Jan 182013
 

By Michael – The Economic Collapse Blog

Share this list of shocking questions with everyone you know that needs to wake up.  Sometimes asking good questions is the best way to get someone that you care about to understand something.  When I attended law school, I became very familiar with something called “the Socratic method”.  It is a method that has been traditionally used in law schools all over the United States.  Law professors will bombard their students with questions, and the goal is to stimulate critical thinking and allow students to discover the answers for themselves.  Many times those of us that can see what is happening to this country get frustrated when we try to get others to see what is so apparent to us.  But instead of preaching to them, perhaps asking questions would be more helpful.  When you ask someone a question, they are almost forced to think about what you just said and come up with a response.  And without a doubt, the fact that America is in decline is undeniable.  Those that would choose to blindly have faith in the system are foolish, because it is glaringly obvious that the system is failing.  Our economy is heading for collapse and the world around us is becoming more unstable with each passing day.  So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the number of preppers in the United States is absolutely exploding.  Some estimates put the number of preppers in the U.S. as high as 3 million, and the movement continues to explode.

So exactly what is a “prepper”?  Well, the truth is that there is a tremendous amount of diversity among the people that fall under that label.

To me, you don’t have to move to Montana and store 500 cases of MREs in a nuclear fallout shelter to be considered a prepper.  I believe that anyone that can see a very serious crisis coming and that is taking steps to prepare for that crisis would be considered a prepper.  You might be living next to one and never even know it.  Many families have converted spare rooms into food pantries or are taking survival training on the weekends.  Others have renewed their interest in gardening or have started to invest in precious metals.  As far as I am concerned, anything that you can do to become more self-sufficient and more independent of the system is a good thing, because the system is rapidly failing.

Perhaps you are reading this and you are thinking that people who are “preparing for disaster” are being rather foolish.  Well, I encourage you to read the list of questions that I have compiled below and come to your own conclusions.

The following are 50 shocking questions that you should ask to anyone that is not a prepper yet…

#1 Why are sales of physical silver coins breaking all sorts of all-time records?  The U.S. Mint is on pace to sell more silver eagles during the first month of 2013 than it did during the entire year of 2007.

#2 Why has Germany announced that it will be moving gold from New York and Paris to its own vaults back home?  Is this a sign of a breakdown in trust among global central banks?

#3 Why is China systematically hoarding gold?

#4 Why have billionaires such as George Soros and John Paulson been hoarding massive amounts of gold?

#5 Why are billionaires buying up so much ranch land up in Montana?

#6 Why is Russia warning that we are rapidly approaching a global “currency war”?

#7 Why has Barack Obama chosen this moment to launch an all-out attack on the Second Amendment?

#8 Why does Barack Obama want doctors to ask their patients questions about firearms?

#9 Why is there an incredibly severe nationwide ammunition shortage all of a sudden?

#10 Why has a bill been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that “would ban Internet or mail order ammunition purchases“?

#11 Why are gun control advocates such as Piers Morgan pushing for us to become more like the UK when the UK actually has a much higher violent crime rate than we do?

#12 Why was a Forbes article that made a connection between the use of psychiatric drugs and the mass shootings that we have seen in recent years almost immediately taken down from the Internet?

#13 Why does the federal government want to start putting “black boxes” in all new motor vehicles?

#14 Why are some U.S. states now using computers to predict “future crimes“?

#15 Why are “black-clad federal SWAT teams” raiding farms and ranches all over the United States?

#16 Why are we all being trained to spy on one another?

#17 Why are highly advanced facial recognition cameras being put upall over the United States?

#18 Why have police departments all over America begun to deployunmanned surveillance drones in the skies over our cities?

#19 Why are schools all over America beginning to require students to carry IDs with RFID microchips in them wherever they go?

#20 Why are more Americans not outraged that nearly 400 TSA employees have been fired for stealing from travelers since 2003?

#21 Why are Americans not more outraged that TSA goons are manhandling the private areas of our women and our children in the name of “national security”?

#22 Why is an elderly survivor of the Nazi occupation of Austria, Kitty Werthmann, warning that America is heading down the exact same path that she experienced?

#23 If the economy is in good shape, then why are more than one out of every four U.S. workers with a 401(k) raiding those funds in order to pay current expenses?

#24 Why does the Federal Reserve continue to insist that the economy is “improving” when it obviously is not?

#25 Why can so few Americans explain how money is created in the United States?

#26 Why has the U.S. dollar declined in value by well over 95 percent since the Federal Reserve was created?

#27 Why is the U.S. national debt more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was created?

#28 Why isn’t the mainstream media in the U.S. discussing the fact that the U.S. dollar is in danger of losing its status as the primary reserve currency of the world?

#29 Why don’t more Americans know about the quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble?

#30 Why did the U.S. national debt grow during the first four years of the Obama administration by about as much as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office?

#31 Why is the middle class in America bringing home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before?

#32 If the U.S. economy is producing a healthy number of good jobs, then why are we spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on welfare?

#33 If the U.S. economy is not collapsing, then why has the number of Americans on food stamps grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today?

#34 If America is still an economic powerhouse, then why have we lostmore than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001?

#35 Why are we losing half a million jobs to China every single year?

#36 Why were one out of every ten homes sold in the state of California last year purchased by Chinese citizens?

#37 Why has the percentage of men with jobs in the United States fallen so dramatically?  Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#38 Why are so many Americans poor today?  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either “poor” or “low income”.  Why is this happening?

#39 Why does the U.S. government have a website that teaches immigrants how to sign up for welfare programs once they arrive in the United States?

#40 Why has the number of gang members living in the United States risen by an astounding 40 percent just since 2009?

#41 Why does approximately one out of every three children in the United States live in a home without a father?  Can such a society prosper in the long run?

#42 Why are our supermarkets being flooded with genetically-modified foods when a whole host of studies have shown that they are potentially dangerous to human health?

#43 If the economy has “improved” during the Obama years, then why are hunger and poverty still absolutely skyrocketing in the United States?

#44 Why are more than a million public school students in the United States homeless?

#45 Why are more than 50 percent of all children in Detroit living in poverty?  Detroit used to be one of the greatest cities in the entire world.  How did such prosperity turn into such desolation?

#46 Why did a violent riot break out at an event where government-subsidized section 8 housing vouchers were being handed out in a suburb of Detroit earlier this month?  Is this the kind of unrest that we can expect to see all over the country when things get really bad?

#47 Why are cities all over the United States making it illegal to feed the homeless?

#48 Why is the UN trying to take control of the Internet?

#49 Why have global food supplies sunk to their lowest level in nearly 40 years?

#50 Why is global power concentrated in so few hands?  According to the Swiss Federal Institute, a network of 147 mega-corporationscontrol 40 percent of all the wealth in the world, and in a previous article I described how just six obscenely powerful corporations completely dominate the media industry in the United States.  Is it good for such incredible power to be concentrated in the hands of so few people?

Please share this article with as many people as you can.  It only takes a few moments to share an article, but the person on the other end that reads it might have their life changed forever.

Do you have any questions that you think should be added to this list?  Please feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below…

Jan 022013
 
Homeland Security TSA / VIPR Team and Suspicious Drone Spotted at Viking – Packers Game

Hongpong.com

Things are a little strange at the Vikings/Packers Game today. A drone has been photographed hovering around the Metrodome fan plaza on the west side, and a Homeland Security / TSA “VIPR” team has been hanging around as well, indicating the federal government is shifting into “protecting” the major Spectacles at taxpayer expense.

My friend Nathan Hansen noticed the #VikingsDrone and the VIPR team, documenting & posting them on twitter@nathanmhansen. [Note: awhile back I did a 'lil client design work for Hansen.]

 

//// UPDATE 12:15PM Monday: According to @TCRover, a branch of the Pioneer Press, the drone was NOT operated by the government but rather some production company. The pic they say is from the crew flying it earlier: Seehttps://twitter.com/TCRover/status/285560684245315585/photo/1 . Nonetheless we still need to deal with the impending prospect of government & contractor drones filling our airspace – and indeed this story has prompted others to discuss other sightings near government sites. //// 2:20PM update: It’s annoying that they tried to tweet @ me last night but it never turned up in my timeline so I didn’t find out until today. I would have much preferred to straighten it out immediately! Also, here’s what’s going on with drones in Oklahoma… Follow my friend @axxiom for more. ////

PHOTO sources: yfrog Fullsize – http://twitter.yfrog.com/h41hxevhj // yfrog Fullsize – http://twitter.yfrog.com/o0mkqkobj //yfrog Fullsize – http://twitter.yfrog.com/oemubbyj // VIPR Team: yfrog Fullsize – http://twitter.yfrog.com/odjd2ybj

odjd2ybj.jpeg h41hxevhj.jpeg

You can see the four rotors pretty well on these pics. It is comparable to the sports photography drone linked below as well – I figured it might just be a civilian hobbyist drone or some weird sports media project drone until the VIPR team was found by Hansen.

mkqkob.jpg mubby.jpeg

I am just delighted that the national government had to borrow more money at interest from the Federal Reserve System in order to send out these guys and their fancy flying spy robot to the Vikings/Packers game. We get the twin benefits of national debt slavery AND a surveillance state with nothing useful to do!

Our friends at WTFNews cranked out a quick post on this already: Unidentified Drone Spotted at @Packers-@VikingsFootball @NFL Game » WTF RLY REPORT

Let’s Ban This Drone Operation in Minneapolis: Already Minneapolis activist Kurtis Hanna has suggested a petition to get drones banned on the city charter. (come to think of it, wouldn’t it be good to get something like the White House petition site for the Mpls Charter Commission?) I will include some info below on this.

The Department of Homeland Security and the National Football League have a burgeoning relationship. Previously when I wrote up a post on the relatively new and totally off-the-radar Homeland Security Investigations division (basically their own militant version of the FBI, intended to reach BATF-level org status) they did a drill black helicopter landing on the Super Bowl field. [yes really - HSI is so new I must have been the first person to satirize its absurdities on the whole interweb!] See April 12 2012: Meet the new Boss in Town: ICE spawns… HSI Homeland Security Investigations, for great justice & cocaine cowboys | HongPong.com

The Super Bowl and World Series are also both declared National Special Security Events, which activates a fat block of overtime for many federal police agencies, much like the Republican & Democratic National Conventions. (However, since rioting at sports events is closer to the booze-soaked Id of the American public than more ‘political’ street upheavals, it doesn’t meet the same heavy hand from federal & local police agencies) NSSEs generally feature Homeland Security, FEMA and the Secret Service operating at a high tempo, another thing that HSI & TSA are getting involved with as a ‘filler force’ if you will.

For Super Bowl NSSE info seeSuper Bowl XLVI, NSSE & Big Sis – YouTube //www.secretservice.gov/press/pub0202.pdf on Bowl XXXVI // this crazy PDF: rnc08report.org/engine/uploads/1/Day-2-Breakout-2-NSSE-Carillo-Lowry-Lumley.pdf // Infowars » Indy Super Bowl: National Security State Protects Sports Fans from Prostitutes // National Special Security Events: 8. NSSE Fill-in Fact Sheet // Article Detail – Domestic Preparednessvia LLIS.gov // etc

Federal VIPR teams: been popping up in all sorts of places. Here’s the Wiki page. Wiki notes GAO attributes their existence to a Reaction to the shady Madrid train bombings. VIPR is trying to get at pro sports & local transportation (the Hiawatha light rail has a station close to where they were photographed) and wherever else they can normalize their presence. In this case the VIPR deployment apparently includes at least a half-dozen uniformed officers and at least one drone.

Additionally there was strange audio interference right before a commercial break in the first half, kind of like the sound a cell phone makes when its microwave signal induces noise in a speaker or electronics. However, I don’t think game-day satellite transmissions go straight over-the-air from the Metrodome, as there aren’t really satellite dishes around there I’ve noticed. Thus it seems unlikely to me that the one spotted drone would have glitched the transmission. Perhaps unrelated but also something you don’t usually see. I blame Wisconsin FalseFlag types for this noise, whoever that might be :-P

SEE ALSO:

The drone does look similar to the one in this story. New use for drones: Sports photography – CBS News

Oh this is great. Perhaps the best link I’ve found in this. “PUT [VIPR] TEAMS TO WORK FOR YOU” VIPR teams and pipelines!! A “no cost resources for expanding and enhancing your security”. Free oil goon security? Screw that:www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/gas/download/2011SS-2-4-VIPR_Handout.pdf

May 2012: TSA VIPR Team Spotted at… Detroit Music Festival?? « TSA Out of Our Pants!

CNN Jan 28 2012: TSA rail, subway spot-checks raise privacy issues – CNN.com

VIDEO Blackburn Questions TSA Officials on VIPR Teams – YouTube

VIDEO TSA VIPR Teams in Greyhound Bus Station Tampa FL 02/16/2010

TSA deploys ‘VIPR’ teams throughout Tennessee to set up illegal security checkpoints on interstates - NaturalNews with a bunch of other links including: TSA-style full body pat-downs coming to an NFL stadium near you (Sept 2011) etc

6 USC § 1112 – Authorization of Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams | LII / Legal Information Institute. So they are doing this about the Hiawatha light rail officially I would guess. This would also signify that Metro Transit would have some record of the situation if “consult” in Sec.4 has occurred

(a) In general

The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, may develop Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (referred to in this section as “VIPR”) teams to augment the security of any mode of transportation at any location within the United States. In forming a VIPR team, the Secretary—

(1) may use any asset of the Department, including Federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, canine detection teams, and advanced screening technology;

(2) may determine when a VIPR team shall be deployed, as well as the duration of the deployment;

(3) shall, prior to and during the deployment, consult with local security and law enforcement officials in the jurisdiction where the VIPR team is or will be deployed, to develop and agree upon the appropriate operational protocols and provide relevant information about the mission of the VIPR team, as appropriate; and

(4) shall, prior to and during the deployment, consult with all transportation entities directly affected by the deployment of a VIPR team, as appropriate, including railroad carriers, air carriers, airport owners, over-the-road bus operators and terminal owners and operators, motor carriers, public transportation agencies, owners or operators of highways, port operators and facility owners, vessel owners and operators and pipeline operators.

(b) Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section such sums as necessary for fiscal years 2007 through 2011.

Process for City Charter Amendment for banning these drones: Sent along by Kurt Hanna who thinks that “10,791 valid signatures of Minneapolis residents who are registered voters in order to qualify for the ballot” based on the figure of 215,806 voters voting last time. Citizen petition timeframe link. BUT: How much time do we have to gather these signatures?

Some more info: Via Minneapolis City Charter:http://library.municode.com/HTML/11490/level2/SUHITA_CH.html

(1) The methods available for amending a home rule city charter are contained in Minnesota Statutes, Section 410.12 et seq., which provides as follows:

(1) 410.12 AMENDMENTS. Subdivision 1. Proposals. The charter commission may propose amendments to such charter and SHALL DO SO upon the petition of voters equal in number to five percent of the total votes cast at the last previous state general election in the city.Proposed charter amendments must be submitted at least 12 weeks before the general election. Only registered voters are eligible to sign the petition. All petitions circulated with respect to a charter amendment shall be uniform in character and shall have attached thereto the text of the proposed amendment in full; except that in the case of a proposed amendment containing more than 1,000 words, a true and correct copy of the same may be filed with the city clerk, and the petition shall then contain a summary of not less than 50 nor more than 300 words setting forth in substance the nature of the proposed amendment. Such summary shall contain a statement of the objects and purposes of the amendment proposed and an outline of any proposed new scheme or frame work of government and shall be sufficient to inform the signers of the petition as to what change in government is sought to be accomplished by the amendment.The summary, together with a copy of the proposed amendment, shall first be submitted to the charter commission for its approval as to form and substance. The commission shall within ten days after such submission to it, return the same to the proposers of the amendment with such modifications in statement as it may deem necessary in order that the summary may fairly comply with the requirements above set forth.

Subd. 2. Petitions. The signatures to such petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate petition there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof as provided by this section.A petition must contain each petitioner’s signature in ink or indelible pencil and must indicate after the signature the place of residence by street and number, or their description sufficient to identify the place. There shall appear on each petition the names and addresses of five electors of the city, and on each paper the names and addresses of the same five electors, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition. [........]

(1) Subd. 3. May be assembled as one petition. All petition papers for a proposed amendment shall be assembled and filed with the charter commission as one instrument. Within ten days after such petition is transmitted to the city council, the city clerk shall determine whether each paper of the petition is properly attested and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of voters. The city clerk shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which is not attested by the circulator thereof as required in this section. Upon completing an examination of the petition, the city clerk shall certify the result of the examination to the council. If the city clerk shall certify that the petition is insufficient the city clerk shall set forth in a certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the committee of the petitioners of the findings. A petition may be amended at any time within ten days after the making of a certificate of insufficiency by the city clerk, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The city clerk shall within five days after such amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition, and if the certificate shall show the petition still to be insufficient, the city clerk shall file it in the city clerk’s office and notify the committee of the petitioners of the findings and no further action shall be had on such insufficient petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. (Back)

(1) Subd. 4. Election. Amendments shall be submitted to the qualified voters at a general or special election and published as in the case of the original charter. The form of the ballot shall be fixed by the governing body. The statement of the question on the ballot shall be sufficient to identify the amendment clearly and to distinguish the question from every other question on the ballot at the same time. If 51 percent of the votes cast on any amendment are in favor of its adoption, copies of the amendment and certificates shall be filed, as in the case of the original charter and the amendment shall take effect in 30 days from the date of the election or at such other time as is fixed in the amendment.

An amusing side question: is this “magick” security theater? Security Theater of course works most “effectively” at materializing psychological phantoms with an audience at a Spectacle. This is the perhaps the principle Stimulus Effect intended by Homeland Security & its general orientation around ‘visuals’ which is not that different than Ceremonial Magick, which is [arguably] anything that generates a certain sense-impression in the mind of Observers.

metrodome-national-guard.jpeg

Another old backstory: In 2010 some people noticed they were using government photos of MN National Guard riot control gear from the deployment at the 2008 Republican National Convention under the NSSE system for recruitment propaganda on the Metrodome. RNC ’08 Report: Our News: National Guard advert on Metrodome, proposed site of 2012 DNC, depicts soldiers deployed against protesters during 2008 RNC. Your tax dollas at work!

Dec 202012
 

Backdoor Survival

This is the time of year when families travel to visit friends and relatives near and far.  When taking a road trip, it is easy to throw a bug-out-bag and extra food and clothing into the trunk of your car but what if you are traveling by air?  Not only do you have those pesky baggage weight limits to deal with, but you also have the scrutiny and probing eyes of the TSA to avoid.  Can you imagine what might happen if you show up at the airport with a full stocked survival kit?  I am being just a wee bit facetious but these days, you can never be too sure what will happen if someone decides to label you as a prepper.

TSA notwithstanding, today I would like to share a reminder that no matter where you go, you should include some basic preps in your carry-on or in your check-through luggage so that no matter what, you will be prepared to deal with bumps along your journey.

Here in list form, and in no particular order, is a list of vacation and travel preparedness items to take along on your next trip.

Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling

8007037688 d09f77f27d 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling   Backdoor Survival

1. A wise traveler not only carries a passport, but also a photocopy of the passport and well as a scanned version on a laptop, CD, or flash drive.

2. Your healthcare insurance or Medicare card.

3. Your driver’s license, proof of insurance and the 24 hour claims number for your insurance company.

4. Two credits cards (in case one gets lost or is stolen) along with the customer service numbers for the credit card companies written down and stored someplace other than your wallet.

5. A list of emergency contacts, include telephone numbers and email addresses.

6. A prepaid long distance card for making calls when there is no cell phone service or when the calls will be too expensive due to roaming charges.

7. A few blank checks plus some funds in the local currency (if you are traveling out of the country).

8. Prescription medications sorted into daily packets with at least 3 days over and above the number of days you plan to be gone.

9. An emergency first aid kit including bandages, pain medication, instant hot packs, antibiotics, antibiotic ointment, an anti-diarrheal and anything else that you commonly use.

10. Insect repellent and sunscreen.6847842490 138094a737 m 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling   Backdoor Survival

11. Protein or snack bars.

12. Travel tissues and a travel sized roll of TP (you would be surprised at how often this “essential” will come in handy.)

13. Hand sanitizer plus sanitizer wipes.

14. A mini, LED flashlight and possibly an LED headlamp as well.

15. Pocket knife or Swiss Army style knife.

16. Chemical light sticks.

17. An emergency whistle.

8107408942 455ce615b7 m 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling   Backdoor Survival18. Paracord – in bracelet, keychain amazon.com/e/ir?t=continmoti-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B008GVTYKM" alt=" 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling Backdoor Survival" width="1" height="1" border="0" />or lanyard form for portability.

19. Water purification tabsamazon.com/e/ir?t=continmoti-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001949TKS" alt=" 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling Backdoor Survival" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> for ensuring safe, drinkable water if supplies at your destination are compromised.

20. A small roll of duct tape and some tie wraps (also called cable wraps).

21. Mylar emergency blanketsamazon.com/e/ir?t=continmoti-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000GCRWCG" alt=" 27 Items Every Prepper Should Carry While Traveling Backdoor Survival" width="1" height="1" border="0" />.

22. A pocket poncho for every member of your group.

23. Two-way radios that include a NOAA weather scan and emergency alert.

24. Batteries (or rechargeables plus a battery charger).

25. Your cell phone charger or a USB cable to use as a charging cable.

26. Key passwords to access email accounts and online financial data.

27. Pre-printed labels with you home address, home number, and email address. Include one or more of these labels in each checked bag.

The Final Word

There is nothing remarkable about this list and, as a matter of fact, it is fairly mundane and undoubtedly includes things you routinely pack along as a matter of course.  Still, if there is just one item you have overlooked – and you need that item – you will be happy to have it along to help you out of a jam or to make your journey more secure.

And just for the record?  I pack all of these items and a whole lot more when I travel.  I can get by with just a couple of pairs of shoes but not without my preps. You just never know.

Dec 132012
 

On this week’s show Ed addresses some listener’s questions such as; which toxic products/food should be avoided as well as suggestions for people trying to prep on a fixed or limited income. He also addresses the states exercising their 10th Amendment rights of nullification against the NDAA, Obama Care, etc., and what Florida State Senate President; Don Gaetz thinks of State’s Rights! He also talked about the future of legal marijuana in Colorado and Washington. More TSA tyranny as they introduce yet another list to put Americans on. Ed also discusses spiritual development and manifestation as a means of counteracting the anxiety that can come from being awake. Also, a lively discussion of the state of freedom in America with Wide Awake News host; Charlie McGrath.

Left-Click the button below to listen online or right-click and select “Save link as…” to download

Dec 112012
 

Eleven years past 9/11, not a single terrorist plot foiled by TSA, yet they keep ratcheting down on the American public and inventing new ways to incrementally wear down our rights, while they condition us to respond like sheep to a fictional authority.  The truth is; TSA’s No-Fly List has so many people on it now, it’s becoming unmanageable.  If you’re wondering who this ‘less severe’ list is intended for…  It’s for the ‘rest of us’.

By Madison Ruppert

End the Lie

If Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the government’s various lists weren’t ludicrous enough as is, the number of individuals harassed will be increased significantly thanks to a new list specifically for “low risk” passengers as revealed in a recently released Federal Register newsletter.

While this appears to be focused mostly on airline flights, one must wonder if such lists will also be used when the TSA invades locations outside of airports around the entirety of the United States. After all, at least one college student has been harassed, detained and interrogated when traveling via train simply for engaging in Islamic studies.

It must also be mentioned that the claims that this will increase security are simply laughable since the TSA really has no interest in security evidenced by airport employees being allowed to work without background checks and the fact that an illegal immigrant was somehow able to work as an airport security supervisor for a whopping 20 years without being caught.

The newsletter, released Nov. 19 and brought to my attention by Russia Today, reveals that the TSA is creating a new list of airline passengers who are not concerning enough to justify being placed on the no-fly list.

“As part of the effort to identify individuals that are low risk, TSA also is creating and maintaining a watch list of individuals who are disqualified from eligibility from TSA Pre[check]TM, for some period of time or permanently, because they have been involved in violations of security regulations of sufficient severity or frequency,” the newsletter states.

This comes as the TSA is still grappling with the implementation of their so-called “PreCheck” program aimed at letting certain passengers bypass the typical security screenings most Americans are subjected to.

“Disqualifying violations of aviation security regulations may involve violations at the airport or on board aircraft, such as a loaded firearm that is discovered in carry-on baggage at the checkpoint, or a threat to use a destructive device against a transportation conveyance, facilities, or personnel,” states the newsletter.

This disqualification list “will be generated by TSA’s Performance and Results Information System (PARIS).”

While the above violations seem to be wholly legitimate, it is important to note that “PARIS is an enforcement and inspections system for all modes of transportation for which TSA has security related duties, and maintains records related to the investigation or prosecution of violations or potential violations of Federal, State, local, or international criminal law.”

This seems to indicate that one could get placed on such a list for “the investigation of […] potential violations,” which would mean that one would be guilty until proven innocent.

Since there are so many people mistakenly placed on the no-fly list already, one can reasonably assume that these types of errors will continue.

“In February, the Associated Press revealed that the number of names included on the federal no-fly list created after the September 11 terrorist attacks has doubled in size in just 12 months,” RT points out. “While around 10,000 individuals were barred from flying in 2011, information made available to the AP in February of this year suggested that the number of persons unable to board planes now amounts to roughly 21,000.”

“It’s a secret list, and the government puts people on it without any explanation,” the American Civil Liberties Union’s Nusrat Choudhury told AP. “Citizens have been stranded abroad.”

In one recent case, U.S. citizen Wade Hicks Jr., realized he was on a no-fly list when attempting to visit his wife, a U.S. Navy Lieutenant stationed in Japan.

“By all normal and visible accounts, Mr. Hicks, Jr. appears to be a law abiding member of society,” Canada Free Press reported.

Canada Free Press discovered that, “he is an outspoken ‘patriot’ and openly critical of the NDAA. He is a former talk-show host of a small, local radio station known for its ‘patriotic bias.’ He is a member of ‘Patriots for America’ and the Mississippi Preparedness Project. He is openly vocal about the erosion of our rights – and it certainly looks like he has been proven correct.”

In 2010, The New York Times reported that an 8-year-old was also on the no-fly list while the TSA nonsensically maintained that no children are on the list.

With the myriad cases of individuals improperly placed on the quite massive no-fly list, why would we expect that an even less stringent list would be any different?

More at End the Lie
Nov 302012
 

TSA claims Congress has no jurisdiction over it; refuses to attend hearings

By J.D. Heyes
NaturalNews.com

When officials who head up a federal agency created and funded by Congress no longer feel obligated to appear before the congressional committee charged with overseeing the function of that agency, a situation of genuine tyranny exists.

Enter John Pistole, the Obama Administration’s head of the notorious Transportation Security Agency. He is not only refusing to appear before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but he’s even gone so far as to declare that said congressional committee possesses “no jurisdiction over the TSA.”

That’s more than just arrogance; that’s a dangerous precedent to set.

We don’t answer to you or anyone

According to the committee’s website, Pistole was requested to appear before the panel’s subcommittee on Aviation Nov. 28, to provide testimony at a hearing titled, “How Best to Improve Our Nation’s Airport Passenger Security System Through Common Sense Solutions.”

Chaired by Rep. Thomas Petri, R-Wis., the focus of the hearing was to “examine the impact that the regulations and policies of the Transportation Security Administration have on aviation passenger experience and the free flow of aviation commerce,” according to a summary posted on the panel’s website.

Despite being requested by a duly authorized congressional committee, Pistole, via a statement issued by the agency on its website, refused to comply:

By U.S. House of Representatives rules which state that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has no jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), no representative from TSA will be present at the Subcommittee on Aviation hearing scheduled for Nov. 29.

TSA will continue to work with its committees of jurisdiction to pursue effective and efficient security solutions. In the 112th Congress alone, TSA witnesses have testified at 38 hearings and provided 425 briefings for Members of Congress.

TSA also continues to work to enhance security screening measures and to improve the passenger experience including through the expansion of [an agency pre-check program]. As part of its risk-based security initiatives, TSA has modified screening procedures for passengers 12 and under and 75 and older while pursuing a multi-layered approach to security that includes behavior detection officers, explosives-detection systems and federal air marshals, among other measures both seen and unseen.

House Republicans on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have long said the expansive and haughty agency is in need of major reform since its hasty creation in the pandemonium of the immediate post-9/11 era. A section on the panel’s website describes the agency as “a massive, inflexible, backward-looking bureaucracy of more than 65,000.”

“TSA is a top-heavy agency in need of reform,” says the site.

The Transportation committee is currently chaired by Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who has been a consistent, vocal critic of the TSA and who has pushed for airports to stop using the agency and instead employ private security screeners.

Mica wrote the legislation that created the agency; he has recently declared it to be a miserable failure.

Defund the TSA

In the upcoming 113th Congress, which convenes Jan. 9, Mica steps down and will be replaced by Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania. When asked by reporters for a reaction to the TSA’s refusal to show up and testify at the scheduled hearing, as well as the agency’s declaration it did not fall under the auspices of the committee, Shuster explained: “I don’t think we have direct jurisdiction but when they impede commerce, when they impede the traveling public, they need to answer to the committee.”

In an interview with Bloomberg News, Shuster said he “absolutely” expects the agency’s officials to appear at Transportation committee hearings. When asked what he would do if they refuse, Shuster was cryptic: “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

As we’ve reported often – and will continue to do so – the TSA is a rogue agency being run by unelected bureaucrats who believe they don’t have to answer to anyone – the public, which has grown tired and wary of the behavior of its agents, or the elected congressional representatives charged with overseeing it.

No bureaucracy is above reproach. Congress has the power of the purse strings; it should exercise that power and defund the TSA.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/038154_TSA_Congress_hearings.html#ixzz2DjT8TEiO

Oct 102012
 

Welcome to surveillance nation, America… Where your rights and liberties are nothing more than a quaint, nostalgic memory as spy drones patrol chemtrail-laden skies (just be grateful they’re not armed… yet) and everything you do or say is recorded and processed at a DHS “fusion center” for suspicious content.  Don’t forget to keep an eye on your neighbor and if you see something, say something.  But watch what you say, lest Guantanamo Bay become your new, permanent residence.

And If you don’t like what you see, they’ve got a designated “free speech zone” where you can speak your mind all you want until Officer Thug comes along and tazers the daylights out of you.

 

By Madison Ruppert

The Intel Hub

It’s no secret that the government of the United States has come to love drones what with the increasingly deadly drone war in Yemen, potential drone bases across the country ready to be utilized thanks to legislation accelerating drone integration into the national airspace and military drones already being used to gather intelligence for law enforcement in America.

We must also consider the widespread support of drone use, the increasingly powerful surveillance capabilities of drones, the mind-bending technology being integrated into unmanned systems, and the newly demonstrated capability to keep drones in the air indefinitely through ground-based lasers.

It’s not hard to see why drones are highly attractive to the behemoth Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and their quite ambitious surveillance goals.

However, as I have previously reported, they fall quite short of the mark with their infamous fusion centers producing “a bunch of crap,” open deception of Congress, underestimating the risks associated the National Bio and Agro Defense facility, hiring alleged child molesters to supervise for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)and even dropping the requirement to screen employees of chemical plants.

Indeed homeland security is the last concern of the DHS although they seem to be able to convince many Americans otherwise.

The latest DHS plan involves the increasingly popular miniature drones which will be tested at Fort Sill in Oklahoma as a part of the Robotic Aircraft for Public Safety (RAPS) program.

The DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate put out a request for information (RFI) which states, “The goal of this RFI is to solicit participation in the RAPS project from the SUAS vendor community.”

According to the RFI, they are seeing what small surveillance drones can do to bolster “first responder, law enforcement and border security scenarios.”

Each drone selected by DHS will be subjected to five days of testing at Fort Sill.

The drones DHS is looking for will ideally be launched by hand, weigh under 25 pounds, take only minutes to assemble and require little training to operate.

According to Danger Room, they want to train remote pilots and technicians in just a matter of days instead of the months or years required to train traditional pilots. The obvious benefit would be the ability to get more drones in the air more quickly than would otherwise be imaginable.

The DHS seeks drones which can stay airborne from 30 minutes to two hours, although the emerging technology (linked above) could provide a theoretically endless flight time.

According to the documents publicly available, the potential missions the small drones that are part of the RAPS program will be involved in include “law enforcement operations, search and rescue, and fire and hazardous material spill response.”

This move on the part of the Department of Homeland Security is quite interesting since Ruth Doherty with DHS S&T told Danger Room last year that “a case has to be made that they’re economically feasible, not intrusive and acceptable to the public.”

It seems that somewhere along the line this case has been made to DHS officials, although I’ve yet to see anything to show that they are economically feasible, non-intrusive or acceptable.

As Danger Room rightly points out, this shift is made even harder to understand when one notes, “A DHS ground station in 2010 lost communications with one of the first Predators it used to surveil the southern U.S. border, and the department has had trouble finding enough pilots and technicians to operate its initial drone fleet.”

The operation of these drones remains problematic since the drones that are part of the RAPS program will require a threshold altitude of some 1000 feet which means they could interfere with helicopter traffic.

Danger Room calls the restrictions put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “cumbersome” when in reality they’re wholly necessary to keep drones from causing horrific air traffic accidents.

Ultimately, the DHS shift towards drones is really not that surprising, not only since they have become popular amongst many branches of government but also because the DHS obsession with surveillance simply demands the technology.

“In recent years, DHS has gotten interested in vastly expanding its surveillance capabilities, exploring cameras reminiscent of military ones that can spy on four square miles at once,” notes Spencer Ackerman of Danger Room.

Indeed if anything is clear it is that our government is increasingly fascinated with widespread surveillance, monitoring and tracking of the American people. It looks like the Department of Homeland Security is just following suit.

 

Oct 042012
 

Remember when Michael Chertoff’s backscatter x-ray scanners were all the rage (literally)?  And the nigh anticipated arrival of the F.A.S.T. machines (Future Attribute Sensing Technology – whatever that means) that would label you as a terrorist by reading your skin temperature and body language?  Well get ready for the latest piece of draconian technology from the Department of Homeland Surveillance that will be able to tell everything about you right down to the molecular level.  From the dandruff on your shoulder to the particles under your fingernails to the contents of your stomach.  All from over 50 meters away!

This modern miracle of fascist technology is brought to you by the friendly folks over at In-Q-Tel.  Yes, the same In-Q-Tel that’s been providing surveillance and information gathering gadgets for the CIA for over 13 years!

Don’t you feel safer already?

From TheIntelHub.com:

If you thought the x-ray scanners at the airport were bad, wait until you find out that TSA employees will soon know what you had for breakfast and how pumped you are to sit on a plane for twelve hours.

Unfortunately, you won’t know what they know, because Homeland Security’s new toy is capable of detecting every molecule on your person from over 164 feet (50 meters) away—without your permission.

CIA-Backed Company Develops New Scanners

“Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away.

From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you,” reports Gizmodo.

The scanner was developed by Genia Photonics before being subcontracted by In-Q-Tel, a company founded in 1999 “by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and the support of the U.S. Congress.”

Although the technology is not new, In-Q-Tel made it exponentially faster and more convenient to use—which has its own implications.

Blatant Violation of Privacy

Although the TSA says this technology would be used to detect explosive material, the scanners are capable of detecting countless types of molecules.

Which ones will be tagged for further surveillance? The cocaine on a dollar bill you received in change after buying coffee?

The used joint you unwittingly stepped on at the bus stop? (Let’s not forget Keith Brown, a father of three who had a sugar-grain-sized speck of cannabis under his shoe and was sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.)
Because of the device’s portability and ease of use, it may even begin to show up at athletic events, movie theaters, traffic lights, and bus and train stations.

While this may, for whatever reason, seem like a welcome sense of security to some, it’s a blatant breach of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.

This manner of surveillance too closely resembles that of the dystopian narratives of Phillip K. Dick, and will likely do little more than result in false positives, delayed human and automobile traffic in already busy areas, and cluttered minds.

Aug 092012
 

Just a short while after I published the story of the DHS/TSA solicitation of 1400 lbs of Ammonium Nitrate/RDX, I was contacted by James Smith with a link to his report on yet another development in this troubling story.  It would seem that the Department of Homeland Security is making efforts to preemptively explain away their actions before anyone has a chance to question their motives.

Once again, just as with the Department’s bid request for Prima Sheet (plastic explosives) these DHS explosives requests were also subsequently hidden from public view.

From PPRN News:

Hours after the PPRN News published the story of the request by the Department of Homeland Security / Transportation Safety Administration, Jacob Goodwin, Editor-in-Chief of Government Security News released an article explaining how innocuous and safe this request is.

The invitation to bid is a 100% small business set-aside opportunity, and prospective vendors have until August 13 to submit their bids. Delivery of the explosives, which must be packed in bags, is required within 15 days, says the TSA notice.

The RDX and ammonium nitrate will be sent to the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ.

“TSA’s National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program prepares dogs and handlers to serve on the front lines of America’s War on Terror,” says the agency’s Website. “These very effective, mobile teams can quickly locate and identify dangerous materials that may present a threat to transportation systems. Just as important, they can quickly rule out the presence of dangerous materials in unattended packages, structures or vehicles, allowing the free and efficient flow of commerce.”

It was as if Mr Goodwin was sent out to provide a cover for the purchase. It just seems such a safe, valid reason. Sugar coated for public consumption. Arsenic covered in chocolate will still kill, regardless how sweet the taste.

Several new issues have come to light.

First and foremost, the solicitation has been removed from the list of DHS requests. Simply putting the solicitation in the FBO search engine, or RDX or Ammonium Nitrate will fail to yield any results, as evidence by this screen grab.

This behavior by the TSA to conceal solicitation was first highlighted in a story we ran earlier this week. And again, in order to find the request, Google was able to retrieve it from the dark shadows of the Government Memory Hole. Thank you, Mr. Obama, for giving us the most transparent administration in history. However, I believe the word you should have used was OPAQUE. Thankfully, the FedBid Marketplace had a copy of the request, image below.

Secondly, one of the most troubling aspects of the request is the amount of time that the company must deliver the material. The bid opened on 8 August, and closes 5 days later. Typically, bids run much longer and materials are usually due within sixty days after the close of the bid. But this bid closes next Monday, the 13th, and must be delivered in eighteen days after that. The speed to complete this request could be justified if the solicitation was being made at the end of the fiscal year, in September. But that is still seven weeks away. Haste makes waste. What does the DHS/TSA plan on laying waste to?

And finally, history again serves as our teacher. Further reading has found that many times in recent memory the amounts of explosives used in terror attacks around the world have been approximately one half ton, the amount suited to fill a small minivan. India, Afghanistan, and other terror-cell laden nations have had their peace breached by the use of high explosives.

I’m reminded of the TV series, “Jericho” that ran for two seasons on CBS. The perpetrator of the nuclear attacks was none other than the head of Homeland Security. I certainly hope that the reality does not follow fantasy.

Again, what does DHS/TSA plan on laying waste to? A building? A dam? A monument? The Constitution? Freedom and Liberty?

 

Read more: http://pprnnews.prepperpodcast.com/government-media-sugar-coats-recent-explosive-solicitation-dhs-hides-request/#ixzz231us0BwG

Aug 072012
 
air-marshall-patch

Is it  getting obvious yet that the Department of Homeland Security is gearing up for some kind of event that will trigger the implementation of martial law?  Unless  you’ve either been living in a cave somewhere for the last few years, or you’ve just been drinking too much government “Kool Aid”.  Just looking at the government’s actions over the past 7 months or so, it seems pretty clear to me that measures are being put into place to prepare for some kind of major civil upheaval.  First there’s the signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Dec 31st (while everyone was celebrating the New Year holiday), quickly followed by the National Defense Resources Preparedness Act.  Later in the year we saw the DHS ordering of 450 million rounds of high-powered .40 cal ammunition (only to be used for “target practice” of course), the authorization of 30,000 surveillance drones, further TSA expansion, the U.N. Small Arms Treaty (which isn’t dead by the way, it’s just been pushed back until after the elections), and most recently, the requisitioning of powerful plastic explosives by Homeland Security.

Adding this all up, I’m finding it impossible  to believe that this is all “business as usual”.  I’m also finding it harder to believe that any of this has anything to do with protecting us from the  insidious threat of Islamic terrorists, since the only “terrorist threats” that have been foiled in the last 10 years have been those engineered by the FBI.  Yet still, the PTB (powers that be) insist on waving that boogeyman in our faces every time they want to take more of our rights away from us.  Don’t forget that the primary mandate of  both the DHS and FEMA – above everything else – is ensuring continuity of government.

Or maybe these are all  just coincidences?  Yeah that’s probably it.  Because after all, if they’re not coincidences, that means it must be some kind of wacko conspiracy theory, right?  Just like the conspiracy theory posited by Tennessee state Representative  Kelly Keisling, as reported by James Smith of Prepper Podcast Radio News:

Recently, Tennessee state Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) sent out an email from his state email account to his constituents with a concern that Obama and the Department of Homeland Security are planning events leading to “martial law”.

Theories are only theories until facts allow them to be worked into being real. Two such theories are of evolution and creation. Neither can be called factual until one of them actually takes place.

Such is the animal known as “Conspiracy Theory”. Often whispered in the dark over a few beers as the fire in the camp fire goes out, or screamed across the airwaves over the fruited plains.

But sometimes, very rarely, can conspiracy theories be proven. And Representative Keisling may be onto “Conspiracy Fact”.

Fact: The Department of Homeland Security is looking to hire Role Players for the TSA/Air Marshall program starting in December.

Fact: The last time the US Government hired Role Players was in late 2008 – and it was the US Army.

Fact: The Department of Homeland Security has not hired ANY role player, not even for the Air Marshal Program changed hands from US Border Patrol to DHS/TSA in October of 2005. At FBO.gov, search for the words Role Player in the advance find feature, and include archived documents. They only go back ten years.

Fact: As of October 2006, the number of FAM (Federal Air Marshal) was in the thousands. Training should be paramount when dealing with the lives of civilians.

While the requests made by DHS/TSA may be innocuous, many times in the past training exercises were used to mask the real event. Two such examples are the events surrounding 9/11, where a training exercise was being conducted on the same day for the same purpose. The second example was the Aurora Colorado shooting, where a theater in a nearby town was conducting training of a lone gunman opening fire on theater goers.

The following snippets were taken from PDF files from the TSA request for Role Players (RP).

What are the Role Players supposed to do?

A troubling aspect of the training will be the fact of two items: They will be having simulated weapons and dressed in military garb and following a script developed by Homeland Security. Not the Department of Defense or a private contractor – the very people who are alleged that will create a false flag attack.

Where will this all take place? In Coppell and San Antonio Texas, and in New Jersey.

And another location was included:

When might this all happen? According to the solicitation, sixty days after the contract begins or approximately December 1, 2012.

While this puts it out of the potential time frame, it does not preclude the possibility that Martial Law could be declared, and as Mr. Obama is the head of the US Military, he could nullify all elections by the fiat of Executive Order.

And if history is our teacher, the attack on Pearl Harbor was warned about a full week prior to the attack, and no one did a thing.

Representative Keisling may have been right all along. Only time will tell if we have a tyrannical government, or a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Read more: http://pprnnews.prepperpodcast.com/government-records-tell-obamas-false-flag-event/#ixzz22oHU64mb