A Few Thoughts Regarding the FBI Raid of Donald Trump’s Home

 

I think this is a really, really big deal.  The party in power is using the power of the government they now control to destroy their political adversaries.  Oh my God.  This has my head spinning, a bit.  Here’s a few thoughts that have come to mind in the 10 minutes since I heard about the FBI raid:

  1. Oh my God.
  2. They didn’t raid the Clintons or the Bidens, despite their obvious criminal activities.  The Democrats in our government know that this is an obvious double standard, which will be quickly pointed out by many.  I find it terrifying that they don’t care.  They apparently feel that it no longer matters what anyone thinks.  As if elections don’t matter anymore.  I wonder if they’re right?
  3. This is an open threat to anyone who might consider criticizing a Democrat, anywhere.  We can destroy a President of the United States.  We can certainly destroy you.
  4. I suspect that popular support for Mr. Trump running for President again just jumped.  By a lot.
  5. I also suspect that the FBI knows that this will make Mr. Trump more popular and will broaden his support.  They wouldn’t do this, unless they thought they could control elections.
  6. It’s possible (although unlikely, I think) that Mr. Trump goaded the FBI into raiding his home somehow.  Appeared to withhold evidence, that he could later show that they already had, or something like that.  He may have wanted this showdown, to elevate his popular support.  Again, I doubt that, but I suppose it’s possible.
  7. I used to laugh at people who predicted that America would break up into two or more countries in the near future.  Then, I didn’t laugh, but I still thought that was insane.  Now, I see no other way to save something that is vaguely like America.  Lord help us.
  8. The problem is that that will never happen.  It’s just impossible, I think.  But once our government can select its own leaders, and persecute its political opponents, then that fundamentally changes the relationship between citizens and their government.  Once government has that much power, it cannot be changed except by force.  Which, again, I just cannot imagine happening.
  9. It will be interesting to see who defends Mr. Trump.  We’re about to learn a great deal about various Republican leaders.  I suspect that we won’t like what we learn.
  10. This is a really big deal.  Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…
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  1. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them.  They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.”  It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    • #151
  2. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    It’s magic. And you can’t fix stupid. 

    • #152
  3. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    It’s magic. And you can’t fix stupid.

    And it’s the same reason some people can believe Donald Trump is an evil criminal mastermind, even though… well, nothing really.  They were just told that by CNN etc.

    • #153
  4. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Partially true.  You get 80/100.

    • #154
  5. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off?  “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    • #155
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Sure they can maybe still do some things such as GPS, but these people wouldn’t change their mind even if you took out the battery.

    • #156
  7. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Jesse Waters has had very good editorial rants on the five in the last two days. 

    • #157
  8. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    kedavis (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Sure they can maybe still do some things such as GPS, but these people wouldn’t change their mind even if you took out the battery.

    Notice that you can no longer remove the battery on most phones.  And there are tiny batteries, even entire tiny computers that can sit *under* another chip.  Examine your phone’s motherboard with industry-current knowledge and a great microscope, and you still won’t find these things.

    Remember when things got small?  That process has continued.

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a22007431/smallest-computer-world-smaller-than-grain-rice/

    • #158
  9. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    By the way, @kedavis, I’m not much arguing against you.  Mostly agreeing and going a tent peg further.

    • #159
  10. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Sure they can maybe still do some things such as GPS, but these people wouldn’t change their mind even if you took out the battery.

    Notice that you can no longer remove the battery on most phones. And there are tiny batteries, even entire tiny computers that can sit *under* another chip. Examine your phone’s motherboard with industry-current knowledge and a great microscope, and you still won’t find these things.

    Remember when things got small? That process has continued.

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a22007431/smallest-computer-world-smaller-than-grain-rice/

    I would never get a phone or a laptop computer that I couldn’t replace the battery myself, for much less cost than having anyone else do it for me.  Even aside from security concerns.

    • #160
  11. MeandurΦ Member
    MeandurΦ
    @DeanMurphy

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    all of my voicemail is in the Soviet Socialist Republic of California

     

    • #161
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    MeandurΦ (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    all of my voicemail is in the Soviet Socialist Republic of California

     

    Maybe.  Or it could be in India, or Pakistan, or China…

    • #162
  13. Caryn Thatcher
    Caryn
    @Caryn

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Working on SETI???

    • #163
  14. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Caryn (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Working on SETI???

    Forwarding Apple Tag pings, for example.

    • #164
  15. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Caryn (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Last I heard, they don’t actually have to take a phone to get those things, the service providers already have them. Including things that may have been deleted from the actual phone.

    Sure, but that doesn’t have the same intimidation factor as stopping you to take away your actual phone.

    Exactly, which would indicate that it’s not really about evidence.

    But you may be surprised (although you shouldn’t be) at how ignorant people are. I’ve known people who believed that their cell phone voice messages were stored ON THEIR PHONE. And they couldn’t be convinced otherwise.

    It’s easy to demonstrate, at least with Verizon. Turn off the phone; dial the phone number from a landline if you have one; punch in your password and access your voicemail from that phone while you cell phone is turned off. Done.

    I suspect this is the same with other providers.

    That doesn’t convince them. They believe the company can access their phone even when “turned off.” It’s like someone else notes occasionally, you can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t use reason to get into.

    What makes you think your phone is actually turned off when it says it’s off? “Turned off” increasingly means moonlighting for other purposes.

    Working on SETI???

    Controlled by alien eavesdroppers.

    • #165
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