05/13 Open Thread: Geheime Staatspolizei
On 9/11/2001 some Saudi expats who may or may not really have been expats, aided and abetted by a fanatical Wahhabist / Qutbist scion of a wealthy saudi family attacked the WTC and other targets.
The US government used this much as the Nazi's used the Reichstag Fire, to enact various draconian measures restricting people's rights and freedoms and severely upping the ante as to domestic surveillance and policing of the citizenry. Included in these measures was something called "The Patriot Act", a name invoking the old meme that when fascism comes to the US it will be draped in the flag and carrying a bible. Among other things, this created and empowered the Homeland Security Department and corresponding Homeland Security Forces. Frankly that looks like a piss poor translation of "Geheime Staatspolizei", and really smells like it too. This was followed by increased domestic surveillance and spying, wire tapping, phone signal hijacking and all of that; unknown and unaccountable persons empowered to put one on do not fly lists from which there was pretty much no appeal, and further erosion of the first, fourth and fifth amendments. Naturally, propaganda and narrative management was significantly stepped up as well as curtailing dissent and dissenting narratives. This was not a one time thing, but a continuing assault on both our liberties and the Constitution.
Needless to say many became more and more concerned about all the intrusions into their privacy, all the tracking of everybody's whereabouts, communications, correspondence, acquaintances, reading lists and the like. I mean, I was stopped in Mn for having a license plate which, while readable by any remotely normal human observer, was not readable by automatic optical spyware, which I seriously doubt is a legal requirement there, or anywhere, but the readers seem to be everywhere and the law is, today, a law unto itself. The Feebs declared the Juggalos to be a gang. Today it is easy to go all conspiracy theory on anything and everything, and it could simply be that the Feebs notoriously freak out over anything that isn't mainstream whitebread bourgeoise conformity, and see gangs anywhere and everywhere they look, but the fact is that the Juggalo make-up also renders all of their facial recognition technology helpless and that really must really bug the hell out of them. The obvious ploy for them is to apply social and employment pressure by creating fear and distrust of them as individuals by applying the gang label and spewing the usual FUD and propaganda. For a real giggle, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_mass_surveillance_projects and scroll down to the list of 27, count 'em, 27, US mass sureillance projects.
It has become so bad that it is not just your basic hard-core civil liberties junkies who are concerned. As more people became more and more concerned about all this, more and more people got to work on trying to defeat all of the surveillance and spyware and writing articles about it, or producing goods for sale intended to do so. So, Linked below are some relevant articles that I stashed, there have been a great many more that I failed to grab and no doubt a greater many that I never saw. Much of it in this list is, all the same, concerned as much or more with privacy and spam than government spying, but some of the answers may be the same.
Some shirts hide you from cameras—but will anyone wear them?
https://arstechnica.com/features/2020/04/some-shirts-hide-you-from-camer...
Dressing for the Surveillance Age https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/16/dressing-for-the-surveilla...
Here’s the File Clearview AI Has Been Keeping on Me, and Probably on You Too https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dmkyq/heres-the-file-clearview-ai-ha...
Special sunglasses, license-plate dresses: How to be anonymous in the age of surveillance https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/special-sunglasses-lice...
Google keeps a scary amount of data on you. Here's how to find and delete it https://www.cnet.com/how-to/google-keeps-a-frightening-amount-of-data-on...
Why Amazon knows so much about you https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/CLQYZENMBI/amazon-data
The government just admitted it will use smart home devices for spying https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/09/internet-of-things...
How to Use Your Smartphone Without Leaving a Trace https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-to-use-your-smartphone-without-le...
Latest Firefox Brings Privacy Protections Front and Center Letting You Track the Trackers https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/10/22/latest-firefox-brings-privacy-p...
How to Set Your Google Data to Self-Destruct https://app.getpocket.com/read/2745949196
How to make your Facebook account more private https://www.popsci.com/delete-deactivate-make-facebook-private/?utm_sour...
Silicon Valley is terrified of California’s privacy law. Good. https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/silicon-valley-terrified-california-pr...
I Tried Hiding From Silicon Valley in a Pile of Privacy Gadgets https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-08-08/i-tried-hiding-from-s...
Google knows everywhere you go — here's how to stop it from tracking you and delete the logs https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/how-to-stop-google-from-storing-your-loc...?
Researchers Find Google Play Store Apps Were Actually Government Malware
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43z93g/hackers-hid-android-malware-in...
A Few Simple Steps to Vastly Increase Your Privacy Online https://thetoolsweneed.com/a-few-simple-steps-to-vastly-increase-your-pr...
I Got My File From Clearview AI, and It Freaked Me Out https://onezero.medium.com/i-got-my-file-from-clearview-ai-and-it-freake...
You can also fire up your search engine of choice and search for farady bags, VPNs, onion routers and the like to find much more.
It is an open thread, have at it
be well and have a good one
Title Image spyware-2319403
It's an open thread, so have at it. The floor is yours
.
Comments
Good morning
How about a game of "I spy"?
Loved this line...
Our nation has become a sad, sorry, bully to its own people and everyone else in the world. I don't know how we transition out of the mess we've become.
Hope you all have a good day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Growing up int the fifties and
sixties in San Diego I was constantly being reminded of that phrase or meme or whatever one wishes to call it. And then along came 911 and POW!, it was right there in ones face day after day after day. Hope your weather and health are good.
Be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Chicken Mole: I mentioned same yesterday and it seemed
that there are fans of the dish among us. I pressure cook boneless chicken thighs in an instant pot for 10 minutes and then do a 10 minute slow release to get them easy to shred with a fork and shred them. For the 2 of us I use 2 decent size thighs.
The mole is from a concentrate than I make and keep in the freezer. I make it from dried black beans that I also pressure cook in the instant pot, about 6 minutes with 15 to 20 minute slow release.
I have an ample stash of 92% cacao unsweetened dark chocolate bars that I stand on edge and run through a mandoline and use instead of cocoa powder.
Black Bean Mole Sauce
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ingredients(Makes about 1 1/4 cups):
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed (cooked or canned)
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar
5 Tablespoons honey (Use 1T brown sugar)
1/4 cup sugar (Use 1T granulated)
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (or grated unsweetened dark chocolate 1 to 1.5 T)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (scant)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (heaping)
1/8 teaspoon mustard seed (use heaping 1.5t mustard powder)
~1/4 cup water (Use about 1/8 c vegetable stock)
Black Bean Mole Sauce Beans
Method:
Combine all of the ingredients except for the water into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Slowly add the water while blending until the sauce reaches a fluid yet thick consistency.
Heat up before serving. Scoop a generous amount over protein like chicken, adding stock to thin, and mix well. Store in freezer for long time storage, else fridge.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thank you so much for ghe recipe
Have all the ingredients including - chocolate from Oaxaca. Heh.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
And so now, of course, the Donald is the worst President evah
except for W., who did worse but is now the liberals' hero.
If the pandemic ends up killing 250,000 because of the Donald's malfeasance (and general elite acquiescence), the Donald still won't be as bad as W. for what W. did in Iraq.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Good morning Cass. Trump was a war monger who started
an unprovoked war against a country that hadn't attacked or even threatened us and which realistically could not ever do either. This is a crime against humanity and a war crime. He ushered in an era of the US openly using torture. He passed the Patriot Act and other odious measures. He has no known redeeming qualities. That the Dems are joining in the bi-partisan effort to rehabilitate his reputation and his presidency simply goes to prove that they are amoral and unethical and do not serve the country or the people but only themselves and the established elites.
Be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Trump?
Actually, Trump did the least harm, in comparison to his predecessors. The worst he did was continue conflicts that had already been festering, some for decades. Every time he attempted to pull back America's horns, the Deep State, using it's proxies on both sides of the government, aided and abetted by a subservient media, chastised him.
He has been banded and is now suitable for a second term.
Hola CB. Nize jar opener there, heh. Just yesterday
we watched them banding the falcon chicks in the Cal Campanile. Damn that live cam is a time suck.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I was trying to be delicate
in calling it "banding". Obviously Trump is not a calf and so requires a more aggressive tool which accomplishes the same end.
The FRighwingnut yahoo brigade
have done an excellent job destroying the actual definition of “liberal.” It took 40 years but as Dumbbell Dumbya brags, “Mission Accomplished!” Rec’d!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Good afternoon obf. Haven't seen you around in a bit,
no illness or other unfortunate events I hope. Thanks for dropping in.
Mostly right about the destruction of the destruction of the word liberal, except that it actually started in the fifties, hence:
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Star-Wars-themed meme
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
I get the disgust and revulsion aspects of the image and
thought picture, but it is only some sort of psychological dependency that binds people to that party. It has no hold on any of us, the people are not enslaved and need only slip the illusory chains holding them.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Apropos:
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I saw that.
It's a good-un!
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
morning el
et al
Heading out to the garden. Sunny here. Rained yesterday. East Bay get rain? Very welcome. Plants like rain better than city water. They are so happy.
Posting this again because it just blew my mind. Why am I surprised? There is seriously something amiss.
From Cassiodorus’ reading list, posted yesterday...
The Four Men Responsible For America’s COVID-19 Test Disaster
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/covid-19-test-tr...
Take good care and have a good one.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Good morning magi. We had rain Monday evening and
overnight, with perhaps a drib on into the morning Tuesday. Nothing since.
That is a very telling bit about Trump, willing to sacrifice people's health and lives in order to maintain a narrative. A very extreme form of propaganda, but that is the type of shenanigans our politicians stoop to these days.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
In addition to this list
I am adding Facebook as one of the biggest trackers of your travels around the intertoobs. Even if you have never opened a Facebook account you are still being tracked if you land on a website that has Facebook LIKE on it. After you read that page FB has snared your browsing habits and will follow where you go next. And next and next and ne.... I don't remember who gave FB the power to do that, but it is well known that they are working with and following the demands of the Atlantic Council who gets its funding from the US government, NATO and various countries like the Saudis and Israel. Besides if you have one family member that is on FB then they have given it all your information already. I joined so I could sell my photos and set my privacy settings as high as they went. Imagine my surprise when in my People you may know was my Jr. high school coach and my neighbors from when I lived in California. Surprised? Pissed as hell. Do people know all that? Some do. I told my family about it who have all been staunch democrats and they just poo poo'd it and went on their merry way. Why? Dunno the real reason, but for many families this is how they update families on other news. Like when my cousin posted that my aunt had a severe stroke and they enacted her DNR instructions. Meaning that she would probably die soon. I passed through FB the next day for the first time in months because I was bored and had run out of websites to read and saw the news. No one thought to call me and let me know because hey it was posted on FB and even though I told them I rarely read it, it was still up to me to do so if I want to know who is alive or dead.
Many leftists were outraged when the patriot act was voted on by congress during the Bush years, but then they went AWOL when Obama, democrats and republicans refused to let it sunset after Bush left office. They stayed silent when Obama put the spying industry on steroids and allowed secret courts to make up secret rules that further restricted out rights. This was after Obama broke his promise to us that he would filibuster the FISA bill retroactively that let Bush off the hook. I repeatedly wrote about the outrageous 2012 NDAA when the constitutional lawyer rescinded Habeaus Corpus which was a law passed by the UK in 1215 IIRC. Many leftists are freaking out about how Barr wants to put that law into effect and allow the military to arrest any person that the president wants and hold them indefinitely without trial until whenever he decides they are no longer a threat. As they are that McConnell wants to give Barr unprecedented powers to track our internet browsing into infinity. But that is exactly what the patriot act gives him the power to do. And Barr might ask to put the 2012 NDAA in effect. If you don't know what is in it then search for it and read what the ACLU said at the time. Obama said he wouldn't use it, but left it intact for the most dangerous president ever to use. However he did use it on returning veterans. Oops another lie from the best president evah!!
I wonder what the 2nd amendment buffs aren't as outraged about the restrictions to the other amendments while the 2nd is under threat by government? I once thought that those who say, Live Free just rolled over when the TSA was created and kept passing even more restrictive rules for what is allowed. Hey I have nothing to hide has allowed the TSA agents to molest and unconstitutionally grope kids, grannies and veterans without a valid reason or a search warrant. This means that they can make people open their phones and laptops too without a warrant. Imagine if the country had said instead, HELL NO we will not fly unless this is stopped. But then they had nothing to hide right so what the hell with their 4th amendment right.
I got lots of flack for writing about these things through the years and I still am when I point out that secret laws written by secret courts have no place in a country that has the constitution we do. The founders fled an oppressive government and one of the best things they did was write the constitution as well as the Bill of Rights. And it took less than a few centuries to nullify almost every aspect of them. The NDAA has already been put into affect, but since not many media has covered it people don't know about it. But Trump.
good afternoon snoopy, my original reply got posted
under Mollies comment.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
News Flash - Biden requested unmasking!
Thanks for today's OT, EL.
More later.
Everyone take care. Be well.
Mollie
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Good afternoon Mollie. Your title line --
can be read in many ways, though it seems obvious that he really wouldn't wish to be unmasked and put the Real Joe Biden (tm) on display for all to see and gawk at.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good afternoon snoopy. It used to be all but codified, if
not actually codified that secret law was unenforceable, but those days have pretty much vanished, and began eroding pretty far back in time if you look real closely. Saint Obama and the Saint Obama effect tainted much. His DOJ abused the shit out of the official sekrets act and similar rules, regulations and procedures, as well as prosecuting journalists and leakers like nobody before or since. I don't want to even talk about FISA and the 2012 NDAA, or the whole concept of “unlawful enemy combatants,” the GWOT and all that insane and illegal shit.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Oh no!!
Bill Binney already found a way to track every cell phone call to every other cell phone in the whole world back when he worked for the NSA. The patriot act has already had chilling repercussions, but once again it's just Trump and the GOP who are the bad guys while letting democrats roll in this totally off the hook. Let's see it there is any talks of the NDAAs written through history and especially the 2012 one. Let us not talk about how the D president, Obama left this act in power for the next president to us. Even though people told him how dangerous it would be if it was left in place. Hey, I was one of them.
If This 'Doesn't Give You Chills I Don't Know What Will': McConnell Patriot Act Expansion Would Hand AG Barr Unprecedented Spy Powers
This was already being done. And why no mention of the house reauthorizing it earlier this year? Why no mention that Facebook has been doing this for some time?
The F in FISA is meant to be for Foreign.... not Americans and yet we just saw how it was used to get warrants on people in Trump's campaign because they used it first on Kisylak in Russia. Howoritz already stated that the FBI lied to get them and the FISA court was pissed.
Hey, Ron, did anyone filibuster the patriot act back in 2005? It got passed did it not? Yes it did. DId anyone in the house object to Nancy reauthorizing it earlier this year? Not to my knowledge. I keep asking congress critters why they go on Twitter to bitch about the things congress is doing knowing full well that we have no power to stop them. No one has answered me, but by the number of likes I get many people are wondering that too.
Great. Now get other democrats to sign on to the bill and put your feet down and place holds and filibuster the bill until you get it passed. If you don't do that then quit bitching to us that it did get passed.
- This atrocious attack by Barr on the privacy of Americans must be exposed more broadly and stopped.
- Keep up the fight against Moscow Mitch Senator. He needs to go.
- WTH?! This is like Russia!
No kidding.
- Weird how right wingers don’t seem to have a problem with this infringement of their liberty.
And remember that you must vote blue no matter what they do
Good info EL
I’m not sure why more people aren’t concerned about the data surveillance we live with everyday. I have a neighbor who has Amazon’s Alexa hooked up to everything. I’m sure she thinks I’m a paranoid whack job every time she suggests I get one and I tell her I’d not like Jeff Bezos to know more about me than he already does.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier