Controlling the narrative. This is an important step for the success of this administration, and something a few of us have been saying would happen for years now. If they control the narrative, they can keep people in the dark.

The government looking to effectively silence NPR, PBS, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, AP, and others, as well as Zuckerberg's pushing of pro-Trump content on Facebook, and then add Musk's personal vendetta (and partial success) at getting Reddit to comply with his demands for takedowns of not just posts but banning users for even liking certain content, this all falls in line with the authoritarian playbook.

Stay frosty, people. We aren't 3 months into this administration, and we're 2 days away from the administration likely inciting the Insurrection Act on April 20th. Things are escalating fast.

I don't even know what else to include. This administration speaks for itself.

I want to reiterate that now is past the time to start being paranoid about what you say, where you say it, and to whom you say things to. There is zero doubt in my mind that those with a grudge against you may drop your name in a tip line for those who, in their eyes, "hate America" or are "aiding and abetting terrorists", and end up with you being bagged.

https://lemmy.world/post/28260599

I apologize in advance to the Mod that this is not so much a news article, but coming from a military background, I firmly believe that this is 'intel' that needs repeating loudly. I hope you understand.

Folks, we all know where things are headed in the United States. The tactics being used by ICE, the goalposts being moved for who the targets are, and the recent news that even "homegrown" people are going to be included soon on the planes to foreign supermax prisons where there is no escape from, this country is absolutely resembling pre-WWII Germany. People being taken off the street by masked individuals in unmarked vehicles and without any judicial hearing or oversight, being shipped off to a prison in a country they've never even been to, this is a 1:1 buildup of rounding up the "undesirables" in Germany. We know the fate of those when it happened back then, and make no mistake; the people who are sent there, even if they are US citizens (taken "by mistake" or not), they're not coming back. They will not live long enough to serve out any prison term.

Which, leads me to the cause of this post: Protecting yourself and your family. Do not discuss, under any circumstances, Trump, MAGA, politics, or related news events with strangers, or to anyone who voted for MAGA. This even includes spouses (need I remind people about the MAGA supporter whose wife was deported, and felt no regret about his vote and said he would do it again).

If you are pressed into a corner for an opinion, play dumb. Say that you have so much going on with your own personal life (work, hobbies, sports, family, etc) that you can't really follow what is happening anywhere else. The last thing you want to do is paint yourself as a potential political dissident; as someone who does not 'toe the line' when it comes to Trump's policies and what is happening. There is little doubt that in the coming months, there will be a 'tipline' opened for people to report those who do not fall in line with the new rules.

In the military, we have something called "OPSEC"; Operations Security. You may recall hearing such saying as "loose lips sink ships", and the literal meaning of that was to tell sailors that when in port, that when they go to the nearest bar and start discussing things (even amongst themselves) like where they came from, where they're going, and what they're carrying on board, they say things that can be overheard by adversaries who can take bits of info from each individual conversation and put together the big picture. Right now, this is how you need to operate. You need to go 'grey man', in a sense. Political bumper sticker on your car? Get rid of it. Still have a Harris flag hanging in your yard, or some other flag that is seen as 'potentially dissident' by MAGA? Take it down. Social media profiles like Facebook? Though the info has likely already been taken for analyzing, I still recommend scrubbing it entirely, even for things that are years old from Trump's first term in office. Any keychains, clothing, or other identifiable markers that allow someone to place you as someone who, even loosely, "hates America" (since that will be the bar for who gets deported), you need to hide them away.

We're not *at *a turning point in history, friends. We went around that bend months ago. We are firmly at the part where you need to be more cautious than you've ever been, to the point of not just paranoia, but I would say damn near **extreme **paranoia.

Here is what you can do to further protect yourself:

-If your phone still uses SMS, either get a phone and carrier that uses RCS. SMS is not encrypted, and can be intercepted and easily read.

-Even better, use a form of encrypted communication that is not stored on any server and can be set to be automatically deleted after a set time (like Signal, only don't invite people you don't want in the conversation).

-Cell phone calls are not recommended. Use Signal for voice calls.

-If you prep with close ones using Baofeng or other clear-comm radios, consider getting licensed for using encrypted voice radios known as DMRs.

-Look into other methods of encrypted communication as well, like Meshtastic.

-VPN. Get one. Worth it.

-If you protest, take care to hide your identity. Mask up, do not wear clothing that you've worn in any social media posts, do not take your own vehicle there, pay cash for public transit. For months, Federal agents have been gathering intel (to include photographic and video intel) on protesters.

-If you go to protests, or to any meetings with any similarly like-minded individuals to discuss anything in person, leave your phone behind. Same with smart watches. If you have a car with "smart" features (anything with satellite communications or cell data communications), pull the SIM card/satellite antenna cable, or yank the fuse to kill power to that functionality if you can. Might even be worth considering getting a 'dumb' vehicle. If you get a burner phone, pay cash only for it, at a smaller place that isn't likely to keep video surveillance footage for long. Try to get one with a removeable battery. Do not insert the battery or turn the phone on while at, or driving to/from home. Look into de-Googling an older Android phone to allow you to completely shut off the cell antenna, and you can use that for Meshtastic communications, or going on wireless hotspots (but only as long as you can randomize or change your phone's MAC address, and use a VPN).

In short, think of now as a time of war, and treat your communications, travels, and life accordingly. What you share, with whom you share it, where you share it. You make a mistake, it could end up with you being bagged and sent to a death camp.

Stay safe.

Further reading: https://www.thoughtco.com/who-supported-hitler-and-why-1221371 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3bp82p/revision/6 https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2024-11-01/the-rise-of-adolf-hitler-and-the-parallels-with-u-s-politics-today

JFC. No further commentary needed, I suppose.

With the likelihood of the Insurrection Act being implemented in less than a week, the military no longer looking to root out Nazis or other extremists is very concerning. FTA:

"...in February, the DoD issued a memo halting a major counter-extremism initiative rooting out white nationalists and far-right influences among servicemen, citing that it was not in line with Donald Trump’s executive orders. Since, the efficacy of rooting out the far right within the ranks remains unclear."

“One senior Trump administration official says the White House’s overarching approach on these matters is to, quite simply, “move fast” — both because they expect courts to try to quickly order them to stop, and if a judge does so, moving quickly allows Team Trump to execute certain actions before the law and oversight can catch up to them.”

“Another close Trump adviser simply says that the president’s ultimate leverage against certain judges who try to stand in the way of his agenda is that the judiciary does not command an army, while the president of the United States does. “Are they going to come and arrest him?” the adviser asked, rhetorically.”

Really can't emphasize off-grid encrypted comms enough.

The cost of entry is low; about $35 can get you a Meshtastic device that will, on its own, help give you neighborhood coverage at a minimum. Depending on your terrain and the existence of other nodes acting to expand the mesh network, it could give you coverage that expands hundreds of square miles. There are things you can modify or otherwise do to expand coverage even further, like adding a different antenna or elevating the unit higher up on a pole.

Here's a good starter device that includes everything, from the mainboard, battery, antenna, and a case: https://www.amazon.com/ESP32-V3-Module-3000mAh-Battery/dp/B0D2L1ZHRR

With the device, it pairs to an app installed on a phone, and once that's done, that's it. No internet required. You can participate in the 'open' text chat channels, and set up secure 256-bit encrypted channels for friends/family members. Additional nodes can be deployed to act as repeaters discretely using solar panels, which will help expand the network out. The nodes are small enough and light enough to be attached to a drone and flown up to temporarily give a huge boost in range as well.

There are also standalone devices that have the display and keyboard built in, so you don't need a phone at all. But, those are more 'handheld', not really meant to be deployed, so they may not have the long range of a high-mounted node.

Regardless, have a backup plan. Your standard GMRS radio is fine as well, but anyone can listen in on it since they aren't encrypted, and unless you use a repeater, communications won't be passed around like they can with a mesh network.

Definitely scary shit.

There are methods that can be used to alleviate the effects of audible offensive weapons, from placards used in protests to some solid shielding otherwise (makeshift riot shield), but for inaudible subsonic weapons, I only have theories based on the way RF works. In short, aluminum foil *should *work to protect from inaudible weapons like shown in the video. If the shield were to be made concave and faced towards its origin, it could end up focusing it back to where it came from as well. "Space blankets" should act as a shield as well without reflecting it back (instead dispersing it).

All the tariff back and forth nonsense is obscuring what is going on in the background. Keep your eyes and ears open folks, and stay safe.

The answer is yes. A resounding yes. This was obvious long before he was ever sworn in.

Finally re-spun up my Meshtastic LoRa project from last year using some new equipment, and the range is astounding. I'm located in CT, and I'm hitting nodes as far out as NH.

Trump is imposing a new tariff on Canada, just 24 hours after he announced he was pausing the 25% tariff on most imports.

I've gone full DIY for my setup. My primary one is a hybrid on/off grid setup, with the on-grid part being that the inverter has a mains utility input for powering any devices plugged into it should there not be any panel activity and the batteries are drained. But, it doesn't feed back into the grid (important to not charge the grid wires if there's technicians working on it, but if power dies, I'm likely going to kill the main breaker regardless so I can use my inverter generator if I wanted, since that can also be used to charge the batteries and power stuff).

My inverter powers a few things with a total capacity of 30A that I have split between two 15A circuits, one in the house, and the other in the garage.

My panels are ground based, purchased secondhand for a steal, about $0.05/watt. About 3kw worth, probably going to add some more to safely max the input of the inverter. Battery backup is LiFePO4 batteries, about 15kwh worth. I'm aiming to get it up to 30kwh before summer really hits.

As of now, I can run a chest freezer for about 20 days without any sun, or the majority of my "high priority" stuff (NVR, local networking gear, etc) for about a week. Pretty happy with it. The most expensive single piece was the hybrid inverter. Even the PV combined box wasn't that bad of a deal, and made it easy to hook things up. I have a secondary setup that has about 1kw of panels, 3600Wh of battery capacity, and a 2kw inverter. That one is entirely off grid.

Most of us new and joining this site, like myself, are probably here from Reddit. Just wanted to post this to kick up some activity, since the last post also appears to be 9 months old, and want to encourage more activity here.