• Re: Facebook still sucks

    From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Wed Feb 5 19:02:18 2025
    You're right that the govt is too big. It's like a very disorderly ra colony. And we can't count on them for much of anything, but less Democrats means less opposition to the chosen one's agenda.

    It's not just the Democrats.

    I've said it before: The problem isn't Democrats, Leftists, etc. The problem is an Elite class that seeks to dominate the rest of us. And it does that by infiltrating a trusted institution and turning it into a
    mask for them.

    I know, and I realize that the Republican party is infected. But the majority of Republicans are voting in our favor on things. And when they falter, so does their support (Notice how former Rep Marcus Molinaro is gone.)

    When Democrats have a majority in congress, they use it to hurt us. At least when Republicans have the majority they just sit there and do nothing (for the most part.)

    Today, it's the Democrat party that was destroyed by them. The churches aren't far behind. The colleges/universities are done for. The medical industry has taken a huge credibility hit. And the Republican party has its RINOs.

    The Roman Catholic Church comes to mind. The current pope is a globalist tyrant, and Catholic Charities is teaching illegal migrants how to evade law enforcement (they call it "helping immigrants.")

    We need to be guarded with any group, at any time. We need to recognize the signs of infiltration. We need to create rules that prohibit that.

    Legal rules? The only way to fight all this infiltration is to start building our own infrastructure (our own churches, information systems, schools, labor unions, radio stations, etc.) We need to build a coalition of like minded "experts" in all those fields. It's the only way. And the government ain't gonna help us, not even Trump.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Thu Feb 6 12:58:44 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    When Democrats have a majority in congress, they use it to hurt us. At least when Republicans have the majority they just sit there and do nothing (for the most part.)

    But that's the "Republican Way". They believe that the gov't should stay out of people's lives, so they "do nothing". And that's the way it should be.

    We need to stop thinking that the opposite of "Democrat" is "Republican" because it's not.

    The Roman Catholic Church comes to mind. The current pope is a
    globalist tyrant, and Catholic Charities is teaching illegal migrants
    how to evade law enforcement (they call it "helping immigrants.")

    I recognized the Church has a bunch of elitists decades ago and stopped giving them any of my time (or money). Now it's just gotten blatent.

    Legal rules? The only way to fight all this infiltration is to start building our own infrastructure (our own churches, information systems, schools, labor unions, radio stations, etc.) We need to build a
    coalition of like minded "experts" in all those fields. It's the only
    way. And the government ain't gonna help us, not even Trump.

    But those institutions will get infiltrated over time too.

    When I looked up "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty", I found this:

    This concept is frequently expressed as "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," though it is not originally attributed to Thomas Jefferson, as is commonly believed. The phrase can be traced back to an Irish statesman, John Philpot Curran, who in 1790 said, "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Thu Feb 6 12:08:24 2025
    We need to stop thinking that the opposite of "Democrat" is "Republican" because it's not.

    You, me, the other guys in the echo, we already know that. But the sheeple haven't figured it out yet. Their Republican votes aren't really hurting us, but their trust in the party sure is.

    I recognized the Church has a bunch of elitists decades ago and stopped giving them any of my time (or money). Now it's just gotten blatent.

    They still serve 1 good purpose: they teach kids about Jesus. I just need to get out of the Roman Catholic church and probably into the Orthodox Catholic church instead (they are not affiliated with Catholic Charities.)

    This concept is frequently expressed as "eternal vigilance is the price
    of liberty," though it is not originally attributed to Thomas Jefferson, as is commonly believed. The phrase can be traced back to an Irish statesman, John Philpot Curran, who in 1790 said, "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which
    condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."

    It's true. And being vigilant is what I do all day every day. But I'm a slave to the left due to their association with all these institutions. I don't see any other way to fight them but by building new institutions. I try to wake people up but I don't get out nearly enough.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Fri Feb 7 12:27:48 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    They still serve 1 good purpose: they teach kids about Jesus.

    It depends. They usually teach a very warped sense of Jesus. But the upside is that many people actually live their lives according to what Jesus taught, so they can serve as good role models. But too many others are "do as I say, not as I do."

    I just
    need to get out of the Roman Catholic church and probably into the Orthodox Catholic church instead (they are not affiliated with Catholic Charities.)

    All churches are suspect. I recently went to a service at a very large church near by and, I swear, I thought I was at some sort of variety show. It was the biggest joke of a "service" that I ever saw.

    It's true. And being vigilant is what I do all day every day. But I'm a slave to the left due to their association with all these institutions.

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions. But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.


    ... If it's obvious, it's obviously wrong.
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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Fri Feb 7 13:24:28 2025
    All churches are suspect. I recently went to a service at a very large church near by and, I swear, I thought I was at some sort of variety
    show. It was the biggest joke of a "service" that I ever saw.

    I used to think that church is good because you can get a large quantity of people praying for common goals, but in reality church goers don't all have the same goals, and besides, it only takes one person's prayer to trigger a response from God.

    It's true. And being vigilant is what I do all day every day. But I'm slave to the left due to their association with all these institution

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions.
    But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.

    We need some federal legislation. We "scored" a federal court win when a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    The problem with that probably lies in the fact that Google has enough money to pay congress to stay quiet.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Sat Feb 8 13:32:21 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I think you missed my point: Yes, we need to build new institutions.
    But we also need to build in vigilance to prevent the Elitists from infiltrating them and wrecking them just like they did to the old institutions.

    We need some federal legislation.

    We already had that with the old institutions. Remember that Elitists don't believe laws apply to them, so they just ignore them. So to use the law 1) someone must bring suit and 2) we need to get a judge that isn't in the Elitist's pocket.

    We "scored" a federal court win when
    a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's
    been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    But most of those decisions are made by the phone company, who makes the Android build for the phone. So not much of a win. Google simply doesn't bundle Chrome into Android anymore, but then the phone companies put it back in their builds.

    The problem with that probably lies in the fact that Google has enough money to pay congress to stay quiet.

    Well, that's changing. As more and more people opt for alternatives, Google product range decreases. And others are actively poisoning Google's data.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Sat Feb 8 18:09:34 2025
    We "scored" a federal court win when
    a judge ruled against Google in an antitrust case last year, but it's been 7 months since the ruling and Google is still the default search engine on phones, Chrome is still the default browser, and Android is still the default OS.

    But most of those decisions are made by the phone company, who makes the Android build for the phone. So not much of a win. Google simply
    doesn't bundle Chrome into Android anymore, but then the phone companies put it back in their builds.

    I understand. It sounds like Google can pass the blame to the phone companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the phones need an OS in order to
    function." My assumption is that there's no blaming anybody but ourselves until we start manufacturing our own phones.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Sun Feb 9 14:16:17 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I understand. It sounds like Google can pass the blame to the phone companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the
    phones need an OS in order to function."

    It's not so much of a blame game here. Companies are going to do what their customers ask. Until we start telling companies like Verizon that their products are unacceptable and stop buying them, they will keep installing spyware.

    I just had to delete AndroidSystemSafetyCore that Google dropped on my phone without my knowledge or consent. It's a client-side "scanner" (i.e. it's spying on what you are doing). I've already sent a note to Verizon that this is unacceptable and their Android build should not have allowed that to be installed "behind the scenes." But I've already decided that I won't be going back to them when I'm ready to get a new phone.

    My assumption is that there's
    no blaming anybody but ourselves until we start manufacturing our own phones.

    That's already been happening. There's GrapheneOS - which is Android compatible without the spying. The problem is getting a phone carrier to offer a phone with it.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Sun Feb 9 15:04:06 2025
    companies, but the phone companies can pass the blame to the manufacturers, and the manufacturers can can pass the blame on "the phones need an OS in order to function."

    It's not so much of a blame game here. Companies are going to do what their customers ask. Until we start telling companies like Verizon that their products are unacceptable and stop buying them, they will keep installing spyware.

    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they'd trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    I just had to delete AndroidSystemSafetyCore that Google dropped on my phone without my knowledge or consent. It's a client-side "scanner"
    (i.e. it's spying on what you are doing). I've already sent a note to Verizon that this is unacceptable and their Android build should not
    have allowed that to be installed "behind the scenes." But I've already decided that I won't be going back to them when I'm ready to get a new phone.

    It's hard to tell which programs or processes are necessary and which ones aren't. I try not to remove too much stuff because I've learned that later on the device will want that crap back.

    That's already been happening. There's GrapheneOS - which is Android compatible without the spying. The problem is getting a phone carrier
    to offer a phone with it.

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show me a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Mon Feb 10 12:24:39 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and
    there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they'd trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    Yup. And what happens over time is that they start having interesting things happen to them. When they talk about it, we just say "That's interesting. I use XXXX and I don't seem to have those issues." It takes time.

    Apple still exists because there's a portion of the population that simply doesn't want to understand technology and doesn't mind paying someone else to "just fix it". But, over time, that population gets smaller and smaller.

    It's hard to tell which programs or processes are necessary and which
    ones aren't. I try not to remove too much stuff because I've learned
    that later on the device will want that crap back.

    Same here. I'll go through my phone periodically (or if I get an "update" from Verizon) and clean out the trash. If I don't know what something is, a quick web search usually tells me. And sometimes I make a mistake but that's easily fixed. Some work, but at the end of the day, I'm more secure than most.

    Remember the old saying: I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show me
    a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

    Like I said, there are vendors out there who can do that. That's not the problem. The problem is getting those phones on the cell networks.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Mon Feb 10 11:59:30 2025
    I doubt that will ever happen. There might be a complaint here and there but the sheeple love Verizon and they trust them more than they trust you or me if we tried to tell them about the evil that's inside their beloved smartphones.

    Yup. And what happens over time is that they start having interesting things happen to them. When they talk about it, we just say "That's interesting. I use XXXX and I don't seem to have those issues." It
    takes time.

    Most smartphone users don't think about the fact that apps communicate with databases around the world. Websites can do it too, but with apps it becomes even more difficult to control (China probably loves apps.)

    We need someone we trust to literally manufacture a phone, but show m a guy who knows how to do that who isn't an attendee at the WEF.

    Like I said, there are vendors out there who can do that. That's not the problem. The problem is getting those phones on the cell networks.

    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Tue Feb 11 12:24:06 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    Most smartphone users don't think about the fact that apps communicate with databases around the world. Websites can do it too, but with apps
    it becomes even more difficult to control (China probably loves apps.)

    Most smartphone users today don't think about it. But people are waking up. There will always be ignorant users, but that's their problem.

    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely
    use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

    Which is why people tolerate this right now. They want the benefits, so they put up with the drawbacks.

    Now, if a company were to provide a device with the benefits but no (or at least fewer) drawbacks, that would drive the market toward more a more secure device.


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  • From Aaron Thomas@1:342/201 to Ron L. on Tue Feb 11 19:43:20 2025
    For me it's not worth the trouble to obtain a custom device. I rarely use mine, and I hardly take it with me anywhere.

    Which is why people tolerate this right now. They want the benefits, so they put up with the drawbacks.

    Now, if a company were to provide a device with the benefits but no (or
    at least fewer) drawbacks, that would drive the market toward more a
    more secure device.

    That sounds like it could catch on. Even people who don't understand or care about privacy concerns would potentially want to switch to "the device that's more private."

    Anything that takes power away from Google/Apple would be a good cause.

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  • From Ron L.@1:120/616 to Aaron Thomas on Wed Feb 12 12:25:45 2025
    Aaron Thomas wrote to Dr. What <=-

    That sounds like it could catch on. Even people who don't understand or care about privacy concerns would potentially want to switch to "the device that's more private."

    Anything that takes power away from Google/Apple would be a good cause.

    But it takes effort too because more private also means "less convienent".


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