On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, a federal judge in New York blocked the Trump administration from asking about citizenship in the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, supposedly finding that asking whether one is or is not a U.S. citizen would “violate the public trust.”
So, now, according to radical-left ideology, it is not only “immoral” to secure our U.S. borders against the invasion of illegal aliens, it now also “violates the public trust” to even try to determine how many “non-citizens” are within our borders. And, as we ponder that bit of self-destructive lunacy a moment, possibly something within the following babbling is also worthy of our consideration amidst the many distractions we are smothered with.
Many if not most of us blessed to hang around for a while on this gift-of-life journey, sooner or later grasp that “nothing is truly free”—because, someone at some time in some way ultimately pays. An inescapable reality many of us tend to especially ignore as we partake of the so-called “freebies” offered by the Facebooks, Googles, and other Internet-based companies.
For example, Facebook, Google, etc., obviously spend untold billions upon billions of dollars maintaining, processing, and storing billions upon billions of text/audio/photo/etc. files (data), and making a selective amount of it available to millions of people. Including people like me who have to date not purchased a single item as the result of their advertising, nor have otherwise directly paid them a cent by way of cash, check, or other medium of monetary exchange.
However, for the privilege of using their so-called “freebies,” I and millions of others have knowingly or unknowingly provided the Facebooks, Googles, etc., with access to a magnitude of our “personal information,” such as, our contacts list; phone/text records; photo files; Internet search history; likes and dislikes; political leanings; purchase history; age; gender; marital status; address; etc., etc., etc. And, as a result, the Facebooks, Googles, etc., wind up knowing more about us than our U.S. Federal Government does! That is, unless our U.S. Federal Government is among those who pay or “hack” the Facebooks, Googles, etc., for the massive “data” they collect and store (in the “the cloud,” of course).
But, we are savvy enough to know that the increasingly-massive amount of “personal and otherwise data” collected by the Facebooks, Googles, etc., isn’t actually stored in an innocent and illusive “cloud.” Rather, it is maintained (in essence forever) in ever-growing numbers of on-the-Earth “servers” (computers that provide data to other computers) owned by the Facebooks, Googles, etc. Mindboggling reservoirs of data available for “sale” and/or “otherwise use” by the Facebooks, Googles, etc.—or those who have the capability to illegally “hack” such systems.
An absolutely inconceivable amount and nature of data (including personal information)! Of which the collection and use of certainly seems to far outweigh the aforementioned New York federal judge’s concerns—his so-called worry about a U.S. Constitution-permitted census attempting to determine how many U.S. citizens, and otherwise occupants, are residing within our country’s borders. Questions that the Facebooks, Googles, etc., likely already have the answers to—tucked away in their “clouds.”
And, in closing, one can’t help but wonder if the owners of the Facebooks, Googles, etc.—in addition to pursuing their understood craving to make a business dollar or two—have by the slimmest of chance (smile), ever tripped over bits of historical insight and wisdom such as emphasized by the following quotation:
“The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.” —Tom Clancy (1947-2013), American novelist.
As the Facebooks, Googles, etc., assume that we-the-people will, through ignorance, apathy, complacency, denial, and greed, forever self-destructively ignore the following also long ago uttered reality:
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” —James Madison (1751–1836), 4th U.S. President; hailed as “Father of the Constitution” for his key role in drafting the U.S. Constitution & the Bill of Rights.
—William James Moore
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