Gary Mont 's Techdirt Comments
Latest Comments (1764)
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On the post: Facebook's Use Of Smear Merchants Is The Norm, Not The Exception
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On the post: Michigan Cops Destroying Drug Cartels With Microscopic Drug Busts, Seizures Of 20-Year-Old Vehicles
Gary Mont ( profile ), 03 Nov, 2018 @ 10:49amThe manufactured crisis and the impossible solution
<tl;dr> You are truly fucked.
rant:
Methinks if you take an honest look at just who is behind the profit side of the illegal drug economy, all this will make perfect sense.
The extremely wealthy love to invest their cash in things that show a good fast profit return. There is no better investment field than the illegal drug economy. Drugs are dirt cheap to make/grow. A dollar spent will return hundreds, if not thousands in return.
But the laws..... well, if you're law enforcement people are included in the profit side of the illegal drug economy too, then they have no reason to stop the drug trade, and thus no reason to target either the cartels, or their financiers.
On the other hand, since drug users have their "rights" stripped by the laws, they make the perfect target for law enforcement's reverse Robin Hood actions - for legal forfeiture-based theft by the cops, which leaves the users on the street to gather more stuff for later repeat forfeitures. A renewable resource!!
Once the cops can make a buck from the illegal drug economy, they become a part of that economy and will thereafter do whatever it takes to keep the ball rolling and the cash flowing in, which means actually protecting the drug economy financiers and the cartels.
In case you have not noticed yet, its also the wealthy who create the laws of the land.
This "problem", like most of the problems now facing the American people, has been manufactured by the American Wealthy, to provide a new source of tax free, unreported income, and has proven to be the most lucrative business model since War.
The problem however, is almost impossible to fix.
The American people are worshipers of the wealthy and will do nothing to reduce the ability of the wealthy to turn a profit, simply because they too want to be among the wealthy and want to make sure all of those extra ways and means of making money remain intact in case they too should some day become a member of the 1%.
Its the American Dream.
The American public is thus incapable of dealing with this problem in a sensible fashion and will continue to allow the billionaires to drain their wealth until as always, the fascists have shipped their host's wealth to their off-shore vaults and then migrate to take up residence in the next wealthy country. Shake and repeat.
Remember, Fascism is a for-profit business model, not a form of government.
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On the post: Rep. Kevin McCarthy Continues The Parade Of Stupid Anti-Internet Grandstanding
Gary Mont ( profile ), 05 Aug, 2018 @ 04:29pmOm Money Padmai Humm
I'm beginning to suspect that Hollywood is the directing force behind the American billionaire Fascist movement.
It is extremely amazing and quite amusing how well the Fascist political actors can portray both the Democratic and Republican Parties at the same time, and still keep most of the public fooled completely...
"You can fool most of the people all of the time and all of the people most of the time" is proving to be much more than an idle observation.
It has become a major business model as well as a fascist mantra.
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On the post: This Shouldn't Need Saying: Threatening To Kill Anyone Over Net Neutrality Is Idiotic
Gary Mont ( profile ), 04 Jul, 2018 @ 10:56amWatch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!
"This is an agency boss who not only turned a blind eye to fraud and identity theft during the public comment period, but also apparently helped make up a DDOS attack just to try and downplay the massive, bipartisan opposition to his policies."
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You might also note that somehow, Pai is able to simply give the middle finger to all attempts to investigate his crimes, without the slightest repercussion.
That's some serious (corporate) protection there. I mean hell, the man is immune to the law and nobody in power seems to mind.
Good thing there's no such thing as conspiracies huh.
Otherwise, one might get the notion that there is a concerted corporate effort world-wide, to destroy the internet as a means of anonymous public communications.
Anyone wanna cover my bet that Pai walks away from this mess unscathed, once the smoke clears and the internet is reduced to a selection of politically-neutered commercial walled-gardens at thrice today's cost to consumers?
I'd love to see his offshore bank accounts afterwards too. How much would you charge to do Corporate America's fascist dirty work, at this scale? :)
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On the post: Ajit Pai Rushes To Weaken Media Ownership Cap To Aid Sinclair… While Under Investigation For Being Too Cozy With Sinclair
Gary Mont ( profile ), 23 Jun, 2018 @ 10:25amThe right man for the job.
Looks to me like Mister Pai has been promised an end-game reward - a chalet in the Urals sort of thing, or a massive payment placed in a special off-shore account - if he can pull off the political-commercial desires of a couple of very friendly corporations, before a certain date. It also appears that he has been offered a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card, should he have to break any laws to get the task done.
But of course, as all Americans know, that sort of thing simply can't happen here in the land of Milk and Honey.
So... never mind. :)
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On the post: Valve Decides To Get Out Of The Curation Business When It Comes To 'Offensive' Games
Gary Mont ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2018 @ 11:01amRe: "Just kids"
I'm 68 come December.
Oblivion (pre-SteamDVD) Not controlled by Steam.
Skyrim and SkyrimSE
Fallout4
All controlled by Steam.
I hate being forced to allow privileged parasites to exist on my computer, just so Corporations can check my pockets for contraband. But so far, its the only way I can play these games:)
In my opinion, its this kind of "You don't really own what you buy." legislation that encourages people like me to search for "parasite-free" hacked versions of games on P2P networks.
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On the post: DOJ Lets Cops Know SESTA/FOSTA Is For Shutting Down Websites, Not Busting Sex Traffickers
Gary Mont ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2018 @ 09:45amFascist SOP: Eliminate the competition, not the customers.
Destroy the web...
Nah.
They just want to fully control it, like TV.
Its far too big a cash cow for the protected Big Players, especially once they get rid of the little upstarts competing for their customers and their dollars through this and future legislation.
As with the War on Drugs, this is all about creating a false market shortage to raise prices, while eliminating small time competitors. After all, the Big Protected Players in this game are upstanding millionaire citizens, who will never be subjected to these laws.
But this move will indeed raise the cost of renting a child for sex, which will make the protected Big Dealers much wealthier, while eliminating the small dealer competition outright through legal web-site destruction.
And since most of the big players are actually members of federal/state government and CEOs of major corporations, it also gives the Big Players a nice list of perverts who they can blackmail should the need arise at some later date.
Blackmail is probably one of the fastest growing business models in the world today, because the victims always remain silent.
Is a crime that is never reported, actually a crime?
Of course, this law and those pending, will also eliminate a ton of websites that are not actually advertising any kind of "sex4rent" along the way, but that's just icing on the fascist cake.
Two things this law will not do, is protect children from sexual exploitation, or harm the real "sex4rent" industry.
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On the post: Valve Decides To Get Out Of The Curation Business When It Comes To 'Offensive' Games
Gary Mont ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2018 @ 12:34pmRe: Security Hole.
Hmmmmm.... from the complete lack of actual response, it appears that this area of intrusion has actually not been considered by anyone other than bad actors.
"Just kids - so who gives a fuck."
seems to be the basic attitude I guess.
Not really surprising. -
On the post: South Carolina Drug Warriors Routinely Serving Regular Warrants Like No-Knock Warrants
Gary Mont ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2018 @ 11:41amA cheery future - not.
Well well.
It seems America is finally becoming aware of exactly what the term "Police State" means... And it only took a few thousand dead civilians.
Be very interesting to see a comparison for the last ten years between Cops Shot Dead By Civilians VS Civilians Shot Dead By Cops.
As far as I can tell, once you reach this state, there is no going back, simply because there is no longer anyone in power to serve the public demands.
Once all the politicians and judges are on the Payroll, there is simply nobody left for the public to speak their grievances to.
Note how the officials in this case, as with all the others, simply exonerate all concerned - even when there is blatant evidence of criminal action, including witnesses and video footage.
Gird your loins America. You're in for the ride of your life, and the last ride of your life, because you have been conquered by your own billionaires and you are too proud and too scared to even admit it has happened, let alone actually do something about it. Not that there is really anything you can do about it.
There is certainly nothing legal you can do about it anyway. The laws have all been Lawyered by and for the Billionaires now and dissent of any kind is now simply illegal.
At least you can take heart in the fact that the minions of the fascists, such as the cops, will be dumped as soon as the billionaires decide its time to leave the corpse of American and move on. Then the civilians can and will take their revenge on those who did the dirty work.
Fascism always succeeds in destroying its host nation, because the enemy is the always the nation's wealthiest citizens.
The public does not want to stop them - it wants to be them.
All you can do now is wait for them to drain the USA and move on to some other nation. Then you can try and rebuild from the ground up with the very few resources the Fascist could not carry off with them.
That is of course, assuming the fascists do not start a war to help eradicate the evidence of their actions before they leave. In that case, you're all just plain fucked.
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On the post: Valve Decides To Get Out Of The Curation Business When It Comes To 'Offensive' Games
Gary Mont ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2018 @ 12:17pmSecurity Hole.
(Admittedly slightly off topic.)
But NOT a rant! Just a question.
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My ignorance in this field - hacking - is impressive, but having found no assurance to the contrary, I've always wondered why platforms like Valve/Steam are never considered as a security risk.
I assume it's because they affect mainly kid's computers, so nobody really cares because everyone knows that kids don't have sensitive data on their PCs and that kids are just incorrigible pirates anyway.... /s
After all, these platforms try to force gamers to play online, where they can be monitored, and they apparently gain administrative rights on PCs via installed software, to insure that gamers are not using pirated software versions of the games.
If this installed software detects a non-legal copy of a game being launched, it has the ability to prevent the launch. I assume this is an administrative privilege.
To play offline, you need to get permission through the installed software's dialogue interface, else no play is allowed.
I would think that the very fact that these platforms run proprietary software with administrative rights on gamers' PCs, while the computers are online, offers bad actors a simple, unprotected venue for illegal access and secret surveillance of millions of computers.
Perhaps such platforms actually have only limited administrative rights... but even then, this appears to be an open and obvious doorway for nefarious practices by governments and other criminal organizations and groups.
What assurance is there that Valve's mounted software is impregnable to intrusion and outside control by bad actors?
Steam's Screenshot-Uploader application, for example, runs as soon as the PC is booted, and remains running in the background until the computer is turned off, whether you launch one of their games or not.
Valve "allows" this background application to be turned off through the Steam Interface On-line, but the stated process does not actually work and the application remains active after following the instruction for turning it off.
Nor will Steam actually respond to any post that demands that this aspect of their installed software be turned off, or for that matter, any post that does not praise the company and its actions as being a gift from Gawd.
Could such a background application not be used by law enforcement to scan for illegal pornographic images, or by government searching for words in email, or edited text files, that might be used by terrorists or drug dealers?
What assurances do we have that such platforms as Steam, do not simply record everything a kid or adult does on their PC and deliver it whole to government for extra income.
Just asking.
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On the post: FOSTA Supporters Come Out Swinging Against Critics
Gary Mont ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2018 @ 08:43amRe: Re:
Methinks the scam to fool the public into believing they are trying to find, or have accomplished a solution to sex trafficking, is simply a secondary benefit.
That's just a moral high-ground facade.
The true purpose of all "War On Something" legislation is to inflate the black market price of that particular "Something", by increasing the cost of doing business in that contraband "something".
Investing in the black market, is nothing more than good business sense to billionaires, especially when the prices of contraband can be inflated at will through legislation that actually makes the legislators look good.
Its a criminal win/win situation, that always works and can actually get a politician re-elected.
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On the post: FOSTA Supporters Come Out Swinging Against Critics
Gary Mont ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2018 @ 08:31amRe:
"Why is it when we declare war on things the most common outcome is it ending up way more fscked up??"
Must be a simple coincidence.
No way politicians and law makers would be doing that on purpose, right.
I mean, just because a "War On Name-your-thing" always raises the cost of "Name-your-thing", does not mean that politicians and their corporate and private "handlers" have actually invested large sums of money in the black market sale of that "thing" and hope to reap huge profits through the inflation of that "thing's" black market price.
That sort of thing simply cannot happen here, right?
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On the post: Study Shows That Wartime Program To Abolish Copyright On German Science Books Brought Significant Benefits To US
Gary Mont ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2018 @ 08:13amRe:
"Abolishing copyright would only bring benefits."
Would bring benefits to who exactly?
Copyright was a really good idea, before the laws were "lawyered" to provide a new income source for billionaires.
Discarding the original because the altered version sucks is overkill and not a recommended action.
All that is necessary is to remove all the bullshit verbiage that has been added by the Corporate Clowns over the last couple decades, and return the law to its original useful state and meaning.
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On the post: E-Mails Show FCC Made Up DDOS Attack To Downplay The 'John Oliver Effect'
Gary Mont ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2018 @ 08:01amRe: Revolution!
"...this betrayal of citizens by government at all levels is happening way too frequently for my tastes."
Hell mon, you aint seen nothing yet.
This situation cannot get any better until the public realizes the US has been conquered by its own wealthiest citizens, and demands a return to the rule of honest law, or revolts and puts the tyrants to the stake.
It will however continue to get worse. That is guaranteed by the simple fact that the billionaires in power have gotten away with every scam they've tried so far. There is no reason for these Fascists to consider anything but escalation of the program.
The beauty of being super rich is that, should your home nation become bankrupt due to your machinations, every other nation on earth is still eager to invite you over to stay as long as you like.
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On the post: Cops Perform Guns-Drawn Raid Of Chelsea Manning's Home Because Someone Reported Her Suicidal Tweets
Gary Mont ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2018 @ 07:28amThe Fantasy of Conviction Retaliation
"...but the mentality is that every member of the general public is just dying to escalate a car stop or frisk into Murder One charges with a law enforcement sentencing enhancement tacked onto it."
This "mentality" can be laid firmly at the foot of Television Cop Show propaganda, where, almost as a rule, every "good" cop needs to be heavily concerned about retaliation by everyone they arrest and have convicted, as well as their friends, family and associates.
On these TV Cop shows, every convicted "bad-guy" tries to kill or have killed, the "good" cop(s) that arrested them, or gave evidence against them.
Its a theme designed to make the general public believe that 100's of cops are assassinated daily by irate criminals seeking revenge, so that cops shooting people because they "feared for their lives", becomes a publicly acceptable excuse for suicide-by-cop.
Its a beautiful example of Standard Operational Procedure for any fledgling Fascist Police State, actually.
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On the post: Study Shows That Wartime Program To Abolish Copyright On German Science Books Brought Significant Benefits To US
Gary Mont ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2018 @ 09:30amMilking the Cash Cow to death.
"...it would confirm that constantly strengthening copyright is bad for everyone except themselves."
Actually, this corporate maximizing of copyright law is bad for the corporations themselves as well, but because they see only yearly profits/losses and think in terms of immediate gains and short-term profit, they will not see the writing on the wall - as with cord-cutting - until after the damage to their own reps and bottom lines are beyond repair.
Sort of a "dinosaur effect".
Eventually, assuming the west survives the inevitable "Look over there" Trump-Crisis to come, the public will demand an end to the legal free ride that corporations now enjoy, (and plan to expand upon forever), as their greed completely stifles new innovation and the public gets tired of buying "the same old shit in a shiny new package".
Because the only "innovations" that any corporation will ever come up with, will be those that profit the corporation, at public expense. Period.
Its the nature of this form of legality-born responsibility-avoiding organization whose very existence depends entirely upon its ability to make more money next year than this year, forever.
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On the post: E-Mails Show FCC Made Up DDOS Attack To Downplay The 'John Oliver Effect'
Gary Mont ( profile ), 06 Jun, 2018 @ 09:04amGov's Playbook, Chapter 3: The distraction of destruction.
"This isn't likely to be the end of this story, and more details are likely to surface in the looming lawsuits against the FCC attempting to restore net neutrality."
Hmmmmm.... sounds like its time for a national crisis, or a declaration of war, or a terrorist attack on a public space, once again.
Gotta derail these looming investigations somehow ...
Amazing how easy it is to distract the public inquiry into government misdeeds by simply blowing up a few buildings, killing a few hundred civilians, or sending troops off to some tiny third world country for a highly televised war-show.
Wonder what kind of false crisis they'll use this time .... they'll need a biggie - this criminal administration has a ton of illegal shit to sweep under the public rug and needs to do a massive "look over there" scam real soon.
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On the post: Egyptian Gov't Arrests Journalist Who Exposed Brutality; Will Use Social Media Suspensions As Evidence Against Him
Gary Mont ( profile ), 02 Jun, 2018 @ 10:38amA more likely outcome...
"...could mean the difference between freedom and a lengthy prison sentence."
That's assuming he is not found in 12 days, hanging from his belt in his cell.
Nothing stifles undesired speech as well as a good old-fashioned faked suicide, since there is no way to prove he was murdered, and the action eliminates the possibility of martyrdom as a bonus.
Pretty much standard operational procedure for Assholes In Power. -
On the post: Congresswoman Says School Shootings Are Caused By Porn, Mental Illness, Single Parents… But Mostly Porn
Gary Mont ( profile ), 01 Jun, 2018 @ 11:27amBlack-market commercial logic.
Rant Warning!!!!
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tl;dr version:
Morality = how "I" think "You" should behave.
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Reality: Morality laws do not; and are not really meant to, prevent, or deter people from participating in immoral behavior directly.
They are specifically designed to create a false market shortage which in turn makes the behavior more costly for the "immoral" to participate in, as black market providers/enablers raise prices to reflect the increased costs of doing business under such laws.
So, the more/stronger morality-based laws against a behavior such as participation in the pornography industry, the greater the difficulty in purchasing pornography for the end-user.
The more difficulty in purchasing pornography, the greater the cost to the distributors, producers and sellers of pornography through lost sales, law enforcement evasion, etc..
The greater the costs to distributors, producers and sellers of pornography, the higher the end-cost of pornography to the purchasers.
The higher the cost of pornography to purchasers, the greater the profits to distributors, producers and sellers, because no sane businessman on either side of the law, raises costs to balance out expenses, without adding a little cream to the action.
More morality based contraband laws = higher illegal profits no matter what the contraband happens to be.
The loudest moral voices demanding laws against a thing, always belong to those who have invested time and money in the illegal sales, production, or distribution of that thing for profit, because morality laws do nothing more than offer rationale for providers of that thing to raise the end-user's cost of that thing, continuously.
As a bonus, the mere act of speaking out against pornography, adds a facade of morality to the speaker, making it less likely for the general public to suspect the speaker of being involved in the use, sales, distribution or production of pornography.
Law enforcement never complains about morality laws because they provide whole new funding and skimming/graft sources for those who profit from law enforcement morality operations and their additional and often unique expenses.
Smart Law enforcement operations officials take "donations" from both ends of this spectrum - federal/local (tax-payer) funding assistance and monthly (black market) graft and/or lobbying checks.
As far as preventing or deterring "perverts" from participating in their chosen perversion goes, the public is never moved in that direction by law-induced higher costs, as long as the availability remains.
On the other hand, there is likely no greater single factor that allows the constant raising of black market prices by the "criminals" involved, without any need for justification to the purchaser, than morality laws.
Thus the only people who benefit from such laws are those who provide illegal access - the sellers, producers, distributors and their financiers and supporters, such as the many politicians crowding the morality podium, like House Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee.
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On the post: EPA's War On Journalists Is Not A Good Look
Gary Mont ( profile ), 27 May, 2018 @ 04:53amRe: Re: The T-Rump Era continues unchallenged.
20-30% of Americans are still fools.
That is an interesting statistic.
I have to wonder what its source might be.
Certainly not Fox News.
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The American Way is broken. Has been for some time now.
Due process is no longer even considered as a courtesy by law enforcers or the courts in most cases.
Law enforcement now adheres strictly to the rules of war fare engagement, and the American Public are the Adversary. They are druggies, infringers, and terrorists.
Your government now spends more time spying on Americans then on any other nation on earth and is making deals with old enemies to help it spy on Americans so it can claim innocence.
You are guilty until you can prove your innocence, at your own huge expense, and even then may be prosecuted and incarcerated should your innocence be seen as proof of guilt of a corporation or political figure.
Possess a contraband drug or banned product and your rights are instantly non-existent, if you are not among the one percent.
You can be shot dead in the streets by a cop and nobody is to blame but you, under law.
Corporations - a legal scam invented to eliminate personal legal responsibility for the criminal actions of the "incorporated person", now control the government, the media and the education of your children, to name only a few areas of daily life.
If, as you state, 70-80% of Americans are aware of these facts, why has nothing changed? Or are these facts, not actually facts in their world view?
Or in yours.
Why are a gang of obvious criminals still occupying the White House, rewriting the laws that protect people into laws that allow the exploitation of people for the benefit of the already mega wealthy.
Could it be because none of these billionaires in power give a shit what Americans want anymore because they're making money like never before and have already set themselves legally beyond the law, so Americans have no voice in their own country, simply because nobody in power is listening?
Who do you address a grievance to when nobody is listening?
Who will dare air a grievance when the only result is arrest, detainment or rendition and the ruination of one's life?
Until Americans realize that it really can happen here, these thieves in business suits will multiply and escalate their feeding frenzy until the nation is drained back into a new depression, or stuck in an eternal, but profitable for the 1% state of war.
While 20-30% may be the figure attributed to those who have not yet seen the writing on the wall, the other 70-80% are still unwilling to admit that their "God-Gifted" American Way could ever be compromised, let alone taken over by a gang of fascist billionaires and used against the American public, for fun and profit.
"It Can't Happen Here." is still their mantra.
Even while its happening on a daily basis right in front of their faces.
Remember - A sleeping giant may be slain quite easily if it simply cannot awaken.
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The Sleeping Giant still sleeps.
Damn, it would be ever so much nicer if there was a few ideas on how to fix the situation being aired here.
But, apparently, nobody has a single clue as to solutions because no two people can agree on what is actually amiss.
Why is that?
In a word; dis-information.
Dis-information is one of the major tools of Fascism.
Dis-information; otherwise known as lying, deception and outright bullshit, should be illegal.
In fact, it should be considered a form of treason, since it attempts to thwart the public's ability to make correct political and domestic decisions, allowing criminals to enter and hold political office, operate businesses and purchase/write reverse-able criminal friendly laws.
Solutions people.
As long as you all just bicker over what is wrong, the bad guys keep winning and everything just gets worse.
Clue: EVERYTHING is wrong. The system itself, from vote to press is fucked and needs fixing. There is no single panacea for the current situation.
Then again, I suppose if ye all just keep beating each other over the head with personal slurs, you won't have to do a thing. It will be done for you by those who are making truck-loads of money from your confusion and inaction - the Billionaires and Millionaires of America.
And then, it will of course, be too late to do anything - which is the intended purpose of fascist dis-information.
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