I enjoy seeing Luigi as a verb.

Can’t wait until the summer rolls around and the fascists start arresting kids for setting up lemonade stands and whatnot.

“rich dude.”

Hey, whoa whoa whoa, there are plenty of elitest female grifters as well! Equal’ish opportunity! (only for grifting tho).

/s

“Honestly, I’ve kind of assumed that crime is a made up American thing to put minorities in jail.”

It’s definitely not made up, although it may be exaggerated and positioned to drive fear.

I’ve been to a couple dozen countries at this point, primarily but not exclusively in low and medium low income countries.

Based on my experience (which is, in sum total, still pretty limited), organized crime groups will often try to avoid stirring up trouble with tourists and expats as incidents can generate too much heat and could hurt too many wallets.

I also got the impression that organized crime groups in most countries typically try to avoid stirring up too much stuff with locals as that too can draw heat. This is assuming that the locals likewise try to avoid stirring things up with organized crime members.

People living in Mexico may in many cases may be more exposed. Then you’ve got failed and near failed states like the DRC where things are really, really dire.

There often are areas that are best to avoid and if you do go there, you’ll want to keep a low profile. This is true in the USA, parts of Europe, and many low and medium low income countries. I’ve ended up in some pretty shady areas through life but never had anything happen. That said, the risks are heightened.

There are also safe low and middle income countries that are, at least with violent crime, much safer than the USA and other high income countries. Examples: Malaysia (upper middle income), Vietnam, Costa Rica.

having been to countries some consider third world shitholes, it’s far worse (edit: in the USA) IMO.

In many low income countries this would have been a $50 bribe and 5 minutes to resolve (which could mean being deported).

I’m only like half way through. This one makes me see enough red I’m having to read it in chunks. Just found out about the poor pastors JFC take a wrong turn and straight to jail and it’s not funny.

edit: It just gets worse and worse. In a halfway decent world reading this story would feel like jumping the shark not business as usual.

What an f’ing disgrace. She went to an American government office to apply legally for a visa. The absolute worst consequence should have been “we’re sorry, we can’t process your Visa and you’ll need to return to your home country.”

That’s it.

This is a minor point compared to her suffering, but also, what an f’ing waste of taxpayer money. Some private facilities got good money I’m sure to lock this innocent lady up.

From CNN:

" The move to detain the mayor of Turkey’s largest city, a key political battleground, comes after Istanbul University said on Tuesday it had annulled Imamoglu’s degree over irregularities, dealing a blow to the opposition and dashing the mayor’s presidential ambitions.

Without a university degree, Imamoglu of the main opposition CHP, would be disqualified from running for president.

Imamoglu said the university’s decision was illegal and outside its jurisdiction, and that he would launch a legal challenge “The decision of the Istanbul University Board of Directors is UNLAWFUL” he said. “The days when those who made this decision will be held accountable before history and justice are near.”

---- Yeah Erdogan isn’t even pretending any more. Clearly just a move to take out the opposition.

So you actually have nothing to say or any point to make then?

Sorry, try again, but only if you’re serious. Otherwise, silence is the best gift you can give.

And I don’t know how you came to this conclusion, because it certainly wasn’t with anything I wrote. Try again.

We had two: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

This is a fact as plain as the world is round. What are you even trying to do?

Nah, it’s a situation where if forced to choose between 5 people dying and 25 people dying, I’ll go with 5. Obviously, I would rather no one die, but that’s not one of the choices.

And in this case, Americans literally did choose, electing a man who will not flinch at greatly increased deaths.

The Biden administration, and pretty much every US administration’s stance on the Israel-Palestine issue leaves a lot to be desired. But Trump is absolutely going to drop the bar and lots of Palestinians are going to pay the price for that.

As bad as things were under Biden, that administration always wanted to avoid high body counts. The Trump administration will look at high body counts and then attaboy Bibi.

Roughly 50,000 Gazans died during the last phase of the war. That is an absolute tragedy, but the Trump administration could see that number grow by multiples and they’ll probably view it as a good thing.

We traded a wolf for a rabid lion and that is going to have consequences.

Sadly, we’re going to see Israel unchained under Trump. The Biden administration would have been on the phone first thing, pressuring them to ease up. The Trump administration will be on the phone taking orders for missiles.

This is a complex situation and there’s plenty of fault to pass around to all the major geopolitical players involved, but Trump is going to simplify this into “Israel good” “Palestine die.”

You’re not going to like this, but the facts bear out: Palestinian leaders are complicit in all of this. They could have accepted a peace deal under Clinton decades ago and they’d have their own country right now. Palestinians have caused trouble in Jordan, Egypt, and elsewhere, which is why Arab nations in the ME are sometimes nearly as wary and as restricted on borders as Israel.

There are lots and lots of bad actors in Israel too, with Bibi chief among them. The USA, meanwhile, has typically done the bare minimum to restrain either side and has typically provided too much support IMO to Israel, ultimately enabling them.

This is not a black and white issue that it often gets boiled down to, with offending camps believing they are 100% the victims/right while the otherside is 100% evil/aggressor.

As for using violence, also keep in mind that if you throw punches, people will punch back. Picking a fight with a far, far more powerful force is going to result in you getting your ass kicked.

While I abhor how heavily Israel obliterated Gaza, I can also tell you that it was the inevitable outcome once Hamas and their allies starting (allegedly)cooking babies in ovens and mass mudering peaceful concert goers.

If someone going to use violence, understand that your opponents are going to use it too. Don’t throw a punch and then cry because you (not you specifically, but people generally) got your ass beat.

disrupt supply chains? Sure. Kill innocent civilians? Honestly, probably I would want them to kill whoever to save me, but I’d know that I was morally wrong, if not outright evil.

The mass violence experienced by the Palestinians has been horrific. The October 7th attack was barbaric. Prior actions in recent times by Israel helped pave the way for that attack. Ditto for Hamas. There certainly are and were evil persons among Hamas. Likewise, there are evil people in Israel in high places.

“They are the people with influence in the governments committing genocides.”

And the civilians who are actually targeted are not the ones who can influence governments.

And the attacks on the boats are not going to cause much damage to the billionaires. If the attacks reach the point that the billionaires are going to be hurt, the USA military will step in.

The people actually shouldering must of the impact are innocent civilians, primarily from developing countries, who actually main the boats.

We are the heroes of our own stories but, and I am sorry if this is rude, it’s straight up gross that you’re here trying to justify attacking neutral, innocent, largely unarmed, and financially constrained civilians.

I really hope you can arrive at the point where you can look back on this and realize how messed up this position is.

Yeah, and it’s a shame that people, especially from developing countries, are forced into these situations due to economic realities.

Stop mentioning the billionaires. They are not important in this conversation. They are not on the the ships, and the only impact these events have on them is pushing up insurance prices and other costs but even that is a drop in the bucket.

And stop acting like you’re some sort of hero. Given your position, I highly doubt you actually care any more about these workers then then billionaires. Both you and them seem to be looking at 'em as disposable.

What does any of that have to do with with the workers on the boats? Most of whom come from developing countries and are just trying to feed their families?

Astounding.

yeah, robin hood wasn’t out attacking innocent people.

We’re all the heroes in our own story but you’re sitting here trying to defend attacking innocent civilians. I hope some day you’re able to realize how messed up that is.