Closing the Book on the Assange Era

There are clearly some who are unhappy with Assange's release and believe he should have been either executed or incarcerated for life. The same day as the Notre Dame fire (which dominated the news) - the UK government arrested him in April 2019 at the Ecuadorian embassy where he had already been holed up since 2012. The reasons for his hiding in the embassy are rooted in bogus (and now dropped) charges of rape in Sweden. He suspected that as soon as he ended up in a UK court for an extradition hearing, the US would intervene and unwrap a sealed indictment against him. Its existence was an all but an open secret.

The System and Racism

Recently I was talking with my son and he told me about some experiences he had on a Christian chat forum that he visits from time to time. He's had several interesting interactions on the site but recently things took a somewhat bad turn as a person appeared who argued (in a rather aggressive manner) that Christians were under obligation to combat systemic racism. A hot button issue to be sure, the tensions and conflicts that emerged from this confrontation led to several departures and in his estimation has almost ruined the overall experience.

The Shadow State is Alive and Well

https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-inside-militarys-secret-undercover-army-1591881

The stage for all of this was set in the aftermath of 9/11 and increasingly as people no longer consider the surrendering of their privacy and data to be anything controversial, and as generations of lock-step, wave the flag, support the troops, my country right or wrong nationalism has come to dominate – this story isn't even controversial.

What The Great Reset Is and Isn't

https://evangelicalfocus.com/life-tech/9854/is-the-great-reset-a-plan-of-the-global-elites-to-restrict-freedoms

This was a remarkably sober analysis from Evangelical Focus though its conclusions are (as expected) ultimately false. The Lausanne oriented movement is concerned not with truth speaking to power but power itself and the unbiblical quest to redeem culture. That said, the editors possess enough sense to realise that current trends at work within Evangelicalism risk destroying the movement and thus their cultural mission. A New Testament based analysis will lead to a totally different trajectory but that doesn't mean that the article has no value.

The Christian Response to Cancel Culture

Evangelicals are outraged at the prospect of being kicked of Twitter, Facebook, or some other form of social media.

Three Shots Fired at Moscow

The Anti-Russian campaign is in full swing. It might as well be 1950, 1961 or 1983. It's reaching that kind of intensity.

First, we're told that Russian affiliated hackers attempted to steal data related to development of a Covid-19 vaccine. These hacks targeted Western pharmaceutical companies that are currently involved in the research and development.

The TSA, Bureaucracy and Permanent War

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/633980912/tsas-quiet-skies-program-tracks-observes-travelers-in-the-air

Undoubtedly some will have noticed this story which broke a few weeks ago regarding the TSA programme of passenger surveillance.

The TSA or Transportation Security Administration is largely a joke but there's nothing funny about it. Implemented in the wake of 9/11 the organisation has been repeatedly defeated by inter-agency tests. It harasses and humiliates the public and yet is unable to stop weapons from getting on to airplanes.

Embracing Dystopia: Reflections on the Ascendancy of Amazon and the Signs of the Times (Part 2 of 2)

Every state contains what might be described as the Bestial Impulse, the temptation of ultimacy. We can also refer to this as the Babel Impulse, the temptation to conflate the state project with divine presence or deity itself. Essentially what this means is that the state sees itself in the role of a god and a manifestation of heavenly presence or prerogative.

Embracing Dystopia: Reflections on the Ascendancy of Amazon and the Signs of the Times (Part 1 of 2)

I was reading a story from a few months ago about Amazon handing over large amounts of data to law enforcement and it prompted me to wrestle with the question of Amazon, Bezos and what it all represents. Immediately I thought of my past wranglings with Wal-Mart.

Considering the Panopticon Beast

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-china-42248056/in-your-face-china-s-all-seeing-state

Facial recognition software, biometric data, high-speed processing and lower-order or Narrow Artificial Intelligence are being wed to authoritarian political structures. It is the Panopticon for a new age.*

I must admit, I found this video to be deeply troubling. I found myself wondering about the future of the Chinese Underground Church. The tools of totalitarianism are becoming so pervasive that nonconformists (of any stripe) are literally going to be forced back into the mountains and forests... as in the old days.

And yet in the old days, the state apparatus did not possess drones with thermal imaging and the easy means to access remote places.

Zuckerberg

The world is a crazy place. Black is white and white is black, evil is good and good evil.

Mark Zuckerberg is esteemed, a tech-sage, an icon to be emulated and listened to. Zuckerberg is the man who made social media part of the warp and woof of daily life. Zuckerberg, the man who helped society flourish through connectivity.

The Legal and Technological Matrix for a Brave New Dystopia (4/4)

The Church in the World

What will it take to awaken the Church? Or is this just Judgment and Strong Delusion?

How do we respond? Do we need to just keep at it, keep persevering in our small corners of the world, doing what we can to expose lies? Do we just keep telling the truth and hopefully rescue people from the great destructive lie that is at the heart of our social system which the 'Church' has happily wed itself to?

It has loved the world and called it the Kingdom of God.

The Legal and Technological Matrix for a Brave New Dystopia (3/4)

Security or a New Foundation?

This has nothing to do with terrorism anymore. Personally I don't think it ever did. There was enough smoke in the 1990's to realize a firestorm was on the horizon. While few foresaw the impending Blowback of 9/11, they did see a network of schemers who had plans in the works and needed little more than a justification to get the ball rolling. They certainly got their wish.

There was no point in winning the Cold War unless you could capitalize on the victory. Security fears gave them a reason to act but how can you control the world in the computer age?

The Legal and Technological Matrix for a Brave New Dystopia (2/4)

The New Paradigm

Computer technology is no longer a tool of industrial society, it's at the heart of society...a new society which is in the process of establishing itself and the new parameters by which it will function and govern. While we're all playing with our gadgets, the social fabric is being re-woven and as I've indicated I think most people are in fact missing the magnitude and fundamental nature of the change.

The Legal and Technological Matrix for a Brave New Dystopia (1/4)

 

Orwellian is a term that is often thrown about in the media. Usually this is not meant in terms of Totalitarianism (at least not yet) but in the sense that we live under constant surveillance. Some think in terms of the American government wielding great fear in that it has claimed the right to take anyone away at any time and with no explanation.

The courts have ruled that security absolutely trumps the 4^th Amendment. I would contend that given our new technological society, the 4^th Amendment is effectively dead. The Patriot Act sealed the coffin.