With all due respect, that's simplistic paranoia. First, there is no "99%." You can't understand our real situation without grasping that point. The middle class has maintained a hellish class war against our poor for years. Now the rich are doing to the middle class what the middle class did to the poor. There won't be any food wars. Those who become poor either learn to survive or die. Ultimately, the nation collapses, and nations always do.
It's always a balancing act, isn't it? (a) The government could shut down communication to prevent bad people from coordinating efforts to do seriously bad things to residents of our nation, both citizens and guests. (b) The government itself could comprise the "bad people"; the government could be doing bad things to our citizens and guests.
Need a refresher? You might go back to right-wing General Douglas MacArthur's following the Repulican President's orders and leading the Army to destroy "Hooverville." Or even further back if you're inclined. But it might be better to start with Ferguson and work backward through recent events, not forgetting the Democratic Convention at St. Paul — where Amy Goodman (!) was jailed — the "Occupy" movement, etc.
Personally I'm a lot less worried about the wildly remote chance of being hurt by foreign terrorists, or even the much more likely chance of being hurt by domestic terrorists from the radical right, than I am of a Koch-owned puppet regime in control of the federal government's unbelievable technology, military weaponry, and technical know-how. In other words, forget the imaginary "commie" government "survivalists" fear, but focus even more intently on the kind of fascist government Germans, Italians, Spanish, etc. should have feared.
Read the financial press! The Bubble is about to burst. When it happens, the urban infrastructures will collapse. Food riots and lots more will follow. The 99% will become very p*ssed. That is why the elites are trying to strangle our means of communication.
Turning off cell phones by government is no different than turning off home and business phones by government. Both are a violation of our constitutional freedom of speech and should never be done.
McConnell was already in deep trouble as an incumbent in a statistical tie with Alison Grimes. Of course, the fact that Grimes is strong, brright and wants to represent the people of Kentucky had a lot to do with it. Now that McConnell has admitted he is owned by the Koch Brothers, he should start making retirement plans.
Hi Thom, I wanted to watch and hear you speak about police brutality but Mr. Cooper I'd so loud and rambunctious I had to stop. What do you say we tone it all down, Thom?
Fabian, you keep accusing Senator Sanders of jumping on this "Middle Class Only bandwagon". And I keep explaining to you, the senator is concerned about the number of Americans falling off that wagon, or unable to climb on it, which means more people stuck in poverty. Would you prefer that everyone just be rich or poor? Because that's what we'll have without a middle class. - AIW
Great comments, CK! However an obstacle to what you've suggested is the Great American Ego. After all, we're the Leaders Of The Free World! How dare anyone suggest we model our society after someone else's! - AIW
Thom, on last nite's BigPic you had a graphic of a militarized police line while you were advocating for federal programs to improve police departments. The militarization process was, unfortunately, a federal program. My point is that federal programs can effect the nation widely for good or ill. Without a well thought out federal program nudging communities, they tend to wander about. As a consequence, I think police power should not suffer from benign neglect at the highest levels of our (representative?) government. Now we suffer from a thirty year conservative philosophy of 'More Force' as the answer to every question. We need to model the sucessful N. European countries as an explicit process. We've amply demonstrated that our dash to the right is wrong.
Outstanding explaination of the libertarian agenda. Many oddly confuse "libertarianism" with "liberalism," though they're opposites. Confusion over the meaning of words is pretty common. Sen. Sanders, for example, considers himself socialist, yet he jumped on the Middle Class Only bandwagon; "Standing up to protect the status quo of the bourgeoisie!" Right. "Middle class" is a term that has been exploited in a way that confuses its meaning. Folks, if you're still in the middle class, by definition, you're doing great! A significant chunk of the population isn't.
Every single self described Libertarian I've ever met has turned out to be a Republican who's just too damn ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. They all got suckered into rule by and only for the very rich! Being Foxmerized must be identical to being totally wasted all the time like Boehner!
The cock brother's father took a page out of Stalin's book when he lived in Russia building refineries for the commie bastards. Then he came back to the U.S. and camoflaged his leanings and set up the john birch society which is most likely communist leaning. I think they are closet communists and don't give a shit about the people. All they care about is their psychopathic urge to destroy America just like Stalin, et al. They are doing it from the inside.
It seems that if FDR explained that to the powers to be, they would not have staged a military coup. Thank God, that Smedley Butler saved us.
It seems to me that the "unbridled herd" is a synonym for demcracy. The unbridled herd was winning against the powerful minority which led to the Lewis Powell memo. If the unbridled herd was not winning the Powell memo would not have been necessary.
The Powell Memo and the Crisis of Democracy from the Tri-Lateral Commission (TLC) LOL are documents showing change in strategies in using the old system for ruling class benefit. The fact that a fascist coup was attempted, by the most elite of the ruling class, and nobody was even sentence to jail, let alone hung, should be a telling example of the power that the ruling class have over our government. Eugene Debs was sentence to prison for just speaking out against WWI. Two America’s one for the ruling class and one for the rest of us.
I say yes because why should thieves profit from stealing phones. If there is a kill switch then it makes the phone inoperable.
Thom should stop being paranoid worrying about things that haven't happened yet. But most importantly stop giving people ideas.
With all due respect, that's simplistic paranoia. First, there is no "99%." You can't understand our real situation without grasping that point. The middle class has maintained a hellish class war against our poor for years. Now the rich are doing to the middle class what the middle class did to the poor. There won't be any food wars. Those who become poor either learn to survive or die. Ultimately, the nation collapses, and nations always do.
scarabus RE#4 -- Bravo!
Perhaps a refresher is in order here.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/08/bart-cuts-cell-phone-service-t...
It's always a balancing act, isn't it? (a) The government could shut down communication to prevent bad people from coordinating efforts to do seriously bad things to residents of our nation, both citizens and guests. (b) The government itself could comprise the "bad people"; the government could be doing bad things to our citizens and guests.
Need a refresher? You might go back to right-wing General Douglas MacArthur's following the Repulican President's orders and leading the Army to destroy "Hooverville." Or even further back if you're inclined. But it might be better to start with Ferguson and work backward through recent events, not forgetting the Democratic Convention at St. Paul — where Amy Goodman (!) was jailed — the "Occupy" movement, etc.
Personally I'm a lot less worried about the wildly remote chance of being hurt by foreign terrorists, or even the much more likely chance of being hurt by domestic terrorists from the radical right, than I am of a Koch-owned puppet regime in control of the federal government's unbelievable technology, military weaponry, and technical know-how. In other words, forget the imaginary "commie" government "survivalists" fear, but focus even more intently on the kind of fascist government Germans, Italians, Spanish, etc. should have feared.
Read the financial press! The Bubble is about to burst. When it happens, the urban infrastructures will collapse. Food riots and lots more will follow. The 99% will become very p*ssed. That is why the elites are trying to strangle our means of communication.
Get portable CB radios for use at protests. They could try jamming the waves but that might prove to be hard on all 40 channels in a major metro area.
Yep!
Turning off cell phones by government is no different than turning off home and business phones by government. Both are a violation of our constitutional freedom of speech and should never be done.
McConnell was already in deep trouble as an incumbent in a statistical tie with Alison Grimes. Of course, the fact that Grimes is strong, brright and wants to represent the people of Kentucky had a lot to do with it. Now that McConnell has admitted he is owned by the Koch Brothers, he should start making retirement plans.
Hi Thom, I wanted to watch and hear you speak about police brutality but Mr. Cooper I'd so loud and rambunctious I had to stop. What do you say we tone it all down, Thom?
Fabian, you keep accusing Senator Sanders of jumping on this "Middle Class Only bandwagon". And I keep explaining to you, the senator is concerned about the number of Americans falling off that wagon, or unable to climb on it, which means more people stuck in poverty. Would you prefer that everyone just be rich or poor? Because that's what we'll have without a middle class. - AIW
Great comments, CK! However an obstacle to what you've suggested is the Great American Ego. After all, we're the Leaders Of The Free World! How dare anyone suggest we model our society after someone else's! - AIW
Off topic:
Thom, on last nite's BigPic you had a graphic of a militarized police line while you were advocating for federal programs to improve police departments. The militarization process was, unfortunately, a federal program. My point is that federal programs can effect the nation widely for good or ill. Without a well thought out federal program nudging communities, they tend to wander about. As a consequence, I think police power should not suffer from benign neglect at the highest levels of our (representative?) government. Now we suffer from a thirty year conservative philosophy of 'More Force' as the answer to every question. We need to model the sucessful N. European countries as an explicit process. We've amply demonstrated that our dash to the right is wrong.
Outstanding explaination of the libertarian agenda. Many oddly confuse "libertarianism" with "liberalism," though they're opposites. Confusion over the meaning of words is pretty common. Sen. Sanders, for example, considers himself socialist, yet he jumped on the Middle Class Only bandwagon; "Standing up to protect the status quo of the bourgeoisie!" Right. "Middle class" is a term that has been exploited in a way that confuses its meaning. Folks, if you're still in the middle class, by definition, you're doing great! A significant chunk of the population isn't.
I found something on the Internet that might be interesting to you Thom and all of your followers.
Constitutional Accountability Center
Reversing Citizens United:
Lessons from the Sixteenth Amendment
January 20, 2012By David H. Gans and Ryan Woo
Every single self described Libertarian I've ever met has turned out to be a Republican who's just too damn ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. They all got suckered into rule by and only for the very rich! Being Foxmerized must be identical to being totally wasted all the time like Boehner!
They think it's "looking out for #1". The world should be only how they theneselves want it.
It ain't what you don't know that worries me. It's what you do know that just ain't so.
If those calling themselves libertarians are ignorant of all this, then what *do* they think libertarianism means?
Libertarianism is the opposite of communitarianism. An individual facing the world contrasted with a community where we help and support our fellows.
Unfortunately.
The cock brother's father took a page out of Stalin's book when he lived in Russia building refineries for the commie bastards. Then he came back to the U.S. and camoflaged his leanings and set up the john birch society which is most likely communist leaning. I think they are closet communists and don't give a shit about the people. All they care about is their psychopathic urge to destroy America just like Stalin, et al. They are doing it from the inside.
Most people are idiots. Plan and simple.
Libertarianism = Anarchism
Gee, the math is simple.
It seems that if FDR explained that to the powers to be, they would not have staged a military coup. Thank God, that Smedley Butler saved us.
It seems to me that the "unbridled herd" is a synonym for demcracy. The unbridled herd was winning against the powerful minority which led to the Lewis Powell memo. If the unbridled herd was not winning the Powell memo would not have been necessary.
The Powell Memo and the Crisis of Democracy from the Tri-Lateral Commission (TLC) LOL are documents showing change in strategies in using the old system for ruling class benefit. The fact that a fascist coup was attempted, by the most elite of the ruling class, and nobody was even sentence to jail, let alone hung, should be a telling example of the power that the ruling class have over our government. Eugene Debs was sentence to prison for just speaking out against WWI. Two America’s one for the ruling class and one for the rest of us.