INTERNET DOWN! INTERNET DOWN!

A large-scale DDOS attack left much of the Internet unusable today. Who knows what they have up their sleeves this time. Dismantling the Internet could be for a number of reasons, some more sinister than others. Here are some theories on why the Internet may be down today.

US ELECTION BLACKOUT
It could be a way to silence Trump, Clinton, or both during the elections. Perhaps Hillary is shutting down some of Donald's favorite mediums. Or perhaps Old Friend Russia is meddling in our affairs again. It will be interesting to see how much they meddle in our future affairs. Either way, there could be even more controversy surrounding this already muddled election.

MISDIRECTION
A covert ops is taking place somewhere on the globe, possibly even in the US, and this is an attack that not only hinders news outlets, but creates a large news story in itself, helping black out whatever they don't want us to know. We may find out about their secret actions today in the months and years to come, but by the time we know what happened, it will be out of everyone's minds.

SHENANIGANS
Of all the theories, this is the one we hope is true. It's just some script kiddies who got a hold of a large number of computers and are taking down websites as a prank. Much like the "2011 PLAYSTATION NETWORK OUTAGE" (and the subsequent outages that still plague the network), they may attempting to disrupt people's Internet lives. The fact that many media-consumption sites like Spotify, Netflix, Twitter, Reddit, and others, could signify that.

TESTING FOR FUTURE ATTACKS
The method for the attack is well known and could be a test to see what is needed for future tactical operations. We've already seen tests being performed in large hacks. Hackers have been pulling off coordinated attacks at strategic points of the Internet's infrastructure, not only testing for vulnerabilities, but also testing their tools and systems for compromising various systems. Maybe this is a test of what they can do, and we should brace for a more powerful attack in the near future. Read more in Schneier on Security's article: "Someone is Learning How to Take Down the Internet."

REDACTION
With so much of the Internet down, who knows what these hackers may be doing in the meantime. Perhaps they're using this as cover while they do nefarious things to the infected servers: altering documents, deleting information, uploading misinformation, etc. Maybe when the Internet does come back up, not everything will be coming with it...

OTHER THOUGHTS

• Recently, Julian Assange had his Internet cut off by the Ecuadorian government at the behest of the United States. Could the timing mean anything?
• What steps will be taken to work on securing the Internet of Things? Its vulnerability played a major part in today's outage.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Who have chosen to capitalize Internet to show it the respect it deserves.

WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?

Who controls your drinking water? Your city? A manufacturer? Have you seen its source? Do you know who's in charge? Do you know how they handle it, what they put in it?

Water is the most basic element of life on earth. Without going into the unknowns and intricacies of the universe that supports our existence: carbon, atoms, DNA, and beyond, we can accept water as a fundamental element of our survival. Nearly every piece of life on this planet needs water. Where water forms, life grows. It is the basest of human needs, and comes before all else in the physical realm.

Water would be the first place of attention for anyone who wanted to control a mass of people. It is the one fundamental Man would have to control before he could control anything else (and in many ways he already controls other things like weather, agriculture, vegetation, food and diet, and much more). For anyone to hold the greatest power, however, they must first control water. Do you think no one's grasping for that control? Or already has that control? 

They must control it to control you, to beat you and others to controlling them, to become more powerful. Do you not see what power does in your everyday life? Apply that to the whole human race. Look at the corruption, the greed, the death, the money. There's too much at stake for someone not to want control. The power-hungry wolves who run this world, or dream of running it, must first control the water.

We see it happening right in front of our eyes, as municipalities put fluoride and other additives directly into our drinking supply. Imagine what else is being put in there. Imagine if "your brand" of water is under someone's control, if everyone who drinks Nestle PureLife is also gulping down heaping amounts of secret ingredients. There could be any number of substances, from simple mood stabilizer and calming agents to advanced mind control serums and nanobots.

Water is the source of all life, and your water's source could be the catalyst for your downfall. Be careful out there, and do your research. Visit the plant that processes your water and keep your eyes peeled for "special ingredients". To be extra safe, boil all your water, and hope they haven't put heat-resistant chemicals in it.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - BBF3

"I don't like the way this country's ran, don't you know." Here's a great track from Godspeed You! Black Emperor that includes an interview with a very vocal, interesting character. While his "poem" is actually an Iron Maiden song, and you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt, he does share some wisdom and thoughts on the state of the government that's still relevant 15 years later.

A WHOLE NEW WORLD: INSIDE WALT DISNEY'S MIND

PART I: Getting Acquainted with Our Brains
What if you are not what you see in the mirror? You are not a human body, with a brain in your skull, carried around in a human body, living your life. Your brain has been removed and placed into a vat of liquid (or maybe it has always existed in that vat) where electrical impulses are used to simulate your reality. All your memories and experiences are false, mere transmissions sent to a blind, eyeless brain trapped in a tub of liquid.

Human brain in a jar. Photo by Gaetan Lee.

It may sound like the acid-induced dream of some hippie, but the "brain in a vat" concept has been around for centuries. From Zhuanzi's butterfly dream to René Descartes' Discourse on the Method ("I think, therefore I am") to modern science fiction movies like The Thirteenth Floor and The Matrix, it has been a concept that has intrigued and irritated mankind. It is a question that, no matter how seemingly implausible, cannot be proved nor disproved.

One variation incorporates the idea of the "collective memory", the idea that our consciousnesses share some  common bank of memories and experiences (this is what "instinct" is alleged to stem from). The idea is that we are not all brains in vats, but we are all elements of one brain in a vat, that our entire world is being simulated for this one "God brain". In fact, there are similar theories that God is the amalgamation of every human consciousness. We are merely brain cells powering His brain.

God, as a brain in a vat, having His reality simulated.

This raises many more questions. If God's brain is the brain in the vat, who is manipulating it? Could Jesus have been a manifestation of God's physical form inside His simulated reality? What if the God brain is actually someone else's brain? If so, then who? Here at Conspiracy Fury, we think we have the answer: Walt Disney.

PART II: The Tools of a God
Walt Disney's cryopreservation has been a pop culture topic--and joke--for years. Turning things into laughable "urban legends" is an age-old tactic for information control. Anyone who believes Walt Disney had his head preserved must be beyond the deep end! Don't let ridicule and judgment from the closed-minded ever impede your quest for answers. There are no stupid questions, only stupid people who give up on finding the truth. With that in mind, let's take a deeper look at cryonics and suspended animation.

Cryonics is the preservation of a dead organic life form in ultra-low temperatures. The idea is to preserve the body and/or mind until future technologies can resuscitate them. Typically it is for people with untreatable diseases. Suspended animation is a similar technology, though the subject remains alive during the sleep state. While suspended animation fits better with the brain in a vat scenario, it is more likely that Disney was cryonically preserved because that technology has been around longer.

Astronauts in suspended animation. From Lost in Space (1965).

One piece of "evidence" that Disney wasn't preserved is the that technology "wasn't around" or wasn't perfected at the time of his death on December 15, 1966. This small list of known cryonically preserved people includes Dr. James Bedford, the first man to undergo the procedure. Bedford died on January 12, 1967, merely one month after Disney. It is highly doubtful that the technology went from the early stages of development to complete functionality in one month. It's likely the technology was ready to be used well before Bedford's death.

It is also alleged that current technology does not allow for reanimation from cryogenic preservation. In 2005, however, a team of doctors from the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research placed dogs into a state of suspended animation and successfully brought them back to life. Their work has been ongoing over the past seven years, though stories with headlines like "Zombie Dogs" haven't been popping up in the news, possibly due to information suppression.

What's also interesting is that Snopes, who is usually the go-to conspiracy theory destroyer, has a weak and inconclusive article on Disney's suspended animation. Most of their "evidence" consists of quotes from the Disney heirs themselves. The comic sans doesn't help the article's credibility, either.

PART III: Enough Power and Money to Be God
Based on current pricing of cryonic preservation, Disney had/has more than enough resources to undergo any procedure, maintain himself indefinitely, and fund further research into successful cryonic resuscitation. This is verified by the current assets owned by Disney Corp. (be aware: the scope of Disney's reach and power is utterly terrifying).

By Inductiveload, via Wikimedia Commons

This powerful corporation has been linked to the Illuminati numerous times. For some in-depth reading on the Disney bloodline, CIA and Illumuniati connections and more, check out this article on Forbidden Knowledge. If anyone has the power or knows the rituals necessary to keep a human brain or spirit alive for decades it's the Illuminati.

Some other interesting connections arise when looking at Walt Disney's numerology. He died in 1966 (a number strikingly similar to 666). His inner dreams number was 9. His expression number was 6. And his soul urge number was 6. 9, 6 and 6. 1966. Whether this ties back to his occult dealings or is a subconscious manifestation in his simulated reality, we can't say.

There is little doubt Disney lacked the resources and connections to be cryonically frozen, but now to the topic that affects everyone reading this, everyone on Earth, and every being in our current universe. We are all figments of Walt Disney's vivid imagination, clouds in his vanilla sky, living false lives in a false reality created for a man who wanted to be God.

PART IV: Our Life in the Disney "Vault"
What are dreams? What is deja-vu? What are those glitches in the Matrix? All the data Walt's brain is processing takes a toll on his frozen synapses. They are breaks from our "reality" caused by his need to control the world around him.

Is there free will in this world? Is anything "real"? DeCartes would have a field day with all this new information, but can we ever come to any type of conclusion about who or what we are, and what this life is? The simulation of the human experience is so real to us (it's all we've ever known) that we may never break free of it, and if we were to break free, where would that take us? Undoubtedly, we can't live outside of Disney's mind, so in many ways we are trapped in a manufactured reality, and we'll never know the true freedom of the human experience. It's a sad thought, but one can always hope. We can always do our best to make our own reality in this simulation, to live and love and experience as much as we can, no matter how real or manufactured it is.

UV RAY INCREASE TO BRING CERTAIN DEATH

NASA, the smartest people in the world, have found evidence that UV radiation is increasing across the world. The cause is our tattered ozone layer, thinned and shredded from carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses (though who wants to believe that?). In fact, the study also showed evidence that treaties to reduce emissions had marked effects in halting the increase in UV radiation, meaning we can prevent our planet from becoming the next Venus, but we have to take steps now.

Read more about the increases in this great, in-depth article from NASA.

THE EMAILS OF A PATRIOT 3

We're back with another collection of emails from one of our favorite subscribers. These emails are unedited, though some information may be removed to protect identities.

Click here to email us.

9/26/13 - "Moto X phone & Republic wireless"‏
Forget about all those high fees and taxes on phone bills. Google has a phone made in Ft Worth TX that uses WiFi and Sprint 3G & 4G with a plan as low as $5/m voice!

9/20/13 - "Things I Can't Do"
Attached was a link to the following video.

8/21/13 - "Ted Radio NPR"
This weeks programs suggest it's a race against machines.

Digital age made connections and friendships from far away places. Now we expect more out of technical tools and less from people. Man’s best friend isn’t a dog it’s a social robot partner trainer in your hand.
All the computers now have the power of one human brain. Just like the steam engine that made a mockery out of the power sources that came before, droids, voice and facial recognition and computing skills will replace humans with such clear advantages to be shocking.

Thinking about what changed the world the most it was thought that religion, wars, plaques, leaders, science, discoverers made the biggest changes. Google says technology changed the world the most with steam, then cars and now hand held computers. Humans have 300 Million pattern-recognizing modules. Brain extenders connected to the cloud could lock memories on a disk so more of the brain could do deep thinking. But in 5000 days droids, robots, machines of all kinds will do the work giving hard working Americans free time to enjoy them self’s.

6/18/13 - "Wall, door and fence hitting" 
Extreme sports on TV must be the difference in how younger upset people handle there temper? Last night every one I talked to remembers lashing out at concrete walls, wood fences, sides of cars and other hard objects. As I repair walls, a replace doors I see fist size holes. I'm sure I've been more upset then most wall hitters but never had the urge to strike out at hard object. Writing letters seems the way to go.

OUR FAVORITE ANONYMOUS VIDEO

While Op Hiroshima never went down (or did it?), but the video that accompanied it was amazing. The 1984 imagery juxtaposed against "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory make it utterly haunting.

UTOPIA: A SOCIETY BASED ON HELPING PEOPLE RATHER THAN PUNISHING THEM

What's the worst type of criminal? The drug dealer? The rapist? The murderer? The sex offender? No matter what this "criminal" has done, what is the best way to help him or her?

Many people say "lock them up" or "burn them". Let them suffer the way they've made others suffer. But does anyone step back and look at how they have already suffered?

From 1995 to 1997, the CDC conducted the Adverse Childhood Experience Study. What they found was shocking to many, but evident to anyone who stopped to think about why people do the things they do. The study found that people who had more ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) were more likely to engage in a number of anti-societal behaviors, including illicit drug use, smoking, suicide attempts, risky sexual behavior, and on and on, to the point that they would die younger.

From the CDC website.

People who had been molested or sexually assaulted as children, were more likely to commit those same acts as adults. People who had been abused and neglected were more likely to turn to drugs, alcohol, and sex as coping mechanisms. People who had been exposed to violence as children were more likely to repeat those same violent acts as adults. 

So what is the solution? What should we do to help someone who is addicted to meth because they turned to the drug due to multiple ACEs as a child? What should we do to someone who grew up poor, and remains poor, and turns to stealing as a way to meet ends meat?

Society's response has been to lock them up. Send them to convict school, where they can learn the tools of the trade from truly violent, anti-social members of society. Put the drug addicts into the prisons where drugs are just as, if not more, prevalent than on the streets. And when they're finished with that, let's get them the help they need from overworked probation officers who don't have the high-level psychiatric training or counseling skills to even start helping these people deal with their deep-seeded problems.

From the Wikipedia page on "Incarceration in the United States".

Obviously, if someone violates a child or commits murder they should face the consequences of their actions. Not all offenders want the help they need, but the fact remains that they need help. Instead of spending trillions on our prison population to send people to "time out", what if we focused that money on the underlying causes of anti-social behavior? Does the pedophile have anywhere to turn? Can s/he seek help? Can s/he talk to anyone about his/her impulses and try to understand where they stem from? Facing a society that refuses to support them, and would most likely prefer to punish them before a crime has even been committed, what should we expect these people to do?

A woman who turns to prostitution and drug use to fill the void based on trauma and/or neglect from her childhood is not a criminal. She's a victim. A man who turns his fists towards women because of abuse in his past is not a criminal. He's a victim. If addiction is a disease, then it should be treated as one, with psychological evaluation and medical treatment. Addicts shouldn't be condemned to the hell of prison. They shouldn't be quarantined like they have the plague, they should be helped, so they can go on to be productive and happy members of society. 

VPNS AND PROXIES WON'T SAVE YOU

With all the hullabaloo about the NSA's spying on every single U.S. citizen, the amount of internet users turning to encryption, proxy and VPN services, and other privacy tools has increased. But don't think those tools will keep you safe.

First of all, there's no guarantee your VPN won't turn over information to the government if they're served with paperwork that includes some serious threats. No matter what their policy is on keeping logs or monitoring traffic, keep in mind that you have no idea what the government can access and when. Say you had purchased some goods on the Silk Road and the seller, who used Tor Mail, didn't delete any of his order information, which included your shipping address. If the government were to seize those email servers, they would have evidence linking you to cyber crimes.

Nothing is safe. Images via Wikimedia Commons.

Secondly, if you are using a VPN or proxy, use common sense. Just because your real IP is blocked doesn't mean your actions can't be linked to you. Say you torrent some popular AMC shows and then decide to check your webmail. If you log into your webmail account through your proxy, that proxy will automatically be linked to your account and you, as will all the "private" downloading you did. The fact that your browsing is "anonymous" doesn't mean your identity will be protected.

As a final warning, be aware that just because you've taken every step possible to protect your identity and information, don't assume that your computer is safe. Maybe the NSA is logging every keystroke, recording audio and video from webcams and mics, or capturing your screen. Maybe they have a backdoor built into your OS.

In today's world, the only way to securely conduct any online activity is to find a public computer away from security cameras, wear a disguise and latex gloves, run the Tor Browser off an encrypted flash drive that you later destroy with thermite, all while using a fake identity and bitcoins purchased with VISA giftcards that were purchased with cash.

OH NO! THE MEDIA'S SELLING US TERROR

Do a quick Google search of "Rolling Stone cover" and you'll find quite a few articles and opinion pieces on the Rolling Stones' decision to put Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of their pop culture magazine. Many people are upset about it, saying Rolling Stone is glorifying terrorism/terrorists, or that they're trying to cash in on controversy, or that they're simply insensitive to the victims. But should we really be mad at Rolling Stone?

The controversial cover.

When I heard of the controversy, I immediately thought of some famous covers from Time magazine. They've plastered images of some of the world's most notorious killers. Seinfeld even did a sketch about a killer who made the cover of Time.


Granted, most people don't think of Rolling Stone as the hard news source that Time (laughably) is, but they've done some pretty good reporting. Check out the "Generation Kill" series, "Fast Food Nation", or their report on CIA operatives in the media. They've published some dirt on big conspiracies, some of which the government doesn't seem to like.

Before everyone gets all up in arms that Rolling Stone put the Boston Bomber suspect on their cover, realize that the media has been selling us an obsession with murder and death for years. For more information on that, check out Nancy Grace. This is nothing new, and the real perpetrator is us. We buy into it. We demand violence and tragedy, so the media supplies it. Whether that's a human trait, or if we've been conditioned to seek that controversy because of the media's portrayal of it is another question.

All the negativity, violence, and sadness shown on the news has a negative impact on us. It makes us anxious and depressed. It has deep psychological effects on us. So, tune out. Turn it off. Quit getting wrapped up in death and destruction and ignore the garbage they're shoving down your throat. Unplug from the Matrix and get out while you still can.

DRUGS ARE THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON EARTH AND THEY'LL KILL YOU

Head over to the DEA website and you'll see why drugs are illegal in their mission statement:

"The mission of the [DEA] is to enforce the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States and bring to the criminal and civil justice system of the United States, or any other competent jurisdiction, those organizations and principal members of organizations, involved in the growing, manufacture, or distribution of controlled substances appearing in or destined for illicit traffic in the United States; and to recommend and support non-enforcement programs aimed at reducing the availability of illicit controlled substances on the domestic and international markets."

Or, maybe they don't touch on why drugs are illegal . . . Anyway, the big thing is they're dangerous. Kids get hooked on them, turn stupid, start murdering and raping, leech off society, and then overdose and die. As you can see in the chart below, the War on Drugs has had a significant impact on the number of overdose deaths in the U.S.

Rate per 100,000 of unintentional drug overdose deaths in the U.S., via CDC.

That's right, there are about six times more overdose deaths since the War started. What's interesting is that this data mirrors that of the prison population's growth since the War began (for more info on the U.S. prison system, which holds a quarter of all Earth's prisoners, check out some of these stats).

But let's get to the dangers of drugs, kids. Illicit drug use is dangerous. It's deadly. Using illegal drugs like cannabis, LSD, psilocybin, PCP, ecstacy, meth, crack, and heroin is the quickest way to end up dead. They have "no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse." These drugs are dangerous enough to warrant a $1 trillion (and counting) War. Dangerous enough to require mandatory minimum sentencing for users (so they can get the help and support they need to overcome their addiction in a safe, drug-free environment).

Let's take a look at some of the data showing how dangerous illegal drugs are:

Visit DrugWarFacts.org for more great info like this.

Hmmm, it's tucked in there right under diabetes. And here's a newsflash: that number isn't just the flat-out illegal stuff like DMT and crack. It includes prescription drug overdoses, too. Those pills the doctor gives us have started an epidemic. One hundred people die in the U.S. from prescription drug overdoses every day. Read more on the CDC website.

From those drug deaths, 9,429 were caused by "unspecified" drugs and since the rest were prescription medications, taken legally or illegally, we're assuming the illegal drug deaths are in there. For this article, and just for fun, we'll assume all 9,429 of those were illegal drug deaths.

Breaking all this data down further, the Harvard School of Public Health looked at the lifestyle factors responsible for the deaths described above. For some reason they didn't feel it was necessary to investigate illegal drug use (they probably couldn't find enough specific data). Here's their list, with illegal drug deaths thrown in there:

1. Smoking: 467,000
2. High blood pressure: 395,000
3. Overweight-obesity: 216,000
4. Inadequate physical activity and inactivity: 191,000
5. High blood sugar: 190,000
6. High LDL cholesterol: 113,000
7. High dietary salt: 102,000
8. Low dietary omega-3 fatty acids (seafood): 84,000
9. High dietary trans fatty acids: 82,000
10. Alcohol use: 64,000
11. Low intake of fruits and vegetables: 58,000
12. Low dietary poly-unsaturated fatty acids: 15,000
13. Illegal drugs: 9,429

Not eating enough fruits and vegetables is more dangerous than doing illegal drugs! 

OMG! GET THAT WATERMELON AWAY FROM ME!

Harvard's breakdown is very similar to a popular CDC article titled "Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000" (that they have for some reason neglected to provide ever again), which listed the top three causes of death as smoking, poor diet and inactivity, and alcohol consumption, respectively. And just for some more reference, here's another article showing the top nine causes of death in the U.S. (hint: illegal drugs aren't on there).

In conclusion, no one should ever do illegal drugs, ever, because the government decided they're illegal and dangerous and they'll corrupt your mind. For more fun reading, check out the DEA's informative PDF Drugs of Abuse.

For our next installment, we'll be looking at another danger of illegal drugs: addiction, and how the government lists it as a mental health issue on all their websites, but decides to use the law enforcement system to treat it with prison sentences. Addiction is a disease, after all, and everyone knows the saying: "A 15-year sentence keeps the doctor away."

LIST OF PEOPLE WHO SHOULD FUCK THEMSELVES

Here's a list of how "our representatives" voted on the Amash Amendment that would (hopefully) protect us from the NSA's unchecked spying. Anyone who voted "no" should seriously fuck off. If your "representative" voted "no", please give them a call and tell them to get fucked.

On Agreeing to the Amendment: Amendment 42 to H R 2397

Congress needs to fuck off. No one likes it.

IF YOU DRIVE, THEY'RE TRACKING YOU

Automated license plate readers that track every single license plate they see and often store the data indefinitely have become a hot topic lately. The databases of information, which includes every sighting of a particular plate (i.e. you) over long periods of time can be viewed much like Google maps. Hope you didn't park in front of a crack den when you went out for milk.

Your new fingerprint. Via Wikimedia Commons.

The ACLU has been blasting not only the surveillance of innocent (though assumed-guilty) citizens, but also the varying retention policies of law enforcement offices. A few discard the info after a few days, some hold onto it for years (you never know when a "good guy" could turn out to actually be a "bad guy"), and others don't see a reason to have a policy at all. They have a page on their site dedicated to ALPR systems and a report in PDF format.

But what else can we do to protect our privacy against a government who continues to expand its powers? (And on a side note, do you trust the government to keep all the data it has on you safe?) While we haven't used it, you may want to invest in the NoPhoto license plate frame.

Or maybe you should never drive ever again, at least not in America.

RUSSIA CONDUCTS MILITARY TESTS TO SHOW OFF TO "CHINA AND JAPAN"

A recent NPR article announced Russia has been conducting military tests the likes of which haven't been seen since the prime years of the U.S.S.R. Analysts say they're doing this to show off for "China and Japan".

Call me paranoid, but maybe they're prepping for World War III, and I doubt they're going to be on our side. Relations with our cold neighbor have been pretty strained in recent years.

Back in 2012 there was Obama's "Give us space" remark.

And more recently, Putin pulled a Bill Clinton, told Obama Snowden wasn't "technically" in Russia.

Putin verbally slaps Obama.

Putin then "toys" with Obama.

It's gotten to the point that Obama is considering cancelling a meeting with Putin because he's so sick of his shit.

It doesn't help that analysts are saying Putin thinks Russia will one day "eclipse" the US.

Or that some people think the conflict is going to end in a nuclear stalemate.

With all the reports of Putin and Obama's difficulties working together, their struting and sparring, and the low-blows that have come from both fields, it's curious the Mass Media hasn't stirred up some controversy and pandered red-scare news stories to the masses. The lack of connection between our failed relations with Russia and their current military displays actually makes me more nervous that something worse is afoot. It's obvious the government controls the media, so just how much are they hiding from us in regard to a coming showdown with Russia?

DRONES ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL

If you weren't scared of drones when it was revealed that the FBI has been using them over U.S. soil, or when the potential new head of the FBI made a case for using drone strikes to kill Americans in the U.S., perhaps some of the newly revealed capabilities of drones will get you worried. (And if not, you can always read this interview with top drone pilot Bill Tart.)

ARGUS can capture HD video of 15 square miles from 30,000 feet in the air. It's the “equivalent to having up to a hundred Predators look at an area the size of a medium-sized city at once.” It was discussed in Nova's "Rise of the Drones" program, from which the following clip is taken. The drone has a 1.8 gigapixel camera and constantly sends data back to the ground to be analyzed. People can be individually recognized, monitored, and followed throughout the day. This is some serious Enemy of the State business.

Interestingly enough, the US Military has stopped releasing drone information in regards to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. On top of that, it also deleted all data from previous reports. Why would they not want us to know that 25% of missile attacks are completed by drones?

Perhaps because drone strikes have been shown to kill ten times more civilians than "terrorists". A U.S. study based on drone strikes in Pakistan criticized their use. This comes after Pakistan was revealed to secretly be requesting more drone strikes on their people, while publicly condemning them.

The drone industry is booming. It shouldn't matter to you whether a drone is killing or spying on people in a foreign land or right here in America. Drones represent a chilling future for humanity. Aside from turning war into a real-life video game, they're ineffective and pushed on us by the Military Industrial Complex.

If anyone has images or video of a drone flying in the U.S., please send it to us.

PRISM: WE ARE ALL ENEMIES OF THE STATE, BUT DOES ANYONE EVEN CARE?

It was a top story on newscasts, news sites, newspapers, and more, but will the American public have any reaction to PRISM? The story didn't get as much attention as Angelina Jolie's boob-job, or Kim Kardashian's pregnancy, but at least the mainstream media has finally made an effort to cover the issue of government spying (maybe because they've recently fallen victim to government spying).

But will it change anything? Does the public even care?

I can't count how many people I've spoken to about NSA whistleblowers, ThinThread, warrantless surveillance and its huge increase over the past few years, the PATRIOT Act, the Protect America Act, and the terrible nightmares I have because of all this. I've been called "crazy", "paranoid", a "conspiracy nut", and so on. Even after the news broke about PRISM, people still said I was a whack-job. They weren't interested in the story, and many still don't believe it. To me, that's the scariest part of it all. Hardly anyone cares.

This is where the magic happens.

Should we tell them everyone is a target? Should we let them know this has been going on since 2001, not 2007? Or that the government is downplaying the amount of data it keeps? Would anyone care that this spying has been used to take down government officials? They'd probably only care if it was a reality show.

Maybe we should give out copies of Enemy of the State, which did a superb job of outlining government spying capabilities while referencing actual NSA history and techniques. Even in 1998 they were just about spot on. Replace the satellites with ARGUS drones and it could be a documentary. Could Will Smith open everyone's eyes?

It's doubtful. The government will continue expanding its power and slowly leaking the information to test the waters. Each time they'll be taking more and more of our privacy, and the public will remain distracted by same-sex marriages, Duck Dynasty, fast food prices, getting drunk, or whatever else they think it so much more important than basic privacy rights.

If you're interested in maintaining any of your privacy, we recommend smashing all your electronics, selling your car, and heading off into the woods somewhere.

THE EMAILS OF A PATRIOT 2

A while back, we posted a collection of emails from a fellow conspiracy theorist. Since then, we haven't heard much from him. We assume he's been laying low; he often disconnects for months at a time. We recently received a couple emails from him and thought we would share.

Send us an e-mail of your own.

5/16/13 - "Hi Observers"
If you saw this what message would you take? The main debate with DMS5 is the way they classify mental disorders on their surface appearance not on the underlying biology. Appearance can be deceiving.

This photo was attached to the email.

5/18/13 - "Just published"
The following was included in a text document attached to an email. We are unsure of the source; this may be The Patriot's own work, or a forwarded message.

Sunshine without burning is good.

Objective: To explore the association of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and Alzheimer disease (AD) in the Einstein Aging Study, an epidemiologic study of aging in New York City.

Methods: Community-residing volunteers aged 70 years or older were assessed annually, followed by multidisciplinary diagnostic consensus. Cancer status and type was obtained by self-report. Cox proportional hazards models were used to test associations between NMSC and subsequent risk of developing a neurocognitive disorder. To deduce a biologically specific association between AD and NMSC, we considered 3 nested outcomes groups: only AD (probable or possible AD as the sole diagnosis), any AD (probable AD or possible AD, as well as mixed AD/vascular dementia), and all-cause dementia.

Results: We followed 1,102 adults with a mean age of 79 years at enrollment. Prevalent NMSC was associated with reduced risk of only AD (hazard ratio = 0.21; 95% confidence interval = 0.051–0.87; p = 0.031) among subjects after adjustment for demographics, hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. APOE ε4 genotypes were available in 769 individuals. The association was similar in magnitude, but nonsignificant, when the number of APOE ε4 alleles was included in the model. No significant association was found between NMSC and subsequent development of any AD or all-cause dementia.

Conclusions: This population-based longitudinal study shows that individuals older than 70 years with NMSC have a significantly reduced risk of developing AD compared with individuals without NMSC. We deduce Alzheimer-specific neuroprotection, because the effect is attenuated or eliminated when considering less-specific diagnoses such as AD with another diagnosis (any AD) or all-cause dementia.

THE DAILY SHOW ISN'T FUNNY. IT'S HORRIBLY DEPRESSING.

We've been watching The Daily Show for years, and while it always gives us a good chuckle, over the past few years, it's gotten darker and darker. It's becoming hard to laugh at the same injustice, corruption, media bias, and general terrible state of affairs in America. No matter how lovable and hilarious Jon Stewart is, the truths exposed in the show are too disheartening.

THE SYSTEM

Everything is a system. Financial systems. Moral systems. Transportation systems. Ecosystems. Solar systems. Weather systems. Circulatory systems. Everything can be broken down to an element of a system.

Our solar system moving through space. From 4GIFs.com

Our reality is built on layers of systems, and our manufactured society reflects those systems. It builds on those systems. It utilizes the "system layout" to exist.

The drawback to any system is that it can be manipulated. Just like cancer manipulates systems in the human body, viruses manipulate computer systems. Just like pollution impacts environmental systems, selfish people manipulate social systems: school systems, political systems, global trade systems, etc.

What's happening in our current global society is that people are manipulating multiple systems and getting away with it. Take this example. A person manipulates the financial system for personal gain until at some point a piece of the system (or the entire system) breaks down. Then, that person hires someone familiar with the legal system to manipulate it and keep them out of trouble. The person hops from system to system, taking advantage of loopholes and leaving the broken systems in chaos for the rest of society.

There is no perfect system because we live in an imperfect reality. Every system relies on other systems to function. We cannot have a trade system without a legal system. We cannot have a solar system without a planetary system.

The Demon of Greed. By Pouyaafshar, via Wikimedia Commons

The question is: why do people try to break systems? Why are so many of us constantly rejecting our reality? Why are so many of us pursuing selfish goals? Why are so many of us ambivalent to the systems that shape our world? What is it about these systems that so many people reject and take advantage of?

We have no answer for you. We are at a loss for a solution. But something must be done. If humanity is ever going to reach a state of peace, something will have to change. Perhaps it's time to create new systems. Maybe we should start over and build something new, rather than building on the old. Have we learned nothing from our time in existence? Do we not have the tools to build a better system? We hope we do, because the current systems are failing everyone. They are crumbling, and pretty soon there may be no recognizable system left, but maybe that's just the start.

THE WEATHER CHANNEL IS A PIECE OF SHIT

It's common knowledge that major media blows everything out of proportion, choosing exaggerations and hyperbole over facts and hard news in order to boost ratings. The Weather Channel is just about as bad as they get.

The good ol' days.

Long ago the Weather Channel decided to give up its format of slow-moving data and sexy saxophone music for reality programming like Storm Stories, Storm Riders, Forecasting the End, It Could Happen Tomorrow and more. Click here for a complete listing of their shows; it's pretty hilarious. Of particular note are Iceberg Hunters and Deadliest Space Weather (we might actually check out that last one).

What's most ridiculous, though, is their continually overblown coverage of "deadly" storms. This year the Midwest was "ravaged" by two storms of apocalyptic magnitude: Rocky and Q. In reality, they were nothing more than several inches of snow along with some wind. The panic caused by the Weather Channel may have helped stores sell out of milk, but it didn't mean much else.

Then, came "Snowquestration", the fierce storm that shut down the federal government before it even started. Ace blowhard Jim Cantore himself went to D.C. to fist-fight the storm as he usually does. And while the storm amounted to hours of rain, all the Weather Channel decided to show were the ten short minutes of actual snowfall on loop for about 92 hours.

TAKE SHELTER!!! Photo by Pauline Eccles, via Wikimedia Commons

Mother Nature is a scary beast, and time after time she's dealt deadly blows, but the Weather Channel needs to check itself with all these cries of wolf. We've tuned them out completely. Our weather information consists of checking the radar on other sites, and ignoring all warnings and cries for attention. Maybe some day we'll be caught off guard, but it's better than hiding in the basement while it sprinkles outside.