Wow! I can actually agree with Patches on the Patriot Act. It's kind of a shame you can't put it into your own words though. You appear, on the surface at least, to be somewhat articulate. You really should work on that.
F_B has it nailed quite well. I would add that the Patriot act was born of partisan politics. There was a lot of blame and finger pointing going on with a good deal of "we have to do something" thrown on top. It was wisely made temporary. That wisdom has been dust binned.
The problem with three decades of 24 hour news channels, social media and Google is that we have the attention span of a nanosecond.
We can't seem to hold onto an issue for more than 5 minutes. The media working diligently to bury anything which paints the emperor in a bad light doesn't help.
On top of that, this administration has learned the secret: throw so much at the public that they simply lose track of the issues.
There is simply so much going on that nothing gets on the radar. The threshold for concern is now reset so high that there is virtually nothing that could get Obama impeached at this point.
I do kinda blame the people that passed the patriot act, even at the time they passed it. Not because I disagreed with them at the time, I agreed with them.
I just wish, as leaders, they had been a little wiser than I, and taught me a better way instead of just giving me what I thought I wanted.
Like Ronald Reagan would have, had he been there then.
We weren't safe, we aren't safe, and we will never be safe. So don't sell freedom and honor to try and chase the safety that you will never get.
Be vigilante, be proactive, be supportive of each other, and be dangerous to those that would threaten you.
For me, the biggest betrayal of the Patriot Act was that it was sold as a "do everything" strategy, but in fact "everything" wasn't done.
Our borders are no more secure than they were before. Our ports aren't more secure. Our foreign policy under Obama hasn't made us more secure. The Dream Act hasn't made us more secure.
But somehow spying on US citizens has made us more secure?
Given the expanded role of the NSA and the interception of every call, email and click, it would seem that we have been given tyranny under the guise of safety.
China has always considered itself the center of the planet. They had a thriving civilization when most of our ancestors wore skins.
True, the Imperium withdrew from exploration and was consumed by the disease of the Mandiranate, which is reflected in the Maoist hyper-bureaucracy. And yes, the peasants were and are considered expendable. Both a resource and a nuisance to be ruled, slaughtered and oppressed to keep the power structure stable.
They view the rest of the planet as barbarians, and it's natural that they feel the need to exploit the natural resources of others to sustain their new riches. ( created almost entirely by Western wealth and $ Trillions in investment by the U.S. )
From a cold hearted view, it makes sense to un couple their economy from the insane fraud of this Administration's "quantitative easing" aka printing money with no basis and propping up the stock market for the bribes.
Another thing to consider. Since the Chinese government considers it's own people expendable, you or any foreign individual certainly don't count as anything worth anything except a market.
These are the folk who hold the record for murdering their own people. Always have.
The Conspiracy theory stuff is fun, sometimes, and often contains a germ of fact, but there are rich people who spend their money to screw you quite openly... Like Soros and Media Matters, and Warren Buffet and the Keystone Pipeline, vs, the 2 $billion he makes each year on running the oil through your town on His Trains.
Mitch McConnell won Re-Election in 2014 said he would work on changing policy to better compete with China. All you hear from "GOP" is Cheaper Labor, Tax Cuts for the Elite (The Richest People in America) and do away with All Social Services.
My belief the GOP policy is Not to stop Tyranny in China but to Enslave the Citizenship of the United States of America.
Conspiracy Theorist- The Mainstream Media is Controlled by the Elitist and Cheerlead how great the Economy is doing because the Rich get Richer and the Poor get Poorer. They won't tell you what is going on behind your back.
Conspiracy Theorist have been around since beginning of civilization there are thousands of them. I do not believe all any one Conspiracy Theorist says. If you research all you can find they do tell on each other and tell what The Mainstream Media Will Not.
Net Neutrality- I believe is to censorship information gain control of all media and stop Conspiracy Theorist from opening your Eyes
My biggest complaint with the DOE is the fact they emphasize a one size fits all approach when it comes to education and that is just not reality. Take Common Core. I was being taught those principals back in the 70's, but most of my classmates could not grasp those concepts. Then again I was reading college level math books for fun while in 5th grade (and it actually affected my grades negatively due to the way I was applying the concepts I learned).
Being married to a teacher for 25 years and involved in the whole education thing, I am totally amazed when someone claims it is a liberal thing. Same shit that ISIS claims only because knowledge is power and they don't want anyone having power but themselves. There are just as many conservatives teaching your kids as there are liberals (and everything in between).
Also remember that the curriculum is, at it's core, dictated by the parents and general population, not some liberal think tank in Washington (for proof check out what Texas was trying to do with the text books). States and school districts also seek out suggestions from the business community so the kids are prepared to enter the work force.
Interesting that the video mentions, specifically, CCA.
Engineering News-Record has even added 2 categories to it's annual listing of the Top Contractors . . . .2 specifically for Chinese firms operating in America.
I had a CCA Executive as a student last semester. Interesting . . . on multi-billion dollar projects . . . to see a firm getting a DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise" set aside for being owned by a minority.
Interesting times.
Brought to you by the same folks who have, this week, decided to give 3 years of EIC refunds to "undocumented workers" who have only been in the USA for a month.
How cool is that . . . you make it to the USA . . never file a tax return and all you have to do is submit for an Earned Income Credit and you get it for the 3 prior years.
That ought to slow the flow of illegals.
quote:
President Barack Obama has promoted his recent executive action on immigration by arguing that he’s only deferring action – holding off on enforcement of the current immigration laws until an immigration reform he approves of passes Congress. But that's not really true; in fact there’s a way for illegal immigrants immediately to receive “amnesty bonuses,” as Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska terms it.
Here’s how. A recent Homeland Security Committee hearing on immigration revealed an alarming consequence of President Obama’s executive amnesty—that illegal immigrants with deferred status may be able to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Moreover, this person, who is here in the U.S. unlawfully, could be able to file an amended tax return for up to the last three tax years, possibly receiving upwards of $24,000 in tax credits.
The discovery was made by Eileen J. O’Connor, a tax lawyer and the former head of the tax division of the United States Department of Justice, who used her congressional testimony in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to explain it. “The law makes a social security number a requirement of eligibility to receive the earned income credit,” O’Connor explained.
“But in 1999, the Chief Counsel’s office of IRS ruled (in a non-binding, non-precedential way, but no one but the IRS pays attention to those disclaimers) that when a person receives a social security number, he can file amended returns to claim the credit for the three preceding years during which he did not. The logic is puzzling: the credit is not available if you don’t have a social security number, but you can receive it retroactively for years during which you did not qualify for it because you didn’t have a social security number.”
As for the fall of our country, there is a very disturbing part of it for me. We had a lot of very brave people who sacrificed all to free us from tyranny. This was a wonderful gift given to hundreds of millions of people. Sadly, we have gotten to where a majority of people who have received this gift of freedom are actively voting to live under totalitarian rule which is known to spawn tyranny 100% of the time it's tried in any organization bigger than just a handful of people. I know that many do this out of ignorance. I also know that many do this knowingly. Under the Bush administration, arguments were often made that we shouldn't try to free Arab populations from their totalitarian rule because they don't want to be free. I'm not sure I have any better idea of what the Arab population is thinking any more that those who claimed the Arabs don't want freedom. What I have become convinced of is that these arguments come from projection of your own feelings onto others. It's an interesting window into their own minds, that they would actually prefer to be ruled over, rather having freedom and the responsibility for one's own self that comes along with that freedom. I'm not sure I will ever really understand the fear of freedom that some have, but I have come to accept that it is real with a growing segment of our population. I just wonder how many would still vote for this if they thought that they would be living under the eventual goal that they are "progressing" toward. I guess that unlike those who gave their lives for the freedom of future generations, there are those who are willing to fight for the promise of the short term gain for them personally as we fall toward totalitarian tyranny that their offspring will be left with. It's much like our national debt, where we are "borrowing" money that we have no intention of paying back and will leave that debt on our children. Sorry, but that's just stealing.
Sifo, I agree with you 100%. The thought of people who sacrificed to free us from tyranny makes me very sad. As for war Big Banks like the Rothschild IMF, BOE, and the Federal Reserve fund both sides of the war to make Money.
I presume you have already read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G Edward Griffin. The book is a history of the Federal Reserve and fiat money. It will raise your already raised paranoia level.
Part of the "put everyone In plantation cities with no cars and passports to leave" greenie program.... private ownership of property is so old fashioned.
"How much Profit did Halliburton make with the No- Bid Contracts in the Iraq War?"
None. Or, null, as the case may be.
"When did you stop raping children?" is the sort of question you just asked.
There were no no-bid contracts awarded. They fairly won a legal and open bid. The DoD simply extended that contract for work in Iraq, since they were already doing identical work in Kuwait, and had all the equipment in theater already. It was the cheapest option.
This was all explained at the very beginning of the fervor, but it was too juicy of a lie to let it die, so the press ran with it. As did the dems. And, apparently, you.
>>>The DoD simply extended that contract for work in Iraq, since they were already doing identical work
A fairly common practice . . . . .
My "day job" is the legal form and letting of large construction contracts. I am in the process, beyond my control, of witnessing what is going (in my opinion) to be a very expensive mistake.
The U.S. agency that made that decision is to be commended.