Ominous Expansion of "Anti-Terrorism" Law Targeting Activists

[Goldstein1984]

Justice Department Prepares for Ominous Expansion of "Anti-Terrorism" Law Targeting Activists

Saturday 11 December 2010
by: Michael Deutsch, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

In late September, the FBI carried out a series of raids of homes and antiwar offices of public activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. Following the raids, the Obama Justice Department subpoenaed 14 activists to a grand jury in Chicago and also subpoenaed the files of several antiwar and community organizations. In carrying out these repressive actions, the Justice Department was taking its lead from the Supreme Court's 6-3 opinion last June in Holder v. the Humanitarian Law Project, which decided that nonviolent First Amendment speech and advocacy "coordinated with" or "under the direction of" a foreign group listed by the Secretary of State as "terrorist" was a crime.

More: http://www.truth-out.org/justice-department-prepares-expansion-laws-targeting-activists

*****************************

What strikes me in this article is that it's enough to "threaten US national security, foreign policy or economic interests" to make one an enemy of the state. Threatening economic interests is at the heart of strikes and boycotts. Simply protesting war or a trade treaty could be considered threatening foreign policy.

A government that is invoking the Espionage Act of 1917 to charge Julian Assange, and that is capable imprisoning and placing citizens on assassination lists without due process, should be considered capable of anything.

I foresee arrest warrants that look like the following:

Whereas Goldstein1984 did engage in the use of marijuana;
Whereas the use of marijuana is illegal under federal law;
Whereas enforcement of narcotics law diverts resources away from national security;

Therefore, Goldstein1984 is accused of treason by aiding and abetting enemies of the United States by diverting vital resources away from national defense, thereby lending aid and comfort to said enemies.

[Odin2005]

1. Fascism. It's here.

[Individualist]

8. and all the more outrageous because it's occurring with a President with a D after his name.

[City Lights]

20. Exactly!

:mad: :grr:

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. THis is society in the process of getting closed down

[leftstreet]

3. "threaten....economic interests" That's what this has always been about

:grr: :grr: :grr:

Here's a threat for ya, ya bastids!

[Hannah Bell]

11. is that doll for real? i want one. is the guillotine extra?

[leftstreet]

17. Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Accoutrements-Marie-Antoinette-Action-Figure/dp/B000GKXY3E

:-)

[Hannah Bell]

22. wow, by the folks who brought us pickle band-aids.

[leftstreet]

24. LOL I had to look that up

:rofl:

[Hannah Bell]

25. i'd wear one.

[kenny blankenship]

4. A lot of people, and I am guilty of it too, assumed that because Obama was a "Constitutional lawyer"

that he would be a restorer and defender of civil liberties. We forgot that for every Constitutional issue where there is a litigant from the ACLU, there's also at least one John Yoo on the other side, who also sports a fancy law degree. Ann Coulter also calls herself a Constitutional lawyer.

[Angry Dragon]

5. Are you saying Obama and coulter

are cut from the same cloth??

:hide:

[kenny blankenship]

15. No.

But one shouldn't assume that "professor of Constitutional law" automatically means freedom loving civil libertarian. The John Yoos of the American Imperium come from law schools too, and in fact John "Crushing Their Children's Testicles Isn't Torture" Yoo now teaches at UC Berkeley, of all fucking places. Many people, including myself, expected a vigorous dismantling of the tyrannical and paranoid Bush Era measures from President Obama, because we assumed that his professional/educational background and his desire to run for office as a Democrat reflected a Constitutional law professor's horror at the malignant policestate growths now sprouting everywhere from America's limbs and organs. But we were deceived. He is committed absolutely to American Empire, and with that automatically comes the Bush Abwehr Police State. Perhaps he accepts this "pragmatically", while finding it regrettable? Who cares. In any case, you cannot assume that people are cut from the same cloth just because they studied the same subjects in school. The head of the ACLU is a Constitutional lawyer, and Ann Coulter is a Constitutional lawyer, or at least she claims to be - I have not seen her degree myself. They are not even slightly on the same page. Assuming Obama was cut from liberal cloth just because of his background/education was the mistake many of us made, and I'm certainly not advocating that people make it again.

[krabigirl]

6. This is horrible!

[Goldstein1984]

7. This is a police state

Once the four branches of government (White House, Congress, Supreme Court, Wall Street) are of a similar mind, We the People become an inconvenience.

[Kaleko]

10. It's all about population control.

Controlling the debt slaves that are needed to keep the money-making machine running and killing off the undesirables.

Fascism on a global scale.

[Goldstein1984]

13. American Peasants

Xenophobia and nationalism are our enemies.

Americans need to understand that we have more in common with peasants in developing nations than we have with our own ruling class, and our ruling class has more in common with the ruling class of every other nation, including dictatorships, than they have with those they rule.

True democracy is gone. What we have left is the machinery of a former democracy, now retooled to create the illusion of democracy.

Obama has proven to be the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.

[Kaleko]

18. Sad to say, I agree.

Obama's appointment of Geithner and Summers were signals that he would merely throw crumbs at the beggars down here on the streets while Wall Street would continue its bloodsucking feast on the fruits of our labor.

Too bad. Now the next crash will be that much more fubar.

[Hannah Bell]

9. kr

[Jeffersons Ghost]

12. Anti-war efforts by US citizens is perfectly legal and needs to be practiced. Read the OP carefully:

""coordinated with" or "under the direction of" a foreign group listed by the Secretary of State as "terrorist" was a crime.

[Goldstein1984]

14. "Coordinated with" can be broadly interpreted

Look at the Supreme Court's interpretations in the case mentioned. They are very broad. I can easily imagine that anyone acting under common principles with an organization designated as an FTO could be accused of acting in coordination with that organization, even without actual contact.

I routinely act in coordination with organizations, without actually coordinating each act, because I share common principles with that organization.

Note that the Supreme Court decision includes something as basic and political and legal advice that might give an organization an air of legitimacy, or that may help them pursue their goals through legitimate channels.

A Supreme Court that is capable of making corporations people is capable of many insanely broad intepretations.

[flvegan]

16. Since the passing of the AETA, I knew everyone was headed into the wood chipper

sooner or later.

Not that this would happen during a Kucinich presidency. Just saying.

[lunatica]

19. It's their wet dream

I'm not a believer that power corrupts. I think power just makes someone more of what they really are. If they're already corrupt (I've seen bus drivers who are morally corrupt and the tiny bit of power they have really brings that moral corruption out). I think people who are corrupt seek power and they use it to gain what they want, or to act the way they want to towards others. Money is just money. It is used by the corrupt and it is used by the philanthropists in different ways.

Too many in Congress are corrupt and they need to protect their corrupt interests. This should be no surprise to anyone.

[Goldstein1984]

21. I think that's probably true

"Power corrupts" might merely be bringing out character flaws that were not expressed before the person had power, or that were hidden strategically until the person had enough power to get away with them.

It may be a given that those who seek power are the last ones that should be trusted with it. A scene in the movie, Gladiator comes to mind, where Maximus tells Marcus that he doesn't want to rule Rome, and Marcus responds that that is why it must be him who does.

Democracy is giving way to oligarchy, and liberty is giving way to tyranny.

[1badjedi]

23. Good grief!

Is it time for us to start taking drastic measures yet? :nuke:


FFS, what will it take to break the camels back.

[amborin]

26. K&R

[IDemo]

27. Anyone participating in a protest must feel the full force of the law!

[Scruffy1]

28. Three new subpoenas were issued Thursday.

[NorthCarolina]

29. Liberalism is in vogue again, and efforts to tamp it down through the MSM

don't seem to be working as well as in the past.

[snot]

30. This issue need much more attention and analysis. K&R'd