Big Brother is watching you!
By louisehartmann
In an interview with Current TV on Monday, former NSA senior official Thomas Drake revealed that the NSA is not just monitoring international phone calls and emails as its been given the authority to do, but also domestic calls and emails. As Drake said, “a key decision [was] made shortly after 9/11, which began to rapidly turn the United States of America into the equivalent of a foreign nation for dragnet blanket electronic surveillance.”
Drake admitted that data is being collected on virtually “the entire country” and then being inserted into a computer algorithm to pick out suspicious chatter. It’s been long speculated – and even known – that the government was abusing its powers and spying on innocent Americans during the Bush administration. Unfortunately, since the whole nation has been whipped into a fear of terrorism, not many seem to have the courage to speak truth to power.
Comments
#2
And all this was meant to happen when they planned 911. For years..decades...the ruling elite were getting even richer by their various scams (housing, derivatives, illegal bonds, etc) and they knew that one day it will all collapse and they would be brought to task for their criminality. They needed a false flag to scare people so badly that they would be willing to give up any form of freedom for protection. Not a new story...it has happened before in history. It worked during Pearl Harbors and since Pearl Harbor they seriously thought about doing Operation Northwoods. The Gulf of Tonkin false flag lied us into the Vietnam war.
These people knew that Americans could be scared and manipulated. After operations like MKULTRA, Guns For Drugs, various other horrible things against American citizens, these evil conspiracists not only planned to stage the 911 false flag operation killing thousands but they carried it out.
It allowed them to commit an illegal and immoral war against people who didn't deserve to be murdered. And the drones that flew over the Middle East murdering innocent civilians are now flying in America's skies...some not only spying on us but some are armed ready to kill anyone they want.
Until you stop blocking and fight your cognitive dissonance and look at the evidence of 911 you will not be able to understand how totally useless it is to try to change the crooked system when you play by their rules. It should be easier for someone who has sufficient knowledge of architecture and building and the laws of physics...many have finally joined Architects and Engineers for Truth...some said that they were bothered by the inconsistencies of what they saw and what they heard at first but finally, had to realize that we have been lied to about 911. If you don't know the laws of physics then you may be more susceptible to believe in the lies that the government has told us.
Right after 911, when people were told that we were attacked by 19 Muslim box-cutter wielding terrorists...sent over by Osama bin Laden..the people got riled up and incensed against anyone who would do such a thing to us. The plotters fed us scare stories of possible crop dusters raining down poison gas...and people bought gas masks or taped up their windows.
It was easy to see Muslims as the bad guys...and some people were so riled up they physically reacted to it. I doubt many people, now, if they finally learned the truth about 911, would react in the same way. But that is the way we need to react against the real bad guys that have corrupted our system and devised and carried out these treasonous offenses against us.
#3
Christopher Markowski "the Watchdog of Wall St") over the weekend accused Thom Hartmann viewers & listeners of making threats against him and his family (he made a point of mentioning that his wife is of Greek origin, for some reason).
He of course said that he didn't agree with Thom's side of the discussion, but his main point was when he goes on 'Liberal' shows that he and his family receive threats. It was an odd rant on his part and I can't imagine it being completely true on the facts & details (perhaps from his point of view, being called out on the substance of what he said on the show was reason to feel threatened).
#4
Did you ever have a fake photo ID?
Let's agree with the goal, Prevent voter fraud. One person, one vote. But how is requiring a photo ID going to prevent this fraud? There is a whole industry of providing fake ID's. If you want to vote illegally, get a fake ID (of a dead person, etc.?) It can't be hard, especially if you are part of an organization wanting to subvert the outcome of an election.
Want to prevent voter fraud? I think Iraq has the perfect solution--as you vote, dip your finger in purple ink. Personally, I think a "purple finger" is preferable to those "I voted" stickers my voting place passes out.
Purple Finger
#5
Democracy Now - video and transcript.
Friday, April 20, 2012 Full Show
Exclusive: National Security Agency Whistleblower William Binney on Growing State Surveillance
In his first television interview since he resigned from the National Security Agency over its domestic surveillance program, William Binney discusses the NSA’s massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home after he became a whistleblower.
Binney served in the NSA for over 30 years, including a time as technical director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could "create an Orwellian state." Today marks the first time Binney has spoken on national television about NSA surveillance.
WILLIAM BINNEY:
So—but after 9/11, all the wraps came off for NSA, and they decided to—between the White House and NSA and CIA, they decided to eliminate the protections on U.S. citizens and collect on domestically. So they started collecting from a commercial—the one commercial company that I know of that participated provided over 300—probably, on the average, about 320 million records of communication of a U.S. citizen to a U.S. citizen inside this country.
AMY GOODMAN: What company?
WILLIAM BINNEY: AT&T. It was long-distance communications. So they were providing billing data. At that point, I knew I could not stay, because it was a direct violation of the constitutional rights of everybody in the country. Plus it violated the pen register law and Stored Communications Act, the Electronic Privacy Act, the intelligence acts of 1947 and 1978. I mean, it was just this whole series of—plus all the laws covering federal communications governing telecoms. I mean, all those laws were being violated, including the Constitution. And that was a decision made that wasn’t going to be reversed, so I could not stay there. I had to leave.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Well, I made that—I reported the crime when I was raided in 2007. And it was that Bush and Cheney and Hayden and Tenet conspired to subvert the Constitution and violate various laws of the—that exist in the statute at the time, and here’s how they did it. And I was reporting this to the FBI on my back porch during the raid. And I went through Stellar Wind and told them what it did and what the information it was using and how they were spying on—or assembling data to be able to spy on any American.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to a clip of Congress Member Hank Johnson—he’s the Georgia Democrat—questioning National Security Administration director, General Keith Alexander, last month, asking him whether the NSA spies on U.S. citizens.
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Does the NSA routinely (intercept*) American citizens’ emails?
(* note: that the word "intercept" was used in the same way as "sexual intercourse" was made by Bill Clinton. What precisely is meant by "intercept"...hence Alexander was able to answer in the negative. Remember that the next time you are questioned.)
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Does the NSA intercept Americans’ cellphone conversations?
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Google searches?
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Text messages?
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Amazon.com orders?
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Bank records?
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: No. ("I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman!")*
AMY GOODMAN: Is he lying? Is General Keith Alexander lying?
WILLIAM BINNEY: I wouldn’t—you know, the point is how you split the words. I wouldn’t say "lying." It’s a kind of avoiding the issue.
AMY GOODMAN: Jacob Appelbaum, how does this relate to you? And how powerful is General Keith Alexander?
JACOB APPELBAUM: I was saying to Bill that I think he’s probably the most powerful person in the world, in the sense that—
AMY GOODMAN: More powerful than President Obama?
JACOB APPELBAUM: Well, sure. I mean, if he controls the information that arrives on Obama’s desk, and Obama makes decisions based on the things on his desk, what decisions can he make, if—except the decisions presented to him by the people he trusts? And when the people he trusts are the military, the military makes the decisions, then the civilian government is not actually in power.
AMY GOODMAN: Bill Binney, you’re nodding your head.
WILLIAM BINNEY: Yes. I mean, well, for example, their responsibility is to interpret what they have and report up echelon. So, I mean, that’s the responsibility of all the intelligence agencies. So, they basically filter the information to what they believe is important, which is what they should do, because, you know, they’re occupying—it takes time for leaders to review material to make decisions. So they have to boil it down as best they can. So it’s a function of their processing, but it is important that they do it correctly to make sure the information that gets there is correct and complete as it can.
AMY GOODMAN: Is General Alexander more powerful than President Obama?
WILLIAM BINNEY: In the sense of making—of presenting information for decision making, sure.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/20/exclusive_national_security_agency...
#6
Most people have NO CLUE this is happening while they defend their right to carry guns that murder as many people as possible and the politicans cry crocodile tears.
#7
Yeah yeah, blah blah blah.
Once again, it was ceded for the people by the people.
Rather reminds me of the FBI files Hoover collected. You did absolutely nothing if you weren't in a file somewhere in the basement.
We the people turned that shady business around for a few years till guess what, it was given WILLINGLY back...........So start taking your right of privacy back with no mambe bambie excuses about big government whine. You want to talk about an entrenched status quo? Go back to the 60's. Go back to our grand fathers walking the picket lines with loaded guns just for protection. Go back to our veterans of WWI shot down on the capital steps for demanding benefits promised and not delivered.
No more preaching and whinning to the choir folks, time to get out and stand up to that neighbor, friend or family member, give them the facts. Trace the line for them if you have to.
Dirty and as sweaty as it is, it always starts at the ground level folks.
#8
You think Republicans are the only culprit? Obama has instituted more repressive policies than the Republicans did for 8 years. And he has continued and expanded on all the Bush authored civil rights suppression. Get your head out of that hole you've buried it in. Left wing hypocrisy is almost comical if not for the fact that it is despicable. A bigger pox on Democrats.... they used to be better folks. Now they are all entirely evil.
#9
1922 Kansas City, May 1 " "There isn't a. secret service in the world as large as this one. Thousands of eyes are watching..."
"1922 Kansas City, - Kan., May 1. — The merits of the Ku Klux Klan were debated at the London Heights Methodist Episcopal Church here this morning by Dr. Harry Graham, Boston, Mass, announced as international organizer of the Ku Klux Klan, and Mayor Harry B.Burton of this city, an announced opponent of the organization.
Dr. Graham pictured the klan as working for social purity, white supremacy. the welfare of the nation and upholding the constitution of the United States.
Mayor Burton declared the Klan was un-American. cowardly and oppressive... Dr. Graham said that ...public morality had slumped and that this letdown in public morals "threatened the supremacy of the white race."
Mlayor Burton asserted that the supremacy of the white race was a matter to be proven by its own actions;...
The organizer said he spoke as a medical man and as a scientist. ... "We don't want riff-raffs.
"We investigate candidates for membership and take only men of high Christian principles....
"Men in Washington have told me it will not be more than ten years before civil -war breaks out in this country. Our organization is riding this wave. The more is said in the press against us, the more men come to us to Join.
"There isn't a secret service in the world as large as this one. Thousands of eyes are watching your every move. We have been criticised for secrecy, That is all right. Secrecy was essential to the preservation of Christianity in the early days of Roman persecution...
"The city of Tulsa, Ok.. has been a cleaner citv than ever in its history since the work of the Ku Klux Klan."
#10
If that was bait, I'll rise to it.
Whatever President Obama has or hasn't done with his tenure, the visceral reaction in this country from day one of a black man elected as commander and chief has been very telling......
Can't say it was a real surprise to me, but it was more than disappointing. I had higher hopes for the country at large.
#11
Obama is a republican in democrats clothing. And, yes, the democrats aren't any better...they just have different 'enemies' for you to be afraid of.
#12
Conspiracy theorists, backing of the KKK, taking our guns away and waiting for the next civil war, and Obama is the boogey man taking away our rights and those of you who think we should carry guns in public. Not to mention Thom showing how the government is spying on everyone in their e-mails and phone calls. All the nuts are not in the jar after reading the comments of people living in fear. Do any of you remember when the Russians were the bad guys and we had to duck and cover in our school classrooms? I guess those were the good old days, when the world was on the brink of mass extinction! Wow, I guess it is time to stock up on ammo and wait for the federal troops to kick in the door….And of course there is no threat of radical Muslims plotting to launch another attack, because it was the government that took the buildings down in New York, especially after the architect who designed the buildings said there was a single flaw that helped bring down the towers. The design defect was that the buildings were designed with the structural skeleton on the outside and not the traditional method of having the main support beams in the inside to support the separate floors. Causing the pancaking of the floors one on top of the other, or was he bribed to lie about his building…Oh yes, this country would be in great shape if we still hated each other based on skin color and the KKK still ruled the South. And the rich want us to go to the state of civil war in this country to hide what they are doing too destroy the American way of life. Could it be the bastards are just plain greedy and have figured out ways to defraud the whole damn World. You do realize the derivatives were sold all over this planet, not just to us poor Americans. The banks on Wall St. have schemed for decades on ways to defraud the world out of their money. The Fed. Reserve has been headed up by ex-Wall St. Executives for decades, not just the last few years, giving them an even greater ability to cover up their crimes. And the government of our country just has not figured out a way to protect us from the crazy Muslim radicals, so they spy on everyone, that I believe to be true. Obama is a rightwing democrat and has taken some of our civil rights away, because he listens to asses who think it is the only way to protect us and it could be the military-industrial complex wants to keep us nervous so we keep buying weapons we do not need. My friends it all comes down to basic greed and power grabbing by our President and politicians who want to retain their positions at any cost. But to cry the sky is falling, the sky is falling and all is lost is a losing mind set. If I woke up every morning believing what you do, I guess I would be paranoid too. The World and our present economic situation have been worse and we still found our way out, to a better world. And, I believe we will finally take the politicians and banksters by the balls and demand change. Hopefully there will be real changes in the laws that give the crazies 6000 rounds of ammunition and swat military gear over the internet, while still giving Americans the right to bear arms in their homes, just not weapons that can hold a 100 round mag., and are capable of turning assault weapons into killing machines for the nuts out there. It is proven living in continual fear leads to a state of paranoia, where everyone and every entity is out to get them and there to destroy what we have built as a society, get some therapy and good medications. As far as Thom goes, he makes his living bring up the most disturbing facts of life too keep everyone coming back for more the next day! Good work buddy, it appears by the ranting’s of your viewers, it is working……….
#13
So, I am a latina that ends up voting at a predesignated posh republican retirement community.
At the last election, I was suspiciously (if you could have seen the triple sneer on this senior citizen volunteer) asked for my photo ID. So, in conservative Virginia, I decided to create a scene that brought in the voting staff's manager, the retirement communities' manager, and the security officer (a black man). I shot back with, "Not until you show me your photo ID that authorizes you to ask the same from me. After all, why would I let an unauthorized volunteer violate the Privacy Information Act (PIA) that protects me?"
TO THE VOTING STAFF MANAGER: "How do I know you aren't a commie fascist? Are you a republican? 'Yes.' Well then, you folks have chosen the color RED as the conservative's mask . . . put a single gold star on it and what do you have?
No,! no! no! You want photo verification of my identity? Then do it the right way . . . renew all voter registration cards with photo IDs across the board to make it equal. This half ass shit doesn't work with me. So, until then show me her authorizations that allow her to ask for my photo ID in public while violating PIA.
THE SECURITY OFFICER: While trying to pipe me down, backed-off when I mentioned PIA. He turned to the staff manager and told her, "She has a point regarding the Privacy Information Act. Show her the volunteer's authority. They could not furnish a signed agreement so they let me through to vote without showing my ID.
On the way out, the security officer asked me, "Are you for real on the Privacy Information Act?" My response, "Don't know, all I had to do was scare the shit out of her. If that didn't work then I'd have humbled myself and shown my ID. Try it next time you vote. And, make sure you also wear the uniform . . . you'll feel good . . . and, it will start a trend with those that follow."
#14
I wonder if the suspicious chatter algorithm includes key words related to domestic economic terrorism....acts such as utilizing off shore bank accounts for massive tax evasion and the outsourcing of jobs.
I don't know how anyone could terrify a citizen more than creating the threat of loss of job, home, healthcare, retirement savings, and paid for social safety nets....... which is exactly what the end result of behavior of guys like Romney is doing. In fact it's no longer just a threat, it's the reality of what is actually happening...FEUDALIZATION of the economy!... Will our Big Brother stand up and look out for the best interests of the 99.999%?
#15
A lot of long respnses here, so I'll keep mine short. The Patriot Act is unconsitutional period. It's a direct violation of our rights under the Constitution, so why doesn't SCOTUS throw that law out?
#16
Way to go, Idaglia!!! That was really great!!! I hope others do the same.
#17
How much easier would it have been for those citizens in countries like Libya, Egypt, and now Syria to overthrow their corrupt and evil ruling regimes had they all had weapons...ie: guns? Had every citizen had a gun it would have made the ruling regimes a little less oppressive. I believe the succeeding French governments always had it in the back of their minds, since the mass beheadings during the French Revolution, that they had better not tick off the populace too much.
You respect and/or fear those who have the capacity to kill you. Since the government has most of the guns we are all at their mercy. They don't fear us. We fear them. Just as it was in Libya, Egypt, Syria, and a whole lot of other places where a few arrogant a$$holes, with all the firepower, can bully people into submission.
It is supposed to be different here in America. We are supposed to have democracy but, in reality, it is not a democracy...a corrupt democracy is not a real democracy at all. It is no better than what they had in Egypt or elsewhere.
When our country wants to overthrow the regimes in other countries, most likely for some "strategic" reason or just because a few ruling elite in the US wants to profit on their raw materials or cheap labor, they used to send in our armed forces...still do..but they also use another tact...fomenting internal strife and dissent...and providing weaponry and other assistance to the dissidents.
An organization that sounds liberal and progressive, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, is actually an organization that foments dissent in those countries the US wants to dominate.
"Overthrow Inc.: Peter Ackerman’s quest to do what the CIA used to do, and make it seem progressive"
Posted on March 5, 2012
http://prolecenter.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/overthrow-inc-peter-ackerman...
#18
What the World Trade Center Building Designers Said: Before and After 9/11
[before 911]:
"A previous analysis [by WTC building designers], carried out early in 1964, calculated that the towers would handle the impact of a 707 traveling at 600 mph without collapsing."
[Early 1984 through October of 1985]:
However, O'Sullivan consults one of the trade center's original structural engineers, Les Robertson, on whether the towers would collapse because of a bomb or a collision with a slow-moving airplane. He is told there is little likelihood of a collapse no matter how the building was attacked."
[1993]:
[Building designer] John Skilling recounts his people having carried out an analysis which found the twin towers could withstand the impact of a Boeing 707. Our analysis indicated the biggest problem would be the fact that all the fuel (from the airplane) would dump into the building. There would be a horrendous fire. A lot of people would be killed. But, he says, "The building structure would still be there".
"The buildings have been investigated and found to be safe in an assumed collision with a large jet airliner (Boeing 707 or DC 8) traveling at 600 miles per hour. Analysis indicates that such collision would result in only local damage which could not cause collapse or substantial damage to the building and would not endanger the lives and safety of occupants not in the immediate area of impact." However, besides this paper, no documents are known detailing how this analysis was made."
note: These 911 planes, while not 707s, were traveling at much slower speeds of about 400 mph.
[2001]:
[Leslie Robertson:] "The twin towers were in fact the first structures outside the military and nuclear industries designed to resist the impact of a jet airplane."
[Frank A. Demartini:] "The building was designed to have a fully loaded 707 crash into it. That was the largest plane at the time. I believe that the building probably could sustain multiple impacts of jetliners because this structure is like the mosquito netting on your screen door -- this intense grid -- and the jet plane is just a pencil puncturing that screen netting. It really does nothing to the screen netting." Frank A. Demartini, on-site construction manager for the World Trade Center, spoke of the resilience of the towers in an interview recorded on January 25, 2001.
[Sept 3-7, 2001..just before 911]:
The Boeing 707 was the largest in use when the towers were designed. [Leslie] Robertson conducted a study in late 1964, to calculate the effect of a 707 weighing 263,000 pounds and traveling at 180 mph crashing into one of the towers. [Robertson] concluded that the tower would remain standing. However, no official report of his study has ever surfaced publicly.
[After 911]:
Go to the web site to read everything said after 911...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/210207designers.htm
...and remember the tremendous pressure brought to bear on anyone immediately after 911...the patriotic fervor and subsequent "witch hunts". Some may have realized, right away, that this was a demolition done by powerful people within our country. And one's life just might be in danger if you say the wrong things.
Here's another web site by an engineer whose design architectural firm that worked on the design of, from 1970 to 1972, the WTC buildings. He also has some original photos of the construction.
This engineer is saying that if any floor structural support in any quadrant..or even half, failed, it would have asymmetrically failed...ie: instead of pancaking straight down...would have tilted over. He said that the buildings had massive, over-designed internal structures.
#19
Glad to see you are fighting back in an intelligent and well informed manner....good work...
#20
Ya worried about government armed take over!!!???? Here in America? What joke.
While you've been closely guarding your precious gun the money has already bought and sold America several times over.
Don't worry your gun is perfectly safe, no one is going to take it away, they don't need to, they already OWN you.
#21
Guns are merely a tool. They don't actually "kill" anybody. People kill people. While England proudly toots their murder by gun rate is down to 1%; they fail to tell you that their murder by fire-poker/bludgeoning rate has increased. Personally I'd rather face a bullet than be bludgeoned to death. If you're worried about guns & the people who are murdered by use of them, maybe the conversation would be more constructive if we all talked about "mental health care" in America. Why does it take 6 months or longer to get an appointment with a counselor who "charges according to what you can afford". Where do these ill people turn when they are having a crisis or mental breakdown? Who or What agency is there for them? To help them, to talk them off the ledge, so to speak. We all cry when people are murdered, not just the politicians.
#22
Very good point. My mind often travels to the videos I watched of the citizens being mowed down with AK47s in Libya for protesting.
They had "rocks" to defend themselves with. Ol Kadaffe (sp) used an umbrella, while his soldiers blanketed the streets with bullets.
Nothin wrong with guns. What's wrong is the lack of available mental health care in America for those who don't have the money.
#23
I object strenuously to being monitored and spyed upon by my own government. I am squeeky clean, and relatively boring to boot. But I don't like the idea of my privacy being violated this way. The only true privacy left is the U.S.P.S. and the lovely republican congress is doing their best to eliminate that, and give it over to private corporations. We've all been so comfortable and complacent for so very long. What can we do now? Is it all lost forever, or is there a chance we can restore our Freedoms? Please nobody say "civil war", because THAT IS NOT AN OPTION.
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It's one of the oldest methods of controlling people - "Rule By Fear". Keeping the people afraid of something - anything - makes it easier to decieve them and commit injustices against them. It worked for Hitler; it worked for Musolini; and now it's working for American republicans.