LET THE MIND CONTROL BEGIN!
While Americans were busy preparing for Christmas, their government was busy approving a massive $611 billion appropriation for the United States military.
This latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) was busted hiding a January 2015 report containing $125 billion in savings that could have been achieved over a five-year period – without any civilian layoffs or any reduction in military strength.
Apparently the war gods in Washington, D.C. didn’t want that sort of information to be made public … so they shoved it in a Pentagon file cabinet.
Anyway, this latest budget-busting appropriation perpetuates our government’s reckless lack of sense and sustainability when it comes to military spending.
We’re talking one expensive, across the board failure here, people … failed programs, failed conflicts and a failed strategy.
Whether in Russia, China or the Middle East, America is trying to maintain the illusion of an empire … while neglecting the most fundamental aspect of our own national defense (i.e. securing our borders). And the price tag for all of this ill-conceived interventionism continues to bleed our taxpayers dry – while making the world in which we live a much more dangerous place.
Does any of this seem even remotely logical? No. Of course not. Which is why Americans have made it clear they are ready for change when it comes to their government’s foreign policies.
Will they see such change under the administration of Donald Trump? We shall see … but it’s a safe to say they wouldn’t have seen it under Hillary Clinton.
While the world awaits Trump’s inauguration, though, the federal government is stepping up its efforts to scare the American people back into line.
Buried deep within the latest multi-billion dollar military boondoggle is an appropriation for the so-called “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act.”
What is this, exactly?
According its lead sponsor – a fiscally liberal, anti-liberty Republican U.S. Senator from Ohio named Rob Portman – the legislation will create “an interagency center housed at the State Department to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts throughout the U.S. government.”
Wow … let’s say that one more time, with feeling.
… an interagency center housed at the State Department to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts throughout the U.S. government.
This isn’t a proposal, either. It’s happening. Now.
We’re not sure about you, but Portman’s “interagency counter-propaganda center” sounds every bit as Orwellian as the National Security Agency (NSA)’s domestic spy network – or outgoing U.S. president Barack Obama‘s proposal to curate your news feed.
It’s a “Ministry of Truth.” Like something Joseph Goebbels should be running.
“Today, the United States has taken a critical step towards confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us by our enemies overseas,” Portman said after Obama signed the defense bill into law.
Really? Seems to us like yet another critical erosion of basic liberty – not to mention an open door to all manner of anti-American censorship.
As far as we’re concerned this is nothing but more McCarthyism – an effort by the establishment in Washington, D.C. to silence dissent by branding it is a “foreign propaganda” even though they’ve offered absolutely no proof in support of their claim.
We’ve addressed the root of this issue before, but it bears repeating …
Corruption needs to be exposed. And while we don’t support foreign governments (or anyone) hacking into the private data of American citizens, illegalities exposed in such a manner must still be investigated and those who are exposed must be held accountable.
In other words, don’t take your eye off the ball. Don’t excuse the rampant corruption of the status quo just because a convenient bogeyman is pushed in front of your face.
Also consider this: Perhaps if our government’s justice department was doing its job and cracking down on corruption within the public sector (as opposed to covering it up) then the people wouldn’t have to rely on leaks of secret information obtained via such (ahem) “elaborate” methods to get at the truth.
Unfortunately, America’s government, its corporate-owned media outlets and the increasingly leftist social media gatekeepers have become master propagandists in their own right …
A monopoly they appear most eager to protect.
(Banner via iStock)