In LA, there is a Special Order 1 (previously Special Order 11) making LAPD a tentacle of DHS. I've seen the Lt. who is responsible for it at one LAPD attack upon a peaceful Occupy action, where they brought a less-lethal shotgun to our chili-eating party. iWatch says "see something, say something (to police so they can funnel it up through fusion centers to DHS).
http://lapdonline.org/iwatchla
(Which does not mention that under this program, LAPD work for the DHS. They DO say that it's okay to turn in individuals due to their "behavior":
"Remember that the iWATCH program is about behaviors and activities, not individuals."
You are turning people over to the federal government for suspected terrorist activities. No wait, you're turning over behaviors and activities, not individuals. Remember the sign in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" which said, "Don't suspect your neighbor, turn him in!" We're there.)
However, this is strictly a DHS initiative:
http://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/47770
"Los Angeles: At a news conference this morning, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and others gathered at the Port of Los Angeles, the nation's largest port, where they announced increased new training and security measures and the official launch of the combined national and local community terrorism reporting program If You See Something, Say Something™ go to iWATCHLA.org."
Yesterday on a city bus I saw one of the iWatch Homeland Security posters. "Americans as terrorists" is big business for drone manufacturers (64 bases planned inside the US), DHS subsidies (the manufacturer who is selling to them millions upon millions of hollow-point rounds of ammunition), lobbyists for manufacturers who profit from fear and the neocons who set in motion a burgeoning police state as a power grab. "Project for a new american century" which depends upon a Pear Harbor-like event. Ahem, 9/11, however it came to be.
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What is the result in Los Angeles of these issues? There is a citizens' resistance movement as listed herein:
http://stoplapdspying.org/
Note that photographers who take pictures of buildings are subject to investigation and being detained. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.
How LAPD Collects SO 1 Information About You
http://stoplapdspying.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/SO-1-Process-small.pdf
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How has it been for Occupy? Last week, Occupy Fights Foreclosures followed up the Rose Parade with a float including several people either in foreclosure fraud or at close risk. Last year, Wells Fargo sponsored the parade as Occupiers peacefully demonstrated. This year? From the LA Times, straight out of a cop's mouth:
Cop strongly implies Occupy presence means increased terrorism threat; Federal agents at parade
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-occupy-rose-parade-20130101,0,7679289.story
A 15-foot-high float, with "Mr. Monopoly" riding a red wagon, will wheel its way down the 5.5-mile route at the conclusion of the parade, organizers said. The board game character, intended to represent bankers, will have strings attached to participants who are on the verge of losing their homes or have lost their homes to foreclosure.
snip
There will be an increased law enforcement presence, including federal agents, at the 2013 parade because of the Occupy demonstration, Sanchez said.
"The big thing we'd like to get out there is that if someone sees something, they should say something," Sanchez said. "It's the best way we can prevent something from occurring."
(Compress these sentences and you get: "There will be increased law enforcement presence, including federal agents..because of..Occupy..It's the best way we can prevent something from occurring.")
Someone has told them we're terrorists, or potential terrorists. And/or, they're spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt. "Americans as terrorists". "Don't suspect your neighbor, turn them in!"
And the banks and a very unregulated wall street laugh and laugh at the fate of their opponents.
“Independent” Reviews Were Controlled by Banks, Suppressed Findings of Harm to Foreclosed Homeowners
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022137367
So. Back on March 17 2012, OccupyLA had a peaceful chili-eating party on a sidewalk, a quiet celebration of Occupy's 6-month anniversary. Cops swarmed us and took many provocative, irritating actions to justify what they'd wanted to do from the beginning:
Or, were told to do all that...
Even after that, we went and protested the involvement of a Goldman Sachs executive in the Human Rights Coalition.
LAPD Lt. Paulson is the person responsible for oversight of Special Order 1 (among other evil things since discovered such as the purposeful criminalization of the local homeless as a service to a lobbying group seeking to gentrify Skid Row). She was there at the attack; here she is sneaking photos of the HRC protest:
Photos which no doubt go straight to the DHS fusion centers.
If you are an activist, even a peaceful activist, DHS the FBI, and the federal government know you.
So why should anyone worry about DHS being impartial? Because they absolutely are not:
Peter King: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Are 'Losers'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/peter-king-occupy-wall-street-protesters-losers_n_1098425.html
"First of all, you try to listen to them and they make almost no sense," King said. "These are people who were living in dirt, these were people who were involved with drugs, there was violence, there was rape. You're talking about a small number of people -- you could probably get more people in a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday than you've got in Zuccotti Park."
Congressman Peter King Calls Occupy Protesters "Angry Losers! Living In Their Own Filth"
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Both the FBI and DHS have lied about having monitored Occupy from the beginning. FOI-acquired documents show they both were. Now the FBI are ransacking activist's apartments for "literature", offering bomb-making materials to Occupiers, creating terrorists where there were none, and failing to deal with someone who was planning upon killing Occupiers (page 61 of the recently-revealed documentation on the subject).
By omission, they have allowed a terrorist threat against Occupy to go uncontrolled. Sam Seder via limpyhobbler:
FBI Uncovers Assassination Plot AGAINST Occupy, Does Nothing
FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occupy Monitoring
http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/fbi-files-ows.html
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Jason Leopold @JasonLeopold
Here are sum long-awaited FBI docs on #OWS released under #FOIA. Abt 100 pgs. I still hve pending FOIA lawsuit for all http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/549518-fbi-ows-documents.html …
Retweeted by Courtney Harrop
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I don't much care for Trends such as these. Add last week's extensions of the Indefinite Detention bill NDAA and the BushCo warrantless wireless wiretap bill FISA to the mix and it's just plain ugly. This is how it happens, in increments.
What's it like in your town? Have the TSA yet begun riding buses and trains as they've begun elsewhere?
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Additions, Oct. 2013:
Bringing the argument home about domestic spying (Look no further than LAPD)
http://www.laactivist.com/2013/06/21/bringing-the-argument-home-about-domestic-spying/
Is Increased Police Militarization Necessary?
http://www.exposingthetruth.co/police-militarization/#axzz2j4tppMyI
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Less-lethal LAPD shotgun photo by Ulises. Lt. Paulson sneaking photos photo by Damon.
