America's New Surveillance Dragnet

(wsj.com)

21 points | by julienchastang 15 hours ago ago

5 comments

  • kashunstva 10 hours ago ago

    > “Our law enforcement methods follow the U.S. Constitution.”

    Do they not consider the Fourth Amendment part of the Constitution?

    • scarecrowbob 2 hours ago ago

      To these folks the constitution is just paper. Just like their bible, the words mean whatever they say they mean.

      Politically, I am an anarchist, so I already believed that they operate with disdain for the folks they govern- I look at how they treat the natives where I live in the rural West and it's obvious, and I have never believed that their racism would save me from that treatment. So to me there's nothing new here except the aesthetics of how they implement control over populations of people and the depth of their faith in surveillance technolgy.

      Pragmatically, though, it's wild to watch them try and burn that paper.

      When they stop pretending to care about the rule of law (a pretense they have undone a little each day of my adult life, and I am almost 50), they undermine the legitimacy of their government in the eyes of the general population.

      These folks (the folks in the political mainstream of US political ideology, the ones with hands on the levers of capital and US force) are so far up their own asses high on literal amphetamines and social media that they thought they could control Minneapolis with 3k troops or take the Persian gulf by sniping some old and dying priest.

      They have not been in touch with reality for a long time, insulated from it by their massive wealth.

      Fine with me; I've never had enough folks on my side to think about pushing back so my life has been and will be spent caring for my local folks and watching the internal contradictions that the Marxists understand so well pull these systems down on themselves.

      I'm not under any illusions that I personally will survive the fire they are lighting or, that this won't bring about human suffering on a scale that is impossible to comprehend. But I don't have any power over that and my people don't have any power over that outcome; there is little to be gained in fighting the heat-death of the sun, any more than telling the Democrat folks that running Harris would doubtlessly lead to the election of Trump or complaining that some day I'm going to die.

      But it is wild to watch them burn this house down in such short order.

      Anyhow, to answer your question: no. The constitution is whatever they say it is and always has been.

  • k310 15 hours ago ago
  • Havoc 13 hours ago ago

    Well that all seems rather dystopian

    • woodpecker21 12 hours ago ago

      It is just the beginning. The way they are behaving its going to be more and more troublesome.