He May MAGA Yet
Last week, February 5, President Trump gave his annual "State of The Union" address. I had to work so I couldn't watch. I did let Democracy Now parse the speech the next day:
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/2/6/liar_in_chief_rep_ilhan_omar
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/2/6/ana_maria_archila_brett_kavanaughs_presence
But with America having survived the first half of Trump's first term, one can review what Trump has accomplished. The main thing he may have accomplished is bringing the reality of racism, etc to light. Trump's campaign and politics seem to be designed to reach a segment of the population that many Americans seem to thought was gone. The election of Barack Obama may have convinced many American that racism was dead. It took Trump realizing that these voters, mainly in rural areas, could be "dog whistled" to the polls, and the almost-daily reports of hate crimes and racial harassment to make many activists realize that racism, etc are alive and well.
A second thing Trump has accomplished is re-igniting a resistance. This began even before Trump took office, in the weeks after his election, I was at some sort of rally or event every week. When activists staged "Disrupt J-20", it was merely the first large-scale action. The rise of an American Anti-fascist, or AntiFa movement to counter the rise of the "alt-right" is a case of a small group of activists seeing that they need to take direct action to confront the mobs that Trump has empowered.
The 2018 Elections showed that the collective of; women, LGBTQ+, immigrant, and other activists called "The Resistance" possesses political power. It's now a matter of finding a candidate to unite behind who may be able to tap into the spirit of resistance that had always "Made America Great."
Why The Pi?
Over my weekend, a post on "Anonymous Computing" came onto one of my social media streams. Now as my efforts to create a secure Raspberry Pi for activists seems to have reached a stalemate. I may have to just go back to the base "Raspbian" OS, see if I could install VirtualBox and run the Whonix secure OS.
This would provide a means for activists to deal with the truly sensitive aspects of activism. It may come at a performance cost or require a larger card. Those of you who have been following my efforts may be asking "Why the Pi".
There are two main reasons. One is concealability; Pi are small, the board can fit into a case the size of a deck of cards. I have seen several cases of Altoids mint cases being used. Newer Pi have bluetooth connectivity, and could be run from a tablet or phone.
A second way the Pi may be a useful tool for activists. The devices are mobile. A Pi or its memory card could be passed from one activist to another, or the card could be copied and kept in a secure location.
Activists, especially those who work in Communities of Color, immigrant and refugee communities and the LGBTQ+, are working in a very hostile environment. The tactics of the undergrounds of the past may be needed to be modernized for a high-tech present.
Looking For More Than Spills
Last month, the Giant grocery store chain got a new employee. A robot named "Marty". The robot so far only looks for spills. But an encounter between Marty and a small child where a little girl gave Marty a hug led me to wonder if a new function could be added to Marty.
Marty could be upgraded to have a button that a child could press if they became lost. Marty would then stay in place and send its location over the intercom.