An Important Redux re: The Don

At the beginning of Spring this year, I posted the essay below.  It's being posted again because:  it still applies; and recently, Trump has started (just barely) to pretend he is some sort of reasonable Moderate... rather than the unstable nutcake that he really is.

Points For and Against the Current Oval Office Occupier

For---
1.  He kept us out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  I've covered the disastrous downside of that Trade Pact elsewhere on this venue, so won't go into it again in this piece.  Talks related to joining the TPP were started under Dubya Bush, and accelerated under Obama.  Trump killed it his first day in office.

If interested in why the TPP is the worst Trade Treaty in history, use this blog's Search function to locate my assessment of it.  Or even better, Google/Bing/etc. :  Lori Wallach and the TPP.

2.  There is no number 2.  I was tempted to list his meetings with North Korea, but decided against it because he's the one who provoked that country with virtually insane threats of nuclear annihilation.  The person really responsible for averting (for now, at least) catastrophe is the President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in.

Against---
1.  He's a serial liar; he, himself, has proven that over, and over, and over.  In terms of frequency of lying, Trump beats out both Dubya Bush and Obama... which I didn't think was possible by anyone.

2.  He's mentally unstable, and thus emotionally unfit to be in any political office, much less the Presidency.  He, himself, has proven that over, and over, and over.  Now admittedly, I've had only a couple university pysch courses; however, you don't have to be a master carpenter to recognize a shack.  😊  Plus, there's a long list of psychologists and psychiatrists who have stated that he needs to be professionally examined.

3.  Based on his words and actions, he doesn't have a broad understanding of anything that a President should know.  His understanding of key issues, world affairs, diplomacy, statesmanship, war, the economy, the environment, fiscal and monetary matters, cultural matters, science, genuine capitalism, the Law, health matters, etc. is so limited as to be nothing short of comical.

4.  He promotes divisiveness in our country and in the world.  Plus, such promotion is not inadvertent.  He does it on purpose.

5.  While in office (never mind previous to that), he has violated Laws of the Land.  Here's only one example---
https://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2017/07/trumps-violation-of-nepa-sepa-laws-rules.html
Read it carefully.  The acronyms and other abbreviations used are not as confusing as they first appear.

6.  He doesn't have even a rudimentary understanding of the United States Constitution.  Many times, he has violated his Oath of Office by failing to "preserve, protect, and defend" the Constitution.  For example, he (like many other Presidents) has violated the War Clause of Article I, Section 8.  Another example--- the Executive Branch (of which he's in charge) violates the Fourth Amendment on an almost daily basis.  Another example--- it's crystal clear that Trump is violating the Emoluments portion of Article I, Section 9 (the Nobility Clause).

7.  As President, his conflicts of interest truly are beyond the pale.

8.  Similar to numbers 1 & 2 above, Trump is the King of Public Gaslighters.  Nothing he says can be trusted.

9.  He cares not at all for the common people of this country.  He's merely manipulating & using some of us in order to further enrich himself.  This is so obvious that it's painful.  Some of his supporters finally have realized it.

10.  He is both an embarrassment and a danger to this country.  I've detailed all that in previous posts, so enough said.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well
p.s.  For any new readers, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.  Ironically, neither is The Don.

The Tragic State of Affairs in the USA

Preface
As a wizened old man who has had (& continues to have) a most interesting life, I find my thoughts below to be not only tragic, but comical as well.  I first developed a keen interest in American politics with the election of Ike in 1956.  So, point being:  I've lived through quite a variety of Presidents and members of Congress.  Compared to those of the past, most of the current national office holders in DC don't seem to be at all interested in representing the will of the People...all the People, not just 25% of the population.  The politicos of today are beyond the pale in a way that's darkly hilarious.  For whatever reasons, they see little to no cause to hide the fact that they are Plutocrats/Oligarchs leading us down the path to NeoFeudalism.  It's astounding...and comical.
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Here's why the USA is in dire straits, in no order of importance---

1.  The Powers-That-Be apparently have convinced the population that Debt doesn't matter...especially Gov't Debt.  The Repubs (& some Dems) plus the current Oval Office Occupier have increased our National Debt by about two trillion dollars in only two years.  And I thought Dubya Bush and Obama were bad in that regard.  Ha!  Public and private debt here is at record levels.  Corporate debt is beyond incredible.  The Debt Bubble is the mother of all bubbles, and all bubbles burst.

2.  Despite what the Gaslighter in the Oval Office claims, our GDP is decreasing.

3.  Trump continues his childish, ridiculous Gaslighting.  Most of us simply are bored with it, but many (maybe most) of his supporters still take him at his word, or worse, if he's proven wrong beyond any doubt (which happens often) about something, they don't care.  Not only is that potentially dangerous, I find it to be hilarious.  They don't care that (as the old joke goes) the lunatics are running the asylum.  Go figure.

4.  Whether inadvertently or purposely, the White House Crew and The Don are encouraging both lawlessness and racism in our Land.

5.  Encouraged by the Fed Gov't and deregulation, as well as by Propaganda, our Bubble Economy is bubbling on.  If you look at the time intervals between the Booms & Busts from the severe Recession of 1973-1975 up to present day, you'll see that we're overdue for the next Bust.  Unfortunately, the public and private Powers-That-Be seem to have convinced most Americans that's not true, that it's all under control now, that the economy "is booming"...no worries they say.  The Gaslighter-in-Chief is especially adamant about that.  Please, are you kidding us, or simply lying to us?  I find it comical that anyone believes it's all under control, and the economy is doing great.

6.  The median income of workers here is now $32,791.  So, half the workers in the USA make less than that...HALF.  That doesn't sound like the richest country in the world to me.

7.  Trump has alienated all of our Allies in the world except for the few who essentially are dictators, such as the Leaders of Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, the UAE, & Brazil...maybe another one or two, can't recall.  This is not good for us or the world.

8.  Our Two-Party System in politics is rotten to the core.  It's oligarchical in nature, and its practices rarely represent the will of the People.  Not long ago, a Princeton study found that politicians ignore that will 70% of the time.

9.  Our Gov't has managed to institute a State of Perpetual War.  The crazy idea that we are the police of the world is now taken as a given by most Americans.  Never mind that most of those actions are utterly unconstitutional, and many violate International Law.

10.  In most cases, the protections of the Fourth Amendment are totally ignored by Gov't in this day & age...all in the name of "safety".  Who's keeping us safe from those who violate the Constitution?

11.  Too many Americans no longer seem to understand the difference between nationalism and patriotism.  The former engenders arrogance and superiority; the latter engenders responsibility.  Trump and Crew promulgate nationalism.

12.  For this next point, I'll exaggerate a bit.  Exaggeration often drives home a valid point.  More and more, Americans appear to be dividing up into "tribes", so to speak.  Whether political, or religious, or economic, or cultural, or something else, these tribes often are less & less tolerant of each other than in much of the past... and more & more self-righteous.  For example, in politics the Left-leaning folks accuse the Right-leaning people of being intolerant, self-righteous, etc.  In fact, though, the Left side of the spectrum also is intolerant---of the Right side---and, self-righteous about it.  What's tragic and comical about that whole situation is that neither side thinks it's that way.  It's only the "other side" who demonstrates those failings.

13.  Finally, all across the political spectrum here in the USA, people are gulping down the Edward Bernays style Propaganda Kool Aid coming from Corporatists and Plutocrats as if there will be no tomorrow.  Certainly not everyone is, but most are.  That's the primary reason that we are in today's tragic situation.  It's not only a tragedy; it's a cosmic comedy.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Forget Trump - Fascism Has Been in the USA For a Long Time

Preface---
A bipartisan legislative bill has been introduced in Congress that will stop warrantless domestic spying by the Fed Gov't.
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INCREDIBLE!  It's nice that Senators Paul, Wyden, Sanders, Warren and several others are proposing a legislative bill that closes a loophole in FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) which "allows" the Gov't to conduct domestic spying--- without a proper warrant --- in the USA.  What's both tragic and outrageous is that for decades the DC politicians apparently have believed the existing "loophole" somehow supercedes the U.S. Constitution.

This proves beyond any doubt that most/all national politicians here do not believe (or are pretending not to believe) that the Constitution is the SUPREME Law of the Land.  According to their actions, both past & current, some Laws passed by Congress somehow over-ride the Supreme Law.  That's obviously not true, but no Repub or Dem ever brings up that fact.  [The only thing that can over-ride the Constitution is an International Treaty.]

It would seem that most voters are unaware of all this, or they don't grasp the danger of allowing any Law to trump (no pun intended) the U.S. Constitution.  I simply cannot fathom how anyone could not see the dangers of warrantless searches/surveillance by the Gov't.  Perhaps they do understand the extreme danger, but think either there's nothing they can do about it OR it never will affect them.  Either way, that's tragic.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

We're Voluntarily Heading to the Brave New World

Below is my response to a forwarded, satirical email from a dear friend.  In that piece of satire, a caller is ordering a pizza from what turns out to be "Google Pizza" instead of "Gordon's Pizza" .  As the conversation proceeds, the customer is amazed to discover that the business knows the caller's pizza-ordering history, medical history, finances, etc., etc.  The header of the forwarded email is:
"This could be where things are heading.

                                                                      .... Partially there now?"

My response has been edited for this venue...in particular, the last four paragraphs have been added.

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We're probably HALFWAY (or more) there already.  Plus, people who have this small electronic tower (I think one is called Alexa, or something) in their homes that they request things of, and that listens to the household even when it's turned off, are flat-out crazy...or maybe merely not thinking clearly.  

Employees at some company recently agreed to have electronic chips embedded in their hands (or maybe some other part of the body...can't remember).  There certainly are some advantages to having "chipped" humans (e.g., opening restricted doors, finding lost kids, kidnapped people, etc,), but the dangers far outweigh the benefits. Imagine what an errant gov't or company could do with such tools.

How people cannot see the danger of these things is completely beyond me.  We seem to be voluntarily heading into the Brave New World.  All because these gizmos supposedly make life "easier" & "more convenient".  The whole thing is just plain nuts... chips in humans, SMART HVAC systems, SMART household appliances, SMART cars, SMART anything, including---Hello--- SMART phones.  They're all hackable, by individuals or by institutions public and private.  Privacy not only is at risk, but privacy also is starting to be treated as some sort of anti-social sin.  The former is bad enough, but the latter is even more dangerous.

The Corporatists---the Powers-That-Be---want to eliminate privacy as much as humanly possible.  They appear to believe that's a very good thing.  As a corollary, it seems they want people who seek solitude to be thought of as anti-social (in a harmful way), off-kilter, perhaps even mentally ill or dangerous.  The Corporatocracy is working toward having us all in a closely-watched herd, or a series of such herds...because herds are easier to manage than free-thinking individuals.  In a still relatively free society such as ours, the Powers-That-Be can't rely on massive brute force to control us, so instead, they use Edward Bernays style Propaganda--- molding the public mind--- and maximum surveillance.  History shows those have been very effective.

All the above must be peacefully resisted if we are to retain any semblance of freedom.  Protect your privacy as much as possible.  Avoid "tracking" of your activities whenever possible.  Speak up against the War on Cash (the War on Un-tracked Transactions).  Avoid surveillance whenever possible.  Gov't AND Big Biz have no business whatsoever in tracking our activities unless we are suspects in a crime.  But they have adopted the attitude that everyone should be tracked and/or surveilled.  That's a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.  According to the Fourth, the people are to be "secure in their persons, houses, PAPERS and EFFECTS" (emphasis added) unless there's "probable cause" and a properly obtained, specific, and signed Warrant.  The NSA hasn't observed that in decades...and the Big Boys in the Telecom Industry have assisted the NSA in constantly recording our emails & phone calls...1.5 billion emails per day are recorded in the USA.  The Snowden documents revealed that the NSA has a program (can't recall the name of it) the goal of which is to record "everyone, everywhere".

At times, a few "Conservatives" have said to me, "If you're not doing anything illegal, why should you care?  What do you have to hide?"  Are you kidding me?  1. What the NSA is doing in that regard is unconstitutional, and thus illegal.  2. No one needs to justify wanting & protecting privacy...it's a Natural Right.  3. There's a definite danger in relinquishing your privacy; the info obtained easily can be used against anyone who is a critic of the Gov't (or some Mega Company), especially by any rogue element within the Gov't (or Corporation)...and you would most likely never know who did the deed that ruined your life.  And all that could happen to individuals who never broke the Law.

Do I really have to remind everyone of McCarthyism?  Why in the world do you think the Fourth Amendment was created...perhaps to protect you from an errant Gov't?  Hello.  It slays me that "Conservatives" rail against "Big Government", and yet for the most part, fully support the massive NSA---many, many times larger than the CIA---and its illegal, unconstitutional activities (I'm not saying all their activities are such).  Do you support the Constitution, or not?  You can't have it both ways and still be ethically consistent...or even make any common sense.
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Not only my opinion.  Happy Trails

Wars Against Americans Conducted by the Elites/the Corporatists/the Ruling Oligarchy

Following is a list of only some of the wars being waged by the Ruling Oligarchy in the USA against We the People.

1.  The War on the First Amendment
2.  The War on Journalists
3.  The War on Whistleblowers
4.  The War on Peaceful Protests and Dissent of Any Type

5.  The War on Privacy
6.  The War on Cash
7.  The War on Drugs
8.  The War on Prescription Painkillers
9.  The War on the Fourth Amendment

10.  The War on Health Food Supplements
11.  The War on Alternative Medicine

12.  The War on Alternative Energy

13.  The War on Minorities
14.  The War on Youth and Education
15.  The War on the Mentally Ill
16.  The War on Nonconformists
17.  The War on Small Farmers
18.  The War on Small Business of Any Type
19.  The War on Industry

20.  The War on Democracy
21.  The War on Critical Thinking
22.  The War on Military Vets
23.  The War on Poor People
24.  The War on the Middle Class
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Following is a list of only some of the things that the Ruling Oligarchy promotes/promulgates/supports.

1.  Crony Capitalism (aka, Fascism)
2.  Edward Bernays Style Propaganda
3.  Phony Elections
4.  Elitism
5.  Monopolies
6.  Financialization
7.  Neoliberalism
8.  NeoFeudalism
9.  Class War
10.  Military Aggression and War Profiteering
11.  USA Hegemony and American Empire
12.  Intervention in Foreign Civil Wars for Economic Reasons
13.  Spying on Our Allies
14.  Economic and Financial Bubbles
15.  A Revolving Door Between Mega Banking and High-Level Gov't "Service"
16.  Bailing Out Mega Financial Institutions Guilty of Fraud
17.  Authoritarian Government
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Notwithstanding popular opinion to the contrary, History has shown that Oligarchs and their puppets (e.g., Obama, McConnell, Clinton, McCain, Schumer, Pelosi, Cornyn, Cruz, etc.) don't care one scintilla about the old labels--- Right, Left, Conservative, Liberal, and on & on.  At the highest levels, probably 99% of today's politicians are concerned only with this label--- Financier.  Those are the people who run the world, not the puppet politicians.  The International Financial Coterie (Professor Carroll Quigley's term) cares not at all about the old political paradigm.  They care primarily about power, money, and the private governance of the planet.  Ask David Rockefeller.  In 1991, he stated publicly,  "Surely it is better to have the world run by unelected elites than by the corrupt politicians of today.".

I suspect that Rockefeller was/is well-meaning, but like the famous Progressive journalist/author of the past, Walter Lippmann, he apparently believes that the commoners make up "the bewildered herd" and must be ruled by an "elite class of intellectuals".  Toward the end of his life, Lippmann wound up believing that commoners should not be allowed to fully participate in democracy because they simply were not competent enough in such matters.  That has become a dominant belief in Crony Capitalism.  That is what the Corporatists-Oligarchs-Elites think... and that thinking is implemented by today's puppet politicians.

At the national level, the best way to oppose such people and their thinking is to boycott whenever possible... individually, or in organized groups, or both.  We have been voluntarily complying with their nonsense for far too long.  Stuck in Propaganda, Consumerism, and outright fraud, we have enabled the Fascist State.  As I've pointed out several times before this, both Mussolini and FDR defined Fascism as:  the perfect marriage of the State to Big Business.  That's exactly what we have in this country...and much of the world.  That's especially true in the Financial Sector.

We can take a small step toward restoring sanity by boycotting the current farce of an election with which we are faced.  At the very least, don't vote for either of the major candidates... pick someone else.  Almost anyone would be better than Trump or Clinton; 58% of us don't want either one of them.  That's strong evidence of a phony election.  The election IS rigged...but not in the way that Trump thinks.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Here's Something That Trumps Trump...and Hillary, et. al.

The Don's latest utterances, which were largely critical of (or demeaning to) the Muslim parents of a U.S. Army Captain who was killed serving in Iraq, were truly beyond the pale.  All Trump supporters should be thoroughly embarrassed.  The father, Mr. Kahn, rightly had suggested that Trump should read a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

In particular, Mr. Trump, it would serve you well to study the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments.

Hillary, as well, would be served by reading especially Article I, Section 8.  I suggest, Ms. Clinton, you concentrate on the clauses regarding war, captures on land & sea, and assassinations (Letters of Marque and Reprisal).  Please have your buddy, the President, re-read those parts, too.  Our Leader, the Constitutional Scholar, apparently has no common sense when it comes to those clauses.

Finally, to all the above and all high-level politicians in D.C., it's way past time for you to review this simple fact, and apply it to your work:  no law---not the PATRIOT Act, not the War Powers Act, not the National Defense Authorization Act, not even any Act (or Executive Order) proposed by Trump---over-rides the Constitution.  The Supreme Law of the Land cannot be negated simply because certain propagandists ram a 342-page Bill through Congress that no one has had time to read...and only two copies were available to members of the House (who were in session all night)...and that was written long before 9-11.  [I refer to the infamous, unconstitutional PATRIOT Act, officially known as the USA PATRIOT Act, which stands for:  "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001".]

Again--- no law (or Exec. Order) trumps the U.S. Constitution, not even laws that Trump says he'll get through Congress...such as a law requiring all Muslims to be "registered" (which clearly would be unconstitutional...and un-American).

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Consummate Liar Strikes Again

Obama's lies have become so blatant that even a person who is totally apathetic and ignorant of politics must be able to detect them... at least, I would think so.  Following are just a few of his latest attempts at deception.  Feel free to laugh, cry, or sigh... or cuss.

1.  Regarding the Obama-Osama story, the Administration claims there are too many assertions by Hersh to respond to any of them.  What a cop-out.  So much for accountability.  Obama, through spokesmen, claims the whole Hersh story is false; we are supposed to simply accept their word.  Personally, given the President's record, I would believe Sy Hersh over Barack Obama any day of the century.

2.  Regarding his support for the TPP---
Obama claims he fought hard for banking regulations after the 2008 Crisis, so "Why would I sign something that rolls back those protections?".  His implication is that parts of the TPP do not roll back protections against crooked mega bankers.  That's a bald-faced lie.  In addition, the regulations he supported back when were nothing but window-dressing.  Finally, he signed the fairly recent omnibus spending bill that included an Amendment written by Citi-Group lobbyists which did roll back the paltry protections of Dodd-Frank.  Obama must believe that we have the shortest memories in the history of Humanity... or, he simply doesn't give a damn about what we think... or???

3.  Obama continues to claim that NSA dragnet, bulk collection of our records (phone, email, other internet use, credit cards) is legal.  Just the other day, a Fed Appeals Court vigorously disagreed and called the bulk collection "unprecedented and unwarranted".  The Court went on to say that the Executive Branch doesn't even pretend that such collection is related to any "specific, defined inquiry".  All that makes the whole business a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment.  Given his Constitutional Law education, Obama must know that.

4.  Obama lies by omission.  Not long ago, he stated that "No one is listening to your phone calls.".  He left out this:  one of the Snowden documents revealed that calls are being recorded automatically, and that the NSA has the technology to enable a key-word search and then generate a transcript of the conversation.  All of this is done by high-speed computers because of the billions of calls involved.  So, the end result is the same as if someone were listening to your calls.  Even if there were no key-word searches or transcripts, simply recording the numbers of whom we call (without a specific reason or specific warrant to do so) is plainly unconstitutional.  Read the Fourth Amendment:  the word "effects" surely includes our records.  Obama must know that.
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Yes, other Presidents have lied and violated the Constitution.  That's no legitimate excuse for the current President to do the same.  Democrats and Republicans (at the highest levels) both appear to believe that the U.S. Constitution is a Menu... just pick out what you like and discard the rest.  These same Democrats and Republicans appear to believe in Legislative Absolutism, a term coined by a Supreme Court Justice, Harlan, in 1901.  The term means passing laws that violate the Supreme Law of the Land... such as the misnamed PATRIOT Act.  This will all continue until We the People peacefully put a stop to it.

Not just my opinion.  Happy Trails

High-Ranking Repubs & Dems: Keep Spitting on the Constitution

That way, soon it will be so soaked in sputum that you'll be able to tear it up and throw it away much more easily.  You've all been spitting on it for so many decades that most of you have a fairly good aim by now, so perhaps before long it simply will dissolve of its own accord... you won't even have to tear it up.  I can't find half of it already.  I think some of you in DC are cheating:  you're not just spitting on it, you're pissing on it as well.  What gets me is that some people, perhaps most, don't seem to notice.  Kudos to you high-ranking politicos on your excellent use of distracting Propaganda.

OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRAT POLITICAL OLIGARCHS

The Constitution is exceedingly CLEAR on the following points.

1.  As enumerated in Article I, Section 8:
    a.  only CONGRESS is charged with regulating the value of our money (no other entity has been delegated that power by We the People...furthermore, no law, such as the 1913 Fed Reserve Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    b.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to put this Nation at war (being Commander-in-Chief of the Military does not mean that the President gets to ignore Article I... furthermore, no law, such as the War Powers Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    c.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to issue assassination orders, otherwise known as Letters of Marque and Reprisal (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People);
    d.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to "make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water" (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People)...who made the Rules for Gitmo, CIA Black Sites, and "enhanced interrogation"?...  not Congress;
    e.  the final clause of Article I, Section 8 does not mean that Congress gets to ignore the duties with which CONGRESS has been charged to perform.  In other words, Congress may not delegate its powers to some other Branch of Government... or any other entity.  Only We the People are allowed to delegate Constitutional Powers.  We did not delegate power to Congress to turn over the duty of regulating the value of our money to an un-elected group known as the Fed Reserve Board of Governors.  It's the duty of CONGRESS to regulate the value of our money... no one else may do it.  [The former Chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, once stated on the PBS News Hour, "No one has control [or perhaps he said "power", not "control"] over us."... the problem with that should be obvious.]

2.  We the People are to be secure in our "persons, houses, papers, and EFFECTS" [emphasis added].  The so-called PATRIOT Act (like any other law) does not trump the Constitution.  Neither does any part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)... or any other law.  The Executive Branch acts as though those laws do trump the Constitution.

If you political Oligarchs don't like parts of the Supreme Law of the Land, you are charged by the People to try and change them.  That can be done legally only two ways:  by Amendment; or, by means of a Constitutional Convention.  No other methods are permitted; plus, you are not legally permitted to ignore those parts and then contravene them.  We did not delegate that power to you.  Finally, I don't want to hear any whining about how difficult it is to change the Constitution.  As you know, it purposely was constructed to be that way.  Live with it, or get out of politics.  As things are now, virtually all of you are violating your Oath of Office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  If you can't obey your Oath, then get the hell out.  We don't want you.

Constraints of time and energy prohibit me from enumerating ALL of the ways in which you high-ranking Democrats AND Republicans have been spitting and pissing on the Constitution for decades.  [I've been a keen observer of American politics since 1956; 1956---that's not a typo.]  The few examples above should suffice to illustrate the point.  It's no wonder to me that politicians at the highest levels (especially in DC) have become despised by the People.  The effectiveness of the Distract-Divide-Conquer Propaganda constantly put out by the Oligarchy is beginning to fade.  People finally are stirring... so far, just a bit... but stirring.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well

The Deceivers Bush & Obama, and an American Patriot, Tom Drake

The primary source for this essay is the current piece on PBS Frontline titled, "The United States of Secrets".  It's the best, most detailed rendition that I've seen of how-why-where-when the Fed Gov't launched (via the NSA) its unconstitutional (& thus illegal), warrantless program of mass surveillance of Americans.  It also includes many interview clips with several people formerly in the Gov't who attempted to expose what the NSA called "The Program".  They tried first through proper Gov't channels, and when they were ignored, one of them became a whistleblower.  That was Tom Drake.

Mr. Drake was a dedicated NSA senior executive.  So was Mr. Edward Loomis... and there were some others... William Binney, J. Kirk Wiebe, etc.  They were appalled at what the Fed Gov't was undertaking.  Before getting into that, though, let's back up a bit.

The Program was conceived immediately after 9-11.  Michael Hayden, the Head of the NSA, was told by Bush-Cheney to come up with a Program to prevent another 9-11 attack.  Essentially he also was told to include tools that currently were not allowed by the Constitution or various Statutes.  He set to work doing exactly that.  It turns out that there was a program in existence prior to 9-11 that could monitor just about anyone..."ThinThread".  It had automatic, electronic"privacy protections" for American citizens.  The NSA stripped out those protections, thus ensuring that when The Program eventually was used, it violated the Fourth Amendment.  The justification by various Executive Branch, political appointee, puppet lawyers for its use was the Article 2 (of the Constitution) phrase, "Commander-in-Chief".  [Luckily, not being an attorney, I have some common sense and realize that the phrase cited does not negate other parts of the Constitution.  I think most non-puppet people know the same thing.]  By the summer of 2002, The Program was in full swing... doing something that never before had been allowed--- surveilling (without a proper warrant) American citizens, our phone calls, emails, financial transactions, credit card use, etc.  Literally TRILLIONS of individual bits of data.

Drake and the others were kept out of the secret loop at the NSA regarding The Program, but eventually it was leaked to them that their ThinThread Program had been altered and was being used in an illegal manner.  In addition, the major phone companies in the USA were turning over customer phone call records to the NSA.  Apparently, these words from the Fourth Amendment are not understood by the Executive Branch:  "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, PAPERS, and EFFECTS..." (emphasis added).  [In actual fact, I believe those words are understood by the Feds; they had/have another agenda--- expansion of Power in the U.S. World Domination Game, what Brzezinski once called "American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives".  From their perspective, 9-11 was a fortuitous excuse to run amok.]

Bill Binney, getting nowhere in the NSA with his concerns met with Diane Ruark, a top Congressional Staffer with 17 years of experience in the Intelligence field.  A "Conservative" Republican, Ruark nonetheless was extremely concerned that the NSA had "gone rogue".  She launched a campaign to inform Congress.  Of course, by then it was too late--- the White House already had brought Congress on board.  Oversight of the NSA was basically dead.  Porter Goss was Ruark's boss; he sent her to Michael Hayden, NSA Head.  He basically evaded her questions, but in a politically incorrect manner, she persisted.  Finally he essentially told her to mind her own business because he had authority for The Program from the highest level (the "Commander-in-Chief").  Keep in mind that she was on the Congressional Committee for Intelligence OVERSIGHT.  Checks and Balances in our Gov't, for all intents and purposes, were gone.

A few attorneys in the Executive Branch opposed The Program due to its unconstitutionality.  They basically were thrown under the bus, so to speak.  The Program grew, despite the fact that the Justice Dept. determined part of it to be illegal.  Because I don't have the time for all the essential details, I highly recommend that people watch the Frontline piece.  It is a feature-length film, but fascinating and well worth the watch.

Eventually, some knowledge of The Program reached the public.  Bush and Hayden were pretty much forced to say something publicly.  Both were deceitful; only a tiny part of the operation was justified... the part dealing with specific terrorist suspects.  The public was propagandized.  Bush eventually lied about warrantless surveillance of innocent Americans by an agency forbidden to spy on Americans.  A couple of dissidents in the Gov't attempted to get the story published in the New York Times.  Despite what the Right Wing in the USA thinks, the Times often kow-tows to the Feds.  They did.

A year later, a reporter essentially forced (see the film) the Times to reconsider.  Bush and Hayden tried to intervene; they were unsuccessful.  The story was published in December, 2005.  It "shocked the world", according to one commentator.  Bush again went public and again was deceitful about The Program; nothing was said about monitoring trillions of emails, phone calls, etc.  Hayden lied, saying, "Not a single employee of the NSA has expressed any concerns about...blah-blah-blah.".  [Hayden is known as a masterful propagandist... evasive, deceitful, and totally loyal to the Institution.]

Enter Tom Drake.  After four years of exhausting all in-house means of expressing concern, he contacted The Baltimore Sun and blew the whistle...anonymously.  All the documents he used were UNCLASSIFIED.  USA Today published another leak from a different whistleblower.  The Times came out with another story.  Cheney went crazy, that is, crazier than his usual.  He was determined to stop the leakers (of unclassified info).   A massive manhunt was launched by the FBI and it was led by Alberto Gonzales, former White House Counsel and then currently the Attorney General.  Long story short, the FBI raided the homes of several people (Binney, Wiebe, Ruark, Loomis, etc., pretty much destroying their careers), but found nothing.  They finally, six months later, got around to the home of Tom Drake.  They seized a trove of UNCLASSIFIED documents, and he was charged under the Espionage Act.  He faced possibly life in prison... for exposing Gov't unlawfulness.  The seized documents were altered... "unclassified" was crossed out and they were marked "secret".

As the investigation proceeded, the Govt's cases began to fall apart.  In 2008, enter Barack Obama.  "No more secrecy!"  Another quote: "The most transparent government [what his Administration, if elected, will be]".  "Whistleblowers are good for government; they will be protected by my Administration [if elected]." "No more illegal wiretapping of American citizens [if elected]."  Obama becomes President.  He continues The Program.  Prior to that, though, Bush reverses himself and decides he needs Congress to make The Program permanent.  His Administration pushes through an Amendment to the FISA law.  He claims it's "reform", but Intelligence insiders know that it gives the NSA unprecedented powers.  The Program is expanded, made worse from the standpoint of the Constitution.  The Amendment Bill had to be read extremely closely in order to figure out exactly what it said.  Insiders expressed the opinion that Congress had little clue as to what the Bill really said.  [Even if they had understood it, politicians seem to count on Americans being unaware of the fact that no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution.  The Fourth Amendment cannot be negated by any Act of Congress.]

Senator Obama supported the Amendment.  So even before he was elected President, the public should have had a clue that he was, at the very least, insincere in his campaign rhetoric concerning wiretapping (with no probable cause) of Americans.  At most, he was lying.

President Obama's Administration continued the case against Tom Drake.  So much for protection of whistleblowers.  Drake's career was over, his finances were decimated (because of legal defense expense), his life more or less trashed.  To get the whole thing over with, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor (they never had any espionage case) and received a minor fine and community service.

The Program continues to this day... a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment, and "justified" by a law.  In the bizarro world of DC, apparently laws do supercede the Supreme Law of the Land.  Amazing.

Who cares?  Why is any of this important to Americans, especially non-political Americans.  Here's one reason why:  the whole scenario is Soft Fascism.  It violates our Constitution and our Rights.  It has been implemented by both major political parties, and there's little reason to believe that more of our Rights won't be trashed down the line somewhere.  As Lord Acton said long ago, "Power corrupts, and...".

Finally, our Gov't is doing this worldwide.  Particular Snowden documents have revealed that the NSA is even spying on the economic meetings of our allies.  That has nothing at all to do with terrorism.  We're losing any reputation we ever had as a great nation.  Worse, our Govt's NeoImperialistic methods are making enemies of people who once admired our country.  In their attempts to dominate the world, our Gov't is over-reaching... not only making enemies, but bankrupting us in the process.

I hope many of you watch the Frontline piece.  The content should inform and disturb you.  In any case, I salute Tom Drake and the other people in the film who tried, at great personal cost, to wake up both Congress and the public to our Govt's grossly unlawful activities.  Kudos to you all.  The same praise goes to Edward Snowden.  His story is in Part Two of the film.

Be Well

More of the NSA Nightmare

I doubt that you'll hear about this on the prostitute Corporate Media broadcasts.  The whistleblower Jacob Appelbaum, speaking at the Chaos Communications Congress in Germany, revealed that the NSA has some sort of radar wave generator gizmo that allows the agency to view any targeted computer keyboard (and monitor).  In other words, they can see what the person is typing.  So...this should be a good thing relative to the so-called "War on Terror".  The problem is:  what does a person have to do to be considered a potential terrorist by the Fed Gov't?  Answer:  not much.

Some of you may be thinking, well, this has nothing to do with me...I would never be considered a potential terrorist.  Perhaps the following will change your mind.

1.  The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 designates our entire country as a battleground in the "War on Terror".
2.  The NDAA also gives the President the power to, all by himself, declare a national emergency which suspends presumption of innocence, due process, access to an attorney, and trial by jury.  In addition, it gives the President the power to have a potential terrorist executed without a trial...all this in the Land of the Free.
3.  Several writers are considered potential terrorists because they exercised the Natural Right of free speech by writing news stories contrary to the Govt's view of whistleblowing.
4.  Not long ago, the State of Missouri issued a sort of terrorist bulletin to law enforcement which stated that anyone with a Ron Paul bumper sticker should be viewed as a "potential terrorist".  [That was not an action by the Feds, but it shows what's possible.]
5.  Also so designated in that bulletin were "constitutionalists" and "militia members", and anyone associated with them.
6.  According to whistleblowers, the NSA considers anyone who visits certain websites to be a potential terrorist.  In other words, if you read material not approved, you're a potential terrorist.  Worse, anyone associated with you, and anyone associated with them, is considered a potential terrorist.

The Fourth Amendment is deemed by the Fed Gov't to be not relevant to potential terrorists.  The same is true of the Fifth (due process) and Sixth (speedy and public trial) Amendments.  Guilt by association appears to be more important to the Feds.

I love this country, but the Fed Gov't is not this country.  The well respected historian and Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown U., Professor Carroll Quigley, wrote this in 1966, "The tragedy is that we no longer have a representative government in this country [or in any country]; the hope is that the little people will accept that, because there is nothing they can do about it."  ~ Quigley, Carroll,  Tragedy and Hope, 1966.  Quigley considered himself to be one of the Oligarchs, thus he referred to Americans in general as the "little people".

All the Oligarchs, including those at the highest levels of our unrepresentative Fed Gov't, consider all of us to be the little people.  We're viewed by the Big Boys & Girls in much the way ranchers view livestock.

Just my opinion.

Whistleblowers Are Patriots

Patriots, if they can, expose government wrongdoing.  The hypocrisy of those in the upper levels of our Outlaw Fed Gov't is beyond the pale.  If China, or Israel, or Russia, or any other country spies on us, the Feds go bananas; but when our Gov't spies on our own allies, oh, there's nothing wrong with that.  The National Security State trumps any concept of Right and Wrong...and the Natural Rights that all humans possess.

In case you haven't heard, and as reported in Der Spiegel, the NSA has an elite computer hacking unit that has been remotely installing spyware and malware on computers using the Windows Operating System.  Not only that, it has been intercepting the delivery of new computers ordered online, installing spyware, and then sending the machines on their way.  This illegal process also includes cell phones.  The existence of the hacking unit, Tailored Access Operations (TAO), was revealed in documents sent by Edward Snowden to Der Spiegel.

Judge Pauley, who contradicted another Fed Judge who said the NSA's phone records collection was "almost Orwellian", in a very real sense claims that if the NSA does it to everyone, then that's constitutional.  Please, is he serious?!  Judges have been throwing out court cases because the individuals bringing suit don't know for certain if their records are being collected...they have no "standing".  It's clear to me that the Judicial System, in a very large part, is not independent of the Political System.  That's called corruption.  Read the Fourth Amendment; what the NSA is doing is blatantly unconstitutional.  Unfortunately, we can't even rely on the Supreme Court to be totally independent...remember the Kelo v. City of New London case?  The City seized private property using Eminent Domain and sold it to PRIVATE developers, claiming that the taxes to be generated qualified as "public use" of the property.  If that's true, then anyone's property can be seized under the guise of Eminent Domain, and the seizure doesn't have to be for a public road or public building, etc.  Where is the common sense in that?  The same is true for Judge Pauley's opinion that as long as the NSA does it to everyone, that's constitutional.  Have mercy.

If you look at History, you'll see that the Govt's response to Whistleblowers is to smear and criminalize them.  The U.K. is as bad as the U.S.A. in that regard.  Ask Glenn Greenwald, who now lives in Brazil.  He's wary of returning to England because he's being investigated for "terrorism".  Terrorism is the great catch-all now for governments.  Constitutions can be ignored, Natural Rights can be ignored, due process can be ignored...just label the person a potential terrorist.  In this country, because of the NDAA, such a person can be executed without a trial (according to an article in Forbes, & many other sources).  When he signed that bill into law, Obama said, "I would never do that.", or something to that effect.  Well, guess what?  I'm not reassured.  History shows us that no politician, present or future, is to be trusted.

Just my opinion.

This, That, and the Other--- The Arrogance of the Oligarchs

1.  Hopefully you've heard of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  It's another so-called "Free Trade" agreement...that has almost nothing to do with trade, but almost everything to do with the Corporate Oligarchy re-writing the laws of individual countries, creating extra-judicial, binding tribunals, and allowing foreign corporations to sue countries for perceived economic losses due to the laws & policies of those same countries.  [I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.]  That means a European corporation, for example, could sue the US (to get some of your tax money) claiming that some health & safety law of ours caused them economic loss.  The "case" would be heard in a "tribunal" outside of this country...and would be binding.

As we speak, Obama is attempting to get Congress to vote him "fast-track authority" to approve this obscene treaty.  For more detailed info on the whole shabby affair, go to the "Democracy Now" news website, search for the 11/21/13 webcast, & look for a sidebar piece entitled "TPP Exposed..." (under "Most Popular"); there's also a sidebar entitled "A Corporate Trojan Horse".  I'll put the link immediately below, but I don't believe that Google allows embedded links on Blogspot anymore...I may be wrong about that---
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/14/tpp_exposed_wikileaks_publishes_secret_trade

2.  TAFTA, the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement...ditto number 1 above.  Details are at citizen.org slash documents slash TAFTA-top-ten-factsheet.pdf ...the factsheet describes the top ten threats of this agreement to Americans' daily lives.  Again, I'll attempt to place the link immediately below---
http://www.citizen.org/documents/TAFTA-top-ten-factsheet.pdf

3.  Henry Kissinger once stated, " 'Illegal' we [the Fed Gov't] can do immediately; 'unconstitutional' takes a bit longer.".  Various laws (or portions thereof) are being used by the Fed Gov't to accomplish things that are violations of the U.S. Constitution, especially the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments; never mind the Ninth & Tenth Amendments... for all practical purposes, they no longer even exist.  Those laws include, but are not limited to, the PATRIOT Act (what a misnomer), The War Powers Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act.  Especially those three need to be [if we are to protect our Freedom] either fixed or repealed.

I cannot emphasize this more strongly:  no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution; only Treaties can do that.  If a law contradicts/violates the Constitution, it is automatically null and void under our system of government.  The Oligarchs don't want us to remember that...just my opinion.