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by raw_anon_1111 121 days ago
Is this really political? While the right “Backs the Blue” (and ICE), they are just as concerned about the surveillance state as the left. Their threat model is just different as far as why. The right never trusted federal law enforcement.
2 comments
jkestner 121 days ago
At least for conservatives who still value those principles when their party is in office, true. Sedona’s successful anti-Flock effort was led by Trump voters.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/flock-haters-cro...

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raw_anon_1111 121 days ago
Well we saw the reaction from the NRA and the guns rights group when Trump said the guy in MN wouldn’t have been shot if he hadn’t been carrying a gun. That was a bridge too far for even them.

You let Trump announce that there has to be a national gun registry or mandated vaccines. You see he even stepped away from bragging about the vaccines only happened for Covid because of “Operation Warp Speed” under his administration. That should have been something that any politician would be proud of.

BTW, the only impressive thing that happened in his entire first administration is the speed at which the vaccines were developed and his not letting the economy collapse because of the stimulus and he can’t take credit for either because of his own base

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mikkupikku 121 days ago
It was interesting to watch liberal progressives learn in real time that federal agents are allowed to just murder people. Right wing conspiracy theorists have known this since Ruby Ridge.
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DangitBobby 121 days ago
Interesting that you'd attribute this to a left/right divide. There are varying levels of skepticism and trust of police/secret police on both sides. Probably the main difference is what those people think those agencies should and do accomplish.
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raw_anon_1111 121 days ago
Really? “The left” has never trusted the police. I can tell you as a person who studied the civil rights movement, whose still living parents grew up in the Jim Crow South and who personal knew some of the secondary people who made the history books during that time (I am 51), “the left” or at least a large part of never trusted any law enforcement.
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mikkupikku 121 days ago
From my perspective, the American progressive left is deeply distrustful of local / state police, but are more inclined to believe the feds good at least insofar as they enforce good progressive laws against backwards locals. The feds enforcing desegregation is perhaps the root origin of this sentiment. The conservative right on the other hand is very inclined to support local police, but have hated feds with notable intensity, probably sharing the same root but really intensified in the 90s.
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raw_anon_1111 121 days ago
For context, I am from here and my parents grew up here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Movement

So I had first and second level connections to people who were involved in the civil rights movement. My mom knew someone or knew who knew someone that could get me a call with almost anyone of influence in the Black community nationally. I went to school with a lot of their children - at least the 2nd or 3rd level connections.

The civil rights movement was very aware of things like this at the time

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_letter

https://features.apmreports.org/arw/king/d1.html

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