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Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

travel.state.gov

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Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#71
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like "form your own private paramilitary organisation with minimal oversight, then expand their reach by having them take over the operations of other government departments" has been done before somewhere, as part of a larger plan.

It has. (Unless you're being sarcastic, in which case I'm not surprised it went over my head. Lol.)

of course they were

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you qualify complaining about starting an unnecessary war as "whining"? Why? What about ICE agents killing American citizens? Adding unprecedented numbers to the federal deficit, etc.? How nice it must be to be able to just dismiss these things.

> How nice it must be to be able to just dismiss these things. I don't know anyone in the US in real life who is happy with the current situation, including people who voted for Trump. The cheer leaders are only visible online. The people who voted for Harris are saying "we told you so," and the others are saying "he conned us."

There are petty peevish folks too, to quote myself lately

October 2025

"I believe Trumps gutting of institutions of learning, culture, democracy, law is punishment for the Branch Covidians. I believe this punishment must continue for some time until the lesson is learned about abuse of power"

Should we reconcile this great nation, not balkanize, not be in an antebellum period, not be a Weimar republic, and walk back the rubicon and cross into more quiet waters, we must turn our attention to what made this country great. What has made it unique? That our constitution is explicit about what freedoms and rights are reserved for the people and are not to be trampled, touched, or looked at by the government. State, Local, or Federal. Our founding fathers and great men who preceded us recognized government as a necessary evil, one that must be kept at bay, not used as a violent tool to achieve outcomes. All of these institutions must walk back their power, give the rights back to the people, to be truly afraid of the populace. Each tax collector must shiver when he goes to work, and each police officer be fully aware that a single parking ticket is an act of violence.

All said, I am afraid, we have lost that. And now we must face the future hoping that someday, another group of smart men can realize something so unique, so right, so innately just and moral was achieved by the signing of the constitution that it must be tried again.

Calvin - 2022

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you qualify complaining about starting an unnecessary war as "whining"? Why? What about ICE agents killing American citizens? Adding unprecedented numbers to the federal deficit, etc.? How nice it must be to be able to just dismiss these things.

> How nice it must be to be able to just dismiss these things. I don't know anyone in the US in real life who is happy with the current situation, including people who voted for Trump. The cheer leaders are only visible online. The people who voted for Harris are saying "we told you so," and the others are saying "he conned us."

I'm not sure where you live, but try going to some of the super-small towns in the Midwest. I unfortunately still see people openly wearing MAGA hats and have MAGA flags on the flag poles in their yards.

Trust me, as sad as it is, those people still exist.

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#74
post #38
post #2

I am tired of winning.

winning what?

One of President Donald Trump’s lines during the 2016 presidential campaign was his promise that, “We’re gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please. It’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore, Mr. President, it’s too much.’ And I’ll say, ‘No it isn’t. We have to keep winning. We have to win more!’”

https://www.c-span.org/clip/campaign-2016/user-clip-too-much...

Trump says US is 'winning so much' in longest ever State of the Union - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhQUGjRtq-M - February 25th, 2026

Hence the joke, "I am tired of winning." as the situation continues to rapidly degrade through policy choices. So much winning, it's too much.

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#75
post #32

The U.S. government shutdown has halted pay to the TSA, but not ICE, so ICE is taking over from the TSA in airports[1]. If you fly to the U.S., starting Monday apparently, the first think you're likely to see is masked gunmen giving you the eye. No thankyou. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cede0qyvqz3o

Would anyone argue that the TSA, Theatre Security Agency, shouldn’t be defunded?

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#77
post #32

The U.S. government shutdown has halted pay to the TSA, but not ICE, so ICE is taking over from the TSA in airports[1]. If you fly to the U.S., starting Monday apparently, the first think you're likely to see is masked gunmen giving you the eye. No thankyou. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cede0qyvqz3o

> So ICE is taking over from the TSA in airports

It's even more disgusting than that:

"Tom Homan: ICE officers will not assist with airport security scanning amid TSA staffing shortage"

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/5795316-homan-ice-...

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#78

Crazy how effective at making everything worse this admin has been.

Trump is but a symptom of an underlying sickness. Things won't magically go back to normal after he dies.

Very few other people have Trump's ability to channel frustration in a nonspecific-but-charismatic way that connects the various extreme factions of the American right.

None of those factions will be gone, but their battles will weaken their cause more than they have since 2016.

Some of this can be seen by how even his own popularity falls any time he actually has power, since there are no effective ideas there, only misplaced blame, and that doesn't sustain support for four years. Without him there at all in an out-of-power period, the "blame the Jews"/"blame the brown people"/"blame the women"/"blame the baby-killers"/"blame the anti-Semites"/"blame the sexual deviants" factions will likely fail to find another person they all rally around.

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#79

I got jumped in Italy couple of weeks ago. I was wearing a "volleyball dad" hoodie my kid bought for me but did not realize that the "volleyball dad" is etched in the middle of a large American flag covering my entire back. Luckily (for him, not me :) ) three police officers were 10 meters away walking the area dealing with apre ski drunks and restrained him. fun times

r/thathappened

Re: Department of State advises Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution

#80
post #32

The U.S. government shutdown has halted pay to the TSA, but not ICE, so ICE is taking over from the TSA in airports[1]. If you fly to the U.S., starting Monday apparently, the first think you're likely to see is masked gunmen giving you the eye. No thankyou. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cede0qyvqz3o

Would anyone argue that the TSA, Theatre Security Agency, shouldn’t be defunded?

This isn’t that.
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