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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

More Big Brother

Recently Don and I had a conversation in the kitchen. This is nothing unusual; our kitchen, as in many homes, is a family gathering place and many conversations take place in it.

But this conversation concerned how much more intrusive our government is becoming. I told him, "Do you realize how much more carefully I guard my tongue now that I know spying is everywhere?"

It's true. Five years ago I never gave a second thought to who might be listening in to our phone calls, monitoring our email, photographing our mail, watching us from drones, or otherwise delving into our private business. I naively assumed we had privacy in our lives.

The reason I mention the kitchen is because, in theory, our private conversation could have been monitored by two potential sources near that room: our cell phones, and my computer. I don't have a camera on my computer and our cell phones (seldom used) were turned off, but these days I wonder if that makes a difference. Maybe we should start having conversations in the barn instead.

A few months ago I had a phone call with a dearly loved friend who now lives across the country. She began discussing something to do with the government and how she found it disturbing... and I found myself clamming up because I feared her words might "trigger" some spying device and cause us trouble.

And if that doesn't sound paranoid, I don't know what does. But as the old adage goes, Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong.

The mere fact that there are certain things I don't mention on the phone or via email means, in a way, that "they" are winning. It means my First Amendment rights are being clamped down. It means that I am fearful of my government.

Want proof? A few months ago an innocent family had their door kicked in during a pre-dawn raid by government thugs simply because the husband and wife happened to independently google "backpacks" (for their kids' schoolbooks) and "pressure cookers" (for improved kitchen efficiency). You probably remember this raid. I'd provide a link, but in order to do so I'd have to input "backpack" and "pressure cooker" into my computer's search engine, and doing so apparently triggers pre-dawn raids by government thugs. If you're interested in finding the news article online, I suggest you be careful.

Data are by no means private, as Target customers or Obamacare website users can testify. Hackers are smart people and can grab data at the drop of a hat.

But government spying is worrisome and indicative of the cracking foundation of our nation's stability. When the people become the enemy -- who must be spied upon -- I see it as the beginning of the end.

And it's not just spying on emails and cell phones. People who seek the advice of a counselor are on their way to having their rights to own firearms revoked. My husband was mentioning a radio ad he's been hearing for a "natural stress relief" product in which "the first month is FREE!" In this Brave New World, if you're foolish enough to admit you might be experiencing stress, how long before that disqualifies you to keep your firearms? After all, you might "lose it" and start shooting up a mall!

There are endless things in the news lately that make me mistrustful and further my desire to spend my life hunkering down. Recently a bank in England refused -- refused! -- to allow its customers to make large cash withdrawals of their own money unless they provided a "good reason." Due to the outcry, they hastily reversed this policy... but do you suppose that made customers feel warm and fuzzy about the availability and accessibility of their savings accounts? And how long before a similarly invasive process is instigated here?

Last fall, Poland confiscated half of private pension funds to reduce government debt. And how can we forget how Cyprus confiscated up to 15% of bank accounts overnight (as well as imposing a $500 limit on withdrawals and a ban on online transfers)?

As Michael Snyder notes, "Now that "bail-ins" have become accepted practice all over the planet, no bank account and no pension fund will ever be 100% safe again. In fact, Cyprus-style wealth confiscation is already starting to happen all around the world."

And now we learn President Obama "will unveil a new retirement savings plan tonight that allows first-time savers to buy US Treasury bonds tax-deferred for retirement." Yeah right. And how safe would those retirement funds would be from government confiscation?

Paranoid? Hardly.

Public schools are no better. The national dumbed down curriculum Common Core will ensure that all kids learn to toe the official government line. It's no wonder I'm mistrustful of public schools. Anything the government runs must, by definition, conform with the government's opinion. Therefore public school students can hardly be encouraged to view government interference as bad. Students are also cultivated not to question government actions, laws, regulations, or "official" news.

Interestingly the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories are now showing up as news headlines on Drudge almost every day. It seems those who are suspicious have every justification to be suspicious.

Just some thoughts as we prepare to split some firewood in the face of an incoming snowstorm.


  1. Thank you, Patrice. You're only saying the painfully obvious, and expressing things that I'm certain many of us are thinking.

    I've come to think one the most dangerous things we do on any given day is visiting conservative websites, especially if we dare to post our thoughts and concerns about where our country is headed.

    It's abundantly clear we're at the brink of something very dreadful in this nation if the current climate of hate and aggressive lawlessness continues being fomented by the powers that be.

    There is a great evil afoot in America today.


    1. Amen A.McSp. 'Evil' is the word.

      I believe Dec. 31, 2011 will go down in history as the day our Republic died. The NDAA gutted the Bill of Rights. Liberty today is hanging by one thread, the 2nd Amendment. But that is under siege on so many fronts. Gun owners will soon be outlaws.

      Thomas Jefferson said, "When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." He also said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants". Connect those dots...

      Prepare for the Feds to 'scorch the Earth' to stop us from expressing such thoughts. Gone will sites such as this one. Neutrality will not be an option. My advice would be to get good with God and pick your battles carefully.
      Montana Guy

    2. Copy that, Bro. and Amen.

      A. McSp

  2. Patrice, I taught in public schools for over 30 years, and I am scared also. When I first began with my high school students, I taught at a colleg level. Several of my kids who went on to college received A's in freshman English courses because of me. When I ended my career 5 years ago, I had seniors who could not read, did not think with their heads but rather their "feelings" and could not write or speak a coherent thought. They were being dumbed down to make the statistics look better. I actually had to teach them at a 7th grade level, or my job would have been in jeopardy because I flunked so many. I quit tired of fighting the dumbed-down standards, and I was replaced by a young woman who said,"Her and I had lunch," or wrote, "Students need to bring there books every day," on her class syllabus sent home to parents.
    We had Shirley Temple; now they have Honey BooBoo.
    We had the Cleavers; now they have Modern Family.
    And yes, I am careful what I say and what I type. 1984.

    A profound thought I read on a blog the other day: A free man or woman does not need to ask permission of the government.

  3. When I was a kid, growing up in the 70's, I remember reading a Christian comic where the kids were taught to turn in their parents for teaching them things that conflicted with the state thinking. Anyone else remember that? I remember it really scared me at the time.

  4. I'm afraid to even leave a comment.

  5. It is way past time to impeach this president. The IRS is persecuting those who disagree with him. The FBI is invetigating those who disagree with him. The NSA is listenng to everyone to find those who disagree with him. The ATF is selling guns into Mexico to drug cartels for the purpose of being able to point to the fact that American guns were used to murder Mexicans and ths give support to more prohibitive gun laws for law abiding Americans. The EPA is confiscating land, putting businesses out of business, working hand in hand with so-called green groups to extort money from hapless citizens and businesses that fall into their traps. Drug enfocrement seems to be getting money and favors from drug pushers and cartels but killing nnocent Americans. We need a dozen or so special prosecutors to be appointed to investigate the couple of dozen crimes the president has committed in his anti-constitutional joy riding.

    1. my real question is this--who are those in the irs, forest service and other entities who are carrying out the unconstitutional orders?? where are their backbones and morals?
      the government lawlessness is merely a reflection of what seems to be a majority of the people.
      deb h

  6. A while back I sent you an article addressing Just that .... How the NSA had "bugged" or monitored a popular Christian (high level) investigator's phone (Doug Haggman's on Haggman & Hagman's - Christian radio), and captured the notice on his caller id ??? It's here my friends .... Prepare for the unexpected

  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    1. You are incorrect about this story.

      They did in fact search the family's home during a pre-dawn raid. They did in fact question the woman, specifically about a previously published article critical of a federal agency. The piece preceded and had no relationship to the alleged reason for the search. They searched and asked questions totally unrelated to the alleged reason for the search and were not covered in the warrant. They took her computer.

      If anything Patrice has minimized the true nature and conduct of the episode, and I can understand why.

      You, on the other hand, are simply in error about the story. I would encourage you to take this all a bit more seriously, and to refrain from minimizing its implications.

      And so you'll know, the one of the pretexts used to invade their home was the allegation that they suspected her husband may have improperly documented the private sale of a fire arm......years previously.

      It was some seriously bad juju.

      A. McSp

    2. I wrote, "I thought," "I'm not sure," "I don't think" so I can't really be "in error" but only lacking information - and I still am. For the record, I've done the same google searches and when the Feds come knocking down my door I'll let you know.

    3. How do you "improperly documented the private sale of a fire arm"? You sell it the buyer hands you a stack of $20's and you hand him the firearm what "documentation" is there? Seriously.

  8. Recently I was on the phone with a friend and we were talking about NSA, loss of privacy, etc. and I told my friend "whoever is out there listening please take notes on how outraged we are"! I understand that we need to be cautious, and I am, and I know you especially Patrice being more in the public, but are we that far gone that we can't speak our minds and voice our opinions? Maybe I'm naive, but we as Americans should not live in fear and intimidation (at least not yet).

  9. paranoia is just a heightened sense of awareness!

  10. I don't care. If they want to come for me, they're going to come anyway. I'm not shutting up.

  11. We live in a Big Brother state for sure. A few years ago my sister told me she was playing cards with her husband and friends when her cell phone rang~sitting next to her. She answered it, and it was like the phone recorded the previous ten minutes and she could hear them all, conversation, laughter etc. She was completely wigged out.

    I took that as an eye opener. Everything is recorded. Everywhere. All the time. Even if we disable the camera.

    Live with this knowledge. Know when you can speak and when you cannot, and for goodness sakes, do you really need the cell phone when you are in the bathroom? Or for the trip to market?

    As for me, less is best. I do enjoy blogging, but I could toss the computer tomorrow...

    Won't matter, they have the gizzmos on vehicles, in stores, at streetcorners and street lights.

  12. It used to be a joke. "We accept cash with proper identification."

    In the mail today from JPMorgan Chase Bank:

    ""Important news about cash deposits
    When making a cash deposit, please:
    Deposit only into personal accounts that list your name
    Please talk to us about alternative deposit options. We're happy to help."

    It used to be that large cash deposits and withdrawals over $10,000 (I think later $5,000) had to be reported to the Feds. Now it appears that ALL cash deposits are suspect.

    Whatever happened to the notice on our bills "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private"? It is still there but ignored.

  13. Very scary times we live in...

  14. Be not intimidated into silence.

    Silence leads to apathy.
    Apathy leads to ignorance.
    Ignorance leads to fear.
    Fear leads to hatred.
    And hatred leads to ... we all know where.

    Just Me

  15. this has been going on for decades but it is just ramped up now. or else we are hearing more about it as the sinners who do it are no longer worried about our reaction.
    there was a list of words which would be flagged by the machine listening to your phone calls and a human being-i use the term loosely--would then listen to you.
    i didn't know all the words but 'assassin' was one of them.
    when my brother would call i would tell him what i was going to do and then say 'assassin'.
    i would then tell whoever was listening that he was not only abrogating the Constitution but offending God Himself. i then warned the listener that he was risking hellfire and needed to repent.
    i hope it saved someone's soul, although someone taking a job like that might be beyond help.
    someone who knew electronics told me a good while back that if you can hear a device [t.v. , telephone] it can hear you.
    also satellites can hear conversations on the ground!! almost unbelievable but that has been true for decades also.
    antichrist may be on his way now.
    God help us!
    if God had not shortened the time no flesh would have been left living.
    we are in for it. Pray more!!
    pray for your children.
    deb h

    1. Easy now Deb..... sound waves are carried by air. Therefore if a satellite is in space ( a vacuum... no air ) it can't hear you. It's not almost unbelievable, it's flat out unbelievable and untrue.

      In space no one can hear you scream...

    2. i read it an interview with an engineer who designed the satellite he3 referenced. it was in readers' digest years ago. i think he knew whereof he spake.
      unless the readers' digest printed it as a joke.

  16. It's becoming a very scary world we live in. I saw something on facebook today that said "Maybe if we all email the Constitution to each other the NSA will finally figure out it exists". I find it so interesting that more people aren't afraid of the surveillance that is going on and what we know about is only a drop in the bucket.

  17. We're right there with you. The whole post... it's all exactly what we've been thinking and discussing for some time ourselves.

  18. Change your blog name then. You don't represent "revolution" whatsoever. You have admitted this yourself. Sad. You have allowed the government to take what they wanted and made you fearful. I suggest you read the words of our Founding Fathers and find that "in your face" voice you claim to have.


    1. Shawn, you write like someone who's about 14 years old.

      And as far as coming here to disrespect and cast aspersions on Patrice...well.....you can just shove that nonsense right back into the dark hole from which you pulled it.

      Predicated on the nature of your post, one can only imagine what you're doing lurking around here in the first place.

      A. McSp

    2. Truth upsets some people but being 58 years of age, I've learned to face it and to face the facts. I said nothing more than what can be gleaned from this blog. Truth upsets some people. And in this instance, it has nothing to do with disrespect -- it is obvious for a casual observer to see how easily people can be manipulated and even spooked. So your little keyboard warrior stance is nothing more than a farce.

      This post was presented via a feed I subscribe to. There is nothing sinister or suspicious about how I came to this site, unless you, too, are paranoid. The internet is available to everyone at this time. Or do you only want it to be here for sheeple who follow along dutifully?



  19. Patrice,

    My mother and I have a lot of fun with the possibility that someone is listening to us on our phone conversations, especially since lately we've been having a lot of problems with static and other issues with our phones. We talk every night for 30 minutes to an hour, usually about nothing important: Whatever news was interesting during the day, family stuff, what's for supper, and so on. We're so boring that a large part of our conversation centers around our critters, their activities, and even their -- ahem -- potty habits. Usually, after we have a deep, serious discussion about which dogs pooped, when, where, and how "successful" it was, we just say, "Well, NSA, hope you enjoyed that! Serves you right!"

  20. Thank you for your writings....you put into words what so many of us are thinking....appreciate your courage.

  21. I say we all use the word/phrases that trigger an alert in everything that we type. That should slow the down a bit.

  22. I know I am on a list somewhere. When I was in college, I made friends with someone living in Oman. I was learning Arabic and he offered to send me some books (much better options for learning the language), and he wrote me a letter in Arabic.

    He sent the package express mail so that it would get to me quickly. When it came, the box had been opened and the letter removed, oh it took 4 months to get to my location.

  23. Sorry, meant to type "them".

  24. This is nothing new, although it s getting worse. Back in the early 1980's, a friend of mine, as a joke, signed me up for a free 13-week subscription to the weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party. Then, in 1989, a cousin of mine, an Air Force officer, was almost denied an enhanced security clearance needed for a promotion. He eventually passed the security clearance and got his promotion, but it was touch-and-go for a while. The problem? His cousin (me!) that was on file with the FBI as a possible subversive. Until it got straightened out, it caused some serious friction in the family.

  25. Hello Patrice, here it is not better, the police ask that all vehicles are connected in order to take control and immobilize remotely if necessary: http://www.europe1.fr/High-Tech/La-police-attend-beaucoup-des-objets-connectes-1785707/

    Trystia from France

  26. Trystia from FranceJanuary 31, 2014 at 7:25 AM

    ' The EU is working on a device that will stop vehicles at a distance '

    The EU is developing in secret on a device that will allow police to stop cars traveling distance , reports the Daily Telegraph. This device would fit all cars called to be offered for sale in European markets by the end of the decade.

    It could be activated from a computer to a police station , and work by cutting off the fuel supply and ignition of the vehicle by a drunk driver on the run, or any other suspect.

    The objective of this technology would be to stop the prosecution of vehicles at high speeds and improve technical stop vehicles currently used , which consist for example puncture the tires of the car of the fugitive . The document states that these actions can be dangerous to bystanders and that the fact that offenders take all sorts of risks to escape the police, it is often unable to engage in pursuit, because it has ' no way to stop their vehicle safely.

    According to confidential documents from an executive committee of the European policies , this technology would be ready in 6 years. It would fit in the secret program " European Network technology implementation of the law" , or ENLETS (' European Network of Law Enforcement Technology ), a board on which a European working group that seeks to optimize cooperation between different police forces across the EU . This program also includes a section dedicated to improving the recognition of license plates, and information sharing.

    However, the British Conservative MP David Davis has questions about this technology : "I 'm curious what will be the responsibility of the State if they are all vehicles of these devices and one of them stops a car that was doing 100 km / h on a highway with a truck behind it, and it causes death , "he said . "It is time that legislators stop believing that technology is a kind of magic , and they realize that it is fallible , and that failures can do serious damage."


    Trystia from France

  27. Trystia from FranceJanuary 31, 2014 at 8:29 AM

    Strategies to manipulate masses

    Create problems and then offer solutions

    This method is also called "problem-reaction-solution." It first creates a problem, a "situation" expected to elicit some reaction from the public, so that it is itself applicant measures we wish him to accept. For example: let it develop urban violence, or arrange for bloody attacks, so that the public is requesting security laws at the expense of freedom. Or: create an economic crisis to accept as a necessary evil the decline of social rights and the dismantling of public services.

    Trystia from France

  28. Patrice,
    Speaking of 'bail-ins', there's a WND article regarding bail-ins here in the good old USA... compliments of Dodd Frank. Your deposit into your bank account doesn't belong to the depositor, it is the bank's. Here is the link - http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/yes-feds-can-take-your-deposits/

  29. That is a very good tip especially to those fresh to the blogosphere.
    Simple but very accurate information? Many thanks
    for sharing this one. A must read article!

  30. our liberty was lost after the War of Northern Aggression.
    the U.S. Constitution allowed for chain of events leading up to the despotism we have today.
    Patrick Henry, best known for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, strongly opposed the ratifying of the Constitution and only reluctantly gave in after giving his all to fight against it. if it wasn't for Henry, we would have no amendments.
    it is only a matter of time, perhaps a few months, before we will be forced to choose between life or liberty.

    God bless and REDEEM the US of A