WHYAREWEALLCAPS

Sauer later argued the threat of prosecution could have a chilling effect on future presidents’ decisions, saying they would need to look over their shoulder and ask, “Am I going to jail for this?” when making controversial decisions.

That’s exactly the fucking point, you chode! The president should be weighing that consequence.

The finger guns scene from The Losers comes to mind.

Pairs well with this - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-truth-social-dictatorship/

Those are not directly relevant to what this think tank is doing, which is what I was replying to. The think tank has broken no laws, so there is no crime to be pursued.

Because no one has committed a crime?

Evangelical Christianity is a death cult dedicated to the end of humanity just so they think they’ll be able to say “I told you so!”.

If they find your coded diary, they are just going to torture you until you reveal how to decipher it if they have even a remote reason to suspect you. Everyone thinks they’re a tough guy until they’re waterboarded or they have their fingernails or teeth pulled out with a pair of channel locks. Everyone breaks under torture. The idea that someone can last until they’re killed is a Hollywood fantasy for action films.

The idea that governments are going to expend valuable resources like learned individuals or AI to crack some individual’s code is just Hollywood thinking. If you’re a suspect, the government will monitor you. If you do anything to make them up their suspicion, they will bring you in. They aren’t going to spend untold amounts of money deciphering every suspect’s diaries or writings. They’ll just torture it out of you, either physically(fastest) or mentally.

And let’s just put this out there - if some desperate person fingered you for being whatever, having anything written in code is as good as being guilty to them. You will not return to your previous life. At best you’ll be released and monitored till the government tires of you or it falls. The latter is no guarantee it will end. Just because the government might be replaced doesn’t mean that those taking over will view any more favorably. After all, if you were deemed to be a security threat before, what makes you think they won’t take that to heart. Once deemed a security threat you will always be a security threat, even to those who you may identify with.

I think you’re overestimating what governments like this have. What is more likely is that the government will just snatch up someone who knows the the made up language, torture it out of them, and then go from there. Far less resource intensive than having departments to decipher coded language.

It’d be over in an instant for the lucky ones.

It really doesn’t to businesses. Many places I’ve worked didn’t upgrade the OS until they did a hardware refresh.