WHO ARE THE REAL TRAITORS?

“I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American.”Edward Snowden

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”  – Samuel Adams

 

There are weeks that change the course of human history. There are weeks when people must choose sides. There are weeks that expose the real American traitors. There is no middle ground in this debate. You are either on the side of freedom, liberty, truth, transparency and the U.S. Constitution or you are on the side of mindless obedience, oppression, deception, corruption and tyranny. A courageous young Millennial named Edward Snowden has risked his life and his future to expose the illegal, surreptitious surveillance programs being conducted by the United States government in clear violation of the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The NSA, with the full knowledge of Barack Obama and Congress, has been covertly collecting phone and internet records on millions of Americans with the full cooperation of Verizon and other mega media/data corporations. Our owners have been using the U.S. Constitution to wipe their asses. The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is so unambiguous that any intelligent politician, bright journalist or fifth grader in Miss Sabatini’s history class could interpret its meaning and intention. Our founding fathers believed in truth, clarity and simplicity. The traitorous sociopaths in control of our government today believe in obfuscation, ambiguity and complexity.

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Living Constitution?

Do you believe the mass collection of metadata information from millions of Americans with no probable cause is an unreasonable search as defined by the 4th Amendment? Do you believe the complete lockdown of one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the country and the door to door search by heavily armed government security thugs for one wounded teenager, without warrants or probable cause, was a violation of the 4th Amendment? Do you believe secretive governmental agencies have the right to partner with the biggest internet/communications/mass media corporations in the world to record your phone calls, read your emails, and monitor your internet communications under the bogus justification of the War on Terror (you are more likely to be struck by lightning twice than to be killed by a terrorist)?  Do you believe that government agencies tasked with revenue collection can be used to create an enemies list based upon whether you donated to the Ron Paul campaign, believe in liberty, or belong to a Tea Party organization? Do you believe allowing minimum wage government drones to molest little old ladies, paraplegics and three year old children, while conducting full body scans on all airline passengers really makes you safer from phantom terrorists? Do you believe having 30,000 high tech surveillance drones that can see you picking your nose in your driveway from 25,000 feet are not a violation of your privacy rights?

Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

If you answered in the affirmative to any or all of the questions above you are either a government apparatchik, someone dependent upon the surveillance state for your paycheck, a victim of decades of mind control through corporate mass media propaganda, or one of the willfully ignorant masses. Of course the ignorant masses will not be reading these questions as they are focused on the inbred royal family saga, Kim Kardashian’s bastard child pregnancy, and the upcoming episodes of Honey Boo Boo, Teen Mom, I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant, Duck Dynasty, Real Housewives of Idiocracy or paying $200 on their plastic debt accumulator to watch multi-millionaire freaks of nature play children’s games. Those who argue the U.S. Constitution is a living document open to interpretation by the interchangeable corporate fascist parties that control the reins of power at Versailles on the Potomac are nothing but apologists for the corrupt status quo. The American people are provided the illusion of choice by their owners, but the major policies are kept intact – never ending war, never ending currency debasement, and never ending screwing of the middle class.

The revelations by Millennial martyr, Edward Snowden, about the PRISM program and the fact that the NSA harvests data directly from the servers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo and other corporate co-conspirators came just days after disclosure that our Orwellian trained keepers had been shredding the 1st Amendment. The Obama administration has continuously flaunted the Bill of Rights when they interfere with their mission to create a centrally planned welfare/warfare state. Republicans don’t resist Obama’s efforts on Constitutional grounds, as they have no love for its constraints either. The seizure of AP reporter phone records in an effort to uncover leaks and to intimidate the free press, monitoring of reporter James Rosen using false information to obtain a warrant, and the computer hacking of lead Benghazi CBS reporter Cheryl Attkisson are clearly violations of the 1st Amendment.

There has been faux outrage among those in the establishment. It’s nothing but a game to entertain their rabid disciples. There is virtually no difference between the pretend parties who alternately operate as figurehead leadership in Washington D.C. Both parties cooperated to crush the peaceable assembly of young people exercising their right to petition the government about the blatant criminality of Wall Street bankers. The supposed Soros inspired OWS movement was subdued by Democratic mayors using their local military police hooligans, supported by the Federal surveillance state, in cooperation with the very same criminal Wall Street banks who had destroyed the worldwide financial system in their ransacking of the nation’s wealth through a well planned and executed control fraud.

The cheerleading of this disgusting display of fascist tactics by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and the likes of CNN, MSNBC, and Bloomberg News told me everything I needed to know. Those within the status quo will circle the wagons whenever there is a threat to their wealth, power and control. If you make it onto the establishment’s enemies list, the Constitution will not protect you. The only true free speech is being exercised on the internet, for now. The plutocracy of wealthy corporate elite and their captured puppet politicians are attempting to crush dissent and free speech by restricting access to anti-establishment websites, introducing legislation to control the internet and as we now know hacking into sites considered enemies of the state. The guarantee of 1st Amendment protection has increasingly becoming a quaint old fashion notion in this fascist state.

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The Constitution has been increasingly treated as an optional instructional manual by what passes for leadership in this country. An all-out assault has been waged on the 2nd Amendment by the control freaks who want to create a national gun registry so they know where to send their military assault teams when the time comes. Every assault on our liberties, rights and freedoms is done on behalf of the children. Sinclair Lewis once declared:

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

He was wrong. Fascism has come to America, wrapped in fiat currency, carrying a child as a prop, in the name of the War on Terrorism. Presidents have been flaunting their disdain for Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution since World War II. The Imperial American Empire has been militarily enforcing its hegemony over the world since the 1950’s without Congress ever declaring war, as required by the Constitution. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now Syria are just the latest victims of our hypocritical interventionist state. Our predator drones roam the skies above foreign countries murdering suspected bad guys at the whim of PS3 trained gutless techno geeks sipping a decaf on their 9 to 5 shift.  The corrupt spineless swine in Congress expose themselves as nothing more than bought off acolytes of the military industrial complex warned about by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961:

“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

The citizens of this country have failed to heed his warning. We have not been alert and to describe the narcissistic, delusional, math challenged, willfully ignorant sheep, bleating for their safety and security as knowledgeable is beyond laughable. Security and liberty have not prospered together. The arms dealers formed an unholy alliance with the Too Big To Trust Wall Street banks, their sugar daddy Federal Reserve, easily bought off feckless political class, and sociopathic government bureaucrats to create this corporate fascist welfare/warfare state that has subverted our liberty while obscenely enriching the .1% who have used their unwarranted influence in a traitorous manner. The disastrous consequences for the world continue to build like the dome of a volcano before it detonates and destroys everything in a fiery swath of lava.

New Boss Same As The Old Boss

“If people can’t trust not only the executive branch, but also don’t trust Congress and don’t trust federal judges to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution, due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here.” – Barack Obama

 

The nattering classes who dominate the boob tube spin the storylines of their corporate clients on a daily basis, but the uncovering of the deceitful activities of the ruling establishment by Edward Snowden have exposed the truth about who runs this country. Republicans, Democrats, neo-cons, ultra-liberals, Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, military generals, and the government drones who monitor our phone calls, texts, emails and internet postings have all shown their true colors in the last week. They don’t care about truth, justice, or the American people. James Clapper lied during sworn testimony before Congress about spying on millions of Americans because he didn’t think he’d be caught. He was caught red handed. And no one is calling for his apprehension and imprisonment.

We are lied to, misled, misinformed, and inundated with falsehoods and propaganda on a daily basis by our leaders. The proof that we live in a plutocracy dominated by two corrupt political parties (with 250 millionaires in Congress), six Wall Street banks (JP Morgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley), six mass media companies (Comcast, Google, Walt Disney, News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom), seven arm dealers (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, L-3 Communications, United Technologies), a few politically connected mega-corporations (Exxon, General Electric, Verizon, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, General Motors, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, IBM), and a few hundred shadowy billionaires is how they have unequivocally declared that Edward Snowden is a filthy high school dropout traitor. He has revealed secrets about how the lords of the manor keep the serfs and peasants under surveillance. Here is a smattering of the vitriol spewed about this American patriot:

“America is now a less safe place. The world is a less safe place because of what Mr. Snowden unilaterally did. He deserves to be prosecuted. I hope they find him in the hole that he’s hiding in in Hong Kong and bring him home and try him.” – Karl Rove

“I hope we follow Mr. Snowden to the ends of the earth to bring him to justice.” – Lindsey Graham

“For this, some, including my colleague John Cassidy, are hailing him as a hero and a whistle-blower. He is neither. He is, rather, a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison.”Jeffrey Toobin – The New Yorker

“What he did was an act of treason.”Diane Feinstein

“He’s a traitor.” – John Boehner

“I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I consider him right now to be a defector.” – Peter King

“There is an obligation both moral, but also legal, I believe, against a reporter disclosing something which would so severely compromise national security.” – Peter King

“I can assure you, this is not about spying on the American people.” – Al Franken

“For me it is literally, not figuratively, literally, gut-wrenching to see this happen, because of the huge, grave damage it does to our intelligence capabilities.”James Clapper (Perjurer)

“We do not see a tradeoff between security and liberty.” – Keith Alexander – NSA Director

“The national security of the United States has been damaged as a result those leaks. The safety of the American people and the safety of people who reside in allied nations have been put at risk as a result of these leaks.” – Eric Holder

“I think he’s a traitor. I’m suspicious because he went to China. That’s not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.” Dick Cheney – The Dark Lord

“And I hope that he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” – Mitch McConnell

“Now you’ve got this 29-year-old high school dropout whistleblower making foreign policy for our country, our security policy. It’s sad, Brian. We’ve made treason cool. Betraying your country is kind of a fashion statement. He wants to be the national security Kim Kardashian. He cites Bradley Manning as a hero. I mean, we need to get very, very serious about treason. And oh by the way, for treason — as in the case of Bradley Manning or Edwards Snowden — you bring back the death penalty.”Fox and Friends

“Can intelligence operate effectively if every starry-eyed analyst feels entitled to be a self-appointed whistle-blower?” – Gary RosenThe Wall Street Journal

“Edward Snowden should go to jail, as quickly and for as long as possible.” – John Yoo – The National Review.

“I think on three scores—that is leaking the Patriot Act section 215, FISA 702, and the president’s classified cyber operations’ directive—on the strength of leaking that, yes, that would be a prosecutable offense. I think that he should be prosecuted.” – Nancy Pelosi

“Who is a journalist is a question we need to ask ourselves. Is any blogger out there saying anything – do they deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times.” – Lindsey Graham

“This lens makes you more likely to share the distinct strands of libertarianism that are blossoming in this fragmenting age: the deep suspicion of authority, the strong belief that hierarchies and organizations are suspect, the fervent devotion to transparency, the assumption that individual preference should be supreme. You’re more likely to donate to the Ron Paul for president campaign, as Snowden did. But Big Brother is not the only danger facing the country. Another is the rising tide of distrust, the corrosive spread of cynicism, the fraying of the social fabric and the rise of people who are so individualistic in their outlook that they have no real understanding of how to knit others together and look after the common good.” – David Brooks

It seems the ruling oligarchs, their mouthpieces in the mainstream media (both conservative & liberal), Machiavellian politicians on both sides of the aisle, unscrupulous military commanders and deceitful government bureaucrats have all rallied to shield their existing perverted surveillance state. These people actually believe that what is best for their own personal interests is best for the citizens of this country. There is only one Party – the Establishment Party. The smear campaign against Edward Snowden began immediately. The vitriolic accusations, venomous scorn, malicious ridicule and pathetic attempts to discredit Edward Snowden for sacrificing everything on behalf of the country he loves has revealed more truth about how the real world operates than the thousands of articles written by supposed “conspiracy theorists” over the last decade. Anyone with their eyes open and mind not controlled by the regime know the real criminals in this tragedy. Leon Trotsky, who also participated in a brutal fascist surveillance state, put it best:

“The real criminals hide under the cloak of the accusers.”

In a country where those in power encourage and participate in the plundering of people’s bank accounts by billionaires, the largest financial control fraud in world history by the biggest Wall Street banks, treating every citizen as a suspect until proven otherwise under the auspices of the ironically named Patriot Act, creating an Orwellian surveillance state of cameras, drones and snitches, torturing suspected enemies, conducting military exercises in the skies above our cities, seizing reporters’ personal records, using government agencies to harass political opponents, listening to our phone calls with warrantless wiretaps, reading our emails and texts, brutally crushing peaceful protests, attempting to disarm us, locking down an entire city and kicking doors down while searching for a hapless wounded teenager, appropriating our DNA, detaining us without charges, assassinating suspected dissidents, regulating what we can eat, drink or smoke, passing 2,500 page corporate lobbyist written bills that no one has read, using laws to enhance the wealth of the .1%, creating a tax code designed to minimize the burden on the .1%, the feeding of economic information by the Fed and Federal government to connected crony banks minutes before the public so they can pre-program their HFT computers to profit at the expense of the muppets, conducting cyber-attacks on sovereign countries and then feigning outrage when the favor is returned, and militarily intervening around the world under the false guise of strategic interests, we are supposed to trust the establishment? As we descend further into tyranny, I don’t know which is sadder – the pure evil of these men or the apathy and complacent acquiescence of the willfully ignorant masses to the methods employed by their owners. The numerous laws passed by those in power are just more proof of how corrupt our society has become.

 “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” – Tacitus

The threat of tyranny was still raw in 1975, after the Watergate cover-up, when Senator Frank Church warned about the National Security Agency:

“I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.”

Again, we failed to heed his warning. We’ve crossed over the abyss and the vision of our future will be the boot of a DHS thug stomping on the face of an American citizen – forever.

True Ruling Power of Our Country

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson

  

Whenever I would use the term oligarchs, ruling elite, powers that be, owners, .1%, or ruling class, it always sounded too conspiratorial. But after years of reading the writings of Edward Bernays, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Ron Paul, George Carlin and a number of other “crazy” bloggers, while witnessing with my own two eyes what is happening in this country, I’ve come to the conclusion that our country is run by an invisible government consisting of a small cadre of rich powerful men who manipulate, obfuscate, eliminate and fabricate in their insatiable greed for glory, riches, power and control. They thought they had perfected the art of propaganda:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays

The disclosure of the unholy alliance of corporations and the government to secretly spy on millions of Americans, while attempting to intimidate journalists and crush dissent from political opponents, is throwing the master plan of the ruling elite into disarray. The conspiracy of silence and denial is fraying at the edges as the truth continues to leak out:

“The contents of a phone call could be accessed simply based on an analyst deciding that. If the NSA wants to listen to the phone, an analyst’s decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required.” – Democratic Rep Jerrold Nadler

There have been a few lone voices in the wilderness warning about the rise of this corporate fascist surveillance one party state, but they have been scorned, ridiculed, marginalized and ignored. It seems the libertarian minded men and women of this country have been right all along.

“We’ve slipped away from a true republic. Now we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government, big business and authoritarian rule, and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen. When it comes to any significant differences on foreign policy, economic intervention, the Federal Reserve, a strong executive branch, a welfarism mixed with corporatism, both parties are very much alike.  The major arguments in hotly contested presidential races are mostly for public consumption to convince the people they actually have a choice.” – Ron Paul

True liberty minded Americans and those who value freedom and the Constitution have rallied to the defense of a true patriot. “We the People” must reclaim this country from the unelected .1% who has conducted a silent coup while we were pre-occupied with our techno-narcissism and consumed by the urge to consume. We have an omnipotent outlaw government with concentrated overwhelming power. The out of control bureaucracy devouring treasure, the blood of our young, civil rights, and the Constitution will not yield of its own volition. When the government tyrants classify all of us as enemies of the state, it is time to dismantle the state and water the tree of liberty with some blood, if that is what is required.

“Perfect safety is not the purpose of government. What we want from government is to enforce the law to protect our liberties. The government does not need to know more about what we are doing. We need to know more about what the government is doing. We need to turn the cameras on the police and on the government, not the other way around. We should be thankful for writers like Glenn Greenwald, who broke last week’s story, for taking risks to let us know what the government is doing. There are calls for the persecution of Greenwald and the other whistle-blowers and reporters. They should be defended, as their work defends our freedom.” Ron Paul

The country is being run like a mafia crime family. The Don and his lieutenants operate in secrecy, eliminating their opponents, buying off the press, bribing the police for protection, running the rackets, and collecting their tribute from those that want to do business with them. They go to war against the other families whenever they want to expand their turf. The country has been captured by an organized crime syndicate and it will require an Elliot Ness type character with many strident Constitutionalists to rid the land of these evil, lawless, egocentric men. One of those evil men slithered out of his lair onto the neo-con network – Fox News – to declare Edward Snowden a traitor and spy. Mr. Snowden responded to chicken-hawk Dick “Deferment” Cheney during another freedom of the press in a foreign country event:

“Further, it’s important to bear in mind I’m being called a traitor by men like former Vice President Dick Cheney. This is a man who gave us the warrantless wiretapping scheme as a kind of atrocity warm-up on the way to deceitfully engineering a conflict that has killed over 4,400 and maimed nearly 32,000 Americans, as well as leaving over 100,000 Iraqis dead. Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are. If they had taught a class on how to be the kind of citizen Dick Cheney worries about, I would have finished high school.

Who has done more to shred the Constitution and strip us of rights, liberties and freedoms in the last thirteen years – Cheney or Snowden?

This brings us to the question of our times. Who are the patriots and who are the traitors? Those in power have been using the Bernaysian propaganda technique of conscious and intelligent manipulation of the public mind by using the corporate media to convince the distracted ignorant masses that Edward Snowden has committed treason against his country and should be punished for his crime. Interestingly enough, treason is addressed in Article III Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. 

At the same time it would make sense to define the term patriot:

A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.

Does Edward Snowden fit the definition of a traitor as described in the Constitution? The shallow vacuous pundits in the corporate mainstream media complex blather on about treason while focusing their in-depth journalism on pictures of Snowden’s girlfriend from her Facebook page. This is what passes for journalism in America today. A man uncovers the largest spying conspiracy in human history and highly paid mouthpieces for the establishment focus on pole dancing. The last time I checked, Congress hadn’t declared war on anyone, so Snowden isn’t a traitor under that clause. He must be providing aid and comfort to our enemies. Who are the enemies today? They seem to change on a daily basis. I guess since we are considered potential enemies of the state, his revelations were giving the citizens of the United States aid and comfort.

On the other hand, a patriot is someone who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice on its behalf against those who would damage or hurt that country. The government of the United States (President, Congress, Judiciary), in conjunction with their corporate, banking and media co-conspirators have knowingly and willingly subverted the Constitution of the United States and have therefore committed treasonous acts that have endangered the rights, freedoms and liberties of the people. A corrupt regime will use their thousands of laws to ensnare anyone in some violation of those laws. But at the end of the day a critical thinking individual knows right from wrong without being told by a government bureaucrat. Edward Snowden is a patriot of the highest order. His act of heroism, knowing he would be despised, attacked and hunted down by the American Thugocracy, is on par with the actions of our Founding Fathers who knew they would be hung if their Revolution failed. A true patriot must be ready to defend his country against a tyrannical government. Edward Snowden just dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor.

Edward Snowden is standing up to the autocratic powers that have seized control of our Constitutional Republic. Other patriots (Thomas Drake, William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Aaron Swartz, Daniel Ellsberg) have sacrificed their careers and lives to reveal the truth about government corruption and malfeasance.  Ben Franklin pondered whether we could keep the Republic they had given us. He understood human nature and the likelihood that we as a people would become corrupted, vote for people who promised us the most, and would willingly sacrifice our independence, freedom, liberty and rights for the presumed safety and security of a despotic government:

“In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults; if they are such; because I think a general government necessary for us, and there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and I believe, further, that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.”

Words of a Traitor?

“…I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”Edward Snowden

The key terms are “good conscience” and “secretly”. Doing what is right does not mean doing what the authorities declare to be the law. Edward Snowden has a conscience. Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, James Clapper, John McCain, Diane Feinstein, Ben Bernanke, Jon Corzine, Jamie Dimon and the rest of the sociopathic criminal governing class have no conscience. Their souls are blackened with their crimes and misdeeds. In our Bizarro world, Nobel Peace Prize winners slaughter Muslim children indiscriminately with their squadrons of killer drones. Those in power are allowed to operate in the shadows, hiding anything that might incriminate them and secretly spying on millions of citizens without probable cause, while we the people have no right to privacy or freedom from surveillance in this plutocracy. We are all suspects in the eyes of the state and can be terminated at the whim of a government apparatchik:

“Because even if you’re not doing anything wrong you’re being watched and recorded. And the storage capability of these systems increases every year consistently by orders of magnitude … to where it’s getting to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody – even by a wrong call. And then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you’ve ever made, every friend you’ve ever discussed something with. And attack you on that basis to sort to derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer.” – Edward Snowden

Our greatest fear at this point in history is the continued apathy, ignorance, slothfulness, and delusional thinking of our narcissistic populace regarding the most important issue of our time – freedom or tyranny? Will enough people stand and fight the encroaching surveillance state and the evil men pulling the levers? Change will not happen through the ballots box, as the system is rigged and the democratic process has been subverted. It will require patriots taking to the streets and more people like Edward Snowden stepping forward to lead us back out of the abyss into which we have fallen. Time is growing short. Will we rise to the occasion or will we cower and wait until the satanic Eye of Sauron turns in our direction?

“The great fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. [People] won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things… And in the months ahead, the years ahead, it’s only going to get worse. [The NSA will] say that… because of the crisis, the dangers that we face in the world, some new and unpredicted threat, we need more authority, we need more power, and there will be nothing the people can do at that point to oppose it. And it will be turnkey tyranny.” Edward Snowden

 

“I do not expect to see home again.” Edward Snowden

Over the course of decades we have allowed ourselves to be corrupted by the love of material possessions, the lure of a debt based faux wealth, the money for nothing entitlement promises of dishonorable politicians, the evil of currency debasement, the effectiveness of mass media propaganda, and the belief that we could sacrifice freedom and liberty for promises of safety and security made by a cabal of powerful rich men. Power has been concentrated into the hands of the few, who operate in secrecy and despise the people. They don’t want transparency or open debate. Freedom of speech is nothing but a thorn in their side. They believe they are smarter than the serfs and have no morality when it comes to committing illegal acts and disregarding the Constitution. They are not acting in the public interest. Their abuse of power and looting of the national wealth have put us on a path towards a bloody revolution. This is not a time for conformity, obedience or submission. It’s time to stand up and expose the evil doers. It’s time to rally around those who care about this country. Who are the real traitors? You know the answer. What are you going to do about it?

“The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are being looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? Do we care? When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media? Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.” – Ron Paul

 

WARNING: The National Security Agency is likely recording and storing this communication as part of its unlawful spying programs on all Americans … and people worldwide. The people who created the NSA spying program say that this communication – and any responses – can and will be used against the American people at any time in the future should folks in government decide to go after us for political reasons. And private information in digital communications may be given to big companies by the government.

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147 Comments
Thinker
Thinker
June 18, 2013 10:35 pm

Nice stake in the ground, Jim. I — and I assume most of your readers — will stand on the side of liberty over tyranny. We need to channel our anger as you have, exposing hypocrisy and calling for greater adherence to the Constitution.

Let them come for us if they will. Throughout history, there have been Americans who have fought for our freedom and rights. Let us join them, if we must.

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 18, 2013 10:49 pm

Jim wrote:

“‘We the People’ must reclaim this country from the unelected .1% who has conducted a silent coup while we were pre-occupied with our techno-narcissism and consumed by the urge to consume.”

Well SAID! I CONCUR!

Gubmint Cheese
Gubmint Cheese
June 18, 2013 10:52 pm

I have seen on a few occasions, the following proudly proclaimed in bold lettering, on the walls of the atrium of various Federal enclaves:

“In God we trust, all others we monitor”, And these are not your intelligence outfits.

The program has metastasized into the entire Federal beast.

Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, here in the “Land of the free”

Thirteener
Thirteener
June 18, 2013 10:55 pm

There comes a point where we must stake a flag in the ground…this feels like one of those times. And I wish I was sitting in front of Dick Cheney…I would tell him this, “DICK, I am a THIRTEENER and the great great great grandchild of a man who helped to start the Republican party…in other words, you wouldn’t know Republican values, so GO FUCK YOURSELF! YOU are a traitor!!

TeresaE
TeresaE
June 18, 2013 11:00 pm

Well done Jim.

Well done.

Up is down, day is night, wrong is right and being monitored and recorded 24/7 is freedom.

What truly amazes me is that anyone still thought they had secrecy, or were free. Tons and tons and tons of proof to the contrary.

For years now, the internet providers have provided the “activities” of people WITHOUT warrants. Under the guise of protecting children from child porn – even when the “porn” is nothing but a dumb kid taking a topless pic to send to her boyfriend. And even when the government ruins the teens life FOREVER. We have to sacrifice and kill a few futures to protect a few other futures.

The hypocrisy, bullshit, misinformation has reached epic proportions.

And it isn’t just this shit, it is everything from vaccinations to statins to “education” to, well, everything.

We left common sense sitting along side the Constitution long ago.

Really, anyone that learns the truth of the Civil War figured much of this out long ago.

It wasn’t about human rights – as we were taught – it was about destroying the very fabric that made this nation great, and destroying any chance for a state of patriots to leave.

Same as this spying has NOTHING to do with terrorism, and everything to do with eliminating the middle class and then enslaving those of us left with taxes and jails and regulations and thefts.

I so wish there was somewhere to go, somewhere to escape, someplace left with some semblance of dignity and basic human rights.

With the reach of the US gubment, I truly don’t think such a place exists anywhere, at least not anymore.

Scary days are here, doubt we can even imagine what the worst of these days will look like.

Chicago999444
Chicago999444
June 18, 2013 11:03 pm

Any notions anyone still has left concerning any real differences between our major political parties ought to be put to rest by now. The Demothugs and Republithugs are both branches of the same party.

They both pander to both the ruling oligarchy.

They both support the expansion of the welfare state and are both working to enable our ruling oligarchy to profit from it, at the expense of our remaining taxpayers.

They both support the military-intelligence-crony capitalist complex.

They both support secrecy in government and the Surveillance State.

They have both worked doggedly to cancel our remaining rights and liberties. Rememember, Bush 2 and a Republican Congress & Senate passed the blatantly unconstitutional USAPATRIOT Act, and the Democrats, including warmongers Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, enthusiastically supported it.

And, worst of all, the overwhelming majority of our population supports all of the above, at least to some degree, and always has. Those of you who weren’t born before 1980 do not remember the paranoia, sheepish conformity and worship of authority of the 50s, when J Edgar Hoover was keeping a file on every public figure, no matter how insignificant he or she might of been, suspected of being a communist, an anarchist, a homosexual, or anyone who spoke, thought, or lived differently than the milquetoast middle majority of ranch-house-dwelling, church-going, right-thinking middle class conformists. I recall the famous experiment in the late 60s in which college students were sent out to go door to door to solicit the opinions of average American citizens on the Bill of Rights. About 65% of them thought that it was a “subversive” document. Surveillance was taken for granted- if you didn’t have anything to hide, you shouldn’t worry, was the dominant attitude.

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 18, 2013 11:04 pm

“Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American” -Snowden

DAMN! I gotta make that a bumper sticker! Living in the predominantly Conservative-Central Valley of California I’m sure I’d turn some heads!

Roy
Roy
June 18, 2013 11:04 pm

Molon Labe

AKAnon
AKAnon
June 18, 2013 11:11 pm

Outstanding piece Jim. Careful-you are treading on dangerous ground here. But you already know that. Thanks, I’m with you.

Tim
Tim
June 18, 2013 11:12 pm

Admin – Powerful, yet challenging read. This is what I alluded to last week in my post, “What am I gonna do?” I read this post, and I ask myself again, “What am I gonna do?”

So, on the one hand, I fully fall into the side of patriot. I believe everything you wrote, and it falls in line with my value system. (ie, freedom, liberty, etc)

Yet, on the other hand, I mentioned, I’ve got three young kids to raise. I’ve got to put their best interests first. And, I should be more clear. I mean their best interests in terms of daddy bringing home a paycheck so that momma can buy and put groceries on the table, and we can have a home with clothes, etc.

I’m not sure I’m the guy to stand up to the system. Does that make me a pussy? Maybe so. I question this frequently. If the goon squad ends up in El Paso, searching door-to-door for a cartel member they suspect in my vicinity, what am I gonna do? Probably the path of least resistance. Which is where, I think, most of America will do.

I’ve seen the videos of the people who assert their rights at the border patrol checkpoints. I cross those checkpoints frequently, and I always just answer “Yes, I’m an American citizen” because it’s easiest. And, usually, I’m with my kids because we’re going camping. So, who wants the goon squad to harass my kids?

I shop on Amazon. I’ll probably keep shopping on Amazon. I spend time on the internet. I read TBP and listen to Survival Podcast. I have a couple of blogs I hope to develop. I have a track they can follow.

I voted for Ron Paul. I vote for Libertarians in all the local elections. How am I going to impact or make any changes when, ultimately, I’m a sheeple??

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 18, 2013 11:14 pm

Jim, I STILL haven’t finished reading your article yet I’ve already commented 2, now 3 times. It would be a travesty if by the 3rd comment I hadn’t said THANK YOU! Leave it to TBP and Admin to succinctly put into words what I have been wrestling with since Snowden’s decision. The fate of mankind is in Americans hands…I am unsure how I feel about that right now…

bb said “Path towards bloody revolution?…..can’t get most to vote”

You make a sad point….however, if we remember how Jim began this article, it was with a Sam Adams quote that I had never really understood until recently
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” – Samuel Adams

Who cares what others are doing, what are you going to do when the time comes when you WILL have to make a conscious choice?

Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer
June 18, 2013 11:20 pm

I’ll Cross Post it on the Diner tonight.

[imgcomment image[/img]

RE

Harvey Coathanger
Harvey Coathanger
June 18, 2013 11:33 pm

Who’s still voting for the Republicrats? Who’s ready for a General Strike? Who’s ready to get shot?

Who is ready to shelter and feed those that are?

Get yer fuckin’ minds right.

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 12:04 am

We will know them by their actions!

http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/185105/18-of-21-a-president-who-believes-in-the-constitution.jhtml#id=1572958

“You know I taught constitutional law for 10 years at the University of Chicago, so…um…your next President will actually believe in the Constitution which you can’t say about your current President. [applause]

In today’s environment in particular I want Supreme Court Justices who are vigilant about civil liberties. Because I think that when people are afraid — and terrorism has created fear — then that’s when the greatest danger to civil liberties happens. It’s easy to be for civil liberties when there are no threats. It’s when there are threats that you start seeing civil liberties chipped away at. So I want a President…I want a Supreme Court that is not just giving the President a blank check for whatever power grab he or she is engaging in.

By the way that also means that when I’m President one of the first things I’m going to do is call in my attorney general and say to him or her I want you to review every executive order that’s been issued by George Bush — whether it relates to warrantless wiretaps, or detaining people or reading e-mails, or whatever it is — I want you to go through every single one of them and if they are unconstitutional or they are encroaching on civil liberties unnecessarily we are going to overturn them…we are going to change them.” -Candidate Obama 2007
Oh how short the memory and attention span of the average brainwashed American must be to forget what he said and what he Promised! CHANGE?! GTFOOH!!!

All Heil our Traitor and Chief!

[img]https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrSO0fEFo_BkJQ4lJzbjurUiDBdGFdWXn8Cn6BZUoz20Rn2-UE[/img]

Doug
Doug
June 19, 2013 12:08 am

Great post Admin!

What frustrates me the most in this debate are the people who say ‘it’s okay the govt is spying on me because I have nothing to hide.’ Anyone who believes that is a fool – they’re probably also not reading your blog though. There are over 4,000 federal criminal offenses, hundreds of thousands of federal regulations that carry the force of law, and tens of thousands of state and local laws… the actual number of laws an American must abide by is literally unknowable.

In his book on this topic, Harvey Silverglate estimates the average American commits three felonies a day – though I think this is on the low side.

Given what is known about our surveillance state, it’s not hard to imagine most of us already have full ‘dossiers’ that can and will be produced by our owners if/when needed. What to do then?

Snowden is a hero, I just hope he’s not too late.

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 12:13 am

Tim,
Check out Michael Badnarik’s Constitution Class: 5 minute video

Where is your line?

Eddie
Eddie
June 19, 2013 12:15 am

A very strong and courageous stand, Jim. I’m with you on all points.

TheCynic
TheCynic
June 19, 2013 12:33 am

The Utah Data center is going to have a brother at Camp Williams.

“The National Security Agency (NSA) is building the $1.5 billion Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center at Camp Williams, the first in a series of data centers required for the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative.[2][3][4] The 1.5 million square foot facility built on 200 acres is expected to store 1 yottabyte of data by 2015.[5][6][7] The facility which is expected to be completed in October 2013 will use 65 megawatts and will cost another $2 billion for hardware, software, and maintenance.[5]”

A series of data centers? This isn’t for the U.S. this is for running a world empire.

Only a truly pathetic people would engage in this. Our economy is rotting away, our military outside of the Navy is a joke. We lost the last two fights we were in against people who live in mud houses and walk around barefoot. Do you know how sad that is? This is a reprise of what happened to the Italians in Somalia. The guys who guard the president are a bunch of booze and whore hounds who think it’s Animal House 24×7. Our spooks are a bunch of civil service carteer parasites who with a trillion dollars spent on the latest technology couldn’t stop two pot heads with pressure cookers from blowing some people up in Boston. And when they aren’t fucking up, they’re violating the Constitution like a molester rapes a woman.

crazyivan
crazyivan
June 19, 2013 12:36 am

Snowden is a plant.

LOOK OVER HERE FOLKS!

For some reason we are given this plum to chew on.

Harvey Coathanger
Harvey Coathanger
June 19, 2013 12:43 am

[imgcomment image[/img]

Anonymous
Anonymous
June 19, 2013 12:46 am

When Pelosi, Mc Connell, Feinstein, Graham, Cheney & Al Franken all agree on something it is very disturbing. The forces of the universe have caused the world to spin backwards. Bipartisanship seems to congeal when it comes to confiscating liberty

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 1:00 am

crazyivan:

You must at least entertain that thought to complete your due diligence; however, like I said on another post, Propagandameister Goebbel’s knew that timing was “key.” Sometimes truth is propaganda as well; depending how the truth is seen and ingested; then digested.

Check out “Knowledge and Propaganda” by Goebbels.

It’s a speech translated from German to English in which Goebbels spoke to fellow party-members even before Hitler’s election.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb54.htm

crazyivan
crazyivan
June 19, 2013 1:00 am

[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTIKY-mcqsEyj3kJKEpXl8oIus–07O1QbBuanwla-6HhLvwpg[/img]

howard in nyc
howard in nyc
June 19, 2013 1:07 am

Great, absolutely great Jim.

Sadly, the people of this country have proven, most recently by the lack of rational response to these reveals, that Americans are unwilling and unable to perform the necessary tasks of maintaining a democracy.

Freedom and a free country based on democratic principles requires the people to do certain things. Americans stopped doing those things decades ago.

There just are not enough people who still think, who still care, who still put forth the effort necessary to process the plain truth in front of our eyes, for us to possibly avoid our fate. If there were, when the economy hit the first wall in 2008, the people would’ve demanded a different path. The people didn’t; business as usual was rewarded with re-election.

When the next, much worse catastrophe hits, be it economic, warfare on our turf, terrorism inducing mass casualties on our turf, or a natural biologic plague, it will be too late. We as a nation have missed so many wake-up calls, including the most recent NSA bullshit; the cheering of the next horribly wrong action will make the cheering of the Patriot Act and the march to the phony Iraq war look like measured wisdom by comparison.

No, this week will not be the week that changes our path. The only change in human history that might be initiated this week is if they spark off WW3 in Syria. This is just another of a dozen missed opportunities in this century alone, for our nation to right itself; another wake-up call snoozed through, obliviously.

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 1:12 am

oops…after election,

John
John
June 19, 2013 1:18 am

“Come sail with me. The measure of our country is no more than the measure of ourselves”

John Paul Jones

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 1:53 am

taken from http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb54.htm
Knowledge and Power by Goebbels

“At the moment a movement or party wins control of the state, its worldview becomes the state and its party becomes the nation. The nation is not the 60 million people who live in it. That is a confused mixture. One says yea, the other nay. That is not a nation. A nation is characterized by consciousness.” Goebbels

Adolf Hitler rightly answered the court in Munich in this way when he was asked: “How could you think of establishing a dictatorship over sixty million with such a tiny minority?” His reply: “If an entire nation has become cowardly, and there are only a thousand left who want something great, and who have to power to transform the state, then these thousand people are the nation.” If the others let a minority conquer the state, then they must also accept the fact that we will establish a dictatorship.

The same is true of a movement. If a movement has the strength to take over the state, than it has the power to transform the state. I am the last to complain that the Marxists rule us today. As long as we do not have the strength to overcome them, they have the political right to rule us. I am surprised how little they use that right. I would do things differently. That is their tragic misunderstanding of their own worldview. I do not complain that the gentlemen of the Berlin Police use their power against us, only that they call themselves democrats and claim that they allow freedom of thought and of speech. That is nonsense. That is lying hypocrisy, for in truth these gentlemen are dictators.

Now, it is certainly true that the modern German cultural establishment produces every manner of nonsense. I know that this nonsense is poisoning the German national soul. There are those who say: “Something has to happen. You have to do something. If you want to fight the movie industry, you must build your own theater, even if it at first has only the most primitive equipment. And if you see that the children are being poisoned by what they read in school, you must begin to win children’s souls and give them the antidote.” My reply is simple: You can spend ten years giving the antidote to the poison that is produced by a badly led cultural establishment, but a single decree from the Ministry of Culture can destroy all your work. If you had spent that ten years winning fighters for the movement, the movement would have conquered the Ministry of Culture! Everything else is mere piecework.

Winning people over to something that I have recognized as right, that is what we call propaganda.

No one is willing to die for the 8-hour day. But people are willing to die so that Germany will belong to the Germans. The time is coming when people will not ask us what we think about the 8-hour day; but rather when Germany is seized with desperation they will ask: “Can you give us back faith?”

Some critics complain: “All you do is criticize! You only complain. You can’t do things any better yourselves!” Others say that “the Angriff [Goebbels’s newspaper in Berlin] is entirely negative. Say something positive for a change.” Well, I am not in a position to say anything positive about Isidor Weiss [the Jewish Vice Chief of Police in Berlin, and a regular Goebbels target]. I can only be negative. And there is nothing positive I can say about the Republic. There is nothing positive about it. I can say something positive only when I eliminate the negative. The most brilliant statesman on earth could do nothing with this Republic. And Marxism preached only the negative for sixty years. The result was that it took over the state on 9 November 1918. Hitler once said: “Keep those know-it-alls who always want to do something positive away from me.” We can do something positive only when we have first gotten rid of the negative.

THE similarities are shocking!

Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer
June 19, 2013 1:58 am

Jim, TBP went down for me for the 2nd day in a row with a “Database Non-Connection” Error. Your site is definitely Under Siege. Back up now, but it’s getting more frequent.

I just openned a New Board on the Diner, the Guerrilla Internet Free Speech Board. It’s open so all can read about any Breaking Newz on Blogs, Forums and Alternative Newz sources that get taken offline by the Gestapo.

Bookmark it gang. Long as the Boys in the Black Cadillac Escalades don’t shut me down also and ship me off to GITMO to share a Cell with Jimbo (what a NIGHTMARE! lol), we’ll get up any Newz fast as we can.

GUERRILLA INTERNET FREE SPEECH
http://www.doomsteaddiner.org/forum/index.php?board=50.0

RE

crazyivan
crazyivan
June 19, 2013 2:37 am

What this whole Snowden thing boils down to is an attempt by the telecommunications industry to slow bandwidth use.

It will probably work for a while.

crazyivan
crazyivan
June 19, 2013 2:47 am

I mean who’s not gonna think twice before calling the sister-in-law for phone sex?[img]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQH0VGJvNBjQ3HtyklOtmF7jpOR-0n-9RzQNJp-D5YmIEPT_A-AVw[/img]

platoplubius
platoplubius
June 19, 2013 2:52 am

@crazyivan

I seriously doubt they want to slow bandwith use. My buddy rents a modem through Comcast and he received a letter in the mail telling him some GOOD NEWS! Comcast said that since they upgraded the speeds to their Blast! internet service and the current modem he had was an older model modem, that he wasnt utilizing all the available bandwith…..so they offered to upgrade his modem at NO COST! IF telecommunications industry giant Comcast is worried about my buddy not utilizing all his bandwith; I think the internet will be JUST FINE with the traffic usage.

I wondered if Comcast and da Gubermint wanted to be able to “mirror” or copy info that my buddy might be transmitting or receiving and his older modem wasn’t allowing for the speeds of download because of slowage due to low bandwith……

Doesn’t sound so crazy considering what Snowden leaked!

crazyivan
crazyivan
June 19, 2013 3:13 am

I was talking about main pipeline bandwidth.

It must be getting expensive.

“Let’s slow these freaks down”

“Scare them”

Jim
Jim
June 19, 2013 3:15 am

They’ve got us. Let’s face it. I’ve got a family. They’re in danger. You’re in danger. We all are. Bush crossed the Rubicon in 2001 and killed our Republic. Now Octavian (Obama) will finish the task, wrapping the mantle of empire across the fragments of a broken world, and calling it what? The New World Order? The Globalist System of Peace and Constructive Development of Humankind? Does it really matter? They have won, and you have lost. Think of your family, of your kids. Do you care about them? Then find a way to stay out of the FEMA camps by doing your part to promote the new goals of a new polity and a new people. Yes, a new people. The future will be forever different and you must find your place within it. Accommodation is the act of a reasoning mind, violence and destruction that of a despairing and suicidal mindset having no hope for the future or its possibility. Which are you?

Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer
June 19, 2013 3:32 am

” They have won, and you have lost.”-Jim

Not.

So your Solution here is to acquiesce to the Fascist State, GIVE UP the FIGHT?

Sorry, The Fat Lady is not yet Singing.

[imgcomment image[/img]

Still got Options. Would Josey Wales QUIT when it looks like you are gonna LOSE. NO! That is when you get PLAIN MAD DOG MEAN!

[imgcomment image[/img]

RE
http://doomsteaddiner.com

Gayle
Gayle
June 19, 2013 3:37 am

I will reject the system in small, but to me meaningful, ways:

I have already left Chase Bank for a credit union.
I am going to dump my Verizon cell phone for a trac phone or something similar.
I will no longer purchase books on Amazon; I’ll go to the local Barnes/Noble and pay cash.
I will stop using my debit card for any transactions unless absolutely necessary.
I will no longer contribute to my church with a check; I’ll give up my tax deduction to use cash.
I will change voter registration to Independent.
I refuse to participate in retailer profiling by signing up for “courtesy cards” that track and profile me, except for one grocery chain where I don’t often shop.
I rarely watch television or mainstream news (I sometimes watch Fox because I want to see how they will spin something).
If I need to use a credit card,I will only use the one attached to my credit union.
I will attend city council meetings.
I will swallow hard and go to (infiltrate?) the local Tea Party meetings to try to talk to people about the phony two party system (they still don’t get it).
I am going to pray for courage for the days ahead.
I will channel my rage into positive action.

These are little things I can do in my small sphere of influence, but do them I will. I will also keep participating in this blog, which is lately becoming yet another point of resistance.

Thanks Admin for another great piece.

AKAnon
AKAnon
June 19, 2013 3:58 am

I’d rather hang out (or just plain hang, I suppose) w/ Gayle than Jim (above). A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero but one-do what you can. If you need to keep your head down and a low profile, I get that. But in my mind, Jim’s “accommodation” sounds a lot like Churchill’s “appeaser”. The Hangman loves accommodation.

Reverse Engineer
Reverse Engineer
June 19, 2013 4:21 am

I’d rather hang out (or just plain hang, I suppose) w/ Gayle than Jim (above).-AKanon

That’s the ALASKA SPIRIT! 😀

RE

JDFj
JDFj
June 19, 2013 5:24 am

Hey JQ – you’re not even close to being cynical enough (big smile). Or …. , but I won’t go there.

http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/nsa-scandal-the-deepest-secret-of-the-ed-snowden-operation/

stephan
stephan
June 19, 2013 5:44 am

he deserves a statue …smack bang in front of the white house….

The Resident Sophist
The Resident Sophist
June 19, 2013 6:33 am

Defer to SSS.

There are lots of peeps who simply want to keep us safe.

Props to them.

All of this is quite simply out of my league…

Taint Boil
Taint Boil
June 19, 2013 6:56 am

Damn – really good post; I can not find one sentence I disagree with. These warmongering / constitution burning scum need to be dragged out into the streets to the nearest guillotine.

Peggy Sue
Peggy Sue
June 19, 2013 9:01 am

That photo of Ron Paul is so striking to me. It illustrates how alone he was in this criminal operation calling itself government in speaking out for truth, common sense, and liberty. I wonder if someone could use that photo and put Ghandi’s quote on it about the truth is still the truth even if you are in a minority of one. The pic and that quote would be a nice one to spread about.

Great article and that list of quotes helps us to identify the enemies of liberty and justice.

harry p.
harry p.
June 19, 2013 9:19 am

Outstanding post Jim,
I re-posted it on my site and this article will be forwarded to all of my friends.
I would include my neo-con friends but after the last 2-3 years of interaction I don’t seem to have any.

Turd F
Turd F
June 19, 2013 9:50 am

Jim: Terrific stuff. Extremely well-researched and well-written.
Thank you for all you do to help sustain liberty….what’s left of it.

FT
FT
June 19, 2013 9:56 am

“The country is being run like a mafia crime family. The Don and his lieutenants operate in secrecy, eliminating their opponents, buying off the press, bribing the police for protection, running the rackets, and collecting their tribute from those that want to do business with them. They go to war against the other families whenever they want to expand their turf. The country has been captured by an organized crime syndicate and it will require an Elliot Ness type character with many strident Constitutionalists to rid the land of these evil, lawless, egocentric men.”

It’s getting to where I have to say “your best column to date” rather frequently, Admin. The above passage is your best illustration yet (even better than Bernanke as the Captain of the Titanic) of our current reality.

Dan
Dan
June 19, 2013 10:21 am

“Who has done more to shred the Constitution and strip us of rights, liberties and freedoms in the last thirteen years – Cheney or Snowden?”

One sentence that speaks volumes……

Mary Malone
Mary Malone
June 19, 2013 10:36 am

“Paul stopped shy of saying that Clapper should be tried for perjury or that he should resign, only saying that Clapper has hurt his credibility and that, if Paul were president, Paul would ask him to resign.”

As we say in NJ, “Yeah, it’s a crime. But who’s gonna sign the warrant?”

That, my friends is the problem. Admin, you are absolutely right about the corruption and lies that permeate our society. Snowden is a Patriot, not for the opinion he holds, but for his actions he takes.

By now, nearly 50% of the American population KNOWS they are being lied to by Big Gov. They KNOW they cannot trust their elected “leaders”, the media and corporate shills.

They KNOW these corporatism/fascists/globalists have destroyed the world economy, the rule of law and hundreds of millions of lives.

Yet, these criminals remain free. They are so brazen at this point they simply do not care what we think. They are “in control”.

Their attitude wreaks of, “What are ya gonna do about, huh?”

As long as the 50% who know the truth refuse to act on their convictions – like you are keeping TBP alive – then the tyranny and looting will continue.

You are right, Jim. A criminal enterprise has captured our government – what, exactly are we going to do about it?

Mary Malone
Mary Malone
June 19, 2013 10:47 am

@Admin This is what happens when the rule of law is not enforced. Joyce KNEW he could lie – and get away with it. So he did.

Who is gonna sign the freak’in warrant???

Thinker
Thinker
June 19, 2013 10:55 am

Off topic, but did anyone hear of this journalist’s death yesterday?

On Michael Hastings

Lots of people saying there’s more to it.

Mary Malone
Mary Malone
June 19, 2013 10:59 am

@Thinker Yes, they announced he died in a car crash in the LA Hills. Reports claimed he was speeding…

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