AMERICAN POLICE STATE: LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL

NEW YORK: East Village

Most Americans did not experience 9/11 first hand, including New York residents who either did not live in the downtown Wall Street area nor worked near the World Trade Center. Since the WAR ON TERROR began, much of America has been familiarized with the escalation, perversion, twisting and infringement (fallout) upon or against everyday citizens and their rights by what many would argue an “increased police state” in the US. Everyday Americans have become thrown into categories of suspicion as the WAR ON TERROR continues nearly 14 years post Afghanistan. Why? It could be partially due to the merging of tactics from a previous and continuing WAR ON DRUGS. Prior to targeting Mid-Eastern people living in the US, racial profiling was already a widespread practice (War On Drugs). It was and still is a police “norm” to profile. Prior to 2002 profiling did not have any meat on the bone until the government passed new legislation.

We have seen horrific crimes and domestic terrorism in the heart of the USA where the bible beats strongest and white Americans ride around with shotguns in/on their pickup trucks (legally). Besides numerous school shootings one of the most tragic incidents was the destruction of a federal building by Timothy McVeigh, Oklahoma City bomber, (1995) which happened prior to September 11th. Many have argued policies like the previous “stop and frisk“ was just another BIG BROTHER control mechanism (a true terrorist would probably not be exposed during a stop and frisk) to continue profiling whilst suppressing those who challenge the law minimally (let’s face it, carrying a weapon is legal in most states).

What does this mean? Take marijuana as an example, where it is legal in states like Colorado and Washington to smoke in public, only for medical use in New York and totally illegal in a state like Florida. A simple stop and search policy based on profiling might cause someone to be incarcerated or pay a heavy fine in a state, versus it being completely legal in the eyes of the law in another state. The alternative would be to move to or smoke only in a state that allows legal use or comply with regulations set aside for medical use, or totally abstain. A comparable might be the act of driving over the speed limit. Most drivers would admit that they have sped (illegally) beyond the speed limit. If a speed limit is set for 55 but highway patrol doesn’t enforce unless the driver is going beyond 65 (10 mph over), where is the law? Acceptance for one infraction vs. another is often within the power of the police and their “street justice”. This street justice, when once favoring Americans, perhaps being let off with a warning by Officer Friendly has been increasingly turning sour. In 2002 when President Bush signed an act to spy on American Citizens, these measures were introduced:

“The federal government powers that go far beyond those obtained by combining 22 separate security agencies into one. One provision in the bill will allow the federal government to track credit card purchases, medical data, travel, magazine subscriptions, library usage and web and email usage. All this information is to be centralized in a vast new database covering every citizen and visitor. Entitled the ‘Total Information Awareness’ program, it is to be maintained by a new Homeland Security Advance Research Projects Agency (HSARPA). Legislation incorporates other anti-democratic provisions, including the entire text of the Cyber Security Enhancement Act, an Internet spying bill adopted by the House in July but stalled in the Senate. This gives the FBI expanded powers to collect information on web users from Internet Service Providers, and increases the penalties for computer hacking—loosely defined—to up to life imprisonment.”

All of these measures initially were installed and used as tools for the war on terror after September 11th. The problem with these emergency post September 11th measures is that the American Public believed they were to be “temporary” provisions, but they never ceased. The WAR ON TERROR continues to increase and make leaps into the world of drugs, online crimes, sex trade, the list goes on and on… In the news today we see a virtual police state with deaths by law enforcement officers, false arrests, all law enforcement agencies crossing citizens rights and anti-government rallies. One might wonder, where does Homeland Security end and where does Homeland Terrorism begin? Police and anti-terrorism lines have been blurred. One example of the perfect mesh would have been the placement of Ray Kelly, longest serving police commissioner of New York City, to head the Department of Homeland Security. There was speculation of this topic in 2013 but it did not come to fruition. Rumors perhaps, but in Washington there is a little bit of truth in every rumor.

Just a few years back conspiracy theorists were seen as “laughable” or perhaps given token moments for amusement by everyday people, something to stimulate the brain. Now, with the dawn of Julian Assange (WikiLeaks), Kim Dotcom and Edward Snowden, the dissemination of information to the public rapidly via technology is spawning curiosity in every civilian sector. With public executions of Saddam Hussein on Youtube to live killings of animals, every person with a camera phone or video recording device has become a virtual news correspondent and a potential threat to uncovering mischief committed by law enforcement officials. The net has become a unifying tool for exposing corruption, almost underground and often treated like a dirty little secret, showing Americans from coast to coast the unacceptable practices of public servants (paid for by taxes from people and companies) of what lawmakers would consider shocking and illegal. Although police brutality is not an unfamiliar practice amongst African American communities and other minority communities for decades, society has increasingly seen more chaotic acts into the American populace.

National media sources rarely report incidents involving local law enforcement acts of corruption. Individuals are turning more towards the internet on a daily basis to find uncensored media around their community and across the USA. One sort of “on the surface” benefit is the US government apparently stepping back on guarding the internet. When the NSA and CIA have capability to go through personal computers, smart phones, tablets and other devices via cyberspace (provided the battery is not taken out – pretty certain I-Phone batteries can not be taken out) there seems little reason to play referee when they can watch from the stands with anonymity and still go into the locker room and watch them shower at anytime. Interesting and intrusive to say the least. Police as of late have been pushing to arrest individuals recording them whilst on duty, charging them with “reckless endangerment, menacing or obstruction of justice” it’s good to know the facts. (click the link on left)

In addition:

“(2012) The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocking the enforcement of an Illinois eavesdropping law. The broadly written law makes it a felony to make an audio recording of someone without their permission, punishable by four to 15 years in prison. In most states, like NY, only one person needs to consent, so the consent of the person who is recording it is enough to make it legal.

Many states, however, including Illinois, have ‘all-party consent’ law, which means all parties to a conversation must agree to being recorded before recording it can be done. But in all of those states — except for Massachusetts and Illinois — the laws include a provision that the parties being recorded must have a reasonable expectation of privacy for it to be a crime to record them. Since police do not have an expectation of privacy while they are doing their work on the public street, video or audio recording of a police officers would not be banned.”

In this so called “democracy” made of up 50 states, there is still an imbalance of keeping tabs on each other. The government has far more capability and infrastructure to continue to spy on citizens, go through medical records, emails, phone texts, phone conversations, etc. But with the power of online communication demonstrating force by showing never before footage in local communities, people are beginning to speak out and flex their authority by exercising their rights to free speech and justice. With a population of 320 million officially, and total law enforcement officers ranging somewhere around 1 million, it becomes curiously obvious (opinion) as to why there is so much propaganda for gun control. If Americans ever wanted to launch a coup, a fully armed population or even 1/10th of it, might be able to do it with success.

Enjoy the variety of local government intentional incidents against everyday people and remember, it could happen to anyone (and that includes you) as it happened to these people. (CLICK ON IMAGE TO PLAY VIDEO)