It was easy to back candidates Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, Keith Ellison, Judy Chu, Jamie Raskin, Karen Bass... They had all been in state legislatures where they had created records that showed how awesome they would be in Congress. None of them have disappointed. This cycle, candidates like Jared Golden (ME-02), Lisa Brown (WA-05), Ellen Lipton (MI-09) and Kaniela Ing have built tremendous records of accomplishment in their state legislatures, each one demonstrating an ability to put forth successful cutting edge efforts on progressive policy initiatives. And each one a leader beyond just voting well, of course.What do I mean? Let me give you a simple example. Earlier this year, the Honolulu Star Advertiser gave a perfect and very typical instance in a report by Kevin Dayton-- State official wants study of government 'jobs for all'. If you guessed that state official is Kaniela, pat yourself on the back. He's proposing (House Bill 1992) a state task force to study whether Hawaii's state government can provide a job for everyone who needs one. That's a good way to signal constituents and to move worthwhile and cutting edge proposals forward.The Trumpanzee Regime has a very different perspective on what to move forward. How about the Trump Regime moving ahead with its Orwellian-- i.e., fascist-- plans? The Department of Homeland Security has just announced that it intends to compile a comprehensive list of hundreds of thousands of "journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.," and collect any "information that could be relevant" about them. Something tells me that conservatives are going to be as unenthusiastic about this as progressives. This is something that will separate the fascists from the conservatives. Neo-Nazis like Devin Nunes R-CA), Diane Black (R-TN), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Brian Babin (R-TX) might get excited about this kind of thing but mainstream conservatives will be pulling out their hair by the roots.
So if you have a website, an important blog or you are just very active on social media, the Department of Homeland Security is going to put you on a list and will start collecting information about you. The DHS has already announced that it will hire a contractor to aid in monitoring media coverage, and they will definitely need plenty of help because it is going to be a very big job…As part of its “media monitoring,” the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, for instant translation into English. The successful contracting company will have “24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.” in order to “identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event.”“Any and all media coverage,” as you might imagine, is quite broad and includes “online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media.”If this sounds extremely creepy to you, that is because it is extremely creepy....Freedom of speech is one of our most foundational rights, and many are concerned that “monitoring and tracking” are initial steps that could lead to a significant crackdown on Internet activity. Just check out what is about to happen over in Europe. The Internet has made it possible for ordinary people to communicate with one another on a massive scale, and any efforts by national governments to interfere with that must be greatly resisted.Unfortunately, it appears that this new Department of Homeland Security program is moving ahead rapidly. In fact, it is being reported that seven different companies have “already expressed interest” in participating…
Seven companies, mainly minority- or women-owned small businesses, have already expressed interest in becoming a vendor for the contract, according to the FedBizOpps web site.All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to be nothing. Please spread word about this creepy new surveillance program to everyone that you know, because what they are doing is not right.
If you've spent any time reading DWT, you'd know I ran right to Alan Grayson with this. And he was ready. "There is a phrase," he told me, "that is already widespread in Europe, and codified in European law: the 'right to be left alone.' We’ll see how long it takes before we here wake up and realize that that’s our right, too."