Presidents, the senate and the house have had plenty of opportunities to stop this horrific legislation from continuing but they all keep voting in favor for continuation, extensions, and expansions. Both parties have done so for the past 20 years. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act ). Privacy advocates have screamed forever into the ether about the dangers and abuses that come with it. Nonetheless, 3 letter agencies have continued to exploit this legislation fully and argue they can’t continue their jobs effectively without it. Now here we are at the dawn of a fascist president, who will 100% use it for his own personal agenda and citizen control. We walked right into this madness, holding hands, pretending we are “stopping terrorism” and “protecting the children”.

This. If you look very closely at police cars that say “Protect and Serve”, you’ll notice the fine print after that says “the wealthy”.

It blows my mind that the EU even considers anything Orban says. He is on Russia’s side in a war where the EU is supporting Ukraine. And has led Hungary to a level of authoritarianism that no longer coincides with the EU rules of acceptance. It isn’t shocking that this nazi would bring back a “law” so he has more control over his citizens. What is sad is that so many other EU countries think it is a good thing. It is an obvious and egregious attack on privacy, something the EU has defended in the past. It is a shame that world-wide the pendulum is swinging the wrong way.

Most receipts contain a time stamp. I could imagine a scenario where someone claimed Mitch (if he was still here) was involved in a crime and he could use the donut receipt as proof of innocence.

Not “can” but “is” doing.