I don’t know what to tell you, but the facts of the matter are that Obama had a majority, slowly and painfully built over 15 years, and he lost it; and lost it again, and again this year. So whatever he did, either wasn’t enough or wasn’t the right thing. Part of it might be that he did not clean up his own party, cutting deals with Clinton devils instead.
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This was an incredible article:
This line was particularly insightful to me:
ETA: Argh y u no onebox! Paging @codinghorror…
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Clinton devils? What the hell are you even talking about? There was no “Clinton devil” Obama was always Democrat through and through.
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I’m literally scrambling to find a way to keep the woman who watches my epileptic child while my wife and I are at work in the country. She has lived here since she was 3, but that “unfettered immigration” as @Nobby_Stiles dubbed it means that this legal immigrant will quickly become illegal and be shipped back to South America while her entire family remains here.
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Also from that article:
And the results showed that an overwhelming part of America does not
want minorities here. This isn’t just another cyclical political party
swing. It’s a loud and resounding message from white people telling
> minorities that we shouldn’t get too comfortable here. So yeah, we’re
scared. And if you’re white, you don’t have to be. But please stop
telling us that everything is going to be okay, because all signs point
to “not okay.”
The US Jewish community is currently in a state of resolute panic; many of us have feared for this day, when we would have to flee yet again, as we have had to do for literally thousands of years, that America would be no exception in the list of places that we called home yet later expelled us or tried to massacre us.
Contingency plans are being activated. My father is calling the Polish consulate in the morning to start the process of claiming descent from Polish nationals, as he has my grandparents’ paperwork showing exactly that. His hope is to gain Polish citizenship and use that to be able to flee to the EU if the worst should come to pass. Others are posting details on how to get one’s passport and what paperwork is needed to get through the Right Of Return, while still others are advising on how to properly pack a go-bag.
Other people have roots. We have legs, and we’re going to use them this time.
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I would like to recommend this:
We thought that our fellow citizens would not, in the end, vote for a candidate so manifestly unqualified for high office, so temperamentally unsound, so scary yet ludicrous.
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Oh, sorry, you’re operating under the old definition. That’s the misunderstanding. In Republican-speak, mandate means “can act without being stopped by political opponents”.
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Feel free to use those legs to kick this clown in the nards before you go.
Thanks, but I don’t want to end up in a black site torture chamber watching my toenails get removed with pliers, so no thanks.
I do have one amusing anecdote to share from my father, though; apparently he managed to knock the Orange One on his ass from accidentally colliding with him at a hotel once, several decades ago. Der Trumper got up and kept walking, and my father had a moment of realization at who he had just collided with around a blank corner. So there’s that, at least.
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A wise move. They may not come for the Jews first this time, but it’s only a matter of time with right-wing authoritarians when they’re given full rein.
If your father is that concerned and has the means to do so I’d also recommend his purchasing a portable asset or two if he doesn’t already have some: a mechanical wristwatch or piece of estate jewellery that isn’t too flashy but that can be re-sold abroad for a few thousand dollars if the worst happens. In those scenarios there are usually exit controls and restrictions on removing cash from the country as well as border confiscations (so perhaps some decoy replicas would be in order, too). Highly-rated bearer bonds and rare stamps and coins are other options.
After hearing the story you told about your grandfather the other day, I don’t blame your father for looking into options. We’ve come to a shameful pass in this country that he and other American Jews have to give serious thought to such matters.
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Sanders’ statement:
Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media.
People are tired of working longer hours for lower wages, of seeing decent paying jobs go to China and other low-wage countries, of billionaires not paying any federal income taxes and of not being able to afford a college education for their kids – all while the rich become very much richer.
To the degree that Mr Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him.
To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him.
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“Check out my wicked bacon lamp”
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I’m sorry, was that what I was trying to prove? Why?
We’re past thought, and moving into “action”. I imagine that, in 4 years, a significant percentage of the US’s Jews will be gone from this country… one way or another.
As for the estate bonds and whatnot, I have my grandmother’s Swedish lead crystal, purchased by them in 1948 to get around exactly that restriction when coming to America. It survived the Atlantic crossing, in steerage; I joke that it was too terrified of my grandmother to dare break. And we’re well versed in having to flee, by now. We have practice at it. There are Judaica items that are specifically designed to be portable and get around the “one item limit” and yet still be prepared for the holy days; there are stories still told about gold smuggled out of Spain in 1492 during the expulsion there.
And my grandparents would be disappointed. But not surprised. My mother’s father was a Marshal in the Polish Army, and led his unit against the Nazis who were conquering their country… only to be betrayed, beaten, spat upon, and handed over by his own men to the Nazis as a dirty Jew.
And with this being the sort of things going on now… yeah. It’s time to go. Pity. Two centuries of sojourn isn’t even close to a record. So much for “American Exceptionalism”. America is no exception.
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Well then I guess you had no point at all.
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[quote=“bibliophile20, post:868, topic:89005”]
My father is calling the Polish consulate in the morning to start the process of claiming descent from Polish nationals, as he has my grandparents’ paperwork showing exactly that.[/quote]
My grandparents were Polish too, but I wouldn’t go back there. Have you seen this?
My wife’s family were Italian Jews, that would be a more amenable destination. However, I’m further from the US mainland here than I would be in Europe, the only issue is whether the missiles from North Korea or China will be aimed here since it is so much closer.
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He doesn’t want to go there; he just wants the citizenship papers, because that means EU citizenship, which means reciprocal movement anywhere in the EU (i.e. not the UK anymore).
But, yeah, Poland’s antisemitism can go fuck itself. They’re digging up Jewish graves there, because they “all know” that Jews are “buried with Jew gold”.
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The fact that this conversation is serious and not in jest is terrifying.
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