On The Insolence, & Power, of Plutocrats


The American NSA and French intelligence have agreed that the Paris attacks were made possible by unbreakable phone encryption. Their preparations would have been detected otherwise, as they involved communications between a number of countries and were prepared proximally from Belgium.

Apple Inc, whose boss is a dark clad plutocrat named Cook has refused, in spite of a judge’s order to allow the FBI to know the secrets inside Islamist State (inspired) terrorists in San Bernardino, California, who killed many.

The insolence, and impudence, of plutocrats knows no bounds.

Disunion Jack? Nice Flag, Too Bad The Craziness

Disunion Jack? Nice Flag, Too Bad The Craziness

Let me remind plutocrats that we have not yet formally switched to… plutocracy. They don’t command.

Apparently Apple believes it is Big Brother. But who elected them? Money? The State is supposed to represent We The People. Maybe the present state does not do this well, but then it can be modified. Putting plutocrats and tax avoiding ultra wealthy corporations in charge, is no solution.

By protecting the communications of mass murderers, Apple Inc. has clearly gone off the deep end.

In other news, a European conference among the principals is doing “all it can” (“Alles tun” said Frau Kanzler Merkel) to keep Great Britain in the EU. Well, Europe may be better without British obstruction and day-dreaming. Many of the English who fear Europe are typically losers who drank the imperial kool aid of an empire which is no more. The empire, now, however weak, is Europe, not the British empire.

Fear what you ask for. The problem of the millions of Brits who live outside of the United Kingdom and who would be left stranded by “Brexit” is easy to solve: they should be given expeditious ways to acquire the citizenship of their country of residence.

Thus a British citizen whose family lives in France, and who works in London should be offered French citizenship, and Great Britain forced to accept the same sort of treaties that France has with Switzerland.

The latest polls give 54% for Brexit, the British Exit. PM Cameron thunders that his intent is clear: to stay inside the European Union. Then why the vote in 127 days? It’s not like the Brits did not already vote. They did, at 67%. Everybody is angry against the European Commission in Brussels. Well, then, fix it.

But behaving as if Britain, or, more exactly, England, could set sail to somewhere southeast of New Zealand is beyond grotesque.

And how did we get there? The plutocrats who increasingly rule Britain, just as those who rule the USA, or the world (they are all the same), continually accuse the European Commission in Brussels of malfeasance… to hide their own. The EC is just the executive arm of the EU, and it is increasingly directed by the European Parliament, let alone the continual meetings of the European elected leaders with each other (as they are doing today with the British case). The EC has tended to bother cheese makers, rather than the plutocrats who pull the strings. This can all, and should be, fixed.

Countless plutocratic corporations, including Apple, have avoided taxation, and the EC has let it happen all too long. It just woke up to the fact IKEA forgot to pay a billion Euros in taxes. Well…

All what the plutocratic corporations tend to do is to bog down society in useless years of litigation against democracy. Apple Inc. wants to protect dead terrorists, and the psycho plots of plutocrats would only bring years of litigation between the EU and the UK, and between Brits and their own government, all this to end with an independent Scotland joining the EU, while England finds it does not enjoy the affection Switzerland got through 600 treaties with the EU… However, lunacy is the best way for the mighty to lead We The People by the nose.

A great part of English wealth, at this point, comes precisely from immigration of other Europeans to Britain, and, even more, from Franco-Germania closing its collective eyes to the general tax evasion and financial manipulations centered on London, while it profits of a nebulous galaxy of semi-dominions such as the isles of Man, and Jersey, or the British Virgin islands, or making financial conspiracies so dark and outrageous, that they are unlawful in New York. If Brexit happens, don’t expect that Franco-Germania will tolerate it anymore.

And this is why, precisely, and unfortunately, Brexit will not happen. I guess. But the law of unfortunate consequences all too often rules. Norway, or Switzerland, are not members of the European Union (although they are members of Schengen, the passport free area, which the UK does not belong to). However, they both contribute to the European Union budget. The fools who will vote for Britain to get out of the EU do not seem to realize this: Norway and Switzerland are still in Europe, and have to make do with the European superpower (Franco-Germania). Brexit will make Franco-Germania stronger, and thus Britain weaker (projections are that the UK will lose 3% of GDP, Germany, just .3%).

Well, whatever. The Europe empire, the ability of Europeans to command to the crooks of giant corporations, has to rise. English plutocracy is in the way: sweep it out there, and make compost with it.

NSA ought to be under WE THE PEOPLE’s Command (Imperium in Latin). That is not, is extremely deplorable. But it has to be fixed. Snowden should not perhaps get the Order of Merit, fleeing to Putin and what not, but some of what it did is extremely important, and commendable.

Apple has amply demonstrated, that, in spirit, it’s not just plutocratic (Crook is filthy rich), but an outlaw (literally). Apple outlawed profit processing, & that of other pluto corporations, depends upon total secrecy in how it makes money circulate thru filth. We The People can only rule if we can see what the criminals are plotting. Apple, and its ilk, have for business model, though, secrecy. To escape taxes, pay politicians serving them, violating the spirit of the law, and trampling human rights by feeding inequality to the point of inequity… Plus selling personal information, and manipulating public opinion to the point of madness (see the Iraq invasion, the inability of people to comprehend that the Clintons sold them to financiers, the sleight of hand of the 2008 crash, when Transfer of Assets to Rich People was effected, Brexit, etc.).

We The People should have every right in the world to extend the tendrils of surveillance all over. OUR surveillance, under OUR watch. It’s now technically possible, having access to Uranium ore, to make a nuclear bomb in a basement (with laser separation). Let alone make ricin in a tiny lab, etc… Actually since 9/11, the water networks, in countries such as France are watched exquisitely.

Immense powers require now immense surveillance, and we should start with spying all the phones of all the plutocratic corporations, to find out where they hid all the money, they stole from us, and who they pay, among our so-called leaders who are busy bossing us around, and spying on us illegally.

Plutocracy without secrecy is an apple without cyanide: not lethal, delicious to eat. The secret of Brexit: a plutocratic plot so twisted it is turning into its own demise.

We live in a wonderful world: everyday our power on the physical world augments. But that means the power of corporations, and of the richest, augments ever more. We have to watch them carefully to check they are not violating the spirit of the laws. And the same goes for individuals. Freedom and surveillance are two aspects of the same coin.

Surveillance is a direct consequence of the advancement of technology, and, thus, of liberty. Liberty means power, power means surveillance.

Patrice  Ayme’

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16 Responses to “On The Insolence, & Power, of Plutocrats”

  1. SDM Says:

    So the surveillance state big brother NSA should prevail over the plutocratic Apple Inc.? Should the people’s right to privacy be further eroded because of the ever present risk of and never ending war on terror? Will the surveillance state ever be satisfied in its desire to eavesdrop on all communication? There is the basic notion of a right to privacy. Once the FBI and NSA are allowed to crack into the iphone encryption, where does that leave law abiding citizens? Big brother is watching you. If cracking into these terrorists’ phones does not jeopardize everyone’s privacy- well that is a different story. Already, however, the ramifications concerning Russia and China are being raised. We appear headed towards a watershed in encryption and cyber-security rights. The fact there is terrorism should not mean an end to privacy rights.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      The point is that the NSA OUGHT TO BE UNDER WE THE PEOPLE’s COMMAND. That is not, is extremely deplorable. But it has to be fixed. Snowden should not perhaps get the Order of Merit, but some of what it did is extremely important, and commendable.
      Apple has amply demonstrated, that, in spirit, it’s not just plutocratic (Crook is filthy rich), but an outlaw (literally). We The People can only rule if we can see what the criminals are plotting. Apple business model, though, is secrecy (to escape taxes, and the spirit of the law, and violate human rights by feeding inequality to the point of inequity….

      We The People should have every right in the world to extend the tendrils of surveillance all over. It’s technically possible, having access to Uranium ore, to make a nuclear bomb in a basement (with laser separation). Let alone ricin, etc… Actually since 9/11, the water networks, in countries such as France are watched exquisitely.

      Turns out ISIL was spying on a high level nuclear engineer in Belgium, etc. People who respect the law, as I do, in theory have nothing to fear from the state. Reality is a bit different: I was bombed once and the police (not in the USA) was not anxious to catch the criminals… to put it mildly… Just one example out of a great many.

      So I am not naïve. Government is bad, OK, but in theory, it’s OUR government. Our government is NOT Apple and its Crook. He should rather worry about coming out with a 15 inch touch Lakeside MacAir…

      Full disclosure: I own and operate a Macbook Air… And I have friends who work at Apple…

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    • Gmax Says:

      Well the ones all fucked over are the French. France has extreme privacy laws. They have been unable to break into the phones too, or so the say

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      • dominique deux Says:

        Under French law, judges can order phone tapping like everywhere else. AND they can order a smartphone maker to crack a suspect’s phone.
        The fly in the ointment being that smartphone makers are not French and carefully avoid setting setting up subsidiaries in France, laughing at French judges as usual. So it is true that several phones are still blocked and useless, and French prosecutors are seething.
        France should take a leaf from the US judiciary, which has no qualms enforcing its decisions anywhere in the world, and strong-arm or otherwise maneuver these little Plutos into better (civilized) behavior. For example, select a brand among the culprits, and make its importation, possession and use illegal, for national security reasons. Exactly like a weapon. So sue us, Mr. Crook!

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        • Patrice Ayme Says:

          That’s an excellent idea, Dominique! All the more as I hear there are actually French smartphones makers (there is such a start-up in the Marseilles area, I know people who acquired them).
          It’s high time to use methods such as what the USA do… Or Trump is (CORRECTLY) suggesting (45% tax on Chinese imports)

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      The problem with Big Brother is not that he watches everything. The problem is that He replaced We The People. We the People need to watch everything, starting with plutocratic corporations. We have not watched what they have been doing. We have to big bro THEM.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Consecutive to our debate, I boosted the essay to explain better what I meant, and how secrecy, British plutocratic propaganda, and secrecy all tied up together.

      Like

  2. Gmax Says:

    Yeap, the crooks of the Plutocratic corporations don’t get it, that we are tired with their antics. Please please please make it so that Sanders crush Plutocrat Clinton. Even Trump would be better than Clinton, whatever greedy Paul Krugman says.

    When asked why she got a fortune from Goldman Sachs, for 3 talks, Clinton said it was just market rate!

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  3. SDM Says:

    The NSA and all other government entities should be under the control of we the people but that does not equate to abrogation of privacy. Appropriate measures against terror should be taken. Still, in the fight against cyber attacks, encryption technology is needed.
    Agreed that Snowden should not be persecuted in the manner now sought. His actions raised the awareness of the abuses of the patriot act and the surveillance state.
    Apple’s Cook is a plutocrat and both he and Apple deserve scorn for misdeeds on that level. But the encryption for cyber security is a privacy (and security) issue that deserves much scrutiny in the courts and public debate. If the Apple security features are cracked, will they become useless? Russia, China or other hackers may well gain access to this information.
    Is the world is now to dangerous for privacy? “Obeying the law” is often determined according to those in power. The abuses of law enforcement are being exposed quite regularly. Terror is an evil scourge but this attack on encryption technology seems fraught with unintended consequences.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Encryption is, of course, necessary. I am for direct democracy, and that means voting by Internet. The French Republic (world’s strongest privacy laws) already votes by Internet.
      What I refute is that the government of We The People cannot remove encryption for its own security and justice (OF COURSE, it will have to be able to justify reasonable suspicion: the government has no right to barge in my house if it does not have a good reason; the law defines what’s good). Plutocracy depends upon the application of secrecy. To demolish plutocracy, we will have to demolish secrecy. This is the real reason why the crooks of the world are worried.

      China, Russia, etc could have access to secrets they should not have access to, if we did not defend them. Nuclear codes are encrypted. When the French or American presidents walk around with officers carrying the nuclear codes, we better make sure Xi and Putin cannot do anything about it. The argument that conversations between terrorists has to be protected so Putin and Xi cannot know about it, I have heard, and consider so completely ludicrous that those advancing it are obviously complete hypocrites…

      BTW, justice already handles those things. Closed room judicial confrontations happen, to protect high tech secrets already (and those secrets are not protected enough!) That the FBI and secret service agencies have access to encryption is a no-brainer.

      All and any abuse of law enforcement should be exposed. Thus, precisely, secrecy should be reduced, not augmented. The secrecy state should not incorporate Apple.

      In truth, transparency should be augmented to the maximum, for survival, while secrecy should be extreme when it involves security. They are both related, like the equilibrist is the more stable, the more it holds to a huge balance beam. We need to exert surveillance of those exerting surveillance on us. Such are modern checks and balances. I don’t mind if the government spies on me all day long (probably already does). I want just to have the capability to fire back if it bothers me (and that we don’t have right now; at least not in the USA; France has a specific institution for that, the Conseil d’état; although it’s possible to sue the US gov., it’s cumbersome, expensive, etc. Generally lawyers are not keen to sue the powerful… be it only because there is not much money in it!).

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  4. Picard578 Says:

    Consequences of plutocracy:
    http://themindunleashed.org/2016/02/mass-exodus-more-americans-than-ever-before-in-history-are-renouncing-their-citizenship.html

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  5. SDM Says:

    Transparency is needed and lacking. The “capability to fire back” is what we (American citizens) generally lack and that is of no little concern. Secrecy in the name of wrongdoing should be attacked and the veil lifted. The intrusiveness of surveillance state (and its counterpart- cyber security) is nevertheless a real threat to liberty.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      Americans should always carefully look at how things are done in the sister republic, France (and reciprocally). Although there is way too many civil servants in France, the capability of firing back is much greater there. Thanks to French and now European institutions. French (and also British) citizens went all the way to the European Supreme Court, and won, big time (that’s how Britain, the British State, was forced to end torture in Northern Ireland). As I said France has a specific institution, the State Counsel (Conseil d’état). Also, it helps to have an argumentative culture.
      My point about surveillance is that it is a direct consequence of the advancement of tech, and of liberty. Liberty means power, power means surveillance.

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    • Patrice Ayme Says:

      I added this in the essay: We live in a wonderful world: everyday our power on the physical world augments. But that means the power of corporations, and of the richest, augments ever more. We have to watch them carefully to check they are not violating the spirit of the laws. And the same goes for individuals. Freedom and surveillance are two aspects of the same coin.

      Surveillance is a direct consequence of the advancement of technology, and, thus, of liberty. Liberty means power, power means surveillance.

      Like

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