Home » Posts tagged 'freedom' (Page 9)
Tag Archives: freedom
Freedom, Where Are You? Not in America or Europe
Freedom, Where Are You? Not in America or Europe
When the former Goldman Sachs executive who runs the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that he was going to print 720 billion euros annually with which to purchase bad debts from the politically connected big banks, the euro sank and the stock market and Swiss france shot up. As in the US, quantitative easing (QE) serves to enrich the already rich. It has no other purpose.
The well-heeled financial institutions that bought up the troubled sovereign debt of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain at low prices will now sell the bonds to the ECB for high prices. And despite depression level unemployment in most of Europe and austerity imposed on citizens, the stock market rose in anticipation that much of the 60 billion new euros that will be created each month will find its way into equity prices. Liquidity fuels the stock market.
Where else can the money to go? Some will go into Swiss francs and some into gold while gold is still available, but for the most part the ECB is running the printing press in order to boost the wealth of the stock-owning One Percent. The Federal Reserve and the ECB have taken the West back to the days when a handful of aristocrats owned everything.
The stock markets are bubbles blown by central bank money creation. On the basis of traditional reasoning there is no sound reason to be in equities, and sound investors have avoided them.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Epochal Consequences Of Woodrow Wilson’s War
The Epochal Consequences Of Woodrow Wilson’s War
Remarks by David Stockman To the
Committee for the Republic, Washington DC
January 21, 2015
My humble thesis tonight is that the entire 20th Century was a giant mistake.
And that you can put the blame for this monumental error squarely on Thomas Woodrow Wilson——-a megalomaniacal madman who was the very worst President in American history……..well, except for the last two.
His unforgiveable error was to put the United States into the Great War for utterly no good reason of national interest. The European war posed not an iota of threat to the safety and security of the citizens of Lincoln NE, or Worcester MA or Sacramento CA. In that respect, Wilson’s putative defense of “freedom of the seas” and the rights of neutrals was an empty shibboleth; his call to make the world safe for democracy, a preposterous pipe dream.
Actually, his thinly veiled reason for plunging the US into the cauldron of the Great War was to obtain a seat at the peace conference table——so that he could remake the world in response to god’s calling.
But this was a world about which he was blatantly ignorant; a task for which he was temperamentally unsuited; and an utter chimera based on 14 points that were so abstractly devoid of substance as to constitute mental play dough.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Digital Arms Race: NSA Preps America for Future Battle
The Digital Arms Race: NSA Preps America for Future Battle
Normally, internship applicants need to have polished resumes, with volunteer work on social projects considered a plus. But at Politerain, the job posting calls for candidates with significantly different skill sets. We are, the ad says, “looking for interns who want to break things.”
Politerain is not a project associated with a conventional company. It is run by a US government intelligence organization, the National Security Agency (NSA). More precisely, it’s operated by the NSA’s digital snipers with Tailored Access Operations (TAO), the department responsible for breaking into computers.
Potential interns are also told that research into third party computers might include plans to “remotely degrade or destroy opponent computers, routers, servers and network enabled devices by attacking the hardware.” Using a program called Passionatepolka, for example, they may be asked to “remotely brick network cards.” With programs like Berserkr they would implant “persistent backdoors” and “parasitic drivers”. Using another piece of software called Barnfire, they would “erase the BIOS on a brand of servers that act as a backbone to many rival governments.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises: My Predictions for 2015
Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises: My Predictions for 2015
If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege.
It didn’t happen overnight. It took many years of neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised — physical and economic — the less liberty was protected.
With cradle-to-grave welfare protecting all citizens from any mistakes and a perpetual global war on terrorism, which a majority of Americans were convinced was absolutely necessary for our survival, our security and prosperity has been sacrificed.
It was all based on lies and ignorance. Many came to believe that their best interests were served by giving up a little freedom now and then to gain a better life.
The trap was set. At the beginning of a cycle that systematically undermines liberty with delusions of easy prosperity, the change may actually seem to be beneficial to a few. But to me that’s like excusing embezzlement as a road to leisure and wealth — eventually payment and punishment always come due. One cannot escape the fact that a society’s wealth cannot be sustained or increased without work and productive effort. Yes, some criminal elements can benefit for a while, but reality always sets in.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ron Paul 2015 Predictions: Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises
Ron Paul 2015 Predictions: Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises
If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege.
It didn’t happen overnight. It took many years of
neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised — physical and economic — the less liberty was protected.
With cradle-to-grave welfare protecting all citizens from any mistakes and a perpetual global war on terrorism, which a majority of Americans were convinced was absolutely necessary for our survival, our security and prosperity has been sacrificed.
It was all based on lies and ignorance. Many came to believe that their best interests were served by giving up a little freedom now and then to gain a better life.
The trap was set. At the beginning of a cycle that systematically undermines liberty with delusions of easy prosperity, the change may actually seem to be beneficial to a few. But to me that’s like excusing embezzlement as a road to leisure and wealth — eventually payment and punishment always come due. One cannot escape the fact that a society’s wealth cannot be sustained or increased without work and productive effort. Yes, some criminal elements can benefit for a while, but reality always sets in.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
NSA Fesses Up To Improper Surveillance Of U.S. Citizens
NSA Fesses Up To Improper Surveillance Of U.S. Citizens.
While you were drinking eggnog on Christmas Eve, the National Security Agency released hundreds of pages of heavily redacted documents detailing instances of improper surveillance on U.S. citizens in the last 12 years.
The batch of documents, stretching from the fourth quarter of 2001 to the second quarter of 2013, was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. While some of the information was already publicly known, the reports shed more light on instances in which NSA employees either intentionally or unintentionally violated the law and collected the private data of American citizens.
“These materials show, over a sustained period of time, the depth and rigor of NSA’s commitment to compliance,” read a statement on the NSA’s website. “By emphasizing accountability across all levels of the enterprise, and transparently reporting errors and violations to outside oversight authorities, NSA protects privacy and civil liberties while safeguarding the nation and our allies.”
U.S. torture debate underscores shifting view on personal liberties – World – CBC News
U.S. torture debate underscores shifting view on personal liberties – World – CBC News.
In America, you get a fair shake, or you’re supposed to. Here, you’re governed by law, not the whim of some swinish satrap.
America is not a place where peaceful dissent should cost you your freedom, or even your life. Americans don’t live in terror of their security police.
All of this is arguably less true today than it was 20 years ago; it’s certainly less true since Sept. 11, 2001.
Strangely, it is America’s conservatives, the people to whom personal liberty is a supreme value, who seem most willing to give it away.
“If you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you don’t have anything to worry about,” they say, while pushing new powers for law enforcement and the growing surveillance-industrial establishment.
That, of course, is the cheapjack police-state justification; the sort you hear in countries that are said to be “not ready for democracy.” It is most un-American in spirit, but the law-and-order bunch doesn’t see it that way.
The Hundreds: Thomas Jefferson’s Forgotten Plan for Restoring a Failed Republic | Casey Research
The Hundreds: Thomas Jefferson’s Forgotten Plan for Restoring a Failed Republic | Casey Research.
Thomas Jefferson became one of my heroes when I was 13 years old. So you’d think I’d enjoy hearing people say good things about him, but very often, I don’t. My reason is simple: the people who praise Jefferson seldom really understand him, and if they did, it’s questionable that they’d like him. (Others try to get rid of him by trashing his reputation.)
What People Don’t Know
A crucial thing people don’t know about Jefferson is this: he was fully convinced that freedom in America was fatally wounded—in fact on its deathbed—by 1810 or so. He maintained that he and his fellow founders had blown their opportunity and that American freedom had already slipped away.
Now, since what I’ve written above will seem almost inconceivable to many Americans, let me back it up by quoting a few of Jefferson’s letters:
Letter to John Holmes, April 22, 1820:
I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves by the generation of 1776, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be, that I live not to weep over it.
Letter to Nathaniel Macon, 1821:
Our government is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction. That is: by consolidation first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
Letter to John Cartwright, June 5, 1824:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Controlling the internet China style – Features – Al Jazeera English
Controlling the internet China style – Features – Al Jazeera English.
Beijing, China – Two visions of China’s campaign to strengthen its influence over the global future of the World Wide Web are being staged in two Chinese cities this week.
One vision offers digital riches to global tech leaders who join forces with the Beijing leadership to offer a tightly controlled Web to China’s online masses.
The other promises prison for anyone accused of using the Internet to challenge Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule.
Leveraging its 630-million-strong platform of Web users to attract some of the planet’s internet elites, the government is staging its first World Internet Conference in the ancient riverside resort of Wuzhen on the east coast.
But simultaneously, in a secret Beijing courtroom, the CCP is launching the trial of a Tiananmen rights activist for allegedly leaking a secret Communist Party diatribe against democracy to an online American magazine.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Nine of the biggest myths that people believe about the system
Nine of the biggest myths that people believe about the system.
Years ago, an elderly, frail Japanese martial arts master once boasted a 200-0 record against his opponents.
He claimed to have a unique power that allowed him to inflict serious injury on people without actually laying a finger on them.
Was it Chi? Magic? None of the above. It was a total scam. But that didn’t matter.
You see, the legend of the master’s powers turned out to be far more powerful than reality.
His core following of students believed in the master so much that they would fling themselves across the dojo whenever he raised his pinky finger.
And anyone who saw the display would become transfixed by the perception of the mater’s extraordinary abilities. It was an incredible case of mass delusion.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Tomgram: Shamsi and Harwood, An Electronic Archipelago of Domestic Surveillance | TomDispatch
Tomgram: Shamsi and Harwood, An Electronic Archipelago of Domestic Surveillance | TomDispatch.
Let me tell you my modest post-9/11 dream. One morning, I’ll wake up and see a newspaper article that begins something like this: “The FBI is attempting to persuade an obscure regulatory body in Washington to change its rules of engagement in order to curtail the agency’s significant powers to hack into and carry out surveillance of computers.” Now, wouldn’t that be amazing? Unfortunately, as you’ve undoubtedly already guessed, that day didn’t come last week. To create that sentence I had to fiddle with the odd word or two in the lead sentence of an article about the FBI’s attempt to gain “significant new powers to hack into and carry out surveillance of computers throughout the U.S. and around the world.”
When it comes to the expansion of our national security-cum-surveillance state, last week was just another humdrum seven days of news. There were revelations about the widespread monitoring of the snail mail of Americans. (“[T]he United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations.”) There was the news that a “sneak and peek” provision in the Patriot Act that “allows investigators to conduct searches without informing the target of the search” was now being used remarkably regularly. Back in 2001, supporters of the Act had sworn that the provision would only be applied in rare cases involving terrorism. Last week we learned that it is being used thousands of times a year as a common law enforcement tool in drug cases. Oh, and on our list should go the FBI’s new push to get access to your encrypted iPhones!
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
I Pledge Allegiance… | Liberty Blitzkrieg
I Pledge Allegiance… | Liberty Blitzkrieg.
Remember those weird kids who didn’t say the Pledge of Allegiance in school? They either sat down or just stood up silently. I sure do. Most likely for religious reasons, but I remember thinking to myself as a kid that it was wrong not to say the pledge aloud with the rest of us. As I got older in my teenage years, I even felt that those kids were not being respectful.
Some adults may even give them the old, “well, if you don’t like it then you can leave” routine that is mentioned every time a minority opts out of the majority’s way of doing things.
Homeschooling my children will really make this a non-issue; however, my nieces were reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance the other day while playing with my children. In fact, here in Texas the kids recite both the American and Texas Pledge of Allegiance before class.
After hearing them recite it, and of course remembering the 2,500 or so times I said it in my lifetime, I started to think about the purpose and real meaning of this pledge that millions of school-aged children recite every morning Monday through Friday.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Protesters take back key parts of Hong Kong – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English
Protesters take back key parts of Hong Kong – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English.
Some of the worst violence since demonstrations began erupts after police try to clear key protest site.Last updated: 18 Oct 2014 09:50
|
| Protesters in Hong Kong have reoccupied the Mong Kok site, a key zone in the heart of the city, after police had cleared the area on Friday, sparking some of the most violent confrontations since the demonstrations began three weeks ago.
On Saturday, police used batons and pepper spray against protesters who were shielding themselves with umbrellas on the central district, but were forced into a partial retreat as the sun began to rise, to cheers from the crowd. …click on the link above for the rest of the article… |
