RIP Charlie Kirk

[gimmethesimplelife]

I understand Ecuador’s President has declared a state of emergency recently. Would you consider that “future positivity”?

Very weak argument - very very weak and I will calmly and non-snarkily tell you why. DJT has been teasing similar - declaring states of emergency to carry out his legally questionable plans/agenda. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

In other words, the US has been flirting with similar since DJT 2.0. Please turn that finger of blame/shame around and turn it towards the United States, also. If you're going to look down at Ecuador in regards to this issue - your argument is immediately null and void, given that the US is guilty of the same.

Rob

[Tradd]

Very weak argument - very very weak and I will calmly and non-snarkily tell you why. DJT has been teasing similar - declaring states of emergency to carry out his legally questionable plans/agenda. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

In other words, the US has been flirting with similar since DJT 2.0. Please turn that finger of blame/shame around and turn it towards the United States, also. If you're going to look down at Ecuador in regards to this issue - your argument is immediately null and void, given that the US is guilty of the same.

Rob

Dude, just leave. You want to be gone so bad, just go. You’re all talk and no action.

[Rogar]

Or, just stay, and continue pay into the failing social security for our sake.

In a fantasy world where one could ignore national news and animated political discussions, I don't think my life would be significantly different among the various presidents. At least since the draft lottery and not being sent to Viet Nam. I don't have friends who might be deported by ice. And some ups and downs in the stock market. Where ever one might go, things here will not change.

[LDAHL]

Very weak argument - very very weak and I will calmly and non-snarkily tell you why. DJT has been teasing similar - declaring states of emergency to carry out his legally questionable plans/agenda. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

In other words, the US has been flirting with similar since DJT 2.0. Please turn that finger of blame/shame around and turn it towards the United States, also. If you're going to look down at Ecuador in regards to this issue - your argument is immediately null and void, given that the US is guilty of the same.

Rob

You want to flee the things you imagine the US government might do to the existing reality of the Ecuadorian president’s “Mano Dura” policy. Have you really thought that through?

[bae]

In a fantasy world where one could ignore national news and animated political discussions, I don't think my life would be significantly different among the various presidents.

My mileage does vary. My local community, where I had planned to stay until my end-of-days, is being impacted by the current administration's policies in ways that are "not good", on multiple fronts.

Not just "Trump is bad, we're upset" sorta things, more like prebudgeted funds vanishing overnight causing layoffs and reduction in hiring by hospitals and clinics, funds for road/bridge repair vanishing, funds for Fire/EMS services vanishing, reliable Federal resources such as CDC and NOAA becoming near-useless, and getting stopped by multiple Federal agencies incredibly often when simply traveling from island-to-island in my county, which is essential for daily life here. Etc etc etc.

Our local Hispanic community is even more impacted, and many of those families have lived in the region as citizens for 100 years. The local First Nations folks are also feeling it, apparently they look Mexican to some of the new ICE folks.

My partner's public school has been impacted financially. And the families and students that attend her school, in the Skagit Valley, are about half Hispanic, and are being hassled. (Though, again, most seem to have been in the USA for generations.)

Universities I work with in the USA have been feeling the pain from the current administration as well.

And my own daughter, as I've mentioned, will not be living in the USA anytime soon, which is unfortunate on a number of fronts.

[Tybee]

It's having a terrible impact on college and universities. I'm on a textbook advisory panel, and professors from Florida are reporting that they will be arrested if they provide reading that uses the words cultural and equity. Not fired, arrested. They are pleading with the publisher to remove anything that does not fit with the new regime's strange parameters of language. They are having to stop using their standard psychology textbook as the state has declared it "woke." One of the panel who is not from Florida said, "this is end times stuff." I have never seen anything like this, not since watching historic film of the McCarthy hearings.

[iris lilies]

Very weak argument - very very weak and I will calmly and non-snarkily tell you why. DJT has been teasing similar - declaring states of emergency to carry out his legally questionable plans/agenda. Good for the goose, good for the gander.

In other words, the US has been flirting with similar since DJT 2.0. Please turn that finger of blame/shame around and turn it towards the United States, also. If you're going to look down at Ecuador in regards to this issue - your argument is immediately null and void, given that the US is guilty of the same.

Rob

Our AI friend summarizes this travel caution from the. Canadian government. Rob, I know you wouldn’t pay any attention to travel advisory from the evil United States, but this is from Canada.



“Is it safe to go to Ecuador right now?

AI Overview





It is not recommended to travel to some parts of Ecuador right now due to significant risks of crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping, with the Canadian government advising against all travel to areas within 20 km of the Colombian border. While the Ecuadorian government is taking measures to improve security, the situation is volatile, and a state of internal armed conflict and emergency is in effect. It is essential to check your government's specific travel advisories and follow local authorities' advice, especially when considering travel to major cities or border region”

[Rogar]

My mileage does vary. My local community, where I had planned to stay until my end-of-days, is being impacted by the current administration's policies in ways that are "not good", on multiple fronts.

I understand how things are different for others. Those are things I only read about in the news, but believe me I find very disturbing. Some or most of those things probably stay the same regardless of a person's residence.

[catherine]

I have been doing focus groups with people (various segments: Black, Native American, rural, Hispanic, LGBTQIA+) and interviews with healthcare providers on how the social determinants of health are impacting their communities... eventually in the discussion it comes around to, "...and with the new administration..." Everyone is polite about it, but what they tell me is that healthcare is eroding, Hispanics and (as bae said) Native Americans are afraid to go to the doctor, Medicaid applications are impossibly difficult to navigate, rural hospitals are suffering... it goes on and on. These are not 3rd party hearsay anecdotes--they are realities experienced by healthcare consumers and providers in the trenches.

[bae]

... rural hospitals are suffering...

Actual Rural Health Clinics are not just "a clinic in the hinterlands", as many city folk I have talked to seem to believe.

They are a bit more complicated than that. And recent changes are really hitting them hard. The one on the adjacent island to mine is closing very shortly because of that, and then the thousands of residents on that island will be screwed. I used to be on the Board of the RHC on my island until just a couple of years ago. We closed it down and transferred the RHC designation to a nice new clinic that was opening up here supported by our newly-voted-in Hospital District. Now the Hospital District is having more-than-a-bit of trouble under our current Federal administration.

The State is scrambling to see what they can do to backfill, alas our state government is dominated by a handful of urban areas, and it's a long educational process for them...