I used to think (when I was still a lib) that some populist fascist politician would wind up spurring CA or other western states to secede kicking off Civil War 2, but now I’m thinking a collapse into a military junta might be more likely. I can see the powers that be just doing away with the democratic pretense altogether. I think we in the imperial core are going to reap everything we’ve sown in the third world.

The average westerner has their entire concept of reality built upon the idea that capitalism is “as good as it gets” and that people are divided roughly 50/50 into two separate camps, therefore a government with broad approval is impossible. They can’t see that their culture wars are manufactured precisely to keep them from ever questioning that system. They throw aside any high approval rating as manufactured. (Nevermind the fact that those states that do have manufactured approval ratings are imperial puppets and China is obviously not one of those.)

To those libs who love to talk about the 99%, I posit the following: if a government actually were made by and for the 99%, wouldn’t you expect it to have high approval ratings?

Who is using the VPNs, though? That they bypass restrictions does not necessarily imply that all people using them are children. Of course, they’ll disregard any possible interpretations that would be counter to their narrative.

This makes more sense than all that blathering about “security”.

This. I cannot abide these screen-laden spy machines. I just want a car with buttons and an electric engine, no “self-driving” or “smart” bullshit.

I think a big part of the reason this gets romanticized is just how utterly alienated people are from their own labor now.

I’d add:

• Drop Site News

• The Grayzone

Why am I not surprised? Maybe Philadelphians had the right idea when they trashed that hitchhiking robot.

The fact that the suspect is in custody, and not dead, makes me wonder if this was an op.

TIL. Somehow, I never realized yerba mate has caffeine. I’ll have to try some eventually.

How exactly do you expect a country of any significant size to effectively enact communism without anything resembling a state apparatus?

As an evergreen reminder, if the Democrats cared about single-payer healthcare, they’d have enacted it in the states where they control the legislative and executive branches (like California).

Right. I’m not saying everyone who shows up has nefarious intent, but I do think the national security state will take advantage, and is maybe even counting on people showing up to protest. I think we’re facing a race right now, for leftists to sufficiently organize before the crackdown comes.

The idea of “signing up” for a protest just smacks of surveillance.

Maybe it’s the paranoiac in me, but I swear these particular “protests” exist to build a dissident list of people to imprison/exterminate later.

Oh, absolutely. As the empire collapses, all that CIA violence will come home to roost. Anyone who hasn’t yet done so should read The Jakarta Method - it’s going to get really ugly.

And younger people have a less favorable view of Israel. Zionists are definitely behind the panopticon push, but I don’t think it’s going to change hearts and minds. I’m not sure they care about that, though. If they can shut people up, even if they’re still despised, maybe that’s good enough for them.

Given Ken Klippenstein’s recent article about the FBI pursuing terrorism investigations against minors, I don’t think this is coincidence. I think they actually want to cut teens off from viewpoints that oppose the regime.

Frankly, I’m not convinced there will be one either. I suppose we’ll see soon enough.

Maybe their plan is to only allow one more election cycle. The capitalist class has dispensed with many of their other ruses already, so why not one more?