Understanding the US - Again

[Vayutuvan]

cuts to food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment benefits, phase out of solar/wind credits, shift to nuclear energy. Trump white house believes that record job growth will offset any tax reductions.

I don't like the "red" part. Green is a go. What is debatable is growth in jobs. What kind of jobs? Where are the manufacturing jobs?

[Amber G.]

Multiple Countries Just Issued Travel Warnings for the U.S.


This shift is highly unusual and significant, especially considering it's coming from close U.S. allies like Australia, Canada, the U.K., and New Zealand—countries that traditionally have very strong diplomatic, cultural, and travel ties with the United States.

Countries like Canada and Australia rarely issue travel advisories about the U.S. In fact, the U.S. is usually considered one of the safest and most accessible destinations for their citizens.

Travel warnings have typically gone in the opposite direction—with the U.S. advising Americans about travel to other countries, especially those with political unrest or high crime.

These warnings represent a deeply unusual break from the norm, especially from America’s closest partners. They’re not just bureaucratic advisories—they’re signals of changing perceptions about safety, fairness, and reliability in the U.S.

[KL Dubey]

Regarding the "90 deals in 90 days":

https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/do ... 02876.html

As of July 4: one actual agreement (with Vietnam). I think Indonesia is also ready to sign a trade agreement.

A couple of limited agreements on specific issues with UK and China.

The other major negotiations are either ongoing or stalled (India, Kanadda, Japan, EU, Korea, Australia). Other than Kanadda, all the others will be very limited agreements.

[Amber G.]

Happy Fourth of July to all.

Allow me to share a beautiful 4th of July anecdote from Physicist Freeman Dyson about when he finally felt at home in America.

[Vayutuvan]

Fox poll

Are you proud of the country today?

June 2024. Yes:45% No:52%
June 2025. Yes:58% No:41%

June13-26
Registered Voters +-3% points

[bala]

That is pretty high income even in CA and NYC/Tristate.

Vayu saar, siliCone valley has dual income families, with Software geeks getting 200K salary each and their gambling stock income, stock options, CDs, mutual fund capital gains/dividends will put the family income around <500K. The average home costs millions and tax rate is 1.46%, so the 40K SALT is useful. Just saying that DJT delivered the tax break for all to use in the US. The high income desi tech crowd of US is benefitting (people like thambi Pichai are excluded), which means more gold buying.

cuts to food stamps, housing assistance, unemployment benefits, phase out of solar/wind credits, shift to nuclear energy. Trump white house believes that record job growth will offset any tax reductions.

I don't like the "red" part. Green is a go. What is debatable is growth in jobs. What kind of jobs? Where are the manufacturing jobs?

Again the cut is based on fraud and abuse that is happening, normal eligible folks will be assisted. Many illegal immigrants are taking advantage of such systems and officials in Blue States like Gov Nuisance are grabbing money for their pet projects like getting illegals housing, food and other assistance.

[Vayutuvan]

Fox poll
June13-26

Yes, Are you proud of the country today?

Now - Dems: 36%; Reps: 85%; Indep.: 44%
2024 - Dems: 55%; Reps: 36%; Indep.: 42%
2011 - Dems: 73%; Reps: 67%; Indep.: 66%

Dems/Reps: +-4.5%; Indep.:+-7.5%
---------------------------------------
My comments: If the BBB effects yield positive results in the next year, GOP will win midterms else Dems will. (Wall Street) Journal Editors are predicting that within one year we will see positive results from the tax cuts. So GOP it is unless Dems can find it in themselves to get rid of the influence that the Squad, The Bern, Liz Warren, and Mamdani ilk are exerting on the (over)educated white young/middle aged urban population.

[chetak]

Fourth of July: There was Fireworks for hours across every corner and every town and city of the USA for JULY 4 independence day celebrations and it was organised mostly by authorities

Not one person shouted my Dogs are afraid of sound (US has more dogs than India) or my cat didn’t drink milk due to noise

And not a single soul spoke about air pollution

We seem to have a bit too much "freedom" in India, especially with wokes, urban naxals, and venomous commies

[drnayar]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/elo ... y-b368ae6a

Elon Musk Says He’s Forming ‘America Party’

The billionaire announced the new political party on social media without offering evidence he had taken steps to create it

[vera_k]

A lot of places have banned fireworks.
Because of fire risk and impact on pets.

Public fireworks display are few and far between, but on a grand scale when they are put on.

Indian reservations sell fireworks and allow you to let them off since they are not subject to US law due to treaties signed in the 1800's.

Fireworks

The sale of legal fireworks on tribal lands is quite commonplace due to the sovereign nature of these lands. Tribes that are federally recognized—such as the Muckleshoot Tribe—possess the authority to govern activities on their land without state government control, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This allows the tribe to sell and detonate outside of the State of Washington’s typical restrictions regarding fireworks.

Moreover, customers patronizing the reservation’s fireworks depot can detonate their purchases in a designated lighting area a short (but safe) walk from the booths.

[Amber G.]

While fireworks are completely banned in New Delhi—even during Diwali—due to strict anti‑pollution laws, here in Ohio we’re lucky: consumer fireworks are legally allowed on holidays like Diwali, the 4th of July (July 3–5), New Year’s Eve/Day, Labor Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend, Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, and Juneteenth ...

[Manish_P]

^ checked purely for curiosity purposes

Current AQI
in Columbus, Ohio - 97
In New Delhi, India - 77

During the winter months AQI in New Delhi is 300 plus

[Vayutuvan]

Fireworks

according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This is interesting. Nobody thought to change the name of that Bureau? Native Americans resent being called Indians as that became racist and rightly so.

[Amber G.]

This was written by the President of the United States, not a 5th grader.

More Tariff letters by Trump. This time to Myanmar, Laos, South Africa, Malaysia:
<1>
<2>
<3>
<4>

[vera_k]

We know now that the President of the USA is currently a real person and was not secretly replaced by a robot.

[A_Gupta]

@Amber G - think positive! a lot more American students will now believe they can be a capable President.

—
The MAGA movement is characterized by a war against expertise.

[Cyrano]

Tariff tool kit in action.

[Amber G.]

Per a Japanese commentator this morning—a learned scholar specializing in American government and politics—who noted that the level of writing in the letters, along with the fact that they were almost all carbon copies sent to various nations without regard for individual differences, indicated to him a complete gutting of White House or trade office personnel capable of handling such overtures, professionals canned and replaced by political hack incompetents. He said it reflects serious staffing problems in the White House, likely due to DOGE. It will be interesting if the Japanese government also comes to this conclusion through their analysis, but that is unclear at this point...


Let us see any of the Trup worshippers here now will recommend him to Literature Noble along with peace..

[Vayutuvan]

Both Peace and Literature Nobels are weaponized to achieve political ends. The very fact that MKG was not given a peace prize means the prize is not worth the paper it is written on.

[bala]

A letter by Bidenwa would be like:

Dear Mr...
I want to let you know, ... oops I forgot, darling what is my name?
Thank you regards,
Etc,
Signed by AutoPen!

PS: China can export anything to the US

[Vayutuvan]

https://apnews.com/article/texas-immigr ... 33bb48169b

Ten people have been arrested on attempted murder charges after attackers in black military-style clothing opened fire outside a Texas immigration detention center in a “planned ambush” that left one police officer wounded, a prosecutor said.

The officer was shot in the neck on Friday, the night of the Fourth of July, after reporting to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Dallas. He was treated at a hospital and released, the Johnson County Sheriff’s office said.

The shooting took place as President Donald Trump ’s administration ramps up deportations, which will be turbocharged by a massive spending bill that became law last week.

Initially, the attackers set off fireworks, and damaged cars and a guard structure by spray-painting “traitor” and ”ICE pig” on them. The attack “seemed to be designed” to draw U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel outside the facility, “and it worked,” Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said at a Monday night news conference in Fort Worth.
...
“Another assailant, who was across the street, nowhere near the corrections officers, shot 20 to 30 rounds at these unarmed corrections officers,” she said. “There was an AR-style rifle found at the scene” that was jammed, she said. A flag saying “Resist fascism, fight oligarchy,” and flyers with words such as “Fight ICE terror with class war” also were recovered near the center.

The group fled. Sheriff’s deputies stopped seven people about 300 yards (275 meters) from where the officer was shot.

“Some were wearing body armor, some were covered in mud, some were armed, and some had two-way radios on them,” Larson said.

“It was a planned ambush with the intent to kill ICE corrections officers,” she said.
Sheriff’s deputies also stopped a van leaving the area and found two AR-style rifles and a pistol, along with ballistic-style vests and a helmet, the complaint said.

The driver, the only person in the van, said he had been at the detention center. He said he had met some people online and drove some of them to the detention center from Dallas to “make some noise,” according to the complaint.

On Monday, a man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents and a U.S. Border Patrol facility more than 400 miles (640 kilometers) south in McAllen, injuring a police officer. Authorities shot and killed the attacker.

Asked if the two shootings were connected, Larson said she could not comment because of the ongoing investigation.

Additional searches in Alvarado led to masks, goggles, tactical gloves, more body armor, weapons, spray paint and fireworks, Larson said.
...

[Vayutuvan]

Lot of shootings targeting L&O officers in the US

• Saturday, June 14: 3 arrested for attacking officers with knives & fireworks in Portland, OR
• Friday, July 4: Police officer shot in the neck at I.C.E. facility in Alvarado, TX
• Monday July 7: 3 law enforcement officers injured in shooting at CBP facility in McAllen, TX

[Cyrano]

Let us see any of the Trup worshippers here now will recommend him to Literature Noble along with peace..

Amber G,
IMO there are no Trump worshippers here, only those who look out for India's interests. Some of us, myself included took the view that Biden admin or whoever was running it was not good for India's interests and hoped that a change in the white house would be better. Our support (not that it's worth much from an American perspective) to DJT was in this narrow context. The way the DJT admin or whoever is running it now is functioning, has alas raised more doubts and uncertainty as to the future of India US relations and how it will impact our interests globally. Beyond that we don't really care who is in power in the US and whether they make the US great or run it aground.

So please stop these repeat innuendos and snarky remarks in your posts, it's getting tedious and adds nothing of value to the discussion on Bharat Rakshak Forum. Thank you very much.

[chetak]

Both Peace and Literature Nobels are weaponized to achieve political ends. The very fact that MKG was not given a peace prize means the prize is not worth the paper it is written on.

Make no mistake, Vayutuvan ji,


It was deliberate and a very carefully calculated strategy by the BIF.

No one in goraland wanted any sort of scrutiny into the dubious and malevolent activities of two alleged freedom fighters ..... ...

Not when the britshit state, its prominent politicos, and babooze, and the goonda la famille royale were all jointly and severally complicit in the loot of resources, theft and genocides (plural) of the Indian aam janatha

the mounting the batten scandal has always been in the shadows, with innuendo, rumors and salacious whispers dominating the discourse, because they have thus far cleverly managed to contain it within the realm of "gossip"

A nobel would have risked detailed scrutiny from uncontrollable/unmanageable sources that the fading britshit empire would have been unable to silence or bribe, especially when the britshit la famille royale was directly involved, because a human interest story concerning the la famille royale always screams tabloids

no matter how much harrow is pumped into the marrow, the end result was/is still colored. Think megan markle, who has but a mere touch of the nigerian coffee, and whose entry into the la famille royale has set off nation wide vibes that the crown and the racist britshits are simply unable to handle, and, mind you, she is legally married to royalty, unlike the jumping jack of the harrow in the marrow fame

the partition was forced upon us by the BIF and two "freedom fighters" were instrumental in the agreement, and the disastrous seeds of cashmere were treacherously planted, and India reaped ( and still reaps) the poisonous fruits of this venomous tree, and no need to mention the betrayal of the IWT, because everyone is aware of it, as well as the senseless killings that were triggered by the ill considered partition, and these killings benefitted the britshits most of all because of the permanent communal divide and hatred it created, the very ecosystem of religious malignance that these BIF goras and the FFNGOs continue to exploit even today

[S_Madhukar]

If we had a Netaji Bose govt in '47 then definitely MKG would have been given Peace Nobel. Since their back bending sepoys were in charge anyway they decided not to waste it.

[A_Gupta]

1. If we go with the above post, Sardar Patel was no doubt an idiot.
http://thepartitionofindia.blogspot.com ... world.html

2. In the aid of clearer thinking:

Was the Partition of India avoidable?

Of course it was!

One simple course of action to avoid Partition would have been for all the non-Muslims of India to voluntarily, peacefully and immediately convert to Islam. There would have been no Partition.

Of course, that is not what most people mean when they talk about this question. The correct question is - "Was the Partition of India avoidable at a cost that was acceptable to the Indian nationalists?" (The Indian nationalists included the Indian National Congress, the Hindu Mahasabha, and a multitude of other parties, all of whom favored a united India. The main separatists were the All India Muslim League, and they had some minor company like the Communist Party of India, and some long-forgotten Dravidianists.)

"Was the Partition of India avoidable at a cost that was acceptable to the Indian nationalists?"

With the 20/20 vision of being able to look back at history, the answer to that question is - No. The nuanced answer is - most likely No.

Of course, no leader in 1946 could have known that answer with the certainty that we have today. And the nationalists did try very hard to avoid Partition.

So, e.g., when Tapan Ghosh‏ @hstapanghosh tweets
For Partition Nehru alone was not responsible. It was the defeat/failure of our the then collective leadership & elite class Hindus society.
what was the defeat/failure of the collective leadership and elite-class Hindu society?

In my opinion, most of the leadership has still not grasped their failure. The failure was not in avoiding Partition; but in not anticipating and planning for the contingency that Partition might be unavoidable. B.R. Ambedkar is about the only leader who put some serious thought into that, and C. Rajagopalachari comes in a distant second in this arena. Everyone else, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel, were in deep denial. Many Indians today are still caught in the "those leaders could have avoided Partition, if only....". E.g., if only Jawaharlal Nehru hadn't had his press conference on July 10, 1946.

Once you accept the possibility that Partition might be unavoidable, you start thinking about how to get the best possible result for the Indian union that remains. We don't see much evidence of that happening except whatever little was possible in the very last couple of months of British rule.

Now, the British had their fingers on the scales, and it is not clear that any contingency planning to deal with an inevitable Partition would have been in any way fruitful. But there was no such thinking or planning, and even today, far too many Indians are still in the deep denial that I've mentioned above.

[chetak]

1. If we go with the above post, Sardar Patel was no doubt an idiot.
http://thepartitionofindia.blogspot.com ... world.html

2. In the aid of clearer thinking:

Was the Partition of India avoidable?

Of course it was!

One simple course of action to avoid Partition would have been for all the non-Muslims of India to voluntarily, peacefully and immediately convert to Islam. There would have been no Partition.

Of course, that is not what most people mean when they talk about this question. The correct question is - "Was the Partition of India avoidable at a cost that was acceptable to the Indian nationalists?" (The Indian nationalists included the Indian National Congress, the Hindu Mahasabha, and a multitude of other parties, all of whom favored a united India. The main separatists were the All India Muslim League, and they had some minor company like the Communist Party of India, and some long-forgotten Dravidianists.)

"Was the Partition of India avoidable at a cost that was acceptable to the Indian nationalists?"

With the 20/20 vision of being able to look back at history, the answer to that question is - No. The nuanced answer is - most likely No.

Of course, no leader in 1946 could have known that answer with the certainty that we have today. And the nationalists did try very hard to avoid Partition.

So, e.g., when Tapan Ghosh‏ @hstapanghosh tweets
For Partition Nehru alone was not responsible. It was the defeat/failure of our the then collective leadership & elite class Hindus society.
what was the defeat/failure of the collective leadership and elite-class Hindu society?

In my opinion, most of the leadership has still not grasped their failure. The failure was not in avoiding Partition; but in not anticipating and planning for the contingency that Partition might be unavoidable. B.R. Ambedkar is about the only leader who put some serious thought into that, and C. Rajagopalachari comes in a distant second in this arena. Everyone else, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel, were in deep denial. Many Indians today are still caught in the "those leaders could have avoided Partition, if only....". E.g., if only Jawaharlal Nehru hadn't had his press conference on July 10, 1946.

Once you accept the possibility that Partition might be unavoidable, you start thinking about how to get the best possible result for the Indian union that remains. We don't see much evidence of that happening except whatever little was possible in the very last couple of months of British rule.

Now, the British had their fingers on the scales, and it is not clear that any contingency planning to deal with an inevitable Partition would have been in any way fruitful. But there was no such thinking or planning, and even today, far too many Indians are still in the deep denial that I've mentioned above.

A_Gupta ji

djinna and churchill had many years of clandestine correspondence before the partition. This is documented

churchill's electoral defeat after the war was most unexpected for djinna and to his bad luck, clement attlee took office. attlee led the labour party and served as prime minister from 1945 to 1951, and he would have torpedoed any agreements that djinna may have had with churchill.

one does not indulge in clandestine correspondence with the pm of britshitistan, without taking orders in the hope that some crumbs off his master's table will fall into one's katori. the partition was done and dusted during these years but the conditionalities that djinna wanted fulfilled was never disclosed.

djinna died a forlorn and disappointed leader of a jihadi state that he himself admitted that he should never have asked for because all he ended up with was a "moth eaten" state

without the port of kolkata and assam, the eastern wing was unsustainable, and without the whole of punjab and cashmere, the western wing was sunk right from the start.

this would have not been what churchil and djinna would have wanted of planned for.

they both wanted the total destruction of India, and it would have been inevitably followed by the "ghazwa e hind", the jihadi wet dream. most jihadis, even though firm believers in this undertaking are quiet about the "ghazwa e hind", but get very agitated about "Akhand Bharat"

churchill had a permanent passion for “defense of Empire” and this colored his view such that it produced prejudice, racism, and hatred for all Hindus (“beastly religion, beastly people”). For him, India’s freedom movement personified those defects. In the early 1940s, Churchill had predicted a Hindu-Muslim bloodbath at partition

the leaders on both sides were greedy for power and that is what ultimately and probably saved us from whatever nasty fate that churchill and djinna had set us up for

and without the support of churchill, djinna was doomed, as was his mythical land of the pure

[saip]

Last night I landed at SFO from Paris except I transited through Montreal. From Montreal I landed at Domestic terminal at SFO just like as if I came from any of the US states. No customs, no immigration check. May be I did go through pre-clearance at Montreal without even noticing it. No one asked my for any declaration nor any on questioned me and no forms to fill. Except they used facial recognition thingy.

[Cyrano]

Yes I think you went through immigration at Montreal. I did that few years ago on a visit to the US.

[saip]

But, it was so smooth. No hassles. No forms to fill, no questions to answer and absolutely no lines to stand in. When I landed in SFO in Jan I had to go through Immigration and then customs. It was not difficult but I still had to stand in line for the immigration guy. Then strangely, later after we picked up our baggage, one guy (customs) addressed a group of us and asked us one question: "any of you any thing to declare?" and everyone said 'No' in unison and were waved through.

[SRajesh]

DJT
Has now targeted everyone in our neighbourhood
Jihadi have joined him and agreed to sign away God knows what (and this is not going to go well with Dragon King)
He has put everyone else on higher Tariffs
He is browbeating the neighbourhood into submission!!
And for what
Our Sindoor has definitely spooked him and the Deep State
In few years we will have eavesdropping network all around us with very little hidden from Unkil
Also Chin being warned to get out of Indo Pacific
He has openly threatened BRICS!!
Aabki Baar Trumpwa is out create serious problems for us!!

[Vayutuvan]

Last night I landed at SFO from Paris except I transited through Montreal. From Montreal I landed at Domestic terminal at SFO just like as if I came from any of the US states. No customs, no immigration check. May be I did go through pre-clearance at Montreal without even noticing it. No one asked my for any declaration nor any on questioned me and no forms to fill. Except they used facial recognition thingy.

That used to be the case witH Heathrow and Abu Dhabi too. Long time back. I visited India transiting through Montreal back in 1993. I had a green card and was doing PhD in the US. I was taken into a room and interviewed for almost 30 mins. I was also made to wait outside the room for another 30 mins first. Canadians are as racist as the Europeans or even more. Their infra sucks, their food sucks, and their whiteness sucks big time.

[Vayutuvan]

It was not difficult but I still had to stand in line for the immigration guy. Then strangely, later after we picked up our baggage, one guy (customs) addressed a group of us and asked us one question: "any of you any thing to declare?" and everyone said 'No' in unison and were waved through.

So what is your complaint? You did not get the treatment you are entitled for?! Did you tell somebody that you are entitled to skip the line as you are a SF progressive living in a gated community?!!!