The Fourth Branch of United States Government

[livingston]

The Fourth Branch of United States Government

Why does government seem to control so much of our lives now? What significant changes happened in the past 15 years that created a social shift and allowed government to influence almost every facet of our activity? Why has the previously ordinary become so complex? Why is it more difficult to be comfortably invisible and just live out the creed of pursuing ‘life, liberty and happiness’? What is behind all this?….


We were not sleeping, we were wide awake. Perhaps distracted, yes; but we were wide awake when something shifted. A Fourth Branch of Government was quietly created, and technology allowed the tentacles of the system to touch us. That’s the root of it, and if we take the time to understand how the Fourth Branch originated questions about this perpetual angst start to make sense.

The Fourth Branch of United States Government - The Last Refuge

Why does government seem to control so much of our lives now? What significant changes happened in the past 15 years that created a social shift and allowed government to influence almost every facet of our activity? Why has the previously ordinary become so complex? Why is it more difficult...

theconservativetreehouse.com

 

[speedkills27]

9/11 and the Patriot Act. Citizens relinquished power for the War on Terror, that coupled together with easier to get cheap technology (cell phones) makes a honey pot for big brother to keep an eye on everyone and everything

 

[Cooolone]

I'll agree, 9-11 allowed the unsuspecting public, or the PEOPLE to easily be mislead under the guise of Patriotism! Low life politicians identified the gap and jumped at the opportunity to seize unprecedented powers! They reasoned it under the auspices that these powers taken had sunset clauses and the power would be returned to the PEOPLE! But we all know powers once taken is never relinquished... Barack Hussein Obama further promulgated the issue as an example with the 2012 NDAA that centralized ALL Federal agencies under the DOHS with direct control by the POTUS! Today, we see the amazing ridiculous extension of those powers by the Executive seizing powers by circumventing the SCOTUS and using Executive Orders further bypassing the Legislative branches of our Gov't...

All and barely a whimper from the News Giants as they are distracted daily by reinforcing their propping up of this puppet that can't remember what he had for breakfast... Because they were complicit in his obtained office through nefarious measures!

The generalities are necessary because to go into any of the examples in detail would require way too much thumb work (texting/mobile) that my thumbs could handle, lol

Fuck them all!

 

[speedkills27]

Once we got a generation away from the implementation of the surveillance state it became normalized. Anyone younger than a millennial didnt live in a world before and doesn't know the difference.

All and barely a whimper from the News Giants as they are distracted daily by reinforcing their propping up of this puppet that can't remember what he had for breakfast... Because they were complicit in his obtained office through nefarious measures!

To say the media is distracted would imply that they aren't complicit, it has been painfully obvious the major media corporations are the propaganda arm of alphabet agencies for some time now.

 

[tirwin1]

An outstanding article. Thanks for sharing Livingston. I'm still trying to comprehend just how deep the problem is. The person/people that run that site need to be mindful of their personal safety. They are truly exposing the deep state and how it operates. If their writing gets more attention I would not be surprised if they have an accident or get mugged like Seth Rich.

 

[meketrefe]

Isn't the 4th the PC/feel good branch?

 

[SonOfSun]

In terms of technology it comes down to cost per unit of calculation and Storage. Storage used to be expensive. The whole Y2K thing was caused by saving 2 bytes In shortening 1990 to just 90. And it was worth it because of the savings by dropping two characters saved in RAM and storage were large. In the 1970s the entire FBI database was equivalent to about 1 TB. Compared to today you can go down to Best Buy and purchase a 14 TB drive for $280. Agencies like the NSA "Hoover" up data and save it in the event it might be useful in the future and they can easily go back in time and search. Their operations have evolved into store now and search later. Surveillance used to be expensive so it was restricted in use. You needed an agent to physically tail someone, etc. Now it's mass collected and essentially free - today the cost of not having the data if you need it is higher than the cost of storing a crap ton of stuff you don't ever need.

How times change.

Ultimately technology is like a firearm. It's a tool that has the ability to do great good or great harm, it all depends on the intent of the one wielding it.

 

[spat]

The 4th branch is the media.

But they should probably be called the 5th column these days.

 

[Truebeliever]

I think the author overcomplicates it with thinking the DNI or the patriot act was the problem. The problem is the corruption of the DOJ.
Clapper and others get caught lying to Congress, DOJ refuses to prosecute. Can’t spy on Americans , they get one of the partner countries or enemies to do it and they look over their shoulder as they do it. Heck, they even reroute the internet traffic of their targets to overseas nodes so they don’t need a warrant .
It has nothing to do with the patriot act. The FISA courts have had tremendous powers before 9/11. The main difference was before the patriot act, the use of the information could taint a court case, hence why there was a “ firewall” between the law enforcement people and the Intel people. But they all “ meet” under the DOJ anyway. It’s the corruption and politicalization of the DOJ that is the problem. Remember Comey was DOJ before being appointed to the director’s spot. With Lynch and holder and other political appointees in the DOJ, they know they would never be prosecuted.

 

[OwnTheRide]

9/11 and the Patriot Act.

a.k.a. the battle and the victory (for the wrong side). One of our shortest wars ever: five weeks after it started, we issued our surrender.

For the record, I held the same position back in October 2001.

 

[speedkills27]

a.k.a. the battle and the victory (for the wrong side). One of our shortest wars ever: five weeks after it started, we issued our surrender.

For the record, I held the same position back in October 2001.

as did I, Too bad Myspace erased my page

 

[OwnTheRide]

It's worth noting that in the senate, only one person voted against the PATRIOT act in 2001... a Democrat.

In the House, 66 members voted against it. Only two of those 66 were Republican.

 

[spat]

I think the author overcomplicates it with thinking the DNI or the patriot act was the problem. The problem is the corruption of the DOJ.
Clapper and others get caught lying to Congress, DOJ refuses to prosecute. Can’t spy on Americans , they get one of the partner countries or enemies to do it and they look over their shoulder as they do it. Heck, they even reroute the internet traffic of their targets to overseas nodes so they don’t need a warrant .
It has nothing to do with the patriot act. The FISA courts have had tremendous powers before 9/11. The main difference was before the patriot act, the use of the information could taint a court case, hence why there was a “ firewall” between the law enforcement people and the Intel people. But they all “ meet” under the DOJ anyway. It’s the corruption and politicalization of the DOJ that is the problem. Remember Comey was DOJ before being appointed to the director’s spot. With Lynch and holder and other political appointees in the DOJ, they know they would never be prosecuted.

All of those are just symptoms of the underlying problem.

That is the government seeing itself as above the people.

If you are doing something you think you need to hide from the public, then you aught not to be doing it.

I understand the need to keep some secrets because of OPsec, but that's not what we're talking about here.

If you need to keep a secret from the Chinese or Russians, or Al Queda or something, and that necessitates keeping it from the public, that's one thing.

But when you're keeping secrets *because* the public would be outraged if they knew, then you are no longer part of a government "of the people and for the people".

 

[tirwin1]

I think the author overcomplicates it with thinking the DNI or the patriot act was the problem. The problem is the corruption of the DOJ.
Clapper and others get caught lying to Congress, DOJ refuses to prosecute. Can’t spy on Americans , they get one of the partner countries or enemies to do it and they look over their shoulder as they do it. Heck, they even reroute the internet traffic of their targets to overseas nodes so they don’t need a warrant .
It has nothing to do with the patriot act. The FISA courts have had tremendous powers before 9/11. The main difference was before the patriot act, the use of the information could taint a court case, hence why there was a “ firewall” between the law enforcement people and the Intel people. But they all “ meet” under the DOJ anyway. It’s the corruption and politicalization of the DOJ that is the problem. Remember Comey was DOJ before being appointed to the director’s spot. With Lynch and holder and other political appointees in the DOJ, they know they would never be prosecuted.

The DOJ is certainly a big part but it is the incestuous relationships between the people in the CIA, FBI and DOJ that is the problem. All obama had to do is put the right players in the right positions. They didn't have to be told what to do. They all had the same goal in mind and acted accordingly.

 

[Truebeliever]

All of those are just symptoms of the underlying problem.

That is the government seeing itself as above the people.

If you are doing something you think you need to hide from the public, then you aught not to be doing it.

I understand the need to keep some secrets because of OPsec, but that's not what we're talking about here.

If you need to keep a secret from the Chinese or Russians, or Al Queda or something, and that necessitates keeping it from the public, that's one thing.

But when you're keeping secrets *because* the public would be outraged if they knew, then you are no longer part of a government "of the people and for the people".

No argument there. I completely agree

 

[tirwin1]

Just re-read this article. Can't escape the feeling that we are doomed. The only way out seems to be GOP's solution of a domestic crisis so bad the system has to be rebooted. At first I thought that was too extreme. Now I am beginning to believe.....

 

[BerettaGuy]

9/11 and the Patriot Act. Citizens relinquished power for the War on Terror, that coupled together with easier to get cheap technology (cell phones) makes a honey pot for big brother to keep an eye on everyone and everything

It started when Bill Clinton teamed up with the news and entertainment media, sneaking political-driven agenda into PSA ads as commercials and in Hollywood productions. Everything from homosexuality to all corporations are evil showed up "everywhere". Every movie of the day form Jurassic Park to Meteors crashing into the planet was showing the Government saving us from evil corporate leaders. This culminated with the attack on 9-11 was the beginning of the mass formation psychosis where the Government and the media teamed up to scare the populous silly and they did. There was a concerted effort to portray Isalm as a religion of peace rather than a geopolitical system bent on conversion through a sword. Tolerance was preached from every media outlet culminating with it is all Christianity and White people that got us where we are today. All from hipsters that only break a sweat when they go to a gym holding their water baba. Trump solidified a movement of people that knew how to sweat by doing work vs sweating people wearing stylish spandex. Good article.

 

[holdover]

It started when Bill Clinton teamed up with the news and entertainment media, sneaking political-driven agenda into PSA ads as commercials and in Hollywood productions. Everything from homosexuality to all corporations are evil showed up "everywhere". Every movie of the day form Jurassic Park to Meteors crashing into the planet was showing the Government saving us from evil corporate leaders. This culminated with the attack on 9-11 was the beginning of the mass formation psychosis where the Government and the media teamed up to scare the populous silly and they did. There was a concerted effort to portray Isalm as a religion of peace rather than a geopolitical system bent on conversion through a sword. Tolerance was preached from every media outlet culminating with it is all Christianity and White people that got us where we are today. All from hipsters that only break a sweat when they go to a gym holding their water baba. Trump solidified a movement of people that knew how to sweat by doing work vs sweating people wearing stylish spandex. Good article.

Im afraid to say it started far earlier than that. Which is why it has always been difficult to see.

 

[ManualF150]

In terms of technology it comes down to cost per unit of calculation and Storage. Storage used to be expensive. The whole Y2K thing was caused by saving 2 bytes In shortening 1990 to just 90. And it was worth it because of the savings by dropping two characters saved in RAM and storage were large. In the 1970s the entire FBI database was equivalent to about 1 TB. Compared to today you can go down to Best Buy and purchase a 14 TB drive for $280. Agencies like the NSA "Hoover" up data and save it in the event it might be useful in the future and they can easily go back in time and search. Their operations have evolved into store now and search later. Surveillance used to be expensive so it was restricted in use. You needed an agent to physically tail someone, etc. Now it's mass collected and essentially free - today the cost of not having the data if you need it is higher than the cost of storing a crap ton of stuff you don't ever need.

How times change.

Ultimately technology is like a firearm. It's a tool that has the ability to do great good or great harm, it all depends on the intent of the one wielding it.

I agree -- I am a veteran of tech... my oh my how the times have changed. I remember 200 baud modems and punch card machines, and reel-to-reel tapes, UNISYS, etc. If I knew now what tech has done to society, I would've chosen a different field.

 

[spat]

9/11 and the Patriot Act. Citizens relinquished power for the War on Terror, that coupled together with easier to get cheap technology (cell phones) makes a honey pot for big brother to keep an eye on everyone and everything

That was just round 3 or 4.

The war on drugs was probably a bigger hit to freedom than the war on terror.

The new war on covid was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Acer-m14]

4th branch of GOV .. money ..
5th branch of GOV .. NotNEWS Media .. to keep the money coming ..