Neocon Godfather Francis Fukuyama Warns of “Too Much Transparency” in Government

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Although he’s attempted to distance himself from it in recent years, there is little doubt about the role American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama, has played in popularizing the cancerous ideology know as neo-conservatism.

In case you harbor any doubts, he was one of the signatories to Bill Kristol’s infamous open letter to George W. Bush on September 20, 2001, which amongst other things, argued for military involvement in Iraq. A move that ultimately manifested in 2003, and represents one of the greatest foreign policy blunders in U.S. history. Here’s the Iraq section from that letter, signed by Mr. Fukuyama:

We agree with Secretary of State Powell’s recent statement that Saddam Hussein “is one of the leading terrorists on the face of the Earth….” It may be that the Iraqi government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States. But even if evidence does not link Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism. The United States must therefore provide full military and financial support to the Iraqi opposition. American military force should be used to provide a “safe zone” in Iraq from which the opposition can operate. And American forces must be prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition by all necessary means.

Of course, what Mr. Fukuyama is most famous for, is the ridiculous assertion in his book, The End of History and the Last Man, that the worldwide spread of liberal democracies and free market capitalism of the West and its lifestyle may signal the end point of humanity’s sociocultural evolution and become the final form of human government.

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Turning Humans Into Algos – The Trend of Employees Wearing “Biosensing Wearable Devices” at Work

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The future is here.

Just yesterday, I published an article titled, “Minority Report”-esque Big Brother Billboards are Coming to England. Here’s an excerpt in case you missed it:

Much of the shift is being driven by today’s enhanced data-collection and analysis power. Ocean’s three new billboards in Birmingham, shaped like large human eyes, will broadcast ads like regular digital billboards, but have the ability to change based on how many of a certain group are within “eyesight” of the camera. 

But software will analyze the feeds to pick up facial features and how long a person looked at an advertisement, according to Olivier Duizabo, chief executive of Quividi, the company that made the software.

Today, I came across a Bloomberg article that highlighted how some companies, particularly hedge funds looking for an edge, are having employees wear “biosensing wearable devices,” in order to collect detailed analytics about them and hopefully improve performance.

We learn that:

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Washington Post Reporter Charged with “Trespassing” in Ferguson, Missouri as the “War on Journalism” Continues

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A year ago, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery, was arrested in a McDonald’s in Ferguson Missouri. The fast-food establishment had been used as a staging area for several reporters, including the Huffington Post’s Ryan Rilley, who was also arrested. Here’s last year’s video clip of Mr. Lowery being harassed by a paramilitary police officer.

Although the men were later released without charges, a year later, they are being charged with “trespassing” by St. Louis County. The Washington Post reports:

A Washington Post reporter who was arrested at a restaurant last year while reporting on protests in Ferguson, Mo., has been charged in St. Louis County with trespassing and interfering with a police officer and ordered to appear in court.

Wesley Lowery, a reporter on The Post’s national desk, was detained in a McDonald’s while he was in Missouri covering demonstrations sparked by a white police officer fatally shooting an unarmed black 18-year-old.

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“Minority Report”-esque Big Brother Billboards are Coming to England

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Much of the shift is being driven by today’s enhanced data-collection and analysis power. Ocean’s three new billboards in Birmingham, shaped like large human eyes, will broadcast ads like regular digital billboards, but have the ability to change based on how many of a certain group are within “eyesight” of the camera. 

But software will analyze the feeds to pick up facial features and how long a person looked at an advertisement, according to Olivier Duizabo, chief executive of Quividi, the company that made the software.

– From the Wall Street Journal article: England to Roll Out Tailored Billboards

I assume many of you have seen the movie Minority Report. For those who haven’t, there’s a famous scene during which the protagonist, John Anderton, who works in the department of Precrime, walks through a mall and is bombarded with personalized billboards. The year is 2054. If what is happening in England is any indication, it’s not going to take anywhere near that long.

Before getting into today’s story, here’s the relevant clip from the movie:

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The New York Times Warns About the Pentagon Labeling Journalists “Unprivileged Belligerents”

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This post is a follow up to a piece I published in June titled: New Thousand Page Pentagon War Manual Potentially Lumps Journalists in with “Unprivileged Belligerents.” Here’s an excerpt:

A 1,176 page Pentagon war manual was recently released that hasn’t received the attention it deserves. The book of combat instructions, titled “Department of Defense Law of War Manual,” apparently covers rules of war for all branches of the U.S. military.

One passage in particular is generating controversy, where journalists seem to be thrown into a convoluted and opaque category, in which they could be seen as “unprivileged belligerents” as opposed to civilians. Naturally, this has sparked concern that journalists the U.S. government doesn’t like could be lumped into the “unprivileged belligerents” category and subsequently murdered at will.

Now the New York Times is concerned as well, and rightfully so. In an Op-ed today, the paper explains that:

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Rand Paul Op-ed Blasts Donald Trump – Calls Him a “Fake Conservative” and Wannabe “King”

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The most accurate and incisive critique of Donald Trump I’ve seen to-date was a piece written by Jeffrey Tucker last month, and highlighted here in the post: Donald Trump the Demagogue. It’s very important to call out people like Trump for the man he is, so we don’t simply fawn and fall for a narcissist, strongman-type as a way to deal with our societal pain and frustration.

Rand Paul has done a great service by coming out with his own Op-Ed on “the Donald” published at IJReview. Here are a few excerpts:

I ran for office because I was tired of being misled by Republicans who promised conservative government and gave us bank bailouts and more debt. The Wall Street bankers got richer and the American taxpayer got poorer.

The Tea Party erupted over dissatisfaction with false conservatives. It amazes me that anyone in the Tea Party movement could possibly consider Clinton/Reid/Pelosi supporter Donald Trump for President.

I honestly have no idea what Mr. Trump’s real philosophy is. He was liberal before he was conservative, and has openly professed for decades that his views are those of a Democrat.

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Lois Lerner Emails Released – She Exclaimed: “Lincoln Should Have Let the South Go…”

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Remember Lois Lerner? How could you forget. She’s the former head of the IRS’ Exempted Organizations division who was caught using the agency to target Americans based on their political views.

Well we now have snippets from some of her email conversations, and it becomes crystal clear that she targeted conservatives because, well, she really hates conservatives. Clearly the type of person who should be placed in a position of governmental power.

From the Hill:

Lois Lerner, the central figure in the IRS targeting controversy, called Abraham Lincoln the country’s worst president in an email disclosed in a bipartisan Senate report, according to USA Today.

“Look my view is that Lincoln was our worst president not our best,” Lerner wrote in an email dated March 6, 2014.

Lerner, the former IRS director of Exempted Organizations, joked in one email that the 16th president should have just let the South secede, rather than fighting the Civil War.

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How the Policies of U.S. Ally Egyptian Dictator, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Have Led to a Surge in ISIS Recruitment

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Oh ISIS. The latest existential enemy that we are supposed to relinquish all of our civil liberties in order to battle. The terror group that has everyone so afraid, yet no one asks where they came from, and why their ranks continue to grow.

Here at Liberty Blitzkrieg, we have asked those questions, and the clear answer is that ISIS arose out of the chaotic power vacuum created by the U.S. government’s unprovoked war in Iraq. But it’s worse than that. Far worse. Some of the biggest funders of ISIS from the very beginning, were represented by America’s Middle East “allies.” This is something I highlighted last year in the post: America’s Disastrous Foreign Policy – My Thoughts on Iraq. Here’s an excerpt:

But in the years they were getting started, a key component of ISIS’s support came from wealthy individuals in the Arab Gulf States of Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes the support came with the tacit nod of approval from those regimes; often, it took advantage of poor money laundering protections in those states, according to officials, experts, and leaders of the Syrian opposition, which is fighting ISIS as well as the regime.

“Everybody knows the money is going through Kuwait and that it’s coming from the Arab Gulf,” said Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies. “Kuwait’s banking system and its money changers have long been a huge problem because they are a major conduit for money to extremist groups in Syria and now Iraq.”

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Video of the Day – Battle Royale as Rand Paul Spars with Chris Christie

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There’s nobody running for President under the GOP ticket that I could even consider supporting other than Rand Paul. Although I’ve become disillusioned with him as of late, particularly with the way his campaign is being managed, he did an excellent job defending the 4th Amendment in the Republican debate last night against the incredibly corrupt, neocon thug Chris Christie.

What’s so amusing about the exchange is that Christie couldn’t talk for one minute about NSA surveillance without lying. He stated that:

I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state.

Now here’s the truth from EmptyWheel:

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Brazil’s President Has Approval Rating of 8%, Worst Since Military Dictatorship

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All is not well in Brazil. This is definitely something to keep an eye on:

From Business Insider:

Dilma Rousseff is now Brazil’s most unpopular democratically elected president since a military dictatorship ended in 1985, says a poll out Thursday that put her approval rating at eight percent.

Seventy-one percent of those questioned in the Datafolha survey said they disapprove of the way Rousseff is doing her job, up six points since June. Her approval rating is down from 10 percent.

And two-thirds would like to see her impeached.

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