lic-defender

I'd like to hear more about this, too. I would probably start looking for non-fiction about the Soviet Union and East Germany. My intuition is that the human factor is more important than the spycraft. In other words, how do you know who agrees with you politically? How do you know if you can trust them? They could be an informant for the police.

There's a scene from The Man In The High Castle season 1 where some of the Japanese are trying to figure out if the antique salesman shares their political beliefs. To give an opening, they ask questions sort of in the subject area, but plausibly deniable. He fails the test, but even if he passes, he can't just come straight out. It would be based on subtleties of words, facial expressions, attitude, maybe a joke in response. Even then, he's better off if there's not a Nest or an Alexa recording the whole thing.

Related, I heard about a man who was handing out political brochures on a street in the Soviet Union. Before too long, the police came and took him into custody. To their surprise, the brochures were blank inside. When they asked the man what was going on, he said, "everyone already knows!". But they can't talk about it.

Listen to yourself: "We have to censor all possible communication methods and imprison people for words because jokes about Montenegrins being lazy are going to cause World War 3". "Calling a gun-crazy redneck a gun-crazy redneck is hate speech and subject to a fine of no greater than $5000 or no greater than 30 days in jail".

There is no such thing as "legitimate hate speech" in the US, only speech which is likely to incite imminent lawless action (Brandenburg v Ohio). I'm sorry you either live in a country which will throw you in jail for words, or have been mis-educated about US law and the freedom of speech.

Vernon Blvd and some of the areas closer to Greenpoint are pretty lively, but you're mostly right about the emptiness. Biking through LIC can be kind of spooky (although not actually dangerous), and LIC is where a lot of "fight under abandoned bridge" scenes are filmed in NYC these days.

The M and E trains all go to LIC at Court Square or the station you take the moving sidewalk to. Depending on where the offices are, the N, Q, and R could all be closer than the 7. I feel worse for the renters in Greenpoint or Astoria, where many workers are going to go depending on the office location, than I do for the ones in LIC. Either way, this will hopefully also cause MTA to re-extend the G train to Jackson Heights.