DHS

How a Department of Homeland Security Fusion Center in Texas Targeted Animal Rights Activists

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Last September, a Facebook event caught the eye of a counterrorism specialist within the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The email was among those released by the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) last month. This same release revealed that ARIC took stock of potential anti-circus demonstrators in 2012.

Given the overall tame tenor, it’s unclear how such a post came across a counterterrorism specialist’s desk, or why it merited sharing. 

The privacy policy for ARIC similarly limits collection of information on individuals and organizations. Collected information must relate to terrorism, criminal activism or a threat to public safety.

– Fromt the Muckrock article: Vegan Potlucks, Anime Screenings on the Counterterrorism Unit’s Calendar

In the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, the American public morphed into a collective of spineless jellyfish and basically let Congress and the intelligence agencies to do whatever they wanted in order to “protect them.” Never mind that convincing a naive and fearful populace to hand over authoritarian powers to the government has been the playbook of tyrants for millennia, it still worked brilliantly on the dumbed down American public.

One of the most hideous creations to emerge from the post 9/11 societal lapse in sanity was the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As far as I can tell, this organization has done nothing but harass and threaten ordinary Americans for completely normal activities. Let’s revisit a few examples from the DHS highlight reel:

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Caught on Hot Mic – Janet Napolitano Says “We Don’t Have to Listen to This Crap” Referring to Student Protest

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Screen Shot 2015-03-19 at 2.11.43 PMBefore I get to the meat of this post, let me provide a little background. Late last year, I covered how the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, was pushing through a 28% tuition hike within the University of California system so that administrators can get huge pay raises. Naturally, students weren’t all that pleased and decided to get creative with their protesting. Big Sis didn’t like this one bit.

What’s amusing is that in a prepared statement she noted:

“They want to be sure that their voices are being heard and I want to commit to them that their voices are being heard.”

Sounds reasonable; however, she quickly lost her patience and was heard on a hot mic saying:

“Let’s just break. Let’s go, let’s go. We don’t have to listen to this crap.”

Let’s just say this isn’t going to help improve her relationship with the student body. CBS reports:

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Why They Spy – Cory Doctorow Writes about IT-Powered Feudalism

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Screen Shot 2015-03-10 at 2.38.00 PMThe amount a state needs to expend on guard labour is a function of how much legitimacy the state holds in its population’s reckoning. A state whose population mainly views the system as fair needs to do less coercion to attain stability. People who believe that they are well-served by the status quo will not work to upset it. States whose populations view the system as illegitimate need to spend more on guard labour.

Why spy? Because it’s cheaper than playing fair. Our networks have given the edge to the elites, and unless we seize the means of information, we are headed for a long age of IT-powered feudalism, where property is the exclusive domain of the super-rich, where your surveillance-supercharged Internet of Things treats you as a tenant-farmer of your life, subject to a licence agreement instead of a constitution.

From Cory Doctorow’s Guardian article: Technology Should Be Used to Create Social Mobility – Not to Spy on Citizens

At this point, only the most clueless and gullible amongst us thinks that government surveillance has anything to do with stopping terrorism. Nevertheless, it remains as important as ever to explain to people the true reason behind the elimination of the 4th Amendment. Namely, protecting the oligarchy from restless plebs.

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License Plate Readers Stir Controversy in California as the NYPD Prepares to Use Drones

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One of the many civil liberties related themes I have focused on over the past several years has to do with how emerging technologies can pose a threat, first to our basic 4th Amendment rights, and then ultimately to freedom itself. Two of the most high profile technologies in this regard, and which have extremely high potential for abuse, are license plate readers and drones.

I’m no luddite saying that these technologies should be banned. In fact, I can certainly see reasonable uses for both within a broad range of society. However, I am saying that unless we have an engaged citizenry holding public officials’ feet to the fire, these technologies will certainly be abused and before you know it you’ll find yourself in Room 101 staring down at a ravenous rat army wishing you had said something earlier.

The biggest challenge we face is that the general public has become so dumbed down, distracted and confused when it comes to the most existential issues we face as a society. Rather than focusing on key issues that really matter, the mainstream media largely blows up and obsesses over immaterial, yet emotionally charged events that don’t mean anything in the larger scheme of things.

License plate readers and drones are two great examples of this dilemma. Both have been advancing into our lives in an increasing manner and most people don’t have the slightest clue. How can people have informed opinions on such keys issues when they have no idea what is happening around them.

Let’s start with the license plate scanners. Before reading further, I suggest going back and checking out my post from earlier this year: How the Repo Industry is Collecting Data on Virtually Every Car in America.

Now that you are sufficiently disturbed about the extent to which your privacy is being violated day in and day out, let’s focus on some good news. The fact that there is now a bill in the California state legislature that will attempt to put some boundaries around this technology.

We learn from CBS News that:

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The Department of Agriculture Launches Proposal to Purchase Submachine Guns

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The following solicitation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture almost defies belief. We’ve seen this type of bizarre behavior before, but it has mostly originated from the American Gestapo, aka the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I highlighted this trend early last year in my post: Department of Homeland Security to Purchase 7,000 “Assault Weapons”. Here’s … Read more

Department of Homeland Security Moves to Install National License Plate Tracking System

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Earlier today, I highlighted a program planned by the FCC named the Critical Information Needs study, which will embed “government researchers” into media organizations in order to make sure they are doing their job properly. This insane anti-free press measure is extraordinarily disturbing and now we find out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has plans to outsource the creation of a gigantic, comprehensive nationwide license plate database to a private corporation.

The status quo is now overtly doubling down on surveillance in the wake of the Snowden revelations rather than reigning them in. Game is on folks. Things are getting very serious.

From the Washington Post:

The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place.

The national license-plate recognition database, which would draw data from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, according to a DHS solicitation. But the database could easily contain more than 1 billion records and could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, raising concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens who are under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.

It’s for the children! How can you object to saving the children!

“It is important to note that this database would be run by a commercial enterprise, and the data would be collected and stored by the commercial enterprise, not the government,” she said.

Yeah, because that makes me feel so much better…

But civil liberties groups are not assuaged. “Ultimately, you’re creating a national database of location information,” said Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “When all that data is compiled and aggregated, you can track somebody as they’re going through their life.”

The agency said the length of time the data is retained would be up to the winning vendor.Vigilant Solutions, for instance, one of the leading providers of tag-reader data, keeps its records indefinitely.

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Video of the Day: The Police State Arrives in Syracuse

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In the off chance that you still think you are a free human being as opposed to a pig in a pen, look no further than what the TSA has just installed at the Syracuse airport. Apparently, it is no longer good enough to be screened as you enter the airport via either a naked … Read more

What Happens in Vegas, Doesn’t Stay in Vegas – New Street Lights Can Record Audio and Video

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The Intellistreets system has finally come to the corridors of Las Vegas. So what is Intellistreets? On its website, the system is described as “the only wireless information and control network for sustainability, security and entertainment.” Even more amusing, the company that owns the Intellistreets system is rather appropriately called Illuminating Concepts. The best part is … Read more

Why I Will Never, Ever, Go Back to the United States by Niels Gerson Lohman

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I have been cursed at a Chinese border. In Dubai, my passport was studied by three veiled women for over an hour and my suitcase completely dismembered. In the Philippines I had to bribe someone in order to get my visa extended for a few days. Borders, they can be tough, especially in countries known for corruption.

But never, ever, will I return to the United States of America.

– Excerpt from a must read article by Niels Gerson Lohman

Recently, one of my best friends from college had a horrific experience at the Canadian border. He told me he would write about his experience and allow me to post it on this site, so I hope to have that up in the near future. In the meantime, please take the time to read the story of Niels Gerson Lohman, a Dutch writer, designer and musician who had such a horrific experience at the border he has vowed to never return to these United States. This is an utter embarrassment and reminds me a lot of one of the more popular posts ever on this site:  Why I’m Leaving America by Michael Fielding.

From the Huffington Post:

After a year of traveling, I had planned a last, short trip. I was going to take the train from Montreal to New Orleans. The travels I had been undertaking earlier this year had brought me to places that were meant to form the background of my second novel.

This trip, however, was for my dad. He, a trumpet player, loved New Orleans and had died a year ago. It felt like the first sensible trip I undertook this year. I had been searching for ways to forget about the last hours at his deathbed. He had been ill for 15 years and his body just would not give up. It was a violent sight. I had decided the trip to New Orleans would put an end to those memories.

The customs officer walked by and asked everybody on the train a few questions. Where they were from, where they were heading. The usual stuff. Everybody who was not a U.S. or Canadian citizen was to head for the dining car to fill in an additional green form.

I had not finished my novel yet, but my passport was complete. It was filled with pretty stamps. He did not like the stamps.

First, he saw my Sri Lankan stamp. The customs officer raised his eyebrows.

“Sri Lanka, what were you doing over there?”

“Surfing. Traveling. My best friend lives there. He is an architect.”

The officer flipped on, seemingly satisfied. Secondly, he found my stamps from Singapore and Malaysia.

“What were you doing over there? Singapore and Malaysia? Aren’t those countries Islamic?”

Looking over my shoulder, his eyes searched for his colleague’s confirmation.

“Malaysia, I think so, yeah. But not Singapore. It’s a melting pot. A very futuristic city. Airconditioned to the ceiling. To Singapore I went mostly for the food, to be honest.”

“Sure.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Nothing. And how about Malaysia?”

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TSA Air Marshal Arrested for Taking Photos Up Passengers’ Skirts

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Let’s look at the latest scorecard in the so-called “war on terror.” We recently discovered that contrary to earlier estimates of 54 thwarted terror attacks, the NSA has actually only stopped “one or perhaps two” attacks. Furthermore, while it somehow couldn’t prevent the Boston attack, the FBI had no qualms with assassinating a friend of one of the suspects under highly suspicious circumstances. A bizarre situation to which we still have no answers.

It’s not just the NSA though. The kind folks at the TSA, you know the people who pat you down at the airport, apparently have a pervert employee problem (shocker). Specifically, a federal air marshal was arrested today in Nashville for taking photos up women’s skirts. While on duty.

From WKRN-TV in Nashville:

A federal air marshal was arrested on Thursday after he allegedly took cell phone photographs up passengers’ skirts.

According to a police affidavit, a witness grabbed Adam Bartsch’s cell phone after seeing him take the inappropriate photos and notified a flight attendant. 

Bartsch, who was on duty at the time, was removed from Southwest flight number 3132 and taken into police custody after admitting to taking 10 to 12 pictures underneath women’s skirts. 

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