“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
If Trump's poll numbers don't tank after passing the Big Beautiful Bill, then there's Starmer's answer to the nation's economic woes - take the entitlement to the NHS away from a big chunk of voters.
Mostly in areas voting Labour.
No no, the poor voted for Trump to take things off the illegals. Its their welfare being taken away. [checks notes] what, its MINE that has been taken? Hang on, I'm not an illegal?
Morons, the lot of them. Similarly there is depression setting in amongst the Tesla Elon loyalists on Twitter who have realised that Trump has screwed electrification and is now coming after them. Comments like "we got played" being posted. Well duh - we saw this a mile away.
There are people whose core talent is looking, sounding and behaving like a Leader. Some call it Charisma.
They can get people to follow them anywhere, including off the cliff edge. It's a benefit to charismatic individuals, but often a disaster for everyone else.
Some don't like the idea Trump is both charismatic and a leader, but you don't just luck in to such influence over so many people.
You can not like the idea, while accepting its reality. But it's certainly true that those who are immune to his undeniable appeal find it very hard to understand how anyone can continue, against all rational evidence, to fall for it.
There is something deep in the human psyche that seems to make us prone to want to follow a strong authority figure, whether that be a god, a tribal leader, a president, a warlord or a guru. Presumably that comes from the evolutionary benefits of the protection, real or imagined, offered by allegiance to such a figure. Rationality struggles in the face of this instinct.
Well, unlike most countries, we don't do exit checks (other than on Eurostar and ferries). So they can only know indirectly - by survey and asking the airlines.
I suspect analysing the airline data well is difficult.
Well we should be doing exit checks. Who on earth decided not to.
Presumably the argument is that we don't care too much if people leave the country
And it saved money on staff!
The odd part is why we decided to put exit checks on the eurostar opening at roughly the same point in time. Juxtaposed controls don't actually require exit checks on our side.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
This is the sort of reason why the Tories won't be forming a government for a long time.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
This is the sort of reason why the Tories won't be forming a government for a long time.
Classic example of needing ten good steps to repair one false one.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
...and then plain-clothes ICE agents kidnapped your family right off the street in front of aghast onlookers, flew them to a cage camp in Florida, denied them their medication, then flew them (against a court order organised by you with your life savings) to a third-country prison camp from where they will never return.
Well, unlike most countries, we don't do exit checks (other than on Eurostar and ferries). So they can only know indirectly - by survey and asking the airlines.
I suspect analysing the airline data well is difficult.
Well we should be doing exit checks. Who on earth decided not to.
We don't actually need to do airport checks: all we need to do is to cross reference the data the airlines have on travelers. (Which are used by government security services today.)
If Josiah Bartlett (b. 3/10/1999) with a [x] visa flys back to Poland on December 12, and there's no record of his reentry, we can reasonably assume he's left the country. (There *may* be occasional times when there are multiple people called [x], who all have skiled worker visas, and share a birthday, and come from the same place. But it's going to catch the right person 99.999999% of times.)
As the new car sales figures were out this morning, I am wondering if the argument about whether Tesla sales were up or down has been settled. I see the Model Y was the third best-selling car in June.
Well, unlike most countries, we don't do exit checks (other than on Eurostar and ferries). So they can only know indirectly - by survey and asking the airlines.
I suspect analysing the airline data well is difficult.
Well we should be doing exit checks. Who on earth decided not to.
Presumably the argument is that we don't care too much if people leave the country
I suspect it wasn't all that much of an issue until the net migration numbers went through the roof.
..The skilled worker visa route replaced the Tier 2 (General) work visa after the UK left the European Union. The route was expanded in 2022 by the previous Conservative government to address skill shortages and job vacancies in health and social care in the wake of the Covid pandemic, driving net migration to record levels. But the PAC has accused the Home Office of failing to gather "basic information" on whether people leave the UK after their visas expire and showing "little curiosity about how the route was operating". Its report said the department still relied on airline passenger records to check if someone had left the country and that there had been no analysis of those records since 2020...
The "skill shortage" visa system appears to have been operated without any check that those coming in actually ended up being employed in the jobs where they were supposed to be filling gaps.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
...and then plain-clothes ICE agents kidnapped your family right off the street in front of aghast onlookers, flew them to a cage camp in Florida, denied them their medication, then flew them (against a court order organised by you with your life savings) to a third-country prison camp from where they will never return.
But note - farms and hotels seem to have a get out of ICE (raid) card because they can’t survive without their below minimum wage illegal workers
Let’s go through — one by one — 16 of the most vulnerable Republican House incumbents for 2026 that voted for this abomination of a bill that cuts Medicaid & SNAP benefits for millions of Americans, while cutting taxes for the rich.
Trump now appears to have declared war on Democrats and Democrat supporters. Voting against MAGA is very unAmerican and likely treasonous and perhaps un-Christian. The baby Jesus would want America to simply suspend the vote from these devil-worshipping heathens.
The baby Jesus could just perform miracles. No need for Medicaid. And food aid would be relaced by loaves and fishes.
As the new car sales figures were out this morning, I am wondering if the argument about whether Tesla sales were up or down has been settled. I see the Model Y was the third best-selling car in June.
They are up marginally (6%) y-o-y. But they continued to fall in most European countries.
So the answer seems to be: the refreshed Model Y helped Tesla sales in June. However, the benefit does not seem to have been universal, and also doesn't seem to have been that large: will it continue through to July? Or did Tesla satisfy most of the preorders in June?
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
I know who introduced it. My point was not party political. Just that this country is a clown show.
@philatrail I see the newly track-and-train integrated Southeastern is cutting passenger services to give track teams more daylight time for inspections. It says this followed trials last year that showed cost savings and comes despite NR moving generally towards trainborne inspections.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
If Trump's poll numbers don't tank after passing the Big Beautiful Bill, then there's Starmer's answer to the nation's economic woes - take the entitlement to the NHS away from a big chunk of voters.
Mostly in areas voting Labour.
No no, the poor voted for Trump to take things off the illegals. Its their welfare being taken away. [checks notes] what, its MINE that has been taken? Hang on, I'm not an illegal?
Morons, the lot of them. Similarly there is depression setting in amongst the Tesla Elon loyalists on Twitter who have realised that Trump has screwed electrification and is now coming after them. Comments like "we got played" being posted. Well duh - we saw this a mile away.
There are people whose core talent is looking, sounding and behaving like a Leader. Some call it Charisma.
They can get people to follow them anywhere, including off the cliff edge. It's a benefit to charismatic individuals, but often a disaster for everyone else.
Some don't like the idea Trump is both charismatic and a leader, but you don't just luck in to such influence over so many people.
You can not like the idea, while accepting its reality. But it's certainly true that those who are immune to his undeniable appeal find it very hard to understand how anyone can continue, against all rational evidence, to fall for it.
There is something deep in the human psyche that seems to make us prone to want to follow a strong authority figure, whether that be a god, a tribal leader, a president, a warlord or a guru. Presumably that comes from the evolutionary benefits of the protection, real or imagined, offered by allegiance to such a figure. Rationality struggles in the face of this instinct.
Oh, I absolutely accept all that.
It's the complete abandonment of rationality in favour of that instinct - by very large numbers of people, on a timescale of years, despite any and all contrary evidence - that I struggle to understand.
If Trump's poll numbers don't tank after passing the Big Beautiful Bill, then there's Starmer's answer to the nation's economic woes - take the entitlement to the NHS away from a big chunk of voters.
Mostly in areas voting Labour.
No no, the poor voted for Trump to take things off the illegals. Its their welfare being taken away. [checks notes] what, its MINE that has been taken? Hang on, I'm not an illegal?
Morons, the lot of them. Similarly there is depression setting in amongst the Tesla Elon loyalists on Twitter who have realised that Trump has screwed electrification and is now coming after them. Comments like "we got played" being posted. Well duh - we saw this a mile away.
There are people whose core talent is looking, sounding and behaving like a Leader. Some call it Charisma.
They can get people to follow them anywhere, including off the cliff edge. It's a benefit to charismatic individuals, but often a disaster for everyone else.
Some don't like the idea Trump is both charismatic and a leader, but you don't just luck in to such influence over so many people.
You can not like the idea, while accepting its reality. But it's certainly true that those who are immune to his undeniable appeal find it very hard to understand how anyone can continue, against all rational evidence, to fall for it.
There is something deep in the human psyche that seems to make us prone to want to follow a strong authority figure, whether that be a god, a tribal leader, a president, a warlord or a guru. Presumably that comes from the evolutionary benefits of the protection, real or imagined, offered by allegiance to such a figure. Rationality struggles in the face of this instinct.
Oh, I absolutely accept all that.
It's the complete abandonment of rationality in favour of that instinct - by very large numbers of people, on a timescale of years, despite any and all contrary evidence - that I struggle to understand.
Most of us are idle and visceral thinking is easy?
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
If Trump's poll numbers don't tank after passing the Big Beautiful Bill, then there's Starmer's answer to the nation's economic woes - take the entitlement to the NHS away from a big chunk of voters.
Mostly in areas voting Labour.
No no, the poor voted for Trump to take things off the illegals. Its their welfare being taken away. [checks notes] what, its MINE that has been taken? Hang on, I'm not an illegal?
Morons, the lot of them. Similarly there is depression setting in amongst the Tesla Elon loyalists on Twitter who have realised that Trump has screwed electrification and is now coming after them. Comments like "we got played" being posted. Well duh - we saw this a mile away.
There are people whose core talent is looking, sounding and behaving like a Leader. Some call it Charisma.
They can get people to follow them anywhere, including off the cliff edge. It's a benefit to charismatic individuals, but often a disaster for everyone else.
Some don't like the idea Trump is both charismatic and a leader, but you don't just luck in to such influence over so many people.
You can not like the idea, while accepting its reality. But it's certainly true that those who are immune to his undeniable appeal find it very hard to understand how anyone can continue, against all rational evidence, to fall for it.
There is something deep in the human psyche that seems to make us prone to want to follow a strong authority figure, whether that be a god, a tribal leader, a president, a warlord or a guru. Presumably that comes from the evolutionary benefits of the protection, real or imagined, offered by allegiance to such a figure. Rationality struggles in the face of this instinct.
Oh, I absolutely accept all that.
It's the complete abandonment of rationality in favour of that instinct - by very large numbers of people, on a timescale of years, despite any and all contrary evidence - that I struggle to understand.
Most of us are idle and visceral thinking is easy?
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
Unstupid question: how many people are they thinking of moving? It's got to be in the tens of thousands now, but with $150bn how many people can they move? If it's over 400,000 that's more than the Africa->US slave trade.
If Trump's poll numbers don't tank after passing the Big Beautiful Bill, then there's Starmer's answer to the nation's economic woes - take the entitlement to the NHS away from a big chunk of voters.
Mostly in areas voting Labour.
No no, the poor voted for Trump to take things off the illegals. Its their welfare being taken away. [checks notes] what, its MINE that has been taken? Hang on, I'm not an illegal?
Morons, the lot of them. Similarly there is depression setting in amongst the Tesla Elon loyalists on Twitter who have realised that Trump has screwed electrification and is now coming after them. Comments like "we got played" being posted. Well duh - we saw this a mile away.
There are people whose core talent is looking, sounding and behaving like a Leader. Some call it Charisma.
They can get people to follow them anywhere, including off the cliff edge. It's a benefit to charismatic individuals, but often a disaster for everyone else.
Some don't like the idea Trump is both charismatic and a leader, but you don't just luck in to such influence over so many people.
You can not like the idea, while accepting its reality. But it's certainly true that those who are immune to his undeniable appeal find it very hard to understand how anyone can continue, against all rational evidence, to fall for it.
There is something deep in the human psyche that seems to make us prone to want to follow a strong authority figure, whether that be a god, a tribal leader, a president, a warlord or a guru. Presumably that comes from the evolutionary benefits of the protection, real or imagined, offered by allegiance to such a figure. Rationality struggles in the face of this instinct.
I was very happy with John Major as PM in the 1990s, and he wasn't exactly in these categories.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
...and then plain-clothes ICE agents kidnapped your family right off the street in front of aghast onlookers, flew them to a cage camp in Florida, denied them their medication, then flew them (against a court order organised by you with your life savings) to a third-country prison camp from where they will never return.
But note - farms and hotels seem to have a get out of ICE (raid) card because they can’t survive without their below minimum wage illegal workers
During his victory lap overnight Trump comes pretty damn close to saying plantation owners can use immigrants as slaves cheap labour...
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
I know who introduced it. My point was not party political. Just that this country is a clown show.
The solution as Robert points out, is relatively simple. It's just going to take some time to go through all those records from the last five years.
I like the Public Accounts Committee, as it seems to ask awkward questions of government more often than most.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
The failure to analyse exit data is historic - it's never been done.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
More interesting is how many of the very best in their field are moving out of the US. . I was told the other day that in the field of AI, there are 11 ultra-specialists at the top of the tree. 7 of them are in China. The US is trying to entice them with salaries of $100m a year and mega-bonuses.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
The failure to analyse exit data is historic - it's never been done.
Yes, but as noted earlier, it's only really started to matter a lot fairly recently.
Btw, on relative pain, the reverse is true too. I remember seeing psych experiments in which groups preferred to receive £5 each rather than £10 if it meant another group received £0 rather than getting some money.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Policing, in the US, is a highly paid job, for those with low skills.
Federal agent positions are especially sought after - prestige, higher pay, better working conditions and Federal gov benefit. Including healthcare.
They will have a storm of applicants from the various police forces.
As the new car sales figures were out this morning, I am wondering if the argument about whether Tesla sales were up or down has been settled. I see the Model Y was the third best-selling car in June.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
The failure to analyse exit data is historic - it's never been done.
Yes, but as noted earlier, it's only really started to matter a lot fairly recently.
For workers, possibly. For Indian grandmas coming for a visit and never going home, probably not.
In their most extreme rites - off their nipples on wine, opium and psychedelic mushrooms - they would smash in the brains of their own children. Then eat them
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
That's not how it's like to work, though. They will more likely just deputise a large number of thugs (along with national guards, as they're already doing in Florida). The "2017" consensus is history; this is about the exercise of executive power.
The detainment camp system will be run by the private sector prisons companies - who were big campaign contributors.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
One year of this shitshow government gone, what have we got ?
Donorgate Imaginary black holes WFP cuts Tax rises galore NI armageddon Even more borrowing Public sector pay bonanza No public sector productivity Riots Two tier justice Small boats Child rape ganga Lunatic energy policies U turns More U turns No more housing No to growth growth growth Farmer taxes School taxes Chagos tax free Mauritius Crygate Backbenchers on the loose Real financial black holes
Still only 4 years to go.
Yeah, but apart from that aren't things going well? If they can just stop Starmer giving any more interviews it will be fine.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
...and then plain-clothes ICE agents kidnapped your family right off the street in front of aghast onlookers, flew them to a cage camp in Florida, denied them their medication, then flew them (against a court order organised by you with your life savings) to a third-country prison camp from where they will never return.
But note - farms and hotels seem to have a get out of ICE (raid) card because they can’t survive without their below minimum wage illegal workers
During his victory lap overnight Trump comes pretty damn close to saying plantation owners can use immigrants as slaves cheap labour...
What does this analogy say about migrant labour more generally?
One of the things that has surprised me about the last nearly 6 months of Trump is how unheated things have been between the US and China. China has remained relatively restrained and diplomatic. I suspect that they are willing to take some pain and to allow MAGA/GOP to get on with trashing America's soft-power and future economy.
The tariff on most Chinese goods to the US remains at 30% and they have in turn imposed higher tariffs on US imports
You have missed the point, those tariffs are marginal in the grand scheme of things. China will happily sell EVs, wind turbines, solar panels, and batter energy storage systems to the other 95% of the world that isn't American whilst the Americans bet everything on fossil fuels. China is going to end up dominating transport and energy, and the Americans are going to sit back and watch China overtake them.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
For context, the Federal Prisons Service has over 150k inmates - and an annual budget of around $8bn. The camps they're building (like "Alligator Alcatraz"), will be considerably cheaper and nastier.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
It probably won't be long before the greeting offered by 'enforcement' officers as they storm into people's homes is just "We're from Trump."
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
'You can break one stick, but if you get a bundle of sticks tied together you can't break them'
Why do you keep on doing this shitty thing of only part quoting tweets which robs them of their full context?
'You can break one stick, but if you get a bundle of sticks tied together you can't break them'
Actor Steve Coogan told #BBCBreakfast why he believes the co-operative movement still has a significant role to play in society
During the pits of political despair as Momentum tore its way through the Labour Party, many of us who were also Co-operative Party members considered quitting Labour and transferring our flag solely to the Co-op Party to try and get it to break its links with Labour.
"But polling from Merlin Strategy has found that 76 per cent of the public worry about future political violence. And if there is one thing that could hold back Reform, it is fear of uncontrollable community tension or, to put it more bleakly, race war. Somehow Farage must harness the anger while soothing the fear. That is very tricky in opposition and would prove impossible in power. Trump has struggled. But if the British establishment is to be overturned after a further economic shock, the next revolution will be around borders and race, rather than privatisation and deregulation. Liberal Britain hasn’t gone under quite yet. Cabinet ministers have been shown polling that suggests that the higher the stakes, the less voters are likely to trust Reform. But this is a genuinely perilous moment for social democracy. I hope it’s not too much for the struggling government we have, but I worry." (£)
Btw, on relative pain, the reverse is true too. I remember seeing psych experiments in which groups preferred to receive £5 each rather than £10 if it meant another group received £0 rather than getting some money.
In their most extreme rites - off their nipples on wine, opium and psychedelic mushrooms - they would smash in the brains of their own children. Then eat them
Seems likely to result in Thrace not lasting very long.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
It probably won't be long before the greeting offered by 'enforcement' officers as they storm into people's homes is just "We're from Trump."
By the end of Trump's term those "enforcement" officers will have been recruited from amongst the jailors in El Salvador.
Well, unlike most countries, we don't do exit checks (other than on Eurostar and ferries). So they can only know indirectly - by survey and asking the airlines.
I suspect analysing the airline data well is difficult.
Well we should be doing exit checks. Who on earth decided not to.
We don't actually need to do airport checks: all we need to do is to cross reference the data the airlines have on travelers. (Which are used by government security services today.)
If Josiah Bartlett (b. 3/10/1999) with a [x] visa flys back to Poland on December 12, and there's no record of his reentry, we can reasonably assume he's left the country. (There *may* be occasional times when there are multiple people called [x], who all have skiled worker visas, and share a birthday, and come from the same place. But it's going to catch the right person 99.999999% of times.)
There is a curious systemic resistance to this. Michael Howard mentioned it in his book - when asked “why not count exits?”, officials seemed very keen not to.
The airlines record passport numbers for passengers boarding. So the data is pretty good.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
'You can break one stick, but if you get a bundle of sticks tied together you can't break them'
Why do you keep on doing this shitty thing of only part quoting tweets which robs them of their full context?
'You can break one stick, but if you get a bundle of sticks tied together you can't break them'
Actor Steve Coogan told #BBCBreakfast why he believes the co-operative movement still has a significant role to play in society
During the pits of political despair as Momentum tore its way through the Labour Party, many of us who were also Co-operative Party members considered quitting Labour and transferring our flag solely to the Co-op Party to try and get it to break its links with Labour.
Made a lot of sense after a few pints.
I always vote to break the Labour link, but it always sails through the AGM. Maybe next time there might be more shoppers who are less keen?
In their most extreme rites - off their nipples on wine, opium and psychedelic mushrooms - they would smash in the brains of their own children. Then eat them
And these rituals persist, you say ?
I am getting visions of Leon appearing in some sort of Thracian Deliverance.
One year of this shitshow government gone, what have we got ?
Donorgate Imaginary black holes WFP cuts Tax rises galore NI armageddon Even more borrowing Public sector pay bonanza No public sector productivity Riots Two tier justice Small boats Child rape ganga Lunatic energy policies U turns More U turns No more housing No to growth growth growth Farmer taxes School taxes Chagos tax free Mauritius Crygate Backbenchers on the loose Real financial black holes
Still only 4 years to go.
Yeah, but apart from that aren't things going well? If they can just stop Starmer giving any more interviews it will be fine.
we can of course look forward to year 2
more taxes pension raids new employment rights bribing the doctors no jump in housing starts pretending to control immigration no growth dry hump Trump feral backbenchers Jezza is back Ed Miliband does Looney Tunes collapse of industrial base followed by bailouts May local election crisis Reeves sacked HS2 needs more money
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
Billion not Million you are 1000 times out
A federal agent will cost more than 200% of salary - training, healthcare, office space, equipment etc.
As the new car sales figures were out this morning, I am wondering if the argument about whether Tesla sales were up or down has been settled. I see the Model Y was the third best-selling car in June.
They are up marginally (6%) y-o-y. But they continued to fall in most European countries.
So the answer seems to be: the refreshed Model Y helped Tesla sales in June. However, the benefit does not seem to have been universal, and also doesn't seem to have been that large: will it continue through to July? Or did Tesla satisfy most of the preorders in June?
No, it satisfied most UK pre-orders in May. The only car you could order at one point was the Launch Edition which had fuckoff% APR on the finance. Those were delivered in early May - a handful of cars. Then you got the pre-orders which looking at the various forums started delivery around 23rd May.
June figures? Mostly people like me who ordered once the new car actually came out. I ordered mid May and took delivery a few days into June.
I did say that the "Tesla sales are down because nobody wants one" narrative was false at a basic level of maths.
They were trying to lap sales last year (best-selling car globally) vs a handful of inventory cars this year and claiming they were like for like.
Now we get to June and it is like for like and sales are up.
And we will go back into the usual pattern of Tesla sales being phased towards the back end of the quarter.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
lol but thts what Labour has been doing for most of my adult life.
Leave office in a mess and then blame the Tories
Most recently "There is no money" 2010 followed by austerirty austerity in 2011
or
spend more on lock down followed by look at the size of the debt
This is one of those odd occasions where Labour have to clear up the Tory mess, and they are clueless.
On the subject, the Google cartoon that I see is celebrating the 4th -- which I don't recall them doing in the past. (The cynic in me wonders whether the company might be worrying about their legal problems these days.)
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
It probably won't be long before the greeting offered by 'enforcement' officers as they storm into people's homes is just "We're from Trump."
By the end of Trump's term those "enforcement" officers will have been recruited from amongst the jailors in El Salvador.
Federalising the state national guards would provide quite a chunky number, at little marginal cost, as they're already funded. (As a small instance, see the recent use of national guard military lawyers in Florida immigration courts.)
There's probably a very large number number of retired cops who would happily take jobs - either in one of the camps, or in an ICE thug group - for a fraction of the $100k that viewcode posits.
And recall that the guys in charge of the effort are Stephen Miller and Tom Homan. They are not bothered with any niceties.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Nah, the MAGA gang love a uniform, a gun and a badge. It'll be full of inadequates who are pissed with power.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Nah, the MAGA gang love a uniform, a gun and a badge. It'll be full of inadequates who are pissed with power.
Yeah. Lets remember what the job is - dress in all black including ski mask, turning up mob-handed with rifles / machine guns / tactical nuclear weapons to abduct illegals / latinos / democrats.
Surely there are plenty of patriots out there who don't need interviewing. They already have the black uniform and big fuck off guns and hate a lengthly list of people.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
Billion not Million you are 1000 times out
A federal agent will cost more than 200% of salary - training, healthcare, office space, equipment etc.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
Of course, and Labour are already being judged over it.
Let's see whether or not they can deliver what they're now saying. ..In May, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would end overseas recruitment for care workers as part of the plans to curb near record net migration. But she told BBC Breakfast on Friday that the report's conclusions were correct and that the system "hasn't been strong enough". "Change doesn't happen at the flick of a switch," she said, echoing Sir Keir Starmer's victory speech comments last year. Pressed on when the Home Office would be able to accurately monitor entry and exit to the country, she said "it does take a bit of time - a lot of that system is now in place." The government plans to install biometric tests in the workplace to check whether an individual is living and working the UK legally via their fingerprints, she added. "We're going to go substantially further," she said...
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Nah, the MAGA gang love a uniform, a gun and a badge. It'll be full of inadequates who are pissed with power.
Yeah. Lets remember what the job is - dress in all black including ski mask, turning up mob-handed with rifles / machine guns / tactical nuclear weapons to abduct illegals / latinos / democrats.
Surely there are plenty of patriots out there who don't need interviewing. They already have the black uniform and big fuck off guns and hate a lengthly list of people.
It'll probably be the easiest vacancy to fill ever. Regularly playing Warzone is probably qualification enough. As long as your character isn't black, Latino or a woman.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
Billion not Million you are 1000 times out
A federal agent will cost more than 200% of salary - training, healthcare, office space, equipment etc.
And don't forget the nice crisp brown shirts.
Shirts are cheap these days. It’s the leather for the Sam Brown’s that’ll cost.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
lol but thts what Labour has been doing for most of my adult life.
Leave office in a mess and then blame the Tories
Most recently "There is no money" 2010 followed by austerirty austerity in 2011
or
spend more on lock down followed by look at the size of the debt
This is one of those odd occasions where Labour have to clear up the Tory mess, and they are clueless.
Labour have only left office once in your adult life.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Nah, the MAGA gang love a uniform, a gun and a badge. It'll be full of inadequates who are pissed with power.
I have never been to the states. The nearest I’ve been is when I had a Las Vegas climbing trip cancelled back in the 90s. I was looking forward to that. I’ve still got the guide.
Ah well.
At least I haven’t had to reschedule my son’s wedding.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
lol but thts what Labour has been doing for most of my adult life.
Leave office in a mess and then blame the Tories
Most recently "There is no money" 2010 followed by austerirty austerity in 2011
or
spend more on lock down followed by look at the size of the debt
This is one of those odd occasions where Labour have to clear up the Tory mess, and they are clueless.
Labour have only left office once in your adult life.
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
As I'm sure everyone is aware: this post is humour and is not -in fact- true.
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague. Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
It’s pretty creepy, what’s happening in the US. For decades I’ve disliked it. By its actions it was judged.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It is about to become an order of magnitude worse. $150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
That's where it gets slightly interesting. They have the money, but now they need to actually recruit tens of thousands of agents. Might be harder than they imagine
Nah, the MAGA gang love a uniform, a gun and a badge. It'll be full of inadequates who are pissed with power.
Yeah. Lets remember what the job is - dress in all black including ski mask, turning up mob-handed with rifles / machine guns / tactical nuclear weapons to abduct illegals / latinos / democrats.
Surely there are plenty of patriots out there who don't need interviewing. They already have the black uniform and big fuck off guns and hate a lengthly list of people.
..The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives. Some 1.18 million people have applied to come to the UK via this route between its launch in December 2020 and the end of 2024. The Home Office said it had inherited a "broken immigration system" and that it was working to "repair the public's trust"...
But but but Labour are in power now and are absolutely responsible for all the shithouse policies introduced by the Tories.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
lol but thts what Labour has been doing for most of my adult life.
Leave office in a mess and then blame the Tories
Most recently "There is no money" 2010 followed by austerirty austerity in 2011
or
spend more on lock down followed by look at the size of the debt
This is one of those odd occasions where Labour have to clear up the Tory mess, and they are clueless.
Labour have only left office once in your adult life.
in my lifetime 70 79 2010 shitshow every time
The 2024 Tory mess is more than comfortable in that company.
Theoretically, there's still a chance Smith takes the record from Jessop.
No, the chance has gone.
Possibly cricket's most remarkable record, unbeaten since 1902. And the century was scored without any sixes, as they still only scored four runs for no bounce boundaries at the time.
Theoretically, there's still a chance Smith takes the record from Jessop.
No, the chance has gone.
Possibly cricket's most remarkable record, unbeaten since 1902. And the century was scored without any sixes, as they still only scored four runs for no bounce boundaries at the time.
English cricket's, of course. The rest of the world is way ahead.
Have we done the local by-election results? 2 by-elections caused by Reform UK councillors elected in May resigning immediately. Both lost: 1 LD gain, 1 Con gain.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
For context, the Federal Prisons Service has over 150k inmates - and an annual budget of around $8bn. The camps they're building (like "Alligator Alcatraz"), will be considerably cheaper and nastier.
The FBI has a budget of $10bn, and 38k employees.
Vice President JD Vance admits the expansion of ICE is the mainspring of the White House’s agenda. In a series of social media posts, he pushed back against worries about the president’s signature reconciliation bill. Nothing else in the bill mattered, he said — not debt, not Medicaid cuts — compared to securing “ICE money.” Now, the agency — which already acts like a secret police — will have an additional $75 billion to build detention centers, hire new agents and supercharge its operations.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Assuming an employee costs $100,000pa, then 150billion will get you 1,500 employees for one year or 150 for ten years. You're going to need a lot more than that to go full auslander raus.
For context, the Federal Prisons Service has over 150k inmates - and an annual budget of around $8bn. The camps they're building (like "Alligator Alcatraz"), will be considerably cheaper and nastier.
The FBI has a budget of $10bn, and 38k employees.
Vice President JD Vance admits the expansion of ICE is the mainspring of the White House’s agenda. In a series of social media posts, he pushed back against worries about the president’s signature reconciliation bill. Nothing else in the bill mattered, he said — not debt, not Medicaid cuts — compared to securing “ICE money.” Now, the agency — which already acts like a secret police — will have an additional $75 billion to build detention centers, hire new agents and supercharge its operations.
Have we done the local by-election results? 2 by-elections caused by Reform UK councillors elected in May resigning immediately. Both lost: 1 LD gain, 1 Con gain.
The forlorn hopefulness in your tone is exquisitely pitiful
Have we done the local by-election results? 2 by-elections caused by Reform UK councillors elected in May resigning immediately. Both lost: 1 LD gain, 1 Con gain.
One of them apparently resigned because of a cancer diagnosis but other parties tried to make a political issue out of the fact that he'd resigned so soon after being elected.
Comments
“We need to inspect your property for illegal aliens,” one of them said.
I replied, “Alright, but whatever you do, don’t go into that field over there.”
The officer in charge exploded.
“Mister, I have the authority of the federal government behind me!” he barked, reaching into his back pocket. He yanked out a badge and shoved it in my face.
“See this fucking badge? This badge means I can go wherever I want on ANY land. No questions asked, no answers given. Am I clear? Do you understand?”
I nodded politely and said, “Be my guest.”
Then I went back to my chores.
About ten minutes later, I heard screaming. I looked up and saw six ICE agents running for their lives, being chased by my big, mean, old bull. And with every step, that bull was closing in. Fast.
It looked like they were about to get gored for sure.
So I dropped my tools, ran over to the fence, and shouted at the top of my lungs:
“YOUR BADGE! SHOW HIM YOUR FUCKING BADGE!”
https://x.com/luketryl/status/1941043309096718699?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
https://x.com/luketryl/status/1941043317497909385?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
There are two things that should have tipped off alert PBers.
Firstly, I am a city person, and avoid farms like the plague.
Secondly, ICE officers never show identification.
If Josiah Bartlett (b. 3/10/1999) with a [x] visa flys back to Poland on December 12, and there's no record of his reentry, we can reasonably assume he's left the country. (There *may* be occasional times when there are multiple people called [x], who all have skiled worker visas, and share a birthday, and come from the same place. But it's going to catch the right person 99.999999% of times.)
@JackParkr
NEW: I'm told Zarah Sultana was about to be expelled from Labour - but quit to form a new party before it could take effect
Labour's NEC had scheduled to meet earlier this week to discuss her membership
..The skilled worker visa route replaced the Tier 2 (General) work visa after the UK left the European Union.
The route was expanded in 2022 by the previous Conservative government to address skill shortages and job vacancies in health and social care in the wake of the Covid pandemic, driving net migration to record levels.
But the PAC has accused the Home Office of failing to gather "basic information" on whether people leave the UK after their visas expire and showing "little curiosity about how the route was operating".
Its report said the department still relied on airline passenger records to check if someone had left the country and that there had been no analysis of those records since 2020...
The "skill shortage" visa system appears to have been operated without any check that those coming in actually ended up being employed in the jobs where they were supposed to be filling gaps.
So the answer seems to be: the refreshed Model Y helped Tesla sales in June. However, the benefit does not seem to have been universal, and also doesn't seem to have been that large: will it continue through to July? Or did Tesla satisfy most of the preorders in June?
@philatrail
I see the newly track-and-train integrated Southeastern is cutting passenger services to give track teams more daylight time for inspections. It says this followed trials last year that showed cost savings and comes despite NR moving generally towards trainborne inspections.
The benefits of nationalisation.
But the way it is turning its unpleasantness on its own people. That’s quite upsetting to watch.
It's the complete abandonment of rationality in favour of that instinct - by very large numbers of people, on a timescale of years, despite any and all contrary evidence - that I struggle to understand.
$150bn extra funding for those guys over the next four years.
slavescheap labour...It's just going to take some time to go through all those records from the last five years.
I like the Public Accounts Committee, as it seems to ask awkward questions of government more often than most.
.
I was told the other day that in the field of AI, there are 11 ultra-specialists at the top of the tree. 7 of them are in China. The US is trying to entice them with salaries of $100m a year and mega-bonuses.
We are going to see a lot of ppl claiming, understandably, that the BBB has now provided Trump w a massive ICE army.
That is incorrect.
It has provided him with the funds to TRY.
A 2017 DHS-OIG report said ICE would need to interview 500,000 ppl to get 10,000 new hires.
Not easy!
Federal agent positions are especially sought after - prestige, higher pay, better working conditions and Federal gov benefit. Including healthcare.
They will have a storm of applicants from the various police forces.
In their most extreme rites - off their nipples on wine, opium and psychedelic mushrooms - they would smash in the brains of their own children. Then eat them
They will more likely just deputise a large number of thugs (along with national guards, as they're already doing in Florida).
The "2017" consensus is history; this is about the exercise of executive power.
The detainment camp system will be run by the private sector prisons companies - who were big campaign contributors.
The camps they're building (like "Alligator Alcatraz"), will be considerably cheaper and nastier.
The FBI has a budget of $10bn, and 38k employees.
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/cricket/market/1.245074690
Made a lot of sense after a few pints.
"But polling from Merlin Strategy has found that 76 per cent of the public worry about future political violence. And if there is one thing that could hold back Reform, it is fear of uncontrollable community tension or, to put it more bleakly, race war.
Somehow Farage must harness the anger while soothing the fear. That is very tricky in opposition and would prove impossible in power. Trump has struggled. But if the British establishment is to be overturned after a further economic shock, the next revolution will be around borders and race, rather than privatisation and deregulation.
Liberal Britain hasn’t gone under quite yet. Cabinet ministers have been shown polling that suggests that the higher the stakes, the less voters are likely to trust Reform. But this is a genuinely perilous moment for social democracy. I hope it’s not too much for the struggling government we have, but I worry." (£)
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2025/06/state-of-emergency-2
The airlines record passport numbers for passengers boarding. So the data is pretty good.
Must be great for the remaining Tories. All those awful policies they introduced, they just wash their hands of them and pretend they were done by Labour.
I am getting visions of Leon appearing in some sort of Thracian Deliverance.
Actually, that's not a bad movie pitch.
more taxes
pension raids
new employment rights
bribing the doctors
no jump in housing starts
pretending to control immigration
no growth
dry hump Trump
feral backbenchers
Jezza is back
Ed Miliband does Looney Tunes
collapse of industrial base
followed by bailouts
May local election crisis
Reeves sacked
HS2 needs more money
June figures? Mostly people like me who ordered once the new car actually came out. I ordered mid May and took delivery a few days into June.
I did say that the "Tesla sales are down because nobody wants one" narrative was false at a basic level of maths.
They were trying to lap sales last year (best-selling car globally) vs a handful of inventory cars this year and claiming they were like for like.
Now we get to June and it is like for like and sales are up.
And we will go back into the usual pattern of Tesla sales being phased towards the back end of the quarter.
Leave office in a mess and then blame the Tories
Most recently "There is no money" 2010 followed by austerirty austerity in 2011
or
spend more on lock down followed by look at the size of the debt
This is one of those odd occasions where Labour have to clear up the Tory mess, and they are clueless.
On the subject, the Google cartoon that I see is celebrating the 4th -- which I don't recall them doing in the past. (The cynic in me wonders whether the company might be worrying about their legal problems these days.)
(As a small instance, see the recent use of national guard military lawyers in Florida immigration courts.)
There's probably a very large number number of retired cops who would happily take jobs - either in one of the camps, or in an ICE thug group - for a fraction of the $100k that viewcode posits.
And recall that the guys in charge of the effort are Stephen Miller and Tom Homan.
They are not bothered with any niceties.
Surely there are plenty of patriots out there who don't need interviewing. They already have the black uniform and big fuck off guns and hate a lengthly list of people.
Let's see whether or not they can deliver what they're now saying.
..In May, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would end overseas recruitment for care workers as part of the plans to curb near record net migration.
But she told BBC Breakfast on Friday that the report's conclusions were correct and that the system "hasn't been strong enough".
"Change doesn't happen at the flick of a switch," she said, echoing Sir Keir Starmer's victory speech comments last year.
Pressed on when the Home Office would be able to accurately monitor entry and exit to the country, she said "it does take a bit of time - a lot of that system is now in place."
The government plans to install biometric tests in the workplace to check whether an individual is living and working the UK legally via their fingerprints, she added.
"We're going to go substantially further," she said...
“So, an opposition journalist was trampled to death? By extinct species of Rhino? On his bathroom ceiling?”
Ah well.
At least I haven’t had to reschedule my son’s wedding.
Gary's got his wish. Now he's gone..."things can only get better"
Possibly cricket's most remarkable record, unbeaten since 1902.
And the century was scored without any sixes, as they still only scored four runs for no bounce boundaries at the time.
Especially for a number 7, when 3 batsmen up the order got ducks.
We're glad to say, we're in the UK
West Indian batsmen can bat all day!
The rest of the world is way ahead.
Vice President JD Vance admits the expansion of ICE is the mainspring of the White House’s agenda. In a series of social media posts, he pushed back against worries about the president’s signature reconciliation bill. Nothing else in the bill mattered, he said — not debt, not Medicaid cuts — compared to securing “ICE money.” Now, the agency — which already acts like a secret police — will have an additional $75 billion to build detention centers, hire new agents and supercharge its operations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/04/opinion/trump-america-.html
Surely its something they've been unabashed about? Not exactly a secret.