Surviving Capitalism (Not) : ‘Modest changes to US Patriot Act left major problems unresolved’

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, June 1, 2015

‘Modest changes to US Patriot Act left major problems unresolved’

Click here to access an interview with Kevin Zeese from RT.

Kevin Zeese: [Yesterday] the Senate basically decided to go forward with the USA Freedom Act, which will make some modest changes to the Patriot Act. The main change will be that the metadata will no longer be stored by the federal government or the NSA, rather it will be stored by the telephone companies, and then if the NSA wants to get access, they have to apply, and get a warrant from a judge to do so.

I've spent considerable time this morning trying to find out information on the new "USA Freedom Act" which the Empire's corporate-controlled Congress is substituting for the illegal Patriot Act which they let expire midnight last night. I've found that Zeese provides what I believe to be the best succinct summary of this new Orwellian-named law.

This morning I mostly found left-wing capitalists, also known as "liberals", extolling the bravery of Sen. Rand Paul who I suspect is playing to the media by opposing key sections of the Patriot Act which have already been determined to be unconstitutional by a Federal District Court judge.

So, how does a fascist regime pretending to be a nation of laws and democracy do in such a situation? They merely plan to pass another law, the "USA Freedom Act", which circumvents the Constitution by outsourcing the collection of phone records to telecommunication corporations and throw in a provision for easily obtained court orders. All the left-wing capitalists and phony socialists like Bernie Sanders who vote for it are happy. So now when we think of government spying on its citizens, we will associate this with "freedom".