In 1968 Nixon made sure the Vietnam war continued and the peace talks crumbled so he could win the election. Tens of thousands more died because of that.
In 1980 Reagan made sure the hostages in Iran were held for months longer so he could win an election. He then sold arms to Iran. God knows how many died because of that
In 2024, trump stopped a border deal and backed Abbot so trump could win an election.
If we were to our current system on a 1 to 10 democracy scale, it would be a 5. Although better than 1, we need to move that 5 higher. But the USA is going backwards.
If they are keeping a list, I've been on it since 2000. Suggesting western democracy needs to totally replaced by a new democracy will scare people in high places.
If the TDG movement grows, I am ready to go to prison.
Probably the fact that they collect so much information, they have difficulty sorting through it all. Even when they do, they don't always make good choices out of it. What gives them the most pause is press backlash, and the notion that anybody can upload stuff to social media where a reporter can find it.
For a long time I've figured that our best defense is there just being too many of us for them to keep track of us all, and that all this data they're collecting is too vast to effectively analyze.
Although, these "AI" large language models give us some clue as to where they're at with that.
Battle lines are being drawn. We'll be targeted for much, much worse things than advertising. Keep an eye on your friends and favored media sources-- it's getting harder to see, in the midst of covid isolation and the growing volume of mindless spam muddying the waters, who might be getting silenced.
As a reporter, I'm well aware of how bad things can get, and are getting. Anytime you want to form any kind of solidarity group, there will always be someone in government wanting to crush it.
The trick is to always have press coverage if you fear things may go to crap.
Daniel Ellsburg was just a guy who did some things, but he was able to bring down a president.
Oh, I wouldn't give us a 1 but we're not at a 5 imo. Yes, I realize there are places that are less free. But never forget we have legalized enslavement, women don't have equal rights, in fact we aren't even close, we're chattel, People of Color, especially Black men, are far from free. In addition to what we've already said.
And, just because some places are worse doesn't mean we're good. It's not supposed to be "love it or leave it."
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