[Hakeer]

He has to be able to keep people apathetic for a very long time. He loves the ones who sit on their ass all day and leave active political action to others. The USA is rife with those people.

The working class are pissed off. But they have bought into the mentality that being brash and nasty is winner behavior. Also, being a believer that they are the exception to all the rules. I am an immigrant from Guatemala and Mexico and I came illegally into the nation (undocumented) in the early 1980s. I went to Las Vegas, Nevada. I went to work at a grocery store and my wife went to work at a casino. Ronald Reagan gave us amnesty in 1986. A path to citizenship. We saved and bought a house. Had children who now are citizens by birthright. I voted for Kamala and I thought about voting for Trump too. Trump won and I am happy because he is going to fix the economy.

Cut to the son that is 29 years old and voted for Trump. Even though his cousins have shaky temp status and undocumented status....they are not bad people and work hard. Trump is going to go after the criminals.

He admires how brash and masculine Trump is.

The family is happy.

Latino family. Voting for Trump in Nevada. Parents came as people without work authorization in the USA. Voted for Trump.

Why? They are better than the rest of them out there. Americans are special. And they are Americans. They believe it. You need a strong dictator. Conservative values.

I have zero in common politically with those immigrants in the sense of political thought. I have zero in common with Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon the PNP governor in this year's elections for Puerto Rico. Zero in common politically.

The only people who think the Latinos in the USA are all the same type of people voting all the same way are people who have no sense of what political power philosophies are all about. I do not identify with the conservative evangelical Puerto Ricans. I have zero in common with them politically and religiously.

I always think it is very insane to believe in some magical thinking of all of you people think the same. Somehow you can identify differences between Europeans but the ones you deem the 'inferiors' in your subconscious minds? That you have complete lack of information on their history or their value systems? You fail to apply diversity to. Diversity of thought. Why do so many Americans of liberal and conservative thoughts do that shit? I would like to ask?

Here is the thing that will make a huge difference for Latinos once the deportation program gets rolling. They asked Tom Homan what he plans to do to avoid “family separation” this time (we still have 1,000 Latino kids in this country separated from their deported parents). He said “We will deport the whole family.” Trump will NOT honor birthright citizenship. If he actually does this, imagine the effect it is going to have on the Latino men who voted for Trump.

[Tainari88]

Here is the thing that will make a huge difference for Latinos once the deportation program gets rolling. They asked Tom Homan what he plans to do to avoid “family separation” this time (we still have 1,000 Latino kids in this country separated from their deported parents). He said “We will deport the whole family.” Trump will NOT honor birthright citizenship. If he actually does this, imagine the effect it is going to have on the Latino men who voted for Trump.

I have people whom I know well and care for deeply on a personal level who are Trump supporters, conservative to the hilt, and very very evangelical and who love fascist thought. They love it. Why? You talk to them and it is total lies they lap up, a total lack of reading and defined concepts about politics. They live their lives working hard.

My husband's sister has two daughters and two sons. Both are statehood supporters and Trump sympathesizers. You tell them you are voting for a racist. A sexist. A liar. A conman and a fascist government that really despises Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.

No, he does not. He is a man of God. He is going to save the USA from woke culture. He is going to lower taxes on us and our imports. He is going to make the Chinese pay higher for American goods and services. He is trustworthy. A good man of God. They tried to kill him because the Satanic people on the Left want to pervert our family values. etc etc.

They believe it.

Now, who are my husband's nieces and his sister? They did not grow up together.

But his sister is a very hard working Puerto Rican woman who has been married since 1975 to her husband Elias. Who was a driver for the Puerto Rican senate. He drove senators around for years and years and is retired. She is a retired LPN. Licensed Practical Nurse. She goes to her Protestant church every Sunday and Wednesday. She does every possible charitable thing. Cleans the house for her kids and her family, cooks, and has a truck she pays $475 USD payments for and wastes gas on the island galore in it. She used to have second jobs like Avon sales and so on.

She visited us in Mexico here. Never had been to Mexico but had visited the USA quite a bit. Mexico her first trip was this year in May. She brought us coffee, gifts, shirts, cups, and was the soul of Puerto Rican generosity. She was kind to my son. And kind to my husband. She did incredible things for him when he needed her help.

She is a very good person. So are her kids. Now, you talk to them about what I write about in this forum? They will say....never heard of that before. I do not study history. I do not know much about American history. Only what I learned in school in Puerto Rico. No, I need all that information in Spanish. I do not like speaking English in general. The Americans in the USA know who we are. They are not intolerant. They like Spanish. They are good people. They love us. Accept us. We are Christians and love Christ. Brotherhood in Christ.

All those lies about them being bad intolerant racists are lies and rumours. Those are their replies.

You got to let people face the problems in their path on their own. Through their own experiences.

Not through your own thoughts and philosophies.

Are they bad people? No, they are good human beings.

Are they ignorant about some vital aspects because no one taught them any different? Yes they are. Also lack of understanding is huge.

Experiences are very important to gain knowledge and wisdom.

What do I gain by alienating good human beings from my life based on the reality that many humans think in erreneous ways? Nothing gained.

Again, look deep inside your own mind and soul have you ever believed in shit before that turned out to be false? Yes. So why are you going to strip their humanity from them because they too did the same thing you did but for a different condition? You can't.

Now, if the US government comes to get my husband or I or my son and does really bad shit to us? They are going to start waking up. Because they know we are human and we are their blood. And they are connected to us.

By their fruits you shall know them. Trump is going to poison the Latino community with his shitty policies. But that is what needs to happen for their change to be genuine Hakeer.

All change is a fire that has to happen in this world.

[Deutschmania]

No, the leaders are not bound to be ignorant and irresponsible, provided the ruling system is meritocratic (as opposed to democratic where leaders are chosen by dopes who vote for those they can best relate to).
It was not my intention to say that all humans are dumb. I'm not one of those holy screwballs who say "man is not the answer only the lord can save us."
Many humans are bright and responsible but they are a small minority. That of course argues against the workability of democracy but it needn't be a problem under a meritocratic, authoritarian system.

Who all would be ensuring that the system is meritocratic , and how would this be accomplished ? What criteria would be used ? And by what means might it be implemented ?

[ingliz]

I can assume Maltese economics weren't the best

After WWII things were rough. So rough that in 1947, the colonial government introduced schemes to incentivise emigration and reduce Malta's population by 30%.

Following independence, when we had a socialist government under Mintoff putting our needs first, emigration dropped dramatically.

[Hakeer]

I have people whom I know well and care for deeply on a personal level who are Trump supporters, conservative to the hilt, and very very evangelical and who love fascist thought. They love it. Why? You talk to them and it is total lies they lap up, a total lack of reading and defined concepts about politics. They live their lives working hard.

My husband's sister has two daughters and two sons. Both are statehood supporters and Trump sympathesizers. You tell them you are voting for a racist. A sexist. A liar. A conman and a fascist government that really despises Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans.

No, he does not. He is a man of God. He is going to save the USA from woke culture. He is going to lower taxes on us and our imports. He is going to make the Chinese pay higher for American goods and services. He is trustworthy. A good man of God. They tried to kill him because the Satanic people on the Left want to pervert our family values. etc etc.

They believe it.

Now, who are my husband's nieces and his sister? They did not grow up together.

But his sister is a very hard working Puerto Rican woman who has been married since 1975 to her husband Elias. Who was a driver for the Puerto Rican senate. He drove senators around for years and years and is retired. She is a retired LPN. Licensed Practical Nurse. She goes to her Protestant church every Sunday and Wednesday. She does every possible charitable thing. Cleans the house for her kids and her family, cooks, and has a truck she pays $475 USD payments for and wastes gas on the island galore in it. She used to have second jobs like Avon sales and so on.

She visited us in Mexico here. Never had been to Mexico but had visited the USA quite a bit. Mexico her first trip was this year in May. She brought us coffee, gifts, shirts, cups, and was the soul of Puerto Rican generosity. She was kind to my son. And kind to my husband. She did incredible things for him when he needed her help.

She is a very good person. So are her kids. Now, you talk to them about what I write about in this forum? They will say....never heard of that before. I do not study history. I do not know much about American history. Only what I learned in school in Puerto Rico. No, I need all that information in Spanish. I do not like speaking English in general. The Americans in the USA know who we are. They are not intolerant. They like Spanish. They are good people. They love us. Accept us. We are Christians and love Christ. Brotherhood in Christ.

All those lies about them being bad intolerant racists are lies and rumours. Those are their replies.

You got to let people face the problems in their path on their own. Through their own experiences.

Not through your own thoughts and philosophies.

Are they bad people? No, they are good human beings.

Are they ignorant about some vital aspects because no one taught them any different? Yes they are. Also lack of understanding is huge.

Experiences are very important to gain knowledge and wisdom.

What do I gain by alienating good human beings from my life based on the reality that many humans think in erreneous ways? Nothing gained.

Again, look deep inside your own mind and soul have you ever believed in shit before that turned out to be false? Yes. So why are you going to strip their humanity from them because they too did the same thing you did but for a different condition? You can't.

Now, if the US government comes to get my husband or I or my son and does really bad shit to us? They are going to start waking up. Because they know we are human and we are their blood. And they are connected to us.

By their fruits you shall know them. Trump is going to poison the Latino community with his shitty policies. But that is what needs to happen for their change to be genuine Hakeer.

All change is a fire that has to happen in this world.

When you talk to your friends and family members who endorse Trump about separating thousands of kids from their parents in the deportation process, what do they say? Do they admit it happened but minimize the numbers and scale? Do they understand what happened but nonetheless approve?

If it happens on an EXPONENTIALLY greater scale this time with thousands and thousands of families holed up in tent detention gulags in LA, Houston, Miami, Chicago, etc., how do you think they would react?

[Tainari88]

After WWII things were rough. So rough that in 1947, the colonial government introduced schemes to incentivise emigration and reduce Malta's population by 30%.

Following independence, when we had a socialist government under Mintoff putting our needs first, emigration dropped dramatically.

Yes, that makes sense.

FDR sent the really radical socialists to Puerto Rico during the Great Depression. With a plan.

Lt Colonel E. Francis Riggs the head of the Police Department of Puerto Rico and the son of rich bankers and investors....who killed and massacred peaceful protestors in Ponce, Puerto Rico got his head blown off by This Puerto Rican man, that were Nationalists from Albizu Campos party...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El%C3%ADas_Beauchamp

Background on Beauchamp the one who later got shot while in police custody. That entire violent incident in Puerto Rico in the late 1930s almost resulted in a bill introduced in the house and senate to make Puerto Rico an independent nation. The deal was cut with Luis Muñoz...and the PPD. Luis MR and LuisMM were both socialists. Roosevelt gave him money to fix the poverty situation. Puerto Rico improved a lot economically.

The old PPD is dying now. And the core of that old party still has a bunch of socialists light in there.

They are going for Juan Dalmau now.

I wonder how history is eh?

Maltese had to deal with the rough stuff like we have. It is interesting that commonality @ingliz.

The big powder keg was the sugar cane worker strike. That concerned Riggs. Albizu had a lot of success with the strike.

Nydia Velazquez the Congresswoman from NY (D) is the daughter of a radical union organizer for the sugar cane workers from the 1940s. She represents part of Manhattan.

And she is not pro statehood. Oh how strange the threads of a political web happen with politics eh?

Many Puerto Rican men have served in the US Armed forces. Many are specialized in special ops, the Navy, Army and Air Force and Marines. Trained by the USA. For years and years.

And if they know for sure the US is throwing them and us under the bus because they are fascists, racists and Trump has an issue with veterans and especially Puerto Rican veterans? Who knows how that shakes out eh?

It is all mystery Ingliz.

[Rich]

On Joe Biden's first day in office he pushed through Trans Women and Trans girls access to women's bathrooms and the right to take part in women's sport. Trans domination, Trans privilege is at the absolute forefront of Biden and Harris's agenda. Don't let the lying liberal media gas light you into believing anything else. We must make absolutely no apologies with being obsessed with stopping their evil agenda.

Joe Biden said women must always be believed. Obviously that didn't mean the earlier women who made accusations against Bill Clinton or the later women who made accusations against Joe Biden himself should be believed. So again we should make absolutely no apologies for being obsessed with stopping the Deep State being able to frame up and show trial any man they decide threatens their agenda. In Britain Muslim gangs and gangs from Muslim communities have been drugging, raping, beating, abusing and prostituting under age girls on an industrial scale and progressives have done their damnedest to protect the Muslim perpetrators and destroy anyone who tried to expose what was going on.

These people don't care about protecting women. The Liberals claim they hate Donald Trump. They claim they hate White Supremacists and Nazis. But you know who they really. A Liberal that doesn't toe the line. A Liberal that starts thinking for themselves. A Liberal who starts speaking for themselves. Oh yes they hate J.K Rowling far more than they hate Donald Trump.

[Tainari88]

When you talk to your friends and family members who endorse Trump about separating thousands of kids from their parents in the deportation process, what do they say? Do they admit it happened but minimize the numbers and scale? Do they understand what happened but nonetheless approve?

If it happens on an EXPONENTIALLY greater scale this time with thousands and thousands of families holed up in tent detention gulags in LA, Houston, Miami, Chicago, etc., how do you think they would react?

You have to realize that they believe what the Trump camp are going to tell them. They will be true believers.

What do cults do with their members? Manipulate them with narratives that are all lies.

The people that were really adamant protesters out there on that border with caging kids? Were a lot of Jews from the WWII generation who were born to parents talking about parent and child separation.

You got to study how they lie. They are not going to go to detention centers. They are going to a school environment. Their parents are poor ignorants and the best choice for them is to have them educated in the USA.

I am going to tell you a little story. I worked part time at a retail store. A second job I had to temporarily pay off a small student loan. At this store I met a woman from Honduras. She approached me one day and said to me in Spanish, 'Can you help me Tainari?' I replied with what? I need you to go to Houston Texas to an immigration detention center to pick up my five year old son. He was found in the desert by Border and Immigration Control police. I asked her what was your son doing in a desert by himself with no adults? She said, 'I paid five thousand dollars to a coyote to bring him over to Denver. I had not seen him in various years and my sister and her husband lost their jobs in Tegucigalpa and now they have no way of making money and sustaining him. I wanted her to cross with him but it will take months for me to pay for her as well. So I told her to just pay the Coyote and have him come over on his own with some Coyote companion person. But the border cops stopped the car and they all ran and left my son alone in the car. Alone.' I heard this story....I had to go take a break. I waited for our shift to be done and I got her in the car and we went to a place to get tea.

I looked at her and I was FURIOUS. I mean steaming, boiling angry! I said to her, in Spanish, --You are going to risk your son's life with some fucking criminals who might have sold him into slavery, or organ harvesting or pedophile porn or who knows what the fuck those human traffickers do with small children? For what? The American Dream. This dream where you work as a stocker with a fake social security number in a retail store making shit for wages. You are piled into an apartment with other people. It is not the dream. But you risk your son's life for the ability to see him again eh? And live the fucking dream? He could have died. He was alone for hours screaming for his mother for hours and hours. You were not there to protect him. Your sister was not there either. What the fuck where you thinking you stupid dumb ass fantasy prone idiot woman!!-

She got freightened with me. She was standing up. I told her in a harsh tone, -Siéntate ahora mismo.´Sit down right now. I then said, I am going to call my mother, she lives closer to Houston than I do. She has a car and has time for this. You need to give her permission to pick him up. But you have to realize how DUMB you are. You should have taken your entire five thousand dollars, returned to Honduras. Opened some small business with your sister and your brother in law and stayed with your son. Never fucking risk your child over some fake American lying dream that does not exist for undocumented poor immigrants from Honduras in the USA. It is not worth it! Do you understand me??

She was shaking because I was so angry I could strike her.

And I could.

Mami got that child and got him to his mother in Denver. I told her never to call me again.

These people are crazy and desperate. They do not make sense. And suffer from logic problems in my honest opinion.

They are going to have to learn how fascist racist people with tremendous power and dumbness combined are going to make their lives a living hell. Too much propaganda lies they believe in.

The end.

[Hakeer]

You have to realize that they believe what the Trump camp are going to tell them. They will be true believers.

What do cults do with their members? Manipulate them with narratives that are all lies.

The people that were really adamant protesters out there on that border with caging kids? Were a lot of Jews from the WWII generation who were born to parents talking about parent and child separation.

You got to study how they lie. They are not going to go to detention centers. They are going to a school environment. Their parents are poor ignorants and the best choice for them is to have them educated in the USA.

I am going to tell you a little story. I worked part time at a retail store. A second job I had to temporarily pay off a small student loan. At this store I met a woman from Honduras. She approached me one day and said to me in Spanish, 'Can you help me Tainari?' I replied with what? I need you to go to Houston Texas to an immigration detention center to pick up my five year old son. He was found in the desert by Border and Immigration Control police. I asked her what was your son doing in a desert by himself with no adults? She said, 'I paid five thousand dollars to a coyote to bring him over to Denver. I had not seen him in various years and my sister and her husband lost their jobs in Tegucigalpa and now they have no way of making money and sustaining him. I wanted her to cross with him but it will take months for me to pay for her as well. So I told her to just pay the Coyote and have him come over on his own with some Coyote companion person. But the border cops stopped the car and they all ran and left my son alone in the car. Alone.' I heard this story....I had to go take a break. I waited for our shift to be done and I got her in the car and we went to a place to get tea.

I looked at her and I was FURIOUS. I mean steaming, boiling angry! I said to her, in Spanish, --You are going to risk your son's life with some fucking criminals who might have sold him into slavery, or organ harvesting or pedophile porn or who knows what the fuck those human traffickers do with small children? For what? The American Dream. This dream where you work as a stocker with a fake social security number in a retail store making shit for wages. You are piled into an apartment with other people. It is not the dream. But you risk your son's life for the ability to see him again eh? And live the fucking dream? He could have died. He was alone for hours screaming for his mother for hours and hours. You were not there to protect him. Your sister was not there either. What the fuck where you thinking you stupid dumb ass fantasy prone idiot woman!!-

She got freightened with me. She was standing up. I told her in a harsh tone, -Siéntate ahora mismo.´Sit down right now. I then said, I am going to call my mother, she lives closer to Houston than I do. She has a car and has time for this. You need to give her permission to pick him up. But you have to realize how DUMB you are. You should have taken your entire five thousand dollars, returned to Honduras. Opened some small business with your sister and your brother in law and stayed with your son. Never fucking risk your child over some fake American lying dream that does not exist for undocumented poor immigrants from Honduras in the USA. It is not worth it! Do you understand me??

She was shaking because I was so angry I could strike her.

And I could.

Mami got that child and got him to his mother in Denver. I told her never to call me again.

These people are crazy and desperate. They do not make sense. And suffer from logic problems in my honest opinion.

They are going to have to learn how fascist racist people with tremendous power and dumbness combined are going to make their lives a living hell. Too much propaganda lies they believe in.

The end.

So have your true believer friends and family told you that family separations last time never happened? Or is greatly exaggerated by Democrats? And are you telling me they have their heads so buried in the sand that even if Trump goes full-Stalin for four years, they won’t notice? Or won’t care?

Desperate parents do desperate things when separated from their children. I believe there will be many more like the woman you met. This is going to be awful.

[Tainari88]

So have your true believer friends and family told you that family separations last time never happened? Or is greatly exaggerated by Democrats? And are you telling me they have their heads so buried in the sand that even if Trump goes full-Stalin for four years, they won’t notice? Or won’t care?

Desperate parents do desperate things when separated from their children. I believe there will be many more like the woman you met. This is going to be awful.

Hakeer who do you think statehooder Puerto Ricans are? They believe in sheer manipulations. If they want to be a state all they need to do is pack their bags and go and see how Puerto Ricans live in one of the fifty states.

They do not want to speak English, or assimilate, or be part of that culture. They want to live in Puerto Rico and be able to be the upper class or upper elite on the island, speak Spanish and control the money. Have the same power that other states have. And we would have a fair amount of congresspeople.

Is the US ready for that kind of thing?

They live in denial all day. All day. Strong lies going on all the time.

Yes, they will believe nothing bad is going to happen because Trump is a man of God. Evangelical Christians whom they trust say so.

What do you think a lot of these magical thinking Evangelical people preach? Scientific results and Physics? Or myth and stories about miraculous happenings? The Evil vs the Good. They do not ever explore the gray parts of human life. Which is the majority really.

That is where truly well grounded and well rounded educations are key to understanding complexity.

No. They do not understand. And unless you dig away at trying to understand? it will not happen.

[Hakeer]

Hakeer who do you think statehooder Puerto Ricans are? They believe in sheer manipulations. If they want to be a state all they need to do is pack their bags and go and see how Puerto Ricans live in one of the fifty states.

They do not want to speak English, or assimilate, or be part of that culture. They want to live in Puerto Rico and be able to be the upper class or upper elite on the island, speak Spanish and control the money. Have the same power that other states have. And we would have a fair amount of congresspeople.

Is the US ready for that kind of thing?

They live in denial all day. All day. Strong lies going on all the time.

Yes, they will believe nothing bad is going to happen because Trump is a man of God. Evangelical Christians whom they trust say so.

What do you think a lot of these magical thinking Evangelical people preach? Scientific results and Physics? Or myth and stories about miraculous happenings? The Evil vs the Good. They do not ever explore the gray parts of human life. Which is the majority really.

That is where truly well grounded and well rounded educations are key to understanding complexity.

No. They do not understand. And unless you dig away at trying to understand? it will not happen.

So they live in a cocoon and would not follow the mass deportations at all? What about the Puerto Ricans and Mexicans living in the U.S,, especially those who have naturalized children who are thoroughly Americanized? Those people will in a horrible predicament.

[Rich]

That is where truly well grounded and well rounded educations are key to understanding complexity.

No. They do not understand. And unless you dig away at trying to understand? it will not happen.

Oh some of us understand full well what's going on here. There has been a covert alliance between the Puerto Rico independence movement and the Republican party for decades. I'm not suggesting that there's some secret committee running things. There doesn't need to be. Its a nod here and a wink there.

One of the great things about the MAGA movement is that it has so many freedom loving, free thinking, independently minded people. When Donald Trump tried to turn everyone into vaccine lovers, MAGA supporters said no. This movement doesn't exist for the convenience of Donald Trump. In fact far from enslaving the MAGA movement to the pharmaceutical-sickness industrial complex it was Donald Trump who had to make an embarrassing climb down and was actually forced to bring Robert Kennedy into the movement. So unlike the liberals, who sheepishly accepted the Liberal Media lies when they were told that Joe Biden was fit to do a second term, but then made hysterical outpourings of joy when the liberal establishment did an about turn and told them that he wasn't fit for office and that Kamala Harris was now the appointed candidate.

Anyway while there have been some excellent administration picks, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegsworth and Matt Gaetz, many MAGA people are questioning the wisdom of putting "Little Marco" at State. I guess an argument in his favour, is that the senior diplomat must be able to act diplomatically, he is at least credible like that as opposed to that joke of a Foreign secretary David Lammy. My hope would be that he hold confirmation of Rubio till last. If the Senate doesn't confirm Gabbard then Rubio gets withdrawn.

[ingliz]

There has been a covert alliance between the Puerto Rico independence movement and the Republican party

In April 2023, Puerto Rico's Status Act, which seeks to resolve its territorial status and relationship with the United States through a binding plebiscite at the federal level, was reintroduced in the House by Democrats.

[Tainari88]

So they live in a cocoon and would not follow the mass deportations at all? What about the Puerto Ricans and Mexicans living in the U.S,, especially those who have naturalized children who are thoroughly Americanized? Those people will in a horrible predicament.

I know such people. I have a lot of respect for a friend of mine. For the purpose of this story let us call her Rosita. Rosita came undocumented with her husband whom she later divorced for being an alcoholic but kept friendly ties to him for the sake of her children.

She had a young son about five years old. By the name of Carlitos. She gave birth to the second son in her second year in the USA. Her young son is legal and her older one is not. Rosita was a very hard worker and outstandingly determined to make it.

She stayed with me until she could get a job and stabilize. Over time she rented an apartment. Found stable work cooking, cleaning and waitressing at a local bar and grill. She then over time saved and on weekends sold carnitas from Michoacan. Her home state in Mexico. (This is all a true story by the way Hakeer, not a line in here that is not true in real life). She opened up her driveway for her own facebook page business selling Carnitas from her home that she bought when the USA back in the early 2000s were selling mortgages to people that had ITIN numbers that are about paying taxes without an SSN.

It was a lovely ranch home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms and big backyard in a lower middle class neighborhood in Denver. She did all the remodeling projects herself. She was doing really well.

She rented out the rooms for extra cash. Her kids she was a great mother as well. Provided for them. But she lacked a formal education. Did not understand how to get them to do well in school. Her older son fucked around a lot and never turned in homework and got terrible grades. Dropped out of school. Her younger son was addicted to videogames all day long. He literally would even refuse to eat or sleep sometimes playing videogames. Both kids spoke Spanish and English but? She would talk to them in Spanish and they would answer back in English.

Her younger son would go to school but as soon as he would get back from school would go straight for the videogames. She would be doing laundry, making beds, cooking dinner (she was a stellar cook). This went on for a while. Her extended family settled in Denver from Michoacan. I visited her hometown and knew some people there that she was blood related to. Aria de Rosales was the name of the town near Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico.

She had to leave due to the Cartels and the unemployment problems. Her family had a farm where she learned some serious hard working ethics. The marriage did not survive the seven day a week thing of having to work under the table for less money than legal workers. It was brutal.

But she was after her American Dream eh? So what happened there? She bought her house, a brand new Dodge Truck. She was making money and socking it away. Then she decided during the pandemic to open a new Mexican restaurant in a suburb of Denver. It was a hit. Why? She worked for twenty years or so in restaurants. She knew how to do everything in that industry. She was the star worker for the American Anglo owner of the Bar and Grill.

Anyway, she worked very hard. But needed more help. Her sons could not help her. They were 'Americans' and had ambitions of making money outside of restaurant work. Neither of them applied themselves in school. What for? Mom would provide as always. Their father would come by on weekends after the divorce and take them out for pizza and the movies. They had no plans on wasting their time in some hot kitchen making Mexican food to make their mother's life easier. After all the American Dream is about material succuess and stability and they had achieved that eh?

I told her your older son is not a citizen. He does not have a high school diploma. He will not qualify for about 85% of jobs. His Spanish is rusty and informal and his English is ok, but sloppily spoken. He needs to do something about holding down a job and getting an education.

She looks at me with her beautiful eyes and says to me, 'Tainari I have everything I wanted here. I wanted a house, a car, a business, and it is all successful. But I am unhappy. The people here in the USA are not my home culture. They only see me as a person to get hard labor out of. I miss my culture a lot. I think my kids are Americanized. They think like Americans that things come easy, English is best, and they want to believe they are white. None of that is true. But I do not know how to do anything but make sure the bills are paid and protect them as best I can. My ex employer will not sponsor me for my permanent or temporary residency. If he does that I have stability. But he might get fined for hiring other undocumented people so he plays the fool and says he did not know. I can't get my papers. My older son can't qualify either. I have tried to tell him that he might have to go someday back to Mexico with me. He says he does not want to go back to Michoacan. He is an American and this is a much better society. But he does not know how to work hard, be family oriented, sacrifice for something. He has no real skills. I did not get an education and I have no idea how to get that going. Do you know how?'

Well long story short. She got burned out cooking and cleaning and so on with the restaurant and with kids who never learned to be responsible for themselves and their mother, and she sold the successful restaurant and she is thinking of selling the house. It is worth a lot more than when she bought it.

She is hesitating going back to Michoacan because her kids love the lifestyle and culture of the USA. It is all they have ever known. But living without their mother is going to be EXTREMELY HARD for those kids.

And she might be swept up in a deportation raid. The best option for Rosida and Carlitos and Andres would be to sell it all off and go to Michoacan. But that is full of violence and now Sheinbaum is going to go to Michoacan and deal with the Cartels and the avocado fields controlled by them.

I think her best bet is Queretaro. But again her kids are not budging. Both now have dropped out of high school.

Both are layabouts.

The American Dream.

Rosita is going to hang on to riding out the Trump shit. Where lawyers will suck out all her money, her kids will be deported maybe. Or the older one is sent to Mexico along with her sisters and extended family and cousins and her youngest son left by himself. To find a job with the pride of being a real American. Born free and free as the wind blows. Free as the dumb go....free to be dumb.

The end.

[Tainari88]

@Hakeer in terms of Puerto Ricans? You can pack your bags and go and live in the mainland USA. You can vote if you move from Puerto Rico. All of the restriction is enforced if you remain in Puerto Rico. If you move to the USA you can vote, work, and have US citizenship rights.

If you remain in Puerto Rico you are stripped and restricted.

Why do you think that is? See if you can figure it out?

[Tainari88]

Oh some of us understand full well what's going on here. There has been a covert alliance between the Puerto Rico independence movement and the Republican party for decades. I'm not suggesting that there's some secret committee running things. There doesn't need to be. Its a nod here and a wink there.

One of the great things about the MAGA movement is that it has so many freedom loving, free thinking, independently minded people. When Donald Trump tried to turn everyone into vaccine lovers, MAGA supporters said no. This movement doesn't exist for the convenience of Donald Trump. In fact far from enslaving the MAGA movement to the pharmaceutical-sickness industrial complex it was Donald Trump who had to make an embarrassing climb down and was actually forced to bring Robert Kennedy into the movement. So unlike the liberals, who sheepishly accepted the Liberal Media lies when they were told that Joe Biden was fit to do a second term, but then made hysterical outpourings of joy when the liberal establishment did an about turn and told them that he wasn't fit for office and that Kamala Harris was now the appointed candidate.

Anyway while there have been some excellent administration picks, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegsworth and Matt Gaetz, many MAGA people are questioning the wisdom of putting "Little Marco" at State. I guess an argument in his favour, is that the senior diplomat must be able to act diplomatically, he is at least credible like that as opposed to that joke of a Foreign secretary David Lammy. My hope would be that he hold confirmation of Rubio till last. If the Senate doesn't confirm Gabbard then Rubio gets withdrawn.

No, Rich, the statehood fools like Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon think the Republican party are going to do the right thing. Puerto Rico will vote and the majority by some shitty margin of 52% will win the plebesicite or referendum. She gets all happy and says, now being very democratically minded the Republican party will make Puerto Rico a state.

No, it will not. The Republicans will say--we need some pre conditions met first, first, that Puerto Rico gets its disaster economy fixed. Second, everyone speaks English. Third, most Puerto Ricans must vote conservative or fascist, and fourth you allow the corporations full control of Puerto Rico and you move out the poverty stricken ones out, keep a few Puerto Ricans to be servant class people, get rid of that PIP and other MVC party people full of Communist Leftists by jailing and shooting them in the head. And make sure Black Puerto Ricans have no power on the island. Then I plan to buy a golf membership in Dorado and go golfing with my president.

They will then usher in a terroristic backlash and violence from the Puerto Ricans who disagree with that agenda. Including the dumb ass statehooders.

And since the fascsits believe in violence to rejuvenate society I am sure that the well trained US military trained Puerto Rican veterans who are going to see MAGA as disrespectful and racist, will get organized and they will wind up in some coalition with some radical violent Left organizations who hate MAGA. And some of your MAGA sweethearts Rich will be getting bombed and shot in the head as a consequence.

A bright future for the racist MAGA believers. I see it now happening.

Rich, do you have any idea how that goes? The Southern Irish troubles should have warned you about people who were part of the UK and got tired of getting the short end of the stick?

Being intolerant assholes is what will get you the worst violent reactions. If you had a compromise mindset? None of this would happen. But you do not? So the inevtiable result is going to be another scene with a lot of MAGAs complaining about lack of secret service security. They will analyze how someone had a tunnel underneath the golf course and when Trump was doing an Arnold Palmer imitation that went wrong and did not get a hole in one....all of a sudden the golf course from underneath comes alive, and shit....

You can imagine the rest. Rich, the key to peace is not being inflexible. But you guys are not flexible. Every political philosophy has their weakness. Fascism has hubris, arrogance and inflexibility. And those all are about getting violent reactions from people. And from political opponents. If you do not know when to bend you do not survive politically. Francisco Franco was asked to join WWII and help Hitler. He wanted to. But Franco was a smart Fascist. Not a dumb one. He compromised with the Spanish opposition. He had to. Spain never would have survived a second civil war. At all. And his hold on the Spanish government was precarious. So he compfomised. He allowed the Leftists breathing room. He allowed the RC church to keep its leftist wing. Had to compromise. He survived. Your MAGA and Trump administration has no such virtue. He is going to push it to the end. And he will have a lot of enemies. Deep state ones. Intelligence community. Pentagon, Liberal corporate types, and moderates and conventional shitty Republicans who did not want a Trump cult. He will also get some extreme Lefties. And the Puerto Ricans for sure will be his enemies. So will BLM and every other vioent group. Personally the scariest out there are the Environmental Activitsts who are super violent and hate the polluters. Scary people. Lol. Also, the PETA people. Animal Rights...shit I have talked to them and they would take a pistol or machine gun and do in the ones who do not defend animal rights. Trump does not give a shit. He is not a vegan. LOL:

If you know any Latin American history all of the radicals find their way to Mexico and sit there until the time is right. That is the way it goes Rich.

[Tainari88]

In April 2023, Puerto Rico's Status Act, which seeks to resolve its territorial status and relationship with the United States through a binding plebiscite at the federal level, was reintroduced in the House by Democrats.

Dead in the water Ingliz.

Look, Ingliz the issue with Puerto Rico is about Empire. The US Empire. How did the US acquire its territories?

By conquest. Killing off Indians or marching them onto a reservation system and taking the best land for themselves. For the corporations, and developers. The Capitalist Robber Barons of Industry eh? JP Morgan, DuPont, Rockefeller,Hearst, etc.

it was called Manifest Destiny. Then what happened? They needed a coaling station for their ships and a Panama Canal Zone. Cheap labor for sugar cane development. A lot of other little things. Puerto Rico, Guam and the Phillipines previously controlled by Spain and the last remaining colonies in the New World and the Pacific fit the bill.

But if you go in there after you used the excuse that you were there to liberate them from Spanish oppression only to be the new Overseer? How do you cover it up? Yes. Statutory codes. Colonial codes.

The thing is that if you give them statehood now? You have to do the political power thing. And the liberals have a lot of power. And you are winning by razor thin margins. Got to keep all those non Europeans out of the power politics. Anyway you can. And also, you have to then consider sovereignty for all of the people in the Department of the Interior. They are a lot of different Indian nations, territories and so on. It is a massive group. That can easily defeat your ambitions for Right wing Fascist hegemony.

So you will never make them states. NEVER. You will open it up to losing political power due to laws about people who occupied a land for hundreds of years before the American Manifest Destiny stage. It is the same reason Nicaragua did not become part of the USA even though Walker the American adventurist was the Supreme Leader in Nicaragua via force and war. It is the same reason Sandino was ambushed and assassinated and they had to leave Nicaragua and seek Panama as the Zone.

It is the same reason that Colombia was undermined in order to force Panama to be independent so they can then seize the land around the canal zone for their commercial interests.

The American Empire is built on stolen land, stolen labor that is exploited, and war and guns and disease being used to get there. And disenfranchising the people who were there BEFORE their arrival. if you allow a legal precedent to take hold? And give them all voting rights? You will be walking back all the profits and land you now hold in your grip. They won't do it. It is all a farce.

The think is Ingliz? Is that they have to be smart. Give them all independence and do the minimum to compromise and that way you do not have to give up voting control internally. That is the smart thing. For us and for them.

But? The Greedy Corporations do not want that. They want to have their cake and eat it too. It is what gets the liberals in trouble.

[starman2003]

Who all would be ensuring that the system is meritocratic , and how would this be accomplished ? What criteria would be used ? And by what means might it be implemented ?

The ruling party would maintain it. I'm no communist(!) but the Soviet system showed it's possible. Criteria would include a commitment to the basic system as well as ability in relevant areas. It wouldn't be perfect but would be a vast improvement over democracy. In the future, advanced AI would probably have a significant role, reducing the effect of human vagaries.

@Hakeer: The democrats are as bad in their own ways as the republicans. The solution is not to democratize the system more but replace it with one much less dependent on public opinion.

[Rich]

No, Rich, the statehood fools like Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon think the Republican party are going to do the right thing. Puerto Rico will vote and the majority by some shitty margin of 52% will win the plebesicite or referendum. She gets all happy and says, now being very democratically minded the Republican party will make Puerto Rico a state.

Oh come on, I can't believe that you don't know full well that cooperation of the Republicans is not required to get Puerto Rico statehood. All that is needed is the trifecta. The only reason that the Democrats didn't push it through last time they had the trifecta, is because they couldn't rely on Joe Manchin and maybe one or two other Democrat Senators. Those mauve Senators like Joe Manchin are a disappearing species for both parties. The nest time the Democrats get the trifecta they will almost certainly push it through. They may well push through something on Washington DC as well. The only reason that they didn't junk the filibuster, was because it would have been a pointless exercise with their slim Senate majority and the likes of Joe Manchin in their caucus.

[Tainari88]

Oh come on, I can't believe that you don't know full well that cooperation of the Republican is not required to get Puerto Rico statehood. All that is needed is the trifecta. The only reason that the Democrats didn't push it through last time they had the trifecta, is because they couldn't rely on Joe Manchin and maybe one or two other Democrat Senators. Those mauve Senators like Joe Manchin are a disappearing species for both parties. The nest time the Democrats get the trifecta they will almost certainly push it through. They may well push through something on Washington DC as well. The only reason that they didn't junk the filibuster, was because it would have been a pointless exercise with their slim Senate majority and the likes of Joe Manchin in their caucus.

No, Rich. I disagree. The Democrats are sold out to corporations and corporate donors. And they make a killing in Puerto Rico.

Obama was the one that appointed the PROMESA panel. And those people do not want statehood. You need to realize that if the very rich tippy top of US and Worldwide capitalism do not want statehood? You are not going to get statehood. And that both parties are sellouts. Manchin and Sinema and others are not really the issue.

Why give political rights if you can keep sucking out money and deny rights? No reason to give up rights. See this is where you look at PR history. The Americans came in initially with a very strong America First agenda. They had laws making it illegal to fly a Puerto Rican flag in Puerto Rico. You get a ten year prison sentence. Can't assemble in groups to talk unless approved by Police Chief Francis Riggs, and the American dictator appointed by the US at the time Blanton Winship.

They thought. These Boricuas (Puerto Ricans) are not going to give us any trouble. This island is little. Full of racially mongrel race inferior Roman Catholics mixed with Primitive Black African pagan beliefs and they are poor and stupid. We do what we want with them.

Instead you got a lot of interesting developments to the strongarm tactics. And a dead head blown off Riggs for massacring innocent women and children and men in a peaceful march and prohibiting nationalist speeces in the University of Puerto Rico. So how does it go down?

Violence erupts and finally the US congress Blair House is attacked. Bullets fly. People get hurt and there is a failed attempt on Harry Truman's life eventually. Before FDR was in charge in the 1930s. The violence got them thinking. Time to let them go.

Due to a series of historical events the independence thing did not happen. It is interesting. And intriguing and if ever you are interested I can write about it. But in terms of Presidential elections since Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans were a problem for swing states supposedly? I will conclude it here. Who was this little dictator man in Puerto Rico from the beginning of 1899 until the mid 1940s eh?

This guy--

Don Pedro Albizu Campos was this man here (he was a nationalist from Puerto Rico):

He had an incident with Francis Riggs. Mainly he was offered a cushy position if only he would be a puppet for the US government. He refused. So his ass was thrown in jail for a very long time.

I had to work on a video that is in English for you @Rich.

An issue though you should be aware of? He was involved in writing the Southern Irish Republic's constitution. Yes, that Puerto Rican nationalist was over there in your neck of the woods, helping out the troubles get more troubling for the English crown.

Those pesky Puerto Ricans....I thought they were ineffective dumbells. Guess I was wrong.

No MAGA if they push the Puerto Ricans with their lack of compromise? Are going to have a problem. because he is not the only brilliant man from our group. A lot of the US government are positioned in all sorts of places...including where Musk wants to control.

No, this fascist hubris is going to be interesting to observe in the next four years. As their strong arm tactics have to deal with the rejuvanation of society.