Shit even outside of the cities there's plenty of drug addiction, it's just less visible than it is in the cities.

Like Philando Castile?

"We've got it all figured out. There's no way this could end in massive disaster." ~Shit I've Heard Before

>isn’t preventing them from going where they want kidnapping?

As much as it's kidnapping for me not to buy you a bus ticket where you want to go.

I have, but I didn't find it particularly relevant, because America is not those countries. Our historical identity was practically formed on immigration and free trade, very reflective of the Netherlands during its glory days. The Dutch way of economics was a very strong component of the fabric of American identity, the idea that people should be able to trade and exist freely within the territory. While other countries closed themselves off and restricted who could enter, we accepted just about everyone. And for that we became the greatest economic powerhouse in world history. Until 9/11, and then we decided to start prosecuting illegal border crossers criminally instead of civilly. How have we been doing since then?

Imagine being a passenger on the MS St. Louis in 1939. You're Jewish, and you've managed to get all the way from Germany to the shores of America, along with 900 others. Then, you're informed that you'll have to turn around and seek asylum elsewhere, because the US won't take you. Imagine that. Now imagine a family fleeing cartel violence, showing up at the border, and being told to wait in line because right wing Americans think the country is "too full". History rhymes.

>However now it has become a political point with sanctuary cities, locking people in cages, pandering to certain demographics, those seeking asylum or whatever other rhetoric you wish to include.

Right, the political point being that one side is anti-immigrant nativists who have extreme overlap with the racist elements in the nation, and the other side just treats them like normal people?

It should be easy to immigrate to America, that is the immigration policy under which we became the world's foremost economic powerhouse.

My personal opinion is that immigrants and immigration are a financial boon, and that the test to become an American should be a simple criminal history check from country(s) of origin and a desire to immigrate. I actually want semi-open borders, so it's funny hearing people complain that we already have it.

Yes, and we're only now just normalizing back to the level of immigrants we had back in the 1850's.

You think this is a lot because you don't understand that historically America's entire national identity was "We'll take you even if nobody else will". It's only for the past sixty to seventy years that a growing political backlash against immigrants has become politically empowered enough to restrict immigration.

I'm telling you, for all you anti-immigration folks' talk about how you like this country, you seem to like more the pale illusion of it in your head. And that's not even getting into the question of "Who's the real immigrants in a country which has native Americans?"

Relevant text:

>Polis announced on Jan. 3 that Colorado would facilitate in transporting of migrants who arrived in Denver to their "final destinations," noting that about 70% of the migrants did not consider Denver as their destination. The release added that weather and workforce shortages at the time attributed to travel cancellations for many migrants.

>New York Mayor Eric Adams had responded before Polis issued that announcement. Joining 77WABC's "Sid and Friends in the Morning," Adams informed listeners that Polis notified him on Monday about busing migrants from Colorado.

>"This is just unfair for local governments to have to take on this national obligation," Adams said. "We've done our job. There's no more room at the end, but we are compelled by local laws here that we must provide shelter."

So yes, unlike with Abbot, Polis was literally facilitating these folks getting to where they were trying to go. But Republicans have to try to "both sides" with something, and this is the best they got.

If you think we have semi-open borders now, you must not take much pride in American history.

Considering the process has changed drastically since your family did it, maybe you should reconsider. After all criminal prosecutions for illegal border crossing didn't happen until 2004.

Immigration law has drastically changed within our lifetimes, and become incredibly restrictive relative to what it was for the entirety of American history. For all the poeple decrying "semi-open borders" we have the most shut borders America has ever had in its history. And that's not even tackling the question of "Was it even smart to change our immigration policy away from the one under which we became the world's foremost superpower, or were we just in shock from 9/11?"

Maybe those relatively high numbers could have a little something to do with the fact that the country was on lockdown for two years prior? Just a thought.

Dude this is one of the sources for the article you posted:

Murders rose sharply in 2020 but data is lacking across much of the country

2020, and we still lack complete data on that year. Here:

> The FBI has also recently changed its reporting system, which may negatively impact the amount of data the agency is able release going forward. The 2021 UCR report will be based on a collection system known as “NIBRS”, which lets agencies submit detailed information for each crime, including information on victims and relationships between offenders and victims.

>However, it’s more difficult for agencies to collect and report data with this level of detail, which will likely impact the number of agencies who participate – less than 10,000 agencies reported NIBRs data in 2020.

So, like I said, these figures take about a decade to compile.

Yeah and gun violence statistics take about a decade to compile. Unless you think there was some large increase in gun violence in that uncovered period, then it still stands to reason that we're on the lowest end of a declining trend.

No they weren't, y'all just didn't have social media.

Right, this same thing happens in Britain all the time.

It should also be noted that many of the crashes in which the officers die are instigated by the police themselves. There have been many accounts of police dying while wrecking en route to a call because they're driving too fast. There's a reason this is a top killer of cops, it's because that's the one part of the 80's-90's action cop image which is actually dangerous to themselves instead of just others.

Dude legit the only reason you're making this comment is because you're not looking at the image in the link.

We've been on a declining trend since the 1990's.

Yeah this was the first blizzard I've been through so I have no others to really compare to. But this was like...windy? Snowy? Shit was downright pleasant next to Katrina and Rita. Granted I'm in Minnesota, Upstate NY got it worse.

As a native Louisianian who moved to Minnesota, no, a blizzard is not at all like a cold hurricane. Not to downplay the severity of a blizzard, but it's basically just a lot of snow over an extended period. Hurricanes can have multiple tornadoes, destroy entire towns, and move roads. Not even close.

This blizzard was literally just "stay home, shovel once it's done". I didn't have to worry about my house flooding or having an oak tree dropped on it. I'm very, very glad I moved, and now have to deal with winter blizzards and summer thunderstorms instead of the loci of pure destruction that are hurricanes.

As long as the monks aren't hurting anybody I don't see the problem.

Seriously I read this headline, and as a native of Baton Rouge, which is affectionately called "Cancer Alley", I was kinda taken aback. Glad to hear they're just discussing forest fire smoke and not like...chemical pollution from oil refineries.