Dec 2nd, 2008
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 3:24pm	Technology and Liberty

Together at Last: Heritage and ACLU Discuss DHS Priorities

This morning, NPR did a segment with Tim Sparapani of our Washington Legislative Office and our frenemies at the Heritage Foundation. They discussed ways that the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration could endeavor to do better by the country. First, Tim suggested making the watchlists, you know, work:

Any terrorist worth his or her salt can go out and get a fake ID in about 20 minutes, or they can show up under their own name if they're not a name of somebody that we've been monitoring abroad[…] And there are lots of people, unfortunately, who have been willing to be recruited whom we would never know about until the moment they actually commit an attack.

So while the TSA is busy stopping all the Robert Johnsons of the world, potential terrorists might be slipping by.

Now, Heritage's take:

…[The Heritage Foundation] says the government's multi-billion dollar investment in what's often referred to as "guns, guards and gates" is the wrong way to go — that it's futile to try to protect everything in a country that has a seemingly endless number of potential targets.

We couldn't agree more, Heritage!

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1. scrivener Says:
   Dec 15th, 2008 at 2:27pm

   ACLU:

   EXTRAJUDICIAL TARGETING AND DOMESTIC TORTURE ARE MAKING A MOCKERY OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM AND VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS -- RIGHT HERE IN AMERICA.

   PLEASE COME TO THE ASSISTANCE OF UNTOLD THOUSANDS SUBJECT TO THESE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY -- STARTING WITH THE JOURNALIST WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE AND HAS BEEN APPEALING FOR YOUR HELP FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS:

   AMERICAN GESTAPO: 'State-Supported Terrorism' Targets U.S. Citizens

   By VIC LIVINGSTON, former business reporter, Fox TV Phila., NY Daily News, Phila. Bulletin, St. Petersburg Times; former editor, CableVision, TV/Radio Age magazines

   • Congress: probe "targeting" of American citizens by vigilantes hiding behind government-funded programs

   • Due process denied, the Constitution violated by "extrajudicial" vigilante groups said to resemble KKK, Stasi and Nazi Gestapo

   • A cause of the crisis in the mortgage and credit markets?

   A virulent form of domestic terrorism is destroying the lives of citizens across America.

   Victims of so-called organized "gang stalking" or "community stalking" charge that the rule of law has broken down nationwide at the hands of state-supported vigilantes -- operating under the cover of citizen community policing and neighborhood watch corps and business-related anti-terrorism programs, supplemented by municipal workers and members of private and fraternal organizations.

   A nationwide network comprised of these citizen groups, funded by elements of government at multiple levels, is the "extrajudicial" control mechanism that victims say is dispensing officially tolerated "vigilante justice."

   Many web sites in the U.S., Canada and other industrialized nations chronicle this horror. But victims say the tentacles of this domestic terrorism extend well beyond the so-called "street muscle" comprised of gang-stalking local vigilantes and self-styled soldiers of fortune.

   Victims of this extrajudicial targeting and control network maintain that these vigilantes are operating as judge, jury and executioner -- meting out various forms of harassment and abuse that they say amounts to physical torture and psychological harassment. Some victims have moved to other cities and towns to escape the persecution -- but they say the vigilantism recurs in their new locale.

   "It appears to be a nationwide network that attracts extremists as well as law and order types and people connected to public safety such as firefighters, utility workers, police auxiliaries, retired police and military officers, and even their family members, including children and teenagers," says one victim, who says he has been "gang-stalked" for several years. "I doubt it could exist without some people in positions of power looking the other way."

   Even some regular, uniformed police are reported to have been intimidated by this network of extrajudicial control.

   Victims say that they are physically harassed and relentlessly stalked, whether in vehicles or on foot; property is vandalized; privacy is invaded by way of pervasive surveillance; mail is intercepted, financial accounts and billing statements are altered and family finances decimated; and their physical well-being is compromised by hi-tech equipment such as "directed energy weapons" (D.E.W.) emitting silent bursts of radiation -- lasers, microwaves, x-rays, sonic frequencies -- that can stun, maim, induce illness or even kill.

   A recent article on the Wired.com magazine "Danger Room" blog site discusses a court document said to indicate that the U.S. Secret Service is involved in the development of directed energy weapons technology. The article speculates that the agency may have deployed such devices in the course of its official duties.

   http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/presidents-secr.h tml

   "This is torture that's happening right here, in American cities and towns," says an alleged victim. "But it's like pre- World War II Germany; people refuse to believe that such abuses could happen in a civilized society. But it is happening. And I'm convinced that some local and federal authorities not only have knowledge of this extra-legal targeting, but are providing funding and direction.

   "I know the FBI knows about it, because I've been down there several times over the past two years to report it." He says he knows of no formal investigation, despite his offers to cooperate.

   "I'm not saying they know of the worst abuses, such as using microwaves on targeted persons to degrade their health and make it impossible for them to earn a living. But they must know that these citizen patrols are doing a lot more than just cruising around the neighborhood. "

   Citizens who have reported abuses say their complaints are typically ignored -- or that authorities insinuate that their claims are figments of their imagination, or are a manifestation of a mental illness such as paranoia.

   "That appears to be part of the M-O," says one victim. "You haven't done anything wrong, so they can't charge you with a crime. So they attempt to make it look like you're crazy. That's how they marginalize people who don't fit in with their world view." The victim says it's possible that local law enforcement has been "co-opted" by a variation of "the big lie."

   "Higher-ups come in and say, 'We've identified this person as a threat.' What are they going to do? They're going to go with the program, especially since a lot of their funding comes from outside the community."

   This victim believes the vigilante network is a convenient way for those in power to dispense with persons or groups of people they simply don't like or regard as undesirables, or whose political or social views do not hew to what they regard as the established order.

   Victims also believe that a network of government programs and agencies works in tandem with the extra-legal vigilante system to destroy their financial security. They allege that the crisis in the mortgage and credit markets may have been worsened by these programs, which they say are sapping the financial well-being of individuals and families without benefit of the right of due process. Making available "easy credit" is a primary tool that puts "targeted individuals" on the road to financial ruin, victims maintain.

   Some victims wonder whether these extrajudicial programs didn't help spawn financial crises in the first place. "We haven't had these kind of widespread financial woes for generations," a gang-stalking victim said. "You have to wonder if these programs weren't a blueprint for an ideologically-motivated purge."

   Some of the agencies looking into the mortgage and credit market problems may have had long-standing knowledge of these programs, according to victims, who are calling on Congress to investigate.

   "The issue of state-supported vigilantism and extrajudicial control and punishment represents an assault on our judicial system that makes Watergate look like the third-rate burglary that it started out to be," says the gang-stalking victim. "Since government agencies appear to be involved in funding these programs, it's up to Congress to investigate, to use its powers of oversight to ensure that democracy and the rule of law prevails, and not the law of the jungle."

   The network of programs and policies that are allegedly circumventing the judicial system, violating constitutional rights and meting out vigilante justice, might collectively be termed the mechanics of personal destruction -- a blueprint for political and social dominance crafted by those who would use the institutions of government as a tool of ideologically-driven social engineering.

   This powerful apparatus appears to exist under the radar of most elected members of Congress and officers of the judicial system. They refuse to consider that these programs, over time, have adopted the of methodology the East German Stasi, the KKK of the old South, and the Gestapo of the Nazi Third Reich -- and that the "targets" include American citizens tagged as political "dissidents."

   Victims say the rise of this "American Gestapo" represents the victory of neo-fascism over democracy -- achieved under the guise of "national security" and "keeping America safe." They say that in the face of mounting evidence of widespread abuses, those who identify themselves as liberals and progressives naively insist that "it can't happen here."

   Victims charge that extrajudicial targeting of American citizens is destroying our democracy; much damage already has been done. They maintain that individuals and families are being irreparably harmed by what could they describe as "social genocide." Some call it a "silent holocaust" due to its clandestine nature and the use of silent, invisible "directed energy" technology to achieve its horrific goals.

   Below are links to the articles about this clear and present danger to our constitutional democracy and to the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. Victims urge lawmakers and congressional committees to start asking some tough questions, starting with the Department of Homeland Security:

   "Mr. Chertoff, are you aware that many Americans believe they have been the victims of so-called community or gang stalking, possibly perpetrated by persons equipped and trained by federally funded volunteer programs under your charge? Have you heard of such reports, and are you investigating to ensure that these programs and their resources are not being misused?"

   Victims believe this cancer on American society extends beyond a single cabinet department. But the curative process must begin with forces entrusted with the nation's security before more Americans are damaged by this descent from the rule of law into home-grown fascism.

   A FINAL NOTE: The author's communications and blog page are subject to persistent disruption and tampering by unknown hackers. He would appreciate it if NowPublic.com readers would forward the links below to members of Congress and officials at ALCU.org, CCRjustice.org, or any other organization that can help restore American values to American governance and law enforcement.

   IF LINKS BELOW ARE BROKEN, PLEASE CONTACT NOWPUBLIC.COM ADMINISTRATORS VIA 'CONTACT' PAGE, EMAIL, PRIVATE MESSAGE, OR VIA 'COMMENT' TO A RELATED POST.

   http://www.nowpublic.com/world/targeting-u-s-citizens-gov t-agencies-root-cause-wall-street-financial-crisis

   OR members.nowpublic.com/scrivener -- re: "Targeting of U.S. Citizens"/ "State-Supported Terrorism"/ "Directed Energy Weapons"

   http://www.nowpublic.com/world/zap-have-you-been-targe ted-directed-energy-weapon-victims-organized-gang-stalking-say-its-hap pening-usa-1

   This unaffiliated web site describes an alleged victim's account:

   http://monarchnewphoenix.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-d estroy-activist.html

2. Yes its Real Says:
   Feb 24th, 2009 at 1:35pm

   This is absolute TRUTH !
   Open your eyes American, its a cancer to our "Bill of Rights". Are you going to wait until it happens to you, your friends, or relatives? Just like in Nazi Germany or East German ( Stasi ).
   Ok, Just be sheep and ignorant, then wait until its too late.

   Daddy what was it like before our Great Corporate Fuer's .
   It's ok honey, mommy is looking down on us and someday if we obey, do our job, and don't talk back we can be with her.

3. victim999,999 Says:
   Feb 25th, 2009 at 11:29am

   Please help stop gangstalking, stasi, redlighting, vigilante justice, police state, cointelpro.
   Get Informed - Talk with others.
   http://www.gangstalking.ca/
   http://www.multistalkervictims.org/
   http://www.organizedcrimewaves.com
   http://www.stopcovertwar.com/

   Unless the ACLU helps stop this, I and many others will not donate.

4. lifevorce citizen Says:
   Mar 18th, 2009 at 4:05am

   The police deliberately turn a blind eye and are in-fact part of the Set-up against TIs-- individuals who are being stalked. I observed an auto with a headlight out driving adjacent to me, and the police cruiser within sight had to see her! He turned down a side street to avoid crossing our path!
   Also, when I see a vehicle whom I suspect is one of them coming and my camera is obviously out, they suddenly swerve and turn the corner to avoid being Photographed! A stalker in a grocery store accosted me and threatened to 'break my neck' if he saw his picture posted online. Then, he tried to enlist the management's help in getting me arrested or thrown out of the store! Under false pretences! I have had a speeding ticket issured recently that was Bogus!

5. dr. fredrickson Says:
   Jul 30th, 2009 at 3:15am

   I am being stalked by small group of sex offenders because of my work w/ child sexual abuse victims. Can anyone help me in securing my home and/or finding their access methods, I have already tried most of the newest info on securing my home. Can they bypass crank out windows with latches? Help!

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