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U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

theintercept.com

131–140 of 268 posts

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#131
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Like anything else, you may not agree with their argument, but their right to peacefully protest should not be trampled upon by the government.

As long as it's a level playing field. It shouldn't be less legal to protest at the home of a supreme court justice than to protest at the homes of abortion clinic staff members.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#132
post #76
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I’m not sure what relevance this has for a secular nation like the United States.

America isn’t a “secular” nation. It’s a religiously pluralistic nation. That means that all of the various non-falsifiable moral ideologies, from Christianity to Islam to secular humanism, are on equal political footing. If more people prioritize the mother’s invisible, non-falsifiable “right to bodily autonomy” over the fetus’s invisible, non-falsifiable “right to life” then you can permit abortion. If the opposite is true, you can ban it.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#133
post #45

So many people are okay with unconstitutional things as long as it supports their side and beliefs. It is genuinely unsettling. Personally, I don’t care about the underlying thing the protests are about, the important aspect is that if you allow unconstitutional government action like this, eventually it will be used against you. A decade from now we have no idea what the political climate will be. If the precedent i…

Its always staggering to think people forget we only have a two party system. You'd think that would keep both parties in check from abusing their powers considering at some point the party you went after and did suspect things in order to win a few elections? Well, they're going to be back in power and what do you think they're going to do? The same thing you did. I feel like we're currently in this death spiral whe…

You seem to think two parties means "two sides."

I think it only means "only two parties to buy." They agree whenever the money says to and disagree about real issues that are distractions from what the money wants.

The problem is not a lack of meeting in the middle on culture war issues. The problem is that no one is even allowed to oppose the money. Not really. And when they try to, they're not considered "centrist moderates," but "far right" or "far left."

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#134
post #45

So many people are okay with unconstitutional things as long as it supports their side and beliefs. It is genuinely unsettling. Personally, I don’t care about the underlying thing the protests are about, the important aspect is that if you allow unconstitutional government action like this, eventually it will be used against you. A decade from now we have no idea what the political climate will be. If the precedent i…

> Personally, I don’t care about the underlying thing the protests are about, the important aspect is that if you allow unconstitutional government action like this, eventually it will be used against you. Words won't protect you. Precedent won't protect you. Guns won't protect you. If you are in a society where others want you surveiled or dead or removed or heavily restricted, and you're outnumbered, it's already t…

Yes, absolutely. And what's changed is that we now have a massive number of people (on both sides) who no longer agree that these things are important, or at least who think that other things are more important - so much more important that "these things" (constitutional protections) can be circumvented when they get in the way of the "more important things".

Constitutional protections are largely running on institutional inertia at the moment. That's good - the institutions were supposed to do that - but it won't last forever.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#135

Dataminr and others have been selling this service to corporate and government customers for years. Activists should all be well aware of this and use protocols not easy for Dataminr to buy, scrape, or identify persons of interest.

Using another protocol is the easy part. Getting everyone else to use it is a problem. If they're organizing rallies they want to have the greatest reach possible.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#136
post #70
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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I'd be very surprised if there were zero atheists that were anti-abortion.

Albania has been officially atheist since 1967. But abortion was not legalized until 1995.

The idea that American “evangelical Christians” invented opposition to abortion is typical American ignorance and myopia. Various levels of opposition to abortion is the norm across the world—for pretty obvious reasons. The rights-based view of abortion is what’s actually unusual and unique to Christian and post-Christian societies.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#137
post #50
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have an inalienable right to express any view on abortion in the US, regardless of merit.

You have an inalienable right to express any view on flat earth in the US. But it doesn't matter if the state law is enforcing religious rules, like in the case of abortion ban.

Abortion bans aren’t “religious rules.” Abortion has been banned in officially atheist countries, like Stalinist Russia and communist Albania.

Conversely, the notion of a “right to abortion” or a “right to bodily autonomy” is for all practical purposes a religious view. It’s a belief about the nature of human society and the value of human life in its various stages.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally, I don’t care about the underlying thing the protests are about, the important aspect is that if you allow unconstitutional government action like this, eventually it will be used against you. Words won't protect you. Precedent won't protect you. Guns won't protect you. If you are in a society where others want you surveiled or dead or removed or heavily restricted, and you're outnumbered, it's already t…

Yes, absolutely. And what's changed is that we now have a massive number of people (on both sides) who no longer agree that these things are important, or at least who think that other things are more important - so much more important that "these things" (constitutional protections) can be circumvented when they get in the way of the "more important things". Constitutional protections are largely running on institut…

[flagged]

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#139
post #45

So many people are okay with unconstitutional things as long as it supports their side and beliefs. It is genuinely unsettling. Personally, I don’t care about the underlying thing the protests are about, the important aspect is that if you allow unconstitutional government action like this, eventually it will be used against you. A decade from now we have no idea what the political climate will be. If the precedent i…

It seems to me that there may have been some sort of a strange, unrealized cultural change in Americans over the last few decades. I seem to recall that the abstract notion of freedom of speech/assembly/etc was considered a VERY big deal by all or at least most Americans. However, this seems to have morphed into people now holding most of their ideological beliefs at specific concrete, object level issue level. Assum…

People used to be literally killed or beaten for their expressed believes, so that hiatoeical abstract notion has quite a lot of asterisks in it.

It is waaaay too easy to idealized past while ignoring what was actually happening.

Re: U.S. Marshals Spied on Abortion Protesters Using Dataminr

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, absolutely. And what's changed is that we now have a massive number of people (on both sides) who no longer agree that these things are important, or at least who think that other things are more important - so much more important that "these things" (constitutional protections) can be circumvented when they get in the way of the "more important things". Constitutional protections are largely running on institut…

[flagged]

Do you evaluate everything based on how you can label the people who made it or just this?
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