Honest question: how bad do things have to get in the US for citizens to qualify for refugee status?
Consider how bad things are in Central America right now and then remember that despite the abject violence currently happening in many countries there right now, the U.S. still harbors deep anti-immigrant sentiments and we regularly turn away people fleeing said violence and return them to the custody of their would-be killers.
Yeah, you won’t need an answer to this question when the times comes for us. You’ll know, and you’ll be willing to get on that boat or airplane leaving for anywhere else even if they aren’t accepting refugees or the odds are slim that anywhere else will take you, because the alternative is certain death.
You’re probably better off trying to emigrate now rather than waiting for things to get worse, if you are in a position where you can make that choice. Some people make their livings preying upon those who are desperately seeking an escape, so it’s a bargain right now to leave for the cost of a plane ticket and whatever elbow grease you need to put in to achieve citizenship abroad.
My grandparents were holocaust survivors and what you just said is all I’ve been thinking about the last couple weeks, few months really. I keep imagining I went back in time to Berlin 1932 and have a chat with the family. They’re gone now but I’m 100% convinced they would tell me to fucking run. I’ve got the opportunity and means right now the get the fuck out while the getting is good. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now anyway. People migrate all the time with nothing but the shirt on their backs, and I can do significantly better. Worst case, I come back in a few years with some more international experience. Best case…well…best case is still a pretty bad scenario, because it means I made the right decision, which means…bad stuff…
take a look at your neighbors houses.
are they on fire or being raided yet?
no? not yet.
It’s a scale thing.
one house on fire, it’s ok.
one house being raided, it’s ok.
five houses being raided and four houses on fire, time to gtfo.
This has been a fucking long 2 weeks, and he’s not even in office yet, Jesus Christ
Not even the mercy of knowing most of the country is against him. Most of the country that gives a shit supports him.
If it gives you any comfort, I think there were a ton of people who “gave a shit”, but were (and in many encounters I’ve had: still are) just too stupid to realize that “morally withholding” a vote for Kamala was going to enable something incalculably worse.
Those people aren’t evil. Just unbelievably stupid. So much so that they’re a danger to themselves and others. But not evil.
The outcome is the same, and they learned nothing from 2016-2020, so fuck 'em.
Want to know what’s fun? Watching your friends decide who’s fleeing, who’s arming up, and who’s lying to themselves. Welcome to queer communities in a red state in November 2024. Gods have mercy on us
Already in the process. My wife and I committed to leave on the 6th, and are currently packing. Our lease ends in the spring and at that point I quit my job and we move to a blue state (already have arrangements).
Oh and I got a passport two years ago. I’m living by the understanding that if you wait to flee until you absolutely have to, you may not be able to. Better to take some risks for safety that may just be better choices regardless. I’ve always wanted to live in a coastal state, I’m a little excited when I let myself forget the devastation that’s coming.
Well, congratulations on the upcoming move! I hope you like seafood, because as someone who has always lived in coastal states, having all the fancy regional fresh seafood around is really wasted on my dull palate. XD
My friend: “I found this really great seafood place, a little hole in the wall, let me take you.”
My friend, after eating: “What do you think?”
Me: “Tastes like… fish?”
Don’t like crabs, don’t like lobster, don’t like most fish… I wasn’t born to live on the coast, clearly.
If you and your wife aren’t opposed to camping, and can do so safely, you are allowed to set up a camp for one week at a time for free in any of the National Parks, that could give you a foothold to find a cheaper place in California. Cheaper is doing a lot of work in that previous sentence.
#2 here. It would be nice to leave but I feel like I need to stay and fight.
That’s ok. I’m proud of those of you who are doing that. I’m leaving, I’ve spent a long time working out of my martyr complex and my wife and I have decided to flee.
I think the biggest thing we can do here as a community is respect each other’s choices and try to figure out what we can do to help most from the position we take.
I want to make sure our history isn’t lost. I want to make sure that if we need voices advocating for us somewhere people will listen that I can be one. And I want to make clear that until I feel safe returning home that I am an Ohioan in exile, and that that means things aren’t ok over there.
Fight well and know that some of those of us who are fleeing are setting up networks to get y’all out if you need it.
That’s… so few places to go to. Unless you have a spare 10k you don’t need… or a remote high pay job.
Dibs on this guy for the post fascist apocalypse team https://www.reddit.com/r/fightporn/comments/181lu0h/this_gay_dude_what_not_having_it/?rdt=39158
I was raped last night. I can’t even think. It’s really clear that the world doesn’t want people like me to exist. Apparently they’re sending text messages to LGBT people about reeducation camps now, like they were sending messages about slavery to black folks a week ago.
What do you think happens to AFABs who are “re-educated?” Lesbians and trans men have experienced correct rape for centuries. There’s an entire porn subreddit dedicated to “dyke breaking.”
You deserve the right to exist as much as anybody else.
Hope you can get the police involved, if possible. Not sure where you’re from, but I know small town politics don’t always make that a real possibility. Rapists too often get away with their crimes because people are too scared to come forward and that’s just the sad reality of the country we live in now.
I’ll echo the other commenters - if you can get out of here, do it quickly. America is on a very dark trajectory. Don’t let yourself continue to be victimized.
My heart just breaks hearing this.
The text messages are the absolute worst.
Let’s start a movement to egg houses that still have Trump signs hanging, or leave burning bags of dog shit on their doorsteps, or knock over their mailboxes or some other stupid prank wave; it’s really the least we can do in solidarity.
Back in 2015, about 5 mo the after my youngest was born, I had the (at the time) most horrific day I ever had in my life. Long story short, I got fired from my job (for mistakenly thinking HR was on my side), my oldest son had a note sent home about a live breakout at his daycare, and it rained so hard in n 30 minutes that my house flooded (the top of the mailbox was almost under water).
I got home and was upset because of being fired (I was already beyond burned out from the job to begin with), and I was trying to patiently sift through my son’s hair to check for lice. I was not a very patient person at that point, said fuck it, and grabbed my hair clippers to shave my son’s head bald. I’ve never shaved anyone else’s head, but my own, so I probably was a little too aggressive, and the unit got hot and burned my son.
My 5mo was crying, so I took him and was trying to calm him down. Around this point the storm of the century began. It was so bad that lightning hit really close to the house (three times). Each time it hit, the lights would go off and back on, and then thunder struck. It was very disturbing to say the least.
Then the water began to rise. And it kept rising. And it wouldn’t stop. No matter how much I panicked and begged for it to stop. I was personally in tears. Then I noticed my neighbor trying to drive through the flooded waters, and her car got swept away by the water. I saw the water reaching her side view mirrors, and I handed my wife the baby and was about to bolt out the door to try to do “something” (it was straight instinct).
In short order, the rain started stopping, and all the water started receding. My panic slowly faded as I realized we weren’t going to drown. In no time my neighbors (most who we hadn’t met yet) all descended on my house with mops, buckets, and fans to help start cleaning up the mess. The carpet and bottom 6” of drywall were ruined. I spent my unscheduled vacation pulling up the carpet, replacing the soaked drywall, and even painting the office (it got flooded too).
Our office and living room was crammed into our dining room/kitchen (thank goodness for open concepts). We eventually replaced the carpet and painted everything. I wet vacuumed my car and removed 16 gallons of water, took out the seats, and put fans on it for a week straight.
Those neighbors became our best friends. We all still stay in touch and have multiple get togethers each year. A lot has changed since that day, myself included. I consider it for the better.
All that to say: this too shall pass.
That’s a nice story and all, but what happens when your wife is an immigrant and your neighbors all decide to “do something about it?” Or they just say nothing as the federal goons come to deport them.
There are incalculable ways for this to NOT pass for millions of us. Saying this too shall pass is some privileged bullshit.
First of all, I’m not going to apologize for attempting to comfort anybody. There is no privilege in that.
Secondly, I get you’re mad and scared/worried (or whatever adjective you prefer for how you’re feeling right now), but let me assure you that I am not your enemy. Do not follow in your neighbor’s footsteps; focus your anger where it belongs: the establishment, and billionaires. They are the threat. Not you or me.
Just want to call out, there is harm in false comfort. Building a false sense of security and optimism can encourage people to not take preventative actions. Not every storm blows over.
Fine. Fair enough. I just feel there is a better way to comfort people than misleading them.
Saying this too shall pass is some privileged bullshit.
Or maybe people trying to give each other comfort and hope.
You’re still responsible for taking whatever measures you feel necessary but lets not attack people trying to help.
You’re not entitled to harm people on your side, we’ve done that for the last decade and all it’s gotten us is a fractured ideology with a hundred different camps of people bitching about minor differences in what progressive things are good or not, and allowed a monster to get elected because nobody cares about trying to make leftists happy anymore. Lash out at someone else who actually deserves it.
Fucking hell, this is why we’ll never have nice things. Our side is just as emotional but not quite dumb enough to unify and focus on one target.
