A Conspiracy Primer
"I must frankly confess that the foreign policy of the United States since the termination of hostilities has reminded me, sometimes irresistibly, of the attitude of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm II ... It is characteristic of the military mentality that non-human factors (atom bombs, strategic bases, weapons of all sorts, the possession of raw materials, etc.) are held essential, while the human being, his desires and thought - in short, the psychological factors - are considered as unimportant and secondary ... The general insecurity that goes hand in hand with this results in the sacrifice of the citizen's civil rights to the supposed welfare of the state."
–Albert Einstein, The Military Mentality
I am not a conspiracy theorist. Sometimes people label me that way. Many of my friends get labeled that way, and some of them might be – but some of them clearly aren't. In order to know for sure, we would have to know what is meant by the term.
–Albert Einstein, The Military Mentality
I am not a conspiracy theorist. Sometimes people label me that way. Many of my friends get labeled that way, and some of them might be – but some of them clearly aren't. In order to know for sure, we would have to know what is meant by the term.
Denouncing NSA Surveillance Isn’t Enough -- We Need the Power to Stop It
For more than a month, outrage has been profuse in response to news about NSA surveillance and other evidence that all three branches of the U.S. government are turning Uncle Sam into Big Brother.
Now what?
Continuing to expose and denounce the assaults on civil liberties is essential. So is supporting Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers -- past, present and future. But those vital efforts are far from sufficient.
For a moment, walk a mile in the iron-heeled shoes of the military-industrial-digital complex. Its leaders don’t like clarity about what they’re doing, and they certainly don’t like being exposed or denounced -- but right now the surveillance state is in no danger of losing what it needs to keep going: _power._
The huge digi-tech firms and the government have become mutual tools for gaining humungous profits and tightening political control. The partnerships are deeply enmeshed in military and surveillance realms, whether cruise missiles and drones or vast metadata records and capacities to squirrel away trillions of emails.
Now what?
Continuing to expose and denounce the assaults on civil liberties is essential. So is supporting Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers -- past, present and future. But those vital efforts are far from sufficient.
For a moment, walk a mile in the iron-heeled shoes of the military-industrial-digital complex. Its leaders don’t like clarity about what they’re doing, and they certainly don’t like being exposed or denounced -- but right now the surveillance state is in no danger of losing what it needs to keep going: _power._
The huge digi-tech firms and the government have become mutual tools for gaining humungous profits and tightening political control. The partnerships are deeply enmeshed in military and surveillance realms, whether cruise missiles and drones or vast metadata records and capacities to squirrel away trillions of emails.
Privacy, Security and Sanity
What I keep longing to hear, in the hemorrhaging national debate about Edward Snowden, whistleblowing and the NSA, is some acknowledgment of what the word “security” actually means, and what role — if any — the government should play in creating it.
"You can’t have 100 percent security and also have 100 percent privacy."
A moment of silence, please, for the dying patriarchy. That, of course, was how President Obama explained it to the American public shortly after the spy scandal hit the fan. When did we become “the children” in our relationship with the government, irrelevant to its day-to-day operations, utterly powerless as we stand in its massive, protecting shadow?
If you want to be safe, boys and girls, we need to collect and store data about all the phone calls you make and all the emails you send, along with the phone calls and emails of nearly everyone else on the planet as well. This is just how it works. Privacy is nice, but the terrorists are out there, plotting stuff even as we speak. And that’s really all you need to know — that we’re working round the clock to stop them and keep you safe.
"You can’t have 100 percent security and also have 100 percent privacy."
A moment of silence, please, for the dying patriarchy. That, of course, was how President Obama explained it to the American public shortly after the spy scandal hit the fan. When did we become “the children” in our relationship with the government, irrelevant to its day-to-day operations, utterly powerless as we stand in its massive, protecting shadow?
If you want to be safe, boys and girls, we need to collect and store data about all the phone calls you make and all the emails you send, along with the phone calls and emails of nearly everyone else on the planet as well. This is just how it works. Privacy is nice, but the terrorists are out there, plotting stuff even as we speak. And that’s really all you need to know — that we’re working round the clock to stop them and keep you safe.
Backdoor Bill Gates builds bypasses for NSA's benefit
The Guardian yesterday released another revelation from the trove of top secret documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Not to be outdone by Google and other tech titans’ participation in the illegal NSA wiretapping program codenamed PRISM, Microsoft was revealed to have actually built software to be more compliant with NSA and FBI eavesdropping.
According to new revelations, Microsoft took numerous steps to assist the CIA, FBI and NSA in gathering information on its customers in what the NSA document refers to as a “team sport.” Microsoft engineered its popular webmail service Outlook and it's prior incarnation Hotmail to provide the NSA with pre-encryption access.
According to new revelations, Microsoft took numerous steps to assist the CIA, FBI and NSA in gathering information on its customers in what the NSA document refers to as a “team sport.” Microsoft engineered its popular webmail service Outlook and it's prior incarnation Hotmail to provide the NSA with pre-encryption access.
An economic divide is growing in our cities
What is the plan for our nation’s cities? Are they simply to simmer with a growing divide between the affluent financial district and the impoverished slums? Will another generation be lost while we wait for the inevitable explosions? The gulf between the realities of our cities and the foolishness of our politics has seldom been wider.
Consider gun violence. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Chicago surpassed 200 homicide deaths for the year. On that weekend alone, 10 people were killed and several dozen wounded in gun violence, including 5- and 7-year-old boys. The only grim salvation in the savage toll is that the city’s year-to-date homicide rate is rising at a somewhat slower rate than last year.
Consider gun violence. Over the Fourth of July weekend, Chicago surpassed 200 homicide deaths for the year. On that weekend alone, 10 people were killed and several dozen wounded in gun violence, including 5- and 7-year-old boys. The only grim salvation in the savage toll is that the city’s year-to-date homicide rate is rising at a somewhat slower rate than last year.
Book Review: The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America
The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed
America
James T. Patterson
When I think of “the Sixties,” I think of two dates: 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 1968, the year of Tet and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. James T. Patterson, author of the critically acclaimed The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America, posits that what we call the Sixties really began in 1965, the year after Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in his own right by a landslide.
James T. Patterson
When I think of “the Sixties,” I think of two dates: 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 1968, the year of Tet and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. James T. Patterson, author of the critically acclaimed The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America, posits that what we call the Sixties really began in 1965, the year after Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in his own right by a landslide.
What’s good for the planet is good for America
“…[I]ndividuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state.”
The International Tribunal at Nuremberg
“[A] supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers … is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries”
David Rockefeller at the June 1991 Bilderberg meeting in Baden Germany
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is among the most powerful, and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 134 nation-states, including the U.S., have ceded to its vast authority and powers…. The central operating principal of the WTO is that commercial interests should supersede all others.
Debi Barker and Jerry Mander – INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT—The World Trade Organization: Global Government For The New Millennium ?
“Democratic world government is possible in the near future now ….” George Monbiot – The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order.
Of Treaties, Trade and Treason
The International Tribunal at Nuremberg
“[A] supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers … is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries”
David Rockefeller at the June 1991 Bilderberg meeting in Baden Germany
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is among the most powerful, and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 134 nation-states, including the U.S., have ceded to its vast authority and powers…. The central operating principal of the WTO is that commercial interests should supersede all others.
Debi Barker and Jerry Mander – INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT—The World Trade Organization: Global Government For The New Millennium ?
“Democratic world government is possible in the near future now ….” George Monbiot – The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order.
Of Treaties, Trade and Treason
Critical points in the Trayvon Martin case
As Yogi Berra once famously said, "It's deja vu all over again." That's precisely the feeling I get about the trial of George Zimmerman, who prosecutors have charged with second-degree murder in the February 26, 2012 death of 17-year-old black youth Trayvon Martin. It's the Johnny Cochran Magic Glove Circus Part 2 and, I fear, with the same ultimate outcome.
There's a few key points that need stressing, as I believe they speak to the heart of this case and why it's painfully clear to anyone with half a brain in their heads that Zimmerman, like O.J. Simpson, appears to be a ruthless, unrepentant killer.
Critical fact #1: Zimmerman was an armed adult, in a car, who was instructed by a 911 dispatcher to stay put and not pursue Martin, an unarmed kid. In his own statement to police the night of the shooting Zimmerman wrote, “The dispatcher told me not to follow the suspect and that an officer was in route.” His attorneys can muddy the waters with all their 'if it don't fit you must acquit'-like bullshit, but this fact renders the claim of self-defense absurd.
There's a few key points that need stressing, as I believe they speak to the heart of this case and why it's painfully clear to anyone with half a brain in their heads that Zimmerman, like O.J. Simpson, appears to be a ruthless, unrepentant killer.
Critical fact #1: Zimmerman was an armed adult, in a car, who was instructed by a 911 dispatcher to stay put and not pursue Martin, an unarmed kid. In his own statement to police the night of the shooting Zimmerman wrote, “The dispatcher told me not to follow the suspect and that an officer was in route.” His attorneys can muddy the waters with all their 'if it don't fit you must acquit'-like bullshit, but this fact renders the claim of self-defense absurd.