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Firefighters Being Trained to Spy on US Citizens

Posted by Paddy , Brave New Films at 5:28 AM on November 24, 2007.


Paddy: This is just a set up for rampant abuse. Imagine all the ways this could be interpreted.
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This post, written by Paddy, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Brave New Films Blog

The hits just keep on coming-

AP IMPACT: Firefighter help on terrorism

WASHINGTON - Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people's privacy.

Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don't need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.

But there are fears that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items such as building blueprints or bomb-making manuals or materials.

This is just a set up for rampant abuse. Imagine all the ways this could be interpreted-

When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States; unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place; ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes; surveillance equipment; still and video cameras; night-vision goggles; maps, photos, blueprints; police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals; and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress

Oy. More at the link.

Digg!

Tagged as: domestic spying, firefighters

Paddy is a regular contributor to Cliff Schecter.com.


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Time To Clean House
Posted by: QQOblivion on Nov 24, 2007 6:31 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
>they are told to be alert for a person who is
> ....expressing hate or discontent with the United States

Hmmm... So what if those old protest signs I have stored on my coffee table get *misinterpreted* by some relatively right-wing firefighter, if, Heaven forbid, I am someday in need of the fire department's assistance?
I guess it is time to do some house-keeping and hide any evidence of my liberalism.
(I don't want to end up in Guantanamo, you know.)

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The drones that flies over Iraq and Afganisistian....
Posted by: eosrk on Nov 24, 2007 8:45 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...is also flying over your town also. If not now, it will be very, very soon...sooner than you think.

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Look around
Posted by: 2dogarage on Nov 24, 2007 10:23 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A police state is in the making. Ever notice how many more CHP's are burning up the road in their tricked-out V-8's? I suspect that many armed employees are being trained for possibly being called into service in the event that martial law is someday declared in this country. Pakistan was supposedly a democracy and they're under martial law right this minute.

And it's not just armed employees. Your meter reader is supposed to be alert to signs of "criminal"activity as well, like cultivating marijuana, etc. There is evidence that evangelical ministries are being recruited to enforce the political agenda of those in power.

Surveillance cameras are everywhere now, microchips are installed in cars and passports to keep track of your every move. They want to implant them in your body next. Facebook just came under fire for sharing information with other users about purchases made through the companies they advertise.

Time to wake up and smell the fascism.

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Gestapo - Stasi tactics in action.
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Nov 24, 2007 10:58 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Nothing less. Still or video cameras? Dissatisfaction with U.S. government policy? Not enough furniture? Where to next?

"Within a few years, Himmler became Chief of the German Police in addition to his duties as SS leader. Heydrich, his number two man, proved to be something of a genius in creating a hugely efficient national intelligence system that kept tabs on everyone. .

On February 10, 1936, the Nazi Reichstag passed the 'Gestapo Law' which included the following paragraph: "Neither the instructions nor the affairs of the Gestapo will be open to review by the administrative courts." . . .

Surprisingly, the Gestapo was never actually a very big organization. At its peak it employed only about 40,000 individuals, including office personnel and the plain-clothes agents. But each Gestapo agent operated at the center of a large web of spies and informants. The problem for the average citizen was that no one ever knew for sure just who those informants were. It could be anyone, your milkman, the old lady across the street, a quiet co-worker, even a schoolboy. As a result, fear ruled the day. Most people realized the necessity of self-censorship and generally kept their mouths shut politically, unless they had something positive to say. . .


That's why this is being publicized - to try and make the U.S. public fear the government intelligence agencies to the point where any verbal or written dissent will cease.

The communist East German Stasi was very similar - they kept files on about 1/3 of the entire East German population and relied on a newtwork of spies and informers.

The U.S. government, with modern technology, is outdoing the Stasi - with their "total information awareness" programs, they are trying to keep files on everyone.

We already have the largest percentage of our population in prison of any country on the planet, you know.

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Police have become militarised. Now the firefighters!?! Nobody 'protects
Posted by: albrechtkrausse on Nov 24, 2007 11:05 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
and serves' anymore. They are trained that it is "us against them" (us being government shock troops and them being the citizens-- who they now call "civilians", as if we aren't under a civilian government any more!)
1) They tested drones (like the infamous Predator drones in Iraq/Afghanistan) in Houston this weekend. HPD is planning to implement them.
2) Many cities now have 24/7 CCTV cameras monitoring you in buildings, on the street, redlight cameras, etc. "Liberal" Austin, TX has just implemented redlight cameras to spy on activity.
3) The government is recruiting soldiers from other countries, usually poor/undemocratic countries with no knowledge of the Constitution and no loyalty to the USA and its citizens. They have also issued "moral waivers" to recruit criminals, racists, and gangmembers into the military. When these troops come home (after being trained to kill, suffering PST, and in debt) they will become your police officers, security guards, and national guards.
4) use of "private" police mercenaries have already been used in New Orleans and in California.
5) Police now have automatic weapons, wear all black uniforms, hide their badges/identification, taser/shot first and then question, have 'urban assault vehicals', and operate in a military manner.
6) Police departments generate revenue by seizing assets from drugs/terrorism charges. Even before you see a court they can seize your money and property based on the "war on drugs" and "war on terror".
7) we have "free speech zones", warrantless wiretaps, no right to habeus corpus. UK has eliminated jury trials and we will do so soon (if you are lucky enough to even be offered a trial!)
8) children are indoctrinated to 'rat' on their friends, fellow students, and parents. They are taught like good little Hitleryouth or CommunistPatrolYouth to 'tell on', 'inform on', and 'spy on' their parents and others, again to prevent 'drugs', 'child abuse', 'terrorism', etc.
9) notice that most schools and government buildings have high-fencing and with barbed-wire which FACES IN. This means it is intended to KEEP PEOPLE IN and not keep people out. This will be the short-term detention facilities when martial law is declared.

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Does no one else remember Shrub asking Americans to spy on each other for the government...
Posted by: Ian MacLeod on Nov 24, 2007 11:40 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...right after 9-11? We were supposed to "keep an eye" on our weird brown neighbors, and report any usual activities. Remember? They tried it once before, and it didn't work. "We were only kidding, Really. Besides, it was just a suggestion." Ever since, they've handed it over to the NSA (I think they meant BSA, but screwed up the spelling), and anyone else they could get to cooperate: high school students (Nazi Youth), etc.

They'll get it eight yet. Or wrong. Stalin had it figured out. It helped that he could cram six families into three bedroom apartments, though. It'll take awhile for us to get around to that, yet.

Ian

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WHAT'S THE ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
Posted by: VZEQICVA on Nov 24, 2007 2:33 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Do they look for incriminating evidence before or after they put out the fire and rescue the children, old ladies and pets. The firemen must be confused. It's alot to ask of people who already have a tough job. Thanks, ANNA

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Deputizing Everyone
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Nov 24, 2007 7:05 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Probably next they will co-opt the doctors and nurses. Firefighters are not law enforcement officers--yet. But if this plan is carried out they should be considered such and any search without warrants or statements obtained unlawfully should be excluded as evidence. The firefighters' and EMTs' professional groups and unions should vigorously oppose these nefarious, McCarthyite schemes.

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What Country Am I Living In?
Posted by: NoPCZone on Nov 24, 2007 8:58 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm hoping that one morning I wake up and this whole period of America's history is just a really bad dream.

At this point I'm not sure if I'm more disgusted with the NeoCons, their enablers (the DLC and careerists of every stripe), or the public at large. It amazes me that some young guy, prime recruitment age for Iraq, can tell me the slugging percentage of some ball player on grass at night against left handed pitching, but knows/cares nothing about the full frontal assault upon civil liberties.

Someone please tell me it's just a really bad dream...

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Soon You are going to be on the LIST!
Posted by: Orientalist on Nov 25, 2007 10:49 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The next step will be You are On a list that leads to a KZ-lager and you are going to "disappear" from the face of the earth!
Soon everybody has a file at the secret police (RSHA=Homeland security) with different marks on your file depending on what kind of enemy of the state you are, political, homosexuals, thief and so on just like in Nazi-Germany!
Soon USA is a complete replica of the "Dritte Reich"!
Are You on that list or are you coming up soon?

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The ROOT!
Posted by: Orientalist on Nov 25, 2007 12:03 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
After my more than 50 visits to Auschwitz as a tour-guide I am very sensitive for not to say hyper allergic to FASCISM!
Does the name "Leo Strauss" comes to mind and the bells starts to ringing when You think about the state of our country?
And does BRAINWASH comes to mind when You think of no reactions?

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Spread the word!
Posted by: Orientalist on Nov 25, 2007 12:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I have been writing/telling Swedish newsroom about exactly what Naomi is writing about for at least 5 years without any result because all the newspaper are in Neo-Liberal hands which is translated to in USA the Neo-conservative movement. They blocked me, about 6 month ago because they didn't like what I wrote! They blocked me considering me to be an ANTI-SEMIT because I blamed the Neo-Conservative movement on a bunch of Jews, Leo Strauss, Milton Friedman, Paul Wolfowitz, Norman Podhoretz to name a few because they are the ideologist behind it! I even gave it a name "JEW-FASCISM" which I think is the right name for the movement! The real father behind it is Leo Strauss!

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Schock Doctrine!
Posted by: Orientalist on Nov 25, 2007 1:00 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is a good analyze of the "Disaster Capitalism---Making Nazism seem tame"!

http://www.opednews.com/flyer/news_20071125_1.html

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Children deputies
Posted by: 2dogarage on Nov 25, 2007 5:48 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A friend of mine narrowly escaped a jail sentence because his 14-yr old daughter, not happy with marijuana being smoked in the house, set him up with a visit from the local sheriff who found pot that she planted in various places around the house. She wanted her father to be like all the other church-going republicans in town so she had him busted instead of trying to deal with it some other way. Now the family is split in two and they are in danger of losing their house because of legal bills. Parents beware!

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This should...
Posted by: josephq on Nov 26, 2007 9:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...eliminate any doubts that the U.S. isn't already a fascist police state...

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