Middle America's Worldview

The Justice Department worked late last night to block the plaintiffs, from obtaining more details about how the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance effort operates. This halts the current most successful legal challenges to the NSA.

The motion was filed with U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon The request was to halt further proceedings, while appeals go forward in two lawsuits brought by conservative legal activist Larry Klayman. 

This comes on the heel, when a federal judge ruled the NSA program collecting information on nearly all telephone companies to, from, within the United States is likely unconstitutional. “U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Government Lawyers are ...Read More

Many enjoy the turn-by-turn directions provided by their car. Navigation systems are installed in millions of new cars. The big three are Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler -- as well as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. While these provide assistance, reports have revealed the data kept, cannot be erased by the car’s owner. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a report examining the big three car companies, finds their policies are different in reference to navigational systems. One item remains consistent. Each do not allow the customer to delete the retained data of their location, duration, or history of movement, among other data.

Comedian Fights for your Right 

Comedian turned Senator Al Franken Read more.

Edward Snowden leaks state the NSA still has "a huge number of very significant stories to reveal," including those relating to Israel. Glenn Greenwald, the investigative journalist who first published Edward Snowden leaks tells all, more stories are forthcoming. "There definitely are stories left that involve the Middle East, that involve Israel. The reporting is going to continue at roughly the same pace that has been happening," the former Guardian journalist said in an interview with Channel 10 television station that aired Monday night. Read more:

Restaurant servers will lose their 18% gratuity tip from large groups, as of January 1, 2014. A change in tax policy will prevent restaurant workers from collection automatic gratuities. The 18% added gratuity on a group 8 or more will be automatically included in their payroll. This causes the worker to wait up to two weeks for that tip, as well as paying additional taxes on it. It also means minimum wage workers will get less money, while the federal government gets more. Read More

Move over Google Glass, a new rival is making news. Nano-tech contact lenses that work with a pair of glasses provide wearers a virtual canvas, which any media can be viewed or application run. iOptik provides the media onto the human eyes, providing the user virtual canvas as well as help with their eyesight. Read more

No less than 11 attorney generals from the GOP state the Obama administration is breaking the law by repeatedly making changes to Obamacare without going through Congress. The use of President Obama’s executive action is an over-reach of his powers. The attorneys general criticizes Obama, using executive action allowing insurance companies to keep offering health plans, that have been canceled for not meeting Obamacare’s more strict standards

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The issue

 “We support allowing citizens to keep their health insurance coverage, but the only way to fix this problem-ridden law is to enact changes lawfully: through Congressional action,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The illegal actions by this administration must stop.” This healthcare fix is “flatly illegal under federal constitutional and statutory law”, they say. The seven-page letter says the President is violating both his responsibility to execute laws faithfully and the separation of powers between the branches of government.

  The Group

 The 11 attorney generals signing the letter included the states Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wrote the letter . Officials point to the 1985 Heckler vs Chaney case. The Supreme Court concluded some enforcement actions of laws might be subject to judicial review first. “We are deeply concerned that this Administration is consistently rewriting new rules and effectively inventing statutory provisions to operationalize a flawed law,” the attorneys general wrote. “And the irony, of course, is that the changes being put forth to fix the disastrous exchanges will ultimately destroy the market and increase health insurance premiums for customers who played by the rules.”

  Other issues

 HHS continues to “ignore the widespread public outcry over the security of consumers’ private information” on exchanges,” they wrote, adding that they’re concerned about the administration’s decision to “not propose and implement rigorous privacy standards for outreach personnel.” “Each of us is charged with protecting our states’ consumers,” Morrisey said. “Once a person’s private information is breached, it is very hard to ensure it is secure again. We are troubled that the Administration has not even proposed implementing criminal background checks on people who have access to sensitive private information.”

Summary

 The letter was written December 26, 2013 to HHS Kathleen Sebelius to convey concerns of illegality. The seven page letter provides the concerns, citing specific laws and regulations being broken by the Obama Administration. The “fix” placed by the Obama Administration breaks the constitutional law, while also creating a new statutory obligation or new rule. In essence, Obama is attempting to create new laws, without Congress approval, while breaking existing laws already in place. The letter then proposes commonsense safeguards on “ways to ensure protection for information”.

I am not sure how accurate this quiz is. However, it was maybe 15 questions and did not take long.

Allegations have been released, the same Mexican cartel killing Brian Terry in 2010 with Department of Justice, Eric Holder fiasco “Fast and Furious” scandal were working with the FBI.

 John Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the FBI was “directing the rip crew” to do a “drug rip-off” using intelligence gathered by the DEA.

 John Dodson’s interview indicating the same Mexican bandits who gunned down Brian Terry, were working for FBI operatives, has repositioned light on the Obama Administrations Fast and Furious operation again.

 Dodson’s new book release, “The Unarmed Truth” chronicles his role as a whistleblower during Operation Fast and Furious. The Obama Administration attempted to block the publication of the book, and failed.

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Interestingly the Twilight Zone ran "The Shelter" on Sep. 29, 1961. It shows preppers existed as far back as 1961, with the issue of preppers and non-preppers. It's the famous story of the grasshopper and ant. The grasshopper played all the time, while the ant worked and prep. When time came, the ant was able to survive the winter, while the grasshopper suffered.
Socialism wishes to have the grasshopper fed by the working ant, but America was built on ants not grasshoppers.

The show is fascinating to watch, if you have 30 minutes to spare. I only fear this scenario, times a whole town, city, country.

While Doomsday Preppers show the extreme, prepping remains to be simply risk management. I suggest The Survival Podcast, providing great information, without the tinfoil hats.

I wrote a quick review of the 299 days on the first book, after I finished it.

As I conveyed before, alot of similarities and amazingly enough, I came across an interview of Glen Tate (not his real name). The interview is broken up to 3 videos on youtube. Very interesting to see.

Viewing this,you learn the story-line is based off real people, and his personal past.

This was really thought out and worth the watch. MainePrepper provides common sense discussion on what you personally can do in preparation of the coming depression or economic collapse.

Many may not acknowledge the coming collapse, but they remain in normal bias.

Last night, while alone in my hotel, I was able to finish the book 299: The Preparation, by Glen Tate. I had accidently came across the book series. I have been reading other books regarding the fall of United States, and emphasizes on prepping and after effects. I enjoyed the book "Lights Out", by David Crawford, as well "Patriots", by James Wesley Rawles.

However, Tate's book hit home for me. The fictional character had remarkable similarities to my own personal life. The kid recalled little of his childhood, grew up in a small town very poor. Married an awesome wife, and worked hard to accomplish what his parents could not.

Moving toward marriage, having an older daughter, and a younger son with autism. The story was remarkably unnerving, but relatable to me. I also grew up poor, in a small town and in my own way became successful with a career. Additionally, I married an awesome wife, having an older daughter and a younger son with autistic tendencies, struggling medically.

The character in the book, was snapped out of his dream world, and brought back to his roots as a country boy, remembering how hard it was while a kid. This with the aid of guidance, opened his eyes to what is coming, kicked his butt into bucking up and begins preparing.

Similarly, I see what is coming (as I know my family understands my discussions on this matter) and it scares me to death. However, only discussing it will not help. This book provides a real life scenario on what can be done, a little at a time.

A phenomenal book, providing a deeper rich character than the prior books I have read before. The similarities drew me into the storyline, while also providing me some real world examples of what can be done to begin preparation.

I tip my hat to Glen Tate and look forward to the second book.

Google company continues to buy up robotic start-up companies. Recently Google acquired the company Boston Dynamics. This makes the eight robot maker snapped up, within the last six months.

The company Boston Dynamics designed and produced mobile research robots for US military. The company is best known for its four legged robots, tackling all matter of terrains, with speeds up to 29 mph.

Cheetah, BigDog and Wildcat robots were created by Boston Dynamics. The company is also working on a humanoid robot dubbed Atlas to work in natural disaster areas.

Terminator anyone?

Cheetah

The Cheetah Robot surpasses 20mph, breaking the land record for robots.

Atlas

A high mobility humanoid robot, able to walk bipedally, allowing the upper arms free to work.

SandFlea

The 11 pound robot that drives like a remote control car, but can jump 30 feet into the air. This robot is reported to be able to jump 25 times per charge.

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A knock on the door interrupts Tom from his football game. His wife and two kids are out shopping, so who could it be? Answering the door, an official envelope is provided to him from the United States Government. ‘What could this be’? He wondered, as the game goes into another commercial.

Opening the envelope, he is greeted with a bill from the government for $43,000 dollars.

Since Obama has come into the office, the debt ceiling has been raised seven times. Those increases from Congress added an additional $43,000 dollars for every individual American household, this last four years. While no “official envelope” is provided, the debt is real.

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During his first term, this President blamed Bush, now in his Second term he is blaming Republicans. Blaming them about economy, “send the economy into a tailspin.”

Blaming them on Obamacare funding, “…just to make sure that tens of millions of Americans continue not to have health care…they’re holding the whole country hostage.”

Those are only a couple of examples of the rhetoric on display at the Auto plant today in Liberty Missouri.

Obama noted 40 times that the Republican majority has voted to repeal Obamacare, calling the attempts a failure.

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There is no question: Military and tattoos go together naturally like blood and guts. Yet, a new Army rule may ban tattoos. The new rule was approved by Secretary of the Army John McHugh, but not yet signed. The order would ban tattoos from the forearms, below the knee, or above the neckline. Tattoos deemed offensive must be removed regardless of location, and the soldier is required to pay for the removal.

What is considered to be offensive? Watching R.Lee Ermey playing the role as Gunnery Sargent Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket, I cannot imagine what could be offensive. Yet, the Army has found some tattoos distasteful.

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GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) is as controversial as smoking cigarettes. States such as California attempted to require labeling, but was defeated due to heavy money backers from Monsanto, Grocery Manufactures Association, and Dupont. Pitched Battle Against GMO Seeds Recently the battle to label GMO's moved to Washington, and was again defeated. Now the battle has moved to Oregon, as initiative 522. The initiative succeeded in the urban Puget Sound region, but failed in rural counties. The failure was due to the same group, Grocery Manufactures Association, Monsanto and Dupont helping push a $22 million campaign against labeling Read More:

Open carry activists in Orion Township, Michigan, had a surprise encounter at an event on Friday. While the activists expected some form of confrontation with the police during the For Liberty Friday event, they did not expect a positive situation. The Deputy Sheriff (DS) pulled up, while the activists prepared to take photos with their camera-phones. Rather than an inquiry for the activist ID, or demand for confiscation, they were greeted with handshakes.

Deputy Paul Buell, stated he was “out to catch bad guys, not people who are exercising their constitutional rights.” The deputy went on to comment on how guns scare the “uneducated.”

However, if someone calls, the police must come and check it out. Fortunately for the activist, this deputy understood and supported their Constitutional rights.

I couldn’t agree more. We need more police with this kind of understanding. Many will view Paul Buell as a hero, but in reality he is doing what should be occuring with all our police officers.

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