There were dozens if not hundreds of freepers who permanently left FR after fights over the passage of the PATRIOT ACT,
hyper-nationalistic jingoism at the time swept over the nation, and we’ll be suffering under this oppression for a long long time cause of it.
I remember a lot of people taking flak for same and just being incredulous watching it happen. Some of the discussions were very enlightening and I also recall closely watching dead’s posts at the time - I thought they were prescient. I was still forming my political opinions then and it was though provoking posts like that which set - or helped to set my political beliefs where they are.
Hopefully dead’s ego is sufficiently stroked now...