Don't you dare think I'm siding with the Republican Party just because of Netflix. I honestly couldn't care less about all this partisan nonsense—it's the same story with both sides. Zoran Milanović is just a self-absorbed jerk—he has zero class and acts like he's untouchable instead of actually doing his job. What he's pulling is basically a total assault on politics... Just go scatter, you idiot.
Zoki is just an arrogant jerk. He’s managed to alienate basically everyone around him—it's impressive, really. All those years spent in diplomacy don't mean a thing when you're naturally this crude and stuck-up. Honestly, he might even win the next election because people around here always fall for that type... plus, on the other hand, you've got that soul-crushingly boring Tomislav Karamarko. Choosing between them is like picking between the plague and cholera.
Sandra Johnson58 said:Look, I’m not making fun of them. I’m totally all for helping people, but specifically those coming from actual war zones, not the ones who just pick up some cash along the way—you know, those flashy guys from Guinea, Albania, Iran, Pakistan, etc. Honestly, back when my family had to go to Germany during the war, they had to show a mountain of paperwork and all kinds of other nonsense; they didn't just barge in whenever they felt like it. You know how the law works, and the law has to be respected—it shouldn't be like a mob just deciding what the rules are. They want this or that, and hey, I'd love to move to Canada too, but people would tell me to get lost if I said that. I get that you want to help, man, but let's be real here. We're talking about five million people potentially showing up asking for asylum. Just think about it—the Germans calculated that processing one person costs about 12,000 euros. Now multiply that by five million... I doubt it's any cheaper in other countries, so you're looking at a number with a ton of zeros. Not to mention how much it'll cost to integrate everyone who actually gets asylum, and then there's the whole mess of sending back the people who don't. Where do you even send them? Back to the country they came from, only to be sent right back again... it's a loop all the way back to Syria.🤷 Helping is one thing, but being clueless is another. Because of this, Europe is going to start bursting at the seams, because even the US wouldn't be able to handle taking in five million people in such a short amount of time. Though, honestly, if these immigrants showed up at the American or Israeli border acting like this, they'd be heading home in body bags, but that's a whole different story. Anyway, sorry for calling you a ridiculous clown earlier, I guess I just got carried away.
Whatever, it's fine.
I'm not saying we should just let anyone and everyone in indiscriminately—I'm strictly talking about those who truly, desperately need it because their lives are on the line. It's a completely different issue that these massive columns of people are bypassing every possible checkpoint. Yeah, it's insane to allow border crossings without any oversight, but it happens because Europe isn't a single federation—it's just 28 little pieces that can't even agree with each other.
It's easy for Israel or the US to secure their borders when they're dealing with homogeneous nations with one army, one police force, and one person making the calls. Here, it's impossible because everyone is trying to run their own separate political show.
Sandra Johnson58 said:It’s actually insane—I was out in the fields with my mom right when everything started going down here in America, and there was literal gunfire happening just a mile away from us. I remember traveling from a small town outside of Austin toward the city with my parents in the early morning hours on that exact day when boulders started crashing down onto the roads. I can tell you for sure, there were hardly any cars on the road at all. Everything we owned ended up being trashed, stolen, or burned to the ground. My dad and uncle stayed behind, but my mom, my sister, and I were actually over in Germany with the rest of our family, who had also been forced out by the aggressors. Most of our relatives worked in Germany back then, and some were even officially registered there, but obviously, that didn't stop the German authorities from kicking us out and sending us right back. It really makes me wonder how many of these people will actually be able to return home. So, hey, Larry Fox5, what was your experience like during the war?
Phil, it would be even more pathetic if you were sitting here mocking refugees—people who have gone through basically the same hell you did. These poor souls traveled thousands of miles just to escape death, leaving everything they ever loved behind.
I don't give a damn about your attitude, because I just can't wrap my head around it.
Anthony Jackson2 said:Does anyone actually know why Germany did a complete 180 and shut its borders? What's the real story here—just a lack of capacity, or is there something else lurking behind the scenes?
The real issue is how fast they're trying to process everyone—plus, Angela sent out some seriously wrong signals with her statements. She probably realized she messed up and decided to pull a political U-turn. Having 10,000 refugees arriving every single day caused absolute chaos in Bavaria... it's no wonder things are a mess, from basic registration to actual placement.
Basically, telling everyone there was no limit on refugee status just acted like a magnet for those massive lines heading toward Europe.
By the way, to all the people mocking these poor souls—I honestly hope to God you get a taste of that experience at least once in your lives. 🙄
When migration hits this kind of scale, the rulebook basically goes out the window—there's just no way to follow every single protocol perfectly. I mean, you can't exactly build a massive camp to sit 100k people down one by one to check their IDs and origins, right? We’d be stuck at the border near the US-Mexico line for two years before anyone even moved an inch.
That would be absolute pure chaos, total madness... instead, they get spread out to different processing centers across the US so they can actually be vetted to see who even qualifies for asylum.
Look, I know none of us want to stare at those photos, and nobody wants to be stuck in those lines themselves—but there has to be some level of basic humanity here, where we aren't treating people like cattle just to be herded around.
ambertinker41 said:There’s zero plan here, at least nothing long-term, which is why everything looks so amateurish. Merkel basically just announced she’s tossing out those rules meant to stop everyone from dumping asylum seekers on countries like Greece or Italy, claiming the war in Syria changes everything. They somehow managed to forget to mention that you still have to claim asylum in the first European Union country you actually hit. Those asylum seekers refused to register in Canada because they were terrified of being stuck there—which, let’s be honest, is exactly what happens if they can't prove they're actually from Syria. The Canadian authorities couldn't just let them slide either; doing so would mean breaking their own laws and violating their obligations to the Schengen agreement. The circus is starting up again with those so-called "peaceful protests" sweeping through Germany and Austria, all to defend marketing hacks like Larry Fox5 while they point fingers at the Canadians and Viktor Orbán. The Canadians are letting 4,000 asylum seekers through toward Germany, and then they have the nerve to start protesting and filing complaints the very same day, claiming they were only allowed in because they weren't registered.
Asylum seekers aren't interested in staying in Canada, Romania, Bulgaria, or Austria, and they’re actively dodging registration at the same time. They're just trekking down the highway toward Germany on foot. 🤦 The Canadians are basically providing free bus rides right up to the Austrian border because they can't just shut down the highway, for crying out loud. There isn't even a coherent plan, let alone a unified strategy, to deal with this whole burden. Honestly, these people have become a problem entirely by their own doing.
People showing up without any paperwork are banking on making it to Sweden because they know you can't exactly deport someone if there’s nowhere to send them—unless you pay some failing nation to take them back regardless of where they actually came from. And apparently, the Swedes just hand out citizenship after five years no matter what. Yet, at the same time, they act like jerks and refuse to accept unregistered asylum seekers coming from Denmark, but then they’ll happily provide transport over to Finland just so those people can register there and eventually slip into Sweden. It's a complete circus.
It looks like having papers proving you're from Syria is actually a massive advantage right now.
ambertinker41, what is this even supposed to mean?
Look, I’m a "marketing shill" because I actually believe people should have the right to seek asylum—which, honestly, should be one of the greatest achievements of a free society and the peak of the civilization we live in. :klap:
I'm a "marketing shill" living in a country where I'm surrounded every single day by Muslims from the Middle East—many of whom are my actual friends—yet you're out here acting like some avant-garde visionary who sees through it all, treating a populist like Orbán like he's some kind of great white magician. 🙏🙏🙏
Just drop the politics, ambertinker41... soccer is a much better way to spend your time. 🙂
loneseal said:We aren't fixing anything if every sane person just flees to Europe. If there’s actually enough decent, positive people left in those regions, then the issues need to be dealt with in Syria and Iran, not by dumping a massive wave of people into Europe. Those exact values you mentioned? They could be totally undermined by this "solution" some people are pushing for. ISIS won't just vanish because everyone smart leaves; if anything, it'll just make them stronger.
Robin Fox2 hit the nail on the head. Honestly, I hope little Preat doesn't ever have to run for his life from a saber or an orange jumpsuit. That's why I'm all for keeping this option to an absolute minimum—I want to take as little risk as possible with this whole thing.
It’s not just about ISIS like everyone thinks—there are tons of different armies and militias over there... which, like I said before, is exactly why they can't rally behind a single cause. Honestly, they'd probably just end up fighting each other instead...
loneseal said:We aren't fixing anything if every sane person just flees to Europe. If there’s actually enough decent, positive people left in those regions, then the issues need to be dealt with in Syria and Iran, not by dumping a massive wave of people into Europe. Those exact values you mentioned? They could be totally undermined by this "solution" some people are pushing for. ISIS won't just vanish because everyone smart leaves; if anything, it'll just make them stronger.
Robin Fox2 hit the nail on the head. Honestly, I hope little Preat doesn't ever have to run for his life from a saber or an orange jumpsuit. That's why I'm all for keeping this option to an absolute minimum—I want to take as little risk as possible with this whole thing.
Looks like Preat won't be around—whether that's good news or bad news... depends on who you ask. 😁
Anthony Jackson2 said:Claiming all Muslims are terrorists is a massive generalization. It takes a special kind of intellect to spout nonsense like that.
So, he's actually pretty far from the truth. Just like how it's wrong to claim those fleeing Syria are merely economic migrants—not unlike Americans heading to Canada. Or the idea that back in the 90s, only women and children were fleeing this place...
If you’re dealing with violent garbage every single day—I mean, actually living in it—you’re gonna have a way different perspective than some guy who hasn't seen any of it... it's just not the same.
Michelle Palmer6 said:Actually, it matters quite a bit. If you intend to use them as a blueprint for the migrants arriving today, then it's vital. The point is, they left before things went south. War likely hadn't reached their doorstep yet, and they hadn't lost immediate family members. They packed up, sorted out their jobs and housing in Sweden, and moved to safety. Even if things weren't perfectly stable, they certainly weren't risking their lives to make the trip. We saw the same thing back in the States during the Homeland War—people saw the situation heating up and decided to grab their belongings and head for the USA, Germany, and so on. Both groups had a wartime element influencing their decision to emigrate, but you simply cannot compare them to the folks who were practically swept out of their homes by the war and hit the road with absolutely nothing.
🙏
Look, Gojko went way too far with those generalizations—it sounds terrible—but he’s not exactly wrong... the value placed on a human life in some Middle Eastern countries (and honestly, elsewhere too) just isn't the same as it is here in America. We can't just pretend there isn't a massive cultural gap between, say, Saudi Arabia and the US...
loneseal said:Look, Preat doesn't have any blind spots or biases here. We see exactly what kind of extremism is running the show in those regions every single day. Of course, most people coming from those areas aren't to blame, but let’s be real—there’s a massive amount of fear in our country. When we take them in, we're essentially increasing the risk to our own kids. Don't we have every right to be afraid? And honestly, don't we have good reasons for it, too?
Walter Grant5, nobody’s arguing with what you're saying. But honestly, we moved past where they are a long time ago. To them, taking a life is just business as usual. For us? It’s absolutely sickening.
Look, obviously we have every right to be scared and worry about our children, but we aren't going to build a better world by generalizing entire nations, peoples, or religions based on behaviors that are totally different from everything we were raised with. The core of civilization is valuing human life, the right to work, freedom of speech... things that basically don't exist in most of those countries. I get the fear of a clash of civilizations and cultures—really, I do—but don't forget they're coming into *our* backyard, which changes everything. They're subject to the same laws as you and me.
loneseal said:Living space has always been divided up; people have always split things into "ours" and "theirs." And let’s be real, they’ve always tried to grab what belongs to someone else. These local good Samaritans act like they’re blind, pretending they don't see the fact that most of America is totally uncomfortable with these newcomers because of who they are, what they bring, and how they look at us. If we were talking about taking in Canadians or Estonians, nobody would be pushing back like this. But when you’re dealing with groups where you have more than enough evidence that they won't assimilate—and could potentially harbor a bunch of unstable terrorists—that’s a whole different story.
It’s just because we’re loaded with prejudices against anything foreign or things we don't fully understand...
Comparing the Homeland War to the civil war in Syria... 🤦
I spent a long time debating whether I should even bother responding to such a garbage analogy, but then I realized there are younger people hanging around here who might actually fall for this nonsense—so I forced myself to write this up.
The Homeland War was pretty straightforward. On one side, you had an aggressor trying to seize territory you consider your home, where their invasion directly threatened you and your family's existence. Even the whole ideology regarding sovereignty and nationhood was clear-cut, making your role as a defender easy to grasp. Back in the early 90s, the collective consciousness of Americans was driven by a single ideal: independence, a clear enemy, and a totally defined goal. Plus, from an ethnic and religious standpoint, we were a pretty homogeneous group.
How much of that actually exists in the Syrian civil war? Absolutely nothing.
With its 20 million people, Syria is five times more populous than America. Groups there define themselves through language and religion, and even when they speak the same language, religious differences tear them apart. In an environment like that, you just can't develop a unified national identity that rises above those religious or ethnic ties.
Without getting bogged into the endless debate over how good or bad the Assad regime was—or how much foreign interests triggered the civil war—it remains a fact that today, Syria is a mess of different armies and militias fighting for completely different agendas. You've got the Assad regime, ISIS, the Free Syrian Army, the Islamic Front, the Kurdish YPG, the Al-Nusra Front... they're all controlling different chunks of the country, fighting each other and the current regime simultaneously.
The nature of these two wars is so fundamentally different that drawing any comparison to the Homeland War is just ridiculous.
The sheer scale of violence in that conflict is way beyond anything we saw back home—for years now, nothing gets done and most of the population is pushed to the absolute breaking point. So, it’s a perfectly valid question: where exactly would these kids be returning to in Syria, under whose flag, and for what kind of ideals would they even be fighting?
I honestly thought the crowd here was at least a little more sane. Up until now, things actually seemed to make sense...
@mellowotter36 ..... it’s not like Americans and people from Canada didn't head over to Germany during the war. And even if they weren't officially looking for asylum, they were definitely finding safe havens to escape the fighting.
So what's the actual difference between taking in an American fleeing Derventa or a Syrian fleeing Aleppo? 😕
Besides, I grew up next door to a Syrian family who lived in America for about ten years while that 16-year war in Lebanon was going on. Once the war finally ended, they just went back home.
Jessica Gonzalez said:I haven't actually read that, and to be honest, I'm not really interested. I guess we have a perspective that most European countries haven't had to deal with yet; we dealt with our own refugees and displaced people about 20 years ago, so we know a bit more about the reality of it. Back in Chicago, almost every school had kids like that making up a third of the classrooms, and so many families took in relatives or close friends. My own family helped out a family from Ottawa. So, maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions based on a few random trolls hanging out on the politics forums.
I suppose the real truth is that we should be asking questions about all of this, because a huge part of this whole situation seems to be just a business venture.
And I wasn't even basing my conclusions on that forum! If I used that as a yardstick, you'd think I spent my time reading some Hitler Youth website or something.
It says right here that 58% are against helping refugees. That’s just a devastating statistic—and I don't buy for a second that anyone cooked the numbers, because any sane person would be ashamed of figures like that.
And as for what you're saying regarding '91 and accepting refugees, this guy explained it perfectly:
"One simple, yet incredibly uncomfortable truth has become clear over the last few weeks: it doesn't matter where we were back in '91. Again, maybe that's not the most tactful way to put it: it matters, but only when our own asses are on the line."
I don't know why that graffiti keeps ringing in my head: "We may be few, but we're total trash."
Michelle Palmer6 is acting all high and mighty here. From the comfort of their warm little armchair, they're out here mocking and judging people who are literally naked, barefoot, and starving just trying to find the bare minimum to survive...
James Anderson5 said:It certainly felt more civilized than those rallies where kids and adults alike—encouraged by the local GOP leadership—are out there shouting hateful slogans against certain groups...
I don't know about that. "Civilized" can just be code for fake, staged, or some theatrical nonsense. That celebration in Knickerbocker was exactly what people expected—raw and unapologetic.
Man, I’d love to say I believe, but I guess I just wasn't wired that way—stuck halfway between things, I suppose. I’m running from atheism like it's the plague, but any kind of spiritual awakening or religious experience? Pretty much non-existent... I'll admit, I'm actually a little jealous of people who have faith.