I start to worry when I see things like this https://www.theatlantic.com/technol...eamhost-trump-visitor-logs-million-ip/536886/ and even more worried when I see things like this https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-if-trump-proposed-it/?utm_term=.9da16011b0b3 The most depressing part of Trump is less Trump and more how he exposes how many of my fellow countrymen are anti pretty much everything good in the world I stand for. If we're talking about "protection" it would be nice to have the "protection" of being able to easily move to and work in a country where the vast majority of the people are appalled by this kind of thing rather than support it if things continue to head south. In all probability the pendulum will swing back and we'll all shake our head in 5 years about how everyone lost their minds for a couple years, but if not..... Name's not related to guns btw, not a gun nut myself although I fully understand why lots of my buddies are. If it comes to the point I need a gun in the U.S. it will be a sad day indeed.
@Sig. Thanks for the response. But is the subject of the Atlantic article much different than the Obama admin using the IRS to target conservative groups ?
That's a good question. Don't get me wrong, misuse of the IRS against political groups is and was egregious and wrong. But there's a vast difference between dragging your feet or applying extra scrutiny determining the tax exempt status of a certain group (What the IRS allegedly did under Obama) and seizing millions of IP addresses of those who simply visited a web site in a fishing expedition for the purpose of lodging criminal charges. The first leads at worst to a group not getting tax exempt status when they should. The second leads to a pretty broad fourth amendment violation. Issues over tax exempt status for non-profits, while certainly important for them I'm sure, doesn't challenge the fabric of what I think our country stands for. Requiring web sites, including this one by the way, to give up visitors logs and IP addresses of every visitor because of their political views don't align with the party in power certainly does. I'd be just as worried if it had happened under the Obama administration. And more to my original point, the Trump administration doing something crazy bothers me far less on an existential basis than the fact that while the majority of the country thought the IRS abuse was wrong, a big chunk of the country thinks this is just fine.
Well contrasted, but BOTH are abuses of the powers of the executive office. The Trump administration obviously has issues but let's not forget the unilateral, ill advised actions (most executive actions in Presidential history (?)) of Obama.
Since you asked, actually Obama issued 276 over 8 years to Bush's 291, Clinton's 364, and Trump's 43 so far. I think "ill advised" is a political disagreement, those are valid and not really a cause for existential concern. In fact the idea that you and I can have a civil discussion about this when we probably don't agree is exactly what makes this country what it is. I don't think there's much equivalence between that and half of the members of the ruling political party thinking we should cancel Presidential elections if Trump wants!
Oh for fuk's sake. Leave already. I've really grown to hate these so called Americans on both the right and the left that act like prima donnas about how much they hate living here. Under 8 years of Obama I had to listen to how outraged the right was to live here under Sharia law (their words) and now I listen to the left whine about it. Funny, as much as the right and the left bitch about it, both groups are too chicken shit to ever leave. I didn't vote for Trump btw nor do I support him. But for God's sake, get a hold of your manhood. LOL. Yeah dude, get a gun, it's dangerous out there. The biggest threat in this country is a 16 year old killing you in his car after running a red light while texting and driving followed by heart disease. Of course keep an eye out for that dark shadow that follows you while you are walking down the street. You never know man...
Of course we have Sharia law, ever try to buy a six pack of beer on a Sunday in Salt Lake City? It's easy to take the equivalency route, heck even the great intellect of President Trump apparently fell prey to that temptation. A full career in the military leaves me neither afraid of dark shadows nor inclined to leave because I somehow lack manhood. As someone recently pointed out to me, many authoritarian regimes are actually relatively safe places to live. That doesn't mean I need to accept my country starting down the path toward it. There's more to life then physical safety, it's actually near the bottom of Maslows Hierarchy as I recall.