Category: national security state

“Omnipresent surveillance:” Dystopian society in our global era, Part 2

Posted on by kathiemm
Sign at the March for Science 2017 in Washington, DC. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Author: scattered1 from USA

by Anthony J. Marsella, PhD

II.     National security abuses and excesses

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”
— Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) , The Spirit of Laws, 1748

A. Technologies for omnipresent surveillance

  • Bill-Board photography and monitoring of automobile drivers
  • Airport body scans [“Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you. And without you knowing it.” (Gizmodo, July 10, 2012).
  • Brain wave (EEG) readers
  • Bugs (intrusive car, phone)
  • Bugs (intrusive computer)
  • Collaboration between massive corporations (e.g., Amazon, Face Book, Google) and government agencies (algorithms for sharing information)
  • Drones (Used to photograph, monitor house odors, disable equipment)
  • Facial recognition
  • Finger prints, hand prints, footprints
  • Genetic DNA sampling
  • House-Air Sampling (Drones)
  • Monitoring, copying, and retaining all phone, email, texting communications:
    • Source number,
    • Target number,
    • Time of communication,
    • Date of communication,
    • Precise location of source and target numbers,
    • Record conversation,
    • Archive data in Fusion Centers 
  • Neuroimaging technologies (e.g., CAT, PET, EMR, SPECT, X-Ray) [Medical imaging information gathered via CAT scans, nuclear magnetic resonance, SPECT, and other methods reveal the distinct and unique pattern of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from your various organs.  Everyone has a distinct pattern, and knowing that pattern makes one vulnerable to specific controls using low radio wave frequencies and other invasive technology methods.  This is especially a source for abuse using brain information.]
  • Radio-Frequency Identification Inserts (RFID)
  • Satellite monitoring
  • Vision data [Vision identification is more accurate than fingerprints. Thus, when you stare into optometric equipment to determine both your visual   equation and your eyes disease, a permanent record is photographed   and maintained.  Whether access to this record can be gleaned or shared willingly remains a question.]
  • Cameras at traffic intersections [The ubiquitous camera at many traffic intersections has already recorded your face and upper body for security reasons. If you wear sunglasses, efforts will be made to affirm your visual identification.]
  • Wire taps (proximal and distal)

B. Sources of information

  • Brain wave (EEG) readers
  • Catholic confessional (bugging & taping)
  • Medical information (EKG, blood tests)
  • Facebook data
  • Fake photos and videos
  • False accusations, requiring court and legal responses
  • Finger print data base
  • Foreign nation surveillance (e.g., USA, UK, China, Russia, Israel)
  • Garbage analysis
  • Google, Amazon, Facebook monitoring
  • License plates readers on streets and highways
  • Neighbor & friends as informants (Project InfraGard)
  • Photographs
  • Political ideology organization surveillance (e.g., AIPAC, Anti-Defamation League, Southern Poverty Legal Fund, Anti-Boycott Laws https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/23/us-states-use-anti-boycott-laws-punish-responsible-businesses, White and/or Black, Latino, and Islamic extremists and radical groups)
  • Private Investigators (PI can be ruthless and relentless in acquiring data, bugging cars and phones, planting rumors, calling police, eluding laws.)
  • Project ImfraGardarted by FBI, 1997, Cleveland, Ohio. Involves recruitment of stores, malls, professions, etc. to report on targets.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfraGard Expands FBI data-gathering system. Numerous sources of information regarding individuals or groups are now available to local, national and foreign security groups via (1) shopping expenditures, (2) restaurant preferences and expenses, (3) hair stylists/barbers conversations, (4) grocery purchases, (5) gasoline purchases, (6) automobile information, (7) travel information, (8) hotel records, (9) publishers, and (10) medical/mental health services.  Yes, what you say to your physician and/or therapist is grist for the mill that has been created.]
  • Pupillometry (eye parameters)
  • Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID)
  • Records acquisition: HIPAA, medical, schools
  • Records: family history, pedigree, family tree mapping
  • Smart and interactive TVs
  • Smart medicines (Track Use)
  • Smart meters (Utility Usage)
  • Store security officials [While you shop, photos are taken, your preferred products identified, your shopping behavior; recall FBI Project InfraGard.]
  • Stingray computer email monitor.. [btains your email from a close distance. Illegal but used by authorities, foreign nations, and suspicious neighbors]
  • Subliminal perception on TV and EMR messages (Can also be used for behavior control)
  • Television program monitoring
  • Use of consultants, collaborators, cooperatives, cronies, informants, plants, shils, and other forms of collusion to gather info, and to assess or create risk for investigation and persecution/prosecution [Think East German STASI.]
  • Use of law (e.g., Section 215 of Patriot Act authorizes FBI to interview friends, family, professionals, and to swear all parties to silence)
  • Video records
  • Window vibration decoding of conversations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_microphone

C. Behavior control and harassment methods

  • Make annoyance phone calls
  • Engage in baiting [monitoring open purses, money on floor, wheel-chair elderly, flirtations to facilitate arrest]
  • Exercise behavior control (Think Manchurian Candidate)
  • Control brain waves
  • Develop and foster hostility for certain groups (e.g., Target Muslims, African-American protest groups, drug cartels)
  • Develop “pseudo” Face Book, Twitter, and other social network services to entrap individuals or groups
  • Distribute drugs (e.g, LSD) causing depression, mania, confusion, dulling, feeling stoned, amnesia
  • Engage in defamation of character
  • Entrap [e.g., use promises of reduced prosecution to get desired information]
  • Abuse the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA Court) system. [e.g., Designate critics of government or political candidates as individuals warranting FISA Court listing as terrorist, criminal, or spy.
  • Harassment—e.g.,  planting false evidence to facilitate arrest
  • Harassment, abuse, and/or prosecution of whistleblowers
  • Hypnosis
  • Identification implants
  • Infiltration of listservs, media services, groups
  • Informants (e.g., use of prior offense people to entrap)
  • Microwave stun gun (proximate & distance)
  • Rumor planting and monitoring with friends, neighbors
  • Use of paid private investigators to stalk and harass individuals
  • Use of citizens as research subjects (injections, drugs, sprays) without consent (hundreds of examples by government agencies)
  • Use of toxins (e.g., spraying toxic substances)
  • Use of spoiled or toxic foods when shopping. Exchanging similar foods in shopping carts with toxic foods.
  • Misuse of voice recognition systems  (e.g., monitoring, samples and recreating offensive messages)

Data from mass-surveillance technology methods and techniques are distributed to DHS/NSA State Fusion Centers, and a Computer System named AQUAINT, standing for “Advanced Question Answering for Intelligence.”

Forewarned is Forearmed: Get Ready for Political Mind Games in 2019. Part 1

Posted on by kathiemm
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Culture Jam activism sticker mentored by Avram Finkelstein, Center for Artistic Activism. Author: BettyTkao.

by Roy Eidelson

Note from Kathie MM: Our series on hope and other superpowers, inspired by John Pavlovitz, brings you insights for the new year from Roy Eidelson, a psychologist who illustrates well the kind of superpowers Pavlovitz urges us all to unleash on behalf of peace and social justice.

For many, the calendar’s turning is a traditional time for reflecting and for resolving to act with greater decency and compassion in the new year ahead. But if history is any guide, we shouldn’t expect anything of the sort from one highly influential group: those members of the so-called 1% who’ve long cared far more about their extraordinary wealth and power than about the common good.

These representatives of America’s plutocracy—some high-profile politicians and billionaire businessmen immediately come to mind—won’t change their stripes when January arrives. They’ll persist in pursuing an agenda that advances their own interests while ignoring the needs and desires of the rest of us. And in doing so, they’ll continue to rely on what I call “political mind games” to confuse, to deceive, and to divide—for as long as they can get away with it.

In my research as a psychologist, I’ve found that manipulative appeals from the 1% are often designed to target issues of vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness. That’s because these are the core concerns that govern the way we make sense of the world around us. Indeed, each is associated with a basic question we ask in our daily lives: Are we safe? Are we treated fairly? Who should we trust? Are we good enough? Can we control what happens to us? By offering disingenuous answers to these questions, self-serving one-percenters aim to shape our understanding of what’s happening, what’s right, and what’s possible to their own advantage.

As a guide, then, in this and the next engaging peace post, I will describe twenty mind games to watch out for and resist  in the year(s) ahead.

Vulnerability

“It’s a Dangerous World.”  From unwarranted military aggression to draconian austerity measures, one-percenters will falsely argue that their actions are driven by a desire to keep us safe. They know our support for any policy is strongly influenced by whether we think it will protect us from harm. They also realize that we’re quick to imagine the worst. This can make us easy prey for warnings that urge us to fall in line and follow all instructions, whatever they may be.

“Change Is Dangerous.”  Whether they’re maligning Medicare-for-All or blocking cuts to our bloated defense budget, members of the 1% will warn of dire consequences whenever other initiatives clash with their ambitions. Regardless of the evidence, they’ll insist that such reform efforts will place everyone in grave jeopardy. Their fear-mongering is designed to preserve a status quo that benefits the few instead of the many.

“It’s a False Alarm.”  From rejecting climate science to placing corporate profits over public safety, today’s plutocrats will defend misguided and destructive policies by insisting that our worries about adverse effects are overblown. Too often, we mistakenly take comfort in unfounded assurances offered from on high. When that happens, we fail to mobilize to protect the common good from those whose foremost concern is simply preserving their own extraordinary wealth and power.

“We’ll Make You Sorry.”  Whether they’re bullying protesters or pressuring non-establishment candidates to step aside, one-percenters will turn to coercive threats and outright retaliation. They command a range of resources that can be put to use in punishing those who step out of line. These risks of painful and potentially life-changing reprisals alter the stakes for both individual acts of civil disobedience and sustained collective action.

Injustice

“We’re Fighting Injustice.”  From voter suppression to corporate school reform, representatives of the 1% will argue that their self-serving efforts are necessary to correct the unjust actions of others. But they’re little different from wolves in sheep’s clothing. Their appeals aim to misappropriate and misdirect the outrage we naturally feel upon recognizing the injustices in our midst.

“No Injustice Here.”  Whether they’re criminalizing poverty or locking up asylum-seekers at the border, today’s plutocrats will deny they’ve done anything wrong. Instead, they’ll portray these outcomes as appropriate consequences for the victims’ own poor decisions, thereby discouraging collective action by defusing the passion linked to the righting of wrongs.

“Change Is Unjust.”  From defending mass incarceration to opposing minimum wage hikes, one-percenters will warn that changes to the status quo will lead to grave injustices. They’ll try to sideline reformers by falsely arguing that efforts to help the disadvantaged will have adverse and unjust ramifications far worse than current conditions. Planting these seeds of doubt can be enough to obstruct the formation of coalitions committed to challenging their agenda.

“We’re the Victims.”  Whether it’s complaints that they’re over-taxed or that their purported generosity goes unappreciated, the 1% will paint themselves as suffering from mistreatment and unfair criticism. With such portrayals, they’ll hope to encourage our uncertainty over issues of right and wrong and victim and perpetrator. The collective pursuit of greater justice and equality is too often stymied by such manipulative misrepresentations.

Resisting the 1%’s Mind Games

Any effective strategy for turning the tide on the 1% in 2019 depends upon countering and neutralizing these mind games. To be clear, concerns about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness deserve to be important guides in policy debates and in efforts to advance the general welfare. But today’s plutocrats cunningly exploit these concerns solely for their own benefit, disregarding the harmful consequences that befall everyone else.

What, then, can we do? First, we should understand that the 1%’s mind games are much like a rampant virus that can infect unsuspecting people with false and democracy-endangering beliefs. Second, we should take the steps necessary to psychologically inoculate ourselves. That’s best accomplished by learning to recognize these flawed, manipulative appeals wherever they appear—in the media or in our neighborhoods—and by preparing forceful counter-arguments to them. And third, having become skilled “first responders,” we should organize others in our communities to do the same. The mission starts now.

Roy Eidelson, PhD, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, a member of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, and the author of the new book POLITICAL MIND GAMES: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What’s Happening, What’s Right, and What’s Possible. His website is www.royeidelson.com and he’s on Twitter at @royeidelson. 

This article was originally published by Counterpunch at https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/20/get-ready-for-these-political-mind-games-in-2019/

Alicia Garza: Follow her to justice

Posted on by kathiemm

1.BlackLivesMatter/Happy New Years action-I CAN’T BREATHE-SING IN @ Grand Central Station. January 1, 2015. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Author: The All-Nite Images from NY, NY, USA.

by Kathie MM

In celebration of Black History Month, this post honors Alicia Garza (included in EP’s second list of 100 peace and justice advocates), a model of the characteristics that define peace activists.

Nonviolence: Alicia’s main goal is the elimination of violence, particularly the forms of structural violence that are the source of most other forms of violence.  She notes, for example, “The fact that we have half-a-million black immigrants living in this country, living in the shadows, who are undocumented, is a product of state violence. The fact that black queer and trans folk… are being targeted for various forms of harassment, violence, and in some cases, elimination, is state violence.”

Inspiration:  Following the acquittal of George Zimmerman on murder charges for killing Trayvon Martin, Alicia declared a truth that had never occurred to many colorless people: “Black Lives Matter.” The movement that grew out of that declaration has inspired activists around the world to confront a wide range of social problems.

Tolerating struggle: Alicia has devoted herself to the movement tirelessly. “If I’m clear about anything today…[it] is that we are really in for an uphill battle…This country in particular is having a very, very difficult time with addressing the root causes of the problems that we face and until we actually get to that point, unfortunately I do believe we’re going to have a lot more chaos and confusion.”

Empathy and compassion:  Alicia tells us: “[to several deadly police shootings] is one of complete dismay and disgust. My prayers go out to their families and loved ones, who are having to watch the death of their loved one over and over again on multiple news stations.” Her deeds prove her words.

Integrity:  “Her activism reflects organizational strategies and visions that connect emerging social movements without diminishing the specificity of the structural violence facing Black lives.”

Courage: It takes courage to combat racism in a racist society—especially perhaps for a woman of color—and courage to declare oneself gay, and to be openly committed to a trans partner.  Alicia has done all these things.

Purpose-driven life: “That really is our work – to make sure that the movement is everywhere … in hospitals and healthcare, in schools, in our workplaces, in our churches,” she says. “That’s what’s going to really accelerate the pace of the change that we seek.”