Police State

Four centuries of surveillance.

US surveillance since WWII. Here's something we should all know without having to be told:

"[NSA leaker] Fellwock’s comments also prefigured what has to be one of the scariest aspects of our present situation – the potential for abuse by "rogue" NSA employees. "There’s a lot of corruption too," he told Ramparts. "Quite a few people in NSA are into illegal activities of one kind or another. It’s taken to be one of the fringe benefits of the job.""

It's the world's premier blackmail organization.

NSA whistleblower describes the extent of NSA blackmail of government officials.

"Tice: Okay. They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial. But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people. They went after antiwar groups. They went after U.S. international–U.S. companies that that do international business, you know, business around the world. They went after U.S. banking firms and financial firms that do international business. They went after NGOs that–like the Red Cross, people like that that go overseas and do humanitarian work. They went after a few antiwar civil rights groups. So, you know, don’t tell me that there’s no abuse, because I’ve had this stuff in my hand and looked at it."

And people think we're a free country. The NSA knows why Barack and Michelle Obama gave up their law licenses.