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Thursday, March 9, 2017
The most shocking revelation from the CIA spying scandal
It happened again-- another spying scandal in the Land of the Free.
Yesterday Wikileaks released 8,761 CIA documents detailing the agency’s hacking of smart phones, routers, computers, and even televisions.
These files reveal that the CIA can and has hacked devices that were supposedly secure-- iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.
The documents further reveal that the CIA is deliberately infecting personal computers with spyware, including Windows, Mac OS/X, Solaris, Linux, and other operating systems.
They’re also hacking WiFi routers to deploy software that monitors Internet activity, and have even figured out how to bypass anti-virus software so that their spyware cannot be detected.
They’ve also managed to make the rest of the world believe that Russian hackers, not the CIA, are behind all this malware and spyware.
It’s like a restatement of that old Mission: Impossible line-- "Should any of your IM force be caught or killed… we’ll blame Russia.”
The CIA is pretty shameless about its activities, nicknaming its various hacking programs “Assassin”, “Medusa”, and “Brutal Kangaroo”.
One of the deepest revelations is that the agency is able to hack Internet-connected televisions, including Samsung smart TVs, through a program called “Weeping Angel”.
Basically the CIA can turn your TV into a listening device, recording conversations in the room and transmitting the audio to a CIA server.
Even if you think the TV is off, it’s not.
CIA hackers have been able to spoof the on/off display and set the television to a “false off” mode.
Bottom line, no device that’s connected to the outside world is truly safe.
And future Wikileaks publications may show that the intelligence community is hacking home automation devices, Internet-connected automobiles (including driverless vehicles), and artificial intelligence like Amazon’s Alexa.
It’s hard to be shocked at this point that the government is spying on its own allies and citizens.
This is just the latest in a pattern of brazen surveillance and flagrant Constitutional violations on the part of the US intelligence community.
But that’s precisely what I find MOST concerning-- the LACK of concern over these new CIA documents.
People have such a low expectation of their government now, and have become so accustomed to the government routinely violating their civil liberties, that there’s hardly any public outrage anymore about these spying scandals.
More importantly, the lack of concern is indicative of what freedom means in the Land of the Free today.
Here’s a great example--
Young people are traditionally the most politically charged activists in the country.
But where are the protests across university campuses demanding freedom and privacy?
It’s not happening.
That’s because university students are too busy protesting against ideas they don’t want to hear about.
At Middlebury College last week, a small liberal arts school in Vermont, a small mob of student protestors physically assaulted a conservative speaker because his ideas offended them. Link
They couldn’t simply skip the lecture and allow interested students to attend.
No, they had to engage in violent censorship, oppressing any idea that doesn’t conform to their narrow agenda.
The only thing these cry bullies are interested in hearing is apologetic white men groveling over their privilege.
This is the new reality in the Land of the Free: freedom has deteriorated into some gender studies professor’s socialist fantasy.
Constitutionally guaranteed liberties have become irrelevant.
Forget about “free speech”.
Any intellectual dissent from the intolerant Social Justice view is now considered “hate speech”.
And the Fourth Amendment, which establishes “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures,” has become a distant memory.
As a child who grew up in the 80s during the height of the Cold War, I imagine there would have been widespread disgust if a similar scandal had been exposed.
Spying on citizens and allies? That’s what the Soviet Union did.
But today, everything else is more important.
Transgender bathrooms. Silencing hate speech. Forcing elementary school children to feel guilty about their white privilege. Political correctness in extremis. #everyone-else-but-white-people’s-lives-matter.
This is what dominates the social conversation now in the Land of the Free.
Privacy is no longer a Western value.
After all, people narcissistically upload their entire lives to social media (as if anyone cares what they’re having for dinner) so that Mark Zuckerberg can auction off our details to the highest bidder.
And it is precisely this decline that I find most disturbing.
Some people hold the idiotic belief that, “If I have nothing to hide, I have nothing to fear.”
This is dangerous logic, for so many reasons.
Even the use of the word ‘hide’ is ridiculous… as if the fact that I don’t upload photos of my nether regions to Instagram means that I’m “hiding” something.
We all keep things private. It’s why we wear clothing, don’t discuss our personal finances in polite company, and worry when our social security number is stolen.
But more importantly, if it doesn’t matter that the CIA is monitoring people’s most intimate moments, then does anything matter?
They keep moving the line, probing deeper and deeper into our lives and enveloping the nation inside an Orwellian surveillance state.
And it doesn’t stop... because we’re in the midst of a complete breakdown of western values.
Until tomorrow,
Simon Black
Founder, SovereignMan.com
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Judging Right Judgment
Audio length: 7:29
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There exists some confusion at times in our Christian walk between when to fulfill Jesus’ commandment to “judge not, that ye be not judged,”1 and when to “judge righteous judgment.”2 We are commanded both to not judge and condemn others and to make right judgments—which entails discerning, evaluating, and differentiating between right and wrong, and “choosing the good and eschewing [or turning away from] the evil.”3
One of the pitfalls that we face as Christians, and which is part of the process of growth and becoming a mature Christian, is the tendency to want to pin blanket labels or judgments on people or situations, or to categorize issues in a black-and-white way, in order to more easily discern and judge what is right and what is wrong. We are called, as Christians, to have conviction and to be willing to “give an answer to anyone that asks us a reason of our faith and hope,” while we are also to “yet do it with gentleness and respect.”4 Part of Christian discipleship is identifying and categorizing issues, attitudes, or actions as right or wrong, as acceptable or unacceptable in order to judge right or correct judgment; and yet in our interactions with others and sharing our faith and convictions, we are called to do so with gentleness and respect.
Christianity provides a clear moral code, and the Bible teaches us what is expected of believers. Throughout the Gospels Jesus taught the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, God’s will and self-will, and the apostles expounded on that and created rules and policies to govern the church, providing timeless principles of sharing God’s love and following Jesus’ example to live a godly life.
While Jesus spoke against judgmental attitudes and conduct toward others, it’s clear that as individuals, we still have to “judge righteous judgment”5 as far as evaluating and discerning whether something is a good choice or a poor one, or whether something is morally right or not. Those decisions don’t always come our way clearly marked and straightforward, and it’s natural to ponder attitudes, actions, or conduct that we see around us and to attempt to categorize them as right or wrong, good or bad, a good choice or a poor choice.
Not being judgmental doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t evaluate the rightness of things and measure things by the standard of God’s Word, and build our convictions accordingly. For instance, if someone does something that is morally reprehensible, you would certainly reach the conclusion that their actions are morally wrong, and you might feel led to speak out, particularly if these actions were influencing or harming others.
However, there are times when right and wrong are not so clearly delineated; the right or wrong choice is not so evident, or something that might seem right or wrong at the time later turns out to be the opposite. Sometimes we make mistakes in judgment and learn through our mistakes. Or something that is generally wrong, such as violence, might be right in the rare case when it is necessary to defend oneself or others who are in danger.
Of course, many things are clear and they are always black and white; right and wrong are immediately apparent. For example, we know that it is wrong to intentionally hurt others, to cheat people, to steal or take advantage of others, etc. We have clear markers for our conduct and what God expects of us, and He’s also given us a conscience, which speaks to us when we do something that is wrong in some way.
But it’s not always possible to place a simple “right” or “wrong” label on the decisions of others, or on situations or events. Jesus said that we would be able to recognize or discern things by their fruits,6 which may mean that we won’t know if something bears good fruit for some time, until it has played out and we are able to better discern the ultimate results of certain decisions or situations. This is why seeking the Lord’s tailor-made guidance for situations and decisions is often necessary in order to better understand how to apply the principles in His Word to specific situations.
While it’s normal, and at times necessary, to evaluate and reason out the decisions and actions of others and to weigh them on our moral scale, it doesn’t follow that we should then treat people in an unloving, judgmental way, or be quick to condemn others because of the choices they’ve made. Only God is in a position to pass wise or fair judgment. We can’t know the burdens and weights that people carry, or all the reasons why they make the choices they do. We can certainly pray for them and try to offer support, counsel, or advice when appropriate. But it’s unlikely that people will be receptive to counsel and advice that comes packaged in a judgmental spirit.
As Christians, we shouldn’t feel compelled to judge every attitude or action of others. We should be more concerned about helping people and loving them into heaven than judging them on earth. God is the judge; He knows the hearts of people and He understands everything about them in a way that we would never be able to. He doesn’t need our help to judge people; that isn’t what Jesus commissioned us to do.
So while it’s natural to internally process someone’s actions, it’s how we treat the person and how we react to them that ultimately counts. Of course, we do need to teach our children and new believers to make moral choices and to discern between right and moral behavior and wrong and ungodly behavior. We need to be grounded in the Scriptures in order to understand biblical and Christian morality, so that we can make decisions based on the Word of God. But in doing so, we also can’t lose sight of Jesus’ boundless love for all people.
We are all sinners and men and women of like passions, who desperately need Jesus’ love, mercy, and forgiveness. We are called to share His love with others, and His power to forgive sin and to conquer its foothold in our lives. Jesus’ love is unconditional and can cover the multitude of sins.7 There is no sin that Jesus can’t redeem and wash away with His blood.8
Originally published September 2010. Adapted and republished February 2017.
Read by Jason Lawrence. https://anchor.tfionline.com/post/judging-right-judgment/
1 Matthew 7:1.
2 John 7:24.
3 1 Peter 3:11 KJV.
4 1 Peter 3:15.
5 John 7:24.
6 Matthew 7:20.
7 James 5:19–20; 1 Peter 4:8.
8 1 John 1:7.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
When God Wants To Drill A Man
And thrill a man,
And skill a man
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaksWhen his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And which every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out-
God knows what He’s about.
– Anonymous
