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We've been searching phones at the US border long before Trump: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/11/30/u-s-border-agents-stopped-journalis

We've been searching phones at the US border long before Trump: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/11/30/u-s-border-agents-stopped-journalist-from-entry-and-took-his-phones/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/11/30... You are right to be outraged, but you are wrong to be fearful of Trump. You need to be fearful and angry at the government, regardless of who's the President.

poopsintub 10y ago
We should definitely be fearful of Trump. The only good thing that can come from this is that he will take full blame, but people will finally realize how corrupt we have become. I doubt that will happen though, because I'm sure the other half is brainwashed to think the Democrats can do no harm either.
anigbrowl 10y ago
This 'there is no difference between the parties' thing is getting really old, the differences are clear. Yes a surveillance state had also flourished under the Democratic administrations and that's a Bad Thing, I'm with you on the general need to roll that back. But don't come here telling me administrations are basically the same. And much of the surveillance state exists because of the politicians that pander to the more xenophobic demographics. Look how much of the previous 8 years they spent portraying Obama as a crypto-Muslim, bent on the the Islamicization of the United States yadda yadda. Every time he tried to dismantle or scale back any aspect of the national security state (Guantanamo being an obvious example) conservatives howled about him enabling terrorism and putting the American people in danger. To ignore those factors is to deceive yourself about the political dynamics that shape your environment.
- wheelerwj 10y ago
  all obama had to do was not renew bush's executive orders. thats it. he just had to do NOTHING. so yes, as far as privacy is concerned, both parties are equally shit.
  - anigbrowl 10y ago
    That's what he did with troop withdrawals from Iraq - simply stick to the agreement Bush signed. And yet everyone on the right seems to think that by doing so he gave birth to ISIS. Ignoring these political realities is facile, even if you aim to overhaul the whole political system.
    - wheelerwj 10y ago
      no. i'm not going to let you equate the complexities of withdrawing military assets from an active conflict with NOT signing a piece of paper.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  ...or perhaps the nation faces threats that are thrawrted by these measures that you speak of. Obama managed to push affordable care act through despite republican howls. Perhaps there are other reasons for his change of heart on other topics.
vidarh 10y ago
You miss the part where my concern about Trump is the lack of predictability, as evidenced by the sudden travel ban. I can deal with an authoritarian government as a visitor if I know what to avoid while visiting. Not so if the rules can change at the whim of someone who seems unstable.

poopsintub 10y ago

We should definitely be fearful of Trump. The only good thing that can come from this is that he will take full blame, but people will finally realize how corrupt we have become. I doubt that will happen though, because I'm sure the other half is brainwashed to think the Democrats can do no harm either.

anigbrowl 10y ago

This 'there is no difference between the parties' thing is getting really old, the differences are clear. Yes a surveillance state had also flourished under the Democratic administrations and that's a Bad Thing, I'm with you on the general need to roll that back. But don't come here telling me administrations are basically the same. And much of the surveillance state exists because of the politicians that pander to the more xenophobic demographics. Look how much of the previous 8 years they spent portraying Obama as a crypto-Muslim, bent on the the Islamicization of the United States yadda yadda. Every time he tried to dismantle or scale back any aspect of the national security state (Guantanamo being an obvious example) conservatives howled about him enabling terrorism and putting the American people in danger. To ignore those factors is to deceive yourself about the political dynamics that shape your environment.

wheelerwj 10y ago
all obama had to do was not renew bush's executive orders. thats it. he just had to do NOTHING. so yes, as far as privacy is concerned, both parties are equally shit.
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  That's what he did with troop withdrawals from Iraq - simply stick to the agreement Bush signed. And yet everyone on the right seems to think that by doing so he gave birth to ISIS. Ignoring these political realities is facile, even if you aim to overhaul the whole political system.
  - wheelerwj 10y ago
    no. i'm not going to let you equate the complexities of withdrawing military assets from an active conflict with NOT signing a piece of paper.
Spooky23 10y ago
...or perhaps the nation faces threats that are thrawrted by these measures that you speak of. Obama managed to push affordable care act through despite republican howls. Perhaps there are other reasons for his change of heart on other topics.

vidarh 10y ago

You miss the part where my concern about Trump is the lack of predictability, as evidenced by the sudden travel ban. I can deal with an authoritarian government as a visitor if I know what to avoid while visiting. Not so if the rules can change at the whim of someone who seems unstable.