Why the name Ranch Chimp? it was in humour because, science says that humans have similar DNA to a chimpanzee,so I felt some way related biologically to a chimpanzee. 2nd, everytime I was out of Texas on a vacation or for whatever reason I’m always asked things like, do I live on a ranch?,or have cattle? so I commonly call Dallas the Ranch. "Politically Depressed" was also humour inspired by the 1993- 2002 Bill Maher TV/ tele show "Politically Incorrect".
This entry into the music/ arts honour roll society of this journal/ blog, is another that is way past due, I been intending on getting in here for a few years ... the Melvins (wikipedia) out of Montesano,WA. This new lineup includes Jeff Pinkus from the Butthole Surfers out of San Antonio, playing an aluminum Flying V Bass in this set below, along with Steve McDonald on bass, Steve was also co- founder of Redd Kross down in LA. Steve and Jeff are excellent, so the duet bass work from 2 of their caliber in this six song set below is a work of art in itself! You also have Dale Crover, a well known outstanding drummer, who been with Buzz since the early dayz, they put out a ton of music over the years ... and the distinct vocal work of Buzz Osborne, and deep unique guitar style he has, and as far as genius and creativity in the music and themes, he's just as unique too ... much credit to Buzz Osborne. The crew took off back in 1983, Buzz remained and held this project together, as membership changed here and there over the years ... and to me, the Melvins are a main ingredient in creating what became known as the Seattle sound of grunge and sludge style metal, very influential in that. Last year the band was celebrating their new album called "Pinkus Abortion Technician" (bandcamp), which Jeff co- wrote, and was inspired by the Butthole Surfers 1987 album called "Locust Abortion Technician", and George Stroumboulopoulos asked them to play at his home in Toronto for a private more intimate gig, and the sound was excellent! As for the set list on this it's 1:56 Kicking Machine, 4:38 Stop Moving To Florida, 9:11 Don't Forget to Breathe, 16:13 Onions Make The Milk Taste Bad, 19:38 The Talking Horse, and 25:14 Evil New War God. I also included a video interview from last year with Buzz and Dale talking about roots, records, influences. Thanx to House Of Strombo/ George and the Melvins for this powerful and versatile 30 minute set, and all the Melvins contributed to music over the years ... Enjoy!
Scott has also been very active in leading on the Fort Worth Avenue redevelopment in North Oak Cliff, without over gentrifying the community ("gentlefication" over "gentrification"), as well as bringing new business to the Bishop Arts District in North Oak Cliff in the same manner, and led the move for the free street car service to and from. Scott has also been a leader for ideas and funding for the restoration of museums, land, and expanding uses of Fair Park, a National Historic Landmark, that also generates 10's of millions in annual revenue during the 3 week State Fair of Texas. He has also been working on expanding the arts, which generates good revenues, and incentivizes more small investment and business growth, from Bishop Arts District to Deep Ellum, Lower Greenville, Uptown, to Exposition Park, and has already a plan figured out on how to fund it with double the funds it has to work with now, which we know already from this investment, we make a 2 for 1 return on our investment. He's been working new ideas as well as far as mass transit, in particular to make bus lines more efficient within the city of Dallas, as well as rail/ trains into Dallas Lovefield Airport. I mean, since DFW International Airport has trains going into their terminal, why doesn't Lovefield in Central Dallas?, especially with the recent expansion of Lovefield. The closest rail line to Lovefield Airport terminal is at least a half mile away, either Burbank station or Lovefield/ Inwood station, then you have to get on a bus to the terminals, why doesn't it go directly to the terminal as at DFW Airport? More about Scott Griggs on his website at top of posting, and his plans. I selected a few videos below to hear him out. Good Luck Scott!
Scott Griggs on the Trinity Tollroad in 2015 ... Thanx to Scott Griggs
District 8 Neighborhood Leadership Coalition Forum ... Thanx to Scott Griggs
Forum: Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition ... Thanx to Scott Griggs
Warren's new bill would send CEOs to jail over data breaches ... Thanx to Fox Business
First up ... Congratulations to the NHL Dallas Stars victory over the Nashville Predators OT win last night here in Dallas in the Stanley Cup Playoffs first round series ... great game guyz! And now, down to business ... This posting will be Part 20 of the "Elizabeth Warren" series, and for humour, also be included in "The End Must Be Near" series of this journal/ blog. This posting is to take a peek at the "Corporate Executive Accountability Act" Senator Elizabeth Warren presented earlier this month, and an article she done in the Washington Post, which is a good read with some good links, I suggest The New Yorker piece here "Why Corrupt Bankers Avoid Jail", really a good read. Warren just does some great work for Americans, and considering her Senate job, while also pounding the campaign trail for her Presidential nomination run, and all the rest she is involved with, this woman is multi- tasking at its best! But I wanted to open above with the Fox Business video to show how Warren's bill is presented in mainstream media. I mean, FOX anchor Maria Bartiromo, along with Democratic U.S. Congressman Jeff Van Drew (NJ) thinx that this is a "radical idea" ... a perfect example of the point of insanity that we have reached in America. Although, Congressman Van Drew says there "can be some truth" to this ... "can", "some"? Van Drew calls himself a "compassionate capitalist", which has somewhat of a creative and cute political ring to it ... perhaps other politicians use that title too, eh? Below I wanted to start off with trial lawyers Mike and Farron to give their opinion after reading Warren's piece, I alwayz like to get Mike and Farron's views on related issues, because Mike and Farron both have dealt with many of these corporations and their legal crews in numerous cases they worked over the years. Another importante view HERE- PART 1 and HERE- PART 2 on this from Bill Black ... Bill is an attorney, academic, former bank regulator, author, his expertise is white- collar crime. Then the Washington Post piece by Warren below that, followed by another short video from Farron explaining in plain english the reality in this. At the bottom, I'll toss in some of my views in this.
Elizabeth Warren Introduces Bill To Jail Corrupt CEOs ... Thanx to The Ring of Fire
Just the opening video at the top of the posting with Maria and Jeff alone was amazing, making me laugh in disbelief at what they were saying. Maria saying herself, that jailing CEOs is a radical idea ... I mean like, God forbid that we would even entertain such a thought, eh? This is why I put this in "The End Must Be Near" series ... because you hear this nonsense all the time, that if/ when we enforce any kind of laws against these crimes, or try to hold any of these people at top accountable ... it's the end of capitalism, life, and the pursuit of happiness ... we will all end up eating in soup kitchens and living in the poor house/ homeless encampments, and be living under communism. We already have millions in the poorhouse, homeless, and eating the equivalent, while under corporate communism, and partly because of that reluctance to hold these people/ entities accountable ... which is pure stupidity not to. It is really a radical idea and promoting a radical culture, to where you just accept and allow the richest people to rob you blind or even kill you indirectly with no consequence, saying that's fine, let bygones be bygones, etc ... what's radical and insane is to submit to such abuse. And as far as the compassionately proud capitalist Congressman Van Drew, perhaps you will spread some of that love and compassion to some of the victims of these scams, robberies, and disasters (financially, health- wise, and environmentally) to your constituents in the district you represent who voted for you, it isn't like New Jersey's streets are paved with gold and opportunity either. And the talk that there "can be some truth", from Jeff? ... there "is" 100% truth to this any way you slice it, no "can" or "some" about it ... if you don't hold people accountable when they screw our consumers, workforce, business and environment, it only worsens the condition, and is very bad for capitalism. And this is not an all out attack on capitalism, free market, and corporations, Mr. Congressman ... what?, people wanting to protect themselves from some of these that are equivalent to tyrants, thieves, and mass murderers? I'm shocked of this coming from him (Jeff) of all people, a man who got a 100% approval rating from the NRA for protecting gun owners rights and to self defense ... is this not people protecting themselves, interests, and rights? Of course this is, this just is fair protections for consumers and Americans against robbing them. I'm actually surprised some of this hasn't been challenged with the RICO Act, is some of this not organized crime and racketeering? ... you even have banks laundering money for international drug cartels and terror groups.
Others against Warren's bill are saying this bill will make it so the most minimal negligence will lead to CEOs being prosecuted ... example, if a lower level bank teller happens to skim or scam a few hundred bucks, the CEO will be blamed for it and indicted/ prosecuted on such, which will lead to parents, teachers, firefighters, pilots, and anyone for anything to be charged for the actions or negligence of others. This kind of talk is taking it to such extreme, and nothing but the usual threats and scare tactics from these types that rant how radical it is to hold irresponsible people accountable. And sadly, even when some of these have to pay fines, as Mike and Farron point out above ... they pay a part of it, and of that part, they write off the largest portion on taxes, actually double dipping on the tax payers subsidizing them for their mistakes, crimes, or negligence ... I suggest y'all should take your own advice as far as responsibility by pulling yourselves up by the bootstraps, eh? ... instead of acting more like helpless people needing welfare and socialism as you do. I was shocked how little BP actually paid out of pocket on their fine for the Gulf oil spill, most of it was paid by tax payers, while the average consumer, taxpayer, homeowner, student, are getting nickel and dimed to death. In fact, there are so many laws already in place that equally cover everyone top to bottom, just a lack of prosecuting them at the top, with alwayz the same excuse, saying there is not enough evidence, even from top people in places like the Justice Department, and when you do get evidence required, they even require more, it's endless. Getting a President and administration change, and one that has the courage to stand up to this, like an Elizabeth Warren type, could change things in a heartbeat, and those that can't do their jobs, would be fired/ replaced by such a President ... which has gotten so bad as it is, with the revolving door between these corporate entities, banks, and Washington. In my view, this should also strongly apply to politicians who intentionally make legislation that encourages speculative investments that are proven to be too risky. What about those politicians that gave the green light to go hog wild that created the housing bubble crisis? ... did the actions and legislation of politicians both of the left and right not contribute to that crisis and others? Let's face it, Washington in large part from legislation to elections has been bought and paid for, and at historically record levels in America, to where the people suspect everything to be corrupt. Even the politicians and billionaires are admitting it now, only because they know that a majority of people already made them, and if they don't halfway own up, it would increase civil disobedience and disruption of their individual empires ... meaning $$$$$$.
If the captain of an oil tanker is negligent by sleeping on the job, drunk/ high, or trying to cut corners to get that bonus, crashes, causing an environmental disaster, or the motorman of a train, the driver of 18- wheeler hazardous chemicals truck, a school bus driver that crashes killing kids, etc, etc ... what happens? In any of those incidents, those that were in charge of those operations are alwayz investigated, indicted by a jury/ state, and held accountable, and prison time is common. If some street level drug dealer mixes a bad cut and batch of dope he/ she slings on the street, knowing of the risk, but trying to beef up the intensity of the high/ product to boost profits, and say 50 people/ addicts that are considered as lower elements of society were to die of it, they would probably be all over the news, to the cover of Time Magazine and serving a life term in prison. We have people that are CEOs that there is evidence that they intentionally, knowingly, and willingly on their own, engineer well calculated plans and products, that they know damn well will hurt people, and some know that there is a chance that people may die from it, but are again, willing to take that risk. And what do they do when they get caught? ... they fire and blame it on all the low level employees that they told to do it as a job requirement. What makes them any different as far as being served with equal justice under law, as the others received that I mentioned above? Not doing anything about it, just makes them do more of it, the fines are almost meaningless ... if you're a bank CEO, and maybe one of the largest shareholders in it, scam a billion bucks, get a fine of $100 million ... you just made $900 million, and took a slight drop in stock value at most, what incentive do you have to not do it again, even at another bank or company? This is not talking about putting CEOs in these state prisons with hard labour in the fields like Texas or whatever ... they go to a much softer prison, like federal. Doing some years in prison (in most cases/ convictions, not many years), and for really some big time crime, some that even is responsible for thousands dying from a product or decision, folks committing suicide, to people who died because they were denied health coverage, or lost everything they owned and worked for ... is the most acceptable thing, anyone else that committed such crimes certainly would do some time, for even much lesser crimes. This is also good for business and these institutions, because it helps promote more careful responsible managing, which leads to better business, and lessens negative publicity for shareholders, leading to better products and services.
This posting will serve as Part 13 of the "American Exceptionalism" series of this journal/ blog (in humour, because of how nonsensical this whole charade has been for months). Millions across America have been waiting for this report for months, it has been on every mainstream media for months ... and FINALLY, IT'S HERE! I was so excited waiting in anticipation myself up to the last minute, when they announced it with an hour delay, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, take a shit, or wind my watch. And Congratulations to President Trump & President Putin ... I think this calls for a little celebration, it looks like you boyz got an early start above ... and I must say, you look really cute together, wish I was there to join in with y'all! But, I don't want to waste any more time here ... for the reader, I simplified the report by reviewing it myself ... and selected the most importante pages for y'all below to see for yourselves. And Big Thanx to the crew that helped make this report in such a quick time frame, accuracy, integrity, and full transparency, with modest expenditure ... no one in the world puts such good use to citizens tax dollars as y'all.
Dallas DA reveals plan for ending mass incarceration for petty crimes, slashing probation and bail ... Thanx to The Dallas Morning News
First up ... Congratulations to District Attorney John Creuzot on his new position as Dallas County DA ... a little briefing from John above for an opening video. This posting will be for 4 series of this journal/ blog ... "Incarcerated American", Poverty & Despair", "Aggressive Progressive", and "Public Patriots". On January 01, 2019 at 12:01am, John became DA of Dallas County, at 11am that same day, John sworn in 272 Dallas County Prosecutors, and fired at least a dozen others. In the 3 months as DA, John already dismissed over 1000 cases, releasing them from custody and prosecution at the stroke of his pen after personally reviewing each individual case ... and many more on the way. The changes are much broader than the recent reforms to Harris County (Houston) as far as reform of mass incarceration, and on a national level, broader than those in the tops coming in Austin, TX and Washington, DC. John has had this vision and work he's done for years actually, and is known on a national level for his ideas and implementation of alternative sentencing and programmes for low risk offenders while on the bench as judge in Dallas. He served for years in Dallas as a criminal defense lawyer, felony district court judge, Asst DA of Dallas County, and Chief Felony Prosecutor. There has been much opposition to some of this, even from Governor Greg Abbott ... but mainly from police and from some small business owners, but not on the marijuana/ drug reform, but the theft part ... so in fairness, I added some video below from law enforcement associations too. Some say that John should sit down with leaders and law enforcement to talk this over ... but, John has tried, and been pushing reform for years, they have declined to sit with John or propose any solutions as of yet ... so let's be straight about who is willing to sit down with who, eh? John is a workaholic, he knows the game well, and is not one that fiddle faddles and procrastinates for years, or cares to be complicit on this ... if you refuse to sit down or try to make past due reforms, while these same people constantly talk reform, especially in campaign talk ... John will take action, being in a position now to where he can. I mean, John's doing something ... what in Hell are y'all doing?, except feeding us the same old outdated garbage over and over ... year after year. Some read below with a PDF from the new DA, and some video ... at the bottom, I will add some of my views in this.
Of course there are some problems in the theft part of this reform, as officers point out above. The difference here though, is with this new line up and programme for prosecutors, each case will be looked at individually, not a one size fits all. Yes, a "booster" is those who do higher scale shoplifting rather than a few low budget items, they are unlikely to hit small places, unless it's some jewelry place or really valued items, plus those small places don't have enough customer traffic to leave the booster go unnoticed, or wayz to get the goods out. You have those who know how to work it, they know to stay at $700 "misdemeanor charge" limit per score at their choice of retailer, to not exceed the $750 cap, and if they're smart have a lawyer retained to make bond right after arraignment with one phone call if arrested, charged, and detained. They typically are well calculated types that case the store first, familiar with all security, they move fast and on a clock, and very organized. If a good score, they may hit the place several times within 2 weeks ... after that, will avoid going back, because of the amount of loss is noticed as substantial, and the store will beef up and change security. They usually hit your large retailers, and in the better neighbourhoods, they dress better and play the unnoticed customer part well, know where all surveillance cameras are, etc. They go after pricey items and less bulk ... they will work a 6 hour or so day maybe, and hit multiple places that they already hand picked, and usually score about maybe $3000/ $4000+ combined total or so of retail price in that day, they either have a fence to get rid of it online or elsewhere, or in other small retailers who buy the goods, or they get more if they turn it themselves. You're looking at getting about 25 to 50 points on the dollar depending on how you get rid of it, so for $4000K worth of goods as example, you can get say $1000 to maybe $1500+ cash or more for that day's lot/ score. In a big metro like Dallas- Fort Worth, you have several counties and cities to work in that day, to baffle law agencies on connecting the dots. Some will pay others to return the goods for a small fee to the store or another chain location they boosted it from, same day or next, before it's recorded as inventory loss, and the store then gives those refunders gift cards (since they have no receipt) for full amount, those cards are then sold usually for 50 pts on a buck average ... each individual that is good has their own method to get rid of items. Some prefer to leave least paper/ traceable trail when they do with least hand changing interaction, some get personal checks or cash from a fence, cash those at indie check cashing joints for a 1% fee, take that cash and put it on prepaid debit cards, or use it as cash. Most boosters work large retailers, some even have lists of what they get that are special request orders by fences ... retailers may cover losses from theft by tax deductions, insurance, and raising prices in the store.
Small retailers are at a disadvantage as far as covering losses, and many of them don't carry in mass what professional boosters target, so, they get hit by more low level shoplifters, that are just selling on the corner to individuals for quick cash, dope or dope money ... or as John points out, they are not greedy, but just needy for basic essential items that's needed to live/ eat, or keep up basic hygiene. Small businesses feel the pinch on those small scores, much more than a huge retailer store taking a $700 loss. So that is what needs to be ironed out, and this DA knows this well, it's not like he will allow folks to boost everything they can with no penalties. Also as the officer above points out, it hurts folks in those lower income communities that have to depend on small stores to shop, places like South Central Dallas, Oak Cliff, Pleasant Grove, West Dallas, etc, do not have many big stores if any, many folks don't have vehicles, ride the buses/ trains and on foot, they depend on the small stores, and that is all they have otherwise, and many of those communities are like food deserts too. I mean like, poorer areas have lack of investors wanting to open business, not unless gentrification moves in, and that displaces all who are native to the area when that happens, it just moves the poor, but doesn't solve the problem ... or do large retailers want to set up shop/ store in some of them areas, because of poverty, despair, and crime stats. Also as the officer points out ... it is indeed a charge escalation on the shoplifter, if there is any physical altercation during a small shoplifting incident, if the clerk/ owner decides to try to stop the person stealing, if that shoplifter resists at all or attempts to fight, it automatically falls into the robbery category, and goes to felony status immediately ... if the shoplifter even pulls a knife out of their pocket just for show of defense or threat, it becomes aggravated felony because of brandishing a weapon, so it's a little deeper than it may look on surface, and some shoplifters can get shot and killed legally by Texas law then. If the small store clerk/ owner decides to let the shoplifter leave out with the goods, and call DPD with a description of shoplifter, the cops may not show up for an hour or more, nothing nonviolent gets priority call, there are too many serious crimes going on, that may involve a shooting, hold- up or whatever. Also DPD is short hundreds of officers since hundreds left the department, because an investment firm that handled and managed their retirement, lost a bunch of their money in bad investments, draining cops and firefighters retirement accounts (WFAA/ ABC) ... an old familiar tune in America, eh? Many officers went to work for other metroplex cities/ suburbs, that are less dangerous and demanding, pay better and good benefits.
As far as other charges that will be dismissed or declined for prosecution, so many are way past due, especially on the marijuana laws, and most DPD won't even waste their time with low level pot cases to begin with. With all the marijuana business and use in Texas, this place should have decriminalized it long ago, Texas is and has been one of the most saturated states of pot for decades. The law concerning lab results to charge, or when they issue citations or even arrest a person for residue build up in straights (crack pipes) or bolos (meth pipes) is also ridiculous, you are wasting jail space for inmates that pose no threat to our communities, the downtown Dallas County Jail is alwayz maxed at over 7,100 inmates. The same as busting someone for a $10 rock (crack rock), this just wastes tax money big time, and officers time on answering critical calls, and solves not a bloody damn thing. The only ones who want these busts and citations are bail bond joints, local companies getting free labour off low nonviolent offenders incarcerated, bundle case low level attorneys, that bundle a half dozen or more cases in a hearing for plea bargain deal (no work, quick money), private detention/ prison investors, contractors selling overpriced phone service to inmates and their families, or contractors selling overpriced commissaries/ products to inmates, etc ... it's all a big money making scam, and they all want and lobby for recidivism regardless of their public relations or political campaign talk, not to rehabilitate, so to keep milking taxes, families/ inmates, and agencies. These people do not care about our communities and families, or do anything that really helps in any way. The homeless problem is even worse than they say in figures, but it is a somewhat ball park figure for the mainstream. There are thousands upon thousands today that are NOT even counted in the homeless population census/ surveys. These are people that live in squats, abandoned commercial or residential places, some in places where the owner/ renter in compassion will let them set up tents stay in basements, attics, garages, empty former warehouse areas, or other places in your poorer areas. Some of these also serve as shooting galleries for drug addicts to run dope (IV/ needle), or smoke dope like meth, heroin, crack, because they have nowhere else to go and safely do it. It would cost less for taxpayers in Texas and the country, and improve the sanitation, appearance, and safety in cities, if you just had designated safe stay areas for drug addicts and homeless, that caters strictly to that segment of population. And since the homeless govern their own communities already in underground America and keep community order by kicking out those who cause trouble or harm. They do this in the most awful conditions as is, they would add their own security and rules for those residing in the areas, and needed work for improvement as they already do ... yes, they even like to keep their communities safe and somewhat organized too.
Even your most so called liberal cities in America, have not attempted to even take on this issue in a realistic way ... instead, just asking donations from the private sector to help, and most of that goes to overhead costs, and tax havens cloaked in the term "philanthropic foundation". I mean, can we not do something for ourselves for a change with our own tax revenues, without some corporation, bank, multi millionaire/ billionaire, or foreign country lobby telling us what we can or cannot do? Or they kick the homeless out of one area, and the homeless just go find another area, it becomes an endless cycle. Some cities even give them free one way bus tickets to any other city they want, just to send the problem to another city. They have these people lining the streets in tents and under freewayz or wherever, close to places like business/ financial, shopping, and premium/ luxury rent districts, when they could build areas and shelter for them. It saves tax money, it improves the social climate, appearance, and entertainment and shopping atmosphere in big cities. The criminalization alone in this country of poverty, while expanding it through neoliberal policies, does nothing but promote more of the same and worsen the conditions. And not just for the homeless and poor people in these dire conditions, but even all the middle and upper income people/ consumers, property and business owners, who spend most in taxes and personal spending that keep a large portion of our economies flourishing ... if anything, at least do it for them. The money spent to fix this is actually savings from what it's costing us across the board now ... not acting or helping is not being frugal or fiscally wise, it's being just cheap, stupid, and promoting a culture/ fad of extreme greed. The answers to so many problems in a country of so much wealth are all right in front of us, been for years, and most ordinary people see it and want things done better. When you give these folks in poverty and dire despair an area of their own with modest amenities, it also restores a certain amount of dignity, hope, and motivates those to contribute a little something to the overall good of society and to have respect for what they were given ... ignoring them and persecuting them only breeds more of the same. Whether it is the homeless problem, drug addiction problem, human trafficking/ sex trade problems or other issues, all can be solved very easily, and no one has to sacrifice everything or most tax revenues, nor go into poverty to fix it ... it would also be economically smart, just as food stamps are, because they generate business in our communities, our taxes just don't end up in some foreign offshore tax haven accounts, as they do with many of the wealthy and corporations that we subsidize with almost unlimited welfare, even after they are at historic all time record levels of profit and wealth.
This posting will be for 4 series of this journal/ blog ... "Abby Martin", "End to Privacy?", "Mo of Yo Money", and "Public Patriots" series. This will be to highlight and a listen out of former NSA Intell whistleblower Bill Binney (wikipedia) ... credit for the title of the posting to Bill. I look at Bill as a public patriot, not for wanting to implement ThinThread over Trailblazer ... I couldn't tell you which is better or worse of the 2 ... but for standing up and telling his part to every media source that asks him to ... and standing up to what many fear. I been wanting to do a posting on Bill for some time, and he just recently done an interview with Abby Martin, so it will go to her series too, and Thanx to Abby for her work and continued dedication. I have read up and heard several interviews with Bill over several years now, including watching the "A Good American" documentary. It wasn't through media/ online that I first heard of Bill though ... Bill was brought to my atencion through a fella that I know locally, that worked in the Intelligence Dept in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a tad over 10 years, he knows much more about any of this stuff than I do ... and it was he who recommended that I hear this guy out. Whether or not you buy any of the spy stuff, or question what this guy's motives are, or whatever ... it's good to at least hear the man out, it's some good food for thought too. But I'll let Bill tell his part below with Abby ... then at the bottom I will add a bit of my own thoughts.
NSA Whistleblower: Government Collecting Everything You Do ... Thanx to Empire Files
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Thomas Hudson Pickering/ Ranch Chimp
I myself don't know much of anything on spying, nor do I like reading spy novels or related. But spying has went on for centuries, and it's needed, I even feel the NSA is needed as much as the CIA, so I don't think like Bill on that ... but, with alot of cleaning up on oversight, security, and application of it ... by government, not private companies. But I sure as Hell agree that too much money is spent, and things need to be trimmed budget- wise as far as better planning our spending. Look at how much we spent, and still had one terror attack after another, when they had all the info necessary for indictments, or to intercept at least, they done it before. We also need to expect that our country, whether defense, security, technology, etc is being spied on as well by other countries, so we need safeguards, as well as spying to keep our country secure, alwayz been that way. Even without NSA folks, we are being spied on by everyone from corporations for marketing, to local law enforcement agencies for criminal activity, this has went on for years. We still have a Constitution, and we as citizens, should educate ourselves on our rights, and exercise those rights in the courts when needed ... we as people fail to exercise so much of what we have, sadly. You seen what Bill done when they came down on him ... boom! ... he fires back with "malicious prosecution" ... learn and utilize the tools that you/ we have, I can't even count how many times I went over this even with folks incarcerated, whether it's working on their current case, or appealing a court's decision. This nonsense (which is basically Nazi nonsense) that you have nothing to be concerned about if you have nothing to hide, is cheap Willie Foo- Foo talk, cops even use that crap all the time on the streets ... you don't need to be guilty of a goddamn thing to support rights and our Constitution ... it's not guilty until proven innocent in America, so don't listen to that ass- backwards shit. It's not the end of the world, regardless of how much they watch you ... Bill sums it up simple, don't put anything online or on your phone that you don't want to be there, if you need, take more precaution in your activities and communications, and keep things private between you and your friends/ close associates, period. This is not being paranoid either, it's using common sense.
What is really sickening in all of this Bill talks about (to me), is some of these goddamn contractors ... actually admitting and planning among themselves, wayz to keep milking the cow for the next 15 years or so ... we need to be watching these folks more, more than watching ourselves ... and we have wasted money on contractors in so many other departments too. For years/ decades, we were alwayz fed this garbage, that contracting/ outsourcing out our services for government needs, will "save taxpayers money", what are we saving? ... what is needed as Bill put's it, "you unfund them". Nothing these son's of bitches have done saved us a damn thing, in fact, it's costing us more, and certainly don't make any damn thing more efficient or much safer ... if it did, we wouldn't be constantly broke, and finding flaw after flaw with these folks. Then they come in Washington asking us to make cuts to our social/ public services or entitlements, which they are our entitlements and public services, since we bloody damn pay for them, save that talk for someone else more gullible, not our taxpayers. Even the quality of work, service, integrity, and final product have declined, as well as just draining OUR TAXES tremendously! ... while pressuring and lying to our Congress with their lobbies. The amount of foul ups with some of these so called prestigious contractors/ agencies have cost us also in lives ... what the fuck does it take you to act when you have red flags from here to sundown on a suspected terror plot?, you sure as Hell act if it's some local drug dealers making some chump change on the street! Even if you look at some of the mass shootings in this country, they had info on these folks, they tell us after the shooting, going back for months of even years ... which is one of the reasons WHY you have some pro- gun activists suspecting these are government manufactured/ orchestrated mass shootings. As Bill said, the whole thing is to keep the money flowing, at WHATEVER costs, whether it's taxpayers dollars or lives. These bastards not only waste our money, but have no regard for us whatsoever, while they trample on our Constitution with no regard for it, and making a mockery of everything from our flag and government to our Justice Department.
Just because they have a large portion of our Congress frightened in some way or another, doesn't mean we should also be afraid of these people, or this nonsensical propaganda about the Chinese or Russians are going to get us, are the American peoples enemy, and/ or related garbage. And fuck the so called praetorian guard ... just because you have some cowards in our Congress who suck ass like an ass fetishist, don't mean we should, or that they in Congress can't be replaced. Some say, it's not that simple or easy to unfund some of this or stand against it ... nothing is easy, and especially if you don't EVEN TRY, it's even less easier. I can't stand these lazy gutless folks, that constantly say nothing can be done, and blame their incompetence and failures on everyone else, when they have SO MANY advantages over the average person. If you're too incompetent to defend our country, people, rights, and entitlements ... well then, you're unfit for your position, period ... you win with winners, not losers, with the strong and determined, not the impotent and weak. Our biggest threat and enemy are right here in our own country currently, not Russia or China, and the reason why so many other countries watch us like a hawk, is because this oligarchy that controls us, has them on their list as well, and they know it. Pressure on our Congress from the people, as with any of a number of issues we have that stems from Washington exclusively, deserves to be beefed up, at the voting polls and in the streets ... and our resentment should spread like wildfire over it.
