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When the physicists need burner phones, that's when you know America's changed

(www.theguardian.com)
267 points giuliomagnifico | 6 comments | 29 Mar 25 18:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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pmags ◴[29 Mar 25 19:14 UTC] No.43517799[source]▶
I'm a US scientist and the use of minimalist phone and a laptop is something I'm planning for all my travel.

This is for the simple reason that I have determined, based on a large body of cases that are accumulating at a disturbing rate, that the current US administration considers themselves "above the law". Furthermore, the administration has shown that they are eager to carry out actions that violate due process and freedom of speech against anyone they perceive as opposing their policies/views.

EDIT: I'm happy to document such cases for those who have not been paying attention, but I also encourage those who are doubtful to simply search the many examples that have been posted here on HN (unfortunately, many flagged in an attempt to suppress discussion).

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1. whatshisface ◴[29 Mar 25 19:19 UTC] No.43517838[source]▶
It is probably better to start keeping public lists of surprising incidents, analogously to the way lawyers would summarize case precedent, but applied to the extralegal system. It can be difficult to find old news articles sometimes.
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2. bilbo0s ◴[29 Mar 25 19:41 UTC] No.43518041[source]▶
Um.

I don’t know that I would do that if I was a scientist right now.

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3. gopher_space ◴[29 Mar 25 19:55 UTC] No.43518176[source]▶
We have reached the point where it’s either something like this or leave the country.
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4. collingreen ◴[30 Mar 25 01:10 UTC] No.43520264{3}[source]▶
Being someone who makes a list like this might be the reason you get kicked out of the country (or worse?) if there is an authoritarian regime hurting people in order to silence critics.
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5. gopher_space ◴[30 Mar 25 20:45 UTC] No.43527466{4}[source]▶
Right. So you're either going to make a stand and risk getting arrested (Just like Thoreau!) or you're going to move somewhere this isn't happening.

Keep in mind we're talking about people with a moral framework that reduces the situation to these two choices. They'd need to abandon their sense of morality to maintain the status quo.

6. antifa ◴[31 Mar 25 00:02 UTC] No.43529124{4}[source]▶
A lot of people live in countries that won't deport someone to the US for documenting a list of crimes against humanity performed by the US government.