On 3/15/16, Phillip Hallam-Baker <phill@hallambaker.com> wrote:

On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 8:23 PM, Ray Dillinger <bear@sonic.net> wrote:

...

It would be a damned sight easier to take a view that allowed exceptional access with warrants, etc, if in the past the USG had abided by the notion that such access is in fact exceptional rather than routine, and needs to be provided for with warrants, etc.

PRISM and the mass surveillance program violated our norms, no question. But these were not a surprise to anyone who had been paying attention. The big surprise for me was the Abu Ghraib photographs. Any way you consider them, the photographs demonstrate a total collapse of the moral fabric of the US military. And to this day, nobody has been punished for committing the torture. The only jail sentences handing down was for taking the photographs which led to the program being exposed.

Governments always absolve and immunize themselves (and their partners), particularly at the highest levels. Torture, Murder, Surveillance, Drone Kills, Cops Killing, Political Lies, Too Big To Fail, Generally Fucking Shit Up, etc... all typical. The only time they're stopped, indicted, prosecuted, and jailed is when they're failed / overthrown, invaded, or both. In the meantime till people wake up... they've come up with this cool thing called elections to make you forget and think the guard has changed... it hasn't... the same old game. Don't believe it? Ask History. Some history and deja vu... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee#Results_of_the_investigation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper_chip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_noir http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/10-long-lived-empires.htm...