Comment by 👻 darkghost
Re: "Immigration: getting to the facts"
Indeed nothing is guaranteed and statistically ~70% are rejected. Average was 128k claims per year since 2000 with 2024 being the highest year at 800k that year. It can take 1 - 5 months to even receive a receipt after filing out the form. 5 months later you can apply for a work visa. Total time is 1 - 2 years before you might get a final decision. It might be longer.
👻 darkghost [Left leaning independent]
Jan 26 · 3 months ago
14 Later Comments ↓
🌆 skyjake [mod...] · Jan 26 at 05:02:
a ton of disinformation ... Here is what I know with reasonable certainty
Let me interject with a meta comment, since especially you @stack assert things here on BBS with conviction and force. Whether you believe something with certainty or not is irrelevant. Unless the information you present is verifiable from other, independent sources, they can only be taken as opinions of a random person on the internet. As they say on Wikipedia, "citation needed".
This doesn't necessarily relate to this thread, but your claims would have more weight generally if you can back them up with something more than conviction.
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 26 at 05:33:
Truth is becoming hard to find and people get really hot about politics. We can only guess about what's really going on, and use reason and common sense.
I am not _that_ convinced that anything I hear from the mainstream is true, and would love it if someone could explain some of this and even change my mind. I am open.
I think we can strongly suspect that the current administration, BLM, and the Minnesota politicians are a bunch of liars that are putting people in harm's way for no good reason other than furrhering their political and criminal agenda.
I am very frustrated and flabbergasted by the insanity that is taking place.
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 26 at 06:03:
Also, do you think I am saying anything more inaccurate or with more conviction than the nearby 'executed by ICE' thread, referring as a victim to a man who brought a concealed gun but didn't even get a chance to use it?
👻 darkghost · Jan 26 at 12:30:
Some is opinion and speculation. None of us can get inside the mind of others, particularly the deceased, and understand their motives for their actions. We may only judge the actions we see and speculate. I don't think the state government puts people up to protest, organizes protests, and they've certainly not indicated that protestors will get special legal protection for doing so. They're not putting people in harm's way. Lying, sure. All politicians lie. But people make their own judgement to participate in protest.
I wonder how many lies are calibrated for identity. As in, believing the lie is how you identify your own.
Totally off topic, but I heard about a trend in the dating scene. You ask your date if they believe in ghosts. It says a ton about your world view and compatibility based on how you answer. Some lies are like that.
My belief is that the world is ultimately chaotic, and anytime claims come out about the state organizing protests - that's a narrative created to give people comfort.
A lot of people get comfort from things having reason. They'll seek every explanation besides the simplest - which is that people are flawed and do all kinds of terrible things, often without agenda or calling.
But most importantly, I think people have lost the understanding that just because the opposing political party won it's not the end of the world, we are not all going to die unless we fight to the death, and they are not Hitler. It's just that you have to do better next election.
But you're an anarchist. there is no party that represents your political views. you are witnessing a rise in fascism, and let me tell you it didn't start in january of this year. i stopped travelling to the US in 2014 because of the fascism. some people are going to die. MANY PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE.
And yeah, it's not literally hitler. it's a different guy. if you were watching literal hitler rise to power you'd be here saying, we'll it's not literally napoleon.
Also, my opinion as an anarchist myself is that every single person who is executed by state power is a victim. I've been to the US before. walking around with a gun is normal and all the people whose politics i despise have been telling me that it's their god given right to walk around with a gun wherever they want.
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 26 at 17:28:
Walz has literally locked himself in a mansion with high security and is poking his nose out only to encourage citizens to charge armed Feds.
He instructed the state and local police to not protect citizens while doing so.
He expressed 'pride' in how the situation is developing.
My diagnosis: psychopathy.
Make your own conclusions.
🌆 skyjake [mod...] · Jan 27 at 08:24:
@stack:
do you think I am saying anything more inaccurate or with more conviction than [other people in another thread]
I'm not here to make comparisons or be a judge of who is winning the debate. I'm trying to foster a more productive discussion that is not based on unfounded opinions.
The real problem is that there isn't a single accurate "truth" to these matters that people would agree on. There is an objective set of facts but everyone interprets it differently, based on their personal experiences, philosophy, and capacity for empathy towards others. Add a swirl of emotions to the mix and you get chaos and misery.
It's just that you have to do better next election.
[...]
Walz has literally locked himself in a mansion with high security and is poking his nose out only to encourage citizens to charge armed Feds.
If you guys had "done better" last election, *this guy* would be the vice president right now.
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 27 at 15:42:
By doing better I meant running someone people, not just a loud minority, would elect. Putting Walz on the ballot pretty much guaranteed an already near-certain loss.
Things like primaries and elections are actually helpful for democracy and authoritarians trying to install a king, or in this case a queen, should take note.
Immigrarion policy was in fact the deciding factor. It is unfortunate that the rioters don't understand they have chosen to protest something the majority supports.
👻 darkghost · Jan 27 at 17:04:
Support is currently eroding and the majority do not support the methods being used. That is, of course, the actual reason why people are protesting. The entire approach from go has been a series of seriously flawed missteps. From liquidating immigration judges (in order to make the immigration courts into rubber stamp courts) to deporting people against court orders to snatching people showing up for their immigration court appointments to constant lies (going after the worst of the worst stopped being true a long time ago) to ICE overrunning a mid-sized city terrorizing and killing its citizens.
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 27 at 17:45:
I hope you are right, @darkghost.
drawn into and devastated by the US proxy war. Note that Ukraine wants its people back to die in the trenches
wow this is the most stupid thing I saw on gemini yet XD
🚀 stack [OP] · Jan 28 at 17:39:
@crynick: And yours was the most unproductive comment I've seen on Gemini yet. Also probably a TOS violation.
If you want to have a discussion or have an opposing point of view, there are better ways to express it.
I don't even know what point you have issues with. Is it that the US was instrumental in getting Ukraine into this suicidal war, or that Ukraine has been rounding up young people in shopping malls and sending them to their death?
Original Post
Immigration: getting to the facts — This is a hot topic, and there is a ton of disinformation floating around. I have to generally assume that any current news coverage is completely slanted. Here is what I know with reasonable certainty: ICE was formed in 2003 by G.W.Bush, and the staff grew from a few thousand to just over 20,000 and stayed around that headcount until the last year. Today it is approximately 22,000, a 10% increase during the current administration. No mass revocation of green...