This starts with what Vicky Davis who is an awesome researcher calls a rant.I am going to open it up as we go in different colors,this is all very valuable information,I am going to stuff as much as I can in this post,what I do not include should not relief you of clinking on the links she provides in her research.Here we go....D.C.
This morning I began working on updating my research on the Public Health System because as you know… or should know by now, it’s the Public Health System that is importing all of the refugees into Idaho. Idaho’s Public Health system is a privatized system which means that YOUR government has put YOUR life and your FAMILY’S LIVES into the hands of a private organization called the Jannus Group– formerly the Mountain States Group.
JANNUS, INC.
CHANGING LIVES
Jannus, Inc., is a diverse health and human services organization that changes lives every day. It engages compassionate people offering strong programs that help ease individuals and families through difficult challenges or new transitions in areas of community health, public policy and economic opportunity.[Don't
The new name, Jannus, Inc. was inspired by Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions and economic opportunity. The Roman god often symbolizes transitions from the past to the future, from one condition to another, and young people’s growth to adulthood. The Roman mythology was a good match for the meaningful work Jannus, Inc. does in areas of community health, public policy and economic opportunity.[Don't let that P.C. talk fool you this is about immigrants legal and not,just look through the pics at their link DC]
1907 – The State Board of Health and counties that had local boards of health were statutorily authorized joint responsibility for public health.
1947 – A public health district law was enacted that permitted two or more counties to establish a public health district. Participation in the forming of the health districts was voluntary.
1970 – The legislature established a law that created seven mandatory public health districts. In South Central Public Health District (V), the counties designated were Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, and Twin Falls. The director of the State Department of Health and Welfare was designated fiscal officer for the various districts.
1976 – Legislative intent was expressed that the health districts are not State agencies and that they be recognized as authorized governmental entities.
1986 – Idaho Code was amended to allow district health departments to promulgate rules and regulations without the State Board of Health’s approval.
2004 – The Rules of the Division of Human Resources and Idaho Personnel Commission include public health districts.
2007 – Legislation changing Idaho Code, Section 39-412 to reflect a change in the compensation of Board members, to reference Idaho Code, Section 59-509(I).
2007 – Legislation changing Idaho Code, Section 39-411 composition of Districts’ Boards of Health to allow those Districts comprised of eight counties to consist of not less than eight members and no more than nine members.
2008 – Legislation changed Idaho Code, Section 39-414 language: “For purposes of this chapter, a PH district is not a subdivision of the state and is considered an independent body corporate and politic, in terms of negotiating long term debt and financing.” (This will move the local PH district outside the Frasier legal case of debt financing.)
Title 39, Chapter 4 defines the Public Health Districts as:
39-401. LEGISLATIVE INTENT. The various health districts, as provided for in this chapter, are not a single department of state government unto themselves, nor are they a part of any of the twenty (20) departments of state government authorized by section 20, article IV, Idaho constitution, or of the departments prescribed in section 67-2402, Idaho Code.
It is legislative intent that health districts operate and be recognized not as state agencies or departments, but as governmental entities whose creation has been authorized by the state, much in the manner as other single purpose districts.
…This section merely affirms that health districts created under this chapter are not state agencies, and in no way changes the character of those agencies as they existed prior to this act.[At the TIME link above this continues DC]
Prior to my research on the Public Health System due to the connection with refugee resettlement, I was researching the health care system and health care reform because the design of the system is for applied genetics research. You don’t mind being a human rhesus monkey for medical science do you?
One of the research articles I wrote in 2009 was called The Nightmare of Project Destiny. I first heard the name “Project Destiny” when I was watching a hearing on the government’s takeover of AIG at the peak of the financial meltdown. Edward Liddy was the appointed CEO of A.I.G. I’m not sure who appointed him – the U.S. Treasury or the Federal Reserve but he was put there to manage A.I.G’s divestment of their lines of business that put them in the financial dumper. It was Edward Liddy who made reference to Project Destiny. When I researched it, it was a plan for a new medical specialty – pharmacists as health care providers. In the new paradigm of health care by chemistry for applied genetics research, that makes sense… take the doctor out of the picture and replace him with a chemist who can mix up a witches brew to alter your DNA.
That there would not be a connection between the Project Destiny as an initiative of the Pharmaceutical Industry Associations and the American Insurance Group's (AIG) secretive Project Destiny is unthinkable. But even if there isn't, Project Destiny deserves close scrutiny.
According to the Congressional testimony of Edward Liddy, CEO of AIG in yesterday's hearing, if AIG were to reveal the details of their version of Project Destiny, it would inhibit their ability to "restructure" the units of AIG's business that the taxpayers bought - and it would put their competitors at an advantage. In view of what the Pharmaceutical Industry's Project Destiny is about - and when coupled with the plans for the 'New Health Care' system, it makes me wonder if AIG isn't packaging up and selling off their professional liability policies for health care providers because my own seat of the pants risk analysis is that professional liability insurance isn't going to be a desirable business once the full picture of the 'New Health Care' system is revealed. And if that is what they are doing, then the American taxpayers are being set up for another bailout - or other insurance companies are being setup to buy toxic assets that will put them under - and then AIG will step back in and pick up the profitable assets after the "unlucky" insurance companies fail.
The Project Destiny that is being promoted by several large pharmaceutical corporations and pharmacy industry associations is to have a new health care specialty recognized - but before describing that, who's behind the initiative is most interesting:
The following are excerpts from an industry news website:
The contributing companies are sanofi-aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer U.S. Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth. Representatives of these five pharmacy industry leaders will join with representatives of three pharmacy associations on the Project DestinyIndustry Advisory Committee.
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) announced the initiative last month. The end result ofProject Destinywill be the development of a strategic plan that validates community pharmacy's future role in the delivery of health care as a valuable and integral component, which is accepted and recognized by patients, payers and policymakers for the patient care services that they deliver.
The associations selected BearingPoint to execute the initiative, which will position the pharmacist as the medication expert and the key provider of medication therapy management services to patients. Bearing Point's evaluation is nearly half-way completed.
BearingPointwas formerly KPMG Consulting Inc., the consulting division of the huge accounting firm KPMG LLP that was brought down in the Enron/Arthur Anderson scandal of 2002. On February, 8, 2001, the consulting branch was officially separated from its parent due to a public offering on the company. When the Enron scandal broke, they changed their name toBearingPointand subsequently acquired the operations left behind by the deteriorating Arthur Anderson. [1]
In July of 2003, BearingPoint was awarded a contract by USAID worth $79.5 million to facilitate Iraq's economic recovery with a two-year option worth a total of $240,162,688.[2][3] Responsibilities in this contract include:
1. Creating Iraq's budget
2. Writing business law
3. Setting up tax collection
4. Laying out trade and customs rules
5. Privatize state-owned enterprises by auctioning them off or issuing Iraqis shares in the enterprises.
6. Reopen banks and jump-start the private sector by making small loans of $100 to $10,000.
7. Wean Iraqis from the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program, the main source of food for 60% of the population.
8. Issue a new currency and set exchange rates. [4]
In January 2003 BearingPoint won a $3.95 million contract financed by the World Bank to aid the Afghanistan government upgrade its accounting system.[5]
In March of 2003, USAID awarded BearingPoint a $39.9 million contract to help rebuild the economy in Afghanistan.
[Note: There is more about K.P.M.G on SourceWatch - do read it because it's significant. Also, it's useful to know that it was K.P.M.G that set up the European Infrastructure tax shelters that allowed U.S. corporations to lease infrastructure and to write it off their American tax returns. And that initiative was a plan by theEuropean Union to get money to pay for common infrastructure documented inGlobal Ponzi Scheme]
In another article at the same industry website as above, this article was found:
According to initial results of the landmark "Project Destiny" initiative, community pharmacy can ensure its healthcare services beyond dispensing medication are embraced broadly, if it acts decisively and cooperatively with healthcare industry stakeholders. The three pharmacy groups advancing the initiative now are developing a strategic plan to advance the concepts identified in the first phase, which hold promise for healthcare quality, access and affordability.
One key concept that emerged from the first phase of the project is that of a"primary care pharmacist," who would work collaboratively with the healthcare delivery and financing systems and focus on managing medications, positively impacting health outcomes, reducing overall healthcare system costs and empowering consumers to actively manage their health. Putting this concept into practice would require the development ofpharmacy-based Patient Care Management Servicesthat are consistent nationwide while maintaining the autonomy of individual pharmacies.
The Patient Care Management Services envisioned in the model go beyond a narrow definition of medication therapy management and include interventions targeting 15 conditions plus polypharmacy (the use of multiple medications by a patient) that drive demand for avoidable healthcare utilization. Project Destinywould seek to leverage, and not reinvent, the work of entities already demonstrating value in some segments.
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) have joined together for Project Destiny, an initiative intended to foster the broad embracing of community pharmacy’s healthcare services beyond dispensing medication. Pharmacists, as medication experts, are well-suited for providing patient care that ensures optimal medication therapy outcomes and can contribute to the lowering of overall healthcare costs. Project Destiny has identified potential mechanisms for offering services to patients that are valued by the healthcare system which can be replicable, scalable and economically viable for community pharmacy.
In addition, in October 2007, theMilken Institutereleased a report that indicated the seven most common chronic diseases in the nation put a $1.3 trillion annual drag on the economy. The report estimated the drag could reach nearly $6 trillion by the middle of the century.
The Model aligns services that are managed and delivered directly to consumers through primary care pharmacists and their teams:
Dispensing and Administering – Services related to the coordinated preparation, filling, and delivery of a customer’s prescription medications as well as administering of other medications (e.g., vaccinations).
Patient Care Management Services – Services that leverage the pharmacist’s clinical knowledge and skills related to medication management to address consumers’ health issues or concerns.
Related Health Product Recommendations – Services designed to augment consumers’ total medication and healthcare product needs through the pharmacist’s recommendations based on prescriptions, purchases or customer profile.
In addition to the services delivered directly to consumers by primary care pharmacists, the model includes Consumer, Service, and Outcomes Data services. These services focus on reporting detailed and aggregate data related to patients, services, and outcomes to prescribers, payers, funders, and consumers.
As a result of the Milken Report, the pharmaceutical corporations named above and the pharmaceutical industry associations, the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties prepared a petition for recognition of a new specialty.
BPS analyzed these functions in 2006 in the afore-mentioned role delineation study, which describes and empirically validates the domains, tasks, and knowledge that comprise ambulatory care pharmacy practice. According to the task analysis performed for that study, the following are the domains of ambulatory care pharmacy specialty practice that are performed regardless of practice site:
• direct patient care
• practice management
• public health functions
• medical informatics and professional development
• patient advocacy
Since by appearances, it was the report from the Milken Institute report that was behind the Pharmaceutical Industry initiative for Project Destiny, I did a search on Federal Reserve and Health Care to see how much of a part the Federal Reserve was playing in this attempt to circumvent physicians in the prescription medications business. I was sure I would find information on it because I heard Alan Greedspan testify to Congress around 2004 that the health care system needed to be changed to stop spending all that money on sick people - and instead spend it on "wellness".
But while President Obama was bashing greed on Wall Street, in terms of the big bonuses paid to executives, the details of the Daschle tax scandal were starting to emerge. The scandal not only threatens to derail Daschle but undermine Obama’s national socialist health care plan.
Wall Street operator and Democratic Party moneybags Leo Hindery, who hired and paid Daschle millions of dollars and gave him a limousine and chauffeur, wrotean articlefor the Huffington Post in 2008 saying that he was endorsing Obama for president because the candidate believes in every American “once again paying his or her fair share” of taxes. That didn’t happen in Daschle’s case.
Follow the money..... Who is Leo Hindery? According to Forbes in 2000
Time flies whenLeo Hindery is having fun. A year ago, Hindery was sitting pretty leadingAT&T's coveted Internet and broadband division.
A lot has happened since then. During his stint at AT&T (nyse: T - news - people), Hindery was caught with his pants off when he categorically denied rumors that AT&T would consider selling its stake in Excite@Home (nasdaq: ATHM - news - people). Shortly after, AT&T issued a release saying it was continuing to "explore its investment strategy in Excite@Home." Oops--either Hindery was lying, or he wasn't invited to any of the discussions. A week later, Hindery unexpectedly resigned from AT&T.
And he certainly didn't stick it out much longer at his next position, but this time the circumstances were in his favor. Shortly after resigning from AT&T, Hindery accepted the position of chief executive of Global Crossing (nasdaq: GBLX - news - people) in December 1999. As chief executive of Global Crossing, he was also the head of its Web-hosting division, Global Center, which was just bought byExodus Communications (nasdaq: EXDS - news - people) last month. Hindery will continue as chief executive of Global Center until Exodus completes the acquisition, which is expected to happen early next year.
It doesn't look good for a young kid to change jobs like underwear, and it looks even worse for a 53-year-old high-level executive. But the last couple of years appear to be the exception to the Hindery rule. In 1988, Hindery helped found InterMedia Partners, a cable operator. Then, in February 1997, he was named president of T.C.I, before T.C.I was acquired by AT&T in March 1999. At T.C.I, Hindery established the reputation of a make-things-happen man. By all accounts, Hindery stuck the rough times out and was responsible for T.C.I's turn around.
Most reports suggested that Hindery was hired to take care of Global Center. After Exodus bought it last month, his purpose had been served. And a profitable purpose it was. One report said that Hindery's compensation package will entitle him to 5.5% of Global Center's value over $2 billion. Since Global Center sold for $6.5 billion, he certainly won't leave empty-handed
And then - the icing on the cake. The best for last - and what I live to find - the designers - movers and shakers of "New America". My only question is - who asked them?
(Washington, DC) The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) has received a
formal petition for recognition of Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice as a new specialty.
The petition was submitted by a Task Force jointly sponsored by the American College of
Clinical Pharmacy, the American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. “The Board was very pleased to receive this petition and
looks forward to reviewing it expeditiously in accordance with our established procedure,”
said Janet M. Carmichael, PharmD, B.C.P.S, BPS Chair.
Probably because of the number of times that Donald Trump used the word “Destiny” which disturbed me greatly every time I heard him say it, I went back to listen again to the testimony of Edward Liddy in the AIG hearings.
I noticed something this time that I didn’t notice before. What I noticed was the number of Representatives from Ohio who were there questioning Liddy and who were really upset about A.I.G’s meltdown. One of them said that their public employees pension funds were invested in A.I.G and they stood to lose their investments. Those public employees would be teachers, firefighters, police, state employees, etc. Then the though came to me… I wonder if the Cleveland Clinic was involved. BINGO!
Some of the highlights in the model: Providers are challenged to do more with less. We’re looking closely at everything we do and every dollar we spend. We’re even examining the fundamental principles of health care: asking why we’re here[note: really? Do we really want hospitals that question why they exist?] and what we hope to accomplish for patients and communities. …the standalone hospital persists, in part, because of an understandable desire among hospital administrators and local officials to offer a full range of services to local community [Note: THEY HAVE TO… because they are the HOSPITAL!!!], and also because certain sophisticated services can generate much higher reimbursement. The problem is that demand for services—such as CT scans, x-rays, E.C.G's, or blood tests, among others—is exceeded by supply in many localities. Facilities and equipment stand idle, bleeding cash. This approach is not only obsolete, it’s unsustainable. [Note: It’s not obsolete because by the nature of what a hospital does… it must have those facilities available and only a money-mad psychopath would think that you could provide critical care without those facilities because that’s what hospitals do… omg somebody re-capture the lunatics who have taken over our hospitals!] Among the basic questions about health care is how hospitals need to evolve. There are some big issues. Number one is functionality. The brick-and-mortar hospital offering all things to all patients is obsolete… No single site can provide state-of-the-art care in every specialty. No standalone hospital can afford all the latest technology. Clinging to the old model has led to wasteful duplication of services and roadblocks to quality and safety improvement. [note: the above isn’t true… what led to wasteful duplication was to allow hospitals to disaggregate their facilities into external profit centers while they knew they would not be able to eliminate those functions from the main hospital]. Also, the center of gravity is shifting away from the hospital. Hospital care is being replaced by outpatient care. Outpatient care is being replaced by home care. We see now that patients do better in specialized centers that do high volumes of particular procedures. [See what I wrote about triage of patients to specialty facilities as it pertains to selection of populations for experimental medical research – applied genomics.] America’s healthcare infrastructure includes thousands of standalone community hospitals that can become valuable components of integrated regional healthcare delivery systemsthat offer full spectrum care through multiple providers and facilitieslinked by multi-modal transportand information technology. Cleveland Clinic is well advanced in developing this type of regional system. With a healthcare system comprised of a specialized acute care center, 16 family health centers, and nine community hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic system has organized itself into a continuum of care delivery model based on a tiered system that provides patients with the appropriate level of care for each phase of their condition. [Note: this is the same thing that St. Luke’s is doing in Idaho. They have become basically a disaggregated hospital that is the monopoly provider for health care. Each specialty in a separate facility carries with it the overhead of being a separate business – separate profit center allowing the main hospital to cry poor mouth in desperate need of price increases and subsidies.] Our virtual network is paralleled by our Critical Care Transport capabilities. We have a fleet of ambulances, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft, each equipped with traveling medical personnel. They carry Cleveland Clinic staff physicians and their teams anywhere in the world.Our Critical Care Transport team transported 4,391 patients from 36 states and 14 countries in 2009, ensuring that these patients receive the advanced care they need when they need it, reducing the risk of complications and readmissions.
The big clue for me as to what is really going on was their use of the term multi-modal. Multi-modal is a transportation system term. As I’ve described in many, many places beginning with legislation in 1991, there was a whole new paradigm in transportation – centered around the concept of intermodalism. Intermodal means two forms of transportation coming together at a single location. The legislation in Idaho that authorized the creation of Intermodal Commerce Zones effectively created a new layer of “governance” – a port authority actually that essentially becomes international territory because it’s connected to the transportation system and international commerce under maritime law (the Admiralty). The hospitals became part of the transportation system in 1966.
The completion of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Study and the results of a CALTRANS (California Transportation) study project, stirred transportation oriented groups into action. Technology for transportation systems was a central theme in this organizing effort for what was billed as transportation for the 21st Century. In 1988, the Transportation Research Board released a report titled,Project 2020 that was a long-range projection concerning the nation’s transportation needs.[The first sentence of the preface of this 552 pdf file on project 2020 tell you what all this is about.Seeing that we are almost there this pdf should make for an interesting read to see what they have done right under our noses. DC]
What are the implications of the globalization of the U.S. economy for the
nation's transportation network? What demographic changes are taking place
in cities, suburbs, and nonmetropolitan areas? What is the probability that
current suburban growth patterns will continue? Will the United States have to
make a transition to alternative fuels by 2020? What advances in technology
are anticipated by 2020, and what will their impacts be on transportation?
These and other issues were discussed at the Conference on Long-Range
Trends and Requirements for the Nation's Highway and Public Transit Systems,
held by the Transportation Research Board on June 22-24, 1988, at the
Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The objective of the conference was to identify the nature and level of
demand for future highway and public transit services and their role in the
nation's future transportation system. Expert views were presented on the
potential impacts on the nation's future surface transportation system of a
variety of factors, including future demographics and life-style, urbanization
and suburbanization, new technologies, international business competition
and economics, energy demand, technology, commercial freight transportation,
personal mobility, and institutional arrangements.
A highlight of the conference was the keynote address by Robert M. White,
President of the National Academy of Engineering and Vice-Chairman of the
National Research Council. White's address, "Beyond the Millennium: Transportation
and the Economy," is included in this report.
This conference is one element in the information-gathering phase of the
TRANSPORTATION 2020 program that is currently under way.inthe United
States. Other efforts include a series of public hearings throughout the states,
conducted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) 2020 Task Force Advisory Committee on Highway
Policy. A total of 65 such public hearings have been held in the 50 states.
Also, various AASHTO standing committees are involved in a complex
process of determining state and local roadway requirements, transit needs,
and intermodal links through the year 2020.
In 1990, Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner and President George H.W. Bush at a White House Press Conference released a report titled Moving America: New Directions, New Opportunities. The report outlined a new national transportation policy that was about adding technology as a new mission for the Department of Transportation and a new pot of gold to chase for the transportation sector.
When I first discovered this structure – a zone of separate territory under a different governing structure, it was “The CORE” in Meridian, Idaho. The “CORE” is a biomedical research park connected to St. Luke’s Hospital and Idaho State University (ISU has a school of pharmacy – that a couple of years ago was upgraded to the level of a pharmaceutical research facility). Here are the two research articles I wrote on the CORE as I was trying to figure out what they were doing by defining the elements of what I called a Trojan Triangle. I called it a Trojan Triangle because I needed a name to include all elements of the multi-layered construct that I saw.
The CORE in Meridian, Idaho is a Trojan Triangle. I became aware of it when there was an article in the Idaho Statesman about an expected 23-person delegation from COMMUNIST China to tour the location and see the plans. The article mentions that COMMUNIST Chinese businessmen who invest $1 million can obtain visas for permanent resident status in the United States.
The CORE was so named because it is located in a transportation corridor that is an intermodal commerce zone. I called the city of Meridian and spoke with Brenda Sherwood about it. Ms. Sherwood is the Meridian Economic Development Specialist. She said they were considering submitting a request to have the area designated a 'Foreign Trade Zone' but haven't decided yet. She said The CORE is an EB-5 Regional Center and is a 501-C6 organization. EB-5 zones are also called "Targeted Employment Zones" TEA Zones. The EB-5 visa program was established in "immigration reform" legislation in 1990, the same year the decision was made to dissolve the United States as a nation - and I don't say that lightly. Obviously, this program isn't just for the Chinese. On the VDARE website, there is an article about the EB-5 visa program written by Rob Sanchez titled, "Scandals and Vice in the EB-5 Program".Apparently there are brokers that assist groups in establishing an EB-5 Regional Centers. The Artisan Business Group is one such organization.And of course immigration whos..attorneys are always happy to help the foreigners get these visas.
What captured my attention initially was the 23-person Communist Chinese delegation that visited the CORE to look at it as a potential investment opportunity. The Authority over the CORE zone were looking for foreign direct investment in the CORE by selling EB-5 visas which is a program of selling American citizenship. The Authority gets the money and the Communists get the American citizenship.
—-
The other big clue in the Cleveland Clinic brochure was the ‘virtual network… traveling medical personnel.. anywhere in the world’. That saysGlobal Health andDoctors without Borders. Which includes theClinton Global Health Initiative. [btw… Chris Stevens was in Benghazi to talk to the hospital administrators about modernization of their hospital emergency room facilities.]
What set me off is that the hospitals are not just double-dipping into the pockets of Americans they are at least triple-dipping or quadruple dipping into our pockets while the health care system was changed to provide health care to the healthy at insurance rates based on individual, self-insurance for people with catastrophic illness. The American taxpayers are picking up the tab for the global health system by pass-through funding through the hospitals and the insurance companies. On top of that, each specialty unit they set up can potentially receive research grants because they are specialty and “state-of-the-art”. The entire system constitutes a robbery in progress.
This is the monumental fraud I’ve ever seen – and I’ve just given you a cursory look at it. Dig Deeper. Which reminds me… the Deep State they keep talking about isn’t deep at all. In fact, they are Overlords. They are the unelected, unaccountable regional organizations that have replaced our elected representative government. The two watch words are privatization and regionalization. When you understand how both of those things work together, then you will understand why our government is not an American government in the American tradition.
Vicky Davis, was a Computer Systems Analyst/Programmer turned Internet Researcher and writer. She received her training in computer programming in Santa Clara, California in mid 1970s. She worked primarily – but not entirely on IBM mainframe systems for large corporations and government entities. As an Internet Researcher, she continues to apply her Systems Analyst skills focusing her research on the revolution in government from the systems perspective. She has two websites: ' ' http://www.thetechnocratictyranny.com (newer website) http://www.channelingreality.com (older website)
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“When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?” ―
Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
Despite our best efforts, we in the American police state seem to be stuck on repeat, reliving the same set of circumstances over and over and over again: egregious surveillance, strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, government spying, censorship, retaliatory arrests, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, indefinite detentions, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, etc.
Unfortunately, as a nation we’ve become so desensitized to the government’s acts of violence, so accustomed to reports of government corruption, and so anesthetized to the sights and sounds of Corporate America marching in lockstep with the police state that few seem to pay heed to the warning signs blaring out the message: Danger Ahead.
Remember, the Titanic received at least four warnings from other ships about the presence of icebergs in its path, with the last warning issued an hour before disaster struck. All four warnings were ignored.
Like the Titanic, we’re plowing full steam ahead into a future riddled with hidden and not-so-hidden dangers. We too have been given ample warnings, only to have them drowned out by a carefully choreographed cacophony of political noise, cultural distractions and entertainment news—what the Romans termed “bread and circuses”—aimed at keeping the American people polarized, pacified and easily manipulated.
However, there is still danger ahead. The peril to our republic remains the same.
As long as a permanent, unelected bureaucracy—a.k.a. the shadow government— continues to call the shots in the halls of power and the reach of the police state continues to expand, the crisis has not been averted.
Here’s a glimpse of some of the nefarious government programs we’ll be encountering on our journey through the treacherous waters of 2017.
Mandatory quarantines without due process or informed consent: Undera new rule proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, government agents will be empowered to indefinitely detain any traveler they suspect of posing a medical risk to others without providing an explanation, subject them to medical tests without their consent, and carry out such detentions and quarantines without any kind of due process or judicial review.
Mental health assessments by non-medical personnel: As a result of a nationwide push to train a broad spectrum of so-calledgatekeeperssuch as pastors, teachers, hair stylists, bartenders, police officers and EMTs inmental health first-aid training, more Americans are going to run the risk of being reported by non-medical personnel and detained for having mental health issues.
Tracking chips for citizens: Momentum is building for the government to be able to track citizens, whether through the use of R.F.I.D chips embedded in a national ID card or through microscopic chips embedded in one’s skin. In December 2016, the House of Representatives overwhelminglyapproved legislation allowing police to track individuals suffering from some form of mental disability such as Alzheimer’s or autism by way of implanted chips.
Military training to deal with anti-establishment movements in megacities: The future,according to a Pentagon training video, will be militaristic, dystopian and far from friendly to freedom. Indeed, if this government propaganda-piece that is being used to train special forces is to be believed, the only thing that can save the world from outright anarchy—in the eyes of the government, at least—is the military working in conjunction with local police. The video confirms what I’ve been warning about for so long: in the eyes of the U.S. government and its henchmen, the battlefield of the future is the American home front.
Government censorship of anything it classifies as disinformation:This year’s National Defense Authorization Act, which allocates $619 billion for war and military spending, not only allows the military to indefinitely detain American citizens by placing them beyond the reach of the Constitution, but it also directs the State Department toestablish a national anti-propaganda centerto “counter disinformation and propaganda.” Translation: the government plans to crack down on anyone attempting to exercise their First Amendment rights by exposing government wrongdoing, while persisting in peddling its own brand of fake news.
Threat assessments: Government agents—with the help of automated eyes and ears, a growing arsenal of high-tech software, hardware and techniques, government propaganda urging Americans to turn into spies and snitches, as well as social media andbehavior sensing software—are spinning a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports aimed at snaringpotential enemies of the state. It’s the American police state rolled up into one oppressivepre-crime and pre-thought crime package.
War on cash:The government and its corporate partners are engaged in a concerted campaign to do away with large bills such as $20s, $50s, $100s and shift consumers towards a digital mode of commerce that can easily be monitored, tracked, tabulated, mined for data, hacked, hijacked and confiscated when convenient. Aseconomist Steve Forbesconcludes, “The real reason for this war on cash—start with the big bills and then work your way down—is an ugly power grab by Big Government. People will have less privacy: Electronic commerce makes it easier for Big Brother to see what we’re doing, thereby making it simpler to bar activities it doesn’t like, such as purchasing salt, sugar, big bottles of soda and Big Macs.”
Expansive surveillance:Whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other entity, will still be listening in and tracking your behavior. This doesn’t even begin to touch on the corporate trackers who work with the government to monitor your purchases, web browsing, Facebook posts and other activities taking place in the cyber sphere. In such an environment,we are all suspects to be spied on, searched, scanned, frisked, monitored, tracked and treated as if we’re potentially guiltyof some wrongdoing or other.
Militarized police:Americans are finding their once-peaceful communities transformed into military outposts, complete with tanks, weaponry, and other equipment designed for the battlefield. Now, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the FBI are preparing to turn the nation’s police officers into techno-warriors, complete with iris scanners, body scanners,thermal imaging Doppler radar devices, facial recognition programs, license plate readers, cell phone extraction software, Stingray devices and so much more.
Police shootings of unarmed citizens:Owing in large part to the militarization of local law enforcement agencies, not a week goes by without more reports of hair-raising incidents by police imbued with a take-no-prisoners attitude and a battlefield approach to the communities in which they serve. Indeed, as a special report by The Washington Post reveals, despite heightened awareness of police misconduct, the number of fatal shootings by officers in 2016 remained virtually unchanged from the year before.
Attempts by the government to identify, target and punish so-called domestic “extremists”:The government’s anti-extremism program will, in many cases, be utilized to render otherwise lawful, nonviolent activities as potentially extremist. To this end, police will identify, monitor and deter individuals who exhibit, express or engage in anything that could be construed as extremist before they can become actual threats. This is pre-crime on an ideological scale.
SWAT team raids:More than 80% of American communities have their own SWAT teams, with more than 80,000 of these paramilitary raids are carried out every year. That translates to more than 200 SWAT team raids every day in which police crash through doors, damage private property, kill citizens, terrorize adults and children alike, kill family pets, assault or shoot anyone that is perceived as threatening—and most often in the pursuit of someone merelysuspected of a crime, usually some small amount of drugs.
Over criminalization: The government’s tendency towards militarization and over criminalization, in which routine, everyday behaviors become targets of regulation and prohibition, has resulted in Americans getting arrested for making and selling unpasteurized goat cheese, cultivating certain types of orchids, feeding a whale, holding Bible studies in their homes, andpicking their kids up from school.
In this Oct.11,2001 photo, Albert Florence sits at his home in Bordentown, N.J.with his attorney,Susan Chana Lask. Florence sued after being strip-searched in 2005 when he was arrested because of computer error...Mel Evans/AP
Strip searches and the denigration of bodily integrity: Court rulings undermining the Fourth Amendment and justifying invasive strip searches have left us powerless against police empowered to forcefully draw our blood, forcibly take our DNA, strip search us, and probe us intimately. Accounts are on the rise of individuals—men and women alike—being subjected to what is essentially government-sanctioned rape by police in the course of “routine” traffic stops.
Drones: As corporations and government agencies alike prepare for their part in the coming drone invasion—it is expected that at least 30,000 drones will occupy U.S. airspace by 2020, ushering in a $30 billion per year industry—it won’t be long before American citizens find themselves to be the target of these devices. Drones—unmanned aerial vehicles—will come in all shapes and sizes, from nano-sized drones as small as a grain of sand that can do everything from conducting surveillance to detonating explosive charges, to middle-sized copter drones that can deliver pizzas to massive “hunter/killer” Predator warships that unleash firepower from on high.
Prisons: America’s prisons, housingthe largest number of inmates in the world and still growing, have becomemoney-making enterprises for private corporations that manage the prisons in exchange for the states agreeing to maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years. And how do you keep the prisons full? By passing laws aimed at increasing the prison population, including the imposition of life sentences on people who commit minor or nonviolent crimes such as siphoning gasoline.
Censorship: First Amendment activities are being pummeled, punched, kicked, choked, chained and generally gagged all across the country. Free speech zones, bubble zones, trespass zones, anti-bullying legislation, zero tolerance policies, hate crime laws and a host of other legalistic maladies dreamed up by politicians and prosecutors have conspired to corrode our core freedoms. The reasons for such censorship vary widely from political correctness, safety concerns and bullying to national security and hate crimes but the end result remains the same: the complete eradication of what Benjamin Franklin referred to as the “principal pillar of a free government.”
Researchers concluded that US government policies rarely align with the the preferences of the majority of AmericansPhoto: Bloomberg
Fascism:As a Princeton University survey indicates,our elected officials, especially those in the nation’s capital, represent the interests of the rich and powerfulrather than the average citizen. We are no longer a representative republic. With Big Business and Big Government having fused into a corporate state, the president and his state counterparts—the governors—have become little more than CEOs of the Corporate State, which day by day is assuming more government control over our lives. Never before have average Americans had so little say in the workings of their government and even less access to their so-called representatives.
James Madison, the father of the Constitution, put it best when he warned: “Take alarm at the first experiment with liberties.” Anyone with even a casual knowledge about current events knows that the first experiment on our freedoms happened long ago.
We are fast moving past the point of no return when it comes to restoring our freedoms. Worse, as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we can barely see the old America with its revolutionary principles and value for independence in the rear view mirror. The only reality emerging generations will know is the one constructed for them by the powers-that-be, and you can rest assured that it will not be a reality that favors individuality, liberty or anything or anyone who challenges the status quo.
As a senior advisor to George W. Bush observed, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
In other words, the government has been operating ten steps ahead for quite some time now, and we have yet to catch up, let alone catch our breath as the tides of change swirl around us.
You’d better tighten your seat belts, folks, because we could be in for a rough ride in 2017.
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