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?