Tag Archives: NSA

Spying on You

The FBI has revised its own rules about how it will use NSA data.  If you have ever had a conversation by phone or email with someone outside our country they can now review your emails, phone calls, and web traffic.   The FBI pretty much admits they were doing this anyhow, but now they claim legal authority to do so.  Basically, if you bought a kids toy in China they can look at all your correspondence.  

Why was there spying on conservatives and the illegal use of the IRS? The fact that both parties condone this intrusion is appalling.  That more than any other reason is a reason to elect a conservative that upholds the letter of the constitution.   I think Trump would like to use this power.  We are 1970’s Soviet Union or 2016’s China.  What you say is monitored.  What you write is monitored and bad things happen to people that make waves against the established money and special interest fed order.

Look around you.  WELCOME TO THE GULAG comrade!!!

 

Of Stupidity, Powerlessness and Politics

Democracy is failing under the Obama administration.  In spite of this country having more people out of work than in the past 36 years, more people living in poverty than every before, more people on food stamps and dependent on the government than ever before a simple project such as the Keystone Pipeline can’t get approved.

A project that will bring jobs to the heartland of the US can’t get approved because Democratic donors don’t want it.  The Obama administration is more worried about politics than helping Americans get jobs and succeed.

A project that will strengthen our ability to help Western Europe stand up to Russia’s incursions and improve our ability to withstand foreign energy incursions is not approved because National Security is less important than getting money for future campaigns.

This one example, supported by the vast majority of informed Americans can’t get approved because Democratic special interests’ money trumps caring about people.  To our current government, violating peoples privacy, using the IRS illegally, letting our people die in Benghazi and destroying jobs is a higher priority than helping America be a better, more prosperous place.  As part of this process the military capability of our country has also been gutted.  The destruction of our democratic process, the brazen disregard for the safety and security Americans is nothing short of treason.  The failure of the Justice Department to provide documents to Congress even after being held in contempt is also treason. Hiding blatant violations of our Constitution guts our democracy.  Why have a democracy is congress has no power?

The vast majority of Americans want more jobs, better choices in healthcare and insurance, and physical security.  The Obama administration has proven through its actions that it has no interest in any of these things.  Their failure to call the first Fort Hood shooting terrorism, even today, make it clear that they are protecting radical Muslim sentiments over the interests of American citizens.    This all adds up to a purposeful destruction of the US economy, its healthcare system, its military and the welfare of its citizens.   They have done more damage to this economy that the 9/11 terrorists ever did.   I can’t identify why they are purposely destroying the United States.  I will say that those who do so are guilty of treason and should be held accountable for that. 

 

Jay Carney’s Soviet Propaganda tells you where their hearts really are.

 

Rome’s burning…. Is is too late?

My name is ….  Actually my name matters not because I am  the last Republican to serve in Congress.  

  • When the Obama administration started to selectively enforce immigration laws, I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started changing Obamacare without Congressional approval I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started using its agencies to persecute those they did not like, I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started using the NSA to listen to everyone’s telephone conversations I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started using the FDA and EPA to create laws not approved by Congress, I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started telling businesses what they had to pay people without Congressional approval I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration implemented Common Core and quit teaching the constitution I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started placing watchers in newsrooms I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration through Homeland Security bought millions of rounds of ammunition I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started using the Obamacare death panels to deny treatment to their enemies I said nothing.
  • When the Bureau of Land Management started killing ranchers I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration started investigating republican Congressmen I said nothing.
  • When the Obama administration forced most republican Congressman out of office I said nothing.
  • When the rule of law, freedom and the US Constitution died I said nothing for by then it was too late.

Got to go,  they are coming for me……

Kimaya Suni — Adopting a Country

     On the road, on the run, Kimaya Suni reflected on the path that had taken her from her hometown just outside of Mumbai, India to this nondescript hotel just outside of Georgetown, KY.    She had worked hard to take the pigeon English of her grade school in India to fluent English where she could compete for the research positions at the NIH.  After school she had stayed on as part of the H1B program and applied for citizenship.  That had been one of the proudest days of her life, the awarding of citizenship.  The ceremony attended by her friends and family brought tears to her eyes as she took the Oath of Citizenship.

     Her mind flashed back to an image of herself playing with her friends, wandering through the streets of Mumbai.  Her parents were of the upper caste and they lived an upper middle class life.  By Indian standards they were wealthy.  Yet, just walking a few blocks from her house would find her in the middle Dharavi of one of Mumbai’s most infamous slums.  The streets were  filled with squalor and multiple brothels lined the edge of the slum.  She had been with one of her friends when two guys, coming out of one of the brothels, tried to grab her and her friend.  What had ensued was a mad dash through the streets and narrow alley ways in order to escape enslavement or worse.  Her friend had run the other way and had not been lucky enough to get away.  Her friend had completely vanished after that.  Had she not been so skinny and managed to squeeze into one of the many small drainage tunnels that littered the landscape she too would have met the same fate.  She had believed the US never had things like that happen.  Now she was beginning to wonder.

    The search for her friend involved the police and many of her parents friends.  The police had always sounded nice but to her 10 year old ears there was something off about how they sounded.   She had always thought they were more involved in not finding her friend than in actually locating her.   It was one of those experiences that shape people.  It had made her a believer in the ideals of America.  Over time, watching the US government, her faith in those ideals had been shaken but still America was a wonderful place, freer than anywhere else in the world.  Even the NSA spying and Edward Snowden had not changed her mind.  Of course being hunted as a fugitive and wild beast was not how she expected the ideals of freedom to be played out.  She now understood how Snowden must have felt.   Moving to Russia is not out of the question.

Obomacare — Kiss Your Old Age Good Bye

Image     Yesterday saw the government taking a huge bow for reaching the 7 million mark in enrollees. Never-mind that over half of those signups came from people who lost the insurance they liked.  Only a third of the signups are among the previously uninsured.  So, the law, designed to insure the 40 plus million of Americans who did not have insurance only insured 2.1 million of those people.  And folks, that is a best case scenario since many of those people have not paid their premium so are really not insured.   Looking at the best case scenario, the program only achieved 5 % of what it was supposed to do.  A 5% success rate is the good news that our government is celebrating. 

So what is Obamacare actually doing or has it done?

 

  1. Taken the free market of 100’s of plans and forced those into just a handful of plans with higher deductibles and copays.
  2. Substantially increased the cost for the majority of Americans, often by 50 to 100 percent.
  3. Increased insurance overhead by over $300 per person with no benefit whatsoever.
  4. Caused an ever increasing number of doctors to plan to withdraw from the system or retire.
  5. Eliminated access through insurance to many of the best hospitals and cancer centers.
  6. Given the government a new way to track every American’s behavior.
  7. Given the government a way to control the behavior of every American.
  8. Proven that the government does not need to go to Congress to change a law it does not like.
  9. Made Congress totally powerless.
  10. Implemented death panels by eliminating expensive care
  11. Start to bankrupt insurance companies.
  12. Proven the AMA and AARP have nothing but their own pocket’s interest.
  13. Destroyed the best healthcare in the world.

If you plan to live a long life, you and I and everyone we know need to get people in place to repeal this thing completely.  It is already a source of oppression, and has already endangered the lives of the people it is supposed to protect.  If you expect your future heart disease, cancer or other debilitating disease to be treated by government run healthcare, think again.  The whole country should march on Washington.  Not a single incumbent should remain in office.  Recall elections for every Senator not up for election should be held.  Obomacare is the loss of freedom, the future of state oppression, and the death of our Constitution.  I don’t know what all it will take to stop this, but if it is not stopped, you can kiss your old age goodbye.

STASI — KGB — NSA

     While the Russians are laughing and mocking President Obama because of his complete impotence and inability to prevent their annexing of the Crimea the President continues to employ the NSA to spy on US Citizens and on the phone calls of complete countries.    He disarms the US and wonders why Russia is grabbing land with no concern about repercussions.  While he completely disregards the constitution’s protections against government intrusion he is powerless to stop that intrusion when done by other countries.

   The world’s formerly most stalwart bastion of freedom and protector of freedom around the world has become pitiful, powerless, and inept on the world stage.  We may know about everyone’s phone calls but we can’t stop them from doing anything. We gave the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt and Libya and that backfired.  We are giving Iran the ability to make nuclear bombs.  We pulled out of Afghanistan  and are handing it back to the Taliban who were behind 9/11.

    Thanks to President Obama, who values persecuting conservative groups inside this country more than protecting freedom here or anywhere else, we are a joke.  We are unwilling to use real military power.  We pull back our missile defenses because the Russian ask us to.  We use selected drones but the real bad guys roam free and take over country after country.    With the policies now in effect, it is just a matter of time until more American die because Obama has abdicated his responsibility to protect this country from all threats foreign and domestic.  

    Actually, he should resign since he is the greatest threat this country has ever faced.  

Propaganda — Living with Nazi’s

Perhaps you think that comparing today’s political and social environment to that of the German Nazi’s is unfair.  You say, as so many in the past have said, “It will never happen here!”   I will admit, at least to my knowledge, our government has not implemented death camps, but there are a lot of similarities that are worth exploring.  Nazi atrocities began when basic freedoms, those guaranteed by our constitution, were no longer protected by the German government.  This is occurring in the US today, specifically regarding the freedom of the press, the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, the freedom of religion, and the right to free speech.   These freedoms are all being eroded and their dismantling is being aid by a not so free press corp.

Let’s look at free press first.  The majority of Americans get their news from the major press outlets, ABC, NBC, and CBS.  Although their share of the market has dwindled because of the internet, their influence remains dis-proportionally large.  Whether from the morning daily shows, the evening news, or from the network interjection into radio news throughout the day, Americans are subjected to a primarily one size fits all broadcast.  When each network did its own investigations and discovery there was a certain variety in those broadcasts.  At that point it was possible to get differing views of world events.  Over the past several years, the networks no longer investigate many of the stories they broadcast. Instead they repeat, almost verbatim the press release they get from the White House or its affiliates.    What the consumer hears is the same exact words that started with a speech writer in the White House.   Key phrases are repeated across stations and venues.   There is no investigation, no questions, and no determination as to whether the information is true.  When that occurs, whether the press is formally controlled by force or not, it is propaganda and the press is no longer exercising free speech.    Even worse, the constant repetition of catch phrases is a blatant attempt to brain wash the populace.    I am not sure which is worse, that the media is trying to brain wash its audience or that it thinks it can.

Actually, our government and its affiliates have it even better than did the Nazi’s.  When someone in the mainstream press disagrees on air with the White House/Governmental message, that person is drummed out of the press corp.  (Juan William, Sharyl Attkisson).  Those that disagree are marginalized.  Those that seek the truth are purposely pushed out or to the side.  It appears that the culprit is the press corp itself which in order to promote an agenda has abdicated it role as the keeper of truth.  They have voluntarily become the persecuting arm of the government.  You can even see this in how they approach politicians they disagree with such as Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann.  A press that is no longer interested in the truth is one that is no longer free.

The right not to have your personal effects searched by the government without a specific and personal warrant no longer exists.  As part of the effort to prevent terrorism, data on everyone’s cell phone calls, the from who, the to who, and the when and where made from is collected.  A government that is tracking the location of the majority of its citizens and that records each citizen’s associations has more power than one that just gets neighbors to spy on neighbors.  It is more intrusive that the KGB or Nazi’s, yet this is not stopped.  Even when it comes out that the CIA is spying on Congress, it is not stopped.   As long as these activities continue there is no privacy and no protection from unreasonable search and seizure.  It is happening every day to pretty much every US citizen.

One of the arguments that has been made to justify the collection of data about every citizen is that the data is not used to target anyone other than terrorists.  No one state the obvious.  If the data is being used to identify terrorist, they sift through everyone to pluck out the suspected bad guys.  Everyone is guilty until the computer says otherwise. Additionally, Tea Party groups, conservative groups,  and some Jewish groups were admittedly targeted by the IRS for harassment and in such a way as to limit their effectiveness.  That targeting, described by many of the victims,  included not just IRS audits, improper questions, and tax considerations, but also, OSHA inspections, ATF investigations, and FDA involvement.  From this it is clear that government is targeting those that if feels are its enemies.  It is trying to intimidate them into not speaking up and to keep them at home during elections.  The requirement in the constitution  that the law be applied equally to all is gone.  They can round you up, destroy your business, and limit your activities at will.  Where is ABC, CBS, and NBC while this goes on.  They are complicit in this and are not protecting freedom.   The less we watch those channels and outlets the less viable their adverting will be.   The best way to get these organizations to do their job is to stop watching.  That stops the advertising.  At that point either they become factual and relevant or expire.

Lastly, lets discuss freedom of religion.  Even though the constitution guarantees the government shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, recent court cases, the implementation of Obamacare and the unequal application of this provision to enhance the position of Muslims and atheists have eroded the religious freedoms guaranteed by the constitution.  The government through Obamacare is trying to enforce its view that everyone should be able to get a paid for abortion through the law even though it violates the religious beliefs of millions of individuals.  Moments of silence have been banned in some schools while Muslim student have been given an opportunity to pray 5 times a day in others.  The bottom line is those with Judeo-Christian beliefs are under attack and the government is actively trying to marginalize their right to believe as they would.

Already the executive branch itself and through the regulatory agencies is implementing law far beyond the powers granted through the legislature.  Persecution is happening. Religious freedom and political discourse are being controlled. Is it Nazi Germany?  Not yet.  It took the Nazi’s 10 years to fully control the populace and to remove any vestige of freedom.  The assault on gun ownership is also a sign of the attempt by our government to discard the constitution.  We are at a point now, where if people do not stand up and say “No More.”  we are on that road.  It can happen here.  All it takes is the loss of one freedom, then the next.  Like the frog in the pot of water on the stove.  It does not know it is about to be boiled until it is too late.    It is time to get out of the pot before it is too late.

Watching While Rome Burns

My name is ….  Actually my name I no matter because it am one of the last Republican’s to serve in Congress.  There will be no more republicans. 

When the Obama administration started to selectively enforce immigration laws, I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started changing Obamacare without Congressional approval I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started using its agencies to persecute those they did not like, I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started using the NSA to listen to everyone’s telephone conversations I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started using the FDA and EPA to create laws not approved by Congress, I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started telling businesses what they had to pay people without Congressional approval I said nothing.

When the Obama administration implemented Common Core and quit teaching the constitution I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started placing watchers in newsrooms I said nothing.

When the Obama administration through Homeland Security bought millions of rounds of ammunition I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started using the Obamacare death panels to deny treatment to their enemies I said nothing.

When the Obama administration started investigating republican Congressmen I said nothing.

When the Obama administration forced most republican Congressman out of office I said nothing.

When the rule of law, freedom and the US Constitution died I said nothing for by then it was too late.

Granny Gropes

     In 2011  the 85 year old Lenore Zimmerman  was strip searched by the TSA all in the interest of public safety.  Now almost thirteen years after 9/11 Americans have exchanged freedom from unreasonable search and seizure for a program that allows government workers to inspect your property without a warrant, to rifle through your pockets on a whim and to grope children and grannies to their hearts content.  Surely such a program is worthwhile in stopping terrorists from boarding planes. So how many terrorists have all the invasive procedures stopped —- ZERO. 

            When I was a child and the cold war was still hot we were often told how in order to travel in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union the person wanting to travel needed government papers before they were allowed to leave their home city.    This requirement was portrayed as an oppressive limitation on freedom.   Of course that would never happen here, or so we were told.  Still today, in order to get on a plane, the government requires you to have your ID and to show your boarding pass.  Further, the government can stop you for no reason other than whim and ask you questions strip search you or confiscate your property.  This is all done without a warrant or any pretense of having probable cause for the action.   It has happened here.  The reason, or so we are told that this is allowed is to guarantee public safety.

            What about the argument that we are safer because we tolerate this.  The Boston bombers came to the US in a plane and Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled back to the US from the Soviet Union.  He freely boarded the plane leaving and freely boarded the plane returning to the US, terrorist training already provided.  Did our loss of freedom protect us from the Boston Bombers?   Not in the least. 

            If the possibility of increased public safety, (not real public safety) is enough to allow searches when we board a plane, at what point will check points be on the road.  Cars are both weapons and potential carriers of explosives.  Every road and every highway needs to be checked.  The same excuse “that it is in the interest of public safety”  is as valid in searching vehicles as it is searching luggage.  In fact, there are already cases where the TSA has searched cars in the airport long term parking.

            The constitution is clear, there are to be no searches, or invasions of people’s property or person without reasonable suspicion that a crime is taking place.  In other words, no warrant, no search.  Nevertheless, the government now captures phone data, geolocation data, interpersonal connection data (who you talk to) , emails, and texts with no warrant.  According to the constitution, none of this is permitted.  The people in Washington, even those that have their doubts about these programs are unwilling to give up the power and authoritarian rule that these programs represent.  We are not stopping terror, only enabling the government future persecution of its own populace.  The idea that “public safety” justifies any constitutional violation is ludicrous.   We have almost open boarders to the south but our citizens are placed under constant supervision.  Does this not smell of totalitarianism?  We are living in the world that the government warned us against 40 years ago.