Six months ago the American whistleblower Edward Snowden first revealed how the NSA has access to personal data stored with internet companies like Google and Facebook. In fact as it turned out, these companies actively cooperate in sharing your data with the authorities. ibid.
‘The frontier of accuracy is yet to be determined.’ ibid. expert
Businesses can also use your personal data to predict your future behaviour as an individual even better than you can. ibid.
Having all this data also provides power to who controls it. ibid.
‘It’s a new kind of power that’s very sneaky and gradual. ibid.
Will our data be used for less positive purposes too? ibid.
The road to power is paved with hypocrisy and casualties. House of Cards s2e9: Chapter 22, Frank, Netflix 2014
Frank Underwood is a dangerous man because power in the hands of those who lack honesty lacks a moral compass. House of Cards US s3e13: Chapter 39, Linda Dunbar
‘The real work is invisible. And it is invisibly spreading. The more you can make your organisation invisible, the more influence it will have.’ The Family I: Submersion, opening commentary, Netflix 2019
It took a long before I realised just who The Family was and the influence they have had on the leadership of our country. ibid. Jeff Sharlet, author
An invisible organisation who have been hiding in plain sight for eighty years. ibid.
A breathtaking enmeshment of church and state. ibid. woman
We would pray to be broken. We would pray to be nothing. We would pray to learn how to obey. ibid.
We are the new chosen. ibid.
The Cedars is this big white-pillared mansion … The seat of their power … ibid.
‘You guys are here to learn how to rule the world.’ ibid.
Jesus + Nothing: simultaneously banal and authoritarian. ibid.
Let’s be influential but let’s do it quietly. ibid.
What kind of influence did they want to have in the world. ibid.
So you had the hierarchy, the concentric rings. ibid.
A fundamentally anti-democratic movement … This organisation that denied it was an organisation was really one of the greatest networks of powerful figures in the world. ibid.
For The Family it’s all about relationships, the personal brother to brother relationship. The Family s1e2: Chosen
A secretive Christian organisation and one of the most influential religious groups in Washington. ibid.
People who believe they are chosen by God for leadership. ibid.
In the wake of the sex scandals and Clergy VOICE’s formal complaint, C-Street’s tax exempt status was partially revoked in 2009. The Fellowship denies any involvement with C-Street. Tax records suggest otherwise. ibid. caption
The National Prayer Breakfast is 100% the Family’s event. The Family s1e3: New World Order
It’s almost impossible to overstate The Family’s reach and access to governments all over the world. ibid.
And very quickly moved to the international level. The Family s1e4: Dictators, Murderers & Thieves
God cares most about the elites. ibid.
We’re talking about a monumental shift in the power structure of the world; power is being returned to the individual. Dread Pirate Roberts, founder Silk Road, cited: Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web, 2017
We on the left have forgotten that the question is not how do you get good people to rule, most people who rule are mediocre at best and usually venal. The question is how do we make those in power frightened of us and not be seduced by formal political processes. Chris Hedges, interview Thom Hartmann December 2009
We are captive to systems of power until we can name the dominant myths and the intricate systems of coercion and control that extinguish our freedom. Chris Hedges, speech American Political Science Association 3 September 2016
The irony is that Barack Obama would not even be president if it were not for the courage of persecuted dissidents such as Martin Luther King or Malcolm X spied upon by their own government. But Obama understands where power lies. It does not lie with the citizen. It lies with Wall Street and our corporate boardrooms, which have carried out a slow motion coup d’etat. And a system of mass surveillance is designed to keep these elites in these boardrooms powerful and the rest of us powerless. Chris Hedges, Our Only Hope Will Come Through Rebellion, 2014
If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. John Stuart Mill
The President of the United States of America is still authorised without further approval by Congress to determine an event of insurrection within the United States and to declare the existence of an Internal Security Emergency. Punishment Park, 1971
The history of the twentieth century was dominated by the struggle against totalitarian systems of state power. The twenty-first will no doubt be marked by a struggle to curtail excessive corporate power. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Me
Corporate power lies behind nearly every major problem we face – from stagnant wages and unaffordable health care to overconsumption and global warming ... With all this happening, why do we not read more about the pervasiveness of corporate power? In large part because even the ‘Fourth Estate’, our media establishment, is majority owned by a handful of mega-corporations. Marjorie Kelly, How Popular Movements Can Confront Corporate Power and Win
Fundamentalism isn’t about religion, it’s about power. Salman Rushdie
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. William Wordsworth
It seems as though a lot of the basic provisions are obviously similar and draw on experience from the Second World War. But in many cases they seem to go a lot further and envisage much more sweeping powers for the government, particularly in a time of real crisis and go far beyond the powers that were taken in the 1940s. Clive Ponting, former civil servant & whistleblower
Whole areas around military bases, airfields – and so on would almost be put under military control in which they would be able to clear areas in order to defend them. Clive Ponting
If the protest got to the point where there was actually insurrection or actual violence between the NATO military forces and the local population then clearly American military commanders have the authority to use deadly force in the protection of their military assets. Bill Arkin, former US Army Captain
The Home Office special official committees on home defence have recently been supervising the preparation of new war laws. Duncan Campbell, Secret Society: In Time of Crisis, BBC 1987
The laws are intended to control not just panic but dissent as well. ibid.
The plans also cover conscript labour: thousands of people with many different skills would be needed. ibid.
Executive Order#11921 Provides that the President can declare a state of emergency that is not defined, and Congress cannot review the action for six months. Executive Order cited America: Freedom to Fascism
What the world needs is an Emergency Boss. An Emergency Czar. An Emergency Commander. A true Master of Disaster. One person completely responsible for the anticipation, immediate reconnaissance, and urgent execution of rescue and relief efforts around the world. Steven van Zandt
What have I got the power to do? Yes, Prime Minister: The National Education Service s2e7, Jim, BBC 1988