There was a time when Americans had a thing called “freedom of speech.” This meant that people could say things without fear of retribution from their government. During those times of yore, this included making absurd statements with no expectation of people believing you. This benighted concept was called “humor” and the individual statements were called “jokes.”
Obviously, this is a thing of the past. A man named Douglass Mackey was arrested on January 26th, 2021 for making jokes online. The specific joke that the Department of Justice (DOJ) says got him in trouble was, according to FBI Agent William F. Sweeney, Jr, when he said people could vote by text. Using very serious and dramatic language, Assistant Director In Charge of the New York FBI Field Office informed the pubic that Mr. Mackey’s clever, and obviously ridiculous, statement interfered with the voting process – in the 2016 presidential election. Yes, you read that right, way back in 2016.
The ruling class is obviously very upset with Mr. Mackey, since they waited an entire election cycle before issuing his warrant. Are they mad because he interfered in their election, or because he allegedly supported the “wrong” candidate? If I were a betting man, I’d say the latter. I would also bet that they waited as long as they did to ensure the former president wouldn’t pardon him. This flies in the face of his record on pardoning supporters who were not wealthy, high ranking officials and/or distantly related to his son-in-law. One must give them credit for their patience, though.
The press release on the DOJ’s own website says this joke, which he “coordinated with others,” amounted to “at least 4,900 unique numbers” texting the number in the clever, albeit obviously fake, voting ad. In government speak, “at least” always means “one more than the number we’re writing, but this makes it look more substantial than it is without technically lying.” Mackey had roughly 58,000 followers on Twitter at the time, and less than 5,000 people attempted to vote by text. We do not know if they did it as a joke, or if they went and voted in person later.
There were 128,838,731 votes cast in that election. Let’s be needlessly generous to the Federal Inquisition and say 5,000 people were utterly stupid enough to attempt to vote by text. Let’s further assume they were all valid, registered voters. Mr. Mackey’s alleged evil campaign of criminal misinformation “stole” less than 1/25,000 of the electorate. Clearly, the man is a menace and must be put behind bars for influencing less than one half of one half of one percent of the voting populace. Well, less than that, but I got tired of typing it. You get the idea.
You may be wondering why you should care. He was, after all, involved in a software company (Clearview AI) that was developing facial recognition technology supposedly used to doxx rightwingers. He, in this writer’s honest opinion, is a traitorous scumbag who worked to destroy consent and free speech. You likely feel no sympathy for his current woes. Nor should you. His comeuppance is sweet and a joy to behold.
What is concerning is that they were willing to wait until Trump was no longer in office to arrest a man for making a joke on the internet to around 58,000 of his followers, 4,901 of which texted a number, likely because they thought it would be funny. Like one of the cultures that influences it, the Deep State firmly believes no slight is small enough to be forgiven. No insult is too petty to not become a grudge.
The Deep State produces and encourages the type of people who would wait until there was no chance of a pardon to take their case to a judge for a warrant. The Deep State produces the type of judge that looked at this case, four years old and an entire election removed, and decided a warrant should be issued for a man who made a joke on the internet. If they are willing to do that to a man who was building software to help them identify and crush dissidents, imagine what they will do to you.
Our overlords have no sense of humor, but a great deal of patience. Statute of limitations are meaningless when it comes to doling out punishment. Be wary, Southern man. They disliked Douglass Mackey. They hate you. Be very careful what you say, where you say it, and to whom you say it.
By the way, how is your OPSEC?
