The national security state has, to put it mildly, “flipped its shit” over Edward Snowden. And in information security, where I work, it’s become de rigeur to call Snowden’s actions a wake-up call. But, really? It’s more like a snooze alarm.
“Let’s rehearse it a few more times, to make it look spontaneous” – (theater director, when I was a high school sophomore)
Jean Meslier
By incessantly repeating to men that the earth is not their true country; that the present life is but a passage; that they were not made to be happy in this world; that their sovereigns hold their authority but from God, and are responsible to Him alone for the misuse of it; that it is never permitted to them to resist, the priesthood succeeded in perpetuating the misconduct of the kings and the misfortunes of the people; the interests of the nations have been cowardly sacrificed to their chiefs.
In a rally address that veered off frequently from prepared remarks, Donald Trump suggested Friday that if Hillary Clinton were to shoot somebody “right smack in the middle of the heart,” the former secretary of state would not face charges.
There’s an important piece being published at The Guardian, regarding the CIA’s attempt to conceal its torture program, and how congressional investigation was stymied (and allowed itself to be).
Chiitaanibah Johnson of California State University, Sacramento says she was disenrolled from her U.S. History class for disagreeing with her professor over the existence of North American genocide.
The defining mark of the state is authority, the right to rule. The primary obligation of man is autonomy, the refusal to be ruled. It would seem, then, the there can be no resolution of the conflict between the autonomy of the individual and the putative authority of the state.
This is a good explanation of how economic unfairness is perpetuated. From Robert Paul Wolff, “Autobiography Of An Ex-White Man”
When does authoritarianism shift to totalitarianism?
Politically, authoritarianism is a system in which the state asserts its supreme power over a region, then uses that power to dictate rules and behaviors. There are a variety of authoritarianisms, including Stalinism, Maoism, Putinism, Fascism, Kimism, dictatorship, tyranny, aristocracy, monarchy and so forth.