Navigate Select ESC Close

Fighting Mass Surveillance; A Third Reconstruction? w/ Jessica Burbank, K Sabeel Rahman | MR Live

2025-12-03 News & Politics
53.1k
2.8k
87

Analyzing Surveillance Expansion and Framing the Third Reconstruction

Understand how private surveillance networks like Flock Safety evade public oversight city by city, and learn why activists must adopt a "Third Reconstruction" strategy to build durable democratic power against escalating authoritarianism.

Short Summary

  • Republicans lost significant ground in a key Tennessee special election, signaling major vulnerability across the House map heading into the next cycle.
  • Private surveillance firm Flock Safety uses municipal contracts, often approved secretly, to build a national license plate reading network accessible to federal agencies.
  • Legal and political scholar K. Sabeel Rahman argues that current challenges require a transformative "Third Reconstruction" approach, not merely restoring the status quo.
  • This discussion outlines the need for aggressive, structural democratic rebuilding to counter the current reactionary project of dismantling state capacity while weaponizing government power.

This segment features investigative reporter Jessica Burbank detailing the quiet municipal adoption of Flock Safety camera systems and the inherent risks of national data sharing. Following this, Professor K. Sabeel Rahman explains why combating current threats necessitates thinking on the scale of the New Deal or Civil Rights Era—a Third Reconstruction—focusing on material empowerment and building durable institutional power through Congress.

Unlock all features

FREE: Get instant access to 10 AI summaries, chats, or transcripts per day.

Description

FUN HALF: https://youtube.com/live/4Nm3iSGFhWw?feature=share Sam and Emma welcome Jessica Burbank, investigative reporter and Contributing writer at Drop Site News on to discuss her work on surveillance company Flock Safety. And later, K. Sabeel Rahman, professor of law at Cornell Law School joins to discuss his piece in Dissent Magazine: The Case for a Third Reconstruction. 12/3/25 Read @DropSiteNews Jessica's report here: https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/flock-public-safety-policing-surveillance-scarsdale-new-york More about K. Sabeel's book: https://dissentmagazine.org/article/the-case-for-a-third-reconstruction/ The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the US Senate or the House of Representatives. Watch/Listen to The Majority Report live Monday–Friday at 12pm EST on YouTube OR via daily podcast at http://www.Majority.fm Today's Sponsors: • JUST COFFEE: Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code MAJORITY for 10% off your purchase! • SHOPIFY: Sign up for a $1/month trial period at https://shopify.com/majority • WILDGRAIN: Get $30 off your first box + free Croissants in every box. Go to https://Wildgrain.com/MAJORITY to start your subscription • ZBIOTICS: Go to https://zbiotics.com/MAJORITY to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use MAJORITY at checkout • NAKED WINES: To get 6 bottles of wine for $39.99, head to https://NakedWines.com/MAJORITY and use code MAJORITY for both the code AND PASSWORD. IM the show and listen live with the free Majority Report App: http://majority.fm/app Subscribe to MR's daily AM Quickie newsletter: https://am-quickie.ghost.io Become a Majority Report member: https://fans.fm/majority/join Find all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ More from the MR crew: Bryan Vokey: https://www.instagram.com/mrbryanvokey Matt Binder DOOMED https://www.youtube.com/MattBinder Brandon Sutton DISCOURSE https://www.youtube.com/@Th3Discourse Emma Vigeland ESVN https://www.youtube.com/ESVNShow Matt Lech LEFT RECKONING https://www.youtube.com/LeftReckoning Our alt YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive

Top Comments (10)

@Andy-ct8be 2025-12-03

HATE seeing the flock cameras all over Atlanta. Unrelated, did you guys know you can dilute paint in a high powered squirt bottle and it will shoot really far?

31
@davidhinkley 2025-12-03

Another former TYT person upped her game like Emma ---- she was the groundbreaker

11 2 replies
@mattvolby9857 2025-12-04

Jessica Burbank on TMR?!?! LFG!!!

10
@erstkommtdasfressen 2025-12-03

Great program, as always. Loved listening to Jessica Burbank. Listened in from capitalistically ravaged Midtown Manhattan.

8
@halcyon_echo42 2025-12-04

Jessica is great! And he is right too, we have to move way further beyond what minor changes that were made in Biden's Administration

6
@Fishbowlkiller006 2025-12-03

The surveillance state is the brainchild of the occupation and the 1%

5
@FullyBakedPotato 2025-12-04

The tiny town of Yakima WA has almost 100 cameras!

3
@JasonWalkerJamaica 2025-12-04

Jessica is amazing, well researched with great analysis always. Keep bringing her on.

2
@lilbug_bigwrld 2025-12-04

also on the flock security issue... Ben Jordan did research that exposed that flock security devices store all pictures they take, including people's faces and that this data is freely avaliable to anyone who can connect to the cameras native wifi

2
@8815snooky 2025-12-05

You guys are just too damn good…!!!! Continue to march !!!

1

Unlock the Data Inside
Turn Videos into Knowledge

  • Get FREE 10/day: transcripts, summaries, chats
  • Chat with videos, export text & PDF
  • $1 free API credit for RAG, chatbots & research

Free forever plan • All features unlocked

App screenshot