- Remember when President George W. Bush sought to expand the government's powers to surveil citizens with the Patriot Act?
- Remember the outcry on the part of the liberal left in 2006 when it became known that the FBI was monitoring the ACLU and antiwar groups?
- Remember the outrage and political wrangling when the Patriot Act was renewed?
Many on the political left were apoplectic, decrying the alleged intrusion into the the lives of ordinary citizens. They demanded: Aren't we supposed to be protected by the Fourth Amendment?
It just so happens that The Motley Monk came across an item published by RT Questions More reporting that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to gather personal data on journalists or others who might use "traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed."
So, who might that include?
The new provisions could include any reporter or blogger, like The Motley Monk, and make them the subject of DHS spying! Also included are government officials, domestic or not, who make public statements, private sector employees who do the same, and "persons known to have been involved in major crimes of Homeland Security interest."
This power grab opens the door to surveillance of all sorts of persons.
By the way, DHS's definition of personal identifiable information is that which "permits the identity of an individual to be directly or indirectly inferred, including any information which is linked or linkable to that individual."
The Motley Monk isn't outraged by this power grab on the part of the administration. What The Motley Monk is outraged by is those on the liberal left who scream bloody murder when a White Republican President sought to expand the government's surveillance powers. In contrast, when a Black Democrat President expands those very powers, there's deafening silence on the part of the liberal left.
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| The liberal left's big mouth |
Where's the outcry?
Let the discussion begin...
To read the RT Questions More article, click on the following link:
http://rt.com/usa/news/homeland-security-journalists-monitoring-321/
I would suggest you apply your vision to people like Glenn Greenwald at www.Salon.com, or Eric Alterman at www.thenation.com or Alexander Cockburn or even Andrew Sullivan who, with the exception of Sullivan, are fairly left of center.
ReplyDeleteThe Lord God gave you eyes so that you might see.
And a mind that I might understand?
ReplyDeleteWith regard to those on the political left, I think it was Hannah Arendt who wrote "There's nothing so blinding as an ideology or more dastardly than one who is blinded by ideology."
Of course, she was speaking of Hitler and his followers. TMM is not, merely addressing the phenomenon.
Despite Jonah Goldberg, Liberals do not equal fascists/nazis.
ReplyDeletePerhaps. But one must be a political liberal to become a Fascist or a Nazi (or, for that matter, a Stalinist or Maoist), no? Just as one must be a political conservative to venture into right-wing nut, evangelical Christian, "love America or leave it" terrain, no?
ReplyDelete