I realize the government will get whatever it wants, whenever it wants it, but is a VPN somewhat effective?

Fascism gets it's foot hold through fear.
Speak up.

I don't think anyone is safe.

But I'm sure there will be people showing up and saying "don't be silly!" so I guess everything is OK and there is nothing to worry about.

Samples:

"They can't do that." "Those charges will never stick." "The states control elections." "Time for a lawsuit." "Don't spread conspiracy theories." "Don't give up."

It doesn't matter who you are, everyone has some kind of vulnerability.

To chase me to the ends of the earth.

If it was, cats would have knocked everything off the edge by now.

If some government agent shows up, be clear you won't speak without an attorney, and unless they have a warrant, they can talk to the closed door. They want you afraid so you don't resist. There's not enough government employees to round everyone up.

Businesses are closed. Schools are closed or 1/2 attendance and on and on...
It is a real mess.

The only way out is through hard work. Trump doesn't have enough law enforcement people to come harass everyone who speaks up.

No one is saying we should all hide. But there are people in hiding right now, and for good reason. People are helping others hide. That is the hard work.

Perhaps you are struggling within yourself about this?

Trump doesn't have enough law enforcement people to come harass everyone who speaks up? Wanna bet? Have you read any history at all? Do you think telling the Gestapo they could "talk to your door" if they didn't have a warrant would have been any sort of sane strategy?

Afraid so that I don't resist? What sort of convoluted logic is that? No, my friend, I have a healthy and well-founded fear so that I can. Complacency is the problem. Denial is the problem.

They can talk to the closed door? Talk is cheap. Do you have any idea what is going on? They can and will smash right through your precious door. Warrants? Since when? Not with ICE.

I can't for the life of me understand why in this crisis anyone would try to lull people or mock their very real sense of danger.

"There's not enough government employees to round everyone up?" Since when was "everyone" rounded up in any authoritarian horror show? Not in Fascist Italy. Not in Nazi Germany. Not in Pinochet's Chile. So what? How many detainees would be OK with you? How many people need to be disappeared before it will be OK with you if people are fearful?

If you feel safe and secure, good for you, but don't put others in danger by downplaying the very real dangers and dismissing people's fears.

I also remember a video of woman with her husband and Secret Service came to her house asking questions about online posts. I think it was on X.

The guy asked things like, "Do you go to protests?" "Do you have any guns?"

Seriously. They are absolutely evil. If they want to get us - they will.

Trump's biggest asset among the common folk is not the crowds that cheer him, but the people who say nothing at all.

I won’t shut up.

They kept an immense amount of data of every private citizen they could. They had so much data, in fact, that their "state security (Stasi) " apparatus drowned under the weight of information they had collect6ed. After socialism fell in the DDR, their citizens were allowed to look up whatever the state had collected on them. People that had never considered themselves active dissidents were amazed to find huge dossiers amassed on them. People in the DDR knew perfectly well about how their State was watching them, and nowhere near a majority of them dared to be open about their views until the regime was about to collapse. In the States, these days, although the technology is far more advanced, the numbers of the opposition are well over 50% of the population. No regime can follow up on a number of that magnitude. What they can do is make examples of a few, and thus hope to instill fear in the rest of us, but that is about it. We have to watch for that, and not let them get away with it.

Sounds great. I wonder how?

There are signs all over the Métro in Paris, the U-Bahn in Berlin, I suspect in the Tube in London as well. They refer to bombs left in gym bags, but the posters could refer to ordinary citizens seeing or hearing about creeping measure to restrict and abolish liberty cut by cut: "If you see something, say something." City council meeting? Go. Say something. Town Hall being held by ANYBODY? Go. Say something. Have a local newspaper? Write them a letter. If they don't publish it, write them another, and get everyone you know who feels the same way to do the same thing. One person? You'll get squashed. A solid group of dedicated people? Not so easily.

But for some like me I turn fear into Anger. Anger I control.

…and he’s got a whole new bag of tricks.

I'm not exagerrating. This is it. We stop them in 2026, or we don;t stop them.

speaking out because this regime is a danger to the entire planet. Trump is a malignant narcissist and psychopath showing clear signs of dementia, there are no guardrails around him, and he has control of enough weaponry to destroy the planet. We won't be any safer if we don't speak out.

We need those people fighting the regime directly, from the judges trying to rein in Trump's lawlessness to the protesters confronting ICE, to know they have support and are appreciated.

if it comes to such things, "DailyKos" will be a much bigger target before anyone bothers to think of DU,
just because of the number of participants---
(other than for the little troll maggots whom our MIRs eliminate mostly after their first posts---
and which I still regret that I rarely ever am able to read, other than 'post deleted' LOL!)

I remember when DU was targeted so badly on the election day that Hilary lost. It took a long time for them to get the site back up. I know it was bad-actors, but still, DU is known.

They'd lock me up in about 5 seconds!

We’re NOT safe anywhere.

That’s why we must NOT Give up.

Don’t hide. I’ll stand beside you,

hunted.. " .. I thought.. what if they got a load of what we say about them on DU".

EarlG had a post about that once a little while ago, because someone else asked this question, but I can't remember details.. he did say something about that's why they're on FB.. so we can get in touch IF anything happens.

I think that's what I remember.. Could be not entirely accurate.. can't swear to it.

but DU does self-moderate - I think any outright threats for example would be flagged

but in the end, fascists target everyone

Back in the early days, DU had a running joke about Agent Mike. My cousin used to take the battery out of her Tracfone when not using it so the government could not track her. When cable TV started, people worried the government would use it to see in our homes or listen in. There was a whole thing about satellites that were so good they could read the print off your book if you sat by a window. These concerns, warranted or not, have been around awhile.

Technology being what it is, I would expect if they don't know our addresses, they could within an hour or so if motivated. Not just DU, but everything communicated everywhere. In times past, we learned to live with the reality because our government didn't abuse it much. Now.... well all bets are off.