld country. And he says: "You know you wouldn't have this problem if you just married her." So I yell, at the end of my rope: "I AM TRYING, SIR, SHE KEEPS SAYING NO" and then we left.

I went to the immigration office that next morning. I explain what happens. The guy there says: well have you overstayed? I'm like no, I have plane tickets here in my hand that get me out of the country a week before my time's up. And he says well there's nothing I can do to help you, you have to actually overstay first for me to help.

Anyway. I love that place, I wish I HAD stayed, but it was goddamned romper room trying to figure out their immigration process, which is why whenever I hear Americans saying they'll just up and move there on a whim to escape Trump I'm like the fuck you WILL my mans....