Edward Snowden accomplished Jack and shit.

He didn't tell us anything anyone didn't already know. He just found some documents that confirmed things and we all just ignored them anyway.

Meanwhile the Democrats had been slowly chipping away at the government powers seized during the wake of 9/11 when guys like you were shitting bricks demanding protection from the big bad scary terrorists.

In the wake of 9/11 the Democrats could do basically fuck and all to prevent people panicking so much they handed away their liberties. A couple of them tried and immediately lost their seats and their political careers.

As things calmed down the Democrats began to run committee hearings and work towards eliminating all that surveillance crap.

And every time they started to get somewhere with it you start to freak out and they started to lose elections and they had the back off.

It's the difference between people representing you and people ruling you. The Democrats represent you. And that's for good and for bad. If you want them to do something balls to the walls incredibly stupid then they're going to let you do it. They will tell you the back off is best they can they will try to limit the damage you're going to do is best they can but they will still let you do it.

Basically when you as an American have a hold my beer moment the Democrats hold your beer instead of telling you to shut the fuck up and stop acting like an idiot Cletus.

They have tried in the past doing that and you still do to dumb shit you just do even more dumb shit because there's that Republican who not only will hold your beer but will tell you to do something even stupider and more dangerous and you'll do it.

The affordable Care act comes to mind but there is a whole slew of other less well-known laws.

They're also a ton of Labor protection laws the Democrats pushed through.

And without the free and open Internet created by section 230 of the CDA which the Democrats have consistently defended I wouldn't have the job that let me pay for my kids to go to college.

And of course there's the whole thing with the Republicans keep trying to crash the economy and would have made me and several of my friends homeless in the wake of the 2008 market crash if they could have.

And this is before we talk about all the clean Air stuff. Or the food safety stuff. Or the vaccine stuff. Or the fact that the Democrats are the ones who got money for working Americans during covid which kept our economy functional albeit barely. Or the fact that Joe Biden got us a soft landing instead of an economic depression. Or...

You really are just ignorant. I don't mean that as an insult I mean that is a statement of fact. You have been protected by people that you endlessly hate your entire life.

And threw it all despite your scorn they still work hard to protect you and your family. And no matter how much you hate them they won't stop.

Because of laws the Democrats passed that the Republicans fought tooth and nail against. So you can go fuck yourself when it comes to saying the Democrats did nothing.

You don't know anything about America or American history. I would accuse you of being a foreigner but I know fellow Americans don't have a fucking clue so who knows...

Go look up the contract with america. That was newt gingrich's name for the systematic process of derailing anything that would help you as an American and then using their control of media to blame the Democrat party for the Republicans did to you.

Over and over and over again the Republicans have fucked Americans in the ass and we bend over and take it. The way they keep getting this through the Democrats is by threatening to destroy the entire American economy by shutting down the government during budget negotiations.

Every single American is a hostage of the Republican party. And about 47% of us have Stockholm syndrome. A little bit of voter suppression and the Republicans can consistently win elections.

I mean for fuck sakes Missouri is 40% black but a deep red state. You don't need to have a PhD in political science to figure out what the fuck is going on there. And they still gerrymandered the districts to give the Republicans one more vote in the house because everyone knows they're about to get their asses kicked if they don't do something.

Trump literally said last year was the last election you were ever going to vote in and you still voted for trump. With all due respect and I do mean all due respect what the hell is wrong with you?

Trump wants to seize power and put himself in as a dictator so he's hoping for a nice scary violent event like an assassination against a republican US senator or something like it that would let him declare martial law and suspend elections. He is probably not going to get it but that's what he's after.

Economically the Republican party has nothing to offer voters and that has become exceedingly clear. The Republican party today favors high taxes on anyone who has less than 100 million cash in the bank and high prices to pay for all that using a national sales tax.

When your economic policies are that dumb and that destructive you need to keep everyone in a perpetual state of fear.

It's why Russia is doomed. Their birthright keeps going down because they treat people like shit but they can't get immigrants because they need intense xenophobia and racism in order to keep people willing to accept those terrible living conditions.

At this point I think the majority of Republican voters know all this but the closer they get to election and the more of the right wing propaganda they consume they just can't help themselves anymore. Their eyes glaze over their brains turn off and they vote Republican.

Hitler proved propaganda works.

Let us not make light of the fact that the fucking Vice President just today has said "no unity" and basically siccing people against their perceived enemies to get people fired. The VP has sanctioned cancel culture.

So if you think you're on the right side of this issue remember now your rights come down to the competence of people like Kash Patel and the 3 weeks of training the ICE guy arresting you provides or the interpretation of your social media by Laura Loomer. Good luck!

Oh we've all already been tracked there as well and your driving movements have even less protections. Most of our mundane driving trips are already or going to be logged in a database as well.

Breaking The Creepy AI in Police Cameras

Also this video is just very interesting from an engineering perspective if you have not seen it.

By all means, where do you get your information from then?

Yeah if you go back into the early to mid-90s you will find Democrats doing this kind of tough on crime bullshit.

Similarly there's some of it right after 9/11 that the democrats got on board with.

In both cases the public was in the throes of a major moral panic and demanded it.

If the Democrats have a flaw it's that when the public wants something stupid they will give it to 'em.

But when the public calms the fuck down they will gradually start undoing the stupid shit the public demanded they do during the, always Republican stoked, panic.

The difference is the Republicans will do this kind of shit when the public doesn't want them to because Republicans don't give a rat's ass what you think or what you want.

Trump said it himself. You'll never have to vote again.

Jesus fucking Christ I still cannot believe we voted this guy back into office. I get how many people were confused and desperate because high food prices and I get that people do not make good decisions under pressure, there's a reason we do so much police and military training.

But I mean for fuck sakes people. What did you think was going to happen?

I would pay good money for a magic Ray that forced Trump voters to explain the actual reason they voted for him.

You voted for this. The Democrats have long since started curtailing these abuses because they are extremely unpopular with their base of minority, specifically black and latino, voters. For obvious reasons since over policeing is basically wrecking their communities.

This kind of tough on crime bullshit would evaporate overnight if Trump voters would focus on their pocketbooks instead of whatever crazy ass moral panic they're supposed to be afraid of today.

Again the Democrats are objectively better for the economy and for your pocketbook. That is not a point anyone can argue in good faith.

The thing is if you want to sell your house and all your possessions and give that money to Trump go ahead. But for fuck sakes stop trying to make me do it. Stop dragging me into your fucking cult.

You lack of desire to understand how the BLS does data collection is not at issue here, nice deflection.

Did you have opinions on inflation numbers from 21-22 or were you extolling the issues with the numbers or was it not until Trump called it out? That's the exact definition lol

See the thing is by the nature of who I support I don't have to be faced with the choice of jumping off a cliff, that's the difference.

Oh for sure you're not a " knuckle dragger" (your term here) you just support leader making decisions without evidence. You don't even feel they owe you one. I might use the term "servile".

It ate more screen pixels in a time when display real estate was limited for no functional improvement. It just looked "nicer", at least to me was why I immediately always set it to classic.

Oh it's very clear Trump is incapable of absorbing information and using it to make decisions. I'm glad you acknowledge that herd mentality in his base.

Also Simpsons did it for your political philosophy: "We don't need a thinker. We need a doer, someone who'll act without considering the consequences".

It also unfairly biases towards the large investors. They are more likely to get insider information and also more likely to be able to absorb temporary losses.