At last! A potential use for hydrochoriquin? The stopped clock might’ve been right for once?

Oh, that’s right. They aren’t horses.

No! Keep going until we return to the sacred timeline!

God damn, people can’t resist fucking things up. If your purpose for putting something on the internet isn’t to share knowledge, then fuck your thing, and fuck you.

I’m going to guess your business isn’t the sale of propane and propane accessories.

The President is the Commander in Chief of the United States military. His toady is the Sectary of Defense. And generals are being put into positions where they must violate their oaths or resign. (Presumably. We’ve had several prominent resignations — often just before apparently illegal military operations that would’ve been under their control.) SecDef refuses to promote females and people of color into high ranks. It’s a long process because the system is designed to make this difficult, so the job isn’t complete, but he had made significant progress.

To be fair, there are things he doesn’t have direct control over, but those things are largely under the control of his lackeys because trump nominates them and they serve temporarily until the Senate confirms them. But Republicans control the Senate and only the absolute worst people or those with some sense of shame aren’t confirmed.

Trump is the chief executive, so any government function that isn’t directed by the judiciary or Congress is under his leadership. Every federal enforcement branch: armed forces, fbi, CIA, regulatory bodies, education, environment, is all under his control directly or indirectly.

That used to be the case, but they are trying to fire anyone who says anything they don’t want to hear.

I’d imagine they measured

This is the most vibe-coded democratic administration in history. They measured nothing, and fired anyone suggesting otherwise.

I wouldn’t have a problem paying for it if they were making good content consistently. I think KPop Demon Hunters and Stranger Things are the only things I’ve watched on there since Marvel took their ball.

People have been cheating for millennia without the benefit of encryption.

There are 350 million Americans. My door is unlocked most Mondays. Good luck. I don’t even own a gun. Find me and you win.

It didn’t matter. The government has limited money for that shit. They couldn’t even spy on everything they wanted to, much less the general population.

Privacw was easier back in the day, because it required effort and manpower to surveil you. Nowadays, an automated computer program can do it.

There you go, making my point for me. That program wouldn’t be possible without the internet. So encryption became needed by us nobodies because of the internet.

It seems like folks are under the mistaken belief I thought encryption was something that post-dated the internet. I don’t see what I might’ve said to give that impression, but that is not the case.

It was not needed by anyone other than governments. Mass surveillance was not possible, and you could correspond about criminal activities over the phone and through the mail and unless you were already under criminal investigation, no one could ever know.

If I didn’t live such a boring life, I probably would on occasion leave my phone at home. That said, I probably only leave my house a couple of times per week, so it’s a moot point.

Also, VPN is only one component of online privacy. I have looked at the effort required to achieve complete opsec and it’s not worth the effort. And there is no point in half-assing it.

The enigma machine was for government use for a military purpose. Common people had no need of anything like that. If I somehow implied I thought encryption was invented for the internet, let me clarify that: I don’t.

I’m aware of Roger Stone (hence the parenthetical above). My point is that the vast majority of people ONLY think “crook” when they think of Nixon. Of course, the vast majority of people never think of Nixon…

I had no need of encryption before the internet. Because no one does those things. The government doesn’t have the resources to walk into everyone’s houses, even if I weren’t protected by the 4th amendment.

It’s only with the advent of the internet and mass surveillance that I have any need of encryption. If I needed to speak privately with someone, I’d visit them. Or even just pick up a phone because wiretaps require a warrant.

I did. Encryption still solves a problem we didn’t have fifty years ago. A handful of folks under direct state surveillance excepted.

Not like today. Today every single person carries a surveillance device and gps tracker on their person at all times. The fact that you can send messages that are encrypted isn’t any different than the fact that two people could whisper fifty years ago. The government still knows everything you are up to, we can just hide a bit of data.

People were way more free when I was a kid than they are today. Encryption wasn’t necessary for 99% of people. To the extent it was necessary, people had one time pads and shit like that. Today I’m concerned whether I’ll be allowed to vote after facial recognition cameras catch me wearing a pride shirt.

Contrast that to no one needing encryption for anything fifty years ago. Kinda feels like it solves a problem created by the internet in the first place.

“Nixon was not a crook” isn’t a thing. Even back when I was a dumb right leaning kid, everyone knew he was a crook. (Everyone as in everyone knows Nazis are evil fucks, and everyone knows the world is round, not everyone as in every last breathing soul.)

By connecting the dots between Nixon and Trump, they aren’t exonerating Nixon. They are doing the other thing.