US is a Classic Empire and Is Becoming a Repressive Police State at Home Dave Lindorff

Happy Independence Day as America celebrates with a military parade in the capital city.

If vigilance is the price of freedom, Americans need to wake up and stand up as the vise jaws close.

This Can't Be Happening
US is a Classic Empire and Is Becoming a Repressive Police State at Home

Dave Lindorff

See also

The Rutherford Insititute
It’s Time to Declare Your Independence from Tyranny, America
John W. Whitehead

Also

AlterNet
True patriots are rebels, not bootlickers

Meteor Blades

Vanessa Beeley — GILETS JAUNES: Civilians in Police Crosshairs as Macron Adopts Totalitarian State-Practices to Suppress Dissent

"Look over there — Venezuela, Syria."

21st Century Wire
GILETS JAUNES: Civilians in Police Crosshairs as Macron Adopts Totalitarian State-Practices to Suppress Dissent

Vanessa Beeley

Martin Armstrong — The New French Revolution?

Martin Armstrong mentions the increasing tax burden on workers in Europe. He doesn't mention that the increasing tax burden results from the institutional structure of the EZ, where the member countries have ceded currency sovereignty to the ECB. As a result, these countries are no longer sovereign currency issuers and cannot self-fund. Like US states, they have to tax or borrow to spend and there are institutional limits on borrowing (deficit spending) imposed by treaty.

The key point in the post is the use of chemical weapons domestically against the civilian population. Ironically, such use is prohibited in war but permitted for domestic security. Just like the use of pepper spray against US domestic protestors, in addition to tear gas. I recall the use of tear gas in the protests against the Vietnam War war during the Nixon Administration in Washington, DC. At that time, there was only the alternative press, no social media, and the corporate press largely suppressed the news on the protests. Armstrong reports the same occurring in France now.

Armstrong Economics
The New French Revolution?

Martin Armstrong

See also

Counterpunch
The Euro-Establishment’s Fear of Populism

Andrew Spannaus | Milan-based journalist and strategic analyst, elected chairman of the Milan Foreign Press Association in March 2018

Monmouth University Polling Institute — Public Troubled by ‘Deep State’

A majority of the American public believe that the U.S. government engages in widespread monitoring of its own citizens and worry that the U.S. government could be invading their own privacy. The Monmouth University Poll also finds a large bipartisan majority who feel that national policy is being manipulated or directed by a “Deep State” of unelected government officials. Americans of color on the center and left and NRA members on the right are among those most worried about the reach of government prying into average citizens’ lives.

Just over half of the public is either very worried (23%) or somewhat worried (30%) about the U.S. government monitoring their activities and invading their privacy. There are no significant partisan differences – 57% of independents, 51% of Republicans, and 50% of Democrats are at least somewhat worried the federal government is monitoring their activities. Another 24% of the American public are not too worried and 22% are not at all worried.

Fully 8-in-10 believe that the U.S. government currently monitors or spies on the activities of American citizens, including a majority (53%) who say this activity is widespread and another 29% who say such monitoring happens but is not widespread. Just 14% say this monitoring does not happen at all. There are no substantial partisan differences in these results.

“This is a worrisome finding. The strength of our government relies on public faith in protecting our freedoms, which is not particularly robust. And it’s not a Democratic or Republican issue. These concerns span the political spectrum,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute....

Few Americans (13%) are very familiar with the term “Deep State;” another 24% are somewhat familiar, while 63% say they are not familiar with this term. However, when the term is described as a group of unelected government and military officials who secretly manipulate or direct national policy, nearly 3-in-4 (74%) say they believe this type of apparatus exists in Washington. This includes 27% who say it definitely exists and 47% who say it probably exists. Only 1-in-5 say it does not exist (16% probably not and 5% definitely not). Belief in the probable existence of a Deep State comes from more than 7-in-10 Americans in each partisan group, although Republicans (31%) and independents (33%) are somewhat more likely than Democrats (19%) to say that the Deep State definitely exists. ...

Monmouth University Polling Institute

Public Troubled by ‘Deep State’

Jim Naureckas — Judge Tells Jury: Informing Public May Be Criminal Conspiracy

Land of the free and home of the brave, or police state?

Only the judiciary stands between the government and the people in a constitutional oligarchy republic. Subversion of the judiciary is a high priority of the establishment in maintaining and extending control.

FAIR
Judge Tells Jury: Informing Public May Be Criminal Conspiracy

Jim Naureckas

John W. Whitehead — America Breaks Down: The Anatomy of a National Psychosis

Whitehead founded The Rutherford Institute to preserve and defend human rights and civil liberties in a non-partisan way. He issues a stark warning to Americans.

Unless we can learn to live together as brothers and sisters and fellow citizens, we will perish as tools and prisoners of the American police state.

Counterpunch
America Breaks Down: The Anatomy of a National Psychosis

John W. Whitehead | President, The Rutherford Institute

Michael Krieger — Antifa is Playing Right Into the Hands of a Burgeoning Police State

Krieger is correct here. Peaceful protest and nonviolent resistance are one thing, while violence and rebellion are another. Governments lawfully suppress the later.

But in present conditions, using violence to express resistance just feeds the ramping up of restrictions on civil liberties "in extremis" and growing the police/surveillance state. It's a strategic blunder unless one thinks that further imposition of a policy state will result in the public rising up to resist. That is most likely wishful thinking based on history. There is not much evidence to suggest it.

The media consensus, echoing the alt-right media, is already anti-antifa, and extremism on the left is being portrayed as at least equal to extremism on the right if not worse and a greater threat to America.

But, as Krueger points out, saying this will probably not change many people's minds.

So get used to "domestic terror" as a justification for further state control in the name of "security."

Liberty Blitzkrieg
Antifa is Playing Right Into the Hands of a Burgeoning Police State
Michael Krieger

UPDATE

Maxspeak

Nazi-punching for beginners

Max Sawicky

The Hill — Opinion
The Hypocrisy of Antifa
Jonathan Turley | Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University

Alleen Brown — Standing Rock Documents Expose Inner Workings Of “surveillance-Industrial Complex”

Occupy redux. Protesters encounter the might of the corporate state apparatus operating secretly.

Another paradox of liberalism involving where and how to draw lines.

America has not seen this level of intensity since the Vietnam anti-war movement.

The Intercept

Standing Rock Documents Expose Inner Workings Of “surveillance-Industrial Complex”

Alleen Brown

Alleen Brown — Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”

A shadowy international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept.

The documents provide the first detailed picture of how TigerSwan, which originated as a U.S. military and State Department contractor helping to execute the global war on terror, worked at the behest of its client Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, to respond to the indigenous-led movement that sought to stop the project.

Internal TigerSwan communications describe the movement as “an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component” and compare the anti-pipeline water protectors to jihadist fighters.

"It can't happen here," morphs into "It can't be happening here, can it?"

Warning: SCARY.

The Intercept
Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
Alleen Brown

Damon Linker — America's spies anonymously took down Michael Flynn. That is deeply worrying.

This is the real issue that is largely being missed in the media.

The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America's democratic institutions — not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn's ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn't the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function....

Those cheering the deep state torpedoing of Flynn are saying, in effect, that a police state is perfectly fine so long as it helps to bring down Trump.…

Down that path lies the end of democracy in America.

Sorry to break it to  you. Democracy in America ended some time ago. The United States has been a police officiallly since the post 9/11 legislation suspending constitutional liberties, "total information awareness," and the militarization of the domestic security force.

The Week
America's spies anonymously took down Michael Flynn. That is deeply worrying.
Damon Linker

Anti-Media — Anonymous Just Issued a Message to the North Dakota Governor Over DAPL

Anonymous warns the governor to back off or they will release documents showing the conflict of interest and then goes on to say that if one protestor on the Indian side is harmed, Anonymous will “release docs on” the individuals responsible.

Anti-Media
Anonymous Just Issued a Message to the North Dakota Governor Over DAPL

Sarah Lazare — Clear Evidence Emerges of Outrageous Militarized Police Collaboration with Oil Companies at Standing Rock Against Protectors

Famous last words. "It can't happen here."

AlterNet
Clear Evidence Emerges of Outrageous Militarized Police Collaboration with Oil Companies at Standing Rock Against Protectors
Sarah Lazare

William K. Black — Prosecutors for the Petrocrats Try to Imprison the Media

Sheriff Bill is on North Dakota's case.

New Economic Perspectives
Prosecutors for the Petrocrats Try to Imprison the Media
William K. Black | Associate Professor of Economics and Law, UMKC
See also

Doug Krejci’s effort to use the University of Iowa’s 2008 flood footage for an upcoming documentary is being blocked by state officials who say copyright overrides public records.
The rare argument, if successful, could not only impede Krejci’s effort to raise public awareness of the disaster but also dismantle the state’s public records law, government transparency experts claim.

“It’s just bizarre,” said Adam Marshall, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, a First Amendment advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. “It can’t be the case that copyright law enables every state entity to withhold every single record they generate. That would totally eviscerate the public records laws.”

DesMoines Register
University of Iowa claims copyright law to block use of flood video
Jason Claywort

Ivan Stamenkovic — This is Why the Media Is Silent — Award Winning Journalist To Be Jailed For Covering Dakota Pipeline

More news blackout. Another attempt at suppression of a free press.

It’s not the first time that award-winning journalist Amy Goodman has been arrested, and it might not be the last, but the mainstream media correspondent will present herself to the Morton County–Mandan Combined Law Enforcement and Corrections Center at 8:15 a.m. local time (CDT) on Monday for processing.

Goodman is the host of her own television show Democracy Now, and according to the show’s website, Goodman has been charged with criminal trespassing for “filming an attack on Native American-led pipeline protesters” at what is now known as the Dakota Access pipeline.…

Goodman was present on 9/3 and documented the attack, which according to one source, left, “six people, including one child, were injured after being bitten by the security dogs.” According to Steve Sitting Bear, an eyewitness to the attacks, at least 30 people were also pepper-sprayed.

Counter Current News
This is Why the Media Is Silent — Award Winning Journalist To Be Jailed For Covering Dakota Pipeline
Ivan Stamenkovic

More:

A North Dakota prosecutor is seeking to charge Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman for the more serious offense of "rioting" over her filming of Native American protests against the North Dakota pipeline when a number of people were attacked by private security attack dogs.

Originally Goodman said she was charged with trespassing over the incident from September. Now North Dakota State Attorney Ladd Ronald Erickson has filednew "riot" charges.
Goodman said that the charges were changed because they authorities realized they couldn't make the trespassing "stick."…

teleSUR
North Dakota Prosecutor Charges Amy Goodman with Rioting

Alexandra Rosenmann — Telesur Host Abby Martin's Surprisingly Rough Arrest Ordeal Is a Taste of Police Gone Amok

Move along. Nothing to see here.

In my experience, police have been doing this from the Sixties and Seventies. At least they didn't taser her or spray her.

AlterNet
Telesur Host Abby Martin's Surprisingly Rough Arrest Ordeal Is a Taste of Police Gone Amok

Alexandra Rosenmann

Robert Mackey — Images of Militarized Police in Baton Rouge Draw Global Attention

What are US leaders thinking of, or are they actually this afraid of a revolution?

Whatever, it is trashing what's left of US sort power internationally.

Who is going to give credence to US objections about alleged "tyranny" and 'political repression" abroad?

The Intercept
Images of Militarized Police in Baton Rouge Draw Global Attention

Robert Mackey

Tom Boggioni — LRAD's, Steel Batons and Armored Personnel Carriers: Cleveland Cops Stocking up before GOP Convention

Anticipating massive demonstrations in the streets during the Republican National Convention in mid-July, Cleveland police authorities are using emergency funds to stock up on the latest in crowd control equipment — armoring themselves as if they are going to war.

According to the Washington Post, Cleveland officials are using a $50 million “security grant” to beef up security around the convention, but are not tipping their hand on everything that they have purchased which is alarming some civil liberties groups concerned about the rights of protesters.

AlterNet
LRAD's, Steel Batons and Armored Personnel Carriers: Cleveland Cops Stocking up before GOP Convention

Tom Boggioni / Raw Story

Sputnik — Assange Says 80% of US National Security Agency Budget Privatized

Addressing International Media Forum "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream", Julian Assange said that about 80 percent of the US National Security Agency budget is privatized. He also said that Google is engaged with the US White House and Hillary Clinton's elections campaign. Google has power to control information flow, he added.

As much as 80 percent of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) budget is privatized, demonstrating the merger between Washington and corporate organizations, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday.

This is rather ominous, when considered along with the military-industrial complex. The entire military and intelligence establishments are largely privately owned, although the line between military and intelligence is blurred since US intelligence is largely operational rather than informational.

Should this be called "corporate statism" or "statist corporatism?" Whatever, it is scary for democracy, if that even exists in the US other than as a facade, with politicians for sale.

Sputnik
Assange Says 80% of US National Security Agency Budget Privatized

Marcelo Ridenti — Dilma Rousseff impeachment: Brazil threatens to descend into a disguised police state

Capitalism has always been supported by an alliance between the ownership class and the security services. This is unnoticed when things are going well, but as conditions deteriorates the veil comes down and the iron fist becomes more and more visible.

The modern state is a trifecta of security, order and welfare. As welfare declines, then increased security is brought to bear to maintain "order," that is, the status quo of ownership. Adjustment is forced on "the little people," and security ensures compliance.

The has noticeably slipped in this direction since 9/ll, although it has in the making since the launch of the "war on drugs," and it was already in evidence during the Sixties and Seventies anti-war movement and demonstations. SDS was known to be infiltrated by the FBI, for example, which was meant more as intimidation than legitimate surveillance of an actual threat to national security.

nsnbc
Dilma Rousseff impeachment: Brazil threatens to descend into a disguised police state
Marcelo Ridenti | Professor of Sociology, Universidade Estadual de Campinas.

David Rosen — Has the NYPD Become a Paramilitary Force?

"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh largest army in the world," former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg boasted back in 2011.

Since that time, the New York Police Department has become even more militarized, practiced in command-and-control practices that Brooklyn College sociologist Alex Vitale describes as "paramilitary policing."

The federalization and militarization of the NYPD following 9/11 created the model of paramilitary policing that's reshaping law enforcement throughout the country.
Vitale identifies these seven qualities as the principal aspects of the increasingly popular framework of paramilitary policing:

• Surveillance and infiltration of nonviolent political organizations.

• Denial of protest permits and tight restrictions on demonstration locations.

• Heavy deployment and use of defensive equipment, such as body armor.

• The use of 'less lethal' weapons on non-violent protestors.

• Deployment of highly trained specialized police units to control demonstrations.

• Preemptive arrests and targeting of protest leaders.

• Coordination between local and federal law enforcement officials.

• Other practices often accompanying paramilitary policing include the use of sophisticated cyber technologies, video surveillance and agents provocateurs.

Truthout

Has the NYPD Become a Paramilitary Force?

David Rosen

Not to be outdone:

Nor are any booking records generated at Homan Square, as confirmed by a sworn deposition of a police researcher in late September, further preventing relatives or attorneys from finding someone taken there.

“The reality is, no one knows where that person is at Homan Square,” said Craig Futterman, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who studies policing. “They’re disappeared at that point.”

Welcome to Amerika. This is Gestapo tactics, plain and simple.

The Guardian

Homan Square revealed: how Chicago police 'disappeared' 7,000 people

Spencer Ackerman

NBC News
Jon Burge Case: Police Torture Scandal Still Casts Long Shadow Over ChicagoJon Schuppe