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.