Last week, the California ACLU released an alarming report about California law enforcement agencies' covert use of social media surveillance software. The report compiles records requested of 63 police departments, sheriffs, and district attorneys across the state. The ACLU found over 40% are using the software without any transparency or public disclosure. They also reported law enforcement officers may be using the social media surveillance software in a way that specifically targets activists of color.

The three primary pieces of software cited in the ACLU report are MediaSonar, X1 Social Discovery, and Geofeedia. These tools are marketed to law enforcement agencies as ways to keep track of protesters, particularly protesters and activists of color.

In one email from a Geofeedia representative to the San Diego Sheriff, the software is praised for its ability to aggregate"social media posts from the scene of Ferguson, Missouri."

Whatever the result is of this year's presidential election, fundamental issues broiling behind the scenes will no doubt prove the virtual powerlessness of the POTUS to bring about positive developments for the people of this nation and of the world.

The deep state machinery that controls our national destiny is much more powerful than the titular figurehead of the republic, which is why electoral debates will not address the fundamental issues driving us deeper into chaos, for the candidates are just as trapped as we are.

The wheels are already in motion for major hits to national and global stability, and whomever you choose to vote for, if you care to vote at all, prudence and common sense should compel you to prepare for what is unfolding behind the scenes of the election distraction.

1.) More Civil Unrest

In the last couple of years America has seen a drastic increase in civil unrest, protests, rioting and lawlessness. At present most of this is centered around the crimes of an increasingly callous and dangerous form of policing; yet as each new protest devolves into a riot, the specter of broader ideological and racial divisions among the populace are stoked by controlling interests such as George Soros, which means that violence will become more commonplace.

Preparation for civil unrest begins with the recognition that anything can happen anywhere at anytime, and one must abandon the tendency to ignore their surroundings carrying on as if this were business as usual. Self defense is still a right in America, but it does no good unless you seek out basic skills, tools, and situational awareness to protect yourself from mob violence. For those who've already found themselves embroiled in recent riots, the need for having a plan for sheltering in place, bugging out, or defending life and property is already very real.

In July 2016 the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a law to ban the cultivation and breeding of genetically modified plants and animals (GMO), except in cases where they will be used in testing and scientific research. In fact, this law makes Russia the world's largest GMO-free territory and offers a great platform for the development of organic agriculture.

This decision made by the Russian government was also influenced by environmental organizations, farmers and other representatives of Russian society, concerned by the absence of reliable scientific studies on the long-term ('long-term' comes here with an emphasis) risks of GMO food to human health and the environment. The Kremlin has also apparently taken into consideration the interests of national food security, as the world market of genetically modified (GM) seeds is monopolized by transnational, mostly American, German and Swiss based companies.

Many European Union countries, unlike the U.S., have already applied restrictions on GMOs, similar to the ones implemented now in the Russian Federation. Only five EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania) have been cultivating GM crops, but even they have begun to decrease the area of GM crop cultivation gradually.

A man has died after Pasadena, California police officers tased him twice and used physical force during an early Friday morning callout that he requested himself.

Reginald Thomas, 36, dialed 911 for help, according to Shainie Lindsay, the mother of four of Thomas' children who has another on the way.

Thomas was "dysfunctional," suffered from bipolar disorder and had multiple interactions with the police before, according to Lindsay, but in this instance: "He called the police on himself. He wanted help," said Lindsay to KTLA.

As Thursday's protest in California ended with police firing pepper balls at demonstrators, RT talked to a witness who says it was a beanbag used by law enforcers which caused the large bruise on her face. Next time, she will not be just a bystander, Richelle Washabaugh said.

Protests have been ongoing in El Cajon, San Diego County, since Wednesday, after it emerged that a police officer fatally shot 38-year-old Alfred Olango, an unarmed black man with an apparent history of mental health problems. On Thursday night, police used pepper balls on another small rally and detained two men, after the crowd started throwing glass bottles at the officers.

RT spoke with Richelle Washabaugh, a woman who was in the area on Thursday night. Richelle says she and her friends had no part in the protests, but nevertheless were set upon by police officers. Richelle was hit by a so-called 'bean bag', a police baton round considered less harmful than rubber bullets but that can still cause damage.

Nearly all state lawmakers not only limit women's reproductive rights to abortion but deny their residents paid family and medical leave, and paid sick days, according to new analysis. Those policies drive 13 percent of US families with a new born into poverty, which disproportionately affects women of color.

"When a woman who was denied abortion coverage cannot keep her job because her employer refuses to make reasonable accommodation for her pregnancy - no paid sick day for prenatal appointments or well-baby care - no paid family and medical leave to use after giving birth - the deck is truly stacked against her," said Debra L. Ness, President, National Partnership for Women & Families in a released statement.

The state-by-state report is issued to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, a federal law which prevents taxpayer funding of abortions in federal health programs. The law is renewed every year by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

At least four students have been tased by police officers just over a month into the school year, adding their cases to some worrisome statistics: Since 2011, nearly 100 US children have been tased by school-based officers.

An electroshock weapon was last used on a 15-year old student at Middleton High School in Wisconsin on September 22. The teenager reportedly spotted people he knew trying to enter the school during lunch time. He became agitated and got into a fight with the group, with whom he'd previously had problems. Police tried to break up the fight and at one point, one of the officers shocked the 15-year-old with a Taser.

Weeks before that case, a school-based police officer tased two female students when deputies at a Florida high school tried to break up a fight.

In the wake of the recent police killing of Alfred Olango, for allegedly holding a vaping device in a threatening manner, violent protests broke out in El Cajon last night as police continued to refuse to release video of the shooting.

On Friday, after a night of violence, the El Cajon police department relented and decided to release the footage of the killing to the public.

Prior to the shooting, Alfred Okwera Olango "was not acting like himself", according to his sister, allegedly walking into traffic on Broadway in the San Diego suburb. She repeatedly called for assistance early Tuesday afternoon, with two El Cajon Police officers responding to the call, and finding Olango behind a restaurant, said Chief Jeff Davis, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Reality Check: 70% of protesters arrested in Charlotte were from out of state? Ben Swann brings forward the facts behind those numbers and why these protests are not "astro-turf":