Uruguay is safe, prosperous, and has a good tax rate

In the last few days an online source said that when a particular cabinet nominee came up for a vote Democrats did all they could to slow down the process, even though they knew they could not stop it. But later sources say that’s not what is happening. Sources such as Oliver Willis of Daily Kos, who reported on the various things Democrats are not doing to slow things down. Part of the process of confirmation (or maybe handling all bills in the Senate) is asking for unanimous consent to bring a nomination to the floor. Back in 2020 Sen. Tommy Tuberville refused unanimous consent and was able to tie up military promotions for several months. But when the nominations of Tulsi Gabbard for national intelligence and Robert Kennedy for Health came to the floor, Democrats did not use the refusal of unanimous consent to slow things down for candidates as vile as Kennedy and Gabbard.

The moment encapsulates how Senate Democrats have handled many of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. While party leaders have voiced opposition to Trump and his picks, they have failed to use all of their power to slow the process. And in some instances, Democrats have even actively backed Trump’s picks.

One that got Democratic votes was Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. And now Rubio is helping dismantle USAID. Democrats also voted for Sean Duffy for Transportation, Doug Collins for Veterans Affairs, John Ratcliffe for CIA, Doug Burgum for Interior, Scott Bessent for Treasury, Kristi Noem for Homeland Security, Christopher Wright for Energy, and Lee Zeldin for EPA.

Democrats like Schumer have called out Trump’s actions and sounded the alarm on his attacks on U.S. democracy. But behind closed doors, many of those same leaders have been grumbling about receiving flack from Democratic voters for not doing everything they can to stand up to Trump. As long as the party keeps operating like business as usual, it can expect to receive even more criticism.

Receiving flak? Yeah, like this. Willis also reported:

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill held closed door meetings where they complained that voters from around the country are organizing and asking them to be stronger in resisting President Donald Trump’s harmful agenda. Axios reports that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attended the meetings in question, along with members of the House Steering & Policy Committee. The outlet reports that a senior House Democrat told them that Jeffries is “very frustrated” at activist groups like MoveOn and Indivisible that have helped concerned Americans make phone calls to congressional offices. The source added that “people are pissed” that Democrats are receiving pressure to significantly increase their opposition to Trump. ... Democrats were elected to Congress to represent their constituents. Their constituents are asking them to stop Trump from hurting the country—these calls are the way to make that clear. And Democrats are complaining about it.

That leaves us with the courts. Emily Singer of Kos reported on all of the legal cases trying to stop the nasty guy’s executive orders. Singer reviews the cases, then quoted a tweet by Sen. Ed Markey:

Birthright citizenship order - BLOCKED. Federal funding cut off - BLOCKED. Illegal feds resignation plan - BLOCKED. Access to Treasury's vital data system - BLOCKED. Firing 2000 USAID workers - BLOCKED. Drastic NIH Grant Cuts - BLOCKED. Removing public health websites - BLOCKED.

Singer wrote:

Trump’s losing spree is so bad that he and his GOP defenders are threatening to impeach judges who rule against him, or simply ignore the court rulings entirely—setting up a constitutional crisis. "We have to look at the judges,” Trump said Tuesday in the Oval Office.

We’ll be in grave danger if or when the nasty guy chooses to ignore the judges. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, works to evaluate mis-, dis-, and malinformation related to elections and alerting election officials across the country about foreign influence operations. Singer reported many of the staff doing that work are now on administrative leave. The CISA is part of the Department of Homeland Security and was formed when the nasty guy was first in the Oval Office in response to the alleged Russian influence in the 2016 race. But CISA wouldn’t agree to the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Also Project 2025 calls for it to be hobbled, saying "The federal government cannot be the arbiter of truth." So it is now in limbo. Secretaries of State of both parties have praised CISA’s efforts to protect election security and say getting rid of it will make elections less secure. Walter Einenkel of Kos reported something that sounds petty and also typical:

The Associated Press announced Tuesday that it was banned from an Oval Office press event for failing to change references to the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.” ... On the other hand, Apple announced Tuesday that it is renaming the Gulf of Mexico on its maps app to conform to President Donald Trump’s bizarre executive order. Apple is following in the footsteps of tech giant Google, which has already bent the knee to Trump.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev opened with a discussion about what vice nasty Vance said about the meaning of love. He was drawing on his Catholic upbringing to say there is love for family, love for neighbor, love your community, love your country, and, if you have any love left, the rest of the world. Pope Francis issued a rebuttal in a letter sent to US bishops. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” It is a “love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” Kev quoted a tweet from Rich Raho, who said the exchange came in response to the “major crisis” of “mass deportations.” Then Kev quoted the Bible, including this:

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Leviticus 19:33-35

Kev added:

MAGA evangelicals have no problem wanting to enforce other laws in Leviticus, why not those laws regarding the treatment of neighbors and strangers?

Phil in Denver of the Kos community wrote that he and his family have decided they must leave the US. Part of it is he doesn’t see the US recovering in his lifetime. In a second post he wrote a guide on how to choose what country to move to. It is based on his own research and on previous times of living abroad. He has not researched every country. Some of his recommendations: The English speaking countries, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, are all difficult for Americans to get permission to stay and are rather expensive. Uruguay is safe, prosperous, and has a good tax rate. France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal have great transportation, reasonable housing if one doesn’t live in a major city, and great healthcare. Other places in Western Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, have high housing costs. Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador are inexpensive, but Mexico has a drug cartel problem and the other two have rising crime. Japan’s population is shrinking, so they offer incentives to those pre-retirement. Major cities are expensive, smaller towns less so. Thailand and the Philippines are worth looking into. Yes, there is culture shock. People live at a different tempo and service won’t be as prompt as one expects in America. Yes, most of these countries speak a different language and more people will be willing to help you if make an attempt to learn it (or at least a few phrases). There are also apps for the phone that help with translation.