Une approche critique du projet de nouvel ordre mondial que certaines institutions supra nationales et think tanks tentent de mener à bien sous prétexte de santé publique et de lutte contre le terrorisme ou le réchauffement climatique.
Previously released Federal documents show that the Department of Homeland Security is actively moving to install radiation firing naked body scanners in all manner of public places, beyond the nation’s airports. However, the agency is refusing to release further details on the program.
Privacy watchdog EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) filed a lawsuit this week against the Department of Homeland Security for attempting to keep the program secret.
EPIC’s suit asks a federal court to order disclosure of nearly 1,000 pages of additional records detailing the controversial program – records the agency has repeatedly refused to make public, despite freedom of information requests and appeals over the last seven months.
The lawsuit points to an agency under the DHS umbrella, the Science and Technology Directorate, which has released only 15 full pages of documents on the mobile scanners, whilst heavily redacting another 158 pages and withholding 983 pages of documents.
In February, EPIC discovered (PDF) that the DHS had paid contractors “millions of dollars on mobile body scanner technology that could be used at railways, stadiums, and elsewhere” on crowds of moving people.
According to the documents obtained by EPIC, the Transport Security Agency plans to expand the use of these systems to peer under clothes and inside bags away from airports.
The documents include a“Surface Transportation Security Priority Assessment” [PDF] which revealed details of conducting risk assessments and possible implementation of body scanners in “Mass transit, commuter and long-distance passenger rail, freight rail, commercial vehicles (including intercity buses), and pipelines, and related infrastructure (including roads and highways), that are within the territory of the United States.”
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The DHS maintains that it has discontinued the program, but has yet to provide the proof.
EPIC also notes that the DHS has actively deployed “mobile body scanner technology in vans that are able to scan other vehicles while driving down public roadways.”
“These vans, known as ‘Z Backscatter Vans,’ are capable of seeing through vehicles and clothing and routinely store the images that they generate.” EPIC’s lawsuit notes.
As we reported last year, while the focus remained on the TSA’s use of naked body scanners at airports, the feds had already purchased hundreds of x-ray scanners mounted in vans that were being used to randomly scan vehicles, passengers and homes in complete violation of the 4th amendment and with wanton disregard for any health consequences.
WSBTV reported on once instance of the mobile scanners being used to check trucks for explosive devices at an internal checkpoint set up by Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, and the TSA. Officials admitted there was no specific threat that justified the checkpoint, and although it was labeled a “counter-terror operation,” the scans were also being conducted in the name of “safety”.
As Texas attempts to fight back against TSA airport tyranny, many travelers are unaware of the fact that the TSA and Big Sis are now roaming neighborhoods and highways with the same invasive technology.
EPIC hopes to fully bring this information into the public domain and should be commended for doing so.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
Following an admission of guilt in federal court earlier this week from a TSA supervisor, two more TSA agents based at a completely different airport have been arrested for stealing thousands of dollars in cash from the luggage of travelers, while another was arrested and fired for seriously assaulting a co-worker in a dispute over a parking space.
Two TSA workers, identified as Persad Coumar and Davon Webb, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of having stolen around $40,000 in cash from a bag that was checked through a security line at John F. Kennedy Airport, reports CNN and Reuters.
The agents discovered the money while viewing the bag inside an x-ray machine, according to the reports. The bag was said to have contained $170,000 in cash, the origin of which is now being investigated.
After a colleague reported the incident, the $40,000 was recovered from the homes of Coumar and Web who will now face up to seven years in prison on charges of third-degree grand larceny, fifth-degree conspiracy, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property and official misconduct, according to the district attorney’s office.
The two workers are also suspected of having previously stolen valuables from luggage worth up to $160,000, according to police with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The TSA admits that in the last three years alone there have been 12 similar cases of thefts involving the removal of valuables and/or cash from baggage. These are just the ones that have been reported.
The latest case comes just days after a TSA supervisor at the ironically titled Newark Liberty Airport pleaded guilty in a federal court to multiple counts of theft, as well as admitting to taking bribes and kickbacks from another TSA worker to “look the other way”, while the agent he was supervising stole more money from travelers.
Michael Arato faces a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for stealing up to $700 per day from passengers for eight years.
Arato also allowed another worker to steal up to $30,000 in cash from traveller’s bags over a 13-month period, pocketing a share of the ill gotten gains himself. The court heard that the pair specifically targeted foreign travelers, mostly Indian women, who could not speak English and discussed how they should not feel bad about stealing from them because they were leaving the U.S. with “our money”.
Meanwhile in another completely separate case, Indianapolis TSA employee Michael Merriman was arrested on a battery charge for allegedly repeatedly punching another airport worker after he pulled into a parking space in front of Merriman.
Brian Hale told police that Merriman approached the driver’s side door of his car, shook an angry fist at him and said, “You’ll never do that to me again”, before striking Hale.
“Mr. Hale was put in a headlock and punched approximately six times in the face,” the police report read. “Mr. Hale was able to press the panic button on his car’s remote key fob, which he feels caused Mr. Merriman to stop the attack and run back to his truck.”
The incident was verified by another airport employee and Merriman has now been fired by the TSA.
“TSA is aware of the incident but does not tolerate violence by our employees” said Jonella Culmer in a written statement. “The individual involved is no longer employed by the agency.”
Of course it is no surprise to hear of another TSA worker slipping over the edge in this manner.
Some TSA workers are clearly taking the ego power trip they get from pushing around members of the public beyond their security lines and out into the wider world.
These are just the latest example in a long history of cases indicating that TSA workers are prone to criminal behavior. They are certainly not isolated incidents.
TSA agents are also prone to predatory crimes, particularly targeting women and children, emphasizing once again why they are attracted to jobs that allow them to sexually molest and ogle vulnerable members of society.
“A TSA employee based at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport tried to kill himself after allegedly abducting a woman, sexually assaulting her then giving her a suicide note to deliver,”reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last November.
49-year-old Randall Scott King kidnapped the woman after she had accompanied him from the airport. Whether or not King abused his power as a TSA officer to make the woman accompany him is still being investigated by police. Further investigation by WTSB-TV revealed that King had previously spent time in jail for stalking and harassment.
Back in March it emergedthat TSA worker Sean Shanahan, who was employed at Boston Logan International Airport to pat down passengers, had been charged with multiple child sex crimes targeting an underage girl.
Similarly, 57-year-old Charles Henry Bennett, who worked at Orlando International Airport as a TSA screener, was arrested in connection with the molestation of a 6-year-old girl whom he planned to make his “sex slave”.
In December, yet another TSA worker, Andrew Cheever, was exposed as a pedophile when more than 10,000 child porn videos and images were discovered on his computer.
Stories about TSA officials and other airport security workers abusing the use of naked body scanners have also become commonplace.
44-year-old Rolando Negrin beat his supervisor with a police baton after he had cracked jokes about Negrin’s small manhood when he walked through a naked scanner as part of a training exercise at Miami International Airport. The story underscored the fact that authorities had been lying all along about the claim that the scanners did not show sensitive details of genitalia.
Indian film star Shahrukh Khan told a BBC talk show that naked images of his body from the scanner were printed out and circulated by airport staff at Heathrow in London. Heathrow denied the claim but Khan himself never retracted the story, and had no apparent motive for making it up.
Heathrow authorities were unable to deny a later example of the scanners being abused, when it emerged that a Heathrow worker had perved over a naked image of a female colleagueafter she passed through one of the devices, before commenting, “I love those gigantic tits”.
Jo Margetson, 29, reported John Laker, 25, to the police after she had entered the x-ray machine by mistake and Laker took the image before making lewd comments.
In addition to the gross violation of privacy that comes with the machines, such incidents have prompted lawmakers to introduce legislation that would see misuse of body scanner images punishable by prison sentences and/or $100, 000 fines.
Airport security staff workers are among the least trustworthy people to operate these machines. Such individuals are routinely caught abusing their authority for their own ego trip or sexual perversion.
The fact that the most deviant, perverted, megalomaniacal and criminally-minded dregs of society are attracted to TSA pat down jobs tells you everything you need to know about the nature of the Transportation Security Administration and how its role has nothing to do with preventing terrorism and everything to do with ritualizing the degradation and humiliation of the American people.
In addition, the fact that scores of TSA workers have now been caught stealing huge amounts of cash and valuables from passengers also underscores how armies of degenerates are being employed by the federal government and given the authority to push around and dominate members of the public going about their daily business.
The TSA has repeatedly claimed that the “disgraceful” actions of some of it’s workers should not reflect on some 50,000 employees, yet that is difficult to swallow, given the sheer number of incidents involving TSA workers that are being reported every day.
The ACLU recently reported that it was receiving record high volumes of complaints from members of the public concerning the actions of TSA workers, with some ready to pursue criminal charges.
States and local authorities across the country need to follow the example of New Jersey and introduce legislation immediately to kick the TSA out of airports and replace them with private security who are professionally trained and who are actually interested in stopping terrorists rather than stealing people’s belongings and exercising their sexual deviancy through groping children and ogling naked body scanner images. Of course, the TSA has made it clear that it will not go quietly, if this becomes more commonplace.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
Paul Joseph Watson, editor of Prisonplanet.com, contributed research to this article.
Two days after proposals to extend provisions of the draconian PATRIOT Act failed to attract a super majority in a fast track vote, another vote in the House of representatives has cleared the way for the smooth passage of the legislation.
Last night’s vote put in to place a new rule that will allow the legislation to be passed by just a simple majority. It is expected that the House will vote again on the legislation next week, and that it will easily pass.
Earlier in the week, House Republicans had attempted to suspend House rules and pass the extension with limited debate and no amendments. That fell 7 votes short because a 2/3rds majority was required.
Last night’s ballot saw 248 vote in favour of allowing the extension to proceed, while 176 voted against.
Just four Republicans, including Congressman Ron Paul, voted against the extension. On Tuesday 26 Republicans had voted against. The other three Republican nays were Chris Gibson (N.Y.), Raul Labrador (Idaho) and Tom McClintock (Calif.).
Several representatives who ran on a Tea Party platform of restoring civil liberties also voted in favour of the legislation, following a lecture by Homeland Security Head Janet Napolitano, who told the congressional oversight panel that the nation faces a “heightened” terror threat, the like of which has not been seen since 9/11.
Meanwhile, 172 Democrats voted against proceeding Thursday, up from the 148 who voted against the measure on Tuesday.
Excluding the 15 who voted for the extension, Democrats protested the Republican attempt to hold the vote under the “closed rule”. Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-Texas) said Republicans were practicing “unique trickery” by calling the bill back for a second vote.
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“We have a right to have a voice and that voice has already been expressed,” said Lee. “What more needs to be said?”
The PATRIOT Act, which was rushed into law in the days following 9/11, gives law enforcement agencies vast new powers to deal with so called terrorist threats.
Certain provisions within the legislation are set to expire on Feb. 28 if Congress does not act to extend them.
One of the expiring provisions in question is the so-called “lone wolf” provision, enacted in 2004, which allows for the electronic monitoring of an individual without the government having to prove that the case has any relation whatsoever to terrorism or a foreign power. This is in effect a carte blanche for the government to use every method at their disposal to spy on any American citizen they choose.
Another of the provisions gives the government access to business, library and medical records, with the authorities generally having to prove that the investigation is terrorism related. However, since according to Homeland Security guidelines the new breed of terrorist is classified as someone who supports a third party, puts a political bumper sticker on their car, is part of the alternative media, or merely someone who disagrees with the authorities’ official version of events on any given issue, the scope for the government to use this power against their political adversaries is wide open.
The third provision in question allows a FISA court to grant “roving wiretaps” without the government having to even identify their target. This is another carte blanche power that gives the state the license to monitor telephone calls, e mails and any other form of electronic communication.
When the legislation was originally signed into law, it contained “sunset” provisions, written in to gradually phase out some of these more extreme measures. However, the sunsets have been consistently extended.
Obama will push the Senate to extend the PATRIOT Act provisions for another three years, even more than House Republicans who want to see the provisions extended until Dec. 8.
This shouldn’t come as any surprise, however, given that Obama voted for the PATRIOT Act renewal in 2008 when he was an Illinois Senator, while also lending support for immunizing the nation’s telecommunications companies from lawsuits charging them with being complicit in the Bush administration’s wiretapping program. Indeed, Obama has even moved to effectively legalize and expand the wiretapping initiative.
Senate Democrats are set to fast track the companion legislation (S. 149) to the House bill, as they seek to bypass the committee process and push the bill straight to the floor.
Libertarian Senator Rand Paul has vowed to ferociously oppose such efforts in the Senate:
“…the House will pass these extensions and send the PATRIOT Act renewal to the Senate. And when they do, I will oppose it,” a statement issued by Paul this week reads.
“I do not say that lightly. I firmly believe it is a primary duty of our government to do what it can to protect the lives of its citizens. But I also believe it must in equal measure protect our liberty, and in this our government has failed us. We should remember the words of Ben Franklin, who famously said ‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’”
“It is time for Congress to stop quietly extending this law and avoiding a serious discussion about protecting all the rights of all Americans. I will insist the Senate allow debate and amendments as we consider this important legislation,” he concludes.
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
Steve Watson & Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com February 10, 2011
Defeat for the proposed extension of the so called PATRIOT Act in the House Tuesday night made national headlines, yet the extension is set to pass by the end of the week anyway as it is brought back to the floor for another vote. But just in case anyone in Congress reaches the sudden epiphany that they are effectively voting on the Enabling Act, Big Sis Janet Napolitano has officially notified a congressional panel that the US faces the greatest possibility of a major terror attack since 9/11.
House Republicans wanted to extend three of the PATRIOT Act’s most draconian provisions by a further year. For anyone who values the Constitution and freedom per se, that was bad enough, yet Obama went one better, stunning many in the House by suggesting that the legislation be extended for another THREE years.
A prepared statement issued Tuesday afternoon stated that Obama “would strongly prefer enactment of reauthorizing legislation that would extend these authorities until December 2013.”
Republicans attempted to fast track the extension using an expedited procedure that allowed for just a 40 minute debate and no amendments. However, this failed to pass as under such rules a 2/3rds super majority is required.
Even so, the extension fell short by just 7 votes, making it extremely likely that the bill will pass when it is brought back the floor either today or tomorrow. Under standard rules, only a simple majority will be needed for the extension to pass.
The ACLU describes the three provisions that would be extended under the bill:
Section 215 of the Patriot Act authorizes the government to obtain “any tangible thing” relevant to a terrorism investigation, even if there is no showing that the “thing” pertains to suspected terrorists or terrorist activities. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure, which require the government to show reasonable suspicion or probable cause before undertaking an investigation that infringes upon a person’s privacy. Congress must ensure that things collected with this power have a meaningful nexus to suspected terrorist activity or it should be allowed to expire.
Section 206 of the Patriot Act, also known as “roving John Doe wiretap” provision, permits the government to obtain intelligence surveillance orders that identify neither the person nor the facility to be tapped. This provision is contrary to traditional notions of search and seizure, which require government to state with particularity what it seeks to search or seize. Section 206 should be amended to mirror similar and longstanding criminal laws that permit roving wiretaps, but require the naming of a specific target. Otherwise, it should expire.
Section 6001 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, or the so-called “Lone Wolf” provision, permits secret intelligence surveillance of non-US persons who are not affiliated with a foreign organization. Such an authorization, granted only in secret courts is subject to abuse and threatens our longtime understandings of the limits of the government’s investigatory powers within the borders of the United States. This provision has never been used and should be allowed to expire outright.
In addition, Senate Democrats are set to fast track the companion legislation (S. 149) to the House bill, as they seek to bypass the committee process and push the bill straight to the floor.
Unless the likes of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich can attract scores of their peers to change their votes and defect from the party agenda, then the passage of the legislation is assured.
Also noteworthy is the fact that several representatives who ran on a Tea Party platform actually voted FOR the extension to the PATRIOT Act yesterday. Slate’s Dave Weigel notes that high profile Tea Partyers like Michele Bachmann, Kristi Noem, and Allen West all voted for the extension. “I break this out because there’ll be a temptation to say ‘the Tea Party and its isolationist elements beat the reauthorization,’ and that’s not quite it,” he writes.
In addition, Ryan Hecker, a Houston lawyer and tea-party organizer, told the Wall Street Journal he believes the act has helped curb terrorism and “the movement should remain agnostic.”
This once again highlights the fact that the Tea Party has been almost entirely co-opted by the establishment GOP. It is now a bloated unrecognizable shadow of the Libertarian grassroots movement that was founded on the need to expel such freedom destroying legislation for good.
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Tea Party or no Tea Party, Republicans and Democrats alike are working in tandem to destroy what is left of the Constitution.
One reason bipartisan support for reauthorization has grown, according to the Journal, is the perceived threat of homegrown terrorism, seen in the absurd Times Square firecracker and underwear non-bombings last year. Both questionable non-events and other over hyped and completely manufactured threats have led directly to programs such as the “See Something, Say Something” campaign- a literal citizen spy operation overseen by the DHS.
It seems that Big Sis is on the march again, this time to ensure that the PATRIOT Act gets extended.
AFP reports that Janet Napolitano has directly told the congressional Security Committee that the United States is facing “heightened” threats of attacks from extremists. “And in some ways, the threat today may be at its most heightened state since the attacks nearly 10 years ago.” Napolitano is quoted as saying.
She noted that there is “an increased emphasis on recruiting Americans and Westerners to carry out small scale attacks.”
Booga booga, better re-authorize the power to let the federal government keep a track of exactly what library books everyday Americans are checking out. You wouldn’t want to be the elected representative who tips the scales to allow another 9/11 now would you?
We have previously documented how such terror threats have been routinely hyped purely for political purposes.
Never forget that the media and the government have been totally discredited over and over again by their complicity in issuing phony terror alertsdesigned to manipulate elections and frighten the public into slavish acquiescence.
Just as former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge admitted that DHS would issue fake terror alerts shortly before elections in a bid to influence the outcome during the Bush era, the Obama administration is mimicking the same tactic.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.
Even as Christina Aguilera butchered the words to the American national anthem before the start of last night’s Super Bowl, the hard-fought freedoms recognized in that song were being eviscerated as hired goons conducted 4th Amendment busting pat downs on people entering the stadium.
But if you think that was too invasive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. As part of Homeland Security’s complete takeover of society, at future Super Bowls, TSA agents will get to interrogate you at special checkpoints which will use “physiological” and “behavioral” tests to determine if you’re a terrorist or a criminal.
“Everyone entering the stadium must pass through a magnetometer, such as those used at airports, and get a pat down as part of the screening process. The majority of fans will enter through checkpoints on the east side of Cowboys Stadium,” reported the Dallas Star-Telegram on Friday.
Big Sis seized upon the spectacle of the Super Bowl to saturate the public with the inherently fascist public-private partnership which has given birth to the “See Something, Say Something” monstrosity, the citizen snitch program that has wiped away any doubt that America is now a rotting banana republic.
But this only marks the beginning of the role DHS sees itself in assuming as part of its occupation of the country.
Homeland Security is also developing technology to be used at “security events” which purports to monitor “malintent” on behalf of an individual who passes through a checkpoint. The video below explains how “Future Attribute Screening Technology” (FAST) checkpoints will conduct “physiological” and “behavioral” tests in order to weed out suspected terrorists and criminals.
The clip shows individuals who attend “security events” being led into trailers before they are interrogated as to whether they are terrorists while lie detector-style computer programs analyze their physiological responses. The subjects are asked about their whereabouts, and if they are attempting to smuggle bombs or recording devices into the “expo,” proving that the technology is intended to be used at public events and not just airports. Individuals who do not satisfy the first lie detector-style test are then asked “additional questions”.
In the coming years, staying away from airports won’t be enough to avoid a run-in with TSA goons. Homeland Security has embarked on a massive gestapo-like occupation of America where “security” checkpoints will litter highways and roads, transport hubs, as well as public events and anywhere crowds gather.
This in turn will be reinforced by an army of citizen tattle tales being trained to be the eyes of the state under the See Something, Say Something campaign, which was heavily promoted ahead of the Super Bowl.
Homeland Security has already announced that TSA agents and VIPR teams will be expanding their mobile radiation-scanning checkpoints from rest stops to highways and roads in general, as Big Sis accelerates Soviet-style levels of control over the population.
Only by standing up in unison and sending a forceful and clear message that they will resist the DHS occupation of the country can Americans hope to continue to live in a nation that does not come to be characterized as a decaying militarized police state littered with internal checkpoints manned by state jackboots demanding to see their papers, radiation-scan their bodies and conduct “behavioral tests” to prove they are well-behaved slaves.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show. Watson has been interviewed by many publications and radio shows, including Vanity Fair and Coast to Coast AM, America’s most listened to late night talk show.
