The New FBI Powers: Cointelpro on Steroids

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Mr. Whitehead:


As author of Lincoln Uber Alles: Dictatorship Comes to America, I share your views on the death of the Bill of Rights. I try to warn people too, but it's not looking good for the home team, is it? I hope you see something in society right now that I don't.


Kindest regards,


John

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Hello;
I, too, am perplexed, actually saddened to know America has gone the way of the worst grade B movie from the 1950's depicting tyranny in Germany, "your papers, PLEASE!" It is so much worse in America today.


But your solution? Political? Marching in the streets? Sir, America is one of the few countries with citizenry that is armed and able to stop the tyranny face-to-face, one at a time, and with, if necessary, prejudice. Accepting even the current road blocks, man handling of spouses, the very TSA dispicable actions at an airport, on our open roads, done under the guise of WHAT? Terrorism? NOT. It is an assault on the very essence of the individual freedom and rights to: live, travel, prosper and exist.


No, I suggest the time has come to make it personal, again. Now is the time to say NO, openly against such shameful behavior by any and all those guys/gals in uniform that dare to touch, prod or even suggest any course of action.


We must not be afraid of government. Jefferson had it right, THAT is tyranny. there is no 1/2 pregnant; there is only tyranny and true tyranny. Like Colorado, like Florida, if I feel threatrened, with a needle for blood analysis or body search, you touch me, whether in uniform or not, and you will KNOW the consequences.


Having said that, my point to you, as a legal counsel, why have you and your colleagues NOT stood up for the right of the individual to defend themselves, to be treated as the sovereignts they are, versus being the puppets of the FEDERAL power? When did your dignity as individuals get usurped by the titles and offerings of the Washington DC crowd and no longer defend the individual against the obvious intrusiveness of the FEDS, especially after 9/11?


WHAT happened?


I agree with Edwin Vieira, another constitutional lawyer, return money and militia back to the states before the collapse. But more so, take back the individual right to sound money and self protection against kings, DC and now SWAT police, as an individual. Do not allow any man, any woman, to touch you, invade your space in any way while traveling this great country, while walking the streets in your neighborhood. You touch me without my permission and you will suffer the consequences, right then and there.


Now, can you stand tall and say "Enough is enough?"
Can you see the wrong of this political process that has boiled the frog to death? Can you feel it?


America was once the leading country for freedom in the world. It now ranks 9th or 12th on scales of freedom and FALLING each year in surveys conducted annually. WOW. Now that is a crime. TSA is but the tip of the iceberg here, and taking blood samples on the road? Not from me.


And lastly, reiterating the underlying point here, or one of them. How come NOT one legal suit has been filed against TSA or any of these thuggish government groups, cops or any of them, by lawyers associations to defend the rights of America here? WHAT is the problem?!


I strongly suggest it is time to establish Freedom Networks across America where individuals can Twitter others as to any such abuse, anytime, anywhere, to video, take a stand against, whatever they want to do, at that time with any usurper of America liberties, right there, right now. I am not afraid of another Rodney King, I am afraid we will have SWAT/tyranny in America so self evident that, anyone with the eyes to see knows, as most of the world now says openly, the USA has become a rogue police state now know for what it is around the world.


Oh, and given the government now monitors our e-mails, our phones, our presence in the streets, this e-mail will probably be used to ID me as some kind of terrorist by some automaton, even an actual human monitoring such communications, in the countless rooms around the USA, or the underground NSA endless acres of computers outside DC or down South or wherever.


Something went wrong in DC and it has made us into an ever darkening tyranny of injustice. I am very disappointed and do not see a political solution. I see a people wronged and the French Revolution model as eminent.


Personal opinion...


If you made it this far, thanks for reading the felts and thoughts of one who knows tyranny, have seen it around the world and hate that it reared its ugly head here, has nested here and become the mother of all dark entities right before our eyes...
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Freedom always, Family and friends before all
Noël

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funny everything you say I agree with totally

same things that RON PAUL has been saying for years

but who the frick are we?
you think people care they dont
they have their job just over broke
they have their huge tv made in china

and they dont care about anything or anyone
drink my beer watch my tv work my job

and to hell with anything else

we are a slave country and NOTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE
911weknow com

I knew the day it happened it was a inside job
and the american people bough the war on terror
and weapons of mass destruction trama 911
mk ultra mind control of the masses bullshit
hook line and stupidity

Robert

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REMEMBER COINTELPRO GREW OUT OF THE ANTI WAR MOVEMENT AND CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. DID WE ACTUALLY KNOW WHO WAS BEHIND THE ANTI WAR MOVEMENT? FOREIGN POWERS? COMMUNISTS? WHO WOULD GAIN FROM COMMUNISTS TAKING OVER VIETNAM? OR THE CIVIL UNREST – THE RACE RIOTS THAT CONVULSED THE NATION DURING THAT PERIOD IN OUR HISTORY.

J.J.

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Your article "The New FBI Powers: Cointelpro on Steroids" is will written; and fairly presented the civil liberty and Fourth Amendment abuses by the FBI during the COINTELPRO PERIOD. Your article clearly explained why it is problematice the FBI will use its new Powers and intrusive technologies to investigate law-abiding Citizens in a manner, that may expectantly dwarf the FBI's prior COINTELPRO operation. I recall during the Church hearings, targeted anti-Vietnam War activists referred to the FBI as "Frames, Bribery, and Intimidation.
Under your subparagraph titled, "So what's to be done?" you first mentioned that Americans need to get their heads out of the sand and their butts off the couches and act like real Americans for a change, e.g., take to the streets and protest the deplorable state of our nation; and Second, that once Americans have Congress' attention, push for legislation to mitigate FBI Fourth Amendment and other abuses, especially no warrant searches of Citizens and property. While I totally agree passing legislation is necessary to protect law-abiding Americans from intrusive FBI investigation Fishing abuses not limited to warrant-less wiretapping, reading private mail, sneak & peak searches of one's home and office and Citizen spying, I believe passing legislation is not possible when the government constantly perpetuates fear of terrorism while concurrently stating the "The War Against Terrorism" is a war that will never end. And if that doesn't keep the encroaching police state on Steroids, the U.S. Government has already demonstrated, perhaps coincidently, it can inspire homegrown terrorists to act prior to anti-FBI, NSA or CIA legislation coming up for a vote in congress.
You may recall Republican Senator Hatch failed to get passed The Crime Control Act of 1993 three months before the first bombing of the NY Trade Center before terrorism was a problem in America. U.S. Citizens right and left protested successfully stopped the Hatch bill "S8" despite the first Trade Center bombing. Rep. Hatch' legislation S8 attempted to add: Section 3509 Admissibility of Evidence Obtained By Search or Seizure (a) Evidence Obtained By Objectively Reasonable Search or Seizure (b) Evidence Not Excludable By Statute or Rule:" That provision would have laid the groundwork for Government/police to conduct illegal searches of Americans, their homes and offices with little or no probable cause as follows: Government need only assert that "a search and seizure was carried out in circumstances justifying an objectively reasonable belief that it was in conformity with the Fourth Amendment." Had the Hatch bill passed it would have opened the door for government/police to conduct mass civil asset forfeiture using (illegally obtained evidence) because police would only have to assert, "A search and seizure was carried out in circumstances justifying an objectively reasonable belief that it was in conformity with the Fourth Amendment."

It should be noted in 2010, the GOP proposed a new "Contract With America" that would "make it much easier" for police to succeed with false arrests allowing illegally seized evidence into courts.

Thanks to former Rep. Henry Hyde, Chicago, Ill there were over 200 U.S. laws and violations included in his Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 that allow the U.S. Government and local police to civilly forfeit property from Citizens without a conviction; those forfeiture provisions just months later, were included in the Patriot Act. Under federal civil asset forfeiture laws, a person or business need not be charged with a crime for government to forfeit their property. US private contractors since 2001, now work so closely with the U.S. Justice Dept. and local police, exchanging information to arrest Americans and or to share in forfeited assets, private government contractors appear to have merged with police, similar to Hitler's private Gestapo with the German police, spying on, arresting and confiscating Citizen's property. When former Rep. Henry Hyde's bill HR 1658 passed, the "Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000" effectively eliminated the "statue of limitations" for Government Civil Asset Forfeiture. The statute now runs five years from when police allege they "learned" that an asset became subject to forfeiture. Obviously if Congress in 2012 or after approves the GOP's (proposal to admit illegally seized evidence into court) that abuse together with Rep. Hyde's passed HR 1658 asset forfeiture bill that requires only "A preponderance of Evidence", will allow police and government contractors to utilize government warrant-less wiretaps, searches of Citizens' Internet activity, ground and email and other warrant-less sources to forfeit Citizens' homes, businesses and other assets.

Most property and business owners that defend their assets against Government Civil Forfeiture claim an "innocent owner defense." This defense can become a criminal prosecution trap for both guilty and innocent property owners. Any fresh denial of guilt to the government when questioned about committing a crime "even when you did not do it" may "involuntarily waive" your right to assert in your defense-the "Criminal Statute of Limitations" past for prosecution: immediately assert your right to first have an attorney present before answering a single question-any fresh denial of guild, even 30 years after a crime was committed may allow Government prosecutors to use old and new evidence, including information discovered during a Civil Asset Forfeiture Proceeding to launch a criminal prosecution. For that reason many innocent property and business owners are reluctant to defend their property and businesses against Government Civil Asset Forfeiture. Additionally providing a federal agent a wrong or misleading answer to a question can subject you to imprisonment under USC sec. 1001, Internet search James Brogan V. United States. N0.96-1579. Also see in that decision Justice Ginsburg opinion on involuntarily waving your right to assert in your defense-the "Criminal Statute of Limitations" past for prosecution.

No doubt government is sitting on a ton of illegally obtained evidence. The GOP's proposal to allow government to use illegally seized evidence against Citizens could be used to selectively target citizens in a flood of prosecutions and forfeitures. One can envision police and government contractors drooling over the prospect the GOP might succeed getting Congress to pass legislation allowing prosecutors to use illegally obtained evidence resulting from false arrests: only a mere preponderance of evidence, little more than hearsay gleaned from no warrant searches and false arrests, could be introduced in civil asset forfeiture proceedings to seize Citizens' assets.

The U.S. Supreme Court increasingly is leaning toward allowing police to use in prosecutions illegally seized evidence, if it was obtained by police "allegedly making an honest mistake" which appears to mirror "Section 3509 Admissibility of Evidence Obtained By Search or Seizure" introduced in Rep. Hatch' Crime Control Act of 1993.

Ross