I'm never gonna stop fighting.

Good, because I think burying one's head in the sand is indeed a form of complacency, despite my sympathizing with the urge. You gotta balance attention paid with mental health.

I don't think a US life is worth more or less than a Swedish one, a Senagolese one etc. I think some in my country would think I was less American for saying that

I also wish that universal human rights equality was considered the most fundamental of American values, but it is not. Too many Americans still cling to the idea of American Exceptionalism. Obviously.

What is interesting to me is that the Tribes are no longer just nationalistic/ethnic. They're class driven.

Yep. The American democratic republic has always been imperfect, but the ruling class is increasingly violating the entire spirit of a cooperative society. Even though the wealthy have spent a loooooong time chipping away at the political system, I bet they still think that, potentially, our (crippled) democracy might yet hold their wealth-hoarding in check. And huh, what'dya know, hardcore Trumpists now speak openly about their admirations of autocratic, undemocratic oligarchies. And Nancy Pelosi wants to still trade stocks because "it's a free market". Everyone sucks.

But, sorry, I think the GOP has crossed the Rubicon. Turns out that legitimate, class warfare-centric grievances can still be completely redirected into racial animus. You could kinda also say this about the democrats, but that's a very, very false equivalence argument, imho. Sadly though, for now, it's enough to keep the 99% from being able to do anything about the increasingly absurd wealth gap through policy. "Oh, you can vote with your money, though!", he said, as he took all of our money. Maybe "he" is Musk, and government subsidies were the method.

Thank god, now we have a real, physical, Great Powers war to unify behind, right? I doubt it. I wish, dude, but it's not like that anymore. Despite Biden's neolib credentials, one political party views this as a golden opportunity to blame him for a war he didn't want, and (I think) tried to avoid. Again, the liberal analogue of criticizing Bush for Iraq is not a good one; Bush & co. made the decision to invade Iraq. edit: There have been some recent statements from GOP leaders condemning Putin and expressing solidarity for Ukraine without blaming Biden in the same breath. Good, but we'll see if the GOP writ large doesn't return to the old pattern of eventually falling in line with Fox & Trump.

Nationally (and apparently globally) things probably have to get quite a bit worse if they're ever gonna get better. Big "if", btw. Keep fighting. Paying attention counts. So does talking about it. Besides voting, I'm not sure what else to do, yet, besides small, personal actions to keep yourself sane.

I dunno, the passport stuff doesn't bother me. I've only had to wait in short lines in the eurozone. Canada was much worse, they "randomly" tested me for marijuana three times within an hour. But I would need to travel more to have a better idea. Such is the plan.