The problem is, the way things have been for the last couple of decades, many of us are not absolutely certain that the Senate would ever convict a sitting president unless it was 2/3rds of the opposite party -- which is pretty rare.
Probably, if a sitting president (regardless of party) assassinated a political rival, the Senate would convict. Probably.
They are almost certainly hyper-partisan Senators (of both parties) who would not convict a president from their own party no matter what.
The reasons for that would be multiple... greed, fear, a weird sense of loyality to the person, or even just a warped view of reality.
For example, if you thought Trump was Hitler 2.0 coming to take over the government and hunt down minorities and LGBTQ people, then you might feel justified in doing anything possible to prevent that -- including assassination.
Wow that sounds pretty scary. I'm sorry you and your family had to endure that. I'm also very sorry about your cousin.
I share some of your concerns about using mRNA technology as an annual preventative solution against COVID and flu. Even though I'm triple Pfizer mRNA vaccinated I'd probably go for a non-mRNA solution going forward (my employer finally dropped their COVID vaccine requirement but maintain an annual flu vaccine requirement).
But it seems to me that mRNA is a fantastic tool for fighting deadly cancers. Without treatment, the patient is absolutely going to die.
I know. My mom died of glioblastoma back in September 2019. The tumor was wrapped around her thalamus so we had very limited treatment options -- at the time the most advanced treatments needed access to the tumor which is hard to do when it's in the center of your brain.
Hang in there MisterDizzy and, since we are on Hacker News here, remember one of the principles of software development -- use the right tool for the right job. For me, right now, that looks like tried and true protein-based vaccines for those annual vaccinations and fancy mRNA platforms for those specialized treatments.
I guess by "safer" you mean "less accessible by the US" and I suppose that is likely "true".
But would you rather be in China and send an anti-Chinese message to your friend via... some app that China allows? Or would you rather be in the US and send an anti-US message to a friend?
Both countries are going to try and snoop that data. Both are going to be successful.
But in which would you feel "safer" -- meaning in which one is the government likely to take action against you?
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/signal-project-2025/