With all the talk about countering SESTA with encrypted email and using various browsers like TOR, etc., doesn't the government possess the ability to un-code these things and find us no matter what we do?  (Someone once mentioned that TOR was created by the NSA, true?)

Just because you use privacy tools doesn’t mean you’re doing anything illegal. I doubt   LE has the $ or time to go looking for individuals talking or looking for sex. After all whats illegal is paying for sex.

Also, take a look at the Cloud act.
It's all looking very "1984".  

just fact.  The government has both the resources and technical capability to capture EVERYTHING we view, collect on the Internet.  The real issue is;  it takes a ton of time to mine and discern anything useful from the sheer volume of data collected.  Before manpower would be assigned to focus on any individual's or organization's processing habits, there must be a very good reason for scrutiny, otherwise valuable resources are wasted.  Our intelligence assets are already stretched pretty thin.  Legally, a search warrant would also be required.

can delve into all our individual data, no matter what we do.  But it can't protect us from Gucifer2.0 or Russian hackers. What's wrong with this picture?

A search warrant is no longer required.  The cloud act just went into effect this past Fri.  
I'm shocked people aren't flipping out on this but they snuck it right by the public.

Gotta love how those tricky pricks snuck in that act into a must approved government spending bill, NOT. They knew exactly what they were doing to make to go along with FOSTA/SESTA. So much for the land of the free.

Exactly. They knew what they were doing by basically coupling FOSTA/SESTA and Cloud act together giving US govt free reign to do as they please.

Just wow. Why doesn't American government just come clean and renounce democracy and freedom?
But the dumbing down of the sheeple is what they have worked decades to get. Guess it worked.... most don't have the intelligence to see the truth.
Or maybe they just lack the individuality to exist as a free being. Maybe they need conformity...
Most can't even muster the attention span to not go comatose at a redlight.

It's only land of free for the super rich and huge corporations.

You'll notice liberal/ socialist (but I repeat myself) vote for these things in droves. We had a nice country until control-freak socialists came to power.

That's a point at the others statement. It's the right pushing the agenda. But that's what right wingers do, point at the other guys and say it's their fault. Because you're trained to do it that way. Bloody idealogues can't see a pragmatic answer if it hits em in the face, because of the indoctrination.  

too busy reading TER reviews and just "missed" their chance at counteracting those hackers.  Yet again, "collecting" data and "analyzing" data are too distinct sets of processes.

I don’t understand why so many say the US is a democracy? We’re a republic. We have rule by laws, not rule by majorities. Popular votes don’t elect presidents, the electoral college does. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with the conversation, or the problems with the way in which our current government operates, only to point out this is not a democracy here. Laws are written by the legislative branch of our governments both federal and state.

as computers are getting better at understanding the context and meaning of emails which they can then mark for further study by a human analyst, thus making the effort more efficient.

democracy - demos / people cratia / power - one man, one vote; power to the people TO SELECT THEIR REPRESENTATIVES
republic - rep (res) / concern publica / the people - a form a government in which power resides in the REPRESENTATIVES of the people and the concern of the government IS the people (not the representatives in it for their own concerns or interests)
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The US and many other modern western nations are DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICS.  
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http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic
"The key difference between a democracy and a republic lies in the limits placed on government by the law, which has implications for minority rights. Both forms of government tend to use a representational system — i.e., citizens vote to elect politicians to represent their interests and form the government. In a republic, a constitution or charter of rights protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it has been elected by a majority of voters. In a "pure democracy," the majority is not restrained in this way and can impose its will on the minority."

I would tend toward Libertarian.  But I can be liberal about letting homeless people shit in the street if it will get me my stress-free sex life from a few weeks ago back.  Some kind of negotiation is in order IMO.