RIP: Freedom of Speech 2

Movies used to be fun to watch because they were a break from reality.  It now seems as if some movies are turning out to be a glimpse into the future.

For those of you who have never seen it, Minority Report was a movie about the head detective for a “pre-crime” unit which averted crime before it happened.  While the movie used three seers with precognitive abilities, the United States is currently using seemingly innocuous avenues such as Facebook and Twitter.  Let’s dive in a little bit and see how freaked out we get.

“For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon. This should be a wake-up call to Americans that the police state is here. [emphasis added]”  

This quote came from John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.  The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization which provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated.  Most of you are probably unaware that a 26-year-old former Marine was arrested and tossed into a psychiatric hospital for posts he made to Facebook.  Certainly, quite a few of Brandon’s posts were critical of the government and called for legal action against many officials, but this type of speech was the primary intent of the First Amendment.

For the life of me I cannot recall who said this, but the First Amendment was not created to protect popular opinion, it was created to protect unpopular opinion.  For years, we have been warning people of the potential to be incarcerated for the sole crime of disagreeing with the government.  Not only is the writing on the walls, but the government is all but daring people to stand up to it.  Consider the following:

• NSA is building (probably) the largest spy center in the world which will keep tabs on every communication in the United States and probably a majority of the remainder of the globe.
• Warrantless wiretaps (and those obtained through “secret” warrants) are still occurring despite their obvious illegality, and there is nothing you can do about it.
• The local police jurisdictions are becoming more and more and more militarized.  The latest fad is to use “spy drone” technology against American citizens.
• Most people have become desensitized to obtrusive and useless searches into their privacy, all in the name of “safety”.
• Facial recognition has come secretly to the shores of America.  Of course, no mainstream media outlet will be telling you about TrapWire.

From The Guardian:

A software engineer in my Facebook community wrote recently about his outrage that when he visited Disneyland, and went on a ride, the theme park offered him the photo of himself and his girlfriend to buy – with his credit card information already linked to it. He noted that he had never entered his name or information into anything at the theme park, or indicated that he wanted a photo, or alerted the humans at the ride to who he and his girlfriend were – so, he said, based on his professional experience, the system had to be using facial recognition technology. He had never signed an agreement allowing them to do so, and he declared that this use was illegal. He also claimed that Disney had recently shared data from facial-recognition technology with the United States military.

Yes, I know: it sounds like a paranoid rant.

Except that it turned out to be true. News21, supported by the Carnegie and Knight foundations, reports that Disney sites are indeed controlled by face-recognition technology, that the military is interested in the technology, and that the face-recognition contractor, Identix, has contracts with the US government – for technology that identifies individuals in a crowd.

So what does it all mean?

People are inherently lazy.  If they can take their cues from someone else and not have to invest any time in determining the facts for themselves, they will choose that path every day of the week.  The well-being of not only the United States, but the vast majority of the globe is on the precipice of disaster.  All I can say is be prepared.

Banks are failing.  Debt levels are about to implode.  Anger is rising.  Economic stability is being undermined.  Children are being trained to be robots.  Freedom is an endangered species.

Many people have suggested getting out while the getting is good, most have recommended keeping a low profile, and just about everyone warns against holding too many assets in fiat currencies.  I considered the merits and have determined that Liberty is only achieved through perseverance and strife.  I will stay, and I will fight.

“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard.” – Voltaire.