BLINKEN’S AN IDIOT: Matt Taibbi: Anthony Blinken Raises the Pucker Factor on Dissent: A brief note about disagreement in the blacklist age.

Blinken: “We will hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for President Putin’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory. In support of this commitment, the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce are releasing new guidance on heightened sanctions and export control risks for entities and individuals inside and outside of Russia that support in any way the Kremlin’s sham referenda, purported annexation, and occupation of parts of Ukraine.”

Taibbi: “There’s no way to know what a State Department official might believe meets the definitions of ‘political support,’ support ‘in any way,’ the ‘Kremlin’s sham referenda,’ or any of a half-dozen phrases in that passage. This is why the negative precedent of government watch lists after the PATRIOT Act was important. By making lists, officials can seriously impacting your life without notice or right of appeal. Even if courts later strike down the activity, it may take nearly 20 years to get there, and that’s assuming a) the state discloses enough to make a court challenge possible and b) they abide by any judicial rulings.”

Plus: “The State Department boasted about Putin’s election as both legitimate and the fruit of a long, U.S.-aided effort to build democratic infrastructure in Russia. They described an event heralding a pluralistic future. I leave it to the reader to decide if that constitutes ‘support in any way.'”

That’s different because shut up, peasant.