POLITICS SCHMALITICS

[chasfh]

Just now, chasfh said:

This is exactly what a surveillance society leads to: stopping and detaining people just for normal travel, just because the government deems the travel pattern “suspicious“. Apparently this was started under Trump I, continued under Biden, and is still in force today. So we have arrived at the point in which just traveling around and living your life the way you want to is enough to get you stopped, questioned, detained, and who knows what else after that. This is nothing short of horrific. 

 

Here is the original long form article as first reported by AP. This is a long read, so make sure you have the time.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd#

[oblong]

I want to know what they consider suspicious so that I can do it. 

[gehringer_2]

On 11/22/2025 at 4:16 PM, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

the GOP could have, but you know they wouldn't have. So what?

If the Trump admin had another billion to spend the only people that would have benefited were more of his cronies - you know it as well as I do.

And what could help those vets are all the VA, drug treatment and social services Trump and the GOP have been cutting and trying to cut, So my blood isn't boiling over the scam in MN at all, at least not compared to how much it already boils over the much, much bigger scam in DC.

Edited 13 hours ago by gehringer_2

[smr-nj]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

I want to know what they consider suspicious so that I can do it. 

I’m going to guess that as I explore up & down the various highways in the northern confines of my new home base in Delaware.. frantically searching for elusive Italian delicatessen that can create my favorite sandwich (eggplant, mozzarella & broccoli rabe w/balsamic glaze), this could be suspicious activity?? What will they think when I have to make the extraordinary decision to cross over state lines & waterways of Philadelphia to extend my search area?

I will, perhaps at moments, break into weird sounding foreign dialects….. both uttered when I am failing to get my search specifications understood, AND when I make a breakthrough and get the exact coordinates of my final destination.

There will be furtive, suspicious behavior as I look to smuggle stated delicacy back to the First State.

After all, my family motto often uttered by the Neopolitans and Sicilians on my father’s side -  “ Que mangia ne morte”, which is of course a lie, but anything you’re saying in Italian sounds wise. Even when it’s nonsensical and could get me escorted into an ice truck for my suspicious behavior, coupled with my insistence for speaking non -American.

But sometimes you just gotta have that eggplant mozzella and broccoli rabe sandwich.  You just gotta.

 

[romad1]

Went downtown to see the show Hadestown last night.  Getting on the Metro saw an assembled group of national guard troops who looked like standing in a subway tunnel at 10:30 on a Sunday night was not the plan when they signed up.  

No long guns in evidence, lots of smiles.  They didn't want to be there for sure.  Metro station was Metro Center which is fairly close to Pennsylvania Ave/White House.  Security theater. 

[oblong]

During the covid stuff my son wasn't at school.  He was home all day and I was also home all day working.  For about 2 years we'd go on a nightly drive during the week.  Just to get out of the house.  It was so much fun.  I'd pop in a podcast. We had 3 routes that took about an hour.  We'd stop at the gas station to get snacks and drinks.  My son being the particular person he is, we had to stick to those 3 routes. One was south to the downriver area, like Brownstown/Woodhaven, then back North.  Just a big square.  Another one was north to Detroit, coming back down Grand River.  The third one was downtown by the stadiums and midtown.

I wonder if he feds noticed.

 

[romad1]

6 minutes ago, oblong said:

During the covid stuff my son wasn't at school.  He was home all day and I was also home all day working.  For about 2 years we'd go on a nightly drive during the week.  Just to get out of the house.  It was so much fun.  I'd pop in a podcast. We had 3 routes that took about an hour.  We'd stop at the gas station to get snacks and drinks.  My son being the particular person he is, we had to stick to those 3 routes. One was south to the downriver area, like Brownstown/Woodhaven, then back North.  Just a big square.  Another one was north to Detroit, coming back down Grand River.  The third one was downtown by the stadiums and midtown.

I wonder if he feds noticed.

 

You were creating a pattern of life with your car's telematics and with your mobile phone.  Your ad tech details were definitely noticed by the business community.   And that information has been sold to various nation states who care about such things.  

[oblong]

15 minutes ago, romad1 said:

You were creating a pattern of life with your car's telematics and with your mobile phone.  Your ad tech details were definitely noticed by the business community.   And that information has been sold to various nation states who care about such things.  

yeah.  I noticed once getting an ad for an insurance company located a few towns over.  Why?  Because I was sitting at a stop light in front of them.  I noticed the insurance company because there were two branches of the same brand next to each other, just different names.  I assume they share space/staff.  My son and I alternate between google accounts so I wonder what their algorithm thinks of that.  "This dude likes space history and bubble guppies and MeTV and obscure 1925 maps"

 

[romad1]

6 minutes ago, oblong said:

yeah.  I noticed once getting an ad for an insurance company located a few towns over.  Why?  Because I was sitting at a stop light in front of them.  I noticed the insurance company because there were two branches of the same brand next to each other, just different names.  I assume they share space/staff.  My son and I alternate between google accounts so I wonder what their algorithm thinks of that.  "This dude likes space history and bubble guppies and MeTV and obscure 1925 maps"

 

You wouldn't be the first house/account to get conflicting ads and video content sent your way.   Somebody has an ad set up for West-side of Detroit fans of the band Yes who also hate prog rock.   

[smr-nj]

It is crazy, isn’t it?  And, for sure, disturbing as all hell.

[romad1]

someone else saying it

 

[chasfh]

On 11/22/2025 at 3:16 PM, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

On the Somalian allegation, forgive me if I don't take the word of some random twitterbot at face value.

So you're right—it does make my blood boil to see such lies so blithely perpetrated.

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, smr-nj said:

It is crazy, isn’t it?  And, for sure, disturbing as all hell.

I miss the days when I was dismissed for posting "Alarmist Non-sense" suggesting something like travel-pattern driver surveillance might happen under Trump.

[romad1]

18 minutes ago, chasfh said:

On the Somalian allegation, forgive me if I don't take the word of some random twitterbot at face value.

So you're right—it does make my blood boil to see such lies so blithely perpetrated.

What country was C3 posting from?  It probably got screen shot treatment.