Why are IED/Mine Resistant Vehicles Being Deployed Within U.S.?

Frugal taxpayers have always wondered why their local town police department needed a tank in their inventory. I can't even think of one instance where a SWAT team actually needed a regular armored car, like the sort that banks transport their cash around in, much less a military-grade assault vehicle. Nevertheless, we have seen a disturbing militarization of civilian police forces here at home, particularly in the the post-9/11 era. Everything from a shift in traditional police blues to more militant and fascist black uniforms, to the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security national police force. The creation of which draws parallels to the Gestapo, but which has turned out to be far more Orwellian than Hitler himself could have ever hoped for. As you see there in that last link, I am now on a terror watchlist for even talking about them here.

But I just have one simple question. Why does a domestic security force need a vehicle designed to protect against landmines and so-called Improvised Explosive Devices?

That is a snapshot, one of many, of new MRAP vehicles being transported on public highways across the country. As you see in the link there, this vehicle was specifically designed to counter deadly roadside bombs in Iraq, and then later Afghanistan as we re-doubled the war effort there. Are they preparing for conditions here at home to be as bad as conditions in Baghdad or Fallujah? And if not, then why are they wasting tax-payer dollars on such equipment at a time that tens of millions of Americans are out of work and have been pushed out of their homes? Taxpayer dollars to the tune of $21 million to upgrade and retro-fit these vehicles transferred from U.S. Army Contracting Command. Keep in mind, we taxpayers already paid for these vehicles once, now we are paying again to have Navistar Defense LLC retro-fit 2,717 units of the MaxxPro MRAP vehicle to be deployed here in the Homeland.

With DHS/ICE buying up 450-million rounds of .40-caliber ammo, and a fleet of 10,000 Navistar 7000-model heavy transports outfitted with prisoner cages appearing set for domestic deployment as well, one really has to wonder what the government is planning for.

WOLVERINES!

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1984 (Full-Length Feature Film)

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Cops Give Free Drugs to Teens Taken From OWS Movement Sites

This is the hypocrisy of the drug war.

Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they've been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.

Local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs.  We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.

Officers stated on record the DRE program, run by the Minnesota State Patrol, has no Institutional Review Board or independent oversight. They agreed no ambulances or EMTs were on site at the Richfield MnDOT facility near the airport where most subjects were taken. Multiple times, participants left Peavey Plaza sober, returned intoxicated, and said they'd been given free drugs by law enforcement. We documented on more than one occasion, someone being told they were sober by one officer, and then picked up by a different officer, and returning intoxicated.

Given the dangers of impaired driving, there is value in training law enforcement officers to distinguish between the effects of various drugs and several common medical conditions. However, we have captured video footage of instances in which DRE trainees recruited subjects who are not already impaired, and those participants say they were given drugs by the officers.

Although program documents indicate that participants must sign a waiver, https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/msp/forms-reports/Documents/SFSTSponsorResponsib... there was no indication from any of the participants interviewed that a waiver was offered or obtained. Further, video footage seems to validate the recollections of participants that no medical personnel or ambulance were on site during the observation and testing in Richfield. A DRE officer told one of our investigators that no Institutional Review Board assessment of the program has been made, a requirement of all experiments involving human subjects. Since it's unethical to encourage people to take drugs--whether by giving them drugs directly or enticing them with food, cigarettes, or other rewards (which participants say they were given)--it is unlikely such a program would pass IRB review as it endangers the test subjects.

According to the WCCO article from May 2011, officer trainees in the past have worked with various non-profit organizations to recruit drug users. It would appear now that they are no longer relying solely on this tactic, instead recruiting users directly and, participants say, providing them with drugs. After the sessions, these individuals are then dropped off in public areas without supportive care, creating a public safety hazard. In an example at Peavey Plaza caught on film, an individual who said he's been smoking courtesy of the police for an hour, crossed a line of Minneapolis police barricades, climbed to the top of a large sign and sat 15 feet above the sidewalk swinging his arms and legs in front of a police camera.

Our investigation points to particular efforts to target and recruit youth. Further, law enforcement officers have been taped recruiting people from the Peavey Plaza area of Nicollet Mall and have dropped off a number of impaired individuals at Peavey Plaza. In some instances, Minneapolis police squad cars were present while DRE trainees recruited people at Peavey Plaza. After receiving drugs, some subjects were asked to snitch on the Occupy movement or asked about various people and activities of Occupy, they said. Given efforts by the Minneapolis city council to pass an ordinance designed to restrict access to Peavey Plaza by the Occupy movement, the conduct of DRE trainees points to the possibility that they are working hand-in-glove with Minneapolis police to discredit and disrupt the Occupy movement.

"I think most people would be very surprised to have our tax dollars used to get people high," states Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. "These activities call into question the methods and motives of this DRE training."

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Gender Bias and Domestic Violence, Blogger Rips Media Spin

This was a good piece written by a person I chat with on a backwater little forum in my hometown. He was ticked off about an article written in the local newspaper, and how they constantly spin domestic violence issues. Not only does his piece expose the paper's bias, but the general media, and even sheds light on the generally distorted view society takes in general toward domestic violence and gender relations.

The issue here locally, is especially volatile with an unprecedented number of DV-related suicides and murders in the past two years. One situation actually exploded in public at our city's train station. When it was all over both the man, the woman, and a police officer were dead. All killed right in front of the couple's 3 year-old child. The other stories are all tragic as well, but with the death of a police officer in the middle of the afternoon at a very busy train station, domestic violence has indeed become public enemy number one here.

And with that, have a look at this piece put together by Rogue One, at Hudson Valley Forums...

Local Paper Carries on Gender Biased DV Agenda

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US Army 'INTERNMENT AND RESETTLEMENT' Manual is Chilling Find

This U.S. Army field manual, designated FM 3-39.40 and prepared for the Department of Defense, is a chilling look inside their plan to deal with dissent. Most alarmingly, it specifies how these plans would be implemented right here within the United States, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and designated law-enforcement assets.

This is not simply a plan for enemy combatants to be put into US prison camps like the one in Guantanamo Bay. This is a plan for political activists to be brainwashed by "PSYOP Officers" so that they develop "an appreciation for US policies." It makes clear that, “These operations may be performed as domestic civil support operations,” and invokes Executive authority "to approve resettlement operations within U.S. territories."

I just had a copy leaked to me late last night, and it has already spread like wildfire across the internet. Be sure to check out the background info through the inline links I provided there in the wording. Here the link to the PDF file for...

INTERNMENT AND RESETTLEMENT OPERATIONS (FM 3-39.40)

Some screenshots and more background info available at the article from Infowars.

An overview video is available on YouTube

Also be sure to check out this article, to get a look at the trucks you will be rounded up in and carted off to the concentration camps...

New Military Transport Raises Concerns

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Justice for Trayvon (Video)

After beating, robbing, and tormenting a white tourist who was lost in Baltimore, Aaron Parsons decided to post a YouTube video of the vicious attack along with a message on his Twitter account that read in part "justice for Trayvon."




 You can read more about this case and see screenshots of Twitter pages at this link:


http://ironicsurrealism.com/2012/04/14/baltimore-aaron-parsons-charged-in-connection-to-videotaped-assault-of-tourist-held-on-at-1-million-bond/

If Obama had a son, he would look like Aaron Parsons

Also read:

A beating at Church and Brambleton 

 EXCERPT:

Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim.

The victim's friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye. She called 911. A recording told her all lines were busy. She called again. Busy. On her third try, she got through and, hysterical, could scream only their location.

Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton. Church and Brambleton.
It happened four blocks from where they work, here at The Virginian-Pilot.

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Obama's Drug War 2012

The so-called "War on Drugs" is a total failure. It has been from the start really, unless of course you are one of those in power reaping enormous profits from the sham. People like William Randolph Hearst who wanted to shut down hemp production to protect his investment in timber camps, the profitable backbone of his print-media empire. His efforts to outlaw cannabis were supported by chemical companies like DuPont, who knew that their new invention nylon would never flourish while cheap hemp fiber was available. Pharmaceutical companies as well, chemical companies themselves really, were also threatened by cannabis and stood to reap enormous profits from eradication of cannabis plant production, while eventually getting people addicted to far more dangerous chemical drugs. 

Up through the late 70's and early 80's then, when prison rates simply exploded, while the US government themselves were the ones importing tons of cocaine and other drugs into the country. Police budgets were made obese with public tax dollars, as was the booming prison industry, reaping enormous profits from the misery of others and stripping freedom from non-violent citizens in the name of "public safety."

Meanwhile, the real threat is the totalitarian police-state that has been built up around us, in this War on Drugs, and now too the War on Terror. Another sham. Is it coincidence that during the CIAs covert wars in Central and South America, cocaine was the scourge, while today, the most potent threat from drugs comes in the form of Afghanistan-sourced Heroin?

In America, we like to think of ourselves as free, while picking fun at other nations who have fallen under the sway of some totalitarian regime, imagining that we would never tolerate any such thing here at home. But think about this... The United States of America keeps more people in prison than any other nation in the world, including  our Cold War nemesis Russia, or even modern Communist China with their 1.3 billion people. That's not per-capita comparison either. They a billion+ more people than the U.S. and still have far fewer people in prison. The United States has only 5% of the world's population, but a full 25% of the world's total prison population. One out of four people in prison on the planet, are doing time in an American cell. So, thanks in very large part to a failed war on drugs, the land of the free is now the land of incarceration, literally.

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." ~Adolf Hitler

Obama’s New Drug Control Report Calls for More Workplace Drug Testing, Nationwide Zero Tolerance Laws, Prescription-Only Ephedrine Products, and the Return of the “Above the Influence” Campaign

MC Short-Change

The first thing you should know about President Barack Obama’s 2012 Drug Control Strategy report is that it begins and ends with the declaration that the war on drugs is working and will continue apace. 

Obama administration policies have “yielded significant results,” according to the President’s introductory letter, which concludes by saying, “While difficult budget decisions must be made at all levels of government, we must ensure continued support for policies and programs that reduce drug use and its enormous costs to American society.” 

The report ends with a familiar refrain: “Legalization of drugs will not be considered in this approach. Making drugs more available and more accessible will not reduce drug use and its adverse consequences for public health and safety. We will continue to educate young people and all Americans about the science on the harmful health effects of marijuana use.” 

The pages in between those two statements contain a broad outline for increased drug enforcement, mandatory rehabilitation programs for people who don’t need or want them, and the return of melodramatic Reefer Madness-style agitprop aimed at teenagers. 

The worst policy plans contained in the report are outlined after the jump.


Read the complete article at link: 


http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/17/obamas-new-drug-control-report-calls-for

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70+ MPG Cars Banned From US Sales as Fuel Costs Soar

This doesn't really come as a surprise to me, that the US government would be blocking technology and keeping better products off the market. There is actually a long history of this in the automotive industry in particular. But it still pisses me off.




VW TDI Drives 1,531 Miles On One Tank 

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New Military Transport Raises Concerns

The Navistar 7000 is a U.S. built general purpose heavy transport utility vehicle used by Iraqi Ministry of Defense,  military and police in Afghanistan, as well as the Canadian military.The basic chassis platform supports a variety of drive-trains and configurations. It is this particular configuration that is causing some concern among civilian watchdogs...

It certainly appears to be some sort of prisoner transport. Conspiracy theorists are alarmed that these units may be a sign of impending martial law and mass incarceration of civilians here in the United States. Looking at these units, it's not hard at all to imagine them rumbling through American neighborhoods rounding up families to be shipped off to FEMA camps in some sort of Nazi-esque Orwellian nightmare. They also point out the paint scheme of these units, which suggest that they are destined for domestic deployment, rather than being shipped overseas. If they were being sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, they would be painted tan most likely.

Looking at the company's web-page for the 7000, we don't see this particular configuration. However, there is a crew-cab design which is similar, equipped with what they call a "cage." It is also listed as ideal for Homeland Security applications when you tick the check-box in the left column. Naturally they say this cage is for equipment, but clearly it is a secured space meant to keep people out... or keep people in. After all, being a prisoner really just comes down to which side the lock is on.

If we are to accept that this cage is simply for equipment, we have to ask what the advantages of this construction really are. Why not use the traditional canvas cover, which most of their pictured vehicles still utilize? After all, with the canvas top, the space is multipurpose, allowing it to be utilized for transport of people or equipment. The space is also more protected from natural environmental factors such as sunlight, rain, sand, etcetera, under a canvas top. With the cage equipped, they sacrifice both of those advantages to gain a more heavily secured space. Is there really such a rash of military equipment being stolen from under the noses of armed personnel, that is has to be locked up in a cage? Let's keep in mind here too, that the military does everything out of necessity. Military vehicles are no-frills designs mindful only of the mission task in order to save defense budget dollars for other projects. 

In the second unit pictured, it might be more believable that the personnel aboard had some need to secure equipment in the back or their rig. What that equipment might be I can't immediately imagine, but perhaps it is an advantageous design for certain specialized missions. That becomes harder to accept though, seeing the full-sized cage transport, and knowing that Navistar has just filled a 10,000-unit order of the 7000-MV model. What is the military moving so much of which must be kept under lock and key, while being operated by armed personnel?


As a final consideration here, we can look at other vehicle designs, to see whether this sort of configuration has been utilized in the past. The Soviet-design GAZ-66 was an extremely popular transport design, used by many countries in many configurations including personnel carrier...

...and prisoner transport...

Given the state of affairs in this country it is a worrisome design to say the least. It seems more likely that these units are indeed designed to transport people as chattel, against their will and exposed to the elements, rather than simply keeping equipment under lock and key while on the road.

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