Tag Archives: Tyranny

The New Surveillance And Police State.

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In recent years, the Republican Party and MAGA have constantly cried “Freedom”, believing that Democratic presidents were out to take away their liberty. But ironically, the people they voted for are the ones who are actually suspending the Constitution and taking away our freedoms.

Starting by suspending due process for immigrants, the Trump regime has quickly moved to attack the freedoms of citizens. It has attacked the First Amendment guarantees of free speech in government agencies, universities, and the media. It has violated the Fourth Amendment preventing unreasonable search and seizures, the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, and the 14th Amendment that gives citizenship to all those born in the United States, leading to a case that is now before SCOTUS.

The regime has initiated numerous attacks on the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. Numerous individuals in the regime have openly discussed repealing the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. In addition, the regime has repeatedly discussed violating the 22nd amendment limiting all presidents, including Trump, to two terms.

And the regime is clearly only getting started.

Billionaire Peter Theil and his Palantir data mining company have helped construct a master government database of all US citizens enabled by the company’s numerous government contracts and Trump’s Executive Order to eliminate information silos. And the creation of the database and the accompanying surveillance network is happening faster than legislators can recognize the threat, let alone craft legislation to control it.

So, all of your personal data, including financial records, tax records, and medical records are all in one place, quickly accessible to anyone with clearance. And since the Trump regime has ordered states to turn over voting records, the database will likely include your party affiliation, political donations and voting history.

Additionally, Homeland Security and ICE are using more than 6,000 LPR (License Plate Reader) cameras to monitor the movements of undocumented immigrants. Of course, the cameras also allow the government to track movements of ordinary citizens, with the FBI and DHS using AI to sort through tips and social media to determine what they believe to be “threats.”

And the entire domestic surveillance network is shielded from oversight by “national security” exemptions.

At the same time, the regime is rapidly increasing the number of masked and armed ICE agents to roughly 30,000. It has also increased ICE’s budget for weapons by $71 million, a 700 percent increase.

But that shouldn’t worry us. We all trust that the Trump regime won’t use its database, cameras and secret police for political purposes, or to interfere with the liberties of American citizens. Right? Right? Right???

Freedom Fighters?

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The Republican Party has a long history of claiming to be patriots and “freedom fighters.”  Indeed, many of its members have armed themselves with numerous AR15-style rifles and large stockpiles of ammunition while claiming such measures are necessary to defend themselves against tyranny – the tyranny of a Democratic-led federal government.

Really?

Exactly what Democratic policies do they fear? Providing SNAP benefits to poor families to keep their children from starving? Welcoming refugees from war-torn nations and migrants forced to leave their homeland as the result of violence or drought? Providing Social Security benefits to the elderly who spent decades paying FICA to ensure a comfortable retirement? Supporting Medicare and Obamacare so that Americans won’t die prematurely for lack of access to healthcare?

Do governmental actions cross into tyranny for distributing vaccines to millions to help prevent disease, sickness and death? Allocating billions to repair and restore our nation’s failing infrastructure? Enhancing voting systems to ensure that any eligible citizen can easily exercise their right to vote? Permitting a woman and her doctor to make decisions affecting her health? Or permitting the justice system to prosecute anyone, including the rich and powerful, who breaks the law?

Are these policies evidence of tyranny? Hardly.

Real tyranny is a government that requires elementary school gym teachers to check a child’s genitals to make sure they are using the correct pronoun. Tyranny is telling parents that they cannot decide to give their child gender altering surgery. Tyranny is telling qualified teachers they can’t give a true account of American history. Tyranny is banning books and threatening to criminally prosecute librarians. Tyranny is trying to ban boycotts of governments and corporations who commit human rights abuses. Tyranny is trying to abolish civil rights protests.

Tyranny is telling citizens they can’t marry the ones they love. Tyranny is making it increasingly more difficult for certain ethnic groups to vote. Tyranny is forcing a physician to check with attorneys before providing life-saving care to a pregnant woman whose fetus has died in the womb. Tyranny is prosecuting women and their doctors for seeking abortions. Tyranny is punishing corporations for taking a stand against discrimination or considering DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) in their staffing decisions. Tyranny is banning retirement fund managers and state treasurers from incorporating ESG (Environmental, Social and Good Government) investment strategies.

These are not the tyrannical policies of Democrats. These are policies of the Republican Party.

You know, the party that staged a violent coup to overthrow our duly elected government. The same “patriots” who supported Nixon despite his criminal activities to sway the outcome of an election. The same “freedom fighters” who supported Reagan despite his racism and his interference in President Carter’s negotiations to free the Americans taken hostage by Iran.

In reality, Republicans are more interested in fighting than freedom. It seems the only freedom they really care about is the freedom to discriminate and bully others into doing what they want.