Senate moving forward with reconciliation bill, dropping ballroom funds

[slightlv]

7. There's one way we differ...

I don't think DHS was knee-jerk reaction to 911 (except to the public). I believe the R's have been wanting to create this for a long time. 911 just gave them the excuse they needed to get it passed through without any pushback. In that regard and others, I always will feel 911 was a LIHOP. If that makes me a CT, so be in. But deep in my gut, it's what I've felt ever since it happened. They've gotten so much traction from it, and so many things that would have been near impossible, otherwise... like all the surveillance and all the contracts for Palantir and other spy-adjacent companies. The "Soft on Crime" meme has done us far more harm... not only in concrete ways such as killing things like DHS before they got started, but also on crime statistics, themselves. Stats show how crime and democracy are so much better under Democratic admins, but the meme is so strong, the R's keep being handed the "touch on crime" and better for the economy headlines. It's a real shame Americans are not smarter people.