Kossack Meteor Blades has a great “Open Thread For Night Owls” edition up tonight. You should definitely check it out: “Open thread for night owls: Ever-expanding gov't secrecy excessive, unnecessary and destructive.”
But, when one takes a deeper dive on the subject, ultimately—and like so many other realities in Washington for so many decades, if not centuries—we’re reminded that the same modus operandi emerges: The corporate money and power associated with our military-industrial-surveillance state comprises much of the driving force behind our country’s participation in conflict and oppression around the globe; and, with the rise of our surveillance state, here at home, too. (I’ll return to this subject in a moment.
[UPDATE: 10-28-13 10:30AM. As they led with this story on Thursday, please note that the Roosevelt Institute is again leading with this story in their "Economics Daily Digest" series, here at DKos: "Economics Daily Digest: Watching the surveillance state - and its money."]
Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt from Meteor Blades’ post…
David Rohde at The Atlantic writes Our Fear of Al-Qaeda Hurts Us More Than Al-Qaeda Does.
Three disclosures this week show that the United States is losing its way in the struggle against terrorism. Sweeping government efforts to stop attacks are backfiring abroad and infringing on basic rights at home.
CIA drone strikes are killing scores of civilians in Pakistan and Yemen. The National Security Agency is eavesdropping on tens of millions of phone calls worldwide — including those of 35 foreign leaders — in the name of U.S. security.
And the Department of Homeland Security is using algorithms to “prescreen” travelers before they board domestic flights, reviewing government and private databases that include Americans’ tax identification numbers, car registrations and property records.
Will we create a Minority Report-style Department of Precrime next?
Obama administration officials have a duty to protect Americans from terrorism. But out-of-control NSA surveillance, an ever-expanding culture of secrecy and still-classified rules for how and when foreigners and even Americans can be killed by drone strikes are excessive, unnecessary and destructive.
Twelve years after September 11, 2001, the United States’ obsession with al Qaeda is doing more damage to the nation than the terrorist group itself…
David Rohde asks: “Will we create a Minority Report-style Department of Precrime next?”
“Will we...?”
As I’ve noted in many posts on this subject, that’s already happening. The truth is America’s well on its way to creating a surveillance society, right here at home--one that’s heavily influenced by Hollywood, too--from Star Trek to Minority Report. From my post here on June 24th…
…various universities and companies have announced over the past year that they’re well into their respective, advanced development phases of various forms of miniature drone technology. Think: The scene with Tom Cruise and the spider-bot drones in Minority Report, but they actually FLY, instead…
Spider-bot Scene From Minority Report:
(We really are only a couple of years away from this being reality.)
CNN: Mini-Drones That Fly In Fleets
So, despite all "assurances" to the contrary, the reality is local law enforcement, the DHS and the FBI are turning much of this "foreign surveillance" manpower and technology inward, to fight "crime." (Not "terrorism," mind you, but "crime.")
And, of course, all reading this know that non-violent
social activism is now considered to be a crime, according to the actions of
those advocating for the use of drones to help “manage” our surveillance state.
And, this brings me to my somewhat-buried lead, which is a follow-up to my post here, from Thursday: "Ferguson: 'The Hidden Corporate Cash Behind America’s Out-of-Control National Surveillance State.'"
As I noted at the beginning of this post, up above: “The corporate money and power associated with our military-industrial-surveillance state comprises much of the driving force behind our country’s participation in conflict and oppression around the globe; and, with the rise of our surveillance state, here at home, too.”
UMass/Boston poli-sci Professor Thomas Ferguson, on The Real News Network gives further public/press exposure to his in-depth study of campaign contributions in the 2012 election, this weekend (you really should give this video a few moments of your time): "Data Shows Democrats Fully Embraced by Surveillance Industry."
http://youtu.be/...
Published on Oct 27, 2013
An analysis of 2012 campaign contributions show that the surveillance industry backs Dems equally or more than Republicans
And, here’s Yves' brief commentary accompanying the Ferguson video, over at Naked Capitalism…
Data Shows Democrats Bought and Paid for by Surveillance Industry
Yves Smith
Naked Capitalism
Monday, October 28th, 2013 12:29AM EDT
Obama started looking more stressed than usual around the time of the Snowden revelations. This Real News Network interview with political scientist Thomas Ferguson helps explain why. The surveillance industry, broadly defined, gave proportionately much more to Obama than other industries in the 2012 election.
Once again…to a great extent, this is about money in politics. Plain and simple.
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The truth is, as it’s the case on just about every issue in Washington, the Democrats are on one side of the issue's political spectrum, and the Republicans are on the diametrically opposite end of that same spectrum.
A perfect example of this travesty is succinctly stated via what is now, as of tonight, my nominee for the best political comment of the year, and it comes from commenter “Hugh,” over at Naked Capitalism, regarding the story above. The original comment is LINKED HERE:
Aren’t the Democrats and Obama pretty much bought and paid for by the rich and powerful in general? And isn’t this the exact opposite of the Republicans who are owned by the powerful and rich?
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