that listen to you. We are not far off

Just saying

Funny how casually that sentiment comes when it's for the convenience of the intelligence community. I'm surprised these cases haven't simply been submitted to the FISA court for a quick rubber stamp.

"It isn't illegal when the (fill in the blank) does it."

Spied on by our own govt. Pathetic. Infuriating. And I feel no safer.

This just never fucking ends, does it?

Consistent with existing law - That's a laugh, isn't it. The Bush administration found that torture was consistent with existing laws.

Grand juries and district attorneys have found hundreds of times that police shootings of unarmed civilians are consistent with existing laws.

Texas has its own fucking military arm, which is consistent with existing laws.

I'm pretty sure that an imagined future president trump could declare martial law, and it would be papered to be consistent with existing laws.

We are no longer becoming a third world country or a banana republic. We are already there.

Yes, I know, that's hyperbole, but think about the ways we are more like, rather than less like, a third world country: controlled by oligarchs, decreasing literacy, increasing infant mortality, lowering life spans, increasing poverty rates, increasing childhood hunger, damn near feudal employment situations, etc.

When the Gov. publicly admits anything like this, they always admit to just a fraction of reality.

Remember when they oh ever so reluctantly "admitted" to losing TWO torture tapes?
Then year or so later admitted it was really 99 tapes.

Remember when they tell us that "only a few advisers" are in anotehr country's war zne?
Then later admit "some" special forces/boots on the ground?

as in this, today:

of course.

We are entering into a new era of technology. It is likely that robotics will soon improve to the point where things that once existed only in science fiction novels... will be walking the streets.

It goes well beyond drones (from what I've read in science magazines, news articles and things I've heard rumored from people who know) the technology of the future will be something really amazing, really powerful... with great potential for abuse by the powers that be in this Country and elsewhere. Of course the Pentagon is going to use drones here. In the future, we'll probably have plenty of drones being used by police, FBI, CIA, etc. We already know what the NSA is up to in regards to spying on Americans - at least, we know some of it. I suspect that the reality of the situation, black ops, unreported operations, operations and organizations that do not exist within the law... I suspect that the reality is far worse than we have imagined.

The sad truth is that as long as this technology exists, it will be abused, misused, inappropriately handled. What we can do (and should have done years ago) is place very strict legal controls on the use of this technology. I'm talking about needing warrants before their use, to have something a little beyond "suspicion" before the various agencies can start spying on people. Who is going to oversee the NSA but the American people? Who is going to reign in the over-reaching and out of control military industrial complex and their allies in government?

Within my lifetime alone (Going on 32 years) we have seen such numerous and despicable of abuses of power that we should all be deeply concerned with the great and growing power granted to various government agencies, the military industrial complex, mercenary groups and so on and so forth.

I believe we should found an organization, funded by the public (and by the public only) made up of regular people to protect ourselves from the serious potential for the abuse and misuse of this technology. Something to exist within government to watch the watchers, so to speak, but with very strict controls in regards to where funding comes from. This stuff isn't a joke. If you think that the idea of a drone with or without attached weaponry flying over your house is scary? Imagine what the technology of the future will bring.

That having been said... there are amazing things being done in technology and with robotics right now, great and awe-inspiring things that have the potential to move our race and our culture forward by great leaps and bounds. There will be those who want to use this power for the good of humanity... and those who want to use it for the good of those with power and wealth. It must be a balancing act.

Last edited Wed Mar 9, 2016, 04:07 PM - Edit history (1)

deadly weaponry or surveillance equipment should not be in the hands of abusive police, alphabet agencies or private armies. We are not free unless these people are held accountable, that in order that they hold on to this PRIVILEGE, there be transparency, audits and harsh enough consequences for abuse.

We have gotten this far into insanity because for generations the citizenry has not been taught CIVICS in school. The dumbed down schools and mass media have harmed democracy. If the citizenry does not understand that to abuse the 2nd amendment actually threatens our right to bear arms, they do not understand the Constitution, which is our social contract. Nor do they recognize when this social contract is lost.

I saw this coming years ago: 'Watch they will dumb down and stress out the populace, then stand back and declare we are too insane to have a voice or rights.' Is that not what is happening?

Plus the erosion of church and state has poisoned this well of collective civility, stolen the dreams of whole generations of kids by preaching this armageddon dystopian future--so it should be no surprise that this nightmare is what is being created. It's fear fear fear and a punishing hateful god. It's no surprise either that the world created by people raised to be paranoid and guilt ridden has mass surveillance and is at war with everything and everyone. Religious psychosis.

There has always been abusive people, kings, priests, merchants, crooks, and our freedom pivots on the enforcement of checks and balances and effective laws to keep them at bay. We need to educate, review and perhaps revisit and rewrite our social contract. Now that we are awake