The current second Trump administration: a compendium of horrors

[Cervaise]

@puzzlegal

And honestly, that’s what surprises and depresses me the most. That there are so many Americans in positions if responsibility who were chafing at the bit to abuse people.

This is true in all countries to some extent. As I said a month ago:

@Cervaise

I just got back from a two week holiday in Albania. Fascinating place, if complicated and problematic on many levels. But the relevant bit is that they are quite open and forthright about their troubled history during the years of Communist dictatorship.

They had their own version of East Germany’s infamous Stasi, called the Sigurimi (link). Their historical museums include details on their operations, which included wide recruitment of ordinary citizens as informers. They had mockups of some actual operations, including a microphone hidden in a cleaning lady’s broom and a pinhole camera drilled into the wall of a “controlled person,” to be operated by a neighbor.

The money piece, for me, was a contemporary quote from an Albanian priest, who expressed sad astonishment that the population could be revealed to hold so many willing thugs. I stood in front of that display, reading the quote over and over, my skin prickling unpleasantly.

The only difference between countries is how effectively or ineffectively they keep a lid on this impulse.