Turmoil in the United States

[shaberon]

Although perhaps recently released, this is some polling from last year to show how insane we went:

New international polling by Gallup reveals that the United States stands out globally for its intense anxiety over politics, democracy, and economic insecurity, painting a bleak picture of a country increasingly unstable compared with its peers.

The survey of 107 countries showed that Americans are unusually fixated on politics and government as the most serious problem facing their nation.

Roughly one-third of Americans named politics and government as the top issue, a level matched only by Taiwan. While wealthier countries tend to emphasize political concerns, the US is exceptional in how sharply these worries dominate public opinion.

Gallup researcher Benedict Vigers said the US stands out for its combined fear about democratic stability and declining economic opportunity, noting that “It's really unique in that regard.”

The survey, conducted from March to October 2025, comes after decades of intensifying partisan polarization, the rise of incumbent US President Donald Trump, the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, failed attempts to hold Trump accountable during Joe Biden’s presidency, and Trump’s return to office, all of which have weakened confidence in the country’s political and constitutional safeguards.

Economic anxiety, particularly among younger Americans, is another area where the US compares poorly internationally.

Americans aged 35 and under are far more likely than older adults to cite affordability and economic pressures - such as food and housing costs - as their top concern. About one-third of young Americans did so, compared with just 13 percent of those aged 55 and older.

This pattern mirrors trends in other English-speaking countries facing housing crises, including Australia, Canada, and Ireland, which Vigers described as “It's a literally concrete example of young people being locked out of economic progress.”

Older Americans, meanwhile, are far more preoccupied with politics and government, with about four in 10 people aged 35 and over ranking it as the country’s most pressing problem, compared with about two in 10 younger adults.

Gallup’s long-term tracking shows that concern about politics has risen steadily since 2000 and remained near or above Watergate-era levels since 2016.

Frank Newport of Gallup linked this trend to extreme polarization, while political scientist Brendan Nyhan warned of deeper consequences.

“A world where people aren’t optimistic about their economic futures is one in which they’re willing to destabilize institutions even further,” Nyhan said. “Low trust is corrosive.”

It didn't get better since then.

I might normally find that unimpressive and not post it, but, on further review, also from last year, we are ready to kill it:

A new survey reveals that nearly one in three Americans now believes that violence is necessary to address the country’s political crises.

According to the latest PBS/NPR/Marist poll, published on Wednesday, 30% Americans say violence is the only solution to the nation’s numerous political problems.

This marks a sharp rise from 18 months ago, when an identical PBS poll found that just 19% of respondents held the same view.

Since April 2024, the belief that violence may be necessary has grown by three percentage points among Republicans and seven points among independents.

However, the largest increase has occurred among Democrats: 28% now agree that “Americans may have to resort to violence in order to get the country back on track,” a 16-point jump since the last survey.

The poll comes amid a series of recent high-profile incidents of political violence in the US, including the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk in Utah last month; the murder of a Democratic state legislator and her husband in Minnesota in June; the throwing of a Molotov cocktail into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in April; and two assassination attempts on US President Donald Trump last summer during his reelection campaign.

At the same time, the number of Americans who believe the country is moving in the wrong direction has risen sharply since Trump returned to the Oval Office.

Sixty-two percent of respondents said the nation is headed in the wrong direction, an increase of eight percentage points since March.

“We have had an erosion in a lot of norms and rules, and in our institutions that has accelerated in the last year,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist University Institute for Public Opinion.

"The overarching concern is the excessive polarization surrounding many political issues, which has left the country increasingly divided," he added.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans view politically motivated violence as a major concern.

Approximately three-quarters of poll respondents considered it a significant issue, marking a 4 percentage point increase since July, before Kirk’s assassination.

In addition, most Americans believe the Trump administration has gone too far in restricting free speech.

In the weeks following Kirk’s death, the Trump administration and his far-right allies launched an organized effort to target individuals they claimed celebrated Kirk’s death online.

By a margin of 61% to 20%, respondents disapproved of how the government handled files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s death, the late financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison six years ago.

Several sources familiar with the case have revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) redacted the names of several high-profile political figures, including Trump himself.

The poll indicates that the majority of Americans want the names of all perpetrators to be released while keeping the names of the victims confidential.

I don't quite understand it, as in what do they mean by "violence" addresses anything. Armed revolt? Assassination of key figures? Or burning a shopping mall.

Right now I see about 25% fanatics slavish to the Administration, and, a slightly higher number against that to the point of thinking only violence will resolve it. One could only imagine the number grew in the past few months, since the other one shrank.

The country was not "on track". Never has been. There's nothing to get back to. There are things to get rid of to find out what that track could possibly be.

In old revolutions, anyone who grabbed a gun was at par with the authorities. You can't do that any more. You might use it to defend yourself, it might prevent certain incidents, but I think I could get better results by running my mouth in the right situation. I've already tried this, when I was young, by being polite and asking questions and trying to promote reasonable conversation, and I can promise you that will never work. At this point, I need no violence to leave someone scarred for life. It might not change the way they vote, but they can go around in an awareness of being mentally crippled while their toys melt.

I am going to have to re-think how to frame the opposition and never relent, because the worst thing that can happen is a politician throws you a bone for appeasement while continuing a nefarious regime in other ways. I'm not sure that invoking Bolivar or imperiling The Constitution is attractive enough to make any progress; it would be a set of repeals:


Federal Police

The Truman Doctrine (force projection)

Zionism, NATO (undesirable partnerships)

Income tax, Federal Reserve, corporatism

Insurance domination, unrepeal Glass-Steagall

Abuse of food and medicine


Something like that. Can't add too much more or it becomes too much to deal with. Obviously it is a total turn-around in foreign and domestic policy, while right now we are the second-most hated country in the world, with a large number dissatisfied like me, on their own, before I lift a finger.

[sdv]

ICE detention network ... my immediate reaction to this was perhaps a bit extremem, but it was this: They are building concentration camps for undesirables? Openly? At what point do concentration camps become places of extermination?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
P a u l ◉

ICYMI — this actually happened:

A 22-year-old mother, Kimberlyn Yaritza Menjivar Aguilar, went to a routine fingerprinting appointment for an approved work permit process.

ICE handcuffed her.
ICE deported her.
ICE sent her to Honduras without her 8-month-old baby.

This small account below is not quite the same (at all!), but I indirectly witnessed it myself.

Last week I met an Ecuadorian man at my mechanic's workshop. Like me, he was waiting for a small thing to be done to his car.

He was about 40, was neat and well-dressed, and spoke excellent English. He was very polite, and I asked him where he'd learned to speak it so well.

He told me he'd been working in New York for 4 years, there with a 100% legal Green Card. But suddenly his Green Card had been canceled (which I didn't think was possible), and a few weeks ago he was deported back to Ecuador. He was very philosophical about it. There had been nothing he could do.

~~~

My overview about the whole ICE situation, as best I can understand it, is that they're often going after easy pickings, probably (though I do not know this) to meet assigned target numbers. Of course, it's terrible PR. They really do seem frequently to be going after the wrong people, leaving the difficult and maybe dangerous cases untouched — the ones which really should be deported.

[Ravenlocke]

Lee Merritt

Feb 3
No minor should have to defend themselves from an adult because of their political beliefs. These students walked out to peacefully protest ICE operations in Kyle, Texas when a MAGA supporter attacked a high school girl. Other students jumped in to protect her.

Our children have the right to exercise their constitutional freedoms without fear of violence.

This man should be arrested and charged with Assault on a Minor, which in Texas is a felony offense when an adult intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury to a child.

I stand with these children.

https://x.com/LeeMerrittesq/status/2018793413726941327

UPDATE: The man who assaulted a high school student at an ICE protest in Buda, Texas has been identified as Chad Michael Watts, 45, from Kyle, Texas.

On February 3, 2026, students from Hays CISD walked out of class to peacefully protest ICE operations near the intersection of RM 967 and FM 1626 in Buda. Video shows Watts getting out of his truck and physically attacking a teenage girl who was protesting. Multiple students had to intervene to pull him off her.

Buda Police arrested Watts on February 4, and charged him with two counts of assault causing bodily injury. He has been identified as the primary aggressor. Both Watts and the girl reported minor injuries but declined medical evaluation.

This is a grown man from Kyle, Texas driving to Buda to attack a child exercising her First Amendment rights. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said it best: “a full-grown adult on a young high school girl” who required multiple people to get him off her.

The investigation remains ongoing. The Hays County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing whether additional charges should be filed.

These students deserve to protest without fear of violence. Chad Watts must be held fully accountable.

#JusticeForStudents #ChadWatts #ICEProtests #ProtectOurChildren #FirstAmendment


https://x.com/LeeMerrittesq/status/2019085986890735875

[Ravenlocke]

Lee Merritt

They told him ‘Thank you for your service’ then deported him to a country he left 50 years ago.

On February 6th, Godfrey Wade was deported to Jamaica after serving this country honorably in the U.S. Army. He built a life here as a father of six and grandfather of three. But after a traffic stop in Georgia last September, ICE detained him for five months and just deported him based on a 2014 removal order he never knew existed.

Court records show the hearing notices were sent to the wrong address and returned undeliverable. He was never given a fair chance to fight his case. Now his children and grandchildren are left without their father and grandfather, torn apart by a system that claims to value family but destroys them without hesitation.

This is what happens when our immigration system strips veterans of their dignity and denies them due process. We don’t abandon those who served. We don’t weaponize deportation against people who’ve spent their entire adult lives contributing to this country, raising families, and building communities.

Godfrey Wade deserved better than this. His family deserved better than this. Our veterans deserve better than this. Justice delayed is justice denied, and this man was denied both his day in court AND his right to remain in the country he fought for.

We have to do better.

https://x.com/LeeMerrittesq/status/2020283206809866510

[Ravenlocke]

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻

ICE forces women detainees to wear diapers—compare them to "goats locked in a cage."

'I saw people lying in feces, throwing up, and sleeping in urine," said whistleblower.

Overcrowded on the floor like "pictures that I saw in school of how they brought slaves over from Africa."

"We didn't always have sanitary stuff for them if they were having their cycle. They were given diapers."

"And because you can't put the diapers in the toilet, and the rooms didn't have trash cans. So some of us would give them boxes. And they would fill up with these diapers."

Days after reporting the conditions to his supervisor—he was fired for not being a "good fit."

The abuse occurred at the ICE detention facility in Baltimore, Maryland.


For the first time, someone who worked inside the Baltimore ICE detention facility at the center of a viral video showing severe overcrowding is speaking out publicly—and exclusively to WUSA9.

The worker described one particularly disturbing incident involving a detainee who had been returned from a hospital.

"When we got back on the next shift, he was in the restraint chair. No one knew how to get him out of the restraint chair because we didn't have any training. So I had to go on to YouTube to figure out how to release the restraints," the worker said.

Link to full story:
https://wusa9.com/article/news/inves...1-db5e12a04158

By —
@EricFlackTV

@wusa9

https://x.com/LongTimeHistory/status...58052336758957

[Ravenlocke]

WarMonitor

After being hospitalized for a life-threatening respiratory illness, an 18-month-old toddler was returned to ICE custody and denied medication.

https://x.com/TheWarMonitor/status/2020391906426122734

Jesus Freakin Congress

🚨BREAKING: An 18-month-old baby nearly died inside the Dilley ICE detention center, and then they denied her medication.

This is Amalia.

And according to a federal lawsuit, Amalia became so critically ill in detention that she had to be rushed to the hospital with life-threatening respiratory failure after developing multiple serious infections.

After spending 10 days at a hospital, doctors prescribed breathing treatments and medication to keep her alive.

And once released from a near death experience, the Trump administration sent Amalia right back into the same detention facility that almost killed her…

Where staff confiscated her prescribed medication and medical equipment, and she was reportedly denied the treatments doctors said she needed to keep her lungs working.

Medical experts, reviewing her case, warned that sending a medically fragile toddler back into detention, without reliable access to her prescriptions, put her at extreme risk, including a high risk of death.

So, if you call yourself “pro-life,” it’s time to speak up…

Because this administration is CHOOSING to detain babies and toddlers in facilities where children are getting seriously ill… and where life-saving medical care, and medication, are delayed or denied.

And they are CHOOSING to keep those children detained because detention is profitable.

So, in case you still don’t understand…

The Trump administration is holding children in dangerous conditions for money…

That’s human trafficking and child endangerment.

And, at this point, it’s not IF a child is going to die being held in these concentration camps…

It’s when.

Because when you detain children in these dangerous conditions and deny them medical care… It becomes a matter of time.

18-month-old Amalia already almost died in the Dilley detention center.

When will it be enough?

https://x.com/TheJFreakinC/status/2020598270976807376

[Ravenlocke]

Brian Allen

🚨 NEW: At a Super Bowl LX pre-game concert in San Francisco, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong used his set to call out politics and the Epstein files — including altering lyrics to say “the representative from Epstein Island has the floor.”

He also urged ICE agents to quit their jobs, directly criticizing Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Kristi Noem, and others.

https://x.com/allenanalysis/status/2020565255181541848

[Ravenlocke]

Ed Krassenstein


This is how the Bad Bunny halftime show at the Super Bowl went in Puerto Rico.

And yes, these people are American too.

Greatest halftime show ever!

https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/2020823009108664673

Ed Krassenstein


Here is Bad Bunny after the Super Bowl halftime show last night showing his love, thanks and appreciation to those who helped make this happen.

Imagine hating on this just because he’s not a white Trump supporter.

https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/2020848977252376609

DD Geopolitics

🇺🇸🇵🇷 Bad Bunny ended his historic Super Bowl halftime show, the first performed primarily in Spanish, by saying "God bless America."

Then he named every country in the Americas. Mexico. Guatemala. Colombia. Argentina. Brazil. Canada. Puerto Rico. All of them. Dancers carried their flags behind him.
He held up a football: "Together, We Are America."

Because America isn't just the United States. It's a continent. Two continents. 35 countries. One billion people.

If you don't like Latino culture being celebrated at the Super Bowl, maybe stop colonizing Latino countries and making them part of your empire.

Puerto Rico is America. This IS America. 135 million people watched. The most-viewed halftime show in history.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/2020870955527229795

[Ravenlocke]

Acyn

Correa: Young people are asking me what do I to carry with me so I won’t be deported. Is carrying a passport enough?

Lyons: An American citizen shouldn’t feel the need to carry a passport

Correa: Let me tell you what some of your ICE agents have done. They pulled over a gentleman in a pickup truck who showed his passport. They threw it to the side detained him. What do we have to do to show that we're American citizens?

https://x.com/Acyn/status/2021260700287689117

[Ravenlocke]

Aaron Rupar

Bloomington police announce arrests in sex trafficking bust: "Rashad Johnson out of Maple Grove. This is the most disturbing arrest that we've had here. He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security, and federal agencies."

https://x.com/atrupar/status/2021329107292663996

Chillin Effect

BREAKING🚨: Bloomington police announce arrests in sex trafficking bust: "Rashad Johnson out of Maple Grove.
He is a backgrounder for ICE, Homeland Security, and federal agencies."

Who the f*uck ran his background check?

https://x.com/ChillinEffect/status/2021348690225660383

[Ravenlocke]

Cory Archibald

ICE is arresting and charging suburban moms who protest or document ICE activity with felonies that carry up to 20 years in prison.

https://x.com/CMArchibald/status/2021481903250079949

[Ravenlocke]

dana reposted

David J. Bier

I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I discussed the largest fraud in the history of the US immigration system perpetrated by DHS and the State Department. Even Republicans on the Committee were shocked by what this administration is doing to legal immigrants!

https://x.com/David_J_Bier/status/2021606603414204860

[bojancan]

feb, 12
Useful Idiots
186K subscribers

Chris Hedges on America's Final Straw

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=X42pEJz-YAU

[bojancan]

Feb, 15
MeidasTouch
5.95M subscribers
Kristi Noem Thrown UNDER THE BUS by…her OWN ICE AGENTS !!!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=DtHDiBEy7rY

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas and Talking Feds host Harry Litman report on Donald Trump’s DHS Secretary Kristi Noem getting thrown under the bus by her own ICE agents and the head of ICE for Noem lying about attacks by immigrants in Minnesota in order to justify her despicable agenda.

[Ravenlocke]

World Affairs

BREAKING:

The US says it will punish all social media users who criticize ICE.

https://x.com/World_Affairs11/status...20557962625061

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/davidicke/status/2023447113561145759

[Ravenlocke]

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸
@FmrRepMTG
·
Feb 15
All of you MAGA influencers and the rest mocking the seriousness of women who were trafficked and raped as teenagers and young women look like cult fools.

Good luck trying to get women to vote for Republicans in the midterms you insensitive clowns.

The Republican Party already has a woman voting problem.

Keep mocking those of us who take rape and pedophilia seriously and demand accountability for corruption.


https://x.com/FmrRepMTG/status/2023083086834004465

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
World Affairs

BREAKING:

The US says it will punish all social media users who criticize ICE.

https://x.com/World_Affairs11/status...20557962625061

I really had to check that this wasn't a spoof. But it's real. Here's the New York Times:

(Note that the article states that "Google, Meta and Reddit complied with some of the requests".)

• https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...ial-media.html

Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts

The department has sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials and tech workers said.

The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency.

In recent months, Google, Reddit, Discord and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, have received hundreds of administrative subpoenas from the Department of Homeland Security, according to four government officials and tech employees privy to the requests. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Google, Meta and Reddit complied with some of the requests, the government officials said. In the subpoenas, the department asked the companies for identifying details of accounts that do not have a real person’s name attached and that have criticized ICE or pointed to the locations of ICE agents. The New York Times saw two subpoenas that were sent to Meta over the last six months.

The tech companies, which can choose whether or not to provide the information, have said they review government requests before complying. Some of the companies notified the people whom the government had requested data on and gave them 10 to 14 days to fight the subpoena in court.

“The government is taking more liberties than they used to,” said Steve Loney, a senior supervising attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. “It’s a whole other level of frequency and lack of accountability.” Over the last six months, Mr. Loney has represented people whose social media account information was sought by the Department of Homeland Security.

The department said it had “broad administrative subpoena authority” but did not address questions about its requests. In court, its lawyers have argued that they are seeking information to help keep ICE agents in the field safe.

Meta, Reddit and Discord declined to comment.

“When we receive a subpoena, our review process is designed to protect user privacy while meeting our legal obligations,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. “We inform users when their accounts have been subpoenaed, unless under legal order not to or in an exceptional circumstance. We review every legal demand and push back against those that are overbroad.”

The Trump administration has aggressively tried tamping down criticism of ICE, partly by identifying Americans who have demonstrated against the agency. ICE agents told protesters in Minneapolis and Chicago that they were being recorded and identified with facial recognition technology. Last month, Tom Homan, the White House border czar, also said on Fox News that he was pushing to “create a database” of people who were “arrested for interference, impeding and assault.”

Silicon Valley has long had an uneasy relationship with the federal government and how much user information to provide it. Transparency reports published by tech companies show that the number of requests for user information from different governments around the world has climbed over the years, with the United States and India among those submitting the most.

Some social media companies previously fought government requests for user information. In 2017, Twitter (now X) sued the federal government to stop an administrative subpoena that asked it to unmask an account critical of the first Trump administration. The subpoena was later withdrawn.

In administrative subpoenas, the Department of Homeland Security asked for identifying details behind social media accounts that have criticized ICE.Credit...Adam Gray for The New York Times

Unlike arrest warrants, which require a judge’s approval, administrative subpoenas are issued by the Department of Homeland Security. They were only sparingly used in the past, primarily to uncover the people behind social media accounts engaged in serious crimes such as child trafficking, said tech employees familiar with the legal tool. But last year, the department ramped up its use of the subpoenas to unmask anonymous social media accounts.

In September, for example, it sent Meta administrative subpoenas to identify the people behind Instagram accounts that posted about ICE raids in California, according to the A.C.L.U. The subpoenas were challenged in court, and the Department of Homeland Security withdrew the requests for information before a judge could rule.

Mr. Loney of the A.C.L.U. said avoiding a judge’s ruling was important for the department to keep issuing the subpoenas without a legal order to stop. “The pressure is on the end user, the private individual, to go to court,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security also sought more information on the Facebook and Instagram accounts dedicated to tracking ICE activity in Montgomery County, Pa., outside Philadelphia. The accounts, called Montco Community Watch, began posting in Spanish and English about ICE sightings in June and, over the next six months, solicited tips from their roughly 10,000 followers to alert people to the locations of agents on specific streets or in front of local landmarks.

On Sept. 11, the Department of Homeland Security sent Meta a request for the name, email address, post code and other identifying information of the person or people behind the accounts. Meta informed the two Instagram and Facebook accounts of the request on Oct. 3.

“We have received legal process from law enforcement seeking information about your Facebook account,” the notification said, according to court records. “If we do not receive a copy of documentation that you have filed in court challenging this legal process within ten (10) days, we will respond to the requesting agency with information.”

The account owner alerted the A.C.L.U., which filed a motion on Oct. 16 to quash the government’s request. In a hearing on Jan. 14 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the A.C.L.U. argued that the government was using administrative subpoenas to target people whose speech it did not agree with.

Sarah Balkissoon, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the government, said the Department of Homeland Security’s position was that it was “within their power to investigate threats to its own officers or impediments to their officers,” according to a court transcript viewed by The Times.

Two days later, the subpoena was withdrawn.

The Montco Community Watch accounts continue to post almost every day. The Times emailed a request for comment to the address associated with the accounts but did not receive a reply.

On Monday, the Instagram account posted an alert for ICE activity in the Eagleville area of Montgomery County. “Montco ICE alert,” the post said. “This is confirmed ICE activity.”

On Friday, the account posted a video of students at Norristown Area High School protesting against ICE. “We stand with you and are proud you made your voices heard!” the post said.

[Ravenlocke]

Ryan Rozbiani

This Violates Freedom of Speech

JUST IN 🇺🇸: The Department of Homeland Security has sent legal requests to Google, Reddit, Meta, and Discord for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and identifying data of accounts that track and criticize ICE.


https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2023214762931134948