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Corporate astroturfing is one thing, but the matter being discussed in this thread is one of paid government shills. You're insisting this is nothing new, which is incorrect--the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 has enabled domestic propaganda for the first time since the cold war. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.... Yes, paid trolls on forums IS new. And it's clear you don't give a shit, because again, you won't even acknowledge the issue. You aren't the least bit concerned when dozens of posts of "fuck beta!" spam very specific threads here?

Alright, perhaps we need to inform all these countries that they do, in fact, not have currencies . . .

An unstable currency is still a currency (Just because a "thing" has some attribute does not mean we have to create an entirely new "noun." That is why the English language has "adjectives.").

You don't understand the problem, it isn't about being nice, or anything wrong you might have done to them. They are ultimately going to come after New Zealand because New Zealand doesn't conform to the rules they demand you live under. Do you know anything about the age of Islamic conquest, such as when they invaded Europe or took Constantinople? That is what they are about, their goal is a Muslim world even if it takes force of arms. You don't want them to get stronger.

Al Qaeda-Trained Terrorists in New Zealand, Prime Minister Says

Because Europeans have never invaded other countries...

Oh sorry, I forgot that's okay when we do it.

You don't understand the problem, it isn't about being nice, or anything wrong you might have done to them. They are ultimately going to come after New Zealand because New Zealand doesn't conform to the rules they demand you live under. Do you know anything about the age of Islamic conquest, such as when they invaded Europe or took Constantinople? That is what they are about, their goal is a Muslim world even if it takes force of arms. You don't want them to get stronger.

Al Qaeda-Trained Terrorists in New Zealand, Prime Minister Says

The numbers published regarding sexual assaults on women are alarming no matter how you view them - but often enough, accusations of sexual harassment and/or assault are political tools used against good soldiers.

Except, the number of sexual assaults in the military isn't any higher than the civilian population when you look at other demographics, such as age. In fact, the military has an environment more conducive to reporting sexual assaults than any university system.

The other thing that rarely gets reported, is that since the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, the overwhelming majority of this "increase" in sexual assaults have been male on male.

Snowden had better not do a movie along the lines of 2016, though. Vladimir has his foes show up in a cage.

Don't you find it just a bit unbelieveable that the FBI is called in to investigate what is merely a matter of policy for a movie theater

...especially since they recently changed their mandate from "Law Enforcement" to "National Security".

http://thecable.foreignpolicy....

remember when the fbi dropped law enforcement as a primary mission a week or so ago? http://thecable.foreignpolicy.... so now they are enforcing copyright law? oh - silly me.. not about enforcement. about being the muscle for their corporate bosses.

The timeline surround US gov interest in political groups seemed to then move to the right.
What COINTELPRO did to the anti war and law reform groups PATCON (~Patriot-conspiracy) did on the US 'right'.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games
Snowden's whistleblowing helped people understand https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/08/dea-and-nsa-team-intelligence-laundering i.e. "Parallel construction" via a vast long term domestic spying program.
Finally thanks to Snowden you have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora - the UK showing it can do the "entire" internet.

Because he took that new job, and started compromising the credentials of his co-workers (many of whom have now lost their careers)

First, there is no evidence that anyone got fired because snowden used their accounts. I invite you to prove me wrong.

Second, the NSA's director of technology has said that "the lion's share" of the information Snowden copied was available to anyone with a TS/SCI clearance at the NSA. Apparently the SCI part wasn't very well compartmentalized.

Third, complaining that other employees suffered career damage because of his actions doesn't change Snowden's motivations. You might as well argue that Snowden's a bad guy because his actions have forced Alexander to retire early.

He walked into that new gig with a specific agenda, essentially lying from the get-go about his motivations.

He knew there was a problem due to direct personal experience of it on his previous job and so he decided to get proof. So what? The alternative would have been what? To just pretend he didn't know anything was wrong? Without proof any whistleblowing would have been dismissed, he'd already seen that happen to the whistleblowers who came before him.

Take off the beer goggles and actually look at the reality of the situation.

Lol! #projection

You mean something like this: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/05/we_were_pirates_too Let me guess, its different because that was the US doing the stealing?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/11/21/the_obscure_fbi_team_that_does_the_nsa_dirty_work

But interviews with current and former law enforcement officials, as well as technology industry representatives, reveal that the [ata Intercept Technology Unit, or DITU] is the FBI's equivalent of the National Security Agency and the primary liaison between the spy agency and many of America's most important technology companies, including Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Apple.

We know the FBI is intimately wrapped up in all these shenanigans, but it's almost like journalists are intentionally asking the wrong question by only talking about the NSA.

Does Apple deny helping the FBI backdoor the iPhone?

So, the "big money" isn't in putting multiple freaking surveillance satellites into orbit, or engaging in surveillance of a meaningful subset of the 200 countries on the planet, countries with radars, radios, telephones, data communications, pretty much all of which is overseas and of potential interest to NSA? The money is in getting electronic copies of phone bills and hanging on to them for five years?

By the numbers: The NSA's super-secret spy program, PRISM

$20 million: The annual cost of PRISM.
$8 billion: The estimated annual budget of the NSA.

You do realize that they are doing this electronically, and not with 100,000 file clerks and a warehouse of file cabinets?

I don't think you quite have that dialed in.

Why do you think the Israeli method is cheaper? They spend about 10 times as much per passenger as we do:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/07/would_you_pay_25_for_71_seconds_of_scrutiny_in_an_airport

Which still only amounts to 76 dollars per trip for real security instead of security theater according to your link.

I bet a lot of people would pay 76 dollars extra to get through the line faster and without having to endure all the new crap. Get to bring full bottles of shampoo or bring your drink on the plane, leave your belt and shoes on, don't have to be seen naked with the new xray machine or be groped, etc..

Why do you think the Israeli method is cheaper? They spend about 10 times as much per passenger as we do:
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/07/would_you_pay_25_for_71_seconds_of_scrutiny_in_an_airport

Second thing that comes to mind is that the surge didn't work, it just happened to coincide with a change of local Iraqi politics (locals got sick of extremists killing locals instead of just americans so they started outing the extremists so the americans finally knew who to kill).

I realize that given your politics you just about have to say that, but it really isn't true. The AC that replied to you is more or less correct.

If a have a few minutes you might read this recent article from Foreign Policy.

How We Won in Iraq - And why all the hard-won gains of the surge are in grave danger of being lost today.

The surge in Iraq didn't work in much the same way as the Normandy invasion didn't work in 1944, and the Germans just coincidentally decided they no longer liked beachfront properties.

Altering the location of military forces, what they do, and how they do it can have a substantial impact on outcomes.

Like Sen. Feinstein's promise of a "major review". Unnamed NSA offfical opines "We're really screwed now." but you can almost hear the "wink, wink". Probably just codify and legitimize most existing illegalities while curbing a few politically topical transgressions and shiboleths.

The same point of allowing Goldman Sachs to ``invest'' in wheat futures:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/node/775651

It's obscene that the laws limiting participation in futures commodities were lifted --- that status quo needs to be restored ASAP.

If the government don't worry about it (spent 5 billons in the eve of the shutdown in defense, that is really a priority), why should you?

I just sit watching the stories eating popcorn seeing another try to power grab at the government. It won't have a happy ending (that would be default in 10 days), so no matter how much noise and blame they spill everywhere, nor the government care about it (the 5 billons they spent the night before show how much they really care), nor the opposition, and while that circus happens still more will be invested in what affects me more, like snooping/infiltrating/sabotaging everyone/everything through internet.

And there is just no risk of default (unless they intend to reach it to do an even bigger power grab) because the legislators that don't agree yet will, or else some delicate information around him be disclosed, spying on everyone, even in legislators, have this kind of consequences.

With media controlled, social networks manipulated and the by far big majority of people buying their speech, the people will keep voting what they say, yes, you are free to vote, but most are not free to think. In last election the trend was pretty obvious that were coming in this direction. In fact, was already obvious that in the previous election choosing another person, another party, another speech, even another skin color, and a big "change" written everywhere kept the same trends that the previous administration, so the real government is behind both choices. And the vote was nenligible for any third option. What make you think that they will change this time? I bet majority of people is supporting Obama now over the other party because the government shutdown, even they are shutting down everything except "critical programs" like NSA or some late night shopping.

With the control they have over what people think democracy is just an illusion. They won't be voted out. And they are exporting their power over media and social networks everywhere, firing revolutions and promoting discontent into the population, so democracy elsewhere could be in danger. And, at difference with the americans, they don't deserve the government americans people choose.

The US has had this at a mil/gov level since about the late 1960's under ideas like the Community On-line Intelligence System.
PROMIS showed what networked law enforcement had in the 1970s and 80s.
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/11/prisms-controversial-forerunner/
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games was the hint at what could be done US wide.
Another scary part is telling the pubic about using a lock box for generations of calls.

The people can decide by voting and if need be moving to do what they will with tax money.

And just why would the same people, who wouldn't — much to your anguish — punish a news-paper for fraud, be willing to punish anyone else for same?

Even where voting is meaningful (and plenty of cynics would have you believe, it is a charade), commercial competition is far more effective. If I decide, I don't like Pepsi-Cola, I don't need to wait until the next vote to have the recipe change — I can just switch to Coca-Cola (or one of the dozens others) immediately. Same with just about anything else — except for those few things, which can not be done privately in principle (like military and police).

We tried it your way once upon a time, we had a poorly educated society and rampant corruption.

Have you really? When and how? And what were the known alternatives at the time?

Read "The Jungle" to learn more.

However successful the book was at the time, I will not grant its author a second of my life. He was a Socialist and, having grown up in the USSR, I know first-hand, what the views and the policies he favored lead to, when put into practice in earnest. Lying "for a greater cause" is perfectly acceptable to such people — what is, after all, personal integrity compared to the Greater Good(TM)? Consider Heinlein's "Logic of Empire" for illustration on how grotesquely the truth needs to be twisted and the wrongs exaggerated (or outright invented) in order for a book to impress the readership into "doing something". I wouldn't believe "facts" given in the book any more, than I'd believe anything found in the movies of the aforementioned Michael Moore (Sinclair's fellow Socialist, who'd guess?).

However bad the conditions may have been for recent immigrants in Chicago, I stipulate, they weren't as bad as in most of the rest of the world at the time (1906). Russia, for example, had just shot up a workers' demonstration (the original "Bloody Sunday" of 1905) — and the workers' lives there have only become worse, when Sinclair's colleagues took power there in 1917. And that's native workers, not the recent immigrants, who always tend to live worse than the average native simply due to the transplant. On the plus side, however, America living "my way" has developed the first mass-market automobile, air-travel, water-closet and toilet paper, refrigerator and other every day conveniences. What do Socialists have to offer? Sputnik?

I was not aware the USA had a government controlled news-source.

Although it is not their sole source of revenue, NPR are receiving government funding. You can guess, what their opinion is of people, who seek to reduce the government's budget, for example...

And then there are "Voice of America", "Radio Liberty" and others broadcasting abroad (we were listening to it back in Ukraine). Until recently government was not allowed to directly broadcast in the US itself, but that rule was quietly rescinded this year.

Interesting point about the car wash and a vision of a "massive network chart" and been in the ~3 hops..
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/09/08/the_cowboy_of_the_nsa_keith_alexander had some insight into just that on page 4:
""Later, we had a chance to review the information. It turns out that all [that] those guys were connected to were pizza shops.""

I'll help you break the code there. The Iranian army was attacked by the Iraqi army with Iraqi manufactured chemical weapons under orders from the Iraqi government.

I'll let you in on recent news, since you've been living in a bunker: the U.S. gave Iraqis intel on Iranian troop positions with the full knowledge that they would use gas, and made no more effort to punish them than after they gassed the Kurds. Didn't stop the same neocons from breathlessly citing the latter - which they didn't care about at the time - as a reason to attack Saddam. "He's killing his own people!"

Assad inherited the "family business" - Syria - from his father.

As did Obama from Bush and Reagan and Nixon. Thus it makes perfect sense for Obama to break out the Agent Orange.

Assad didn't "give the United States and Israel the perfect excuse to bomb him if he's not desperate or a retard" by using chemical weapons.

Despite Obama making it crystal for the last year that he would really like to bomb Assad with talk of "red lines" on chemical weapons? You're either being willfully obtuse here, or Assad isn't the retard in the room.

also doubt that the Israelis would bomb Syria over the matter. They would bomb to keep advanced Syrian weapons out of the hands of Hezbollah, Hamas, and possibly al Qaida, as they have already done. It is yet to be seen if the US will do anything, even as a token.

Courteous of you to answer your own question, saves me the time.

He has nothing to gain by doing so -- Wrong. He has an easy way to kill rebels unprepared for chemical warfare, unlike the Syrian Army.

Wrong. If he were desperate enough to use chemical weapons, and invoke the "red line" that you've been studiously ignoring, then he would have used them when he was losing the war rather than winning as he is now. You're also depending on the "dumber than pond scum" explanation since the attack took place in the capital city, already a stronghold of Assad support, very close to his own forces. There's a reason even the Nazis didn't use chemical weapons in WWII: they are uncontrollable and can easily blow back onto your own troops. The other reason is that their use invites your enemies to respond with equal force, so we're back to pond scum again.

He has everything to lose by doing so -- Highly doubtful. Other countries have used chemical weapons and it typically leads to disapproval - shudder!

Other countries that aren't on America's shit list, like Somalia. You do know that makes a bit of a difference, yes? Like how we bombed Gaddafi for killing opposition protestors in Libya, all the while merrily selling weapons to be used on opposition protestors in Yemen, Bahrain, and Egypt.

I look forward to you gaining further insight.

I look forward to a response that doesn't pretend that Assad isn't dumber than pond scum and the nation that outspends the rest of the world combined on weapons hasn't been threatening to bomb the shit out of Assad if he, you know uses chemical weapons.

The mid 1980's where a fun time in US computer history, US domestic needs and digital file tracking.
You had the Church report so no domestic operation/unit/task force really ever wanted any unique keywords used again.
You also had an interesting funding mix and database upgrades - many connecting to each other for the first time or been able to be searched via a network and the results combined - cases/city/state/federal/telco.
The results where hinted at in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/07/11/prisms-controversial-forerunner/ (late 1970s early 80s to bring DoJ criminal case management)
that seemed to allow http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games

Enjoy your moral high ground while it lasts.

Actually, if the "west" was ever on a moral high ground, it has left it a long time ago, on one hand Agent Orange might be considered to be a chemical weapon, and on the other hand in the Iran-Iraq war the USA gave tactical intelligence to Iraq well knowing that chemical weapons were used by the Iraqis:

[...] the United States provided tactical intelligence to Iraq [...] senior U.S. officials were being regularly informed about the scale of the nerve gas attacks. They are tantamount to an official American admission of complicity in some of the most gruesome chemical weapons attacks ever launched.

Iraq did have and use chemical weapons in the past.

With full knowledge and approval of the USA government, as the declassified government documents prove

"Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran"
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran

I find it amazing that so many people treat assertions by the US government as a fact. How many times you need to be lied to grow up a little?

If you treat everyone as a disposable contractor, you may have trouble getting unquestioning loyalty from them.

Are you suggesting that the Bush I administration deliberately planned and approved the deliberate use of poison gas by Iraq upon its own citizens, in particular the Kurds

No. What I'm saying is that the Bush I administration tacitly approved the deliberate use of poison gas by Iraq on Iranian soldiers, and in some instances went even further and provided intel for targeting purposes, knowing full well that it would be used for poison gas attacks - and at no point did it cease aiding Saddam even after the full extent of his willingness to use gas was obvious to everyone. Kurds were collateral damage that Saddam claimed on his own.

Al Qaeda-Trained Terrorists in New Zealand, Prime Minister Says

Earlier this month, as the United States rushed to shutter embassies in response to a terrorist threat, New Zealand's prime minister made a remarkable but largely overlooked assertion. According to John Key, there are al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-trained individuals at large in his country.

"In New Zealand there are people who've been trained for al-Qaeda camps who operate out of New Zealand, who are in contact with people overseas, who have gone off to Yemen and other countries to train," he told a radio program in New Zealand on Aug. 1. "Some are still offshore and some are in New Zealand."

Yea, but once it all comes out, and we read it ... we realize there isn't anything amazing or unknown in it, and the whole big deal was actually nothing new.

Interesting whitewash.

The details in the released cables was one of the triggers that sparked the Tunisian revolution. Maybe not new or important to you, but I imagine the Tunisians would beg to differ.

Right, forget the man who sets himself on fire in the street, the following riots, the Tunisian president visiting him in the hospital two weeks later, followed by ouster of said 23 year president two weeks after that. Forget THAT, it was the news on the Internet that their president sucked (they had no idea!!1).

According to Transparency International's annual
survey and Embassy contacts' observations, corruption in
Tunisia is getting worse. Whether it's cash, services, land,
property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family
is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants.
Beyond the stories of the First Family's shady dealings,
Tunisians report encountering low-level corruption as well in
interactions with the police, customs, and a variety of
government ministries

Thanks to the US embassy's keen awareness we were able to uncover this deep dark secret the Tunisian public had no idea about.
If Wikileaks hadn't shared this with them, it would be lost to the sands of time.

Moron.

Yea, but once it all comes out, and we read it ... we realize there isn't anything amazing or unknown in it, and the whole big deal was actually nothing new.

Interesting whitewash.

The details in the released cables was one of the triggers that sparked the Tunisian revolution. Maybe not new or important to you, but I imagine the Tunisians would beg to differ.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/16/the_cias_new_black_bag_is_digital_nsa_cooperation

During a coffee break at an intelligence conference held in The Netherlands a few years back, a senior Scandinavian counterterrorism official regaled me with a story. One of his service's surveillance teams was conducting routine monitoring of a senior militant leader when they suddenly noticed through their high-powered surveillance cameras two men breaking into the militant's apartment. The target was at Friday evening prayers at the local mosque. But rather than ransack the apartment and steal the computer equipment and other valuables while he was away -- as any right-minded burglar would normally have done -- one of the men pulled out a disk and loaded some programs onto the resident's laptop computer while the other man kept watch at the window. The whole operation took less than two minutes, then the two trespassers fled the way they came, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

It did not take long for the official to determine that the two men were, in fact, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives conducting what is known in the U.S. intelligence community as either a "black bag job" or a "surreptitious entry" operation. Back in the Cold War, such a mission might have involved cracking safes, stealing code books, or photographing the settings on cipher machines. Today, this kind of break-in is known inside the CIA and National Security Agency as an "off-net operation," a clandestine human intelligence mission whose specific purpose is to surreptitiously gain access to the computer systems and email accounts of targets of high interest to America's spies.

Stealing passwords with a key logger or phishing e-mail undoubtedly involves less paperwork than using the rubber hose.

That in no way gives him a perspective on what it means to be a normal citizen of this country

Obama has even less of such perspective. Born in Hawaii (if not Kenya :), growing up in Indonesia, going from law-school to work for a charity and then into politics.

hell he could have retired straight out of high school and still lived better than the vast majority of this nation's population.

But he did not retire. By the time he inherited his father's wealth, he was had enough of his own to donate the entire inheritance to charity... That's quite remarkable — Joe Biden's father, for example, pissed his inheritance. And Joe Biden himself is worth less today, than he owes to various creditors.

Your disdain for managers is quite telling — and stupid. "Tells others what to do" is a very good description of what a President is doing every day — and Romney has a pretty good resume showing, he can do that rather well. Both as a head of private companies and of Executive government. Obama, on the other hand, had not been an executive of anything until becoming President. No, scratch that, he did run a small charity in Chicago — which failed.

That is, what's making me state, that Romney would've been far more likely to accomplish, what he wanted and promised to accomplish by now.

As for misogynistic - I suppose I was referring mostly to his utterly one-dimensional perspective on abortions and female reproductive health.

Abortions are a red-herring. They really don't matter. Much as I don't want it to become illegal, even if it ever does, I'll be able to afford my daughter's trip to Canada, should she ever want the procedure. Unless, that is, obamas and pelosis are allowed to keep running the country into ground (under NSA's careful oversight), in which case, having a 24x7 abortion clinic (free — just bring your own blanket) next door will be of very little consolation.

For our organization, due to the highly confidential nature of some of our data and communications, I am about to build a machine that will have no network connection whatsoever that will hold the CA and private keys, and will use it to produce public keys for our VPN, mail server, web services and the like. The server will be behind lock and key and locked down with LUKS, and the keys for that will be held in a separate location. Obviously nothing is 100%, but it's going to physical access to the server and to the private keys to compromise the system.

Counterpoint:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/16/the_cias_new_black_bag_is_digital_nsa_cooperation?page=full

During a coffee break at an intelligence conference held in The Netherlands a few years back, a senior Scandinavian counterterrorism official regaled me with a story. One of his service's surveillance teams was conducting routine monitoring of a senior militant leader when they suddenly noticed through their high-powered surveillance cameras two men breaking into the militant's apartment. The target was at Friday evening prayers at the local mosque. But rather than ransack the apartment and steal the computer equipment and other valuables while he was away -- as any right-minded burglar would normally have done -- one of the men pulled out a disk and loaded some programs onto the resident's laptop computer while the other man kept watch at the window. The whole operation took less than two minutes, then the two trespassers fled the way they came, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

Over the past decade specially-trained CIA clandestine operators have mounted over one hundred extremely sensitive black bag jobs designed to penetrate foreign government and military communications and computer systems, as well as the computer systems of some of the world's largest foreign multinational corporations. Spyware software has been secretly planted in computer servers; secure telephone lines have been bugged; fiber optic cables, data switching centers and telephone exchanges have been tapped; and computer backup tapes and disks have been stolen or surreptitiously copied in these operations.

Foreign Policy had a fascinating article last month on how metadata analysis is used in terms of relationships between suspected "evil" people and known "evil" people. (The word "evil" in quotes to signify that for purposes of this topic, the definition of "evil" is unimportant.) The article talks about the challenges of fewer vs. more degrees of separation in link analysis; the new revelation that they go to 3 degrees throws it into even more perspective.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/17/evil_in_a_haystack_nsa_metadata

Some kings probably spent resources on hiring wizards to cast magic spells to protect their castles and curse their enemies. To say the least, this was probably not cost effective.

Modern spells like "Authorized Use Only" and curses like "Full extent of the law" are nearly as effective, especially when obtained from and managed by a lowest bidder wizard. Not all wizards are created equal ;)

Well one thing you can do is use an open source operating system. It isn't going to be 100% secure (nothing is), but at least the source code has millions of eyes on it looking for holes, and you aren't reliant on some central authority to make fixes available after the NSA is done exploiting them.

Yes, this is an excellent suggestion and one of the most reasonable responses to the attack we're under. A thing about these millions of eyes is they are millions of unqualified and non-programmer eyes. The domain specific talent required is supplied mainly by commercial companies, each with their own agendas. I understand the sentiment and even with opensource you're still running it on someone else's hardware, even if you paid for it and possess it you do not own it.

Even if the NSA has proof that a guy hacked into a computer to become student president of a state college, they aren;t going to allow this info to be used in a trial.

Initially you mentioned cost, that it's "expensive" and my point was that the system is already in place and is paid for (by us, also those fees that get tacked on to cellphone bills) and seeing use. Compared to the cost of the network, the $20 million USD annually, it's cheap just like storage space. I'll give you another comparison, Youtube (estimated) costs $2 million USD to operate daily. Location information with handsets specifically is a byproduct of the system; see the value of accurate billing information. The way this guy "hacked things" was done locally with keyloggers negating the need to snoop on traffic. No need for the NSA, just simple admin work.

I think a world where 0 day exploits are rampant is preferable to one where all these holes exist but are yet to be discovered. Even if the bad guys find them first, the good guys can usually know shortly after.

"Bad" guys finding them first would be hackers, no? Is it only bad when hackers sell them to others? Or is it when they don't tell people about them? Or is it only when they're exploited? Wouldn't supporting one of these companies where you buy 0days make you complicit in supporting the "bad" people thus making you one of the "bad" even if you're doing it for the perceived greater good?

The US gov will try to hide form the optics of a "mass arrest".
Every political leader understands Tiananmen Square, the US had its Bonus Army en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
The US seems to be going for generational change re the 2nd Amendment- taxation, total registration, education (via youth, movies, tv), criminalization, locked transportation away from any ammo, more police questions in legal open carry states.
Your 2nd Amendment "should" cover some basic gun rights in your city or State, but jail time and fines might be the everyday reality despite Federal court cases over the years.
The US gov has learned from the Vietnam protests that "mass arrests" include some very well connected authors, lawyers, wealthy students and press.
With the risk of HD footage and sound, a good legal team a day in open court is not the the chilling effect it once was.
The US gov seems to favour infiltration, the mass use of state and federal "Agent provocateur" (infiltrate left and right wing groups and ensure crimes on camera) i.e. group leaders can be arrested just before protests
The protesters are then offered deals to bring in more quality arrests, after an event to be protested are offered 'fines' vs risking court, turned into tame busy work movements or people are moved around Federal jail system for a few week, months..
The individual is broken with lack of sleep, food, no contact with their legal team, medication withdrawl, or face a type of "Soviet punitive psychiatry" until their paperwork is found.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MERRIMAC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_RESISTANCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games
Show the evolution of US thinking on ideas like "mass arrest" - go for the person. Map out then tame, shape any "movement" leaving nothing but informants and tame groups ready to join any real protesters.

Some followup, via http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/09/can_the_us_create_a_national_park_on_the_moon:

The 1962 Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space prevents states from asserting claims over parts of outer space, including the Moon.
http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/gares/html/gares_18_1962.html

However, according to 18 USC 7, spacecraft in flight (that is, that haven't returned to Earth) are US Territories.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/7

So Congress could theoretically declare that the spacecraft we abandoned on the Moon are a National Park, but they have no jurisdiction over the areas around them that were explored by astronauts.

Times change. Technology changes. We all love the Sopwith Camel and the P-51, but you wouldn't use either one in a modern war.

Depends on what you call a modern war.

Here's two articles written almost a year apart:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2012/04/16/simple-purchase-of-light-plane-becomes-big-problem-for-air-force/
http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/02/27/us_air_force_buys_20_propellor_driven_attack_planes

Small, propeller-driven planes are often better-suited to counter-insurgency operations than the fighter jets on which U.S. forces tend to rely, because they can fly lower and slower to get a more precise idea of what enemy ground forces are doing. Since the Taliban has no air force of its own and few surface-to-air missiles, the danger to pilots from enemy fire is modest. The U.S. Air Force seriously considered buying such planes for use by its own pilots in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. efforts to purchase a prop-driven plane go back about five years. Some in the Air Force wanted to buy a fleet of such planes to provide close air support to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They would have been better suited to such work than the service's aging fleet of fast jets, which were designed to kill Soviet MiGs not strafe insurgents and which cost a fortune for every hour they fly.

Our modern military shouldn't be limited to "modern" wars.

Do you fear doing nothing?
US data collection was all in the open over years of CS/telco history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MERRIMAC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_RESISTANCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_SHAMROCK (just an exercise ;) )
later http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MINARET
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection
1960: "As we know from our previous experience working at N.S.A., the United States successfully reads the secure communications of more than forty nations, including its own allies."
ie tame US based OS makers, cell phone hardware as you enter your message before it hits any encryption efforts.
Some journalism is really turning up to an invite only event, getting the press kit, photo work and making sure the print/website and blog are pretty. As for the US brands, they know what they did and now the world knows to be careful about what OS or apps they use.
People will explore their hosting, server options and software with more care, buying local.

If you don't think the Israeli model would cost more, then you don't understand the Israeli model.

A number of articles have examined the issue:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aFyfihM1e3G4&refer=politics
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/07/would_you_pay_25_for_71_seconds_of_scrutiny_in_an_airport
http://forward.com/articles/122781/israel-s-airport-security-object-of-envy-is-hard/
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/11/20/counterproductive_airport_security_does_tsa_cause_more_deaths_than_it_prevents.html
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/aviation-security-and-the-israeli-model/#more-27215

This book looks at the entire cost-benefit equation:
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0199795762

Suggesting it will be met with screeches of "RACISM!"

Jihad Jane aka Colleen Renee LaRose

Gilles Le Guen

Joseph Jefferey Brice

And then, of course, there is the fact that white supremacists have committed 10x more acts of terror on US soil than anyone else in the last decade.

So, exactly what race are we going be "profiling" again?

Exactly a month ago, New York Times had an article on how mundane a tactic this is in China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/asia/in-china-hacking-has-widespread-acceptance.html

ForeignPolicy.com did a piece on US IP piracy from Britain when it was the emerging power like China
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/05/we_were_pirates_too

No one is a saint.

In other words more people will be aware of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MERRIMAC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_RESISTANCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_SHAMROCK (just an exercise ;) )
later http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MINARET
A nice chilling effect on any protesting, politics.
The problem with RSA1024 on everything is the US gov will still have the tame US based OS makers, cell phone hardware as you enter your message before it hits any encryption efforts.
Also recall Total Information Awareness, Room 641A, Romas/COIN later Odyssey where also pointers to a public private partnership.
What the State cant get, they will buy in wholesale.
Its like been given a cheap rebadged Enigma unit in 1946 by the UK....safe for any diplomacy and commerce

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_CHAOS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MERRIMAC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_RESISTANCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Core
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/04/18/patriot_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_SHAMROCK (just an exercise ;) )
later http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MINARET
in the past you would have to be seen/be active and then get the full "data privacy" issues.
The new trick is to rewind your "online life" after your seen/become active by ~ a few years.
A nice chilling effect on any protesting, politics.

Now tackle Japan.

Sure. I'll even sacrifice a heap of mod points to do so. Have you ever considered that Nagasaki and Hiroshima played a much smaller part in the Japanese surrender than what is the commonly believed truth, and that in fact it might more have to do with the Soviet declaring war on Japan on August 8 1945 than it ever did with the atomic bombs?

Your point about the Japan is worth considering. But perhaps a better context, without the shakey historical context, might look something like this: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/29/the_bomb_didnt_beat_japan_nuclear_world_war_ii

You might find this article interesting: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/29/the_bomb_didnt_beat_japan_nuclear_world_war_ii

I've never argued against any technology being used when you have an imminent threat, an active crime going on," Paul said. "If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and fifty dollars in cash. I don't care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him."