Robin Hood, but modernized as a 21st-century hacker type so that he can cope in today's world. But I'd still like him to look like he belongs in an edgy 90s movie, complete with green tights, for authenticity's sake.
Is "tariff" now the new "woke"? A term without any meaning that Republicans throw around just to give their brainless followers a starting point from which they can see their deluded fantasies as seemingly rooted in reality?
So something along the lines of: "100 percent tariffs will teach you what happens when you are woke" or some other stupid crap like that.
It's hard to believe, but somehow US news are getting more absurd by the day, even though it should have reached rock bottom long ago...
Due process is recognized as a human‑rights protection in almost all democratic countries and generally applies regardless of citizenship; it helps prevent arbitrariness and abuse of power.
The fundamental safeguard against arbitrary state detention is habeas corpus or its functional equivalent: a person detained must be brought before a judge so the lawfulness of the detention can be reviewed and so the detainee can be informed of the charges against them.
ICE denies detainees even this, for which there can be absolutely no excuse in any reasonably civilized country.
That's my impression too. After everything the regime has done so far, I think it's pretty clear that it can no longer be removed by legal means - the legal system already seems to me to have been infiltrated too deeply for that.
It also seems likely to me that MAGA will no longer allow free elections, because that would carry the risk of being voted out of office, which, even in the corrupt US system, could mean severe legal consequences for many of the regime's followers and for all the misdeeds that have already been committed in less than a year. I don't think MAGA will take that chance, especially since ICE is already set up as a kind of secret police force with a budget equivalent to the military spending of a medium-sized country. I mean, what else could an agency like this possibly need such an astronomical budget for other than as a private army loyal to the regime and thus a safeguard in case of resistance from the regular army or the police?
In short: I think the outlook is very bleak, and like you, I'm not convinced that the majority of US citizens are aware of how dangerous the situation is.
I am German and I am appalled by the behavior of our government: Instead of standing up to Trump and his henchmen and becoming independent from the US, they are kowtowing to him, even though it is completely obvious how little Trump cares about his so called allies—and since the US is nowadays blackmailing Europe with tariffs and so on, it takes a lot of imagination to still call them allies, especially when all halfway rational people are particularly disturbed by all the inhuman Nazi shit.
Unfortunately, however, the weak position of the current German government was already absolutely foreseeable before the last federal election, because the Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is actually more of a US lobbyist than a politician (among other things, he was chairman of the supervisory board of Black Rock Germany until 2022 and held various positions in business lobby organizations such as the Atlantik-Brücke – a conservative think tank). Nothing can be expected from these people, although I unfortunately also think that US citizens should not count on any external support anyway.
Does the US legal system still exist in any sense that it should in a democracy?
I ask because I don't understand how all this is possible in a constitutional state: Masked brutes who arbitrarily kidnap people on the open street without even identifying themselves, people who are interned without due process and then often simply disappear without a trace in the administrative system, total surveillance without cause, and many other massive violations that the US legal system seems to enable rather than prevent, as it should.
All of this already looks very much like a dictatorship to me, i.e., an unjust state, as none of this can be possible with a democratic constitution - at least not with one that is actually upheld by the legal system.
Neither Chat Control nor Palantir are necessary to take decisive action against those responsible. Isn't it telling that this is obviously not happening? When it comes to money, it's no longer about the children, or how else should we interpret this? A small fine and then carry on as usual, or what?
Yes, I think so too. And I think that ICE is intended for this purpose, since the regime cannot be sure of the loyalty of the police, let alone the military. I mean, why else would ICE need such an astronomical budget? Further embezzlement of public funds via private prison companies, in which members of the government are certainly involved, surely also plays a role. But when you look at the ruthless actions of ICE and what die-hard fascists they are, it seems pretty obvious to me that it's already an SS-like secret police force. Maybe it will be renamed once they have seized absolute power.
They are not there yet, but I think it is very likely that the regime will not allow free elections anymore—then it would risk being held accountable for all its crimes, which is unlikely under the US legal system, but not impossible.
Perhaps the Millers will learn their lesson on political terror when ICE comes knocking on their door. Traditionally, the goddamned Nazis end up stabbing each other in the back sooner or later—see "The Night of the Long Knives".
They are therefore by no means only a threat to their opponents.
Looks like Taylor Greene will probably be one of the first to be dealt with, but of course, no one is safe from narcissistic psychopaths without a conscience. So, like anyone else, it could happen to the Millers at any time.
It wouldn't surprise me or make me sad in any way—quite the contrary.
As with most authoritarian groups, I think that Maga is primarily driven by fear: on the one hand, fear of the fictional enemies that their demagogues constantly conjure up (foreigners, Antifa, etc.) and, on the other hand, fear of retaliation by their own people or exclusion from the sect if a Maga follower dares to express even the slightest criticism of the leaders of this idiotic movement.
Only the second threat, i.e., fear of persecution by their own people, is justified, because it actually stems from reality. This allows for the control of both the foot soldiers, whose interests are of course not represented by the leadership at all, and the higher-ranking members, who actually benefit directly from the sellout of the US through nepotism and, in particular, corruption.
Now that their leader is in office, it is difficult to say what role the fictional enemy images still play. I think the fear of their own people now prevails by a long shot.
One example that suggests this is the fact that during the election campaign, the MAGA leadership propagated the conspiracy theory of child molesters in influential positions. Now that the election has been won, this topic is being avoided at all costs. The reason is clear: there is some truth to this conspiracy theory—but contrary to what the MAGA leadership has portrayed this ominous group of evil, it is obviously the conservatives themselves who are the child abusers, who are this ominous group of infuencial criminals. This should also have become clear to many MAGA supporters by now, as the administration is, for obvious reasons, doing everything in its power to prevent the announced prosecution of Eppstein's customers and partners from taking place.
Now, however, MAGA supporters are too afraid of being targeted by their own people if they demand that the election promise be fulfilled and insist that the influential child abusers finally be stopped, because that would mean making enemies of the MAGA leadership, who are obviously the ones responsible.
So in short, I think Maga is now mainly operating on the basis of fear of persecution by its own people—as was already the case with the Nazis in the Third Reich. So it's quite the traditional Nazi strategy really.
Given how often headlines claim that Maga has imploded, melted down, or been slammed, one would think that nothing would be left of it by now—but unfortunately, none of this has any consequences.
I think you should never take these things lightly.
It's better to be too cautious than not cautious enough, especially since there are powerful interest groups that want mass surveillance.
The people don't want that, of course, but many politicians do, as evidenced by the fact that Palantir is being introduced in Germany, of all places, and completely illegally. This must be prevented, and the population has a role to play in this—for example, with petitions like this one, which already has more than 400,000 signatures: Trump software Palantir: Stop surveillance plans
I have always found it a fitting metaphor for the entire US political system that the judiciary is controlled by nine people - who are appointed for life and essentially make decisions without any checks and balances.
Yes, maybe a bit much, but it would have been very fitting, since the marketing is obviously aimed specifically at the villains of the world—perhaps for the next project.
It's quite telling of the times we live in that you can make it so obvious these days. You'd think that at least some concealment of the intentions behind these mass surveillance products would be appropriate, but I guess with people like Trump in the White House, Putin in the Kremlin, Netanyahu in Israel, and many others of that caliber, it's no longer necessary.
And in case it wasn't already clear enough how absurd this all is, the creeps at Palantir are now actually so brazen as to officially call one of their mass surveillance systems "Project Gotham"...brave new world.
Robin Hood, but modernized as a 21st-century hacker type so that he can cope in today's world. But I'd still like him to look like he belongs in an edgy 90s movie, complete with green tights, for authenticity's sake.