“Every time I let the government make a choice for me, I give up a little more of my freedom. I become more dependent and reliant on government to manage my life. I am right where the Socialists want me to be – perpetually dependent on them.” -J.D. Pendry
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George Orwell. 1984. New York: Plume, [1949] 2003. 323 pages.In the kind of horrifying coincidence that surely would have prompted one of his more acerbic essays, the news that various U.S. government surveillance agencies have been gathering data from millions of citizens’ phones, email accounts, and web searches broke during the week of the 64th publication anniversary of George Orwell’s 1984. As the news reports poured in, and as sales of 1984 surged by an astonishing 6,884 percent, a friend asked me whether the PRISM story strikes me as more Orwellian or more Kafkaesque.
My response? We’d better hope it’s Kafkaesque.
No one wants to inhabit a Franz Kafka novel. But the surveillance states he describes do have one thing going for them—incompetence. In Kafka’s stories, important forms get lost, permits are unattainable, and bureaucrats fail to do their jobs. Like the main character in Kafka’s unfinished story, “The Castle,” if you were trapped in Kafka’s world you could live your whole life doing nothing but waiting for a permit. But at least you could live. Incompetence creates a little space.
What is terrifying about Orwell’s 1984 is the complete competence of the surveillance state. Winston Smith begins the novel by believing he is in an awful, but Kafkaesque world where there is still some slippage in the state’s absolute control, and still some room for private action. Winston says that Oceania’s world of telescreens and Thought Police means that there are “always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed—no escape.” But he follows that by saying, “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull.” He also believes that while the diary he keeps will inevitably be discovered, the small alcove in his apartment where he writes his diary puts him “out of the range of the telescreen.”
Since 9-11-01 we have been subjected to more and more loss of freedom through the government’s intrusion into our lives.
These intrusions are done in the name of security. There be terrorists here and there and everywhere.
How many terrorist attacks have occurred in the USA since 9-11?
The number is pretty low. And it has nothing to do with the NSA, or the FBI’s surveillance of Americans.
The scandals that keep coming out of Washington are proof that their agenda is to kill liberty in this country.
Didn’t Obama say that the “war on terrorism is over” in one of his hundreds of speeches? If the war on terrorism is over, then there is absolutely no reason for the government’s overreach into our lives.
Remember candidate Obama in 2007? The then candidate gave a foreign policy speech denouncing exactly what this Administration has done. In fact, they’ve expanded the liberty crushing agenda that Bush pulled with the Patriot Act. Here’s what he said then:
I guess the joke’s on us.
Power corrupts absolutely.
Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the government has expanded its powers immensely. The TSA is the most overbearing and useless organization ever created in this country. They violate our Fourth Amendment rights every time we get into an airport to board a plane. They search 90 year old ladies in wheelchairs under the guise of not profiling Muslims. Guess what morons? Muslim men and women in the age group of 20-40 are the threat. Not some old lady in a wheelchair.
Now we find the IRS targeting certain groups that call themselves the Tea Party, along with other conservative groups against big government, or just wanting to teach the Constitution. Why is that? What end does this government seek?
Control.
This Administration has gone after the First Amendment by targeting the Tea Party and other Conservative groups through the IRS. They have tapped the phones of Americans violating the Fourth Amendment, and they have been going after guns in a vain attempt at taking away our divine right to life, and liberty, by attacking the Second Amendment.
It’s about controlling the masses so that they can enrich themselves and screw the rest of us.
All under the guise of security, or to “protect the children” from harm. If they really wanted to protect the children, then there would be no more gun free zones, and every school in America would have armed staff to stop any idiot that tried to harm them.
Fighting terrorism in America, what a false flag that is.
They keep the stupid people scared in order to run roughshod over the rest of us that know better.
Here’s an interesting article from the NY Times, the fish wrap of record, but they changed it so it wouldn’t be so damning to their messiah.
The editorial originally declared that the Obama “administration has lost all credibility” as a result of the recently revealed news that the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been secretly collecting call data from American users of Verizon under the authority of the Patriot Act.
The media has been complicit in this whole charade with their idolizing of Obama and their complete lack of integrity. If they had been doing their job from the start, then Obama probably wouldn’t have been elected in the first place, never mind a second time.
I apologize for being all over the map on this, but it really pisses me off.
At any rate, it’s still a decent article for this rag.
Within hours of the disclosure that federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.
Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability.
The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.
The Obama campaign played a big role in a liberal onslaught that far pre-dated Citizens United.
The White House insists President Obama is “outraged” by the “inappropriate” targeting and harassment of conservative groups. If true, it’s a remarkable turnaround for a man who helped pioneer those tactics.
On Aug. 21, 2008, the conservative American Issues Project ran an ad highlighting ties between candidate Obama and Bill Ayers, formerly of the Weather Underground. The Obama campaign and supporters were furious, and they pressured TV stations to pull the ad—a common-enough tactic in such ad spats.
What came next was not common. Bob Bauer, general counsel for the campaign (and later general counsel for the White House), on the same day wrote to the criminal division of the Justice Department, demanding an investigation into AIP, “its officers and directors,” and its “anonymous donors.” Mr. Bauer claimed that the nonprofit, as a 501(c)(4), was committing a “knowing and willful violation” of election law, and wanted “action to enforce against criminal violations.”
AIP gave Justice a full explanation as to why it was not in violation. It said that it operated exactly as liberal groups like Naral Pro-Choice did. It noted that it had disclosed its donor, Texas businessman Harold Simmons. Mr. Bauer’s response was a second letter to Justice calling for the prosecution of Mr. Simmons. He sent a third letter on Sept. 8, again smearing the “sham” AIP’s “illegal electoral purpose.”
Also on Sept. 8, Mr. Bauer complained to the Federal Election Commission about AIP and Mr. Simmons. He demanded that AIP turn over certain tax documents to his campaign (his right under IRS law), then sent a letter to AIP further hounding it for confidential information (to which he had no legal right).
…since the People’s Republic of Kalifornia legislature is filled with a bunch of morons that think this is a good idea, here’s an expert in the field telling you like it is.
A firearm examiner dispels the myths of these common gun-ban schemes being pushed in states throughout the nation.
by C. Rodney James, Ph.D.
As an independent firearm examiner, the fact that I am paid by prosecution, defense or an individual makes no difference. I work for science. My job is to find out what happened. As one who works with law enforcement, I want the bad guys punished. I also want to see the innocent freed and the law-abiding citizen unmolested by government. As a taxpayer, I want my taxes spent wisely.
Working for a government subcontractor, I personally watched millions of dollars frittered away through bureaucratic ineptitude, always with the best of “stated” intentions. Living through this made a lasting impression. With the proposed schemes of microstamping and ammunition coding, I see a plan to destroy the American ammunition industry while invigorating crime from the organized level down to the street thug.
With microstamping and bullet serialization, we face the latest schemes to evolve from what has previously been referred to as “Ballistic Fingerprinting.” This idea was to create a databank of images of the rifling striae, or marks, on fired test bullets as well as breech face signatures impressions and firing-pin impressions on a fired cartridge case for all new semi-auto handguns—and possibly all new guns—sold in the United States. The idea would be to include these images for comparison with crime-scene ammunition evidence entered into the current computer system using the Integrated Ballistic Identification System IBIS, which is the actual hardware and software system used under the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network NIBIN.
With IBIS/NIBIN as it now stands, the computers do a rough comparison of bullet and breech-face characteristics with those in the crime-evidence database and select images within the general “class characteristic” range, leaving the firearm examiner to look for a potential match of individual characteristics. If there is a probable match, the actual fired evidence is requested for a microscopic comparison to a suspected crime firearm.
…and anyone with a brain can figure this out. I guess that leaves out liberal idiots. Here’s a report that comes from the Congressional Research Service basically stating the obvious. At least to those of us who can use our brain housing group for something other than a hat rack.
There’s no guarantee new regulations will prevent another tragedy.
That’s the logical, if grim, conclusion to be drawn from a new Congressional Research Service Report on “Public Mass Shootings in the United States.” CRS strives to be studiously neutral, so they’re not going to put it quite like that.
Instead, the report’s authors say things like “the utility of widely employed preventive measures in these areas [law enforcement and public health] to fight public mass shootings is far from clear.”
As the Daily Beast’s Megan McCardle observed in December, “it is beyond horrible to suggest that even a small number of attacks are largely unavoidable. I don’t like saying it. Unfortunately, I think it’s true.” The tragic fact is, there’s not a great deal that public policy can do to avert spree shootings.
Still, it’s worth asking, as CRS does, “what are the parameters of this threat?” The report defines “public mass shootings” as incidents involving four or more deaths and “gunmen who select victims somewhat indiscriminately,” excluding drug trafficking, gang activity and terrorism.
Fair warning, my crude ass is on display in the following.
He continues to use the 40% of all gun purchases take place without a background check. That bogus statistic was taken from decades ago prior to the background check being mandatory and it’s not even a survey that can be considered scientific.
Yet, time and time again, this tyrannical asshole keeps spouting lies to further his agenda. I am tired of this lying piece of shit. I can’t believe that Americans are so fucking stupid as to elect this asshole twice, when all he does is blame shit on other people, lie, take vacations, golf. He continues to be a colossal failure and has yet to do his fucking job.
If you voted for this twinkle toed cock sucker, then I blame your dumb ass for screwing over the greatest country on earth and turning it into a shit hole.
President Obama still has not submitted a budget, but between his vacations he is now back out campaigning for his gun control ideas. During remarks he delivered moments ago, the president took a harsh, lecturing tone as he once again claimed that 40% of all gun purchases in America take place without any background check.
Everyone who purchases a firearm in a retail or licensed resale setting must undergo a background check. This is true whether the purchase is made in a brick and mortar store, at a gun show, or via a licensed online gun retailer.
The president’s claim that 40% of all gun sales fall outside the national background check system is based on a single survey of 251 people done two decades ago. The federal background check system did not even become mandatory until 1994.
John Fund shot down the 40% statistic back in January.
If that alone didn’t make the number invalid, the federal survey simply asked buyers if they thought they were buying from a licensed firearms dealer. While all Federal Firearm Licensees do background checks, only those perceived as being FFLs were counted. Yet, there is much evidence that survey respondents who went to the smallest FFLs, especially the “kitchen table” types, had no idea that the dealer was actually “licensed.” Many buyers seemed to think that only “brick and mortar” stores were licensed dealers, and so the survey underestimating the number of sales covered by the checks.
Another reason for the high number is that it includes guns transferred as inheritances or as gifts from family members. Even President Obama’s background proposal excludes almost all of those transfers.
Via Meadia readers know that the most important political battle in America today isn’t the much-ballyhooed battle for the soul of the GOP. It is the blue civil war, pitting key elements of the Democratic coalition against one another as the old social model fails and the growth curve of rising blue model costs runs up against fiscal limits. Blue model policies, whatever their merits, don’t generate the revenue that can support blue model institutions and methods, and when those shortfalls appear, the coalition divides. It’s happened in Wisconsin, it’s happened in Indiana; it’s happened in Michigan and it is happening in California.
The Battle of San Diego is now in full swing. Last summer, voters there approved Prop. B, a ballot measure to reform a pension system whose cost had quintupled in 12 years, eating up revenue for other activities. As politicians struggled to pay off the pension obligations, libraries closed their doors and roads deteriorated. Voters had enough. No longer would they accept service cuts (or tax hikes) to pay to keep unionized public employees in the lifestyle to which they had grown accustomed.
The unions are striking back. A few weeks ago, the Public Employment Relations Board, a quasi-judicial administrative agency for public employees, ruled that “the city failed to negotiate in good faith with its public employee unions before Proposition B was placed on the ballot,” as a local news station reported. In other words, unions believe they should have veto power over which options are put before the voters. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith was not impressed:
“We’re not gonna back down one iota, I can tell you that,” he said. “Because the people do have a right under direct democracy to bypass the city council, to bypass the state legislature, to bypass the labor unions, and to bypass PERB. This is a constitutional right, no different than the first amendment.”
You can thank Congress and Obama for taking away your freedom of speech and Obama signed this in secrecy.
It is time to rise up people. Why is the MSM not reporting on this?
They are taking away our rights one by one and then when they are all gone then what?
Are you going to be a sheep and go along with this shit?
It is time to fight back against the slow creeping destruction of our basic liberties. Freedom is in the balance.
