[budlover123]

So Director of the CIA John Brennan couldn't wait to blame the Paris terrorist attacks on Edward Snowden, and the former director of the CIA, the same one who made up all the lies to get America to invade Iraq, a leading cause for the birth of ISIS, says Snowden has "blood on his hands" because of the revelations about mass spying on Americans and the world in general, And the media passes along the misinformation because they are corrupt as hell and only care about their paychecks and future job opportunities.

Why is that? Did terrorists really not know about encryption until the Snowden revelations? Of course not. They've been using sophisticated encryption technologies since before 9/11.

How were these terrorists even communicating. It is said they all lived in proximity to each other, they were likely not using digital methods to communicate at all. I've heard 0 details about the actual communications of these terrorists, just a lot of assumptions that serve the people who want to use terrorism as an excuse for mass surveillance.

Billions of dollars are spent to combat terrorism, but even with all those resources, the Paris attacks were not prevented, but instead of admitting failure, they decide to use this as an opportunity to push forward their own agenda. Absolutely disgusting these people are.

Why am I mentioning this on a forum about the legality of marijuana? Because if it is true that mass surveillance has the ability to fight terrorism, it also true that these people work with impunity and in complete secrecy, and if people can hack your phone's camera at will and they record images of your personal grow op, they will treat YOU like a terrorist and go after you for growing your own plants, or any other activity you do in the privacy of your own home.

I'm fairly certain this is why I got busted. I never sold anything to anybody and only the tinniest group of trusted friends knew about it, I just didn't want to start a fight with my girlfriend again about covering her damn smartphone cameras again so now i face (more) possible jail time and all types of fees and fines.

Why do you think them cameras are on the front and back of all those phones? selfies?

[mowood3479]

Keep ur phone in ur pocket while in the grow room... Bam, no problems.
I seriously doubt that mass surveillance was the reason for ur bust...... There are people posting pics of 100 light grows... There are people producing child porn.. People smuggling mass amounts of coke and heroin...and mad bombers planning bomb attacks on the innocent.

Law enforcement (even the nsa and cia) work on priority cases (things there bosses think will get them a bigger budget)... Really of all the bad shit people do.. Growing herb isn't that high on the list.
Ud be better served In ur defense to find out how and why u were investigated... It's all written down and as ur court case progresses u will be given that info (not to say they won't lie).. Because the govt will def lie...
Now I'm not saying it's impossible that mass cell phone surveillance caused ur bust, because it is possible...it's just unlikely... Why would they bother? Unless ur growing herb and making bombs.

[budlover123]

I tend to be outspoken about what I believe in, I made the assertion in 2002 that if the Bush administration knew that, as the memo before 9/11 said "Bin Laden determined to attack America" and didn't stop it in order to rally the American people to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, that those actions were parallel to what Hitler did when he bombed that embassy and used it as an excuse to rally the German people into his Nazi party.

(really, really not trying to open that can of worms, but that's where my targeted surveillance began)

Ever since then I can never use curbside check in at an airport or pre print my boarding pass, and someone at the desk has to call homeland security before I can get on a plane. I find the possibility of domestic spying to be quite possible in my case and I also find that if that is the case, I'd never know about it.

Back in 2009 there was a program for private citizens to get information about the surveillance that was being done on them. I printed all the documents up and mailed them where they told me to. weeks later it came back, return to sender, and I could not find that website anymore

[armedoldhippy]

it has been common knowledge for some time now that LOTS of the "little people" that get arrested get hammered because of the extra-legal spying being done to protect us from terrorists. no, it is not the CIA & NSA kicking your door in, it's their buddies in "normal" police agencies illegally using their tips & constructing false evidence trails to hide their skullduggery from prosecutors, defense lawyers & judges. read up on what is happening in California. one county there has approved more phone taps than the rest of the country involved, & the huge majority of the charges resulting are going to be tossed because of the way they were "approved", nearly all by one corrupt judge.

[mowood3479]

...

[St. Phatty]

They're both Jobs Creation Programs ... for people with Double Digit IQ's & big Egos.

[Weird]

how about we simply war against our nature, the one that creates corporate imperialism and ecological disaster that will take generations to over come so a few people today can have a gross amount of wealth.

[OGEvilgenius]

Originally Posted by Weird

how about we simply war against our nature, the one that creates corporate imperialism and ecological disaster that will take generations to over come so a few people today can have a gross amount of wealth.

It's peoples blind faith in things that has allowed it all to happen.

No coincidence that environmentalists don't push sensible solutions though most of the time. Where's the massive hemp movement to solve many problems we have? Doesn't exist. Too libertarian a solution.

Better solution? Tax people's breathing.

It's all coming from the same place. The control freaks of the world want a totalitarian nightmare for us all to live in under their thumb. That's reality. That has always been reality. Except now we are much more sophisticated in our methods of control than we were 1000 or 100 years ago.

Anyway, if I had to choose between one of these two wars it would be both. They're basically the same thing. Some ridiculous fight against an ideological group largely created by the policy of those pushing the ridiculous fight (or in some cases actually created by them period). All in the name of squashing our rights and freedoms.

I know many people have noticed the increasingly authoritarian nature of the world - has anyone ever stopped to realize that every political party is pushing this same shit in a different shade of brown?

The social issues, which I know many, especially in the stoner community, are wwaaaay over emotionally attached to are simply used to divide.

Anyway... random political rant out.

[mowood3479]

Originally Posted by OGEvilgenius

I know many people have noticed the increasingly authoritarian nature of the world - has anyone ever stopped to realize that every political party is pushing this same shit in a different shade of brown?

.

New boss, same as the old boss.

[Weird]

Originally Posted by OGEvilgenius

It's peoples blind faith in things that has allowed it all to happen.

No coincidence that environmentalists don't push sensible solutions though most of the time. Where's the massive hemp movement to solve many problems we have? Doesn't exist. Too libertarian a solution.

Better solution? Tax people's breathing.

It's all coming from the same place. The control freaks of the world want a totalitarian nightmare for us all to live in under their thumb. That's reality. That has always been reality. Except now we are much more sophisticated in our methods of control than we were 1000 or 100 years ago.

Anyway, if I had to choose between one of these two wars it would be both. They're basically the same thing. Some ridiculous fight against an ideological group largely created by the policy of those pushing the ridiculous fight (or in some cases actually created by them period). All in the name of squashing our rights and freedoms.

I know many people have noticed the increasingly authoritarian nature of the world - has anyone ever stopped to realize that every political party is pushing this same shit in a different shade of brown?

The social issues, which I know many, especially in the stoner community, are wwaaaay over emotionally attached to are simply used to divide.

Anyway... random political rant out.

You make some very interesting points but I don't think our perspectives are mutually exclusive.

Yes, it takes a rare phenotype of person to want to control and drive humanity, and pragmatically without we would not be where we are.

I do think there is an in between, people who are driven, posses power and have a genuine desire to serve humanity for a greater purpose.

This doesn't mean that they are not corruptible or that they are simply a counter weight to the corrupt themselves, however I think it works in the opposite.

Someone is driven by some catalyst to create something the good and the advancement of all, it gets established, and as it becomes adopted by the mainstream it starts to suffer corruption because that phenotype shows itself when there is great fortune to be easily had.

At some point imagine being born into absolute wealth and luxury, with limit of opportunity, would you have the capacity to be any other way if you have not experienced a contrast in your being?

So even those who drive this process aren't always knowingly culpable for their actions because they are simply being like everyone else around them.

Human nature has been that we follow whatever examples we see, the more base, the more easily adopted, regardless of the danger of underlying causation that exists in those behaviors.