Who's Running the Ship?

Who's really in charge?



IF you believe Russ Tice it MIGHT be a shadowy cabal of super secret spies.  Breaking the Set host Abby Martin suggests that our elected officials are nothing more than pawns that are controlled by blackmail.

Mr. Tice hedges the bet.  And conspiracy theories are just a bit too much for us.

A story from the  New York Times suggests that we have let the FISA court overstep it's boundaries.  The story is illustrative of the fact that we have allowed democracy to crumble in the USA. According to the Times:

"The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken on a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny, according to current and former officials familiar with the court’s classified decisions."

The court is making new law, not just interpreting it.

My guess is the President is fine with all this.   There isn't a secret cabal.  Obama and many unelected officials are simply operating outside of their proper authority. It's been done before.

Ronald Reagan called this plausible deniability.  Nixon said it was okay, "because he was the President."  George Bush agreed with that philosophy, but he safely stayed away from legal trouble by using the secret opinions of his staff to shield truth from the limelight.  Bush got blasted by his critics for such a move, so Obama has attempted to gain legitimacy by using the court system.  Only, because he's a crafty Constitutional Lawyer, he made sure to use the secret FISA Court to shield his dirty work.

Turns out that attempt may not work, because a

Federal Judge Allows EFF's NSA Mass Spying Case to Proceed

So we shall see if out system still works.  There is still a chance one of the branches of government will decide to make all the branches follow the law.

Ridiculous over reach of authority on The Fourth Of July

Cops.  If this video doesn't make you distrust them, then nothing will.  I don't understand why police are so distrustful of citizens whenever a citizen simply wished to exert their rights.

Maybe a cop will leave a comment and explain what sets them off.

We don't need conspiracies. We got it real here in the hood.

The Edward Snowden Debate:You don't have to like Edward Snowden. 

"Sen. John Thune (R-SD) on MSNBC stated his opposition to Snowden's leaks and called for his prosecution.

 Even though he is quite attractive. (At least women of twitter seem to think so.)  

You don't even have to like what he's done

Call him a traitor, a spy.  Whatever.  

But when asked by Andrea Mitchell if he believes the sweeping nature of the surveillance, as detailed in the documents released by Snowden, is too broad and needs to be narrowed, (my italics) Thune responded...

"I think that's a really good question, Andrea."

Yeah. Me too!

How does the Senator answer?

" I think that's one that members of Congress are going to want to know the answer to. I suspect there's going to be a real push for additional Congressional oversight of some of these programs. Are we over-collecting? Have these programs been successful? Are members of Congress fully briefed? And, more importantly too, the American people? I think those are all very valid questions, many of which are going to be asked this week, and I think that, hopefully, we'll have an opportunity, through some additional oversight, to get members of Congress more fully briefed and to get some of these questions answered. ... I do believe we need to get the facts. ... That's a health debate to have."

You know what? That sounds like a good answer.  In fact, it's exactly the answer I was hoping for.  Only.  There's something wrong with it.  Isn't there?

WTF isn't the AMERICAN public informed about this already?  Why on EARTH isn't COngress? 

The Senator has given an admission of ignorance on a topic of some importance. That seems remarkable to me. All the while, the comments attempt to strike a moderate and concerned tone to the American Public.  That seems like the definition of stonewalling to me.  Thune has no interest in doing anything he's said. 

We have secret programs.  We have no oversight, we have no debate.  We have....Project Shamrock.   

But then again, do we?  Here's a little bit of info from a congressional hearing that states the GOVT is not doing anything wrong.  All we have to do (according to the blogger) is believe :

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence Defends NSA Surveillance Programs

Then again:

How many years would have gone by without the revelations by Snowden about these programs? When will we see any true congressional oversight? i don't know the answer to these questions.

The week in review at the SSN

People always think we are living in times of change, or importance.  I have no idea if we are. I have a hard time understanding why the honey roasted peanuts I just bought suddenly taste funny.

But I think we dropped this blog at a really crazy time in history. We've have the revelations by Edward Snowden (view his timeline here) that the USA is spying on just about everything you do.

First it was our phone META data.  Then it was your internet activity.  Next, it was your phone calls after all.  Finally after all that, and you cried UNKLE SAM! the Post Office decided it wasn't going to be left out and had to go and get all 21st century on your ass and photocopy EVERY SINGLE LETTER MAILED IN THE USA.  holy cow. It seems like just yesterday the government was only spying on our telegrams.  

 But STOP WORRYING! nothing to see here. unless that is, your name is Edward Snowden. then, you got important things going on like say EX RUSSIAN SPY ANNA CHAPMAN HAS PROPOSED MARRIAGE TO YOU.

In case you have forgotten what SHE looks like:

And of Course Team Edward already has an acrobat for a GF 

Dude's got a difficult decision.  just like another decision (he didn't make) to get aboard a plane headed to Bolivia with head of state EVO (touch 4g lte on Sprint) Morales tagging along.

Let's just the people of South "Americu" weren't too happy with some of "Spain's friends" suggesting that the duly elected president of aCOUNTRY was actually a coyote. (though for white guys, so no worries Sheriff Apario!)

And last but least

You can get a head transplant, if you got 13 million dollars!

 What are the odds anyone gets the EVO joke other than someone from the ANdroiD cENtraL forums?

p.s. coming soon: twitter, google +, & a podcast! 

Born on the Fourth of July!!!

What could be better than starting a blog about The Silent Totalitarianism of the coming Surveillance Society?  Starting it on the Fourth of July!

  Americu!!!!