Every 28 Hours a Black Person is Killed by Law Enforcement.

FBI statistics are becoming increasingly race neutral in their reportage, and for a good reason, they don't want you and I to know the truth: that, despite our Black president, racism did not disappear, it's alive and well, albeit, much more intelligent, a new invisible racism, if you will.

The disproportionate number or percentage of African Americans that are mass incarcerated (prisons are criminogenic--breeders of crime), murdered as a result of the "war on drugs",  extra-judicially executed (killing by police/security guards--non self-defense--that happens without trial or any due process), not to mention the  doubled rate of unemployment and lack of opportunity is clearly a systematic attack on the Black community. This does not bode well for future generations.

There is no centralized database that documents killings by police, extrajudicial or otherwise, so Kali Akuno of the Malcolom X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) and his colleagues, combed through all the mainstream media and police reports from 2012, cross referencing the names, race, factors and circumstances surrounding their deaths, and then following up on leads, concluding in the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement report: A Curriculum for Operation Ghetto Storm: Report on the 2012 Extrajudicial Killings of 313 Black People by Police, Security Guards and Vigilantes that every 28 hours, a Black person--primarily Black males between the ages of 18 and 30--is executed by law enforcement. At the very least, without due process, 313 Black people were killed in 2012, most of whom were unarmed. Please note that this does not include the number of Latinos.

“The United States government is intent on creating more and more laws and practices that target Black, oppressed, and impoverished communities. The aim is social control to maintain the status quo, and they will go to whatever extent necessary, including extrajudicial killings and acts of genocide, to achieve this aim." -- Kali Akuno, organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement..

The government structuring of underground economies, in particular, the drug/sex trade, and its international circuit of capital underlies and perpetuates the ongoing attack on Black America, which relies on police brutality, police brutality that is rooted in the American system itself, a system based on violence, inequality, racism, white privilege, and profit-seeking exploitation.

From Your World News:

“What does this do? This message -- this is a very skillful message used by racists to make the whites who aren’t racists think that the rate of crime in the Black community is so high. This keeps the Black community in the image of a criminal. It makes it appear that anyone is the Black community is a criminal. And as soon as this impression is given, then it makes it possible, or paves the way to set up a police-type state in the Black community, getting the full approval of the white public when the police come in, use all kind of brutal measures to suppress Black people, crush their skulls, sic dogs on them, and things of that type. And the whites go along with it. Because they think that everybody over there’s a criminal anyway. This is what --the press does this. -- Malcolm X”

“They accuse us of what they themselves are guilty of. This is what the criminal always does. They’ll bomb you, then accuse you of bombing yourself. They’ll crush your skull then accuse you of attacking him. This what the racists have always done -- the criminal, the one who has criminal processes developed to a science. Their practice is a criminal action. And then use the press to make you victim -- look like the victim is the criminal, and the criminal is the victim.” -- Malcolm X

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Exiled Former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s Elevation to Number One Domestic Terrorist on the FBI List?

One must ask the question, why--especially in light of COINTELPRO repression, the FBI's counterintelligence program's effect on black leadership and their terrorism in the black community--since 2005, did the FBI double the $1 million bounty on exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s head, naming her the number one domestic terrorist? Assata's a 60+ year old grandmother and this event--the killing of New Jersey officer--occurred forty years ago! Why, so many years later, are they putting former political activist, Assata Shakur in the limelight?  Why are they bringing this old issue back into the public eye?

And then, the mysterious death of Malcolm X's 28-year old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz in Mexico, where he was to meet with labor organizers, and who, much like his grandfather, was outspoken about the mistreatment of African Americans in the US. and who, much like his grandfather, has been maligned in the press, in the grandson's case, for his troubled past, in particular, an unfortunate incident that he was, indeed, responsible for when he was 12-years old, but an incident that he already paid the price.  Moreover, like his grandfather, he was constantly monitored by the U.S. government.  Back in February, Shabazz was arrested by the FBI on unknown charges while en route to Iran to attend the Hollywoodism International Conference. Shabazz released a lengthy statement via former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's Facebook page back in March addressing the arrest and stating that federal agents were not involved.

I sincerely appreciate the care and concern of the People over my well-being after Press TV’s report of the most recent events which have transpired regarding the F.B.I.’s harassment of me.

Given the storm of lies, and half-truths that come with being associated with being the descendant of El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, also known as Minister Malcolm X, any and everything that I do; great or small, good or not so good, real or imagined is subject to controversy. However, in this missive I will take this opportunity to properly and fully disclose what transpired.

In the beginning of 2012 I had been informed that I was under investigation by the F.B.I.’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y.

The agents of this division-and in collaboration with others-have visited several residences of which I was known by them to frequent. However, they would never come when they knew me to actually be there. They would leave their cards with the residents asking them to tell me to call them, and then would tell surrounding residents to observe the house and to notify them if they saw me.

These are the homes of long-time friends, and very close supporters. Yet, when federal agents begin knocking on someone’s door on multiple occasions to snoop, and ask questions, whether one is guilty of an offense or not, it’s enough to coerce people into distancing themselves from you. This cheap tactic employed by the F.B.I. is a means of agitation and harassment. They seek to neutralize my networking abilities.

They have visited locations in California, Chicago, Miami and most aggressively in New York.

People were advising me that if I had nothing to hide, then I should just contact them as requested and cooperate. Though I must say that in these kind of matters I am of a particular ethic. For one, I have been engaged in no criminal activity of their concern, and they could have located me if they so chose. Secondly, I don’t recognize the authority in them beckoning me.

It wasn’t even until my mother informed me that they had been contacting her that I truly became agitated. She advised me to see what they had to say, and so I obliged the next time they came around looking for me. My encounter was with 2 federal agents of Goshen, N.Y.’s Counter Terrorism Task Foci Unit. The primary agent identified himself as Special Agent Tom Brozicky.

They expressed concern over-as they put it-my “international travels”; I have lived and studied in Damascus, Syria for over a year, and now the U.S. is instigating conflict within the very same region; I went on ex-congresswoman/former presidential candidate Cynthia Mckinney’s delegation along with Dr. Randy Short to Libya, and met with Leader Muammar Gadhafi one week prior to N.A.T.O. intervention and I was most recently getting ready to travel to Tehran, Iran to be a participant of the International Fajr Film Festival and give a lecture addressing the issues of Hollywood and violence:

- Modern Violence and Terrorism,
- Provoking clashes between religions and populations

I was picked up by authorities after I filed for a visa to Iran, and 2 days prior to my departure. A detective squad from the City of Middletown Police Department surrounded me in the street about 2 blocks from where I was residing. They asked me my name, and I gave them an alias, but they were already well aware of who I actually was. I didn’t tell them my real name because I didn’t know what was going on. When I was brought before a Judge of City of Middletown court I was surprised to be informed that I was being charged with Grand Larceny, and False Impersonation charge. Then I was sent to jail, and told to appear again 7 days later. Then following court date the bogus charge of Grand Larceny, which they only put to justify stopping me in first place, was dropped. And they left me to face the False Impersonation. I was offered 90 days for the offense of giving the authorities the wrong name which I declined before bailing out after 2 weeks.

When I was being held within the belly of the beast on trumped up charges, to my rescue came the journalist at Press TV based in Iran. My relationship with powerful and progressive news outfit began in April of 2012, and prior to that I had discussions with their journalist regarding current events internationally. I developed a positive rapport with some of them, and as a result was invited to travel to Iran to discuss the impact of Hollywood in stereotyping Muslims, Iranians and African people. From January 15th through 18th, 2013, I was a featured interviewee for the Press TV documentary “The Façade of the American Dream”. And prior to my date of departure to Iran, Lifetime television released a television bio-picture called “Betty and Coretta” which was a sensationalistic misrepresentation of my grandparents, my mother and me. This film aside from being poorly acted, and shallow in depth also threatened to inflame old controversies, and open unhealed wounds and to remind the public of sad outcomes without ever identifying B.O.S.S.I., the C.I.A., F.B.I. and other forces that set the climate for my grandfather’s assassination, and made my family a long-suffering casualty of COINTELPRO, and other anti-Black repression programs. Naturally, anything done to stir up old hatred of The Shabazz Family will impact me as the name-sake, and first male heir of Malcolm X, and whether I am high or low in fortunes does not exempt me from this reality.

The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit and tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.

For several months prior to my arrest in late January, 2013 I faced a pattern of harassment from law enforcement which is usually reserved for important figures. On Thursday, November 1, 2012 @ 11:53pm in the park circle area of Middletown, N.Y. I was stopped by officers of the Middletown Police Department, and given a ticket for “J-Walking” (crossing in the middle of the street), which then escalated into a “Disorderly Conduct” supposedly because of the exchange of words that I had with the officers. I told them that they couldn’t possibly be serious for writing me a “J-Walking ticket”, that I didn’t appreciate how they were treating me and that they

shouldn’t be looking at me as less of a man because they were in police uniform. For this I was arrested, the officers stole the little amount of money that I had on me, they then stripped me and threw me in a freezing precinct cell for the remainder of that early morning. I was finally taken before the “Judge Steven Brockett” around 1:30pm. He gave me an unreasonable bail, and then ordered that I be remanded to the Orange county Jail.

This penalty may seem a bit extreme or harsh to most of you, but here is where it gets worse: On Tuesday, October 30th, exactly 2 nights prior to this incident, the same officer “J Berman” who wrote me the ticket for “J-Walking” and “Disorderly Conduct” stopped me coming from out of a store in the same area, and questioned me as to what I was doing.

I told him that I was coming out of the store. He asked to see what I bought which was a pack of sun flower seeds. I had actually just so happened to be eating a few while he was talking to me, and I spit one of the shells on the ground. At this point officer “J Berman” threatened to write me a ticket for littering. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded, but I went home that night.

Yet, it still doesn’t even begin there. I had an encounter with other officers of the Midletown Police Department one week prior to officer “J Berman’s” threats to write me a ticket for spitting a sun flower seed on the ground: I was coming out of a restaurant with my mother, and her friend. As the 3 of us entered the car to leave 2 police cars converged on our vehicle, and boxed us in. My mother was petrified. With guns drawn I was then ordered to step out of the back seat. I asked them why to which they replied that I had several warrants for my arrest. I told them that they were mistaken, but I still complied with their request. Humiliated in front of all on-lookers I was then thrown on the car while the officers ripped through my pockets. After they were done they said that it was my lucky day because I actually didn’t have any warrants at all, and so I was free to go! One of these officer’s name was “R. Ribeiro”…

You may wonder if it could possibly get any worse than this. Well, it does! Approximately 3 weeks prior to the public humiliation of my mother, and me by “R Ribeiro” and another officer of the Middletown Police Department I found myself subject to the discrimination and prejudice of Mayor Joseph M. Destefano of Middletown, N.Y. himself. A friend, and I went out to eat at a restaurant in Middletown, N.Y. which is owned by the Mayor, and to our

surprise he appeared from nowhere and asked us to leave. When we inquired as to why he stated that officials of the Middletown Police Department told him not to let us patronize his establishment. Mind you that this goes without incident.

As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust and heinous actions are tolerated and allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe. Just as Huewy P Newton of the Black Panther Party stated that police are in the white community to protect and serve, yet occupy ours like a foreign troop… I tell you that we shouldn’t fall victim to the conditioning of feeling inferior or fearful at the presence of law enforcement for no apparent reason.

With that being said, I was not arrested by federal agents. I was taken in by a squad from the City of Middletown, N.Y.’s Police Department. I was not being held in an “undisclosed location” so to speak. I was actually being held in the Orange County Jail in Goshen, N.Y. However, from the time that I was booked at the precinct, to standing before a Judge the next day who told me to come back in 7 more, to being processed at the Orange County Jail and up until 7 days later I was not permitted to make any calls to notify anyone of my status; as though I had just been kidnapped from of the street.

Unfortunately, until this day my family hasn’t been fully abreast of my situation as I haven’t had the opportunity to properly consult with any of them. Dr. Randy Short who notified Press TV of my situation is a close comrade of mine who was on our delegation in Libya. Media reports from Press TV about my situation were not intended to create controversy. In reality, I have a few associates that are affiliated with this reputable International media outlet, and they had expected to meet with me in Iran. So when I disappeared, and rumors spread, the inability to get concise information from a credible source prompted them to rouse public attention on my behalf, for which I am grateful. In April of 2012 I had the opportunity to be a guest analyst/contributor on Press TV. This network has a large following all over the world, and millions find it’s news, documentaries and programming to be both an educational, and insightful alternative to the conglomerated, and highly biased mainstream American and British news media. Regarding the Source magazine, nothing that they published was vetted by me, and was made by persons, at best, vaguely familiar with my situation. Further, I have never had an affiliation or relationship with The Source, nor have they ever directly consulted with me about anything. -- Malcolm X's 28-year old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz

From Miguel Suarez:

"To who responds, I am Miguel Suarez, leader of a labor movement in the United States and I am accompanied by Malcolm X’s grandson. His name is Malcolm Shabazz and he wanted to see if it is possible to to speak and publish our history in their [publication]…what we saw in Mexico City."[..]He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didn’t allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital,” said Ruiz. “This is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime.”

Regarding the Assata Shakur issue, Dhoruba bin Wahad, former Black Panther and co-founder of the Black Liberation Army claims that domestic law enforcement--FBI, Department of Homeland Security, etc.-- is at odds with Obama. Why?  President Obama's agenda to "reemphasize economic development and economic cooperation" in Latin America, in particular Cuba, and that will require covertly deconstructing the Cuba embargo and to "co-opt and counter the effects of the new so-called leftist geopolitics there".  In order to make this possible, the extraordinarily profitable--to domestic law enforcement--"war on drugs" will have to take a back seat, which probably means a substantial loss of funding.    The US is reasserting dominance in a post Castro-Chavez Latin America as the geo-economic center for Latin American nations.  Dhourba bin Wahad claims that “the recent Jay-Z/Beyonce trip was about opening up Cuba” to U.S. tourism, “to disrupt and undo the Cuban revolution.”  In other words, he believes that Shakur’s elevation to number one domestic terrorist on the FBI list “represents the disgruntlement of U.S. law enforcement” with this  new approach towards Latin America.

There is no doubt that Assata Shakur is a pawn in the chess game of US imperial diplomacy, but this the only explanation? Hardly.

"Assata Shakur could not have been named “most wanted terrorist” without the explicit approval of the first black president and his attorney general. In doing so, they have declared open war on the black liberation movement, something that J. Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO were only able to do in secret. [snip]

Forty years later though, we live in the era of secret kidnappings, regular torture, ghost prisons and executive branch murder by drones or special ops teams. Today the federal Department of Homeland Security funds counter-terrorism fusion centers which openly disseminate the kind of inflammatory and fanciful disinformation to local police and security contractors about those the government wants targeted that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI agents had to come around and whisper in their ears. Now that is progress.-- Bruce Dixon

Here's another take:



One thing for sure, putting Assata on the Top 10 Most Wanted Terrorist list will keep Cuba on the state sponsors of terror list, along with Iran, Sudan, and Syria, and somehow, I doubt President Obama objects.

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President Obama: The More Effective Evil?

For some time now, Black Agenda Report has been calling the Obama administration not the lesser of two but the more effective evil, able to enact measures that white Democrats or Republicans could not without massive public opposition.

Is President Obama the black face of white supremacy?
So what has the impact of Barack Obama's presidency--America's first black presidency--been on the African American community, who has always possessed an "instinctive distrust of power" as Glen Ford says, and humanity at large?  What happens when that power has a black face? Is the Obama administration simply the continuation of the Bush administration?  Is President Obama the white establishment's perfect weapon to pacify the black community, normally the most progressive constituency?  Is Obama's "Race to the Top" Bush's "No Child Left Behind" on steroids?What impact has Obama's presidency had on the legacy of African American's resisting and opposing the United States' imperial wars?  What impact have Barack Obama's policies had on the African continent?  Was the election of Barack Obama the death of black politics?  All of these questions and more are answered in the documentary below.

"The more we have black people reaching the higher ranks of the presidency, the business world, politics, entertainment, even...it  makes it appear to people on the outside looking in that we're co-signing onto this or that we actually are doing much better than we are.  You wouldn't know that there are 2.3 million people in prison--we make up almost half of them--that we're being murdered in the streets...and you can just go through the list of all the social problems that exist.  But it makes it look as though we're doing much better than we are even though things are just as bad, if not worse since Martin Luther King died.  It makes it look as if we're co-signing onto these things being done."--  Ben Woods, Students Against Mass Incarceration

Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish "recovery" that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study from the Urban Institute. “It was already dismal,” Darrick Hamilton, a professor at the New School in New York, said of the wealth gap between black and white households. “It got even worse.”

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Choosing Between Christ and the Church: A Little Matter of Genocide

Rev. Kevin Annett's documentary (below) reveals Canada's darkest secret: under the guise of religion, the deliberate extermination of native peoples and the theft of their land.

The Indian Residential School System in Canada was an extension in evolution of an older system of genocide that began as early as 1540 in Eastern Canada and during the 1840s on the Pacific coast. It's foundational purpose was the deliberate and systematic eradication of all indigenous populations that would not leave their lands and resources, abolish their own cultures and languages. That purpose has never wavered but has assumed different forms and strategies over the last century and adapted to the times and regions of which it played out as European conquest moved westward across the continent. By the time that residential schools were established across Canada, around 1900, "the plague" itself had exterminated most Aboriginal people in a genocide whose details are largely unrecorded and perhaps, forgotten.

The parents of the children who attended these schools were forced into signing away guardianship to the principal who ran the residential school in accordance with "The Indian Act", race based legislation that legally separates indigenous into a separate and inferior class of citizenship under the control of one man, the federal administrator of Indian Affairs. The Indian Act allows aboriginal people to be expelled from their homes on reserves lands, arbitrarily jailed, subjected to involuntary medical treatment and denied the right to elect their own leaders. Under the Indian Act, native people are legal wards of the Canadian state in perpetuity, having the same status as children or mentally incompetent. This racist legislation has remained relatively unchanged since it was enacted in 1876.

So approximately two decades ago, Annett blew the whistle on his own church, regarding the more than "50,000 children [at Indian Reservation Schools in British Columbia Canada] who died from beatings, starvation, rape and torture, or being deliberately exposed to tuberculosis and left to cough their lives away in squalor and terror: all at the hands of Christian men and women who have never been prosecuted for their crimes." The annual death rate at the Indian Reservation Schools was 50%!

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A Cesspit of Predators and Paedophiles.

Ben Fellows with wife Julia

Former child actor, Ben Fellows, now aged 37, exposes the behind the scenes culture of depravity and hedonistic excess that underlies our entertainment industry and power structure.   As he says, it's a “cesspit of predators and paedophiles”.  Young and vulnerable children--like him, when he first started out at 13-years old--are passed around and abused like sexual playthings.

Fellows claims he was offered by his agent Sylvia Young to Tom Cruise for sex, but he said Tom chose someone else. Cruise then proceeded to take this boy back  to a bedroom and have sex while he waited with his agent. That's just the tip of the iceberg. He also tells of a 13-year old Australian soap opera actress taken back to a hotel room by a producer and subsequently raped in front of everyone by Dolph Lundgren. He was advised to make a police statement to protect himself from Ken Clarke who was suing him for the penis-touching allegations because once allegations are subject of a police inquiry, the alleger cannot be sued.

“The list of extremely well-known actors, casting directors, directors, producers, writers and executives who abused me, or attempted to abuse me sexually, while I was a child actor would make the public sick.” -- Ben Fellows

From the tape of the police interview in November 2012, Ben Fellows explains (videos below) the seduction and exploitation of naive young actors, and the process of blackmail so intrinsic to keeping people quiet.
(The following quote may not be 100% accurate as I couldn't understand a few words)

“It's never, you know, go and meet that person...they want to have sex with you, it's they would be good for your career, and it's up to you what you would do. Yea? Uh, Collin Farrell basically tells the story of when he got picked by his agent, his big CIA agent I think he was, and he said basically, you know, you have two choices, the one guy who would give him a blow job and the guy who wouldn't...well, Collin Farrell's Colin Farrell, he admitted himself, that's what he did to get his agent to get into the industry. Yea? Because this is the currency.

What they do is they take you, and hope that you're damaged goods in some way. Say for example, I've got an adoption story, right? That was always used to get me to do stuff...they would always bring up my adoption story in some way. [...] Say for example, you're a shoplifter, or something like that, they can use that. Because they can stop people from going to jail They pick these kids up, especially in LA, off the beach, and show them a good time...Nicholas Cage whose related to Francis Ford Coppola...he found Johnny Depp, right? There are these key individuals...like Max Clifford who get young people for free at these events...I was 14-years old, and I was drinking champagne, snorting cocaine...I was doing...you know, that's why people don't come out, because they're embarrassed...I'm embarrassed. [...]

You get these images of people...that's how they present themselves...it's an illusion. You know, like somebody, but just know that they're a real person anytime you don't know anything they do. And, they're completely different. There's people out there that I say, 'Look, you know, these people are like monsters that look very good, and they will eat you alive.' Right? These people are charming...these people are lovely. They invite you into their lives. They will, you know, give you lots of things, buy you clothes...so, I was getting lots of clothes, really, from lots of people I met.

Fellow's email to Tap:

“Hi Tap

I hope you are well. I've just written an article about Kenneth Clarke which you may find interesting. Also I've uploaded my police statement to utube as well as the Met Police telling me why Ken Clarke won't be questioned. My utube channel is benfellows170

Ken Clarke MP Is Above The Law And Cannot Be Questioned Says Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit

Is it acceptable for anyone to sexually assault, grope, fondle, touch up, abuse, rape and murder your children?

Well, according to the Specialist Crime Directorate Child Abuse Investigation Command or the Pedophile Unit, if you are a member of parliament then it is acceptable to do just that."

Ben Fellows and the Queen

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Biometric Database of All Americans Buried in 800 Pages of Immigration Reform

Republicans and Democrats may not agree on much, but they certainly do agree on ever-increasing government intrusion and power.  One of the big problem with all the so-called "security” legislation created since 9/11 is that it, unquestionably, will be used against American citizens who stand up to power. That's already happening.

Our Orwellian government already tracks and monitors everything we do, but apparently the political class is not satisfied. Hidden in the 800 pages of immigration reform " is a mandate for the creation of a national biometric database of virtually every American (take notice that the question of fining the corporations for employing illegal immigrants never comes up, because corporations thrive on cheap labor and our government is all about keeping corporations profitable as possible).

"The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.

Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in.

“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”

For now, the legislation allows the database to be used solely for employment purposes. But historically such limitations don’t last. The Social Security card, for example, was created to track your government retirement benefits. Now you need it to purchase health insurance.

“The Social Security number itself, it’s pretty ubiquitous in your life,” Calabrese said.

David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees with the ACLU’s fears.

“The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities,” he said. “It’s like a national ID system without the card.”

For the moment, the debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee is focused on the parameters of legalization for unauthorized immigrants, a border fence and legal immigration in the future.

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Neo-Empire: The Myth of Pax Americana.

Empires are built on crushed armies, destroyed cities, incinerated crops, slaughtered herds, raped women, enslaved prisoners of war, oppressively over-taxed population, and even genocide. To the contrary of what we've been told, the American empire also rose out of these ashes. But ours is more of a neo-empire, built on neo-imperialism and/or neo-colonialism, which, allows for the husk or shell of independence--the illusion of independence--but takes the substance-- control over that nation's industry,  imports and exports and relationships with other nations.  We allow conquered countries to fly their own flag, use their own currency, speak their own language, on the condition that our military can enter at any time to do whatever we want.

The empire builders of today tell us "we’re" fighting for the security and survival of our nation. They tell us "we’re" fighting for democracy...to spread democracy. They tell us "we’re" fighting for humanitarian reasons. They tell us "we're" fighting to oppose dictators that we put in power.  If this is true, then why, the larger the military industrial complex gets, and the larger the security industrial complex gets, are we, the people finding ourselves increasingly less secure, less free, less humanitarian, not to mention, exceedingly falling under the absolute or supreme power of government?  And why, since the implementation of the Patriot Act I and II, the NDAA, super-advanced technology, unprecedented military power, more than 1,000 global military bases, not to mention trillion-dollar undeclared  "wars", not to mention, our domestic wars:  "war on terror",  "war on drugs" etc., do they continue to tell us the world is even more dangerous than ever?  The bottom line is there is only one beneficiary of empire, and it's not us as the following chart clearly demonstrates.

Cui Bono? To whose benefit is the empire arranged?

So now  the global establishment war drums beat for Syria, the new face of the "war on terror", or, it could be said, indirectly beating for Iran. The U.S. claims that if evidence surfaces showing Syria used chemical weapons...well, it's a game changer. Despite the fact that within the last decade,  the U.S./Israel has used depleted uranium and white phosphorus against Iraqi civilians.  Nevertheless, the telescopic sight or scope is being adjusted until the cross-hairs are centered on the bullseye: Syria in an on-going regional escalation. Perhaps WWIII.

"...we’re going to attack and destroy the governments in 7 countries in five years – we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.” -- Gen. Wesley Clark

“The Romans have constantly had the same cause, a cause for making war upon all nations, peoples and kings. The insatiable desire for empire and wealth.” -- King Mithridates, one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and successful enemies, who engaged three of the prominent generals from the late Roman Republic in the Mithridatic Wars

“You find in the Romans an arrogance which no reasonable submission can elude. Briggons of the world, they have exhausted the land by their indiscriminate plunder. They create a desolation and call it peace. Our goods and money are consumed by taxation. Our land is stripped of its harvest to fill their granaries.” -- Chief Calgacus, chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy (present day Scotland)  who fought the Roman army of Gnaeus Julius Agricola at the Battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in AD 83 or 84.

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Another Boston-Like Lockdown: Students Had to Use Buckets Instead of Bathrooms

Several schools in the Madison Wisconsin area went into lockdown after a Chicago fugitive, Paris Poe,  wanted for parole violation and questioning in a murder investigation, was spotted at a hotel in Madison, WI.  Poe had previously been imprisoned for armed robbery. Because of the sighting, a large area  was then locked down and swarmed with SWAT teams in what resulted in a day-long manhunt.

Reverse 911 calls were made to all landlines asking residents to lock their doors and remain inside. Police asked all the businesses in their area to close and lock their doors. All six schools in the area were placed on lockdown and surrounded by police. In Verona, no-one could enter or exit the schools. In some classrooms, children were told to crouch under their desks for hours.  Children were prohibited from using the bathroom, and were told to urinate in buckets.. Parents could not pick up their children since entry or exit was prohibited. Once the lockdown was ended, parents were required to present ID to take their children home.

Later in the day, Poe was arrested far outside the locked down area. He faces no charges in WI and will be transported back to IL.

All of this for a man wanted for questioning and a parole violation? I don't think so. More like any excuse to instill fear in the hearts of children and condition the people to accept "martial law" as the new normal.

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Instilling Fear: The Exercise of Terror on Unwitting Individuals.

Teachers gathered for a meeting on April 26 were horrified when two masked men wearing hoodies and wielding handguns burst into the Pine Eagle Charter School in Halfway Oregon on April 26, and began firing blanks. The 15 instructors did not realize that it was an emergency drill and not a real attack.

Why?

To prepare teachers for the real thing, of course. The exercise was a drill, designed to test Pine Eagle's preparation for an assault by "active shooters" who were, in reality, members of the school staff. School officials say they will train teachers to better respond to a surprise attack. Thank God, students were not present on school grounds when the drill occurred, as they were home for an in-service day.

That's right. Two men wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts stormed the meeting room and began firing. At first, the teachers didn't know what was happening until they noticed that the shooting was not drawing blood, thus, part of a test. 

"Principal Cammie DeCastro said it became clear very quickly just how many of the school's 15 teachers would have survived. The answer: "Not many," she said.

Elementary teacher Morgan Gover, 31, said only two teachers would have lived to tell the tale. She admitted being scared, and also acknowledged she would have been among the casualties, having taken several fake direct hits from the shooters.

"I'll tell you, the whole situation was horrible," she said. "I got a couple in the front and a couple in the back."

Imagine if someone in attendance had a heart attack, or, in a moment of panic, did some serious damage to someone else. What if one of the teachers, already in fear of an attack, was armed? What about the emotional trauma? And, where is the anger? To be sure, someone(s) is/are angry; however, we'll never hear from those people because that would ruin everything!

Sadly, this abusive "exercise" has more to do with instilling fear in the population because a fearful public is much easier to control and manipulate.

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The Message of the Media Circus: Accept Without Question!

In an atmosphere of growing anxiety, in which the true causes of our national condition are deliberately hidden and obfuscated by the political establishment and corporate media, there’s confusion and anger everywhere. Americans are badly informed, and downright ignorant about most things that affect their lives the most; meanwhile, saturated with things that have nothing to do with our lives at all. The motive is obvious. A misinformed and ignorant populace is much easier to control, so, we are constantly distracted from the illegal wars we're fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, etc., the untold number of military bases around the world, and of the ongoing huge transfer of wealth to the top .01%.

Despite the advanced state of technology, and the enormous wealth of our nation, we, the 99%, struggle more than ever to keep our heads above water, either trying to get or maintain a job, holding on to our homes, etc., so it's much easier to simply regurgitate mainstream talking points or mainstream headlines without questioning or researching the validity of the facts that supposedly support these talking points or headlines. Yet, repeatedly, the controlled corporate press has proved itself as anything but reliable. Their methods for getting around the truth are as old as the hills. Manipulate the facts. Create the "facts". And/or suppress the facts, to one degree or another. Sometimes the suppression includes not just vital details but the entire story itself, and if it’s not reported, if it’s not news...it never happened! And anything reported outside the mainstream media outlets are just wild "rumors" of paranoid and deranged conspiracy theorists...how convenient for the political/corporate/ruling class!

However, sometimes the media is forced to come half-clean--creating the impression of candor and honesty--due to overwhelming evidence circulating, now, much more common due to the split-second, around-the-world, real-time communication available today. Keep "Operation Earnest Voice" and Online Persona Management in mind. The Internet is flooded with agents defending the government/military and/or the press, and/or corporations/banks that are paid to harass people who question official stories. I mean, really, what could possibly motivate a person to spend hours on the Internet defending the establishment/corporatocracy?

If that doesn't work, muddy up the issue in question and characterize it as impossibly complicated, thus, the truth, unknowable. At the same time, require that the "conspiracy theorists" solve the problem completely, answering all questions to this muddled controversy. If that doesn't work, "bread and circuses". Distract, entertain, and captivate the public with sensational dreck!

Would all of this be necessary if the government and the press were truly working in the best interest of its citizens? No. The State is, increasingly, playing the role of an abusive parent who provides constant contradictions in an attempt to split the personality of the child, who knowing the truth, is made to attack themselves by being fed a constant diet of lies. This immobilizes the person who can no longer establish the truth within their own mind.

Americans, especially, are indoctrinated to believe in sacrosanct institutions and ideas--military, religion, higher education, certain mainstream press outlets (NPR, NY Times, Washington Post, etc.) that are above criticism of the "mindless" masses. The "military-patriotic indoctrination" alone is enough to stop anyone questioning what's really going on behind the scenes.

Take the unprecedented suicide rate in the military. No one questions whether or not this is true; whether it is, in fact, suicide that's occurring, or whether or not, the rate of suicide is indeed,  unprecedented.  I accepted this as fact until earning about the "suicide" of Seal Team Commanding Officer, Job W. Price. Not that it's an impossibility, but a suicide of an Officer of this grade raises many questions, not to mention that over 20 Seal Team members involved in the questionable capture and murder of Osama Bin Laden are now dead. The bottom line is that it raised the question of the possibility that the exceedingly high suicide rate may incorporate some first hand witnesses to events our government/military rather the public not know. It just seems as if the so-called suicide rate of those who seek to "right wrongs" is really high and out of proportion to the norm.

Remember, the original COINTELPRO--FBI conducted more than 2000 COINTELPRO operations (tactics employed to "disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize" the civil rights, black liberation, Puerto Rican independence, anti-war and student movements of the 1960s...to essentially preserve "the existing social and political order") before the programs were officially discontinued in April of 1971 after the "Citizen's Committee to Investigate the FBI" removed boxes of files from an FBI resident agency office in Media, PA--are still currently in use by  the FBI, CIA, NSA and other arms of the state.  They've learned their lessons, further insulating their actions from public scrutiny. Domestic covert operations have become a permanent feature of U.S. politics.

"Regardless of the unattractiveness or noisy militancy of some private citizens or organizations, the Constitution does not permit federal interference with their activities except through the criminal justice system, armed with its ancient safeguards. There are no exceptions. No federal agency, the CIA, the IRS, or the FBI, can be at the same time policeman, prosecutor, judge and jury. That is what constitutionally guaranteed due process is all about. It may sometimes be disorderly and unsatisfactory to some, but it is the essence of freedom...I suggest that the philosophy supporting COINTELPRO is the subversive notion that any public official, the President or a policeman, possesses a kind of inherent power to set aside the Constitution whenever he thinks the public interest, or "national security" warrants it. That notion is postulate of tyranny.— Congressman Don Edward, 1975

Cynthia McKinney said, "We would rather hold onto the myth than fight for the reality," in the documentary, American Blackout. That pretty much sums it up.

Links:

Guantanamo Attorney Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

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