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Nine Liberties Lost Since 9/11

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Carey Wilder via TheAntiMedia.org,

Every year, “NEVER FORGET” echoes through the neighborhoods, cities, and Facebook statuses of America. 14 years after 9/11, Americans still bear the cross of a nation victimized and scorned after the brutal attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. While Americans — and politicians who are still intent on capitalizing on the tragedy — vow never to forget the fateful day, far too many citizens forget the liberties they have relinquished as a result. Lest yesterday’s valiantly waving flags, government ceremonies, and TV news specials replaying the plane crashes coax you into forgetting, these nine essential freedoms have been usurped since 9/11:

1. The liberty to not be spied upon: Essential to a free society — at least as the founders of the United States saw it — was the freedom to be left alone. In the not too distant past, government agencies suspicious of citizens had to obtain warrants to investigate private citizens. They had to prove to a judge why they deserved to violate a person’s sacrosanct privacy from the State. Though surveillance programs were in place long before 9/11, the tragedy enabled much more far-reaching impositions. Multiple federal agencies — most notably the NSA — are enabled to surveil citizens, all the time — all around the world. The government’s paranoid desire for total surveillance has only grown since 9/11. The FBI, which built the NSA’s foundation for dragnet spying, continuously throws temper tantrums over its inability to spy on encrypted communications. The Department of “Justice” argued just this week that it should have access to all Americans’ emails. A separate court recently ruled that a case challenging NSA bulk data collection could not move forward because the plaintiff could not prove — due to government secrecy — that he was being surveilled.

2. The liberty to not be harassed by law enforcement: The federal government’s total surveillance state is a direct consequence of 9/11 — or rather, the political exploitation of it. However, at the local level, police departments not only conduct their own invasive spying with secret technology provided by the federal government — they pose a far greater danger. Where police officers were once trusted to protect life, they now threaten it. Currently, the risk of being killed by a police officer is anywhere from eight to 55 times greater than being killed by a terrorist. In 2015, police are on track to kill 1,100 Americans — and since 9/11, have killed more than died that day. This year, it was revealed that Chicago’s Homan Square operated as a black site without due process but replete with torture. Other violations by police, constitutionally speaking, include a basic protection against unwarranted searches and seizures. This makes unauthorized cavity searches on the side of the road and civil asset forfeiture — a policy by which police have stolen millions of dollars from unaccused citizens — an egregious seizure of the freedoms Americans still drunkenly celebrate on national holidays. Checkpoints, anyone?

3. The freedom of movement and travel without being treated like a criminal: Considering how traumatized the collective American populace continues to be by incessant, repeated clips of two planes flying into the World Trade Center, it is unsurprising that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), formed after 9/11, is accepted as a vital element of modern society. Millions of Americans routinely huddle in cramped airport security lines, removing their shoes and flashing their private parts to security agents via X-ray machines so as to avoid more invasive gropings. Recently, two agents were caught tag-teaming to grope attractive women. Theft of passenger belongings runs rampant among officers. Racial profiling is allowed by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA. Unsurprisingly, these practices fail to find terrorists 95% of the time. Meanwhile, children in wheelchairs, the elderly, and otherwise innocent Americans are forced to endure what would amount to sexual harassment in any other environment. But rest assured, if travelers pay a special fee, they can bypass security lines. For your safety.

4. Freedom of Speech: While no one (that the government admits to) has been black-bagged for criticizing the government yet, the State has spent years incrementally criminalizing this fundamental right. In addition to designating anti-government activists, hippie communes, and Americans with seed libraries as potential terrorists, the federal government has made a habit of punishing individuals who attempt to shed light on the government’s crimes. From Bradley (Chelsea) Manning to Edward Snowden and countless others, those who attempt to inform the American people of the atrocities their government commits are promptly silenced. Though the story received little mainstream attention, the military’s new operating procedures condone killing journalists. Further, the people’s right to free speech has been widely suppressed. During the Bush years, protesters were cordoned off into “free speech zones” to air their grievances. Today, protests are heavily patrolled by police, who do not shy away from pestering — if not abusing — people peacefully exercising their most essential constitutional right.

5. The liberty to simply know what the government does: When President Obama campaigned for the presidency in 2008, he decried George W. Bush’s cloak of secrecy shrouding government actions. Obama vowed to be more transparent, to make the government truly work for the people by allowing them to know what it does. His presidency is almost over, but any echo of that sentiment has been silenced. His administration, self-designated the “most transparent in history,” is one of the least transparent and denies more Freedom of Information Act requests than ever. Lawmakers refuse to reveal details of foreign policy, surveillance, and more, citing “national security” as a blanket excuse. This justification is how they perpetuated continued warrantless spying even after the Patriot expired. It is how they have instigated perpetual war with little explanation beyond “grave threats” to the American people. To say more would be to endanger the people further, of course. Whenever politicians feel threatened by real questions, they need only parrot the need for “public safety” and drum up memories of 9/11 to shirk accountability.

6. The liberty to not be harassed by the military in your own home: Many people view the third amendment as archaic. The Revolutionary War is long over and soldiers are no longer “quartered.” However, one specific program — mutated after 9/11 — allows this violation on a daily basis. Following last year’s protests in Ferguson against police brutality, the Pentagon’s 1033 program has faced intense scrutiny for arming local police with high-powered military gear, from armored vehicles to battle regalia. This program has emboldened SWAT teams and other local police — paramilitary wings of law enforcement armed to the teeth — to increasingly raid the homes of private citizens. “But they’re criminals!” loyalists might cry. But what about when they aren’t? Often, SWAT teams raid the wrong addresses, but even when they are in the right place, they inflict everything from beatings and murder on non-violent, often innocent citizens to shooting family pets. The 1033 program, intended to help fight the Drug War, increased in power after 9/11 — when its stated goal shifted toward preventing terrorism.

7. The right to a fair trial: When the near-mythical “founding fathers” crafted the Constitution, one of their greatest revolutions was ensuring fair trials to the accused. This banned cruel and unusual punishment while ensuring a speedy trial where the defendant was considered innocent until proven guilty — not the other way around, as had been practiced by despotic regimes throughout human history. However, this right to a fair trial has been increasingly eroded by autocratic elements within the so-called justice system, especially since 9/11. An Irish judge recently refused to extradite a terror suspect to the United States, citing fears he would endure cruel and unusual punishment. “Death by firing squad!” many patriots mourning 9/11 might chant. He is a terrorist, after all, and  “innocent until proven guilty” is a moniker of the weak and those hell-bent on seeing Americans murdered.

But what about the American citizens presumed guilty before an actual verdict is reached? Prosecutors have been criticized for exercising racism in jury selection, biasing courts in favor of conviction. One mentally ill black man died languishing away in prison for months — awaiting a (non-speedy) trial for allegedly stealing less than five dollars worth of snacks from a convenience store. In more high-profile cases, the government and media go out of their way to ensure defendants are presumed guilty long before their trials start. Such was the case with Ross Ulbricht (where FBI agents were found to have committed criminal acts during investigations and key evidence was suppressed). Chelsea Manning and others have faced similar fates. The government also actively campaigns against activists attempting to educate jurors about their rights. None of these violations of due process compete with the indefinite detention provision of the 2012-present National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Language found in Section 1021(b)(2) of the NDAA allows the president to order the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charge or trial, merely for being suspected of being a threat to national security.

8. The liberty of owning your body: Though not codified in the Constitution, a basic premise of liberty is self-ownership — that free individuals may choose what they want to do with and put in their bodies. Though the Drug War has been in full swing for decades, the events of 9/11 allowed the government to regulate people’s body chemistry more heavily. While the Patriot Act is widely associated with unwarranted surveillance — as it should be — it was used overwhelmingly to prosecute non-violent drug “crimes” and has helped to create the world’s largest prison population, because…freedom?

9. Economic liberty: While the state places many restrictions on economic freedom, it has done so for centuries through taxation, fees, fines, and regulations that favor corporations (such as the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership). Still, these policies have not been contingent on the 9/11 terror attacks. What 9/11 has allowed, however, are increased piles of tax dollars to fund military adventures throughout the world. Though the military chronically eats up trillions of dollars, every year it demands more money — and nearly every year it gets it. Without the jarring images of 9/11 branded into Americans’ brains, the military would have a much more difficult time securing funding. Those who disagree with such expenditures (whether out of fiscal responsibility or outrage at endless violence) must square off with the IRS — an entity more terrifying to most Americans than the government’s more murderous agencies.

While the events that transpired on 9/11 should never be forgotten — and should be commemorated — often, the nationalistic grandstanding that comes along with mourning the dead removes any possibility to mourn the freedoms lost — or the very literal lost and tortured lives of individuals around the world subjected to the aggressive foreign policy enabled by 9/11. While the government is categorically to blame for these violations, it is an unfortunate fact that Americans are guilty of creating an environment where crimes against humanity go unchecked and nearly every element of American life is regulated and surveilled. By allowing themselves to be manipulated by constant fear-mongering, Americans have allowed — if not applauded — this confiscation of their freedoms.

 

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Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:20 | 6539400 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

Americans lost their liberties long before that.  Kennedy promised to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. Instead he lost his life as the CIA shattered his brains into a thousand pieces.

Liberty has always lost in the land of the free since that fateful day of November 22, 1963.  A cabal of MIC, spooks and Wall Street runs the Deep State in the land of the free.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a false flag.

9/11 was another false flag to drain away your diminishing liberties

Who rules America? 

The secret collaboration of the military, the intelligence and national security agencies, and gigantic corporations in the systematic and illegal surveillance of the American people reveals the true wielders of power in the United States. Telecommunications giants such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, and Internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter, provide the military and the FBI and CIA with access to data on hundreds of millions of people that these state agencies have no legal right to possess.

Congress and both of the major political parties serve as rubber stamps for the confluence of the military, the intelligence apparatus and Wall Street that really runs the country. The so-called “Fourth Estate”—the mass media—functions shamelessly as an arm of this ruling troika.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/10/pers-j10.html

Gulf of Tonkin Incident: False Flag For War In Vietnam

http://www.opsecnews.com/gulf-of-tonkin-incident-false-flag-for-war-in-v...

9/11 - The Truth In 5 Minutes - James Corbett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgrunnLcG9Q

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:24 | 6539428 Fester
Fester's picture

It's never one event, it's a process.

JFK was one of many.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:28 | 6539439 Bioscale
Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:38 | 6539457 general ambivalent
general ambivalent's picture

At this rate ISIS will have the F-35 in operation before the US does.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:10 | 6539537 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

We gave all that up so as to not be rude to muslim males.  Keep that in mind. 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:41 | 6539761 realmoney2015
realmoney2015's picture

And whats worse is the dumbed down American public seem to want the loss of freedom. 

The one candidate who has been bringing these attacks on our liberties to light is 'lagging in the polls'. 

Filibustering on drone attacks and then again on NSA spying. Mentioning the bill of rights and the 4th ammd in the three minutes he got in the first debate. 

If the people can't see that there is only one candidate not like the others they deserve what they get. I just ask that they don't take me down with them.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:44 | 6539473 Oh regional Indian
Oh regional Indian's picture

Look at who runs the 9/11 Holocaust museum under the "Freedom" tower.

And there is a BIG crumb on an old and well known trail.

Bloomturd is the Chairman....

The waterworks disappear into the great dark deep...sick twisted sculpture...

Sick twisted minds....

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:47 | 6539480 junction
junction's picture

Peasants have no liberties, in case you haven't noticed. 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 15:15 | 6540013 boattrash
boattrash's picture

When you get to the real nut-cuttin, we really have not lost any "Liberties", but rather, the consequences have changed drastically.
One is still free to make shine, grow weed, rape loot and pillage, embark on a massive killing spree, smuggle people, smuggle arms (including heavy artillery, and a wide host of other endeavors. You will just have to be prepared to die, or do one helluva disappearing act. (Or be of a political/bankster class of untouchables), personally I'd rather be dead, than in that class of shiteaters.
But I digress, fact is, you can do anything you want, just as always, "If it's worth livin' for, It's worth dyin' for".

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:04 | 6539509 Vincent.Vega
Vincent.Vega's picture

> Americans lost their liberties long before that.

Define "liberties". The commoners never had any.

As a business owner one will go broke next day after trying to use symbology of the Confederate States of America.

George Washington had 135 slaves in 1775 (BTW, the whole Civil War history is bogus).

PS

It's hard to admit that America has been the Zion from the get go.

Jewish Involvement In Black Slave TradeTo The Americas: http://www.rense.com/general69/invo.htm

Name Of Slave Ships And Their Owners:
 
The 'Abigail-Caracoa' - Aaron Lopez, Moses Levy, Jacob Crown
Isaac Levy and Nathan Simpson
 
The'Nassau' - Moses Levy
 
The 'Four Sisters' - Moses Levy
 
The 'Anne' & The 'Eliza' - Justus Bosch and John Abrams
 
The 'Prudent Betty' - Henry Cruger and Jacob Phoenix
 
The 'Hester' - Mordecai and David Gomez
 
The 'Elizabeth' - Mordecai and David Gomez
 
The 'Antigua' - Nathan Marston and Abram Lyell
 
The 'Betsy' - Wm. De Woolf
 
The 'Polly' - James De Woolf
 
The 'White Horse' - Jan de Sweevts
 
The 'Expedition' - John and Jacob Roosevelt
 
The 'Charlotte' - Moses and Sam Levy and Jacob Franks
 
The 'Franks' - Moses and Sam Levy

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:45 | 6539605 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

washington, therefore, must be removed from all history books and deemed inconsequential.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:47 | 6539775 Vincent.Vega
Vincent.Vega's picture

http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/fields_wash.htm

George Washington: The dark side

No, this is not going to be a salacious soap opera about George Washington's fondness for femmes of a sable hue; I leave that to the licensed fabulists of African American History and Legend Month. Instead I'm going to tackle a more serious topic: G.W. as the father of American tyranny. Now, libertarians and conservatives, even those of the paleo ilk, are willing to express negative views about many other presidents, but they tend to revere old Washington as a veritable icon. However, in the presidential pantheon of horrors — which includes such obvious thugs as Dishonest Abe, Tee Are, Woody Wilson, Efdee Are, Elbee Jay, Tricky Dicky, and the Bushmen — it can reasonably be said that Washington contributed the most in the devolution of America from freedom to slavery.

[...]

 

http://www.gwmemorial.org/washingtonTheMason.php

George Washington joined the Masonic Lodge in Fredericksburg, Virginia at the age of 20 in 1752. His Masonic membership, like the others public titles and duties he performed, was expected from a young man of his social status in colonial Virginia. During the War for Independence, General Washington attended Masonic celebration and religious observances in several states. He also supported Masonic Lodges that formed within army regiments.

At his first inauguration in 1791, President Washington took his oath of office on a Bible from St. John's Lodge in New York. During his two terms, he visited Masons in North and South Carolina and presided over the cornerstone ceremony for the U.S. Capitol in 1793.

In retirement, Washington became charter Master of the newly chartered Alexandria Lodge No. 22, sat for a portrait in his Masonic regalia, and in death, was buried with Masonic honors.

Such was Washington's character, that from almost the day he took his Masonic obligations until his death, he became the same man in private that he was in public. In Masonic terms, he remained "a just and upright Mason" and became a true Master Mason. Washington was, in Masonic terms, a “living stone” who became the cornerstone of American civilization. He remains the milestone others civilizations follow into liberty and equality. He is Freemasonry's “perfect ashlar” upon which countless Master Masons gauge their labors in their own Lodges and in their own communities.

 

P.S.

Earthling/goyim, you are still not getting it, your status in not much different from those 135 he owned and millions of others. You don't share his bloodline, even the creme dela creme chosenites don't. You don't live the lifesyle he had and you still believe he was a human.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:20 | 6539700 Baa baa
Baa baa's picture

Are you sure those aren't diamond companies?

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:53 | 6539788 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

Geez I wish you people would stop it with the "Zion" blather, it's just more divide and conquer. As this article pointed out we have seen the enemy, and he is us. All of us, not just ones with a certain religious background.

This is the statement that describes where we are:

NATION OF SHEEP

RULED BY WOLVES

OWNED BY PIGS

No, it's not just the Jewish wolves, or the Jewish pigs, that are the problem. And the real problem is the "sheep" bit. There are many many more of them than there are wolves and pigs, we need to get it *together* and rush the gates, we don't need the sheep biting each other and bleating at each other. Stop dividing, let's go conquer.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 20:38 | 6540740 Vincent.Vega
Vincent.Vega's picture

> No, it's not just the Jewish wolves, or the Jewish pigs, that are the problem. And the real problem is the "sheep" bit.

+1

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:48 | 6539615 AlamoJack
AlamoJack's picture

One way to start taking back the people's power is to understand the legalities of JURY NULLIFICATION.  Go to the TENTH AMMENDMENT CENTER'S website and read up on the legalities, why it works and how it works.  A jury can nullify a law.  Everyone needs to know this in the US.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:18 | 6539693 Republi-Ken
Republi-Ken's picture

HILARIOUS SNOWDEN BULLSHIT!

JUST MORE LIBERTARIAN

OVER DA' TOP

GROSS EXAGGERATION

BLOWIN' SMOKE

UP AMERICA'S ASS

ON PRIVACY

Ohhhh lost my privacy ordering Pizza Hut last nite

Ohhhh Holy Rand am so concerned 

LOL 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:59 | 6539798 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

You, sir, are a special kind of idiot: a total, complete, fucking idiot. A trifecta, congratulations. Why not just go back to sewing that swastika flag. Better yet, why not crack open a history book for the first time in your life and read about the principles this country was founded on, you know, this country you live in and claim to love? You can start by looking up the term "warrant".

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:12 | 6539406 general ambivalent
general ambivalent's picture

Yes, perhaps long before that even. 9/11 simply caused an acceleration of these losses and they gave themselves the excuse to now do it openly and without care for previous illusions of liberty.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:41 | 6539758 Republi-Ken
Republi-Ken's picture

HILARIOUS SNOWDEN BULLSHIT!!!

JUST MORE LIBERTARIAN

OVER DA' TOP

GROSS EXAGGERATION

BLOWIN' SMOKE

UP AMERICA'S ASS

ON PRIVACY

Ohhh lost my privacy ordering Pizza Hut last nite

Oooohhhh Holy Rand Paul am so concerned. 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 14:14 | 6539840 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

You, sir, are a special kind of idiot: a total, complete, fucking idiot. A trifecta, congratulations. Why not just go back to sewing that swastika flag. Better yet, why not crack open a history book for the first time in your life and read about the principles this country was founded on, you know, this country you live in and claim to love? You can start by looking up the term "warrant".

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:12 | 6539407 Ban KKiller
Ban KKiller's picture

And....we wonder why nice folks become radicalized? When you have nothing to lose or nothing to gain then vigilante justice makes sense. Seen our court system lately? Judges are TOTALLY CORRUPT as are the DAs and almost all attorneys. I used to wonder why judges were shot in other countries. Now I know, lack of redress, lack of law and order! 

The courts have become the stooges of the banks and those in power. Police, low IQ, are the tool of the courts. 

Your local DA won't prosecute banks as that would endander their pension which is made up of...."financials". Get it? 

Justice is dead. Law and order is dead. Defend yourself. 

Oh, it would be so easy to say blacks, poor folks, Mexicans, Jews, etc., are the problem but the fact is that the fat white bankster is the enemy. The banksters use propaganda to divide the PEOPLE. We are all niggers now...at least to the banking class. 

AND war profiteers should be lined up and shot...hello FBI troll. Cunts. 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:17 | 6539691 Baa baa
Baa baa's picture

Whadda you mean? We have the best justice system money can buy.

Sun, 09/13/2015 - 00:13 | 6541225 reader2010
reader2010's picture

"The bourgeois court, which claimed to maintain order, but which, as a matter of fact, was a blind, subtle instrument for the ruthless suppression of the exploited, and an instrument for protecting the interests of the moneybags."

— Vladimir Lenin

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:18 | 6539419 Not My Real Name
Not My Real Name's picture

"Racial profiling is allowed by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA."

Ha! That's a good one. Then how come I never -- and I mean NEVER -- see muslims and other people who look like they come from the Middle East getting pulled aside at the airport? 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:18 | 6539551 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

my favorite recollection of the bull crap dhs was the asking of an amputee to remove his arm in a rinkydink airport in the middle of upper peninsula michigan.  i sat totally immobilized like a good sheep as they asked the person to remove the arm prostethis (sp).  No one said anything.  I guess we all had connections that couldn't tolerate being banned from flying or arrested.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:17 | 6539420 khnum
khnum's picture

Actually the Republic was lost in 1871 when the USA became a CORPORATION which masquerades as a sovereign nation but isn't

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:26 | 6539429 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Operation Bojinka plot will be revamped again. Just ask Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:26 | 6539434 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

A huge tell in all of this is the constant drumbeat that while terrorist boogeymen are coming to get us, you're a racist jingoist xenophobe if you think that securing our southern border would be a prudent measure.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:37 | 6539455 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

That's why political correctness is the stronghold to keep freespeech as a dead canery in coalmine. Once a AR15 or AK47 is lit up, the little fuckers will disappear out of site.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:47 | 6539483 RighteousDude
RighteousDude's picture

I don't understand why the government doesn't impose a tax of 300% on everything that comes in from Mexico, until the MEXICAN government controls their immigration/Border problem with the U.S.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:21 | 6539559 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

Because Americans want limes in their margaritas...

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 17:12 | 6540256 Global Douche
Global Douche's picture

It's called NAFTA. The real problem is politics and political correctness.  Changing the 14th Amendment would be an excellent start.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 15:10 | 6539998 Really20
Really20's picture

Mexican immigration would be reduced (and would be much more reciprocal between the two countries) if we stopped supplying weapons and funds to the drug cartels and encourage economic development in the country. Mexico has long been under control of a profit system with wealthy Mexicans and foreigners lording it over the poor Mestizo and Indian populations of the country. Helping to end this profit system would provide security and decent work conditions to the people there and slow the rate of immigration.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:31 | 6539445 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Quit your bellyaching and BTFD

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:53 | 6539494 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Take a look at Tim Beyers last chance hotel riot laughing email. 

PIL Fat Chance Hotel - YouTube

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Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:53 | 6539497 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Take a look at Tim Beyers last chance hotel riot laughing email. 

PIL Fat Chance Hotel - YouTube

Dear Fellow Investor,

Warren Buffett once lost $837 million betting on a Texas utility company. Yet no one disputes that Buffett is the world's greatest investor.

How could anyone? According to researcher Jeff Matthews, Berkshire Hathaway stock is up an average of 19.7% annually... over the past 49 years! An astounding record that may never be beaten.

Yet it is possible for anyone -- me, you, your grandmother -- to earn huge returns. I know because I've seen it happen. The average Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick has nearly tripled the market's average return since 2002, enriching members like Danny V. of Longmont, Colorado, who's been reading The Motley Fool for 13 years.

"Paid off a hundred times over. ... I always read the Motley Fool website, but to be honest I almost didn't buy the newsletter. At the time I had maybe $250 to invest. I am so glad I did, because my subscription price has been paid off a hundred times over."

Imagine yourself turning $250 into $25,000. Over 13 years, that's a better than 42% annual return, or more than double Buffett's historical average!

In a moment, I'm going to show you how to get access to Stock Advisor at $300 off our best price, so you can start enjoying market-thumping performance in your own portfolio.

These returns are real. Here are just two of the dozens of winners David and Tom Gardner have introduced to members since Stock Advisor opened for business in March 2002:

  • David recommended Priceline in May 2004. Today, the stock is up 5,180.8%, or more than 40.4% annually!
  • Tom recommended Tesla Motors in November 2012. Today, the stock is up 663.1%, or more than 109.4% annually!

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Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:13 | 6539680 Baa baa
Baa baa's picture

I confess ignorance. Does BTFD mean Buy The Fucking Dips?

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:40 | 6539461 lucky and good
lucky and good's picture

Thanks to information leaked by  Edward Snowden we know the "black budget" last year was a massive 52 billion dollars. This is the money used in "secret" spy operations, and it is enough to send shivers down the back of those that cherish privacy.

This is beginning to look like the society we have read about the totalitarian society of Oceania described in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In Orwell's novel, all citizens of Oceania are monitored by cameras and are fed fabricated news stories by the government. More on this subject in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/are-we-creating-orwellian-society...

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:52 | 6539493 Ataxic Press
Ataxic Press's picture

“Free speech zones” pre-date Bush the Lesser.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 11:54 | 6539496 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

When I was married in '79 my bride and I caught a standby flight from LA to SF for $11 each.  We literally ran to get on the flight as seats became available to get on with our budget honeymoon.  Today?  Today you get delayed so as to be molested.  These shithead leaders we have have all but eliminated the possibility of our cheap but romantic get-away, and I hate them for that and a thousand other reasons.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:06 | 6539521 Uncertain T
Uncertain T's picture

On a Saturday, before 9/11, one could awaken at home in Boston, drive to Logan and hop the Eastern Shuttle to NYC for a shopping trip..... returning home that very afternoon... Not anymore.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:14 | 6539544 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

We can get back there.   The cost:  systematic discrimination against muslim males.   

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:35 | 6539736 withglee
withglee's picture

These shithead leaders we have have all but eliminated the possibility of our cheap but romantic get-away, and I hate them for that and a thousand other reasons.

How many hours of unskilled labor would a dollar buy then. How many will it buy today? How does that compare to the cost of your airplane ticket.

When I started my career there was no security anywhere. You didn't even need a badge to get into work. And we were secure then. It seems the more security we add, the  more threatened we are. It looks just like the "protection money" scam the mafia ran.

Why is that?

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:11 | 6539539 divedivedive
divedivedive's picture

FATCA.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 15:10 | 6539993 Vincent.Vega
Vincent.Vega's picture

FATCA is not intended to shear the sheep(le), that's just an excuse; the real reason behind FATCA is for the US owners to get access to all financial transactions in the world.

 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:16 | 6539547 AgentScruffy
AgentScruffy's picture

One of the odder contradictions in the Bush II era was the repeated notion that "We're fightin' them over there so we don't have to fight 'em over here." followed by alarmism about terrorists hiding behind every bush in the U.S. (armed with poison umbrellas, or just going low-tech - lying in the back of a pickup waiting to pop up + shoot people) or ready to come over the border. 

Speaking of border, how did that "Secure Fence Act" work out?

 

 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:19 | 6539553 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

It's safe to say that Americans have mentally associated war with peace.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:28 | 6539576 Amish Hacker
Amish Hacker's picture

Another good indicator of how far we have fallen is the Daniel Ellsberg case. You may remember that Nixon's proto-surveillance state went after him big time, breaking into his therapist's office to read his medical records, tapping his phone, opening his mail, etc. etc., all because Ellsberg had revealed forbidden truths about the Pentagon and US policy in Viet Nam.

It was shocking, and Americans were rightly horrified at all the constitutional abuses. Today, everything that was done to Ellsberg---and much more--- is perfectly legal, and most Americans not old enough to remember Nixon don't see what all the fuss was about. 

That's the scariest thing about what has changed. The loss of constitutional freedoms is starting to feel normal.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 12:38 | 6539579 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose,
And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free.

"Why did you take that man's money?"
"We did nothing of the sort...he wanted something for nothing and that's what we gave him, nothing."

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Blood has been shed for freedom, and will be shed again for freedom.
But there will be no freedom, until there is some bloodshed...

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 20:31 | 6540724 Faeriedust
Faeriedust's picture

Shuusssh.  You know that THEY are listening.  You could be taken away in the dead of night and forced to watch ancient reruns of I Love Lucy until you repent.  Anyway, there isn't anyone in America willing to water the Tree of Liberty with its favorite fertilizer.  That kind of attitude went out with the Vietnam War.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:15 | 6539685 Republi-Ken
Republi-Ken's picture

HILARIOUS SNOWDEN BULLSHIT!!!

MORE LIBERTARIAN

OVER DA TOP

GROSS EXAGERATION

BLOWIN SMOKE

UP AMERICA'S ASS

ON PRIVACY

Ohhh lost my privacy ordering Pizza Hut last nite

Oooohhhh Holy Rand Paul am so concerned. 

LOL LMAO LOL

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 14:13 | 6539834 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

You, sir, are a special kind of idiot: a total, complete, fucking idiot. A trifecta, congratulations. Why not just go back to sewing that swastika flag. Better yet, why not crack open a history book for the first time in your life and read about the principles this country was founded on, you know, this country you live in and claim to love? You can start by looking up the term "warrant".

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 14:36 | 6539887 JamaicaJim
JamaicaJim's picture

Good GOD man....lay off the crack

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:23 | 6539710 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

And to think that all that was needed was to enforce existing Immigration Laws. BUt what the hell...thats another $52B / year as part of the $ 1 Trillion deficit.

 

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:25 | 6539714 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Our freedoms weren't lost, they were taken. Lost is when the owner is deprived of something by their own actions or inactions.... oh wait...shit.....never mind.

6) militarization of the police is getting confused with former military in the police going bad.  Prove me wrong, but police that are Navy Seal wannabes with military hardware, clothing etc are the problem There will always be some exceptions, but if you dig on most police bad guys I seldom notice any mention of the cop having a military combat background.

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:29 | 6539722 withglee
withglee's picture

Americans still bear the cross of a nation victimized and scorned after the brutal attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

The World Trade Center was "not" brutally attacked.

Why did WTC7 fall down?

Sat, 09/12/2015 - 13:39 | 6539752 Conax
Conax's picture

"Recently, two agents were caught tag-teaming to grope attractive women."

I read that link, it was a homo and his pal picking out certain men, resetting the machine to 'female' so naturally it alerts on their junk (shouldn't be there) and homoboy gets to feel them up.

He got fired. Instead of prosecuted.

This place is a habitation of demons now.

 

 

Sun, 09/13/2015 - 18:01 | 6543518 Glopblop
Glopblop's picture

Either Zero Hedge or the government's algorythms will not allow me to comment here in any meaningful way.  However, this will be posted in order to prove me a liar, right?  This is the very thing of which Zero Hedge complains. Welcome to Stalinist Russia, folks.  It can only get worse.

 

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