Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to be moving beyond dictating what people can drink and eat in his city despite judicial rulings finding his policies in violation of the Constitution. Bloomberg joined the Pavlovian response of politicians this week in calling for a reduction in civil liberties in response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Bloomberg warned citizens that the Constitution will “have to change” to allow for greater security to stave off future attacks.
Bloomberg warned that “The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry. But we live in a complex word where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”
It is statements like this that show a fundamental lack of understanding of our constitutional history and values. It borders on constitutional defamation. We have a Constitution that has survived pressures that could have reduced many systems to a fine dust from depression to social strife. Yet, two brothers plant make-shift bombs built from pressure cookers and Bloomberg wants to take a cleaver to the Constitution. Exactly what part of the Constitution does Bloomberg want to reduce like an over-sized soda? Privacy? The warrant clause?
Bloomberg however feels that the Constitution is not the object that we are fighting to protect but the very thing that is endangering us: “Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms. New Yorkers probably know that as much if not more than anybody else after the terrible tragedy of 9/11. We have to understand that in the world going forward, we’re going to have more cameras and that kind of stuff. That’s good in some sense, but it’s different from what we are used to.”
Bloomberg is of course calling for such changes before we even analyze this attack. His call for more cameras ignores that fact that this attack would not have been avoided with such measures and occurred in one of the most heavily surveilled areas of Boston — a point discussed in an earlier column.
While it is politicians like Bloomberg who are endangering our rights, he prefers to blame his proposed actions on the terrorists: “We cannot let the terrorists put us in a situation where we can’t do those things. And the ways to do that is to provide what we think is an appropriate level of protection.” How exactly are the terrorists “putting us in a situation where we can’t” protect ourselves unless Bloomberg is including the Framers among the terrorists.
It appears that, yet again, privacy will be the right to bear the brunt of political responses to the bombing. Bloomberg was quick to say religion must be protected while calling for increased government surveillance of citizens: “You still want to let people practice their religion, no matter what that religion is. And I think one of the great dangers here is going and categorizing anybody from one religion as a terrorist. That’s not true … That would let the terrorists win. That’s what they want us to do.”
No, Mr. Mayor, what the terrorist want us to do is to cause self-inflicted wounds like ripping down our constitutional laws and traditions. They want to show that we are hypocrites. That is the point of terror — to trigger a bigger response to the bombing out of fear and hate. Bloomberg responded perfectly on cue in calling for the expansion of the already burgeoning security state.
We are truly living in dangerous times but the greatest threat can be found in men like Bloomberg who fit the description perfectly of Louis Brandeis: ““The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.”
Source: Politicker
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/04/boston-marathon-conspiracies/ nick, Some say the blood was staged while others say Michele Obama conspired with Russian oligarchs.
to go back to decade-hence they would all be wearing war clothes. some times I even know the clothes they are wearing years before they walk U P to ME. I would like to wonder sometimes. if they are whereing camo flawdged under wear what are they trying to hide! tu fik all to understand…
…do nothing and nothing will happen and I will diccar U N till there is nothing
…this is what it means: the earth will be destroyed, ore times put in the proper place.
marri’n tufik all broadcast that I will always be sick, looking fore a bed, and shivering so badley that the bed wood bee ratteling.the whore says in storee count-tea genisis three four must ang’L for shelter and lyon with the lam’ with every knead, and go down the rode to love lock a relevation: see seven teen.
Hey prez the pope wants a joe Blob and bidon wants to kiss his ring…
… if you want to talk to god, Gyst get on the tube station and tell U S you want to talk to DUH NUT ( wy fore ‘evans sake did cussed her make a miss take in omen’ .
tim’ee te’boeing to the cross is a gaurt er coma n snake an u s water to a b rode to imagine.sum myrhh smells are all over.
knocksville: men will hesitate at EL door rod oh the men in awe will go to a park and ‘read and know that skin flints sparks. ahhh squaw guess ! the ter’tell did creak in ac’e.
the sands of L.’V. are written, knot to go two parks and sin ! don’t litter ! the h’ll will be m’n’s’m…
…the a post’oles creed that no’man will be judged unfarelee aft-her a wrapped sure of GOD! knew,men would live in sin and hallei lou-ya, holy, wholey, holey. HE is risen ! he is blessed, and the only weigh to get the ring out your ‘ears is to suck it out through the womb ! bi’e on t’me: the weight is over he’d…
… pee pill will go out in day light and see duh stars.have you done the L’V. stirr-upp. ewe missed a period . they covered the street , and GOD rote a crap game with die’ from a mounty car low.
will jon stew-art take the summerof with pat some-or-all, all those born of GOD we’re made known in a SECOND!
Oky1, Do you think those doctors as Mass General that did the amputations on the bombing victims are in on the “false flag operation” ?
Nick, are you feeling alright? LOL;)
http://myauctionfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/shock5.jpg
Berlin was safe and orderly. Then came der Amerikans mit der bombers and den der Ruskies and Amerikans troops. Disorder. We moved to New York. Heil Bloomberg.
Testing
Nick,
I wish most of this stuff was a joke.
Have you studied Monsanto’s GOMs?
I have a bit.
Your fear of flying monkes might be well founded.
With corpes like Monsanto & their out of control genetic modifications there’s no telling what our grand kids & great grandkids are going to look like.
Deny all you like or use your computer for research, it’s your choice.
Oky1, Are Elvis and JFK really dead? Was the moon walk a hoax? Are there aliens among us? “Inquiring minds want to know.”
More damning info that Boston has every indication it was a False Flag opt.
Everything points to it was run out of DC. Obama or who gave the ok for the event, I’m not sure?
For example, why did Obama send SS to interferwith Infowars reporter at the Boston press conference? Jones has the pictures/story up at infowars.
Regardless, the Fascist Nazi Aholes like Bloomberg are in a panick right now.
Be careful, those aholes a very dangerous now they are being exposed as American hating trash.
**
Tamerlan Tsarnaev Attended CIA-sponsored Workshop
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
April 24, 2013
http://www.infowars.com/tamerlan-tsarnaev-attended-cia-sponsored-workshop/
Darren: Sociopaths are attracted to office far more than “on occasion,” it is almost a requirement for winning the election. Charismatic, unafraid, ruthless against opponents to the edge of criminality, willing to lie.
The job is perfect: No actual duties whatsoever, an exorbitant salary, plenty of opportunity for self-enrichment and enormous deference from law enforcement and courts, to the point of near immunity for many crimes for which common citizens would be arrested and charged.
But not your mayor, or your Congressman or Senator.
The fundamental problem with your complaint is that there is nobody to impeach the powerful; if you created a body that could do that, then THEY would be the powerful: Who would impeach them?
The greatest threat to the freedom of the American citizenry is congress and the presidency. It is not terrorists, foreign governments, criminals or others. The former two can with a simple vote take away whatever rights you have or erode them by the aggregation of several measures or executive orders. Then they can use their positions to enforce actions against the citizens to keep them in line or punish them for advocating freedom.
But it is the ordinary citizen who enables these two groups to do so by voting for irresponsible politicians that will return the favor by taking away the rights the citizens should hold as their most important asset, liberty.
The branch of government that can ultimately prevent this might be the courts, but if the courts choose to eliminate the seperation of powers and be at least indifferent to any abuse congress or the presidency might engange in then the road to a repressive government will be paved.
Elected officials who in corruption or trampling of liberty should be immediately impeached and thrown out of office upon conviction. But when the ones levying the charges (house) and holding the trial (senate) are part of the same group of people, it isn’t necessarily the most objective venue.
There are always going to be sociopaths and those with ill intent running for office, and in some ways I think the position attracts these types of people on occasion, so the best way to prevent a tyrrany in the US Gov’t is to be as informed as possible on every candidate and not allow bread, circuses, fear, politicial affiliation and propaganda carry the vote.
We are radicalizing people, both here and abroad. Some of the things going on in the U.S. (one domestic program, in particular) is fueling acts of violence — we are seeing suicides and homicides because of it. It’s only a matter of time before a mass-shooting or other tragic event, such as “Boston”, will be linked to this program to which I’m referring.
We don’t need to “reduce constitutional protections” — we need to take a close look at the databases that, as leejcaroll rightly says, are clearly bloated and unmanageable.
==============
Greenwald today:
“The same motive for anti-US ‘terrorism’ is cited over and over”
“Ignoring the role played by US actions is dangerously self-flattering and self-delusional”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/glenn-greenwald-security-liberty
Excerpt:
Second, it’s crucial to understand this causation because it’s often asked “what can we do to stop Terrorism?” The answer is right in front of our faces: we could stop embracing the polices in that part of the world which fuel anti-American hatred and trigger the desire for vengeance and return violence. Yesterday at a Senate hearing on drones, a young Yemeni citizen whose village was bombed by US drones last week (despite the fact that the targets could easily have been arrested), Farea Al-Muslimi, testified. Al-Muslimi has always been pro-American in the extreme, having spent a year in the US due to a State Department award, but he was brilliant in explaining these key points:
“Just six days ago, my village was struck by a drone, in an attack that terrified thousands of simple, poor farmers. The drone strike and its impact tore my heart, much as the tragic bombings in Boston last week tore your hearts and also mine.
“What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village one drone strike accomplished in an instant: there is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America.”
He added that anti-American hatred is now so high as a result of this drone strike that “I personally don’t even know if it is safe for me to go back to Wessab because I am someone who people in my village associate with America and its values.” And he said that whereas he never knew any Yemenis who were sympathetic to al-Qaida before the drone attacks, now:
“AQAP’s power and influence has never been based on the number of members in its ranks. AQAP recruits and retains power through its ideology, which relies in large part on the Yemeni people believing that America is at war with them” . . .
“I have to say that the drone strikes and the targeted killing program have made my passion and mission in support of America almost impossible in Yemen. In some areas of Yemen, the anger against America that results from the strikes makes it dangerous for me to even acknowledge having visited America, much less testify how much my life changed thanks to the State Department scholarships. It’s sometimes too dangerous to even admit that I have American friends.”
He added that drone strikes in Yemen “make people fear the US more than al-Qaida”.
There seems to be this pervasive belief in the US that we can invade, bomb, drone, kill, occupy, and tyrannize whomever we want, and that they will never respond. That isn’t how human affairs function and it never has been. If you believe all that militarism and aggression are justified, then fine: make that argument. But don’t walk around acting surprised and bewildered and confounded (why do they hate us??) when violence is brought to US soil as well. It’s the inevitable outcome of these choices, and that’s not because Islam is some sort of bizarre or intrinsically violent and uncivilized religion. It’s because no group in the world is willing to sit by and be targeted with violence and aggression of that sort without also engaging in it (just look at the massive and ongoing violence unleashed by the US in response to a single one-day attack on its soil 12 years ago: imagine how Americans would react to a series of relentless attacks over the course of more than a decade, to say nothing of having their children put in prison indefinitely with no charges, tortured, kidnapped, and otherwise brutalized by a foreign power).
Being targeted with violence is a major cost of war and aggression. It’s a reason not do it. If one consciously decides to incur that cost, then that’s one thing. But pretending that this is all due to some primitive and irrational religious response and not our own actions is dangerously self-flattering and self-delusional. Just listen to what the people who are doing these attacks are saying about why they are doing them. Or listen to the people who live in the places devastated by US violence about the results. None of it is unclear, and it’s long past time that we stop pretending that all this evidence does not exist. -end of excerpt
And, your raising the voting age to 21 sounds downright Republican. You know the Dems would never abide.
Statistics show you’re a high risk driver until age 25. That’s why you can’t rent a car until that age. Why not 25 for everything, including driving??Consensual sex 21?? Your fellow logician disagrees w/ you on that, as do probably “99%” of the people here.
That the TIDE database is so huge they cannot keep an eye on those that actually and truly pose a threat in a not upside down world would be an indication to tighten controls and make sure only those who are truly deemed potential threats would be listed.
Fabulous.
The author of sodapop-prohibition is ready to tell us what is important and what is not. He’s now telling us that our basic constitutional freedoms are not so terribly important. First to prevent chubbiness and then to prevent insecurity, he’s quite ready for US to give up whatever rights he thinks are unimportant. HELP HELP SOMEBODY RESTRAIN THIS WILDMAN!
Nick: wants to raise the age to buy tobacco to 21.
I would raise everything to the age of 21. Enlistment in the armed forces, drinking age, voting, smoking tobacco, the age of sexual consent (between a person over 21 and a person under 21).
Biologically speaking, humans are not mental adults until the age of 22-24, they have not completed myelin sheathing of the frontal cortex (responsible for weighing consequences of actions). They are still children. Sexually mature, but mentally immature.
That isn’t just science, it is science backed up by tons of empirical evidence and experiments. We should never have lowered the age to vote to enlistment age, we should have raised the age of enlistment age to 21, when people were far more likely to make a rational decision instead of an emotionally driven decision.
Gary T 1, April 24, 2013 at 7:59 am
Dredd:
Beginning? to look like a plutocratic jerk?
We have passed the beginning stage.
================================
Yep.
Guess I misunderestimated him.
No wonder Vermont wants to secede as does Texas.
Here is an article from Time. It seems like there are some people more than willing to give up everything for the mirage of security.
http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/23/tread-on-me-the-case-for-freedom-from-terrorist-bombings-school-shootings-and-exploding-factories/
One of the reasons I voted for Obama in 2008 is because I saw him as a calm, measured, intelligent, man..in that order. I was wrong. I read yesterday the Mayor of Munchkin Land wants to raise the age to buy tobacco to 21. In comparison to this statement about the constitution, the tobacco think is small potatoes. And, he’s the mayor of NYC so his statements about the constitution are much closer irrelevent than scary. Does this Munchkin really believe this horseshit, or is he Clintonesque? I don’t know. However, if it’s the latter, that would mean he’s pandering to his constituency..NYC voters, although the NYC folks I know don’t abide. If he is spewing this stuff in hopes of a higher office he is not calm, measured, or intelligent. Maybe the Wicked Witch of the West can take care of him, and I would love to see those flying monkeys carry him away! Those flying monkeys scared the shit out of me when I was a kid