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Mastodon server operated by David Troy, a tech pioneer and investigative journalist addressing threats to democracy. Thoughtful participation and discussion welcome.

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@davetroy

Thank-you for the outrage over this incident where it belongs: use of Signal to avoid leaving a reviewable record. This brings-up to me another 'end of institutions' element: Mafiasation.

Mr Trump long idolised Mafia leaders, I'd say because he saw that they were able to frighten and demean the man who frightened snd demeaned _him_, namely his father. This has encouraged his pursuit of a long-term policy of not leaving evidence lying-around, down even to chewing-up documents.
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@davetroy


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It is also my opinion that Mr Trump has escaped a few convictions through his judicious use of what was called in the second "Godfather" movie 'button men', that is underlings who can be told what to do in a deniable way.

Though it's not like the end-of-days ideologies in the article, Mafiasation is characteristic of societies where institutions either are seen to have failed or to have been captured by The Enemy. The Sicilian Mafia, the Chinese triads, Odessa gangsters,….

@davetroy
I haven't checked the validity of this, but I've seen the claim that the Brezhnev-era Soviet government turned to a hands-off attitude toward some organised crime to try to get around the sclerotic nature of their own system.

Hmm, an L.L.M. suggests that this was not so much a formal alliance as all-but-official toleration of Mafiya when it helped fill-in gaps in supply and distribution, cemented by bribery. Make of that what you will, I'd class my claim as 'plausible but unproved'.

@davetroy One big issue you missed: Environmental collapse. It is not an End Times™ belief, but a set of facts that only a few are willing to acknowledge. It is not an eschatological issue, but a scientific reality.

You cannot have unlimited growth on a finite planet. We have pushed living systems beyond their capacity to recover.

Thermodynamics, it's the law.

@davetroy Provocative. Thank you for proposing structure for the insanity swirling around us.