If masked men are chasing your 23 year old daughter, you are showing extreme restraint not to shoot them

[lostnfound]

If you’ve never been a young woman, you might not understand.
You live in constant fear of being targeted for sexual assault. And yes, it happens. I won’t recount details of what happened to a friend of mine, but it is not always a lone assailant.

Young women are well aware that they can be overpowered by strange men, and that in that moment are nothing but prey.

And i remember when the phrase “papers, please” was a political joke among teenagers, when we thought that police were becoming too much like ‘Soviet Russia’. ‘It’s a free country’, we’d say, when speaking about the US.

And among the privileges of being a US citizen was that everyone understood if you fell in love with someone from another country, you could marry them and follow you’re ’happily ever after’ dream, because they ‘automatically became US citizen’ when you married them.

So dear MAGA, when your 23 year old US-born daughter is chased by masked men, you don't have the right to ‘stand your ground’ or ‘act in self-defense’.

And when daughter falls in love and gets married to a man brought to the US as a 15-year old boy, and consequently 2 of your 3 (US-born) grandchildren and your (US citizen) daughter end up watching ‘Dad’ be mauled by a dog and hauled away by similar masked men, leaving your daughter heartbroken and broke, realize this ain’t America no more.

[Abstractartist]

1. I agree

With the way things are going these days, seriously, who knows if the masked ICE shits are truly working for ICE or some fat fuck clown dressed up as ICE to just fuck with people. If I saw someone grab my daughter, well it would be as huge of a fight on their hands then they expected. Being 67, it might not be fair, but they will know about it after it done. I don’t carry weapons, so that’s out, but a brick to their head might not feel good. A law must be passed…. NO MASKS ON ICE SHITS.

[Seinan Sensei]

9. Damn straight

Grab my Daughter like that and someone’s going to the hospital.

It might be me.

But don’t think you can do that in my line of sight.

And if I do go to the hospital, then when I get out, I’ll be going full Liam Neeson on your ass.

[Midnight Writer]

2. We already have established evidence of criminals posing as ICE agents to commit crimes.

I think it is reasonable to fear for your life and the lives of your family when chased by armed masked men.

And reasonable fear for your life satisfies the conditions of Stand Your Ground.

I am no way in favor of shooting LEO. The obvious solution is for LEO to stop acting like criminals.

[popsdenver]

10. Without their GESTAPO having ANY

identifying markings, the public has absolutely NO idea if they are legitimate LEOs or some "Proud Girls" playing dress up like Krusty Noem.............

[Clouds Passing]

3. Uhmerikkka

[MLWR]

4. I don't know how old you are, but I am on the cusp of 80 and

" if you fell in love with someone from another country, you could marry them and follow you’re ’happily ever after’ dream, because they ‘automatically became US citizen’ when you married " was NOT the case when I got married in 1968. My husband did not get automatic citizenship. He had to live here for 3 years and then go through the process: background check; citizenship classes and a test of knowledge of history and civics and finally the swearing-in ceremony.

[DFW]

6. My wife never wanted US citizenship in the first place, as she never intended to live there.

Her position toward me was always the same from day one: I'll live with you to the end of our days if you want, but not "over there." If the banks of the Rhein River are good enough for you, then come be my man. Since I would have followed her to the ends of the earth, it wasn't a difficult choice to make. Germany has serious issues as well, worse now than ten years ago, and it's not written in stone that we'll end up here (Switzerland and NL are still very enticing). As long as one of our daughters wants to keep living in New York City, we'll always visit. As long as she and her two sons keep their German citizenship, they'll always have the option of coming back here as well. Our younger daughter, also a dual citizen of Germany and the USA as are her two daughters, could live in the USA any time she wanted, and would certainly live in New York City if she could. Just a week ago, she returned from two days in London with her man (their girls were with us) to find their house had been broken into and ransacked by a gang whose M.O. suggested it was the same gang who had broken into ten other houses in their neighborhood. Since unarmed theft is not pursued as a crime in Germany, nothing will come of any "investigation." The perps will probably not be caught, and nothing will happen to them if they are. They would never live in Trump's America, but could envision moving there once Trump and all vestiges of his type of government have gone.

Also--European governments love money, and they love taking it from people. When I applied for residence and a work permit here, I had to show long term employment, health insurance (amazingly, Blue Cross was accepted as health insurance!!), language proficiency in German, long term marriage to a German citizen, and proof that I had sufficient savings so that I would never ask them for welfare of any kind. It took them all of two months to approve my application (!!). It took them even less time to demand a tax return.
ALL of my income is in the USA, and all it was taxed there at 37.9 or 39.6 or whatever was the top rate in 2011. But the Germans didn't care, and they don't honor the Double Taxation Treaty because they don't feel like it. They have wanted to tax me at 42% plus 7% "solidarity supplement to help rebuild East Germany," which was done over ten years ago, so about 50%. That's their Max Tax rate, but it kicks it at about $85,000. Fifty plus forty doesn't leave much left over when subtracted from one hundred. Heil Honecker!

By the way, the bureaucratic process for acquiring citizenship for relatives eligible for it has changed a lot in 40 years. My two daughters were both born in Germany. I called down to the US Embassy, then in Bonn, and asked what I needed to do to get them US citizenship. They told me a list of things I needed to bring, along with my current passport. I did, both times. I showed up, having no appointment, filled out a form, handed them the stuff they requested, and waited a little over an hour. I was then called to the window. Both times, it took about that long. At the window, each time, they handed me my new daughter's U.S. birth certificate, their first passports, and their Social Security Numbers. When I was there for my second daughter's passport, I asked if I could get a social security number for my wife. They asked why. I said simply because I was occasionally asked to provide "Spouse's Social Security Number" when filling out some forms. They said, sure, they could get her one, but it would not be valid for work in the USA. I was that was fine, as she never intended to seed it for that anyway. That took an extra 15 minutes, and they handed me her Social Security Number.

These days, to get her children US citizenship (for my daughter living in Germany) and German citizenship for the children of my daughter living in the USA, it took eleven months of paper pushing and numerous appointments which one could ONLY make online, something that didn't even exist in 1985. When someone tells us how much easier life has been made by the internet, I always laugh and think to myself, that is definitely NOT a unliversally applicable statement.

[soldierant]

11. I am 80, and you are correct, there was never a time when anyone became a citizen

automatically upon marriage to a US citizen.

But there were times when it was harder to deport the spouse of a citizen than it is now. Because there were time when the nation and the government .had some respect for human beings.

[lostnfound]

14. My youthful impression was that it was way easier in the 1970s

I came of age in the late 1970s, when the US laws about immigration were perhaps the most open, and liberties of all kinds seemed to be increasing. I do know that citizenship has never been automatic, but it was definitely easier then. Certainly I never heard horror stories about spouses being banned for 10 years.

Section 245(i) allowed spouses who were already in the US to stay while papers were processed for their green card. That no longer applies to people who arrived after 2001. And if a spouse is already in the states and leaves the country for any reason, they can be banned from re-entry for 10 years. Now, that may or may not have been the case in the 1970s, but in previous administrations, common sense existed and could allow ‘compassionate waivers’. Now, there is no compassion, zero, in this administration. Individuals don’t matter.

Differing bureaucracy: US citizen spouses from Mexico have longer wait times to get an interview for a spousal green card - over 2 years. A couple married for 3 years living in Mexico waited 2 years for theirs — the first year to apply, the second to get an interview.

Then there’s the cost. They’ve just raised the fees. It used to be less than $100 for citizenship application. Now it takes at least $3,000 just for a green card, up to $10,000 if you use a lawyer, plus $760 for citizenship application if you get to that point.
And the Trump administration just announced a $4,500 “apprehension fee” for anyone apprehended at the border. The way they are mistreating people, this means that the mere attempt to enter the US with your new spouse comes with a risk of incurring another $4,500 fee…

Life happens, and there’s no breathing room in any of this for weddings, funerals, illness, or support for each other in times of crisis. Sad.

[intheflow]

5. Reminds me of Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes

A fantastic poem, where he dreams of being included in the American Dream but is denied repeatedly based on his skin color. Likewise, you are nostalgic for an America that never really was. Of course the recent past was miles better than our current lived nightmare. But the same country that voted Biden in 2020 re-elected the fuckwad in 2024. A good sized chunk of our fellow country folk wanted this nightmare, just to a lesser degree that wouldn’t be personally impactful, like not being able to afford groceries or your green card bride gets deported to a 3rd world country.

Anyway, here’s Hughes’ poem.
———————————————————
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.&quot

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

(1935)

[Easterncedar]

12. I hear hammer on anvil in those words

They strike and ring.
Thank you.

[undergrounddemsunite]

7. We have the right to protect

We have every right to protect our families!

[B.See]

8. I think we as Americans have a right

if not a duty to protect America, our democracy, our Constitution, our rule of law and right to due process,

from criminal authoritarians, fascists, demagogues, charlatans, and war criminals, hell bent on ignoring or destroying all of those principles, to empower themselves and enforce their own will upon the populace.

The buck stops at the top. Vote them out. LOCK THEM UP.

[Figarosmom]

13. For all we know they are selling their captives

To sex trafficking outfits. Or slave brokers. We don't know.