Dirty Bomb Blows Up Liberty

Contact Your Elected Officials

It’s as if a terrorist set off a dirty bomb that is slowly spreading tyranny instead of radiation.

By Al Lewis – Wall Street Journal ~ Here’s how terrorism really works: Slaughter people on national TV, and watch a nation that prides itself on freedom as it shackles itself.

The feds at airports start patting privates and taking pictures with cameras that can see through clothes. Security cameras go up everywhere. The spooks in Washington set up massive Internet surveillance operations and obtain secret court orders to obtain everyone’s phone records. Once it starts, it can’t be stopped.

In 2007, candidate Barack Obama railed against the “false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we provide. I will provide our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining the Constitution and our freedom.”

Last week, the Guardian newspaper reported that the National Security Agency collected phone records on millions of Verizon customers, and the Obama administration defended the move. The Guardian and Washington Post also reported that the NSA has a top-secret operation, dubbed Prism, which taps directly into the servers of nine leading Internet companies. Does President Obama know something that Senator Obama did not? Or did the corrosion of our civil liberties take on a life of its own, independent of any elected leader?

It’s as if a terrorist set off a dirty bomb that is slowly spreading tyranny instead of radiation.

Access to phone data allows government officials to track individuals. It reveals who is calling whom, from where and with what frequency. Thanks to data-crunching technology, it can discover networking patterns in secondsโ€”ferreting out suspected terrorist cells, criminal organizations or maybe just some people the government doesn’t like.

This is an administration with a taxing authority that has harassed politically opposed groups. It is an administration that wiretaps Associated Press and Fox News. Even the New York Times editorial board says President Obama “has lost all credibility.”

Maybe you still trust the current president, but will you trust the next one? Maybe you believe phone data will catch a terrorist today, but do you know how it will be used tomorrow?

“No one set of data ever stays by itself,” Ian Glazer, a security and privacy expert for global technology adviser Gartner, said in a telephone interview. “This Verizon data will be combined with other data. And when you start combingโ€ฆit becomes more tantalizing, and potentially more privacy invasive.”

Some people aren’t alarmed, noting they’ve got nothing to hide. But they’re wrong to think it’s normal for the government to monitor law-abiding citizens. “There’s a reason why our toilets are not in our living rooms,” Mr. Glazer said. “You’re not doing anything wrong when you go to the bathroom, but it’s still something you want to keep private.”

Other people simply feel helpless in the face of authoritarian privacy invasions, whether it’s from big government or big corporations.

“People are in shock almost about the different ways information about them is being used,” Mr. Glazer said. “Then natural reaction is just to shut down. It’s too much to understand, and it can’t be stopped.”

Maybe the outrage over last week’s revelations will be enough to start the battle. The war on terror has demolished checks and balances in government. Technology has outpaced Americans’ ability to protect civil rights. It is time for patriots to reconsider the Patriot Act before the terrorists win.

โ€”Al Lewis is a columnist for Dow Jones Newswires in Denver. He blogs at https://tellittoal.com/resume-1; his email address isย al.lewis@dowjones.com

The Thinking Conservative
The Thinking Conservativehttps://www.thethinkingconservative.com/
The goal of THE THINKING CONSERVATIVE is to help us educate ourselves on conservative topics of importance to our freedom and our pursuit of happiness. We do this by sharing conservative opinions on all kinds of subjects, from all types of people, and all kinds of media, in a way that will challenge our perceptions and help us to make educated choices.

AI is Now an Existential Threat

We now see evidence that artificial intelligence is an existential threat to our future. It is coming to take American jobs!

With or without

The mullahs of Iran have been at war with the West, particularly the US, for half a century and Iran is also the worldโ€™s foremost champion of terrorism.

Artificial Intelligence Equals Awful Iniquities

WSJ article โ€œAI is Learning to Escape Human Controlโ€ said in 79 of 100 trials, the o3 AI code systems edited their own code to prevent human shutdown!

VIDEO: Deranged Feminist vs. Mating Ducks in Epic Public Meltdown

A middle-aged white lady lib harasses mating ducks to โ€œstop it!โ€ because the rough sex they enjoy appears non-consensual on the part of the female.

RFK Jr. Slashes ALL U.S. Funding For Bill Gatesโ€™ Global โ€˜Vaccine Allianceโ€™

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. recently pulled all U.S. government funding from Bill Gatesโ€™ Global โ€˜Vaccine Allianceโ€™ GAVI.

Nevada Seen as Case Study in Rapid Urban Sprawl Amid a Water Crisis

Nevadaโ€™s rapidly growing population has reached a critical intersection with the regionโ€™s worsening water crisis, according to experts.

US Streamlines Rule for Fining Illegal Immigrants, Will Issue Nearly $1,000 Daily Fines for Noncompliance

DHS and DOJ announced a new joint federal rule that streamlines the process of issuing fines for illegal immigrants, making it easier and more efficient.

Man Indicted on 12 Hate Crime Charges in Attack on Boulder Demonstration for Israeli Hostages

Boulder, CO man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at demonstrators supporting Israeli hostages indicted by grand jury on 12 hate crime counts.

Newsom Signs California Budget Aimed at Addressing $12 Billion Deficit

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California budget projected to close a $12 billion deficit through spending reductions on some of the stateโ€™s ongoing programs.

Canada-US Trade Talks Will End Until โ€˜Certain Taxesโ€™ Are Dropped, Trump Stresses

Trade discussions between Canada and the United States will end โ€œuntil such time as they drop certain taxes,โ€ U.S. President Trump said in an interview.

Trump Says US to Send Tariff Letters to Trade Partners Before July 9 Deadline

President Donald Trump said Sunday he will soon send letters to trading partners detailing the tariffs to be imposed on their exports to the United States.

Trump Says He Found a Buyer for TikTok

President Trump said he found a buyer for the Chinese-owned short video application TikTok, and that he will reveal the group in roughly two weeks.

Termination of โ€˜Wasteful Contractsโ€™ Saves US Government $470 Million Last Week: DOGE

Over the past seven days, various government agencies have terminated 312 โ€œwasteful contractsโ€ with a ceiling value of $2.8 billion, the DOGE said.
spot_img

Related Articles