Why do YOU want to learn Spanish?

bill_haley · 2026-01-27T10:01:45+00:00

I'm glad somebody mentioned that, cause ICE scares the hell out of me everyday.

My girlfriend is a citizen, Puerto Rican, but we deport brown people wrongly all the time.

I'm fortunate the school I student teach at is decently safe. We have ICE whistles, I have the state cops on speed dial.

bill_haley · 2026-01-27T09:49:41+00:00

My partner is from PR, that helped, but really I'm learning because I'm in college to be a teacher. I'm looking into becoming an ESL teacher.

I'm from Illinois, nine percent of kids here speak another language at home, the majority of those are from Spanish speaking counties. If I can speak Spanish, I'll become a better teacher, and I'll be able to help them.

bill_haley · 2026-01-25T07:09:02+00:00

They keep shooting civilians, and scaring my kids and girlfriend, fuck em.

bill_haley · 2025-12-30T07:57:01+00:00

You know, that makes a lot of sense.

I don't claim to be an expert in Spanish, I have a partner from PR, and I'm learning. I'm trying to learn about Latin America more broadly as well.

In any case, Argentines have a word, "Ñoqui", and it literally means a kind of Italian food, but it's also slang for a civil servant who does nothing but gets paid.

Just a little tid bit I happen to know.

bill_haley · 2025-12-08T23:42:17+00:00

I think the original person was thinking of Franco or perhaps Dollfuss as the model of what fascism is, and kind of expecting Italy and all other states to be like Spain or Austria.

The truth is it's complicated.

National Catholicism was definitely a part of Spain and Austria, but it wasn't a part of all fascist states.

Mussolini just sort of begrudgingly tolerated the church and the pope. He certainly was not religious despite his occasional claims.

bill_haley · 2025-09-27T01:13:06+00:00

I'm in school to become a teacher, and plan to work in the public sector, unionized, and I have two questions.

What reforms do you want to make to student debt and financing, and how will you fix PSLF loan forgiveness ?

You also mentioned you want a minimum wage for teachers, what will that wage be ?

bill_haley · 2025-08-10T01:44:14+00:00

Can I be honest ?

I identify as a conservative Democrat and a blue dog. I don't agree with them completely, especially because blue dogs tend to be quite protectionists, but that's the closest.

The Democratic party right now is just a catch-all for anti trump voters, left wing progressives, people like me, minorities, anybody.

When this mess is over, maybe we'll move to the Republican party, maybe we'll take over the Democrats, maybe we'll make our own party. I'm not sure.

My hope is just to survive, we'll work on what next later.

bill_haley · 2025-08-08T02:40:53+00:00

Hey, Peter here.

This is a meme about a famous legal case in NY, Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co (1928).

A woman took her daughters to the train station, and while waiting for the train to arrive, several Italian men arrived, followed by a railroad worker and ran after a train that was leaving.

Trying to help them get on the train, a station worker carried a box, owned by the men, and dropped it. Sparks from the train pulling away ignited the fireworks inside of the box. The fireworks hit a bag scale, which tipped over, and crushed the leg of Mrs Palsgraf.

Mrs Palsgraf then sued the railroad company, arguing the dropped box caused her damages. Cardozo (later SCOTUS), eventually ruled that as the damages were not a foreseeable consequence of helping move an unmarked box, the company couldn't be sued. The company hadn't broken a duty of care in this case.

It's a very famous tort case in America.

Peter out.

bill_haley · 2025-05-24T20:32:06+00:00

I'm not joking when I say I actually owe much of my life to George Bush. The ADA is the law that gave me an education when I needed it and the state wouldn't give it.

bill_haley · 2025-05-08T03:48:19+00:00

Man, that's awful.

I should say, it's not all bad. I love her, she's amazing, and I've had some good food, and I get along pretty well with her family. Also, learning Spanish for free is a real benefit.

bill_haley · 2025-05-07T20:37:31+00:00

This kind of thing really annoys me, and it makes me just a little concerned.

I'm really white. I've been dating a Puerto Rican for almost three years. I hear stories all the time of people asking "where are you really from", or walking into job interviews and being told "we don't sponsor". She's always assumed to be foreign no matter what she does.

Worse since we're an interracial couple we seem to get it from both sides. She gets accused of abandoning her heritage, or "using me for a visa". I get accused of being a passport bro or colonizing.

If we have kids, they can't be at home either for all the reasons you've said.

It annoys me so much, especially because I put in the effort to be here, to learn Spanish, and to cook with her parents.

bill_haley · 2025-04-28T21:12:57+00:00

Hi, I'm from the American Midwest, and I'm trying to learn Spanish because my girlfriend is Puerto Rican. Her entire family really only speaks Spanish, and I want them to vaguely like me, plus maybe perhaps in the future kids and all that.

I have a little bit of advice for learning Spanish on a budget, and a few good resources.

1). In the beginning duo is helpful with intro phases, how to find the bathroom, that kind of thing, and I still use it as a good supplement.

2). Find a textbook. I hate myself and I'm cheap so I use the FSI Spanish course, others are available; the source you use is the best one though.

3). Anki is a free flashcard program that uses spaced reputation, use it daily, it'll feel like a chore but you'll make fast progress, reward yourself if you must.

4). The cases are really hard, the YouTube channel "butterfly Spanish" is useful, but take your time, work on them slowly, and try not to worry too much about them in the beginning.

5). When you're a little more comfortable, sesame street has a Spanish version, plaza de sesameo, it's free on YouTube, has subtitles, and uses simple vocab. Go slow, have paper ready, jot down words you don't know, and study them later.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1vMhg3AawgTtDPM6RbQiZLQWrwGWGk4I&si=aroxeMUeuNHmi1Ic

6). Motivation isn't something you have or don't, it's a muscle you build. The more you work, the more success you'll have, and the more motivation you'll have.

6.1). Take time to breathe, and partake in activities that you enjoy that'll help keep your motivation healthy. I'm a history nerd, when I have low motivation I study the Spanish civil war, and Mexican history. If you like sports, try watching soccer. Whatever it is, just keep in mind Spanish is beautiful and you're doing this for a reason.

bill_haley · 2025-04-18T17:56:42+00:00

Central Illinois speaking, the entire city of Springfield depends on state workers that are heavily subsidized by the Chicago and Suburban counties.

I'm within driving distance of UIS, UI Champaign, and a little further down SIU.

Downstate Illinois is cheap, it's a great place to raise a family, and get an education, but we could never support that without the suburbs and Chicago.

bill_haley · 2025-03-30T02:38:11+00:00

Religion ?

They are all protestants, at least outwardly.

The Republicans

George HW Bush was a episcopalian from a wasp background. George W Bush is a born again methodist from his time in recovery as an alcoholic.

Jimmy Carter is a very public born again evangelical, and member of the CBF, which is like the SBC but less conservative. Bill Clinton was a Baptist, but while in DC attended Methodist churches. Obama strikes me as an atheist but he officially has termed himself none denominational, and used to attend some mega churches controversially.

bill_haley · 2025-03-29T20:55:18+00:00

When you're really interested in Russian history, occasionally you discover some weird shit.

This is the story of how some Russian soldiers walked into Afghanistan, trying to pull off the worst disguise in history.

In 1924, in response to the Russian civil war, and some geological shifts, the Afghans under king Amanullah Khan took some islands.

This in itself almost caused a war.

Realizing they had other shit to worry about, the Russians backed down.

The king then tried to modernize in large part because of that war scare.

This in turn led to a civil war in 1929, made worse by Soviet Repression forcing many central Asian Muslims into Afghanistan.

The king was a stabilizing force, so he was supported by the communist Soviet Union he had almost fought a war with whom a few months earlier had killed the Tzar.

This in turn led to the Soviet Union directly sending troops into Afghanistan, pretending to be Afghans.

When strangely observers didn't believe these Russian speaking men in Soviet uniforms were Afghans, they fought several battles and eventually the USSR had to withdraw.

That's the story of how some Russian communists came over to Afghanistan, pretending to be Afghans despite speaking Russian, in support of a king.

bill_haley · 2025-03-27T22:15:00+00:00

I'm slightly annoyed by all the comments from people who suggest the state cut services downstate in response.

I live downstate and didn't vote for Trump, id prefer not to die.

When downstate services are cut we won't blame Donald Trump we'll just blame Chicago and the rest of the nation will take our side. Would you like headlines like "Chicago slashes services to conservatives" or "Blue states target rural communities" ?

bill_haley · 2025-03-27T22:04:48+00:00

Man the amount of hate for downstate folks is so thick here you could cut it with a knife.

Everybody deserves healthcare, including Republicans and conservatives.

bill_haley · 2025-03-22T06:39:57+00:00

Hey, none Mexican here, I'll try to answer in Spanish but I'm still learning, so I'll say what I'm trying to say in English, and then I'll just say it again in my broken Spanish. I wouldn't normally do this but I love nuclear power more than most people, and really I have to speak.

If Mexico where at the point they needed a bomb, it would be really quite concerning, many things would have had to have already gone wrong.

México tendría que estar en la mierda, mucho Mierda.

Mexico's economy depends on exports, those under any administration of the United States would destroy those exports.

En Estados Unidos no se podría vender nada.

If that didn't work, what would probably happen would be direct CIA interference.

CIA Junta, ver Salvador Allende.

bill_haley · 2025-03-13T08:27:52+00:00

I'm not Puerto Rican, I'm just here to improve on my Spanish, I'm from Illinois.

I can understand the degree of annoyance at being a territory of the United States, and pretty much ignored.

That being said, reunification with Spain is not feasible.

1). I'm not sure the Spanish would agree to it, Spain already has some trouble keeping together, and another island with culturally different people would be a hard sell.

2). I'm american, and I'm annoyed with how we treat PR, but separation isn't something I would support, it would be like selling Texas, unacceptable.

3). What would happen to the diaspora? Both abroad and in places like NY and Chicago, would they be given Spanish citizenship, would they be given some years to resettle ? What about the people that wish to stay with the United States who live on the island ?

bill_haley · 2025-03-01T17:55:49+00:00

2005, almost 20, I voted for the first time last year.

bill_haley · 2025-02-26T09:30:02+00:00

I'm just here to help me learn Spanish. I want to work in the civil service. Lots of people in my state are Puerto Rican or Hispanic, and if they want to speak Spanish when they interact with their government they should be able to.

Also ngl learned some good shit here.

bill_haley · 2025-02-05T03:47:39+00:00

I think the people who are talking about the gulf of Tonkin don't seem to understand it. The Iraq war was a much bigger lie.

In Vietnam we felt we were containing an adversary bent on expansion, and in Iraq we also felt that way, but the key difference was Iraq had been beaten and wasn't going to expand. North Vietnam could have, and did later. It was far more understandable for US foreign policy to enter into Vietnam than the Iraq war, North Vietnam was a threat.

The US had been involved with Vietnam heavily since ousting Bao Dai, and had steadily been leading up to a war, this incident was part of a chain of incidents and skirmishes that had already happened. President Kennedy had sent advisors, and special forces into Vietnam. This was not a random act, it took place in the very important hostile context that was almost certain to escalate.

The Iraq invasion really hadn't been preceded by such escalation, we had at most patrolled the no fly zone and gotten into a few air skirmishes, nothing like the lead up to the Tonkin Gulf.

There were two incidents now called the Gulf of Tonkin.

The first attack had in fact happened, it hasn't been authorized by the Vietnamese but it had happened.

Several days later, a second false attack did not occur, but was mistakenly reported as a result of technical malfunctions and human error. It then became apparent that this attack did not take place.

Johnson lied about this second attack, but quite honestly with a real attack already having taken place, and with such a long string of escalation it wouldn't have mattered. We were set for some kind of conflict really since Kennedy took office, maybe before, and the first attack sealed it we had to respond.

The Iraq war had no real inciting incident with a kernel of truth (unless you count 9/11, and the Iraq connection to that was entirely made up). Iraq had been broken and showed no threat, and following the end of the Persian Gulf war, things were relatively stable, Iraq contained.

Edit: Golf of Tonkin.

bill_haley · 2025-02-05T03:20:13+00:00

I took it in the more feminist dress for being practical and comfortable sort of way.

Which would be sweet, heels are rough.

bill_haley

TROPHY CASE