Part Two: The Open Door

The genie isn't just out of the bottle; he’s looking for a paycheck. You know how in Sports they have something called Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules? In that world, players own their "brand." They control where their face appears and who gets to profit from their stats. We need the exact same rules for ALPRs and other surveillance databases! If my car’s "image" and my "location stats" are being harvested, shouldn't I have the NIL rights to that data?

We are currently witnessing a massive expansion of the "Open Door" policy. It is no longer just law enforcement that needs to be controlled; it is the commercial interest. Suppose in the future—a future that is closer than we think—a business wants to buy a list from a data broker to advertise their store to everyone who drives by based on their license plate history? Or a grocery store that installs facial recognition software to track exactly how you walk through the aisles, what you look at, and what you put back?

But more troubling is Big Brother's use of the data;[

ICE has spun a massive surveillance web. We talked to people caught in it

NPR News

March 4, 2026

By Kat Lonsdorf, Jude Joffe-Block, & Meg Anderson

On an evening in late January, Emily was driving through her Minneapolis neighborhood doing something that had become part of her routine in recent weeks: patrolling for ICE.

Emily, who NPR is only identifying by her first name because she fears retribution from the federal government, says she followed an ICE vehicle at a safe distance into a parking lot. "And then someone leaned out of the passenger side of that SUV and took a picture of me and my car," she says.

Emily says she decided to leave at that point, but the SUV made a sudden U-turn and barreled towards her, braking next to her driver's side window. A female agent wearing a gaiter-style mask rolled down the window, leaned out — and addressed Emily by name.

]Creepy, scary! Big Brother is watching you!

"She yelled, 'Emily, Emily, we're going to take you home!' Then she looked at her phone and she recited my home address," she says.

Emily says she didn't acknowledge the agents and drove away, but was so shaken that she didn't drive home, afraid the agents might follow her there. Instead she went to a nearby restaurant and waited for hours.

If that does freak you out... I don't know what will.

They are using databases to identify you and scare you out of your Fist Amendment rights of free assembly or protest.[

Emily's experience mirrors that of many other people across the country. To understand how federal agents are using various Department of Homeland Security surveillance tools in real time, NPR collected dozens of accounts — through interviews and court documents — describing confrontations with federal immigration officers in recent months.

Activists and journalists spoke of tactics they felt were intimidating: agents photographing their faces or license plates; calling them by name; or leading them to their homes. Immigration lawyers told NPR their clients had been subjected to facial recognition technology. One ICE agent, testifying under oath, spoke of an app that showed the likely home addresses of people targeted for deportation.

]And that is exactly what they are trying to do! They are treating to remain silent on the oppression of our Constitutional rights![

In Minnesota, the ACLU is suing the administration for violating the First Amendment rights of protesters and observers like Emily. In the lawsuit, more than 30 people gave statements under oath describing similar encounters with immigration agents.

In the lawsuit, attorneys for the government denied that the conduct of federal agents has violated the Constitution.

DHS did not respond to a question about why its agents are demonstrating they know the names of observers and where they live, but the agency did say in a statement, "DHS will not reveal law enforcement methods or tactics."

]Those facts alone show a consorted effort to suppress the votes from address grievances, We have seen an outright attack to our abridge the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.[

But federal immigration agents are using a facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify and U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently signed a contract with Clearview AI, a facial recognition company that has accessed billions of images of peoples' faces off the internet.

]Stop right there! did you get the part where they say " a facial recognition company that has accessed billions of images of peoples' faces off the internet." you know those horrible driver license photos, well they are all on ICS's database now![

"Part of what's so pernicious about it is that people don't know what's going on," Wessler says. "Nobody should have to wonder if they are merely being intimidated or actually being subjected to an invasive biometric scan that's really just incredibly corrosive in what is supposed to be a free and open society."

In a statement to NPR, DHS stressed that Mobile Fortify, which was developed under the Trump administration, "does not access open-source material, scrape social media, or rely on publicly available data."

]All to suppress your Constitutional Rights! Surveillance has become a business; surveillance for policing and now to surveillance for profit. Do you remember when Madison Square Garden uses facial recognition to keep out enemy lawyers in 2023?

Since then we have made a quantum leap forward in the networking of databases! And many companies are jumping in to make money off that knowledge![

In a hearing in the farmworker case, an ICE agent identified by the initials J.B. testified about another app, called ELITE made by Palantir, that he described as being similar to "Google Maps" that shows locations of people who may be deportable and the likelihood they live there.

J.B. described using the app as providing "leads" to choose where to do an operation.

]That is what is really scary! Tying databases and using unverified can lead to arresting and detaining the wrong person. Our TIL is for sale to anyone who got the cash!

Data Privacy in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Cleveland State University College of Law Blog

In an age when our identity seems constantly accessible online, how do we protect our personal data from those who eagerly collect every sliver and cache it away for potentially disturbing purposes?

According to an article published by Science Direct, “Today, data is captured, produced, and reproduced with such regularity that its collection, utility, and value can go largely unnoticed.” Professor Shoshana Zuboff coined the phrase “surveillance capitalism” to describe this phenomenon of massive personal information collection for profit in her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.

[...]

Zuboff defines the term as “the unilateral claiming of private human experience as free raw material for translation into behavioral data.” The data gets computed, packaged as prediction products, and sold into behavioral futures markets. These markets teem with business customers who have a vested commercial interest in knowing our every movement, both now and in the future. 

In an interview with The Harvard Gazette, Zuboff called for new laws and regulations “that specifically address the mechanisms and imperatives of surveillance capitalism.” Existing privacy and antitrust laws are not sufficient to address the pervasive threats of this new industry.

So that trip to the abortion clinic or the trans girl who visited her doctor's office can be access by Texas! This causes erosion of privacy, when governments or companies routinely collect and share personal data it causes people begin to assume they are constantly watched. People cut back on attending protest rallies when they fear government surveillance, people cut back on political discussion, and cuttings back political discussion! Fear is the commodity that ICE deals out 

This Will Not Be Over In 4 Weeks, or 8 Weeks... It Is Going To Be Years!

Fox News Reported...

US submarine sinks Iranian warship by torpedo in a first since World War II

Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine briefed reporters on Navy attack that sent Iranian vessel to 'bottom of the sea'

By Stephen Sorace Fox News

March 4, 2026

A U.S. submarine sank a prized Iranian warship by torpedo, the first such sinking of an enemy ship since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning.

Hegseth joined Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon to provide an update to reporters on "Operation Epic Fury" in Iran.

"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win."

Caine said that an Iranian vessel was "effectively neutralized" in a Navy "fast attack" using a single Mark 48 torpedo. He added that the U.S. Navy achieved "immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea."

If you watch the press conference videos, Hegseth looks almost gleeful reporting the sinking!

Folks... they haven’t learned a single thing from the Ukraine war! Trump is pulling a "Putin," thinking this war will be over in eight weeks. My dear Trump, it will be more like eight years! It might only take one side to start a war, but it takes two to end it!

Part One: The Open Door

The genie is out of the bottle:

We can't put him back; surveillance is here to stay. It started in the 60s in London with the CCTV cameras around the city, and now we find surveillance cameras in doorbells!

Eyes that never blink: Cal Poly’s Flock license plate readers spark student backlash

In March of 2025, Cal Poly signed a contract with surveillance company Flock Safety

Mustang News

by Grace Gillio

March 3, 2026

Every time a vehicle, bike or motorcycle enters or exits Cal Poly’s campus, it’s being tracked, often without the driver knowing. 

Its license plate is scanned and make and model noted, along with the exact date, time and location by a network of license plate readers monitored by the Cal Poly Police Department.

The readers also record each car’s color, any present damage, bumper stickers and type of tire, allowing cameras to identify vehicles based on cosmetics rather than just a license plate. 

In March 2025, Cal Poly signed a contract with Flock safety, installing license plate readers and live video cameras at all campus vehicle entrances and exits, according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. The decision, which was made with limited community input, incited condemnation from students and staff who are concerned about Flock’s potential to have a negative impact on the security of the Cal Poly community. 

[...]

On Feb. 26, 2026, nearly a year after Cal Poly signed a contract with Flock Safety, CPPD decided to opt-in to a transparency portal. The cameras have detected 55,070 vehicles in the last 30 days, and CPPD has made 21 searches of the data, according to the portal. CPPD conducted 406 searches through Flock data from June 2025 to Feb. 3, 2026, according to Kevin Cushing, public records access officer. 

What does that mean? It means that every single person entering a supposedly "open" center of learning, students, faculty, and visitors, is being indexed into a searchable database. As the Mustang News report notes, in just a 30-day period, these cameras detected over 55,000 vehicles.

Cal Poly had “general discussions” with ASI leadership before the Flock cameras were installed, according to Lazier. However, Mustang News found no formal Cal Poly announcement that Flock’s license plate recognition technology was to be utilized on campus. 

Some students and staff are left wondering where the line is drawn between safety and surveillance. 

Ryan Jenkins, philosophy professor and associate director of the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group, says he is worried about the normalization of surveillance in general, especially the expectation that citizens have to “submit” to technology like Flock without knowledge or consent.

“We’re told that it’s being done in our interest and for our benefit. I think that it’s fair to demand more than that in terms of an explanation,” Jenkins said. “I think it’s fair to understand how the data are used, who has access to them, what real kind of technical safeguards we have.”

But I don't think that having unfettered access to the databases is good. We cannot have open databases that can be accessed by any law enforcement agencies!

If we cannot put the genie back in the bottle, we must at least build a cage for it. We need a "gatekeeper"—strict legal guardrails and oversight—to ensure that "safety" doesn't become a permanent excuse for the end of privacy. There needs to be a gate keeper!

LAPD’s relationship with Flock Safety under scrutiny from oversight body

L A Times

By Libor Jany

March 3, 2026

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday said it wants to know more about how data captured by the controversial license plate reader company Flock Safety is stored and shared.

Commissioner Jeff Skobin requested a report from the department about its relationship with Flock, citing his conversations with city officials and residents, as well as news reporting detailing how federal authorities had repeatedly accessed Flock’s surveillance data as part of their nationwide deportation crackdown.

Speaking during the civilian oversight panel’s meeting Tuesday, Skobin said that, for the sake of transparency, he wanted the department to explain how it was “so confident” that its data wasn’t being accessed by federal authorities as part of their immigration roundups.

[...]

The chief added that the department was aware of news reports suggesting that a “configuration error” by Flock had allowed out-of-state law enforcement agencies, including federal agents, to access license plate data from Ventura County in violation of state law.

McDonnell said he ordered an internal audit to determine whether similar inadvertent sharing had occurred within the Los Angeles Police Department.

Ops... "Sorry about that boss!"

Plate-reading technology has been around for decades. But as the Trump administration’s deportation crackdown has ramped up, residents, privacy advocates and officials in some cities across the country have mounted campaigns urging their local governments to stop using the technology.

Before the commission meeting, several dozen activists gathered outside LAPD headquarters in downtown L.A. to demand that the department cut ties with Flock.

"It won't happen again boss, promise! Cross my heart."

Ding Dong... ICE Calling!

Amazon's Ring ends deal with surveillance firm after backlash

BBC News

13 February 2026

Kali Hays

Amazon's smart doorbell company is dropping a partnership with a firm known for its surveillance services, after facing scrutiny over its privacy practices.

The decision cancels a deal announced in October between Amazon's Ring and Flock Safety, a firm that operates a network of cameras and license plate readers in the US used primarily by police and law enforcement agencies.

The agreement would have allowed agencies working with Flock to retrieve video captured on Ring devices, if needed for investigations and allowed by customers.

The decision not to move forward came days after a Ring advertisement aired during the Super Bowl sparked widespread backlash for being "creepy".

You know that speaks volumes on their mindset... that they didn't think people would think that it was "creepy" that Big Brother was staring out their front door!

In George Orwell book Nineteen Eighty-Four he never dreamed of computers and databases would lead us down the path to Big Brother and fascism.

Orwell’s 1984 warned of a world where Big Brother’s face was on every corner. He never imagined we would buy the cameras ourselves and mount them on our doors. We are reaching a tipping point where the "Search Party" for a lost dog becomes a "Search Party" for a political dissident or an immigrant neighbor. If we don't demand a "gatekeeper" now, we aren't just leaving the bottle open—we’re handing the genie the keys to our homes.

Just like in Nineteen Eighty-Four pictures of "Big Brother" are appearing all over Washington DC, on the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, and Department of Agriculture there are portraits of Big Brother on them.

‘Till Death Do They Part

[Editorial]

You know when I came out back in the late ‘90s I met a gay couple they have been together for over 30 years.

I never knew a gay or lesbian couple before, or for that matter I never knew a lesbian woman or gay man. I knew about them and how the media portrayed them of one night stands never in a long term relationship. Living a lonely life going to dark sleazy bars.

However, when I came out I learned that was all a conservative lie.

But conservatives still believe it today. Not only that, they are working to force us back into those shadows, back to the sleazy bars and the fleeting encounters. They want to erase the stability we have fought for.

We have been here before, and we have fought back before:

• 1959: Cooper’s Donuts Uprising
• 1965: Dewey’s Lunch Counter Protest
• 1966: Compton’s Cafeteria Uprising
• 1967: Black Cat Tavern Protest
• 1969: Stonewall Uprising

We were in the streets protesting back then, and we can do it again.

[/Editorial]

Flight or Fight

I have written in the past that if I ever had to flee the country I was born and raised in—and had hoped to die in—I would flee to Canada… BUT!

No papers, an expired passport, a REAL ID—that’s all I have in the way of documents. It wasn’t impossible, but it was bleak.

However, it seems like our friends in Canada have recognized our plight and our need to seek asylum. So…

A pathway to safety for trans Americans

“The CBA is calling for changes to Canada’s immigration system, as it’s ill-equipped to respond to the emerging crisis south of the border and the surge of inquiries from people fearing violence and persecution.”

— Canadian Bar Association

BY Sue Bailey, 20 Nov. 2025

GPat Patterson knew it was time to leave the United States when surveillance vans showed up outside their Ohio home.

The Kent State University professor teaches women’s gender and sexuality studies and is one of the few openly trans faculty members.

“I have a target on my back,” Patterson said from Toronto, where they and their husband, who is also trans, are now living. The couple is seeking asylum in Canada.

Patterson was moved to tears while reading a letter sent last month to Immigration Minister Lena Diab by the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration law section, its Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance, and its equity subcommittee.

It raises several alarms. They include “a surge in inquiries from trans individuals in the U.S.”—a term used for transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse people—“citing fears of violence, denial of healthcare, and other forms of persecution.”

“Refugee claims have already been filed and are before the Immigration and Refugee Board. However, Canada’s current immigration framework is ill-equipped to respond to this emerging crisis,” the letter states.

Pop! There goes my hope… “Canada’s current immigration framework is ill-equipped to respond to this emerging crisis”!

But wait! The article goes on:

It proposes that Canada unilaterally withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the U.S. or negotiate an exemption for trans people.

Continued enforcement of the STCA risks violating Canada’s international human rights obligations and undermining its commitment to refugee protection.”*

The letter notes this country has historically denied refugee claims from Americans under the presumption of “state protection and internal flight alternatives.”

“This presumption is no longer valid given the systemic targeting of trans people across the U.S., from the federal government and through the introduction of anti-trans legislation in nearly every state.”

Whoa! They recognize our plight and are trying to change the status of the U.S. as a “safe” nation you can’t seek asylum from into one that is unsafe for trans people. Just like during the Vietnam War, when people could flee to safety there, it might also become true for us.

The CBA calls on IRCC to set up a special immigration measures program for trans people, extending protections to third-country nationals who are living or have previously lived in the U.S., regardless of their U.S. immigration status.

The U.S. asylum system cannot be presumed safe for trans claimants when the U.S. government itself denies their existence.”*

Further recommendations include training for IRCC staff “to develop immigration responses that are trauma-informed, inclusive, and rights-based for the trans community.”

You got that… they want to open the doors for us because of Trump!

Think About This Scenario

Okay... say your sister drives up from Texas to help with your parents' 60^th anniversary party here in Connecticut. The party supply store is right next to an abortion clinic.

After the party your sister drives home and when she gets there two big burly Texas Rangers are there and they want to know what she was doing at an abortion clinic?

Far fetched? No, some license plate readers company share the data with other states' officials!

ACLU To Host Webinar On License Plate Readers, Flock Cameras

CT News Junkie

by Staff Report

February 27, 2026

The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut is hosting a webinar next week on automatic license plate readers, including Flock cameras. 

The automated cameras – found in dozens of municipalities across the state – are small black devices placed on poles with solar panels on top that take photos of the rear license plate of each passing vehicle. The photos are stored for 30 days.

The ACLU last year called for a statewide moratorium on their use until the state passes legislation to prevent the misuse, sharing, and selling of driver-location data. The cameras put residents at risk, the ACLU said, including immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care out of state. 

Law enforcement officials, however, have said the cameras are helpful in solving and preventing crimes and have helped locate missing people as well as solve burglaries, robberies, assaults and break-ins.

hrhrrhhrhrrh

Report reveals Virginia police misuse of license plate reader technology

WAVY

Alex Roever

March 2, 2026

A new report found that some Virginia law enforcement agencies using automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) have violated the law since it took effect in July 2025.

A report published in January by the Virginia State Crime Commission stated the results of an ALPR use survey sent to law enforcement agencies to ensure they are following the new statutes that took effect.

The survey found that several law enforcement agencies have violated the new ALPR statute. It also noted that almost one-third of law enforcement agencies did not respond to the survey.

hrhrhrhrhrrh

Milwaukee cop’s misuse of Flock ALPR undercuts case for facial recognition use

BioMetric Update

Feb 26, 2026

Chris Burt

The debate in Wisconsin over whether police in Milwaukee should be allowed to use facial recognition or join Biometrica’s network to share images of convicted criminals and missing people has taken a new twist. Revelations that a Milwaukee Police Department officer misused the city’s network of Flock automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras has added to the perception that oversight is lacking and responsible use policies for sophisticated technology will be ignored.

[...]

Now, an MPD officer is accused of using Flock’s camera network while on duty to look up the license plate number of a person he was dating more than 120 times, and that of the person’s ex-boyfriend another 55 times, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The investigation into alleged misuse of the system was sparked by a driver who noticed in public records that their license plate had been searched numerous times.

There are 31 Flock cameras deployed across Milwaukee. The MPD officer is the second law enforcement official in the state to be charged with misusing Flock cameras.

You might want to go to that ACLU seminar. 

Friendly Press

ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS... all shut out!

AP News reported that,

Pentagon reporters learned late Sunday about Hegseth’s briefing. Reporters from The Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and Stars & Stripes were permitted into the briefing room, but Hegseth did not call on them. Instead, he took questions from NewsNation and Trump-friendly outlets like the Daily Caller, Daily Wire, One America News and the Christian Broadcasting Network. Most mainstream news outlets left their regular stations at the Pentagon last fall rather than agree to Hegseth’s rules restricting their work.

Hegseth denounced the “foolishness” of people wanting to know details of the operation in advance, such as whether Americans would commit to more than air power, and said the operation would continue as long as it took to achieve objections. He initially ignored NBC News’ Courtney Kube when she called out a question: “President Trump put a four-week time limit on it. Are you saying he’s wrong?”

Later, Hegseth denounced Kube for asking “the typical NBC sort of gotcha-type question. President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it might take — four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, it could move up, it could move back. We’re going to execute at his command the objectives he set out to achieve.”

Unlike Pentagon briefings in past administrations, reporters were given assigned seats, with the Trump-friendly outlets seated in front. Jennifer Griffin, Hegseth’s former colleague at Fox News Channel who left the Pentagon with other reporters after not accepting his new rules, was seated in the last row.

It seems like only the press that kowtows to Trump get their questions answered,.

Did You Ever See A Warmonger

Take a listen to the Secretary of Defense does he sound like a warmonger to you?

He  mocks "stupid rules of engagement!"

Hegseth says Iran won’t be a ‘politically correct’ war as he lays out US objectives: ‘No democracy-building exercise’

Hegseth criticized the media, allies and former President Joe Biden during the 40-minute press conference

The Independent

Ariana Baio

Monday 02 March 2026

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth championed President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran in a press conference Monday morning, refuting concerns from the “fake news” media and “political left” that the conflict would lead to an “endless war.”

“To the media outlets and political left screaming ‘endless wars,’ stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” Hegseth said. “Our generation knows better and so does this president.”

The defense secretary insisted the strikes, which have led to a deadly exchange of fire in the region, would prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and harming more Americans, even as the operation has already killed four service members.

I am just so sick and tired of all the lies coming out of the White House! This is Trump's war!

Hegseth pushed back on other assertions about Trump’s motivation in conducting the strikes, saying America was doing things “on our terms.”

“No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically-correct wars. We fight to win,” Hegseth said.

It was Trump who tore up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was signed by the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia, and China. But that wasn’t good enough for Trump, so he tore it up. Donald “The Art of the Deal” Trump said he could come up with a better peace plan… WAR!

This will not be the “short, glorious war” that Trump and Hegseth dream of, but a long, drawn-out war that comes to our shores this time. It will not be an “in-and-out war.” This is going to go on for years. They didn’t bomb a paper tiger,  they woke a dragon!

Oh... They Are At It Again!

This time in Idaho not as punitive as Kansas but still another ant-trans bill that is designed to inflect pain in us and further marginalize us!

Idaho Republicans are trying to strip localities of nondiscrimination ordinances that protect LGBTQ+ people

The measure, which has passed the state House, would repeal more than 12 localities' protections against employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination.

The Advocate

Christopher Wiggins

Feb 27, 2026

Idaho Republicans are advancing legislation that would void local nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ residents in more than a dozen cities. Advocates warn that it represents not merely a policy disagreement but a decisive turn toward rescinding existing civil rights protections.

House Bill 557, which has already passed the Idaho House and now sits in the Senate State Affairs Committee, would prohibit cities and counties from adopting or enforcing nondiscrimination ordinances that extend beyond state law. Because Idaho’s Human Rights Act does not include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes, the measure would not only block future local protections but also erase existing ones in 12 cities and two counties, jurisdictions that together encompass roughly 36 percent of the state’s population.

It seems like the Republican states are in a race to see who can come up with the most draconian laws!

“This specific bill we’re talking about, HB 557 would eliminate the ability of localities to pass non-discrimination policies protecting characteristics like gender identity or sexual orientation that are not currently protected under state law,” Liam Cutler, policy counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, explained in an interview with The Advocate. The legislation “would also remove existing protections that are in place, essentially stripping those LGBTQ folks of the protections that they currently have under law,” he said.

The question is: why? Why do they do this to us? Is it just for votes?

Is it just for votes that they want to torment a whole community? Are they so callous that they don’t care what they are doing to people?

In the absence of statewide protections, local nondiscrimination ordinances became the fallback strategy. “So it’s quite an affront to us to not only see them being unwilling to add protections at a state level, but to very specifically introduce legislation that preempts cities from having those protections themselves,” Nikson Mathews, a transgender man and chair of the Idaho Democratic Queer Caucus, told The Advocate.

It is not the fact that the state now doesn't have protection but what got me was that they had it and took it away! It is that they are so heartless and soulless that they are willing to subligate a whole community just for votes!