None of us is safe anymore. I remember experiencing dread when the Patriot Act was passed because I suspected it would eventually lead to this. What recourse do we have to fight this complete takeover of our constitutionally guaranteed rights? Repeating myself, but why am I allowed to criticize nations throughout the world, including my own, but risk going to prison for criticizing Israel? Is the U.S. the only country that bans people from its borders if they’ve criticized Israel? This is the stuff of a bad spy novel, ca., 1952.
I wonder what kind of Pandora's Box has been opened with drones and terror whether by individuals or countries. These small highly mobile flown devices can be deployed anywhere and by anybody as they are not expensive or exotic. Israel keeps a cloud of them over Gaza 24/7 and facial recognition allows killing anyone on sight. It's hard to see how any of the things you mention could stop someone from droning if they deliberately keep off of social media.
The attack deep in Russia by Ukraine shows the capability of drones. Their size makes them easily hidden until ready for use.
I can't see any way back from the ever-increasing intrusion into private lives by government in the name of national security, one agency of government where those in charge are adamantly pushing for more money and authority as opposed to the truly protective agencies like the EPA, the FDA, the SEC and most obviously the CFPB that are now headed by those who oppose the mission of the agency and seek to reduce employees and the work they do.
Western history until the Reagan Revolution was moving ever further in protecting the rights of the individual. Then 9/11 resulted in a crackdown using it as an excuse. It is clear that many in power dearly want this vigorous retreat and the supremacy of the 1%. There had better be a big upset in Congress at the midterms or we are dropping off a cliff after the Enlightenment that held up so much promise.
Reminds me of East Germany’s Stasi, or the Soviet Union’s KGB. So as the American public becomes more aware of their government’s tyranny, the tyrants need to increase the fear factor to maintain control.
The government couldn't even manage their "no fly list" without adding people left and right that have no reason to be on the list, as well as no recourse for getting removed from it, and that was managed by actual people in the government.
Now, we'll get an LLM to hallucinate everyone onto watch lists and give FISA courts an even easier justification to rubber stamp warrants, because all the government has to say is "ChatGPT thinks they're a risk"
Israel already does exactly this with Lavender to kill people, and good news, the US uses Israel as the test bed for surveillance technology. So, we're already primed for LLMs to just streamline assassinations with no due process, all the US has to do is turn the key.
Obama already was killing Americans without due process via drone strike so all this does is streamline the murder machine.
Mahmoud Khalil is still behind bars. He told the court: “I spent a good time of my life fleeing from harm, advocating for the marginalized to have rights. That's what put me in danger. Israel is committing genocide. America is funding that genocide. Columbia is investing in it. That is what I was protesting. This is what I will continue to protest. This is what everyone should protest. This is where our efforts should go.”
Petition for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil.
We call on the newly elected, US, Pope Leo XIV to do whatever it takes to save Gaza and stop the bombing, and end the starvation. Let him go to Gaza and stand with the suffering people who are being massacred by Israel and the Western posers. Is there anything more important in today's world than this?
Democrats let 21 million unvetted/unvaccinated illegals in. What do you expect will happen here? All the while WE WERE Punished/fired etc FOR NOT BEING vaccinated?? WAKE UP.
New hunger strike action from CUNY. Eight students, staff, and faculty from across the City University of New York system started an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday, May 27th. They have one demand: that CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and the CUNY Board of Trustees immediately divest from Israel and from all weapons and technology manufacturers equipping the Israeli-U.S. genocide in Palestine.
They are using the hunger strike to raise funds “to send urgent funds to people in Gaza for food and other needed materials.”
Also, continuing is the hunger strike by students and faculty at Stanford University to protest attacks on academic freedom and complicity in the Gaza genocide.
If ever there was a moment that demands civil disobedience, it is the hour of genocide.
An urgent ask from Stanford SJP is to sign and circulate the Drop the Charges petition https://actionnetwork.org/forms/supportstanford12?source=direct_link& which demands that the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office drop the felony charges brought against twelve Stanford University students and alumni following their participation in a protest advocating for Stanford’s divestment from corporations implicated in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"For years, social media “monitoring” on the part of the government has been on the rise, particularly in the war against ISIS. From foreign fighters moving around the globe to ISIS recruiters and propagandists communicating, social media has proven a rich source for intelligence people seeking law enforcement and targeting leads. The flood of communications, though, overwhelmed the capacity of analysts, just at a time when artificial intelligence was showing promise as a way of triaging huge amounts of data.
Now, federal government investments in AI are going into overdrive."
Reminds me of the plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Replace the Helicarriers with regular drones and it's no longer a superhero fantasy movie, but reality.
Of course this isn't new either. See "signature strikes" from the Obama administration that were used in Afghanistan to eliminate targets based on a profile, without actually requiring identification of who was being killed.
"The most controversial tactic of Barack Obama’s drone strikes has survived an internal review intended to reduce civilian deaths: killing people without knowing who they are.
So-called “signature strikes”, targeting people whose behavior is assessed to be similar enough to those of terrorists to mark them for death, will continue, according to senior US officials."
I can see AI fingering groups/individuals to the left and right of a liberal center (maybe even some there if the net's cast globally enough), but that information is still going to be acted upon by very politically biased pigs. I can easily imagine communists, socialists of various stripes, and anarchists (including even those the fuzz _think of_ as having those markers ["Antifa," anyone?]) getting rounded up regularly, but those to their right? Acting on any of their kind would require something so egregious that it couldn't be ignored, or it would be due to politics internal to the Right as a whole.
None of us is safe anymore. I remember experiencing dread when the Patriot Act was passed because I suspected it would eventually lead to this. What recourse do we have to fight this complete takeover of our constitutionally guaranteed rights? Repeating myself, but why am I allowed to criticize nations throughout the world, including my own, but risk going to prison for criticizing Israel? Is the U.S. the only country that bans people from its borders if they’ve criticized Israel? This is the stuff of a bad spy novel, ca., 1952.
Thank you, Ken, for diving into this.
England certainly does. British authorities arrest Journalists. Comforting...
I wonder what kind of Pandora's Box has been opened with drones and terror whether by individuals or countries. These small highly mobile flown devices can be deployed anywhere and by anybody as they are not expensive or exotic. Israel keeps a cloud of them over Gaza 24/7 and facial recognition allows killing anyone on sight. It's hard to see how any of the things you mention could stop someone from droning if they deliberately keep off of social media.
The attack deep in Russia by Ukraine shows the capability of drones. Their size makes them easily hidden until ready for use.
I can't see any way back from the ever-increasing intrusion into private lives by government in the name of national security, one agency of government where those in charge are adamantly pushing for more money and authority as opposed to the truly protective agencies like the EPA, the FDA, the SEC and most obviously the CFPB that are now headed by those who oppose the mission of the agency and seek to reduce employees and the work they do.
Western history until the Reagan Revolution was moving ever further in protecting the rights of the individual. Then 9/11 resulted in a crackdown using it as an excuse. It is clear that many in power dearly want this vigorous retreat and the supremacy of the 1%. There had better be a big upset in Congress at the midterms or we are dropping off a cliff after the Enlightenment that held up so much promise.
Unfortunately, our choice is limited to the Uniparty. Two names, but you end up in the same place.
more money for snitches? What have we come to? All we must do is lessen the amount of cash that Congress confers upon the military
Reminds me of East Germany’s Stasi, or the Soviet Union’s KGB. So as the American public becomes more aware of their government’s tyranny, the tyrants need to increase the fear factor to maintain control.
Another excellent article. Impressive how you keep them coming so quickly. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Bob!
The attack in Bolder is the result of endless war, a daily stream of cruelty and genocide.
The government couldn't even manage their "no fly list" without adding people left and right that have no reason to be on the list, as well as no recourse for getting removed from it, and that was managed by actual people in the government.
Now, we'll get an LLM to hallucinate everyone onto watch lists and give FISA courts an even easier justification to rubber stamp warrants, because all the government has to say is "ChatGPT thinks they're a risk"
Israel already does exactly this with Lavender to kill people, and good news, the US uses Israel as the test bed for surveillance technology. So, we're already primed for LLMs to just streamline assassinations with no due process, all the US has to do is turn the key.
Obama already was killing Americans without due process via drone strike so all this does is streamline the murder machine.
Are hate crimes against Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics and others being addressed? Possibly Israel is not concerned about these?
Mahmoud Khalil is still behind bars. He told the court: “I spent a good time of my life fleeing from harm, advocating for the marginalized to have rights. That's what put me in danger. Israel is committing genocide. America is funding that genocide. Columbia is investing in it. That is what I was protesting. This is what I will continue to protest. This is what everyone should protest. This is where our efforts should go.”
Petition for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-the-immediate-release-of-columbia-student-pro-palestine-advocate-mahmoud-khalil-from-dhs-detention
We call on the newly elected, US, Pope Leo XIV to do whatever it takes to save Gaza and stop the bombing, and end the starvation. Let him go to Gaza and stand with the suffering people who are being massacred by Israel and the Western posers. Is there anything more important in today's world than this?
https://chng.it/gkvBfY44rq
Please sign the petition and share widely.
Democrats let 21 million unvetted/unvaccinated illegals in. What do you expect will happen here? All the while WE WERE Punished/fired etc FOR NOT BEING vaccinated?? WAKE UP.
Hunger Strike!
New hunger strike action from CUNY. Eight students, staff, and faculty from across the City University of New York system started an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday, May 27th. They have one demand: that CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and the CUNY Board of Trustees immediately divest from Israel and from all weapons and technology manufacturers equipping the Israeli-U.S. genocide in Palestine.
They are using the hunger strike to raise funds “to send urgent funds to people in Gaza for food and other needed materials.”
https://chuffed.org/project/131840-cuny-hunger-strike-fundraiser-for-gaza
Also, continuing is the hunger strike by students and faculty at Stanford University to protest attacks on academic freedom and complicity in the Gaza genocide.
If ever there was a moment that demands civil disobedience, it is the hour of genocide.
You can read more about this moral stance here:
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/05/hunger-is-our-weapon-against-injustice/?ml_recipient=154375676232730169&ml_link=154375611833386238&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-05-14&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation
An urgent ask from Stanford SJP is to sign and circulate the Drop the Charges petition https://actionnetwork.org/forms/supportstanford12?source=direct_link& which demands that the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office drop the felony charges brought against twelve Stanford University students and alumni following their participation in a protest advocating for Stanford’s divestment from corporations implicated in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"For years, social media “monitoring” on the part of the government has been on the rise, particularly in the war against ISIS. From foreign fighters moving around the globe to ISIS recruiters and propagandists communicating, social media has proven a rich source for intelligence people seeking law enforcement and targeting leads. The flood of communications, though, overwhelmed the capacity of analysts, just at a time when artificial intelligence was showing promise as a way of triaging huge amounts of data.
Now, federal government investments in AI are going into overdrive."
Reminds me of the plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Replace the Helicarriers with regular drones and it's no longer a superhero fantasy movie, but reality.
Of course this isn't new either. See "signature strikes" from the Obama administration that were used in Afghanistan to eliminate targets based on a profile, without actually requiring identification of who was being killed.
"The most controversial tactic of Barack Obama’s drone strikes has survived an internal review intended to reduce civilian deaths: killing people without knowing who they are.
So-called “signature strikes”, targeting people whose behavior is assessed to be similar enough to those of terrorists to mark them for death, will continue, according to senior US officials."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/01/obama-continue-signature-strikes-drones-civilian-deaths
Now it's just being applied domestically.
"but AI? That’s coming after all of us."
Somehow I doubt it.
I can see AI fingering groups/individuals to the left and right of a liberal center (maybe even some there if the net's cast globally enough), but that information is still going to be acted upon by very politically biased pigs. I can easily imagine communists, socialists of various stripes, and anarchists (including even those the fuzz _think of_ as having those markers ["Antifa," anyone?]) getting rounded up regularly, but those to their right? Acting on any of their kind would require something so egregious that it couldn't be ignored, or it would be due to politics internal to the Right as a whole.