This video reveals the J6 secrets that are coming out and delves into the deeper history of certain police tactics.

The post Shocking Exposé: Government Secrets About J6 Come Out! appeared first on We Are Change.

This video explains the huge revelation about the enemy combatant list.

The post SECRET Enemy Combatant List — You’re ON IT?! appeared first on We Are Change.

This video shows you who’s getting called out and what they’re trying to do.

The post INSANE: They’re Sending Them Off To The Camps?? appeared first on We Are Change.

Videos and photos posted to social media show people pouring milk into the eyes of demonstrators affected by tear gas as the chemical substance clouds the air, enveloping the thousands of protesters marching in the streets near the site of Floyd’s killing.

“This is a disgusting display,” said Jeremiah Ellison, a city council member representing Minneapolis Ward 5. “I’m here on the southside, helping people as I can with milk, water, and towels. So far, I have been unable to prevent the police from firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Moments ago, I held a towel to a teenage girl’s head as blood poured from it.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted that “shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at unarmed protesters when there are children present should never be tolerated. Ever.”

“What is happening tonight in our city is shameful,” Omar added. “Police need to exercise restraint, and our community needs space to heal.”

I got hit w rubber bullet right after taking video of this mayhem scene. I was across the street from the precinct pic.twitter.com/qz1KHNADtQ

— Andy Mannix (@AndrewMannix) May 27, 2020

Minneapolis.
May 26 2020#GeorgeFloyd https://t.co/31Phab6BKr pic.twitter.com/hJHjbuOkmY

— YourBestBlackSelf (@LeslieMac) May 27, 2020

The massive protests erupted in the wake of video footage showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he lay handcuffed and face-first on the asphalt.

Floyd and onlookers repeatedly pleaded with the officer to take his knee off Floyd’s neck, but he refused to do so until an ambulance arrived. By that point, Floyd had been unconscious for minutes. In a statement following the Monday night incident, the Minneapolis Police Department said they were responding to “a report of a forgery in progress” and claimed Floyd’s death was caused by an unspecified “medical incident.”

Shortly after video of the incident emerged and spread rapidly across social media, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the firing of four officers who were on the scene.

“It is the right decision for our city, the right decision for our community. It is the right decision for the Minneapolis Police Department,” Frey said at a press conference Tuesday. “We’ve stated our values, and ultimately we need to live by them.”

Lots of violent images being shared, this is the protest before cops fired gas. They hired the first shot. Not us. But they dont hear us when we march so we fight back. #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter #Minneapolis pic.twitter.com/jCwsu3D6QY

— Triple H (@HenryHuber) May 27, 2020

Hours after the firing of the four cops involved, this is the south Minneapolis intersection near where George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day when an officer knelt on his neck. Protest has the whole block at a standstill. Vid: @KSTP pic.twitter.com/bOqYlyEoYe

— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) May 27, 2020

In an appearance on CNN late Tuesday, Floyd’s family members said termination of the officers is not enough.

“Firing them is a good start, but we want to see justice for our family. We want to see them charged. We want to have them arrested,” said Tera Brown, Floyd’s cousin. “What they did was murder.”

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him,” says Tera Brown, cousin of George Floyd, who said he couldn’t breathe as a police officer used a knee to hold him down by the neck. Brown said the four Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s death should be “charged with murder.” pic.twitter.com/ESXMVMdcXH

— CNN (@CNN) May 27, 2020

As the demonstrations kicked off Tuesday, Democratic members of Congress representing Minnesota sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman demanding a thorough investigation into Floyd’s killing and accountability for the officers involved.

“Mr. Floyd’s death appears to be yet another horrifying instance of excessive force leading to the death of African Americans across this country,” wrote Rep. Omar, Rep. Betty McCollum, Sen. Tina Smith, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. “In addition to the obvious state laws that will govern this case, federal law makes it a crime for a state or local police officer to willfully violate a person’s constitutional rights, which includes the use of excessive force.”

Republished from CommonDreams.org under Creative Commons

The post Minneapolis Police Fire Stun Grenades, Rubber Bullets, Tear Gas Into Massive Crowds of Protesters appeared first on We Are Change.

For years now, the powers-that-be—those politicians and bureaucrats who think like tyrants and act like petty dictators regardless of what party they belong to—have attempted to brainwash us into believing that we have no right to think for ourselves, make decisions about our health, protect our homes and families and businesses, act in our best interests, demand accountability and transparency from government, or generally operate as if we are in control of our own lives.

We have every right, and you know why? Because we were born free.

As the Declaration of Independence states, we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights—to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness—that no government can take away from us.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the government from constantly trying to usurp our freedoms at every turn. Indeed, the nature of government is such that it invariably oversteps its limits, abuses its authority, and flexes its totalitarian muscles.

Take this COVID-19 crisis, for example.

What started out as an apparent effort to prevent a novel coronavirus from sickening the nation (and the world) has become yet another means by which world governments (including our own) can expand their powers, abuse their authority, and further oppress their constituents.

Until now, the police state has been more circumspect in its power grabs, but this latest state of emergency has brought the beast out of the shadows.

We are on a slippery slope to outright despotism.

This road we are traveling is paved with lockdowns, SWAT team raids, mass surveillance and forced vaccinations. It is littered with the debris of our First and Fourth Amendment freedoms.

This is what we have to look forward to in the months and years to come unless we can find some way to regain control over our runaway government.

The government has made no secret of its plans.

Just follow the money trail, and you’ll get a sense of what’s in store: more militarized police, more SWAT team raids, more surveillance, more lockdowns, more strong-armed tactics aimed at suppressing dissent and forcing us to comply with the government’s dictates.

It’s chilling to think about, but it’s not surprising.

We’ve been warned.

Remember that Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command? The one that anticipates the future domestic political and social problems the government is grooming its armed forces to solve through the use of martial law?

The chilling five-minute training video, obtained by The Intercept through a FOIA request and made available online, paints a dystopian picture of the future bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots.

But here’s the kicker: what they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security.

This COVID-19 crisis is pushing us that much closer to that dystopian vision becoming a present-day reality.

For starters, let’s talk about the COVID-19 stormtroopers, SWAT team raids and ongoing flare-ups of police brutality.

With millions of dollars in stimulus funds being directed towards policing agencies across the country, the federal government plans to fight this COVID-19 virus with riot gear, gas masks, ballistic helmets, drones, and hi-tech surveillance technology.

Indeed, although crime rates have fallen dramatically in the midst of this global COVID-19 lockdown, there’s been no relief from the brutality and violence of the American police state.

While the majority of the country has been social distancing under varying degrees of lockdowns, it’s been business as usual for the nation’s SWAT teams and police trained to shoot first and ask questions later.

In Kentucky, plain-clothed cops in unmarked cars used a battering ram to break down Breonna Taylor’s door and carry out a no-knock raid on her home after midnight. Fearing a home invasion, the 26-year-old emergency medical technician and her boyfriend—who had been in bed at the time of the invasion—called 911 and prepared to defend themselves. Taylor’s boyfriend shot one of the intruders—later identified as police—in the leg. Police fired at least 20 shots into the apartment and a neighboring home, killing Taylor. The drug dealer who was the target of the late-night raid lived 10 miles away and had already been arrested prior to the raid on Taylor’s home.

In Illinois, police opened fire in a subway station, shooting a 33-year-old man who allegedly resisted their attempts to tackle and arrest him for violating a city ordinance by passing between two cars of a moving train. Ariel Roman, a short-order cook, claimed he was suffering from an anxiety attack when he was “harassed, chased, tackled, pepper-sprayed, tasered and shot twice” by police.

In Maryland, police dispatched on a nuisance call to break up a crowd of neighborhood kids (half of them teenagers, and the other half youngsters around 4 and 5 years old) gathered in an apartment complex parking lot opened fire on a 29-year-old man seen exiting his car with a gun. An eyewitness claimed, “the officer pointed a flashlight and his gun at the group immediately and began chasing and shooting a minute or two after getting out of the patrol car.” Police reportedly shot the man after he threw down his gun and ran in the opposite direction.

In Virginia, more than 80 local, state, and federal police agents risked spreading COVID-19 to “a highly vulnerable population” when they raided a low income, public housing community in an effort to crack down on six individuals suspected of selling, on average, $20 to $100 worth of drugs.

In Texas, a SWAT team backed up with a military tank Armored Personnel Carrier raided Big Daddy Zane’s Bar whose owner and patrons were staging a peaceful First and Second Amendment protest of the governor’s shutdown orders.

Police have even been called out to shut down churches, schools and public parks and beaches that have been found “in violation” of various lockdown orders.

Now there’s talk of mobilizing the military to deliver forced vaccinations, mass surveillance in order to carry out contact tracing, and heavy fines and jail time for those who dare to venture out without a mask, congregate in worship without the government’s blessing, or re-open their  businesses without the government’s say-so.

There are rumblings that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will start thermal screenings to monitor passengers’ temperatures in coming weeks. This is in addition to the virtual strip searches that have become routine aspects of airport security.

Restaurants in parts of the country are being tasked with keeping daily logs of phone numbers, emails, and arrival times for everybody who participates in dine-services, with no mention of how long such records will be kept on file, with whom they will be shared, and under what circumstances.

With the help of Google and Nest cameras, hospitals are morphing into real-time surveillance centers with round-the-clock surveillance cameras monitoring traffic in patients’ rooms. Forget patient privacy, however. Google has a track record of sharing surveillance footage with police.

And then rounding out the power-grabs, the Senate just voted to give police access to web browsing data without a warrant, which would dramatically expand the government’s Patriot Act surveillance powers. The Senate also voted to give Attorney General William Barr the ability to look through the web browsing history of any American — including journalists, politicians, and political rivals — without a warrant, just by saying it is relevant to an investigation. If enacted, privacy experts warn  that the new provisions threaten to undermine the free press by potentially preventing the media from exposing abuses of power or acting as a watchdog against political leaders.

If we haven’t already crossed over, we’re skating dangerously close to that line that keeps us on the functioning side of a constitutional republic. It won’t take much to push us over that edge into a full-blown banana republic.

The post COVID-19: Slippery Slope to Despotism Paved With Lockdowns, Raids and Forced Vaccinations appeared first on We Are Change.

The Intercept says a recent order made by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shows “disposable cuffs, gas masks, ballistic helmets, and riot gloves, along with law enforcement protective equipment” were bought for federal police assigned to guard VA facilities. The order was quickly fulfilled under a special authorization “in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.”

The VA department operates 1,243 health care facilities, including 170 VA Medical Centers and 1,063 outpatient sites of care in the US, which serves millions of veterans.

Redcon Solutions Group is the supplier of the latest contract. The Intercept says the firm received $1.6 in contracts to supply equipment for “Covid-19 screening security guard services.” Other security firms have been awarded similar contracts, providing defensive equipment for federal police who guard VA buildings in San Francisco, Des Moines, and Fayetteville.

The purchase order can be explained by the latest Inspector General (IG) report that said a shortage of VA workers and VA police created additional strain on the agency during lockdowns. The IG report said some VA facilities became the site of “COVID-19-related screenings,” which meant the VA needed to beef up security.

The Intercept notes federal police at VA facilities were not armed until after 2011, which was around the time the Pentagon started militarizing police forces across the country.

“Between 2005 and 2014, VA police departments acquired millions of dollars’ worth of body armor, chemical agents, night vision equipment, and other weapons and tactical gear,” The Intercept said.

Within the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, there was $850 million for the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program, which is a federal grant program that injects new capital into the nation’s police forces. It has been used to cover overtime, increase personal protective equipment, and cover additional expenses related to the virus.

The militarization of America’s police forces shown below:

President Trump signed an executive order in 2017 allowing police forces to receive military weapons. More recently, President Trump signed an executive order that allows activating up to one million troops.

As to why the VA police would need riot gear is beyond anyone’s guess. However, the rapid militarization of police forces over the last decade shows the federal government could be preparing for social unrest.

Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission

The post U.S. Government Buys Riot Gear and Increases Security Funding, Citing Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on We Are Change.

In a legal letter to the Chief of Police for the Town of Massena, NY, Rutherford Institute attorneys point out that while federal and state governments have adopted specific restrictive measures in an effort to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the current public health situation has not resulted in the suspension of fundamental constitutional rights such as religious freedom, freedom of speech and the right of assembly.

“While we appreciate the dedication and personal sacrifices of so many emergency personnel who are working to combat the spread of this virus, that does not justify allowing government officials to needlessly and heedlessly trample all over the First Amendment,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People.

“Certainly, if government officials have determined that it is safe to gather in convenience stores, beverage stores, hardware stores, and drive-thru restaurant takeout lines while adhering to social distancing guidelines, there is no reason to single out church drive-in services, where worshippers remain in their cars, from the list of approved activities.”

After Governor Cuomo issued his New York State on PAUSE executive order in March 2020, which imposed a ban on all gatherings and limited activities not considered essential, Pastor Samson Ryman of Central Bible Baptist Church, explored possibilities for continuing worship services for the Church, which is located in upstate New York and has a membership of about 40 congregants. Initially, the pastor proposed holding outdoor, open-air services, but was told by the Massena Police Department that this was not allowed under Governor Cuomo’s current orders regarding COVID-19 virus restrictions.

Pastor Ryman then formulated a plan to hold drive-in services in which attendees would drive to Central Bible Baptist Church, park in the parking lot on the east side of the church, and remain in their vehicles and with their windows up at all times. The pastor would conduct the service from a porch attached to the Church and adjacent to the parking lot, using a low-power FM transmitter that attendees could tune into with a radio. At all times during the worship service, Pastor Ryman would remain well over six feet from other church attendees.

On May 3, the Church held a drive-in service that was attended by about 23 persons in about 18 vehicles. The following day, police issued an informal cease-and-desist order to Pastor Ryman, warning him that he would be subject to prosecution for holding any further drive-in services and could face a fine of up to $1000.

In coming to the defense of Pastor Ryman and Central Bible Baptist Church, The Rutherford Institute informed the police department that its ban on drive-in worship services are grounded in a misunderstanding of the law and a misapplication of the Governor’s Executive Orders, which severely chills the Church’s exercise of the fundamental right to practice their religion. Institute attorneys also pointed out that such a ban is an overbroad restriction on First Amendment rights as long as other similar drive-in activities are allowed. For example, the state’s restrictions allow for gathering in convenience stores, beverage stores, hardware stores, and drive-thru restaurant lines.

The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, defends individuals whose constitutional rights have been violated and educates the public about threats to their freedoms.

Republished from TheFreeThoughtProject.com with permission

The post Police Threaten Jail and $1,000 Fines for Church Holding Drive-In Services appeared first on We Are Change.

In April, we reported on the case of Shelley Luther who made headlines for opening up her business, Salon A la Mode in Dallas, Texas. When she opened, Luther’s salon was guarded by armed citizens and private security guards. However, this wasn’t enough and earlier this month, she was arrested.

In Owossa, Michigan, however, barbershop owner Karl Manke, doesn’t just have the support of a few gun owners — he has a militia — who is in place to deliberately block the police if they show up to kidnap the man for cutting the hair of willing customers.

So far, the militia’s presence has been enough to deter police, and not just one or two cops either.

“Yesterday six troopers came in to enforce the governor’s order or to issue a cease or desist order so we are here to make sure he doesn’t get arrested. We’re willing to stand in front of that door and block the entrance so the police will have no entry there today,” said Owosso resident and militia member, Daniel Brewer.

As the militia guards the shop, others protest for Manke’s right as well as the rest of the state’s right to work.

“I think everyone that comes out and supports Karl should protest, because I feel like some of Michigan should open up with regulations and if he wants to work, he should be able to work,” said one protester outside 77-year-old Manke’s barbershop.

These folks are not advocating for some wild west policies here, they are simply supporting those who are willing to open their businesses or return to their jobs.

“Everyone just needs to calm down and have compassion for people who are afraid of the virus and have compassion for people who need to work and put food in their belly,” the supporter said.

As for the militia, Manke says he appreciates their support and seems thankful things have remained peaceful.

“As long as they didn’t pull a gun on anyone and shoot anyone in the leg, I didn’t care,” Manke said of the organization’s potential assistance.

“Those guys have just as much rights as the rest of us do,” Manke said. “They were demonstrating their rights They were behaving themselves. They weren’t doing anything.”

After Manke served long lines of folks who wanted haircuts over the weekend, this week, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs revoked his license. But it has not deterred the elderly barber.

According to ABC 12:

Manke received word of his license being suspended with an email, but it is not considered official until formal paperwork arrives from Lansing. That could happen within the next day.

After getting the news that his state-issued license was temporarily pulled, it’s no surprise the man who has defied the governor’s orders for more than a week said he’s going to fight it.

Manke defied the government he calls oppressive by opening up his barbershop on May 4. Almost immediately, people started lining up to get their hair cut and show support.

First, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office ordered him to shut down. He ignored it and stayed open.

Then a court said there must be a hearing to decide what to do next. He’s staying open until that hearing.

Now, the state revoking his license to operate all together.

To sum up the state’s attack on his business, Manke told the outlet, “‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.’ Those are the words I fear more than anything else,” Manke said. “‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.’”

We agree.

As TFTP reported this week, though there are police officers out there willing to follow orders and arrest people for doing nails in their home or cutting hair, there are others out there who openly defy violating the rights of citizens. Unfortunately, however, when they speak out about upholding the constitution and protecting the rights of Americans, they get fired.

Republished from TheFreeThoughtProject.com with permission

The post Armed Militia Successfully Blocking Cops From Arresting Barber for Defying Lockdown appeared first on We Are Change.

No one is safe. No one is immune. No one gets spared the anguish, fear and heartache of living under the shadow of an authoritarian police state.

That’s the message being broadcast 24/7 with every new piece of government propaganda, every new law that criminalizes otherwise lawful activity, every new policeman on the beat, every new surveillance camera casting a watchful eye, every sensationalist news story that titillates and distracts, every new prison or detention center built to house troublemakers and other undesirables, every new court ruling that gives government agents a green light to strip and steal and rape and ravage the citizenry, every school that opts to indoctrinate rather than educate, and every new justification for why Americans should comply with the government’s attempts to trample the Constitution underfoot.

Yes, COVID-19 has taken a significant toll on the nation emotionally, physically, and economically, but there are still greater dangers on the horizon.

As long as “we the people” continue to allow the government to trample our rights in the so-called name of national security, things will get worse, not better.

It’s already worse.

Now there’s talk of mass testing for COVID-19 antibodies, screening checkpoints, contact tracing, immunity passports to allow those who have recovered from the virus to move around more freely, and snitch tip lines for reporting “rule breakers” to the authorities.

If you can’t read the writing on the wall, you need to pay better attention.

These may seem like small, necessary steps in the war against the COVID-19 virus, but they’re only necessary to the police state in its efforts to further undermine the Constitution, extend its control over the populace, and feed its insatiable appetite for ever-greater powers.

Nothing is ever as simple as the government claims it is.

Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America healthy again—rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you.

The war on drugs turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with SWAT teams and militarized police.

The war on terror turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with warrantless surveillance and indefinite detention.

The war on immigration turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with roving government agents demanding “papers, please.”

This war on COVID-19 will be yet another war on the American people, waged with all of the surveillance weaponry at the government’s disposal: thermal imaging cameras, drones, contact tracing, biometric databases, etc.

So you see, when you talk about empowering government agents to screen the populace in order to control and prevent spread of this virus, what you’re really talking about is creating a society in which ID cards, round ups, checkpoints and detention centers become routine weapons used by the government to control and suppress the populace, no matter the threat.

This is also how you pave the way for a national identification system of epic proportions.

Imagine it: a national classification system that not only categorizes you according to your health status but also allows the government to sort you in a hundred other ways: by gender, orientation, wealth, medical condition, religious beliefs, political viewpoint, legal status, etc.

Are you starting to get the bigger picture yet?

This is just another wolf in sheep’s clothing, a “show me your papers” scheme disguised as a means of fighting a virus.

Don’t fall for it.

The ramifications of such a “show me your papers” society in which government officials are empowered to stop individuals, demand they identify themselves, and subject them to patdowns, warrantless screenings, searches, and interrogations are beyond chilling.

By allowing government agents to establish a litmus test for individuals to be able to exit a state of lockdown and engage in commerce, movement and any other right that corresponds to life in a supposedly free society, it lays the groundwork for a society in which you are required to identify yourself at any time to any government worker who demands it for any reason.

Such tactics quickly lead one down a slippery slope that ends with government agents empowered to force anyone and everyone to prove they are in compliance with every statute and regulation on the books.

It used to be that unless police had a reasonable suspicion that a person was guilty of wrongdoing, they had no legal authority to stop the person and require identification. In other words, “we the people” had the right to come and go as we please without the fear of being questioned by police or forced to identify ourselves.

Unfortunately, in this age of COVID-19, that unrestricted right to move about freely is being pitted against the government’s power to lock down communities at a moment’s notice. And in this tug-of-war between individual freedoms and government power, “we the people” have been on the losing end of the deal.

Curiously enough, these COVID-19 restrictions dovetail conveniently with a national timeline for states to comply with the Real ID Act, which imposes federal standards on identity documents such as state drivers’ licenses, a prelude to this national identification system.

Talk about a perfect storm for bringing about a national ID card, the ultimate human tracking device.

Granted, in the absence of a national ID card, which would make the police state’s task of monitoring, tracking and singling out individual suspects far simpler, “we the people” are already tracked in a myriad of ways: through our state driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, bank accounts, purchases and electronic transactions; by way of our correspondence and communication devices—email, phone calls and mobile phones; through chips implanted in our vehicles, identification documents, even our clothing.

Add to this the fact that businesses, schools and other facilities are relying more and more on fingerprints and facial recognition to identify us. All the while, data companies such as Acxiom are capturing vast caches of personal information to help airports, retailers, police and other government authorities instantly determine whether someone is the person he or she claims to be.

This informational glut—used to great advantage by both the government and corporate sectors—has converged into a mandate for “an internal passport,” a.k.a., a national ID card that would store information as basic as a person’s name, birth date and place of birth, as well as private information, including a Social Security number, fingerprint, retinal scan and personal, criminal and financial records.

A federalized, computerized, cross-referenced, databased system of identification policed by government agents would be the final nail in the coffin for privacy (not to mention a logistical security nightmare that would leave Americans even more vulnerable to every hacker in the cybersphere).

Americans have always resisted adopting a national ID card for good reason: it gives the government and its agents the ultimate power to target, track and terrorize the populace according to the government’s own nefarious purposes.

National ID card systems have been used before, by other oppressive governments, in the name of national security, invariably with horrifying results.

For instance, in Germany, the Nazis required all Jews to carry special stamped ID cards for travel within the country. A prelude to the yellow Star of David badges, these stamped cards were instrumental in identifying Jews for deportation to death camps in Poland.

Author Raul Hilberg summarizes the impact that such a system had on the Jews:

The whole identification system, with its personal documents, specially assigned names, and conspicuous tagging in public, was a powerful weapon in the hands of the police. First, the system was an auxiliary device that facilitated the enforcement of residence and movement restrictions. Second, it was an independent control measure in that it enabled the police to pick up any Jew, anywhere, anytime. Third, and perhaps most important, identification had a paralyzing effect on its victims.”

In South Africa during apartheid, pass books were used to regulate the movement of black citizens and segregate the population. The Pass Laws Act of 1952 stipulated where, when and for how long a black African could remain in certain areas. Any government employee could strike out entries, which canceled the permission to remain in an area. A pass book that did not have a valid entry resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the bearer.

Identity cards played a crucial role in the genocide of the Tutsis in the central African country of Rwanda. The assault, carried out by extremist Hutu militia groups, lasted around 100 days and resulted in close to a million deaths. While the ID cards were not a precondition to the genocide, they were a facilitating factor. Once the genocide began, the production of an identity card with the designation “Tutsi” spelled a death sentence at any roadblock.

Identity cards have also helped oppressive regimes carry out eliminationist policies such as mass expulsion, forced relocation and group denationalization. Through the use of identity cards, Ethiopian authorities were able to identify people with Eritrean affiliation during the mass expulsion of 1998. The Vietnamese government was able to locate ethnic Chinese more easily during their 1978-79 expulsion. The USSR used identity cards to force the relocation of ethnic Koreans (1937), Volga Germans (1941), Kamyks and Karachai (1943), Crimean Tartars, Meshkhetian Turks, Chechens, Ingush and Balkars (1944) and ethnic Greeks (1949). And ethnic Vietnamese were identified for group denationalization through identity cards in Cambodia in 1993, as were the Kurds in Syria in 1962.

And in the United States, post-9/11, more than 750 Muslim men were rounded up on the basis of their religion and ethnicity and detained for up to eight months. Their experiences echo those of 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were similarly detained 75 years ago following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Despite a belated apology and monetary issuance by the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to declare such a practice illegal. Moreover, laws such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) empower the government to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone they “suspect” of being an enemy of the state.

You see, you may be innocent of wrongdoing now, but when the standard for innocence is set by the government, no one is safe.

Everyone is a suspect.

And anyone can be a criminal when it’s the government determining what is a crime.

It’s no longer a matter of if, but when.

Remember, the police state does not discriminate.

At some point, it will not matter whether your skin is black or yellow or brown or white. It will not matter whether you’re an immigrant or a citizen. It will not matter whether you’re rich or poor. It won’t even matter whether you’re driving, flying or walking.

After all, government-issued bullets will kill you just as easily whether you’re a law-abiding citizen or a hardened criminal. Government jails will hold you just as easily whether you’ve obeyed every law or broken a dozen. And whether or not you’ve done anything wrong, government agents will treat you like a suspect simply because they have been trained to view and treat everyone like potential criminals.

Eventually, when the police state has turned that final screw and slammed that final door, all that will matter is whether some government agent—poorly trained, utterly ignorant and dismissive of the Constitution, way too hyped up on the power of their badges, and authorized to detain, search, interrogate, threaten and generally harass anyone they see fit—chooses to single you out for special treatment.

We’ve been having this same debate about the perils of government overreach for the past 50-plus years, and still we don’t seem to learn, or if we learn, we learn too late.

All of the excessive, abusive tactics employed by the government today—warrantless surveillance, stop and frisk searches, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, asset forfeiture schemes, private prisons, indefinite detention, militarized police, etc.—started out as a seemingly well-meaning plan to address some problem in society that needed a little extra help.

Be careful what you wish for: you will get more than you bargained for, especially when the government’s involved.

In the case of a national identification system, it might start off as a means of tracking COVID-19 cases in order to “safely” re-open the nation, but it will end up as a means of controlling the American people.

For those tempted to justify these draconian measures for whatever reason—for the sake of their health, the economy, or national security—remember, you can’t have it both ways.

You can’t live in a constitutional republic if you allow the government to act like a police state.

You can’t claim to value freedom if you allow the government to operate like a dictatorship.

You can’t expect to have your rights respected if you allow the government to treat whomever it pleases with disrespect and an utter disregard for the rule of law.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, if you’re inclined to advance this double standard because you believe you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, beware: there’s always a boomerang effect.

Republished from Rutherford.org with permission

The post Contact Tracing & Immunity Cards: What You’re Not Being Told appeared first on We Are Change.

Governments around the world have been turning to technology to enforce quarantine related measures, including drones, robots, and advanced surveillance tracking.

At the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore, authorities deployed a four-legged robot named Spot, which was created by Boston Dynamics.

The robot is roaming the park as a part of a two-week trial, to see if the robot could help enforce social distancing measures because machines are less likely to spread germs than human enforcers.

The robot patrols the park broadcasting prerecorded messages “to remind park visitors to observe safe distancing measures.”

A sign was posted in the park warning visitors not to interfere with the robot’s duties.

Just received the most Singaporean pandemic content from a mate based in the little red dot pic.twitter.com/vqgnQ5F4D9

— Soon-Tzu Speechley ?? (@speechleyish) May 8, 2020

While the current deployment is just a test run, city officials are planning on placing similar robots in other areas if they decide that the trial was successful.

Authorities have promised that they won’t be using the robot to collect any data, and that it is just being used to broadcast warnings to people.

In the US, temperature sensing drones were deployed in some hot spots until local residents became outraged about privacy concerns, forcing the abandonment of the program.

View this post on Instagram

Don't be surprised if you see a 4-legged robot patrolling in Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Called Spot, the robot will be broadcasting a recorded message reminding park visitors to observe safe distancing measures. Don't worry about bumping into Spot as it is fitted with safety sensors to detect objects and people within 1m to avoid collision. Robots can observe safe distancing too! ?: Gin Tay #cybark #robot #coronavirus #covid19 #StraitsTimes #SGUnited #StayHome #circuitbreaker

A post shared by The Straits Times (@straits_times) on May 8, 2020 at 2:02am PDT

Privacy is becoming a major concern as people are beginning to venture back out into society.

Governments in some of the first countries affected by the outbreak have collected cellphone data as a part of their coronavirus containment strategy, and then used that data to track down and quarantine individuals who have come into contact with known coronavirus patients.

Any resident that wants to leave their house is required to download a cellphone app that keeps a record of their health, and their phone’s GPS will be configured to recognize if its owner comes within a certain range of a known coronavirus patient.

If you have one of these apps downloaded on your phone and you come into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, you will receive a notification or text message letting you know that you have been exposed and the message will instruct you to quarantine in your home for two weeks.

If you refuse to comply with the quarantine, the authorities will know, because your cellphone will be set to notify them if you leave a certain perimeter.

Leaving home without a phone isn’t an option either, because these apps are also used to gain entry to grocery stores and other businesses.

The details behind this containment strategy were highlighted in an interview with Edward Snowden last month.

Republished from TruthTheory.com with permission

The post Police Robot Dog Deployed to Enforce Social Distancing appeared first on We Are Change.

In a worrying use of words, the team in their own press release, move from referring to those the software recognizes as being “likely criminals” to “criminals” in the space of just one sentence, suggesting they are confident in the discredited racist pseudoscience of phrenology they appear to have updated for the 21st century.

Public reaction to the project was less than enthusiastic, judging by comments left on Facebook, which included “Societies have been trying to push the idea of ‘born criminals’ for centuries,” “and this isn’t profiling because……?” and “20 percent getting tailed by police constantly because they have the ‘crime face.’” Indeed, the response was so negative that the university pulled the press release from the internet. However, it is still visible using the Internet Wayback Machine.

While the research team claims to be removing bias and racism from decision making, leaving it up to a faceless algorithm, those who write the code, and those who get to decide who constitutes a criminal in the first place, certainly do have their own biases. Why are the homeless or people of color who “loiter” on sidewalks criminalized, but senators and congresspersons who vote for wars and regime change operations not? And who is more likely to be arrested? Wall Street executives doing cocaine in their offices or working-class people smoking marijuana or crack? The higher the level of a person in society, the more serious and harmful their crimes become, but the likelihood of an arrest and a custodial sentence decreases. Black people are more likely to be arrested for the same crime as white people and are sentenced to longer stays in prison, too. Furthermore, facial recognition software is notorious for being unable to tell people of color apart, raising further concerns.

Crime figures are greatly swayed by whom the police choose to follow and what they decide to prioritize. For example, a recent study found 97.5 percent of Brooklyn residents arrested for breaking social distancing laws were people of color. Meanwhile, an analysis of 95 million traffic stops found that police officers were far more likely to stop black people during the daytime when their race could be determined from afar. As soon as dusk hit, the disparity greatly diminished, as a “veil of darkness” saved them from undue harassment, according to researchers. Thus, the population of people convicted of crimes does not necessarily correspond to the population that commits them.

The 2002 hit movie Minority Report is set in a future world where the government’s pre-crime division stops all murders well before they happen, with future criminals locked up preemptively. Even if accurate, is an 80 percent accuracy rate worth risking the creation of a dystopian Minority Report-style society where people are monitored and arrested for pre-crimes?

Phrenology, the long-abandoned study of the size and shape of the head, has a long and sordid history of dangerous racist and elitist pseudoscience. For instance, Cesare Lombroso’s 1876 book, Criminal Man, told students that large jaws and high cheekbones were a feature of “criminals, savages and apes,” and was a sure sign of the “love of orgies and the irresistible craving for evil for its own sake, the desire not only to extinguish life in the victim, but to mutilate the corpse, tear its flesh, and drink its blood.” Meanwhile, rapists nearly always have jug ears, delicate features, swollen lips, and hunchbacks. Lombroso himself was a professor in psychiatry and criminal anthropology and his book were taught in universities for decades. To Lombroso, it was almost impossible for a good-looking person to commit a serious crime.

The latest technological development from the University of Harrisburg appears to be an updated, “algorithmic phrenology,” repackaging a dangerous idea for the 21st century, all the more noteworthy because they are trying to sell it to law enforcement as an unbiased tool helping society.

Republished from MintPressNews.com under Creative Commons

The post New Software Predicts If You’re Going to Be a Criminal Based on a Picture of Your Face appeared first on We Are Change.

In New Jersey, Connecticut, and other major hotspots in the U.S., local officials have announced that they will be rolling out temperature-sensing drones that will send out audio messages reminding people to be cautious and follow social distancing guidelines.

These drones are made by a company called Draganfly. The company has recently distributed similar technology to authorities in Australia for their pandemic response.

Cameron Chell, CEO of Draganfly, promises that all of the data is anonymized.

“You’ll be seeing this very soon. Where it’s most critically needed is where we’re going. As it stands today, it’s not designed to identify people with the system. It’s designed to basically provide health monitoring data and be able to give us better data but make more clear decisions,” Chell told ABC7.

Chell said that these devices can actually tell if a person has a fever and can detect other signs of sickness as well.

“What these cameras can do is actually detect fever, which is very different than detecting just temperature. They can detect sneezing. They can detect your heart rate, your respiratory rate, and they can also detect social distancing. So imagine, if you will, a situation where there’s a crowd, and you want to determine what’s the infection rate of the crowd and if they are practicing social distancing,” Chell explained.

Privacy activists are concerned that this could open the door for a surveillance state that doesn’t go away. Daniel Schwarz of the New York Civil Liberties Union said that technology has a place in a crisis like this, but he worries that “constant aerial surveillance” could “fundamentally change” the country.

“There can be a place for advanced technology to support health efforts during a crisis like this one, but it should always serve a clear public health purpose. Indefinite and unwarranted mass crowd policing does not fit that purpose. Surveillance tools used during the pandemic should be scientifically justified, communicated transparently to the public, limited in their scope and duration, and should always require informed consent,” Schwarz said.

“Constant aerial surveillance combined with biased analytics would fundamentally change what it feels like to venture out in public in this country, violate our constitutional rights to freedom of association and privacy, and open the door to expanded broken windows policing of communities uniquely vulnerable to CoViD-19,” he added.

As a part of the pandemic response in China, police were given artificial intelligence (AI) helmets designed for temperature screening.

It is unclear how effective these types of devices will actually be considering the incredibly high rate of transmission through asymptomatic carriers. Studies that have explored this topic have resulted in a wide range of results, but most researchers agree that a significant amount of coronavirus carriers will be asymptomatic or will only experience mild symptoms, which means that it could be very difficult for a drone—or even a human—to determine that they have been infected.

According to Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of people infected with the virus will be asymptomatic but still able to pass the illness along to others.

Republished from TheMindUnleashed.com under Creative Commons

The post Pandemic Drones to Monitor Crowds From Above to Detect People With Fevers in US appeared first on We Are Change.

Arrested For Calling Someone A MAN In The U.K –

Not Funny! Memes Illegal Under Insane Law –

Make sure to follow us on Steemit and BitTube too.

The post Why Europe is DOOMED! appeared first on We Are Change.

Please let me know if you think I am wrong in the comment section below.

Timestamp is 8:03 for the most important part of this video:

Visit our MAIN SITE for more breaking news https://wearechange.org/

PATREON https://www.patreon.com/WeAreChange?alert=1&ty=h
SNAPCHAT: LukeWeAreChange
FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/LukeWeAreChange
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/lukewearechange
STEEMIT: https://steemit.com/@lukewearechange

OH YEAH since we are not corporate or government owned help us out https://wearechange.org/donate

We take Crypto Coins

Bitcoin – 1F6oeUnhXfr5UMC95apbJg7CLjm3BUrT8V
Dash – XiZebHViTKxjngJ8U8Gekbz34XDcMjKe29
ETH — 0x9124589c4eAD555F04a7214214c86EA80E129abB

The post Las Vegas Mass Murder: A Deeper Perspective and Understanding appeared first on We Are Change.

In this video I will be discussing what fascism looks like, a former UK Prime Minister committing the worst act possible, a story about police fighting other police officers and the war on drugs. Plus other things to make you critically think and inform you.

As you may know, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, and unfortunately, I got sick. As a result, I just missed one of the biggest stories. That is the Catalan independence movement. In which police officers from the local Catalan and Barcelona police clashed with the national police force of Spain. These clashes took place during a vote for Catalan’s independence from the Spanish government.

It wasn’t just police officers clashing with other police but also with firefighters from the Catalan district. They got brutalized and beat by the National Spanish police who in large numbers swarmed the Catalan area to prevent the vote for independence from happening.

I have previously covered Spain’s protest movements including the “Indignados” which happened before Occupy Wall Street. I can tell you firsthand that the Spanish National Guard does not play around. They are one of the most difficult and brutal police departments in the world to deal with and I think everyone realizes that right now.

The AP is saying that over 460 people are injured so far in Catalonia. In my experiences that number won’t be even close. Many people are injured from the videos that I see online. Reports are pouring in all over social media.

This government control was not done to protect the public from protests but direct action to prevent the Catalan Independence Referendum.

Masked men from the Spanish government and national police force came in and ripped away the ballot boxes and voting booths. They ripped them away from the people for wanting to cast their votes against the Spanish government. Leaving even the elderly beaten and bloodied on the streets of Barcelona. They even went after a man and his dog.

Shocking images of grandmothers with bloodied heads and masked men taking away people. Police are detaining hundreds using the pure brute force of government repression. As this government caused, chaos continues in Barcelona there are other groups singing fascists anthems and performing Nazi salutes on the streets of the Spanish Capital of Madrid.

Google has lent their support to the Spanish government by censoring voting location applications.

U.S. president Donald Trump and other world leaders have put their support behind the Spanish government.

A government that not so long ago was an actual fascist regime. Tensions between the Spanish government and the Catalonia people have been ongoing for decades. Tensions have not been higher since the fall of Franco’s military dictatorship in the 1970s.

The main issues here are not only historical but economic. The Catalan government claim they pay nearly twelve billion dollars to the Spanish tax authorities each year. Money which they say does not go back to Catalonia.

The Spanish government claims that the numbers are more complicated and that there isn’t an official amount. They are also saying that the Catalan Independence vote is a violation of people’s voting rights and privacy. That the vote and referendum are “illegal.”

The more that you try to repress ideas the more popular they can become. The Catalan independence movement is now stronger than ever. I see growing international support for the Catalan people. This is likely only being the beginning of a conflict.

We will be keeping a close eye on this and hopefully, I won’t get sick next time.

The Kurdish people in the Middle East are also looking for independence.

I think this is a critical story since there are several countries actively involved in the Kurdish independence movement. We do not hear much about it in the US mainstream media. Just a few days ago on September 25th, the Kurdistan region held a referendum on independence with a majority (92.7%) voting in favor of seceding from Iraq. This newly established state has gained support from many neoconservative House of Representatives members including John McCain.

John McCain made a secret trip to Syria last week, and you know wherever he goes that something untoward is happening. Other Neoconservatives idealists like the Prime Minister of Israel president Benjamin Netanyahu have fully supported the Kurdish independence movement. If it happens would create a better geopolitical situation for the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

However, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey which have been at odds with those countries. That is why Israel supported the Kurdish independence movement. The president of Turkey claimed that Mossad supposedly interfered in their independence vote a few days ago. Israel denied this as usual. This is an important story to me because it could lead to another potential conflict in the Middle East. An area that is already riddled with conflict and sectarian violence.

Various religions that have helped make the Middle East the ruined place that it is today. Hezbollah leaders connected to the Iranian government are saying that this could lead to an internal war. This hasn’t happened so far, but the domestic implications are very grave.

Iraq does not want Kurdish independence because it would take away a very oil-rich area.

The Iraqi government has issued the Kurdish government an ultimatum ordering them to hand over their airports and control of the borders. If they don’t, they say they will issue an air embargo on the Kurdish region. This has sparked a closer alliance between Iraq and Iran which are will be conducting a joint military exercise. This is going to be a show of force against the Kurds. The Iraqi parliament authorized the Prime Minister of Iraq to deploy troops into the Kurdish state-controlled areas. We’re looking at a succession that could be far more violent than what has occurred in Spain.

Interestingly enough Partisan Girl who is very critical of the Kurds just had her Facebook account deleted.

There is also alleged video from ISIS members saying that they are forbidden to attack the Kurds inside of Syria and Iraq. This would make sense but hasn’t been confirmed.

What do you think about the Kurdish independence movement? Are you for or are you against it? I’m looking forward to your comments.

In more shocking and disturbing news today we are learning that former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Edward Richard George Heath is being investigated. According to a police report, he abused 42 children including boys as young as 11. An official investigation by the police discovered that the head of the United Kingdom was a pedophile. This should be shocking news that someone at such a high level of government could commit such atrocious, horrible acts and then never face justice for it. Ted Heath has already passed away, and he will never face any judicial system for the horrible crimes that he has committed. Lives that he has irrevocably damaged.

It should be shocking to everyone the numbers of pedophiles within governments. People like Anthony Weiner who was just sentenced to 21 months in prison after sexually courting a 15-year-old girl on Skype and Snapchat. The story becomes more disturbing when you learn about the various complicities involving the media and the entertainment industry. Including the BBC cover-up of the Jimmy Savile pedophile scandal. We are now seeing the New York Times statements in an op-ed entitled why they “Why I admire Anthony Weiner.”

I am at a loss for words as happens so many times when doing this job. I still don’t get this. It is obvious that politicians should never be trusted. There are a lot of evil people only looking out for their best interests and often getting involved in really creepy dark magic occult stuff. This seems to happen regularly within the higher echelons of authority. Places where people appear to become addicted to power. Powers that they will do anything to keep it and expand.

We are learning that the Trump administration is now ordering Facebook to hand over private information on anti-Trump activists. The Department of Justice is demanding Facebook turn over the personal information on potentially six thousand of its users. Facebook will likely comply with this request. The federal government will have access to the personal data including private messages of nearly 6,000 users who simply liked the “Disrupt J20” page.

This is a massive overreach of power that would send Trump supporters rallying if Hillary Clinton had done the same thing. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had done this, Trump supporters would blow a gasket.

I don’t like any government authority, and I think we should all agree that this is an overstep of power. It’s crucial for Trump supporters to raise the alarms for this. If in the next election a Democrat comes in they will also have the same power and authority over you.

A report shows that the U.S. government has ruined the lives of 653242 people.

Marijuana is something that I don’t partake in, but I believe in the freedom of others to do as they wish. With cigarettes and alcohol being legal this prohibition looks as ridiculous as prohibition in the 1920’s.

A prohibition that is being run by the police state and the prison industrial complex with help from the pharmaceutical industry. It needs to end.

People need to realize that just because “your” person of choice is in public office does not mean that you should support the expansion of their powers. Since the next government official will likely be against you and that same office will use those powers against you. State interests are likely never in your best interest.

US Senator Chris Murphy pointed out that we spend six hundred billion dollars a year on the military, but we can’t get more than 500 troops and 50 helicopters to Puerto Rico. That should make you think for a little bit about where those interests lay.

I finally have some good news. The European Parliament has banned Monsanto. The E.U. has restricted Parliamentary access to Monsanto after allegations surfaced that it unduly influenced studies into the safety of many commonly used pesticides.

The Europeans did a good thing here since we know the power of Monsanto lobbyists and scientists. They have underhandedly allowed this mega-corporation to be one of the largest food suppliers of this world. Many of the American FDA directors were also former Monsanto executives. They won’t be able to buy government as they did previously.

That is the news for you today. Remember it is only ignorance that is allowing society to be the way it is right now. What will stop this ignorance is education. Empowering yourself and understanding what’s happening in this world. Changing your decisions that will make an impact.

That is what I believe deep down, and that’s why I do this every single day. Stay tuned, subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you want to see us grow and expand, please support us on wearechange.org/donate because unlike the whorestream media presstitutes we don’t have any corporations or governments dictating what we can say and do. We are supported by you and you alone. I love you guys. Thank you so much for allowing me to have this incredible opportunity. Stay tuned for more.

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/WeAreChange

We gratefully accept Bitcoin too: 12HdLgeeuA87t2JU8m4tbRo247Yj5u2TVP

Donate on our site: https://wearechange.org/donate

FOLLOW WE ARE CHANGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

SnapChat: LukeWeAreChange

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LukeWeAreChange

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange

Instagram: http://instagram.com/lukewearechange

Steemit: @lukewearechange

WE ARE CHANGE MERCHANDISE

Rep WeAreChange merch proudly: https://wearechange.org/store

The post Truth About Kurdish and Catalan Independence and a Vile UK Prime Minister Exposed appeared first on We Are Change.