Donald Trump said he would 'close the Internet'
By brooklynbadboy
2016/07/22
I want to remind people of Donald Trump's words and what it means in the larger context of what is at stake in this election. This is from December of last year:
"We're losing a lot of people because of the Internet and we have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas closing that Internet up in some way. ... "
What Donald Trump is saying here is that he would be willing to use Federal power to order the private companies that own and control most of the basic infrastructure to curb free speech in the name of security. He is being very explicit here about what he believes are the scope of the power of presidency, which is essentially limitless. This is not unusual in right wing populist circles, but I want to take a few moments to place it in a broader context.
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/22/1550852/-Donald-Trump-said-he-would-close-the-Internet
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Mr Trump laid out a rough plan for stopping the influence of Isis.
"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet," Trump said. "We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening.
“We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that internet up in some ways.
Political talk, nothing to worry about.
Other countries do banding all the time. For example I was band from China’s internet for talking about the man-made islands. I brought up the point that China’s claim using ancestral rights don’t hold water. In US Supreme court cases for ancestral debt owed to United State bondholders China claimed they were a new nation and therefore not liable for ancestral debt or treaties. If that was true then China should have no claim for the reefs or any of the water rights in that area.
Israel did the same thing to me when they were coming out with the Patriot missiles. I ask if any studies had been done on use the Patriot missiles to defend against “dirty bombs". What would the effect be of blowing up a nuclear dirty bomb over Israel as opposed to letting the bomb hit the ground?
I don’t think Trump is too far out of line here.