Barter was very rare in pre market economies. People weren’t trading potatoes for furniture.

You would barter with people you never expected to see again. People you lived with you would owe them one.

Those three states would more than double the population of Canada and overwhelm their political system. I wouldn’t do that if I were them.

Some of us are. No idea how many. We are separated into news bubbles.

Is it worse than the first term?

Yes. Trump didn’t think he would win the first time. He had no plan for what do do if he won, so he leaned hard on institutional knowledge of party stalwarts and military people, along with a few trusted insiders from his campaign, but they didn’t know how Washington worked.

This time hard core ideologues from the Heritage foundation were ready. They are tired of democracy and limits on the power of wealth so they are dismantling it with project 2025.

Why are legal people being kicked out?

Trump has only a few actual policies he cares about and one is to stop brown people from imigrating to live in America. This is also a test case of his own power. Because if he can disappear green card holders without due process he can also get rid of citizens that are a threat to his power.

He is getting ready for a night of long knives and a krystalnaght.

When is it time to consider leaving?

Depends. If you are an anti Israel green card holder with a history of organizing college campus protests you should probably pack your bags and make your way to the nearest airport.

If you are a citizen or permanent resident you have to make a judgement about what you are giving up, where you can go, and how likely we are to go full 3rd Reich.

I will say that if we declare war on Canada or Mexico, you should probably make your way to the other one unless you want to stay and fight it out.

Yeah all 50 states is crazy. New York and Cali have enough people to get a protest going at the drop of a pin.

Texas has Austin, you get protests there. East coast cities, Chicago, you can get protests.

But there are dozens of states that just don’t have that kind of energy or population density, but they do now.

There have been dozens.

Logical enough. I did nearly the same thing.

Hooked up with a couple. Was more attracted to the girlfriend even though boyfriend was more enthusiastic and attentive in bed.

I’m lesbian.

Is that a joke?

Off the top of my head? 30. I was fully transitioned but my chronic illness has not taken off yet.

Currently 40

If you want to abrogate your responsibility as a citizen that’s your choice.

I will not be an unthinking cog in a deeply flawed legal system.

If I am on a jury, part of my job is to consider the justice of the law.

God Tilda Swinton killed it as Lucifer. So fucking good.

I donated to Green after getting adds from reps not willing to fuck shit up.

They were my favorite character from that show.

I wish you great success with your voice and your avatars.

We can tell the difference between someone struggling to be polite and someone being malicious.

We know when we don’t pass. We are hyper conscious of it. We are not going to jump on you for honest mistakes. We definitely do not want to make our gender your problem.

Personally, I don’t care what you believe in your heart, or even what you say behind my back. If you are polite to my face, I’m cool. We can be cool. That’s all I ask. If you are not, I will remove myself from the situation.

I cannot fathom the courage of Sarah McBride. She is incredible to endure this shit every day.

Milei’s performance really does depend on your metric.

If all you care about is inflation and regulations, then he’s doing all right. Somewhere between fantastic and “eh, he’s getting there” depending on how you squint.

If you care about how many people are in poverty, or struggling to eat, he has been a disaster.

Conservatives don’t care about suffering. The suffering is natural. Life is hard. Lots of people are losers. Trying to stop the suffering just moves the pain from people who deserve to suffer (the poor) to people who don’t deserve it. (The rich)

What would you have us do? Take the kids away?

Do you know what the foster system is like in Texas?

Those kids are better off with measles. I wish I was kidding.

Military power and wealth have an irrisisatable pull. China can still make deals and do diplomacy. Even North Korea can cut deals with Russia. Russia and Iran work together. One nations pariah state is anothers opportunity.

The rest of the world will hedge their bets, but if the US negotiators start talking sense again after the trump admin they will attend the meetings and make agreements hoping for the best. International law people live and breathe the hypocrisy of tyrants and democrats alike.

The optimism of the 1990s is dead, but that was a lie even then. The US reputation as the “leader of the free world” is dead. It was a self appointed title anyway.

The world will keep spinning and deals will still be made by non idiots.

If the predictions in this thread of a hot civil war in the US prove true, then deals will be made with whatever comes out of that.

I hope not, but I am not optimistic about the next few years/decades

20 years of progress?

12 years is optimistic. Every Republican has been a mistake going back to Nixon, but the US is a fundamentally conservative country, we want corruption in the highest halls of power, and our voters will keep coming back to it.