jd420: from your link

http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20181016/astoria-bans-camping-in-the-woods-in-response-to-homeless

I should like to comment:

This is very early in the process, but the American culture is beginning its descent into a police state. Of course, 9-11 began it all, but that had an impetus. What’s coming now are features that have no outside source. Consider, thanks to laws adopted since 9-11, Habeas Corpus has been rendered almost useless. People can be arrested, and imprisoned without trial or sentencing and without due process. (The Patriot Act and others.) The political processes in the U.S. are under more and more foreign influence. The police state is acquiring more and more power over the individual. Mass surveillance is now acknowledged (in the U.S.) as acceptable (or, can’t be undone.) Anything that is not in the interest of the government (or in many cases, big corporations that the governments are responsive to) is rapidly becoming illegal. On the other side of the table, when was the last war fought by the United States? Answer: The last time the United States formally declared war, using specific terminology, on any nation was in 1942. Since then, every American president has used military force without a declaration of war. Congress, whose job it is to authorize the use of military force by declaring war, has not officially sanctioned any war since then. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. And, if you want to see huge corporation activity in American military policy, just look at the F-35 fighter fiasco.


You guys do not (probably cannot) see it. But from up here in the North, we do. Already, our legislators are debating just what to do about what is foreseen. Of course, we can do nothing to change things down there. But, (it is my belief), Canada is going to begin the slow, careful process of distancing ourselves from the U.S. For example, trade with other countries. This includes oil. (You do know that the U.S. gets most of its oil from Canada, right?) For many decades, the border between the U.S. and Canada has been essentially an imaginary line. Today, it is becoming full of police checkpoints just like the border between Mexico and the U.S. And millions of Canadians are being blocked from visiting. For example, today, millions of law-abiding Canadians will be rejected from entering the U.S. simply because of what’s on their (legal) credit card purchases. You don’t see it, but Canadian credit card holders now see it. It’s all in our news up here. It’s very intimidating.

Another big example of what is seen is what’s happening in Montana. There, in clear view, is the fight by Montana voters to kick out corporate political influence there. For about 100 years, there had been laws that the Montana people voted to put on the books to stop the Big Copper business back then from buying the Montana government and ruining their economy as well as their environment.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Kings.)

Until now, under those established laws, corporations could only contribute to campaign funds within limits that each (person) voter there was limited to. It was illegal for a candidate to receive money more than a set personal limit from any corporation or individual. The huge corporations of today, until recently, had no say in government policies. So, they challenged the Montana law in the U.S. Supreme Court and got it overturned. Now, the Montana politics are corporate run.

Canada sees this. (I believe) it will take a couple decades or less to drive the American economy into a very much less free society. Nonetheless, it is heading your way whether you see it or not.

As independent as I am (regarding reading the news media), it’s easy to see from up here. And it’s scary. Scary because you DON’T see it. Or, if you do see it, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.