When silence doesn't mean consent
Several decades from now. . .
Following the disastrous presidency of Manuel Lopez, the Flat Earth Party ceded control of the presidency, senate and house to the Social Justice party for eight years. In their time the SJs managed to close the debtor prisons, restore fire and rescue services to most of the country, but were unable to execute the fiscal discipline to pay down the debt.
Citizens of the United States were looking for an answer, a leader, someone that could deal with crime, drugs, supply chain poverty and the brain drain as professionals sought to leave the country for opportunities in Canada, Europe and Latin America. The perilous times seemed custom made for the campaign of Jason Parkland, rising Flat Earth star.
Rutherford Beto Hayes, shook his head back and forth, "You can't mean that, he's a reality TV personality, not an experienced politician. And he is certainly not a constitutionalist."
Jacques Tremblay replied, "Safety over Freedom. We're in danger every day of being attacked by down los and have nots. They don't have anything, so they want what we've got; animals from shithole counties."
The autodrive whirred as it decelerated approaching Jacques' compartment, a former shipping container converted into a nano home.
"Tell you what," Jacques continued. "we can pick this discussion back up tomorrow. Say hi to Traveler for me."
The two men never reached agreement, but in some sense Jacques won, Jason Parkland, swept into office with 54% of citizen votes. Like a well oiled machine he roared into office, continuing the tradition of the eight presidents before him, he moved quickly to consolidate even more strongman/iron woman power into his office.
The country, even those who voted against him were kind of wait and see. Yes, POTUS 52 might weaken the constitution, especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments, but the country was in a mess, something had to be done.
First to go was the Digital Assistant Privacy Act, signature legislation of the Social Justice Party. A blanket FISA required cloud providers to pass Digital Assistant network traffic through the Ministry of Truth and Justice, ostensible to screen for invading caravans, drugs, crime, undocumented aliens, and the crime of homelessness, a scourge sweeping our nation.
Some members of the liberal press speculated it was an attempt at thought control after all if you monitor the Digital Assistants in cars, smart phones, smart house systems there is almost nothing your government doesn't know about you. Sure there was the occasional techie running Freenix and using Mycroft assistants that could avoid the sweep, but they were few and far between. For people like Jacques Tremblay, the convenience and order trumped any loss of privacy, "Safety over Freedom". Then winter storm Guyana happened; thundersnow, Arctic bomb, snownados, king tide with a risen ocean, call your perfect storm and raise you one. Over 130,000 deaths in the piedmont and coastal areas of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina alone.
"Come on Jacques, the storm will hit in a few hours, we need to evacuate," said Rutherford with Traveler sitting next to him in the autodrive Continental.
"No you go," said Jacques, "my nano is a shipping container, no storm has a chance against that."
Rutherford shook his head and directed the car, "Resume route."
President Jason Parkland was meeting with his cabinet. "Sir we need to deploy the TechWall. All those refugees are going to overwhelm the surrounding states. We'll have to deal with criminals, drugs, disease, most of them are have nots."
Parkland narrowed his eyes and thought to himself, "Moron, have nots can't afford self-drives, they are all stuck." But then he thought some more, "But Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina are 3 states I didn't carry in the election. The census is this year, if they have less population, they will have less representation, they will be less of a problem."
He looked over at his Chief of Staff, "Is the list ready? (the list of all vehicle IDs with Digital Assistants that overheard speech critical of the administration on multiple occasions.)
"Yes, Mr. President, it is already loaded in the TechWall. At your command, we can safely force their vehicles to the side of the highway and shut them off. That will give the rest of the cars less traffic and a better chance to evacuate. And for the ones that are culled, they were warned to pack some food, water and an extra flashlight."
POTUS' soul, long since seared by a life of winning over all else, was not bothered at the thought of killing about a hundred thousand US Citizens. His brain flashed to a scene in the movie Under Siege,
"They never liked me anyway."
"Their sure going to love you now."
And he issued a quiet chuckle, and nodded.
Chief of Staff, said quietly, "All you have to do to activate the TechWall is declare a National Emergency."
Following the disastrous presidency of Manuel Lopez, the Flat Earth Party ceded control of the presidency, senate and house to the Social Justice party for eight years. In their time the SJs managed to close the debtor prisons, restore fire and rescue services to most of the country, but were unable to execute the fiscal discipline to pay down the debt.
Citizens of the United States were looking for an answer, a leader, someone that could deal with crime, drugs, supply chain poverty and the brain drain as professionals sought to leave the country for opportunities in Canada, Europe and Latin America. The perilous times seemed custom made for the campaign of Jason Parkland, rising Flat Earth star.
Rutherford Beto Hayes, shook his head back and forth, "You can't mean that, he's a reality TV personality, not an experienced politician. And he is certainly not a constitutionalist."
Jacques Tremblay replied, "Safety over Freedom. We're in danger every day of being attacked by down los and have nots. They don't have anything, so they want what we've got; animals from shithole counties."
The autodrive whirred as it decelerated approaching Jacques' compartment, a former shipping container converted into a nano home.
"Tell you what," Jacques continued. "we can pick this discussion back up tomorrow. Say hi to Traveler for me."
The two men never reached agreement, but in some sense Jacques won, Jason Parkland, swept into office with 54% of citizen votes. Like a well oiled machine he roared into office, continuing the tradition of the eight presidents before him, he moved quickly to consolidate even more strongman/iron woman power into his office.
The country, even those who voted against him were kind of wait and see. Yes, POTUS 52 might weaken the constitution, especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments, but the country was in a mess, something had to be done.
First to go was the Digital Assistant Privacy Act, signature legislation of the Social Justice Party. A blanket FISA required cloud providers to pass Digital Assistant network traffic through the Ministry of Truth and Justice, ostensible to screen for invading caravans, drugs, crime, undocumented aliens, and the crime of homelessness, a scourge sweeping our nation.
Some members of the liberal press speculated it was an attempt at thought control after all if you monitor the Digital Assistants in cars, smart phones, smart house systems there is almost nothing your government doesn't know about you. Sure there was the occasional techie running Freenix and using Mycroft assistants that could avoid the sweep, but they were few and far between. For people like Jacques Tremblay, the convenience and order trumped any loss of privacy, "Safety over Freedom". Then winter storm Guyana happened; thundersnow, Arctic bomb, snownados, king tide with a risen ocean, call your perfect storm and raise you one. Over 130,000 deaths in the piedmont and coastal areas of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina alone.
"Come on Jacques, the storm will hit in a few hours, we need to evacuate," said Rutherford with Traveler sitting next to him in the autodrive Continental.
"No you go," said Jacques, "my nano is a shipping container, no storm has a chance against that."
Rutherford shook his head and directed the car, "Resume route."
President Jason Parkland was meeting with his cabinet. "Sir we need to deploy the TechWall. All those refugees are going to overwhelm the surrounding states. We'll have to deal with criminals, drugs, disease, most of them are have nots."
Parkland narrowed his eyes and thought to himself, "Moron, have nots can't afford self-drives, they are all stuck." But then he thought some more, "But Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina are 3 states I didn't carry in the election. The census is this year, if they have less population, they will have less representation, they will be less of a problem."
He looked over at his Chief of Staff, "Is the list ready? (the list of all vehicle IDs with Digital Assistants that overheard speech critical of the administration on multiple occasions.)
"Yes, Mr. President, it is already loaded in the TechWall. At your command, we can safely force their vehicles to the side of the highway and shut them off. That will give the rest of the cars less traffic and a better chance to evacuate. And for the ones that are culled, they were warned to pack some food, water and an extra flashlight."
POTUS' soul, long since seared by a life of winning over all else, was not bothered at the thought of killing about a hundred thousand US Citizens. His brain flashed to a scene in the movie Under Siege,
"They never liked me anyway."
"Their sure going to love you now."
And he issued a quiet chuckle, and nodded.
Chief of Staff, said quietly, "All you have to do to activate the TechWall is declare a National Emergency."
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