Privacy

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9/11 13 Years Later

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on September 11, 2014

Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: 9/11, Al Qaeda, America, Civil Liberties, Devil, Evil, Freedom, Freedom Tower, God, Good, human beings, Ideology, Iraq, Justice, Osama Bin Laden, Peace, Privacy, Problem Reaction Solution, Terror, U., U.S Flag, War, World Trade, World Trade Towers. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: 9/11 13 Years Later

Written by Akan Bosemann

It’s hard to believe that 13 years have past since the worst terrorist attack in U.S history took place. Us New Yorkers are especially aware of it when we think back to that awful day.

Everyone remembers where they were. I awoke that morning thinking I was watching a movie it was so surreal.

I remember my sister and I waking to the local news channels because the signal for the other stations were knocked out due to their broadcast coming from the antenna at the World Trade Towers.

My thoughts immediately turned from shock to horror when I saw the Towers fall. Psychologically, it was a devastating blow to see those massive buildings and all those lives lost in one moment.

Retribution was called for and in the blindness of people’s rage and desire for someone to pay, we the American people were deceived into waging two wars in two different countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) simultaneously.

A non substantiated link was fostered by the media utilizing public outrage to invade a sovereign country in Iraq. It seemed “2 birds with 1 stone” was the strategy of the day. To this day no “Weapons of Mass Destruction” were ever found in Iraq. Government apologists stepped forward to say what we “did and didn’t know at the time” in the aftermath.

All we kept hearing initially, was Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist organization Al Qaeda did it. Then it became Al Qaeda is Iraq too. “Let’s go get em in Iraq”. Those of us who said hold on, wait a minute, let’s think this through were vilified and labeled as anti-American or non patriotic.

This is the danger when we surrender our ability to think and process information rationally and logically. Information is power and those who control the information have the power.

Misinformation allowed the U.S to go further into debt to oppress other people in the name of “freedom” and at the same time weaken the protections of the citizens rights here at home.

Since then we have seen the widespread abuses of our government against us the U.S people it is supposed to serve and protect. We are no longer secure in our persons.

We have no expectation of privacy when all of our communications are sifted, screened, and stored by our very own government intelligence agencies.

Eric Snowden’s exposure of this widespread surveillance proves that. His having to flee from the supposed “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave” tells us what’s really happening when the perpetrators of abuses into our privacy and lives can make him the bad guy for revealing the evil they are doing in the dark.

A steady disarm the public campaign has been underway leading to increased purchases for guns and ammunition. Problem, Reaction, Solution has not stopped it is continuing and getting stronger each day. We now live in Orwellian times.

The foot prints of the two World Trade Towers are visual and visceral reminders of a horrible day in American history. The new “Freedom Tower” erected in their place gives others a sense that we have built back better and stronger than before the attacks.

In my mind I see two towers symbolic of world financial power destroyed as the precursor to the unveiling of really what it has been all along, one power source. The design of the building shows this if you look at it closely. The two buildings are merged together as pieces forming one structure.

Today Isis or “The Islamic State” is emerging as the new most dangerous enemy and “face of terror” on the world stage.

The destruction of ideology today is at the forefront on the news. You can’t kill an idea or can you? Bombing people breeds a self defense ideology, it breeds those who would quickly join up with an extremist group to exact retribution.

Indiscriminent bombings overseas don’t get as much notice as it should. Many of us citizens are unaware of what our troops are doing overseas. Many of us don’t see the cost of war, we’re comfortable, and as long as we are safe, generally we don’t care.

Since 9/11 a massive war on the American people has steadily been waged. Our civil liberties have been chipped away at and disregarded as relics of an ancient and primitive people.

We are being conditioned to accept whatever “authority” tells us simply because they are in a position of power. The narrative as to whom the enemy is constantly changes. There’s an ever present atmosphere of fear permeating throughout the world (not unlike that in the film The Lord of THe Rings).

I’ve heard people say they believe we the people should “give up our liberty for freedom”. That in an off itself is repugnant and dumb at best because liberty is synonymous with freedom. America today in only a few ways resembles the great country/nation the founding fathers envisioned.

I pray to God to guide our leaders going forward. I pray for the families of the victims of 9/11 and I pray for us human beings in the world as a whole. We are lost without God. Proof is in the pudding. Look at what is happening everyday all around us.

Still believe the Devil isn’t real or that God doesn’t exist? Think again.

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Decompression and The Social Unplug

Written by T.D Moody

I find it amazing how fast and important social networking has become. I remember as a high school kid one Social Studies teacher I had, telling our class that the future was in networking. He went on to say, basically, when you get to college make as many friends as you can especially affluent ones. This being due to it’s more a matter of who you know, not what you know.

I thought that a strange saying back then, but came to realize the truth in his statement. Today’s world consists of a new “smart phone”, apps for just about anything, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and on and on to connect people all around the world.

What I see, is when ever one needs to get something done it’s rare that things get done without the aid of others. This is true whether it’s in getting a new job, finding a great airline hookup, for free upgrades and/or flights, or a bartender who comps a few rounds, or a door man at a club, or a real estate agent to find you the best available apt at a bargain. Social networking is the wave of the future and it’s for that reason that I find it also a dangerous tool.

Aside from the fact that keeping up with so many “friends” be it on Facebook or Twitter or any other major social networking site, can feel like a 2nd or 3rd job. Personally, I find it essential, not to be so plugged in to everything trying to keep up with so much information going on. I’m also in favor of advocating decompression breaks at work where cell phone and computer use stops completely for an hour to allow one to relax and unplug for a bit from this crazy world we live in.

The dangerous aspect of social networking today is that it’s so instantaneous, one is capable of defamation for potentially hundreds of millions of people to see online immediately. Or one’s entire personal history, information, & contacts grouped, arranged, then studied and monitored far more easily. This is because the user of social network sites volunteers the info that is then collected and saved about them, their family and friends.

In my opinion it’s too much information to be floating around unprotected. Privacy is the underlying issue. However, for those who don’t find it a problem to have all their business exposed, that doesn’t mean that the rest of society feels that way or should tolerate their right to privacy being discarded or treated as some old rag. Eric Snowden’s exposure of this helps cement a healthy distrust of government in conjunction with the war on our civil liberties.

I’m in no way advocating completely severing all networking ties but being vigilant in what one uploads socially. Clearly, today’s world says once it’s out there, it’s out there, fair game. By the way the protections built into the laws that allow corporations such as the telephone companies and internet service providers to violate personal privacy with no liability are nothing to laugh at either. In effect one has no legal remedy to the overt and blatant trampling of their rights.

Subpoena or no, intrusions into the private lives of citizens will not make any one of us safer from terrorism. This is a tactic to distract the public at large from the real issue, & gain support from the people to voluntarily submit themselves to total control and oppression if not suppression of life.

We have to really remind ourselves of the fact that most people wouldn’t be aware of the governments spying scandal if an insider (and now notorious) whistle-blower Eric Snowden hadn’t exposed it. For his bravery he’s now being persecuted and labeled in mass media pretty much as an “enemy of the state“. Why does the main stream media not keep the story focused on the content of his release versus the government’s pursuit of him?

Rationally thinking I have to conclude that it’s because he was working for them and violated the very trust they had placed in him that we the people are to misguidedly place in our “elected” officials in government making decisions that directly affect the lives of us the citizenry it’s supposed to serve and protect. Which leads me to my next point.

I wonder if it’s just me or whether anyone else has thought about how social networking has changed us as a society from the standpoint that now some of us think we’re actually closer to people when right next to one another with the aid of an electronic device in our hands texting one another back and forth versus an audible real life conversation?

I’m not saying it’s not without some really cool and/or beneficial uses but it’s seemingly replaced the traditional sit down and honest talk of years past. I suppose the logical explanation for this new trend in social interaction is the fact that one can see what it is one is about to say to someone else and decide if what they communicate comes across the way intended.

It also gives one the opportunity to analyze what another party is communicating before giving an answer. Typically I find cell phones & tablets are a social prop much like a mask that one can hide behind instead of looking the person in the eye while talking face to face.

Expressions, and body language do speak volumes. Thinking about all of that under a microscope without one’s personal permission, arbitrarily at the disposal of elites & the military industrial complex is a heinous and frightening idea.

Privacy…Do you mind?

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on May 29, 2013

Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: Branches of Government, Checks and Balances, coleco vision, Drone Strike, Education, Enslavement, Freedom, gadgets, gaming, Government, Ideology, Medicine, Orwellian, People, playing video games, Police State, Policy, Political Science, Power, Privacy, Problem Reaction Solution, PRS, Rights, Security, sega master system, technology. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Privacy…Do you mind?

Written by T.D Moody

I’ll be the first to admit that I happen to love technology. Not all of its incarnations and variants but mostly the most beneficial and time-saving devices and gadgets that can and often times does make life a bit easier and/or simpler. Advances in medical procedures and anesthesiology, the computers and robots used for advanced and complicated surgeries are some examples.

That being said after reading a few articles on the upcoming “Google Glass” I have no doubt that privacy is being dealt another death-blow with devices as powerful as the early impressions of Google Glass come forth by techies, supporters, and detractors alike.

Years ago while reading some tech content I remember seeing it said that the technology available to the average consumer is actually 50 years or more behind what’s actually possible now and that the technology is suppressed and doled out in piece meal installments for several reasons.

One of these reasons and probably the most obvious is profits. Each iteration of a new “hi-tech” device comes with some modest upgrades but is still far less than what’s actually possible yet people will want the upgrade and continue to chase and pay for the progression. I think that’s a natural part of mankind to want to keep getting better and wanting more, and more, and more.

I think back to my days as a kid playing video games on Coleco Vision (for those old enough to remember it) at a friend’s place before Atari and Nintendo came on the scene. Then came the Sega Master System followed by Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Each system boasted technological upgrades and games that improved on performance and graphic displays. Game play and overall execution of games was the stronghold of Nintendo for years over even the Sega Genesis.

This was due in large part to the fact that while Genesis sported better specs and graphics performance from a 16 bit system versus an 8 bit Nintendo, Nintendo’s games were better thought out more developed, more rewarding, and challenging than Genesis games which were merely eye candy with little substance in terms of game play and endings.

Today it’s XBox 360, PS3 (PS4 coming soon), and PC gaming. How times have changed. Did I mention even the privacy policies of the current gaming consoles are lengthy, wordy, and essentially basically state the system can spy on you through your agreed use of it and agreeing to its terms of service policy. Playing games online, links to accounts it’s everywhere.

Now with the news of the upcoming release of Google Glass mixed reviews are coming in where privacy comes to the forefront and is in the spotlight like never before with the availability of social media and instant uploads and sharing.

One doesn’t have to see the potential for abuse and more secretive spying into the lives of ordinary people where we are all the reporters and the reported. When given technology without the restraints and safeguards to respect and protect personal privacy, there is no place left where anything is private. Every conversation had can recorded in one’s own home. Willing surveillance of one’s every move is possible and treated as some simple novelty or toy and nothing more.

Knowing people are people and will push any boundaries or limits in front of them when there is no restraint is good enough reason to view this technological advance with trepidation. Is it true that every one wants to be a celebrity? I don’t believe so but with Google Glass and it’s sure to come successors and competitors, the potential to turn every one into a “celebrity” is real whether wanted or not. It’ll be like “Smile” your on the Net” , “Smile your on the toilet and we all can see your …ewww!!! In real-time.”

Now with seemingly random killings in unsuspected areas popping up all over, a social climate is emerging in which it is becoming an accepted norm in order to “feel safe” to surveil everything and everyone and some how no privacy = security. In actuality it equals total enslavement. NO FREEDOM. History is repeating itself and most of us are happily, blissfully, distracted with gadgets and toys that spy on us even more so than having a soldier quartered in our own homes.

Google Glass seems benign on the surface as it’s just being introduced, but isn’t that the way all things start out? Small, a seed, baby step after baby step in progression until it reaches it’s fullness and we’re all staring at each other in disbelief at the horrors we collectively allowed to grow and fall upon us. Orwellian depicted Police States rising all over the world in the name of “Peace and Security” is very frightening and very real.

Educating ourselves and not being so caught up in the bells and whistles of the latest gadgets and gizmo’s to the point of being willfully ignorant is crucial. It seems the more tech dependent we become and the more surveillance we accept, the easier it becomes to see the invisible bars and prisons we’re all in. Very much like in the movie “The Matrix”

If this seems too unreal and far fetched, I suggest going around the city and counting the number of surveillance cameras that are openly displayed in public. From the subway stations, to the new buses that have cameras all throughout, to buildings inside and out. Then consider how many satellites there are watching us from the sky and the advanced real-time capabilities of GPS. Is it really that difficult to believe or are we “tuning it out” and refusing to see what’s in plain sight?

Mini computers that can monitor our every movement will be marketed as the newest “Hi-tech” advance that should be embraced without resistance or questioning of its true purpose and/or potentials. How I want to wake from this nightmare. The president’s speech on U.S. government authorized drone strike policy is somehow supposed to instill confidence in authorized killings of any target deemed “terror suspect” or “person of interest”.

To me that’s like saying,”Anyone can be considered is a potential terrorist or extremist when they question the policies and actions of government.” “We need to go over to this country and kill 200 people because according to our records these people are classified and approved as terrorist groups and extremists with links to weapons of mass destruction.” How do we confirm these classifications is there any oversight?

I remember President Obama in one of his re-election campaign speeches saying not that we the American people needed “Smaller” Government as our nation’s founders intended but “Smarter” Government like those hideous and frightening IBM ads popping up all over the place as if they are improving the world for people.

Everything is happening the way it is for a reason it is no coincidence. America is at a crossroads this is true as President Obama said in his speech, but the future nation being left to the children of tomorrow is nothing more than a stolen future and guarantee of enslavement. I fear being older and living to see the younger generations of today and tomorrow looking back in history at my generation and the generations before mine that are responsible for their future.

President Obama tells us the future of terrorism is home-grown and foreign. No one is safe. Problem…Reaction…Solution. Game Over. “Oversight?” What Oversight? There is supposed to be in place already the traditional checks and balances in government. Obfuscating the main issue with spin and word play is in my mind an inexhaustible skill being utilized again and again in speeches to assure us that the Government is actually doing things that will help us, the People.